“I served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a Marine infantry squad leader. We rode into war crammed in the back of amphibious assault vehicles. They are designed to hold roughly 15 Marines snugly; due to maintenance issues, by the end of the invasion we had as many as 25 men stuffed into the back. Marines were forced to sit, in full gear, on each other’s laps and in contorted positions for hours on end. That was the least of our problems.”
“The invasion was a blitzkrieg. The goal was to move as fast to Baghdad as possible. The column would not stop for a lance corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, or even a company commander to go to the restroom. Sometimes we spent over 48 hours on the move without exiting the vehicles. We were forced to urinate in empty water bottles inches from our comrades.”
“Many Marines developed dysentery from the complete lack of sanitary conditions. When an uncontrollable urge hit a Marine, he would be forced to stand, as best he could, hold an MRE bag up to his rear, and defecate inches from his seated comrade’s face.”
Good article for the Joint Chiefs and feminists to read. But they assure us the women will have privacy.
“Many Marines developed dysentery from the complete lack of sanitary conditions.”
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I’d like to read that — what’s it from? Do you have a book/article title, or a link, or both? Thanks!
“When an uncontrollable urge hit a Marine, he would be forced to stand, as best he could, hold an MRE bag up to his rear, and defecate inches from his seated comrade’s face.”
Incredible. I was watching a WWII documentary on the war on the Eastern Front; an older German doctor who had served there as a young man was describing how he had to instruct the soldiers to open the rear seam on their trousers so they could defecate; otherwise they would absolutely be frostbitten.
My son is a Marine. There’s no way having a female within 30 feet of him would not be a distraction. LOL.