East Tennessee troops leave an unmistakable icon in the desert (Vols paint Iraqi water tower)

Knoxville Metro Pulse ^ | 9.11.03

[Trailerpark Badass]

This tower was not theirs to paint.

Who knows, maybe they like it better than rust-stained industrial grey. Anyway, what's to stop the locals from repainting it however they like?

[eddie willers]

Do you think the Gators.....look tough?

For three quarters.

[BabsC]

The locals could have painted their own damn tower their way. Since we got it done we did it our way. You snooze you loose in this world. 9/11 is a fine example.

I'm sure had they asked they would have been provided with any paint they wanted if they had volunteered to do it themselves. Remember the scene at the university of our troops cleaning up the school and those lazy "students" standing around complaining about how long it was taking. When asked why they weren't doing anything their response was they would, after the Americans left their country. Remember these are the ones that lived rather well under sadam.

[Fledermaus]

We have to play each West div team once and we rotate with 3 East teams every year. This year it's Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina.

I don't know when we play Tenn in the regular season again since we have played them many times the last 5-6 years.

You need to keep up on the Internet. Here's the Razorbacks official site http://www.hogwired.com/

[ArneFufkin]

The USMC and Brits have secured their areas completely, and the Army just can't seem to get the job done. Gee, I wonder why?

This shows complete lack of discipline and sensibility to local sentiment. Par for the course with that crew.

[bjcintennessee]

Spoilsport! (lol)

And read my tagline.

[GOPJ]

Great story bump

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

some kind of "Hook 'em Horns" kind of garbage.

Well now you did it. Just wait utill I tell the President!

[Fledermaus]

Like gangsta graffiti? Now you're getting the statement this kind of crap makes to the locals.

And you polled the locals to know this? They were paid to paint it and made some money. How do you know they think it's bad?

[auboy]

Well, my Tigers are a heavy favorite this weekend. Anybody out there know where Open University is located?;-)

[91B]

Moron-the Brits continue to have trouble in Basra and the Marines have mostly left. Iraq is the Army's area to secure and we are paying the price in casualties. Don't talk $h!t.

[Richard Kimball]

Georgia is still gonna win the SEC this year...

Yeah, but my Cowboys beat the Giants Monday night, and Crawford is going to win the Centex 2A. BTW, if anyone wants to follow GW's home town team, I'm the photog for the local newspaper. You can follow the season at http://homepage.mac.com/stephenacook/Crawford.

Here's some action from last week. The Crawford Pirates beat the Bosqueville Bulldogs 60-30.

[91B]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/971869/posts

[91B]

According to http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat.htm of the 150,000 US military personnel in the CENTCOM area of operations 130,000 are soldiers. You tell me a$$#ole-what exactly is the area that the Marines have so effectively secured?

[honeygrl]

Risking flames here but Vols fans are nuts! My hubby use to be the head guy at the cable company in a town an hour north of knoxville. One day/evening/whatever, the cable went out during a game. There were men outside the office where one poor girl was there answering the phone for outages and they were yelling physical threats at her through the window. My big bad hubby had to go up there and to make sure she was safe and she had to call the police. I seem to recall one guy threatening to burn the place down. (like that would help get the game back on anyway)

[honeygrl]

Yep and those guys were from a town right next door to ours!

[eddie willers]

Watkinsville.

You live in Athens?

[ArneFufkin]

Settle down, bubba.

These guys ordered this paint in SPECIFICALLY to paint that g-damn tower. It's a scent marking. You think the 101st is painting water towers as normal duty? Don't be a chump.

[91B]

Yeah, and in that particular instance you might be right. But then you made a sweeping generalization about the Army itself, which was not grounded in fact and was directed against the one force that is doing all the heavy lifting on the ground right now. Saying that we were failing in our duty as compared to the Brits or Marines. Well, the Marines have largely left and the Brits continue to have problems. The situation in Iraq is not the Army's doing despite what jerks like you seem to think.

[sarasmom]

LOL!
While I was rather proud of my much deserved reputation as a by the books hard-ss when I was active duty, certain things are human and needed.

Like knowing who the "someone" probably was who painted the sheep tracks on the sidewalks outside the bunyaps building the night before a major ORI.
And keeping my mouth shut, along with everyone else in the unit involved, and silently accepting the mass reprimand with just a hint of a twinkle in my eye.
It was actually a hilarious and harmless prank, and it certainly provided a large measure of stress relief and helped solidify morale.
An orange watertower with a "T" on it probably makes the Iraqis who painted it have a twinkle in their eyes, too.I would bet money they were in on the meaning.
God knows they have had little to laugh about for a long time.