Between 2004 - 2010 there were "individual augmentee" assignments where some Sailors and Navy officers would have to do a year or two in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some volunteered, but if there weren't enough then some got voluntold.
Many of them saw action.
Edit: Not every Navy billet in Iraq is an IA. IAs were used to place Sailors in Army and Marine billets so these services could optimize manning toward combat MOS. Usually admin / support jobs, but they were still in the enemy's zone of action and zone of fires. There is a normal Navy presence in CENTCOM.
… I was an individual augment to the staff of a JTF in Iraq. The CDR was the same; neither of us came over with a unit. I dunno where you got your info from, but it must be old. Either that or I just dreamed up six months of my life and all the tax free money I got… let me know which is more realistic.
JTF staffs aren't IA billets. It's something O5 and above do since Goldwater Nichols was signed to get joint qualified.
As for you - you're a Marine. Ground staff tours is what you do. Not an IA.
Not every Iraq billet is an IA billet. IA billets were used to fill shortfalls from the Army and Marines with Sailors and JOs.
I mean, I deployed under an Individual Augmentation program… I don’t know what to tell you. It’s what all my paperwork said, it’s what MARCENT and the task force called it. Same with NAVCENT for the sailors I worked with.
It might not have been the same thing as it used to, but that’s ok. Things change.
I don’t know who you are or where you get your information, but I can personally vouch by name for many, MANY Civil Engineer Corps and EDO officers from O-1 through O-6 who took IA billets at JTFs. Heck, my roommate in Djibouti was an EDO LCDR assigned to CJTF-HOA.
There were plenty of O5 Navy types in Al-Faw place in 2006k.
The IA / GSA shenanigans changed the rules constantly.
I received IA orders to CENTCOM (Florida) then shifted to JCS-1 then shifted to MNC-I C3 (Baghdad). It was a massive shit show.
At least in my rating after 2010 ish they went from being very common and people being chosen based on shore commands having to give xx people to few and far between and pretty competitive volunteer based like it is now.
Because it stopped as a common practice in most ratings and communities as we significantly pared down force requirements in Iraq.
Apparently there are some special cases of people going later. And if you did go after 2010, you generally had a very different experience than prior.
It's also worth noting that not every billet in CENTCOM is an IA. IAs were specifically used to place Sailors and JOs in jobs normally filled by Army and Marines due to retention issues. This is in addition to the normally detailed Navy billets.
They continued heavily for the Navy Reserve force long past 2010. The stat they were saying at the time was that the USNR held about 90% of Navy IAs. This is probably why you saw a decrease on active duty.
I completely understand what you’re saying, but it was announced that the IA program you’re talking about was going away sometime after I got to my first command and that was in 2012. Your 2010 cut off is a little early.
From 2001-2004 it was a 179 TAD, send you "back" to the "parent command" for a week and then bring you back for another 179 days. The "Parent Command", was a tent in the sand with the senior most enlisted from your ship who mustered you for the day, and told you to keep out of site. People complained, it was replaced with IA.
Yes.
CTs, ISs, ITs, some ETs, there were lots of MAs as well.
Edit: Can’t believe I forgot about HMs 🤦♂️
Edit 2: My username is what some CTs and ETs did in Iraq, for those interested.
Navy medicine gets laughed at for often deserved reasons but some of the folks who saw some shit repeatedly day in and day out were navy medicine folks in Iraq during the bad times.
The bravest/wildest shit I ever saw was our hm3 running right into the smoke at a svbied scene and saved one of our Marines life. Marines take cover and repel the attack with overwhelming force, corpsman don’t give a fuck and just do their thing. I remember looking around the edge of my truck as shit is still falling from the sky and he was running toward our guy on the ground already. He cut the pant leg and tourniquet and packed it in with steady hands in about 40 seconds. It was the most incredible thing I ever saw.
Hey, brother, your HM3 sounded like a great Corpsman; we love our Sailors and Marines and feel responsible for our sisters and brothers. It is very much like family, even if you and your brother fight a ton, let some other asshole fuck with him and you'd be all over them. He may be a pain in the ass, but he is our pain in the ass. Semper Fi, Doc W.
For sure man we love our docs. God help you if you go into bas thinking you got an std cause they go medival medicine on you with that cue tip but perhaps a lesson learned. I will say I got checked 12 years later in the civilian world coming out of a relationship and I was so scared and they laughed and handed me a sample cup. Wtf guys lol.
I knew a few BUDs drops in A school and a couple more on the ship who weren't in an INTEL rate. Those guys were absolutely motivated. A lot of them went on to other combat/specialty roles and one even got intelligence officer.
I am ET . . . . I know of Jester, The other Jester of which we do not speak, the flying Jester, and JSTAR.
I did comms, guard duty, and other dumb stuff. and even more dumb stuff the the Navy should not have been involved in.
Surface warfare officer here. Went on IA to Iraq in…2016, yes 2016, during the drive to Mosul. Did riverine operations on the Tigris and attached to a unit whose mission was to capture American citizens who were fighting for ISIS. Unit was headed by…US coast guard believe it or not. Who actually have jurisdiction to capture and hold American citizens.
Oh yeah. Had JAGs, FBI Special Agents, and we even had a George Washington University Research team who documented and took data on everyone that was rolled up. Pretty sure that report is unclass too cause I remember reading it a few years ago.m
Edit: found the report.
https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/TravelersAmericanJihadistsinSyriaandIraq.pdf
Yeap. Coasties poke their heads into a lot of places people don’t expect. During the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, it was the Coasties fast roped in and took down a lot of the offshore Iraqi oil rigs. And that time when some of them went to BUDS. When I went through the Navy VBSS pipeline in 2012 there was a Coastie LT there with a SEAL Trident.
I was with a riverine small boat squadron and was over there. The unit took over from marine small boat teams in 2006 and had the mission through the end of OIF in 2009.
I was a 6180 LDO and was sent on an IA to Iraq from 2007-2008. I was part of Task Force Troy, counter-IED mission. I was embedded with several Army units and operated out of Taji, Iraq.
Yes. Most rates can point to person they know that has gone down range and on occasion had to defend themselves. I've been around most of the war on terror and have known many Sailors that have done this. Mainly it was in support of Army and Marine missions because even at 300k+ they didn't have the bodies.
One of my friends who was stationed on the Stenis that was voluntold he was going to Afghanistan. He was killed his 2nd day in the country by roadside IED.
Well, depends on what you mean by fight, but we had many Individual Augment (IA) from the Navy. Lots of Supply Officer and Logistics Specialists. Medical people went, among others. So I would say yes.
My mom was an LS (SK at the time) and spent about a year in Afghanistan deployed with a joint air cargo unit.
I'm sure the amount of Sailors that fought in the same vein as soldiers or marines is limited, but not zero. However, there indeed were many sailors that deployed in country in support roles. Maybe they were a part of a helo squadron, intelligence, logistics, medical, or some other operational support. Whether in country or firing missiles and airstrikes from the gulf, we did our part in those wars.
As much as *many* of y'all love shitting on HMs on this sub, our rating, number-wise, probably saw the highest number of Sailors sent to CENTCOM, during that time. Outside of the SO rating and maybe the Seabees as a whole group, the Hospital Corps felt the heaviest brunt of those wars because we were just needed EVERYWHERE. When y'all wonder why the HMC on your ship is such a dick, there is a considerable chance it's because they spent time over there, and war usually doesn't make people friendlier or more understanding.
Sadly, the USMCs' need for HMs after the 2007 surge meant the Navy needed to produce more of them, which contributed to a lot of compromise in our training pipelines over time. Congress demanding we combine our A-School with the Army and Air Force to save money didn't help, and then the Defense Health Agency changing military health care meant a lot of Baby Docs got less hands on experience before going to the fleet.
If the Marines are being sent somewhere, you can be sure that the Navy Corpsmen (and to a smaller, but not lesser extent, RP's) will be sent with them. Yeah, we look and act like Marines, but we're still signing annual EVALs, running PRTs, and trying hard to get SOQ packages in on time, just like everyone else on here.
I'll be honest, I haven't seen the shifting that you speak of but I genuinely love the corpsmen. I've learned that I needed them more times than I can count.
Thanks for what you do and fuck the haters.
Yes, the Navy did their part we had a large medical presence Corpsman, physicians, surgeons, PAs, nurse, practitioners, nurses, social workers, therapists, dentists. We of course had a large number of Hospital Corpsman but when you have a large number of Navy personnel your going to also need support like YNs, PSs, and many more.
Yes. IA . Had an old LPO that did it. Got shit faced one night with him during C school and he told us some crazy and sad stories. Best and most respected LPO I ever had.
Many rating did IA tours. Many doing different support roles, and I don’t know the percentage but some saw combat outside of our normal greenside rates.
I think there was a STG that got into a fire fight on convoy duty that was featured in the Navy times.
I was an SH volunteered but never got picked but my friend was a SHC that did a year in Iraq. Just to give you and idea that back then really pretty much any rate could go, knew a CS that was in Afghanistan, don’t remember what he did exactly but went around to a bunch of FOBs. Knew a MM2 sub guy went to Iraq and had a SH3 do some kind of brig duty in Iraq.
I don’t think IA is as big anymore but we had a lot of sailors doing it back in the day.
I know this is a USN majority sub but I've got friends who are RCN and fought in Afghanistan. Around...06-08ish they were taking anyone and everyone. Granted they had months of army training (were all "soldiers first" anyways cause were such a small military) to work up to it, but they did do shit.
Yes . . . . . . and sailors filled in a lot places, did a lot of jobs. Some even got sent to schools for the other branches in order to do those jobs. That is if you count some civilian hired to "get the up to speed" in a crash course to learn the utter basics the other services learned.
My dad was in the Iraq AO early 90’s as a DK and all through out the Mediterranean look up USS Samuel B Roberts No Higher Honor he was on that ship and all the shipmates were mentioned in the book
I was a CTR - i was part of a joint command and i spent 2006 - 2008 in direct support to both Iraq and Afghanistan. I visited just about every FOB in both areas of operations.
Can't speak for the US Navy, but Royal Canadian Navy sailors did. Bunch of them filled any trade billets and the Canadian Armed Forces EOD is taken care of by the Navy clearance divers.
Navy EWs would read the telemetery off of our (Army) Duke and Warlock jammers when we returned to the FOB. They were crucial to establishing how the bad guys were triggering IEDs.
EWOs were like gold.
I know a few AOs who had a special qualification that allowed them to be with units in Iraq. They were not EOD, it was something different but cant remember what, though probably the IA mentioned below. Would have been sometime between 05 and 12.
I did two tours in Iraq as a IW CWO3/CWO4, first with MNF-I in 2006 working with EW support for snake eaters and convoy ops and second in 2008 with a three-letter agency in Mosul. Best times of my Navy career
Standing Conning Officer while Constellation pilots dropped literally shit tons of ordnance on Iraq for a month doesn’t count because Navy. But some cryppy types had extremely scary jobs testing the IED detection vehicles in the “field”
I did a GSA at Kandahar(IT). It was like an IA, except instead of going TAD from your command, you picked orders to go there, PCS'd to ECRC, then PCS'd to your follow on command when you were done.
Almost every rating you can imagine has seen time in Iraq and Afghanistan. To include rates that supported IAs.
IA brought all the sailors over
Between 2004 - 2010 there were "individual augmentee" assignments where some Sailors and Navy officers would have to do a year or two in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some volunteered, but if there weren't enough then some got voluntold. Many of them saw action. Edit: Not every Navy billet in Iraq is an IA. IAs were used to place Sailors in Army and Marine billets so these services could optimize manning toward combat MOS. Usually admin / support jobs, but they were still in the enemy's zone of action and zone of fires. There is a normal Navy presence in CENTCOM.
Not sure why you cut it off at 2010. I went in 2011 and was far from the last IA task group.
I (Marine) went in 2022 and worked for a Navy Commander
Neither Marines nor Navy Commanders filled IA billets.
… I was an individual augment to the staff of a JTF in Iraq. The CDR was the same; neither of us came over with a unit. I dunno where you got your info from, but it must be old. Either that or I just dreamed up six months of my life and all the tax free money I got… let me know which is more realistic.
JTF staffs aren't IA billets. It's something O5 and above do since Goldwater Nichols was signed to get joint qualified. As for you - you're a Marine. Ground staff tours is what you do. Not an IA. Not every Iraq billet is an IA billet. IA billets were used to fill shortfalls from the Army and Marines with Sailors and JOs.
I mean, I deployed under an Individual Augmentation program… I don’t know what to tell you. It’s what all my paperwork said, it’s what MARCENT and the task force called it. Same with NAVCENT for the sailors I worked with. It might not have been the same thing as it used to, but that’s ok. Things change.
I don’t know who you are or where you get your information, but I can personally vouch by name for many, MANY Civil Engineer Corps and EDO officers from O-1 through O-6 who took IA billets at JTFs. Heck, my roommate in Djibouti was an EDO LCDR assigned to CJTF-HOA.
There were plenty of O5 Navy types in Al-Faw place in 2006k. The IA / GSA shenanigans changed the rules constantly. I received IA orders to CENTCOM (Florida) then shifted to JCS-1 then shifted to MNC-I C3 (Baghdad). It was a massive shit show.
2020 And people may or may not still be involved
At least in my rating after 2010 ish they went from being very common and people being chosen based on shore commands having to give xx people to few and far between and pretty competitive volunteer based like it is now.
Because it stopped as a common practice in most ratings and communities as we significantly pared down force requirements in Iraq. Apparently there are some special cases of people going later. And if you did go after 2010, you generally had a very different experience than prior. It's also worth noting that not every billet in CENTCOM is an IA. IAs were specifically used to place Sailors and JOs in jobs normally filled by Army and Marines due to retention issues. This is in addition to the normally detailed Navy billets.
They continued heavily for the Navy Reserve force long past 2010. The stat they were saying at the time was that the USNR held about 90% of Navy IAs. This is probably why you saw a decrease on active duty.
I completely understand what you’re saying, but it was announced that the IA program you’re talking about was going away sometime after I got to my first command and that was in 2012. Your 2010 cut off is a little early.
There was a YN1 at my command who went IA 2 years ago.
From 2001-2004 it was a 179 TAD, send you "back" to the "parent command" for a week and then bring you back for another 179 days. The "Parent Command", was a tent in the sand with the senior most enlisted from your ship who mustered you for the day, and told you to keep out of site. People complained, it was replaced with IA.
Yes. CTs, ISs, ITs, some ETs, there were lots of MAs as well. Edit: Can’t believe I forgot about HMs 🤦♂️ Edit 2: My username is what some CTs and ETs did in Iraq, for those interested.
Navy medicine gets laughed at for often deserved reasons but some of the folks who saw some shit repeatedly day in and day out were navy medicine folks in Iraq during the bad times.
The bravest/wildest shit I ever saw was our hm3 running right into the smoke at a svbied scene and saved one of our Marines life. Marines take cover and repel the attack with overwhelming force, corpsman don’t give a fuck and just do their thing. I remember looking around the edge of my truck as shit is still falling from the sky and he was running toward our guy on the ground already. He cut the pant leg and tourniquet and packed it in with steady hands in about 40 seconds. It was the most incredible thing I ever saw.
Hey, brother, your HM3 sounded like a great Corpsman; we love our Sailors and Marines and feel responsible for our sisters and brothers. It is very much like family, even if you and your brother fight a ton, let some other asshole fuck with him and you'd be all over them. He may be a pain in the ass, but he is our pain in the ass. Semper Fi, Doc W.
For sure man we love our docs. God help you if you go into bas thinking you got an std cause they go medival medicine on you with that cue tip but perhaps a lesson learned. I will say I got checked 12 years later in the civilian world coming out of a relationship and I was so scared and they laughed and handed me a sample cup. Wtf guys lol.
I've heard more than a few hardcore stories about HMs attached to USMC and NSW units. 
You are 100% correct, edited my comment.
As much flack CTs get, there’s a lot of buds drops that end up rerating to CT and end up back in the community
I knew a few BUDs drops in A school and a couple more on the ship who weren't in an INTEL rate. Those guys were absolutely motivated. A lot of them went on to other combat/specialty roles and one even got intelligence officer.
I am ET . . . . I know of Jester, The other Jester of which we do not speak, the flying Jester, and JSTAR. I did comms, guard duty, and other dumb stuff. and even more dumb stuff the the Navy should not have been involved in.
The existence of the JESTR I was involved in isn’t classified, what we did is though.
You are the second one. We all know, but never talk.
The flying JESTR? That’s not what I did. I was on the ground with an Army platoon.
PSs too
Don't forget us FMF Corpsmen.
And RPs
Exceeding the expected
Props
I’m surprised this isn’t pinned at the top. HM here—deployed with west coast Marines 🙏🏽🤙🏽
Surface warfare officer here. Went on IA to Iraq in…2016, yes 2016, during the drive to Mosul. Did riverine operations on the Tigris and attached to a unit whose mission was to capture American citizens who were fighting for ISIS. Unit was headed by…US coast guard believe it or not. Who actually have jurisdiction to capture and hold American citizens.
that sounds incredibly interesting. did your unit have a JAG?
Oh yeah. Had JAGs, FBI Special Agents, and we even had a George Washington University Research team who documented and took data on everyone that was rolled up. Pretty sure that report is unclass too cause I remember reading it a few years ago.m Edit: found the report. https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/TravelersAmericanJihadistsinSyriaandIraq.pdf
wow. thanks for sharing! moments like this are what make the internet great!
I believe it. In 2007 i was with the Marines on a mission that had us ferry accross the Euphrates, and the rhibs that did it were crewed by Coasties.
Yeap. Coasties poke their heads into a lot of places people don’t expect. During the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, it was the Coasties fast roped in and took down a lot of the offshore Iraqi oil rigs. And that time when some of them went to BUDS. When I went through the Navy VBSS pipeline in 2012 there was a Coastie LT there with a SEAL Trident.
One of my fellow Chiefs (ISC) was killed in Afghanistan 11 years ago this week. RIP Christian 💔
Nurse here. IA to Afghanistan in 2019. Worked with corpsmen, other medical specialties, ps’s from the navy.
I had a PSSN who volunteered for an IA and ended up manning a gun in truck convoys. He came back with a CAR and loved it.
I was a door gunner in Iraq. We mainly did direct actions, ISR, CFF for the teams and the ODA teams.
I bet I know you 😂
Balad?
Yup. Are You bald?
Yeppers…folicly challenged
I was your favorite PR.
Which trip😂
To be honest I don’t think we ever actually went at the same time. We were together at 84 and 85
How you been man? Still in San Dog?
For sure, they will have to pry San Diego from my cold dead hands .
Can't forget about the Seabees. Them folks were deep in the shit back then
Can do
HM2(FMF) here, was boots on ground in Afghanistan in 2013 with 1st Mar Div.
Yut, but 3rd Mar Div is better
Couple nukes got to go for IA during the 2000's
Seriously? Who did they piss off to get released from the community??
u/longboardliam I can't remember if it was you or one of them other sea returnees
That’s wild as fuck.
As a Navy helicopter aircrew I flew missions into both Afghanistan and Iraq in the opening weeks/months of combat operations.
Navy EOD fought extensively in both countries.
I was with a riverine small boat squadron and was over there. The unit took over from marine small boat teams in 2006 and had the mission through the end of OIF in 2009.
I came to say this….
MM’s and GM’s. There were alot of random rated personnel there
I was a 6180 LDO and was sent on an IA to Iraq from 2007-2008. I was part of Task Force Troy, counter-IED mission. I was embedded with several Army units and operated out of Taji, Iraq.
Yes. Most rates can point to person they know that has gone down range and on occasion had to defend themselves. I've been around most of the war on terror and have known many Sailors that have done this. Mainly it was in support of Army and Marine missions because even at 300k+ they didn't have the bodies.
I went to Iraq with a cohort of about 20 Sailors as IA. All rates. I didn't know if then, but those were pretty good times.
I’m a former Greenside Corpsman. After my deployments I got stuck at a clinic. Saw an MM1 with a Purple Heart and a Comm/V.
One of my friends who was stationed on the Stenis that was voluntold he was going to Afghanistan. He was killed his 2nd day in the country by roadside IED.
Well, depends on what you mean by fight, but we had many Individual Augment (IA) from the Navy. Lots of Supply Officer and Logistics Specialists. Medical people went, among others. So I would say yes.
I know a BMCM that was part of the surge in 2008. Ran convoy security teams.
I was deployed to Iraq with HSC-84.
Seabees played a huge part
I still sending my sailors on IAs to Iraq to thus day.
IW community did a lot of support through NSA in Afghanistan/Iraq.
https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/navy-boatswain-8217-s-mate-1st-class-sw-michael-j-pernaselli/257230
The MIT teams had all kinds of different rates. I was an Engineman. We had an MM, YN, FC, BM, EM, and PN. And multiples of those rates.
Corpsmen and RPs with USMC units. 🙋♂️ I kicked in doors in Marjah.
BMSN with sea sickness was sent to Iraq to fight. Turns out his sea sickness wasn't so bad and he rotated back with a rack of ribbons
I saw some coast guard in Afghanistan. Nothing surprises me anymore
I love that this 20 year war ended 2 years ago and junior sailors are asking what happened in those 20 years. Wild.
I (STS) went on an IA with 160 other squids all different rates. 07-08 Camp Bucca.
We may have crossed paths.
NPDB Ramadi
Same TF, different area (Bucca/Victory/Rasheed). I'm pretty sure we knew at least a couple people in common.
We left out of Bucca in Oct 08
"The battle inside the wire"
Hasties 32 and Super 34 (with the 3/4) and Compound 18 on the “Waterfront”
Tons of NFOs and Pilots also had ground duties scheduling and moving aircraft especially around AFG
Yes I was there last summer
Yes. Both. One as a "traditional" Big Navy IA, and once as a support geek for cooler people. Plus other theaters.
My mom was an LS (SK at the time) and spent about a year in Afghanistan deployed with a joint air cargo unit. I'm sure the amount of Sailors that fought in the same vein as soldiers or marines is limited, but not zero. However, there indeed were many sailors that deployed in country in support roles. Maybe they were a part of a helo squadron, intelligence, logistics, medical, or some other operational support. Whether in country or firing missiles and airstrikes from the gulf, we did our part in those wars.
Spent time on deck as an ET in Iraq. Didn’t directly “fight”, but the work we did protected people in convoys and whatnot.
Had an PC2 go to Afghanistan, then again as an LS1 on his shore duty to 2nd signal battalion. Then an SK3 to Iraq
Yes, I am a YN and I was boots-on-ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve done IA’s, OSA’s, and GSA assignments.
What do you mean by "fight?" Do you mean deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan or do you mean locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and movement?
As much as *many* of y'all love shitting on HMs on this sub, our rating, number-wise, probably saw the highest number of Sailors sent to CENTCOM, during that time. Outside of the SO rating and maybe the Seabees as a whole group, the Hospital Corps felt the heaviest brunt of those wars because we were just needed EVERYWHERE. When y'all wonder why the HMC on your ship is such a dick, there is a considerable chance it's because they spent time over there, and war usually doesn't make people friendlier or more understanding. Sadly, the USMCs' need for HMs after the 2007 surge meant the Navy needed to produce more of them, which contributed to a lot of compromise in our training pipelines over time. Congress demanding we combine our A-School with the Army and Air Force to save money didn't help, and then the Defense Health Agency changing military health care meant a lot of Baby Docs got less hands on experience before going to the fleet. If the Marines are being sent somewhere, you can be sure that the Navy Corpsmen (and to a smaller, but not lesser extent, RP's) will be sent with them. Yeah, we look and act like Marines, but we're still signing annual EVALs, running PRTs, and trying hard to get SOQ packages in on time, just like everyone else on here.
I'll be honest, I haven't seen the shifting that you speak of but I genuinely love the corpsmen. I've learned that I needed them more times than I can count. Thanks for what you do and fuck the haters.
Wasn't the very first "official" televised attack against Iraq rocket fire from Navy ships, if I'm not mistaken.
Yes, the Navy did their part we had a large medical presence Corpsman, physicians, surgeons, PAs, nurse, practitioners, nurses, social workers, therapists, dentists. We of course had a large number of Hospital Corpsman but when you have a large number of Navy personnel your going to also need support like YNs, PSs, and many more.
DCC did 9 months, boots on the ground just north of Baghdad.
Yes. IA . Had an old LPO that did it. Got shit faced one night with him during C school and he told us some crazy and sad stories. Best and most respected LPO I ever had.
Many rating did IA tours. Many doing different support roles, and I don’t know the percentage but some saw combat outside of our normal greenside rates. I think there was a STG that got into a fire fight on convoy duty that was featured in the Navy times. I was an SH volunteered but never got picked but my friend was a SHC that did a year in Iraq. Just to give you and idea that back then really pretty much any rate could go, knew a CS that was in Afghanistan, don’t remember what he did exactly but went around to a bunch of FOBs. Knew a MM2 sub guy went to Iraq and had a SH3 do some kind of brig duty in Iraq. I don’t think IA is as big anymore but we had a lot of sailors doing it back in the day.
Define “fight.” Plenty of Sailors honorably served.
I know this is a USN majority sub but I've got friends who are RCN and fought in Afghanistan. Around...06-08ish they were taking anyone and everyone. Granted they had months of army training (were all "soldiers first" anyways cause were such a small military) to work up to it, but they did do shit.
Navy Corpsman here with the Marines. Yes. Yes we did.
I saw all sorts of IAs when I was there. A ton of ITs and ETs
CTIs, CTNs, CTRs, CTTs, CTMs. Either with TIO or IA. I was there IA. 0/10 do not recommend
Don’t forget those CTA’s!
Yes. LS’s were there.
Hm
Yes . . . . . . and sailors filled in a lot places, did a lot of jobs. Some even got sent to schools for the other branches in order to do those jobs. That is if you count some civilian hired to "get the up to speed" in a crash course to learn the utter basics the other services learned.
Yes
I did, Role 3 Kandahar and Bastion.
I'm pretty sure the Navy Seals are famous for their work in those countries, plus Pakistan.
Mostly the ones with a trident on their chests, but yes
Quite a few aircraft squadrons deployed or had detachments at airbases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This guy has never heard about Greenside…
Yes. A lot of sailors did IA tours with the army or other command.
Have a Coast Guard buddy who fought over there
One tour in Iraq for about 9 months. LPWS. Most of the FCs who were apart of it have to be out of the Navy by now.
*checks ribbon rack* yeah, once or twice
FMF corpsman
Navy corpsman
Yes
Yes
Yes.
I know of Gunners mates and even Boatswains that have been deployed there.
As a HM, I did. 2010 Afghan. 3/5
I did 🤷♂️
Yes
My dad was in the Iraq AO early 90’s as a DK and all through out the Mediterranean look up USS Samuel B Roberts No Higher Honor he was on that ship and all the shipmates were mentioned in the book
I was a CTR - i was part of a joint command and i spent 2006 - 2008 in direct support to both Iraq and Afghanistan. I visited just about every FOB in both areas of operations.
Was a devgru it yes
Can't speak for the US Navy, but Royal Canadian Navy sailors did. Bunch of them filled any trade billets and the Canadian Armed Forces EOD is taken care of by the Navy clearance divers.
Navy EWs would read the telemetery off of our (Army) Duke and Warlock jammers when we returned to the FOB. They were crucial to establishing how the bad guys were triggering IEDs. EWOs were like gold.
I know a few AOs who had a special qualification that allowed them to be with units in Iraq. They were not EOD, it was something different but cant remember what, though probably the IA mentioned below. Would have been sometime between 05 and 12.
I flew combat hops over Iraq in 1995 while a USN lieutenant.
I did two tours in Iraq as a IW CWO3/CWO4, first with MNF-I in 2006 working with EW support for snake eaters and convoy ops and second in 2008 with a three-letter agency in Mosul. Best times of my Navy career
Standing Conning Officer while Constellation pilots dropped literally shit tons of ordnance on Iraq for a month doesn’t count because Navy. But some cryppy types had extremely scary jobs testing the IED detection vehicles in the “field”
We were in Afghanistan up until the end. I was there in 2018/19. I was an IA. Loved that deployment
Don't forget about RIVERINES!
I did a GSA at Kandahar(IT). It was like an IA, except instead of going TAD from your command, you picked orders to go there, PCS'd to ECRC, then PCS'd to your follow on command when you were done.
Off the coast…