Scott Palmer
Unemployed
From Hadley, MA
Forward Advisor Fallujah, Iraq 8/03-10/03
Khowst, Afghanistan 8/02-1/03
From Hadley, MA
US Army, Sergeant
Forward Advisor Fallujah, Iraq 8/03-10/03
Khowst, Afghanistan 8/02-1/03
Statement spoken into a recorder
It was my third day in country...the first guy from our company got killed.
We were using light skinned Hum Vees. We'd be packed, usually 8 to 10 guys per Hum Vee, in four vehicles going down the road. We'd basically be used to draw fire. You can't draw out guerilla insurgents unless you have some reason for them to attack you--you know what I'm saying? So we spent a lot of time in unarmored vehicles playing sitting duck. Waiting to draw fire or hit one of these mechanicals. We filled up ration boxes--cardboard boxes--with sand taping them and tying them to the sides of the Hum Vee. People would get hit in Hum Vees--a lot--over there and those MRE boxes didn't do much but slow us down.
When I got back I went to school. During my first semester at Holyoke Community College a team of U.S. Army recruiters had this blinged out Hum Vee. It was like a recruiting model Hum Vee, with a big "Go Army" logo on the side. It had a huge amp, enormous cables, and sub-woofers-- it was probably a several thousand dollar sound system with a big 100 disc CD changer in it.
And I think that is... At the time I thought that was the most disgusting, misleading, thing to advertise the military with. What they should have done is have some pictures of what Hum Vees really look like, and what they look like after they get hit with Improvised explosive devices and while people are still in them.
We were using light skinned Hum Vees. We'd be packed, usually 8 to 10 guys per Hum Vee, in four vehicles going down the road. We'd basically be used to draw fire. You can't draw out guerilla insurgents unless you have some reason for them to attack you--you know what I'm saying? So we spent a lot of time in unarmored vehicles playing sitting duck. Waiting to draw fire or hit one of these mechanicals. We filled up ration boxes--cardboard boxes--with sand taping them and tying them to the sides of the Hum Vee. People would get hit in Hum Vees--a lot--over there and those MRE boxes didn't do much but slow us down.
When I got back I went to school. During my first semester at Holyoke Community College a team of U.S. Army recruiters had this blinged out Hum Vee. It was like a recruiting model Hum Vee, with a big "Go Army" logo on the side. It had a huge amp, enormous cables, and sub-woofers-- it was probably a several thousand dollar sound system with a big 100 disc CD changer in it.
And I think that is... At the time I thought that was the most disgusting, misleading, thing to advertise the military with. What they should have done is have some pictures of what Hum Vees really look like, and what they look like after they get hit with Improvised explosive devices and while people are still in them.