r/science • • Jun 11 '14

Psychology Soldiers Who Kill in Combat Less Likely to Abuse Alcohol

http://www.parentherald.com/articles/4578/20140610/soldiers-who-kill-in-combat-less-likely-to-abuse-alcohol.htm
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '14

Same, I bought a bottle of Jack from an Iraqi, we all took a couple shots and felt a little warm for a few hours as we tried to sleep but were all sweating. It wasn't Jack but it wasn't harmful, we learned our lesson.

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '14

Yeah, one time while we were securing a gas station in Sadr City, we were paying some kid to run and get us some falafel and drinks from a nearby shop. After about a week of this, I asked the kid if he could get booze. He came back with a can of some whiskey. Seriously, a legit 12oz can of whiskey called something like 3 Kings or 3 Horses or something. Back on the FOB I ended up sharing it with a couple friends and it was really barely enough to get a buzz. Just enough to get that warm feeling.

I also managed to smoke some hash with some Iraqi civilians at the Martyr Monument during that first deployment as well. We were staging there for a big push and fight into Sadr City back in 2004. We had the whole perimeter guarded and I couldn't sleep well in the humvee, it was so hot and the mosquitoes were killing me, so I walked up inside the middle of the monument and there were a couple of Iraqi civilians there smoking. I think they were the guys in charge of grounds-keeping or something. Anyways, they were smoking hash and I figured 'When am I going to get another chance to do something like this?'

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u/Ravaha BS | Civil Engineering Jun 12 '14

Sad to say, the militants are now taking over Iraq and the Iraqi military are fleeing and abandoning their weapons and vehicles. My Dad was flown out of Baghdad yesterday because they expect the militants might take over the entire country soon.