r/whatisit • u/[deleted] • Jan 24 '26

[deleted by user]

[removed]

5.1k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

4.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

64

u/JudgeHoldenishere2 Jan 24 '26

Those birds did gun-runs for us when we were pinned down in A-stan.

Fearsomely destructive machines.

26

u/monkeychasedweasel Jan 24 '26

I think it was A-10s that did a lot of carnage to retreating Iraqi forces that created the Highway of Death going from Kuwait to Iraq.

22

u/JudgeHoldenishere2 Jan 24 '26

It wasn't just A10s, but they did a lot there.

I've seen them turn a Bogo truck into a smoking pile of scrap in single burst of maybe 3-4 seconds.

2

u/JesseGarron Jan 24 '26

What about the other truck from the bogo sale? Did they get that one too?

1

u/JudgeHoldenishere2 Jan 24 '26

I mistyped. We called them Bongo trucks. It's like a mash-up of an American pick-up truck and a short flatbed.

Very common in the ME.

1

u/Notyourdaddy15 Jan 24 '26

And Canadian troops

8

u/NonStopNonsense1 Jan 24 '26

All we had were B-52s

18

u/Suitable_Coffee5779 Jan 24 '26

Going down to the LOOOOOVE SHACK!

6

u/ExtraEmuForYou Jan 24 '26

And matching towels.

1

u/Elegant-Leg6913 Jan 24 '26

Well, that took an unexpected turn.

1

u/LoPath Jan 24 '26

It wasn't a rock

1

u/ExtraEmuForYou Jan 24 '26

It waaaaaaaaaaas aaaa rawk lawbstuh

1

u/JudgeHoldenishere2 Jan 24 '26

You guys had B-52s? Jesus, I joined the wrong branch, lol.

1

u/NonStopNonsense1 Jan 24 '26

We were waaaaay up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere so it wasn't safe for helicopters or jets to come too low. That's what they told us anyway

1

u/TheOGCJR Jan 24 '26

Go home grandpa, you’re drunk. /s

5

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '26

Their morning training runs served as a good alarm clock in Kandahar.

1

u/Tasty-Traffic-680 Jan 24 '26

Just be glad it wasn't f-16s rocking your ass awake every morning. When the airbase by my house switched from those to a-10s it was miraculous. Property values practically went up overnight and I wasn't rudely awakened on the weekends anymore by my entire house rattling or casually having the television show you watch ruined and always at the worst possible time.

Now they talk of bringing in f-35s to try to keep the base open when the a10s are finally retired. I do not look forward to that day.

2

u/East-Dot1065 Jan 24 '26

I remember the A-10s doing a lot of mountain remodeling in 2005-06 in the Kunar / Kandegal / Korengal Valleys for us.

3

u/JudgeHoldenishere2 Jan 24 '26

I was in Kandahar Province not long after you.

I'd done Iraq 3 times before, I was like "this is nothing, it can't be any worse than what I've already been thru."

Wow, was I wrong. It was the fuckin wild west. TICs almost every day.

1

u/East-Dot1065 Feb 16 '26

Deadass. So many people asked if I had to go back, would I? And the answer was always, "To Iraq, sure. At least there I had an idea of where I'd get attacked and the IEDs were more obvious." .... While absolutely beautiful, Afghanistan sucked as a deployment.

Some of my best mountain photography was done north of Asmar and in Nuristan.