eggiezisNseason

I am an experienced hiker with pretty extensive knowledge in survival. I am currently planning to hike around 500 miles along the "Ice Age Trail" in Wisconsin (waiting for it to cool off a bit because mosquitoes up there are horrendous). My question is (I will PM you as well), would you like a hiking partner? I believe we would both benefit from each other's knowledge and company.

I was actually really upset. We worked hard day in and day out to maintain security for not only ourselves and our base, but for the Afghan people, and their freedom.

The unit that replaced us were big headed, "we're from such and such unit, so we got this", ignorant assholes. They didn't listen to us when we said "as soon as they attack you, throw every single thing you have at them (air support, 155 howitzer artillery, mortars, etc), and attack with ferocity".

Well, they thought they were better than that. And they paid for it with the blood of our countrymen.

A year after I left, I was watching the news one night. My base was closing down due to the lives lost that past year. They said it wasn't worth it anymore. That news report was accompanied with a propaganda video of about 100+ fighters walking through that base, right next to where I rested my head at night (when I wasn't on the side/top of a mountain).

High ranking Taliban commanders, men that we were hunting down for a year, were walking freely in my base. I was upset, and felt like my time there was worth nothing.

Then about a year later my unit deployed to the region again. And guess what? We took that fucking base back. I wasn't there that second year. 1 year was enough on my body and mind. But we took it back, without the loss of any men.

As far as I know, it's still operating to this day.

My only hope is that those little girls are sitting in that school tomorrow morning, groggy eyed, but learning.

May Allah bless them all.

The overall population, even in the most remote regions (where I was), are pretty damn welcoming, and grateful for us being there. We do a lot of good for them.

The year I was there, we (not as much my platoon as we were infantry, not engineers and such) built an all girls school, put solar lights up both sides of all the roads in our AO, and gave out concrete like you wouldn't believe.

The kids loved us because we helped support their families by buying stuff from them, and their family loved us for it. The local businesses liked us for the same reason. If one of the elders were being threatened with death by the fighters in the area, we would pull security for him at night, and (just like everyday anyways) patrol during the day. This gave us brownie points with the locals as well.

We also have our a lot of fuel, which is like gold over there apparently.

Well, I know the taliban came down and shot out the solar light. They killed people for talking to us. They moved back into the area because the Government decided to shut down our base a year after I was there (the people that replaced us lost a lot of men). So when the taliban moved back in, all those people were 100x more oppressed. They also destroyed everything we did for the community.

So the locals like us unless we kill their families, which is rare if you know what you're doing, and are morally guided.

My trail legs are always on bud! I'm good to match whatever pace is preferred. I can comfortably do 30 miles or more a day, or any amount less. I'm not the type that has to always have a set amount of miles per day. I like to enjoy the nature and scenery, as that is the point of the outdoors.

I will pm you to keep in touch. Even if we can't meet up within the next month or so (I have to take off work) we can at some point in the near future!