My Old Unit in Iraq
This didn't strike me until last week, but the Army unit in which I served from 1982-1984, the 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion, is deployed in Iraq along with the rest of its division, the 3rd Infantry Division.
Back then, I held MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) ratings of 98G (Voice Interceptor, Russian) and 74B (Information Systems Operator-Analyst). I'm not sure how useful either of them would be in Iraq right now -- especially the Russian translation.
When I was in the 103rd, we were stationed in Würzburg, in what was then West Germany. Virtually all our voice interceptors were trained in Russian, except for a few who knew German and a few who carried an additional rating in Korean from a previous tour there. Now, I'd be surprised if there are more than a handful of Russian speakers in the 103rd -- the vast majority is almost certainly Arabic-speaking.
How times have changed.
Comments
I served in the 103rd from 1987-1990. The greatest time in my life. I was there when the berlin wall came down. A damn good time to be in germany. to bad the 103rd is now state side. It a whole different Army in germany......
Posted by: mel (andy) Anderson | January 4, 2004 10:33 PM