I was 24 years old when I commissioned into active duty and had just graduated college in 2003. I was previously enlisted in the National Guards while I was in college, which means I DID go to basic training and AIT so I was acquainted with the military culture, to some degree.

I will say this, when I went through basic training in the late 90’s, the instruction was archaic, in nature. We were still focused on Cold War scenarios versus what we ended up dealing with in either Iraq or Afghanistan. I think many veterans would agree that our drills and training from the 90s to the mid 2000’s changed vastly due to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At any rate, I want to share some videos from my time there as a platoon leader- I was a Second Lieutenant when I arrived to Mosul, Iraq in 2004 and I served my time as a platoon leader for a transportation platoon. Here's how it went...