Tom Ricks's Inbox

Tom Ricks's Inbox

Some of the most interesting accounts of the Iraq war have come in notes from young soldiers writing to comrades who are preparing to deploy to the country.

Here, Army Lt. Brendan Hagan, a resident of Arlington and a recent graduate of George Washington University, advises an ROTC buddy on what to bring with him (the letter has been edited slightly for space). Hagan is now a highly regarded infantry platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne Division, operating near the town of Samarra:

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Date: Mar 24, 2007 8:02 AM

Subject: Could be useful to you, could be crap

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Hi Adam,

Well, I am finally sitting down to try and put some stuff on paper. These will be rambling thoughts so you will have to take them or leave them. . . .

What are the top pieces of equipment you wish you had/didn't know you needed?

· Desert ghillie suits or ghillie blankets [used to camouflage snipers]. We use abandoned houses and shacks when possible, but it does not always work out. So the ability to hide in the open is critical for engaging IED emplacers. Besides you can only use an abandoned house a few times before the enemy will catch on and booby trap them.

· Spotter scopes or good binos are a must. Every vehicle needs to have a good set of binos. IEDs are usually surface laid, but the enemy uses trash, bushes and even sandbags to hide them. After a while you learn what to look for, but the binos give you standoff for suspicious objects and allow you to assess whether it is an IED or not.