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FID
I've been trying to get this message out for about three days but this damn internet in Iraq sucks. If you need to vet your soldiers, specifically the O's and NCO's, contact CJSOTF. Get on SIPR and look up their e-mail address. There are ways to vet Iraqis but they can't be discussed on this board. It's really good that your team has embedded yourselves with the locals however, these guys understand english alot better than they let on. When your hanging out and talking, make sure your not talking about anything remotely operational. You well get closer and closer to these guys as the months go along but I wouldn't trust them as I would one of my brothers on my team. You don't know what their Imam told them at prayers on Friday and you don't know if some sorry fuck affiliated with Al Jihad Wal Taweed has a gun to this guys wife and kids heads. Alot of these guys truly want a better Iraq but alot of them are FRE or MM and have alterier (sp?) motives. Just be careful.
82ndsig. Lets talk about Iraqis using your laptop while you were at briefings. There is no such thing as a "clean" laptop. Unless you wipe your drive every day with certain programs, there are things on there like e-mail addresses, pictures of your family, names of your family, addresses of your family, etc. That's just the little stuff. You would be suprised at what's on your personal laptop that could be used against you or your teammates. I may sound paranoid but there is some crazy stuff that goes on here. I can tell you with absolute assurance that more than one soldier has died here because of basic opsec violations. I can also tell you from first hand knowledge that there are guys in Abu G that came across as dumb Iraqi privates but spoke better English than you or me and could navigate around a computer better than most 15 year old computer nerds. I'm off my soapbox.
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