While I was hanging around while the JAG folks were paying claims, I talked to several soldiers from one of the task forces. Formerly tankers, they are now pretty much infantry.
Things were going OK for them. Plenty of food and bottled water. (Enough that they use it to shower with, since they have no showers.) No enough sleep; never.
They were waiting around to see if they had to take building 25 again. They took it yesterday, and building 10, and had good field of fire down all streets. People could move around, and bad guys couldn't get off a decent shot. However, townsfok didn't like them occuping the building, so the slept in the street to make a point. To mollify them, HQ pulled the soldiers out of Bldgs 10 and 25, and bad guys moved back in. Since they now had the field of fire, no traffic could move in town.
The soldiers were ordered to retake Bldg 25. They did, but were under constant fire from Bldg 10. They then retook Bldg 10. Lost 3 soldiers retaking the bldgs. Traffic flowed again. However, townsfolk again pissed about occupying the bldgs, so soldiers pulled out again. Hence, the sniper when we got there. The soldiers were waiting for word whether they had to re-take the bldgs. Again. Still, spirits up. Looking forward to being done.
Much confidence in each other. No confidence in leadership. Couldn't understand why kept taking and giving up the same ground. Reminds me of Vietnam.
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