US M-60 tanks of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Exercise Reforger, 1983.

I am a veteran, I was in Iraq in 2005 with 3rd ACR under then Colonel HR McMaster. When we were in Baghdad, we were the hunters and looking for insurgents.  When we moved up to the Syrian border, my squadron (3rd ACR calls a Battalion a squadron) occupied the Army base south of Sinjar, my platoon also did some work in Tal Afar.  Up there, we were still the hunters, but so were the Kurds in a way that was surprising to us.  The Kurds, I never saw people so happy in all my life.  Normal people would be a bit scared to see an occupying force, and we were the first Americans they ever saw.  Think about that, they had probably been fed a lot of propaganda from Saddam that we were the devil, coming to rape and murder.  They welcomed us with love and open arms.  I have our main interpreter as a Facebook friend.  The Kurds and the Yazidi would welcomes us into their homes, feed us, we were even invited to a wedding!  We helped with security during their historic election and they were partying like they just won the Super Bowl and all of the Gold medals in the Olympics.  Up in Sinjar Mountains, even Iraq was beautiful, the only peaceful place in the whole country.  So when I say I liked the Kurds, and I am disgusted with what Trump has done to them, now you have a good idea of what I mean because words would fail to give you the full picture.  I was eventually medically discharged in 2009 for an injury I got while in Iraq that just go worse as the years rolled on.  I always wish I could have done more while in Iraq, to help the Kurds.  Especially as Obama made his mistake and withdrew letting ISIS come in and destroy Sinjar and rape, torture, and murder those people I came to love.  I couldn't imagine being in the Army now, having to give respect to Trump despite having nothing but loathing hatred for such a stupid selfish liar who has not only endangered the Kurds, but the US as well.  It may have been said before as hyperbole, but Trump really is a danger to this country.

2 years for an Associates degree, 2 more years for a Bachelor's degree, but I think I learned the most about the world in one year in Iraq with 3rd ACR.