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I totally understand this. I lived in warzones for about 7 years, taking substantially less risks than he did almost all of the time (the most dangerous things
by rdl 11y ago
I totally understand this. I lived in warzones for about 7 years, taking substantially less risks than he did almost all of the time (the most dangerous things I did were transit, and I got exceptionally good at selling to people who owned aircraft and would let me ride on missions...), and maybe felt 1% of this. I bailed in 2007 after one-too-many close calls (just didn't go back after a planned 1 week trip), and was glad I had that luxury; ended up going back a year later anyway -- it's distressingly addictive given enough recovery time.
Of course, things must be even worse for actual civilians living in war zones. People who didn't choose it at all, who might have started from a less-than-ideal position, and who had nowhere to go.
- jonah 11y agoWill you tell us more about what you were doing while you were there?
- rdl 11y agoI worked with some Iraqi expats setting up an internet exchange in 2003/2004; it got too dangerous and too chaotic, so pivoted to satellite ISP. I ended up moving into a base, and then set up my own satellite ISP, and did backhaul for cellular, did various radio stuff, etc. Left in 2007. 2008-2010 I worked for a company doing medical imaging (radiology PACS) in hospitals across CENTCOM; worked with the satellite stuff but mainly linux servers in hospitals, which was my first exposure to the medical industry.