29 December 2005
Embedded Reporter
In these last couple of weeks, we’ve had an embedded reporter from the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal with us. She’s written some good pieces, both from a “what’s going on” perspective and human interest perspective. Below are the stories I saw that she wrote (not sure if there are others):
*Spirit of Christmas spans 7,000 miles: Wisconsin military personnel in Iraq connect with family for holiday http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/380403.asp
*Ordinary objects hide deadly surprises: Road patrol is trained with an eye for spotting the unusual http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/380250.asp
*A foreign situation in a familiar land: With changes in enemies and working conditions, the climate is about all Gulf War veterans recognize http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379901.asp
*A bond so strong, held fast by paper: When the Sunday school student wrote the soldier, the unspoken risk was that death could part the pen pals - and it did, in a way http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379638.asp
*Fighting for goodwill: Wisconsin unit helps settle conflicts with civilians in Iraq town http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379394.asp
*For supply soldiers, there's no holiday from danger: Wisconsin Guardsmen are essential to keeping lifeline of the Army open http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379036.asp
The reporter, Meg Jones, also wrote to a blog about her visit: http://www.jsonline.com/news/site/weblogs.asp?id=90
The stories she wrote are generally fairly accurate and it was interesting to read another person’s perspective concerning the same or similar experiences. A number of her articles were about soldiers in my company, which was neat to see in print. As far as the human interest pieces, I especially liked the "A bond so strong" article--the underlying story is fairly tragic and sad though.
*Spirit of Christmas spans 7,000 miles: Wisconsin military personnel in Iraq connect with family for holiday http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/380403.asp
*Ordinary objects hide deadly surprises: Road patrol is trained with an eye for spotting the unusual http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/380250.asp
*A foreign situation in a familiar land: With changes in enemies and working conditions, the climate is about all Gulf War veterans recognize http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379901.asp
*A bond so strong, held fast by paper: When the Sunday school student wrote the soldier, the unspoken risk was that death could part the pen pals - and it did, in a way http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379638.asp
*Fighting for goodwill: Wisconsin unit helps settle conflicts with civilians in Iraq town http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379394.asp
*For supply soldiers, there's no holiday from danger: Wisconsin Guardsmen are essential to keeping lifeline of the Army open http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/379036.asp
The reporter, Meg Jones, also wrote to a blog about her visit: http://www.jsonline.com/news/site/weblogs.asp?id=90
The stories she wrote are generally fairly accurate and it was interesting to read another person’s perspective concerning the same or similar experiences. A number of her articles were about soldiers in my company, which was neat to see in print. As far as the human interest pieces, I especially liked the "A bond so strong" article--the underlying story is fairly tragic and sad though.
25 December 2005
Wonderful Supporting Groups and Individuals
I am humbled. Humbled and proud. I want to take some time to describe the types of support that we have received over here from the American people. I thought that this flood of support would wane after a month or two after we arrived, but it hasn’t. Not even close. Here are some examples of the support we’ve received in just the last month or so:
*12,000 cookies from the “Wisconsin Cookie Brigade” (that’s about 20 cookies per soldier and is in addition to the dozens of cookies that I’m sure almost each soldier has received from friends and family—no wonder we’re getting fat!).
*Hundreds of books and magazines from the volunteers of the Books for Soldiers program (http://www.booksforsoldiers.com/).
*Tens of thousands (I’m not kidding, tens of thousands!) of letters and cards from school kids from all over the country.
*Thousands of hand written letters from adults addressed to “Any Soldier,” expressing their support for what we do and the sacrifice we’re making.
*Seven hundred hand-made wooden pens, made by woodworkers (www.freedompens.org/)*An American Legion Post sending its monthly collection of goods and supplies.
*A girl scout from northern Wisconsin sending her monthly box of candy and sweets (her commitment that she “wouldn’t not stop working for us until we come back and finish our sacrificing” for her).
*Dozens of packages of supplies from our battalion family readiness group.
*A card for each soldier here, each signed by a dozen or so employees from a department store in Wisconsin.
*Hundreds of ornaments and Christmas decorations sent by church groups.
Every day, over the last few weeks we have received dozens and dozens of packages. The above list is in addition to the various items that almost every soldier gets from his friends and family. For example, the people at the place I work, sent me a package for soldiers here that included DVDs, music, games, computer food, nice socks, etc. In addition, they raised over $1000 to support the Badger OIF Foundation. What can one say in response to support like this?
As you can imagine, we’ve been overwhelmed. Receiving this kind of support leaves one in awe . . . speechless. The support is from people all over the political spectrum—both supporters and criticizers of the war. Where else in the World do you see people like that? I am proud to be an American.
Of course, I miss my family this Christmas . . . . I miss them a lot. But, to receive this much from so many people takes away some of what's missing. It’s been a truly humbling experience this Christmas and holiday season. Thank you.
Merry Christmas all. Let's hope for a more peaceful year, next year.
*12,000 cookies from the “Wisconsin Cookie Brigade” (that’s about 20 cookies per soldier and is in addition to the dozens of cookies that I’m sure almost each soldier has received from friends and family—no wonder we’re getting fat!).
*Hundreds of books and magazines from the volunteers of the Books for Soldiers program (http://www.booksforsoldiers.com/).
*Tens of thousands (I’m not kidding, tens of thousands!) of letters and cards from school kids from all over the country.
*Thousands of hand written letters from adults addressed to “Any Soldier,” expressing their support for what we do and the sacrifice we’re making.
*Seven hundred hand-made wooden pens, made by woodworkers (www.freedompens.org/)*An American Legion Post sending its monthly collection of goods and supplies.
*A girl scout from northern Wisconsin sending her monthly box of candy and sweets (her commitment that she “wouldn’t not stop working for us until we come back and finish our sacrificing” for her).
*Dozens of packages of supplies from our battalion family readiness group.
*A card for each soldier here, each signed by a dozen or so employees from a department store in Wisconsin.
*Hundreds of ornaments and Christmas decorations sent by church groups.
Every day, over the last few weeks we have received dozens and dozens of packages. The above list is in addition to the various items that almost every soldier gets from his friends and family. For example, the people at the place I work, sent me a package for soldiers here that included DVDs, music, games, computer food, nice socks, etc. In addition, they raised over $1000 to support the Badger OIF Foundation. What can one say in response to support like this?
As you can imagine, we’ve been overwhelmed. Receiving this kind of support leaves one in awe . . . speechless. The support is from people all over the political spectrum—both supporters and criticizers of the war. Where else in the World do you see people like that? I am proud to be an American.
Of course, I miss my family this Christmas . . . . I miss them a lot. But, to receive this much from so many people takes away some of what's missing. It’s been a truly humbling experience this Christmas and holiday season. Thank you.
Merry Christmas all. Let's hope for a more peaceful year, next year.
16 December 2005
Iraqi Elections
I’ve done a good job thus far on this blog staying out of politics. With all the email questions I’ve received over the last week though, I thought I would delve briefly and gently into the area.
I know that there are about as many opinions on the war as there are people out there. But, ignoring the “why” we got into the war, the “how” it’s been executed, and the “why” we’re still here issues (that’ll cover about 70% of the controversies), you have to acknowledge, we’re witnessing a great thing here in Iraq with the elections this week.
In less than three years, we’ve gone from having a country with a ruthless dictator to one that has a democratically elected, constitutionally based government. From an historical perspective, that is absolutely incredible! But, people are quick to gloss over that fact--we're quicker to look at the latest bomb or casualty account in drawing our conclusions in how things are going. Never mind that we have more 20x the people dying every month from drunk drivers in the States than dying monthly over here in Iraq. I think in some regards, we have lost our perspective.
Over the last decade or so, we’ve gotten used to immediacy. I’m as guilty of this as anybody. I often get impatient if an email that someone just sent me takes more than a few minutes to arrive. And, God forbid if a webpage takes more than a minute to load on my computer. With regard to Iraq, if the best case scenario is not achieved in a quick time period, much of the media will conclude that the sky is falling and we’re heading down that slippery slope.
We also forget our history in smoothing out some of the “less important” details of the struggles of the people that came before us. The deaths, the injustices, the missteps, and wrong turns are all out there, but we don’t remember most of them. In many ways, that’s probably a good thing.
But, let’s put what's happened this week in perspective. In our country’s history, it took the United States 13 years from the date it declared its independence before our constitution was agreed upon. And, it wasn’t until 1796 (twenty years after the Declaration of Independence) that we had our first two-party national election (and that wasn’t even a direct election because of the electoral college that our founders set up).
On the international front, we occupied Japan seven years (from 1945 to 1952) before the Japanese regained their own sovereignty. General MacArthur’s staff actually drafted Japan’s Constitution, which has seen very little change over the years. In Germany, it took more than four years after the war before they adopted their Basic Law. As elsewhere, there was significant dislike of the US during the occupation (see, e.g., http://www.nationalreview.com/levin/levin200406011433.asp). I know I wouldn’t be appreciative of an occupation, regardless of the occupier's motives.
Don’t get me wrong, there are clear distinctions between Iraq on the one hand and Japan and Germany on the other--Iraq is not Germany or Japan, not even close. I think Iraq presents more challenges than the WWII occupations: (1) Iraq doesn’t have a homogenous population, (2) it has a very short history of being a nation (individuals often have more loyalty to their tribe rather than their nation, which makes the country more fractionalized), (3) the population is more heavily armed (after the war), (4) with Iraq, there wasn’t a prolonged war with significant casualties prior to the occupation (compare the 30,000 figure that President Bush recently cited with the 7,000,000 figure of German military and civilians killed), and (5) with the exception of oil, Iraq has little in terms of natural resources or an economic base. And I’m sure there are other distinctions that present challenges as well.
That's what makes what has happened this week nothing less than miraculous. True, the elections may yield a less than ideal result from the American perspective. But, at least we’ve seen a large step toward democracy here in the Middle East, which could have a profound, long-term positive effect on the region, if not the World. Let’s hope so.
I know that there are about as many opinions on the war as there are people out there. But, ignoring the “why” we got into the war, the “how” it’s been executed, and the “why” we’re still here issues (that’ll cover about 70% of the controversies), you have to acknowledge, we’re witnessing a great thing here in Iraq with the elections this week.
In less than three years, we’ve gone from having a country with a ruthless dictator to one that has a democratically elected, constitutionally based government. From an historical perspective, that is absolutely incredible! But, people are quick to gloss over that fact--we're quicker to look at the latest bomb or casualty account in drawing our conclusions in how things are going. Never mind that we have more 20x the people dying every month from drunk drivers in the States than dying monthly over here in Iraq. I think in some regards, we have lost our perspective.
Over the last decade or so, we’ve gotten used to immediacy. I’m as guilty of this as anybody. I often get impatient if an email that someone just sent me takes more than a few minutes to arrive. And, God forbid if a webpage takes more than a minute to load on my computer. With regard to Iraq, if the best case scenario is not achieved in a quick time period, much of the media will conclude that the sky is falling and we’re heading down that slippery slope.
We also forget our history in smoothing out some of the “less important” details of the struggles of the people that came before us. The deaths, the injustices, the missteps, and wrong turns are all out there, but we don’t remember most of them. In many ways, that’s probably a good thing.
But, let’s put what's happened this week in perspective. In our country’s history, it took the United States 13 years from the date it declared its independence before our constitution was agreed upon. And, it wasn’t until 1796 (twenty years after the Declaration of Independence) that we had our first two-party national election (and that wasn’t even a direct election because of the electoral college that our founders set up).
On the international front, we occupied Japan seven years (from 1945 to 1952) before the Japanese regained their own sovereignty. General MacArthur’s staff actually drafted Japan’s Constitution, which has seen very little change over the years. In Germany, it took more than four years after the war before they adopted their Basic Law. As elsewhere, there was significant dislike of the US during the occupation (see, e.g., http://www.nationalreview.com/levin/levin200406011433.asp). I know I wouldn’t be appreciative of an occupation, regardless of the occupier's motives.
Don’t get me wrong, there are clear distinctions between Iraq on the one hand and Japan and Germany on the other--Iraq is not Germany or Japan, not even close. I think Iraq presents more challenges than the WWII occupations: (1) Iraq doesn’t have a homogenous population, (2) it has a very short history of being a nation (individuals often have more loyalty to their tribe rather than their nation, which makes the country more fractionalized), (3) the population is more heavily armed (after the war), (4) with Iraq, there wasn’t a prolonged war with significant casualties prior to the occupation (compare the 30,000 figure that President Bush recently cited with the 7,000,000 figure of German military and civilians killed), and (5) with the exception of oil, Iraq has little in terms of natural resources or an economic base. And I’m sure there are other distinctions that present challenges as well.
That's what makes what has happened this week nothing less than miraculous. True, the elections may yield a less than ideal result from the American perspective. But, at least we’ve seen a large step toward democracy here in the Middle East, which could have a profound, long-term positive effect on the region, if not the World. Let’s hope so.
06 December 2005
Kuwaiti Drivers
I’m not sure what it is. Some Kuwaiti drivers are absolutely insane (or perhaps more accurately, Drivers in Kuwait are insane--I suppose I don't know if they are Kuwaiti or not).
I’ve driven the roads of New York, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, etc. Sure, they have the cars that drive 90-100 mph on the highway, weaving in and out of the various lanes. That’s stupid. And, I know you’ve probably experienced or heard stories about how various countries have “crazy” drivers. Perhaps so. But, how often though do you see two cars driving 90-100 mph side by side, jockeying for position, heading northbound in busy southbound lanes? Or, how about a car with a flat tire failing to pull all the way off the interstate-type road and then trying to change his tire sitting in the road (one of my soldier’s saw the subsequent decapitation take place). And the one I’ve seen over a dozen times, a semi-truck moving on to an entrance ramp too quickly and tipping the rig and trailer over.
Every time I head south in Kuwait, I either witness a serious accident or see the recent aftermath of a serious accident. I’m not talking fender benders—I’m talking flipped vehicles, overturned trucks (especially fuelers) and crushed cars.
I suppose it has to do with a lack of driver experience and perhaps a lack of regulation and enforcement. I don’t know. But, they have got to see the consequences of this type of driving.
In Iraq, the driving is not so bad (comparatively so anyway), but when there is an accident involving a truck, dozens of people come out and pilfer the goods from the truck.
I’ve driven the roads of New York, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, etc. Sure, they have the cars that drive 90-100 mph on the highway, weaving in and out of the various lanes. That’s stupid. And, I know you’ve probably experienced or heard stories about how various countries have “crazy” drivers. Perhaps so. But, how often though do you see two cars driving 90-100 mph side by side, jockeying for position, heading northbound in busy southbound lanes? Or, how about a car with a flat tire failing to pull all the way off the interstate-type road and then trying to change his tire sitting in the road (one of my soldier’s saw the subsequent decapitation take place). And the one I’ve seen over a dozen times, a semi-truck moving on to an entrance ramp too quickly and tipping the rig and trailer over.
Every time I head south in Kuwait, I either witness a serious accident or see the recent aftermath of a serious accident. I’m not talking fender benders—I’m talking flipped vehicles, overturned trucks (especially fuelers) and crushed cars.
I suppose it has to do with a lack of driver experience and perhaps a lack of regulation and enforcement. I don’t know. But, they have got to see the consequences of this type of driving.
In Iraq, the driving is not so bad (comparatively so anyway), but when there is an accident involving a truck, dozens of people come out and pilfer the goods from the truck.
