a mobilized year

We all have moments in our lives in which we remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard about or saw an event of national or at least personal significance—e.g., JFK being shot (for my parents), Elvis dying, Reagan being shot, the Berlin Wall falling, the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters, and of course the planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers. Flashbulb memory I think it's called.

An event that is etched in my mind is when I first saw the pictures of the Abu Ghraib abuses. I was wearing my uniform at the time. I had just sat down for a continental breakfast at a hotel in Indianapolis and I looked up at a TV. I was shocked by what I saw. I just stared at the pictures. How could these soldiers do this, I thought. Where were these soldiers’ leaders? They’ve got to be doctored photos, I hopefully speculated. I couldn’t believe it. After a bit, my shock turned to embarrassment. No, the soldiers weren’t using electric shock or conducting heinous beatings or beheadings as our enemies do, but we’re so much better than that I thought. I remember the uncomfortable feeling of thinking that it was the first time I was ever ashamed of being a soldier.

Recently, there have been a number of allegations of soldiers’ murdering and committing voluntary manslaughter here in Iraq. I’m not going to condemn these soldiers or defend them or address the alleged cover ups. I don’t know whether they’re guilty or whether the events happened as alleged. I wasn’t there. That determination is for the courts martial to make. I’m proud to stick with the “innocent until proven guilty” concept though that has served our country well for some time.

I am going to comment about the alleged conduct though. If one of more of the incidents did happen, I am here to say that it is not the norm. And if it did happen, it’s not acceptable or excusable. Soldiers and marines face death, destruction, and bodily harm every day. The overwhelming number of soldiers and marines are professionals and they respond as such. Do we have some soldiers who aren’t? I am sure we do. But, that’s where leadership comes in—the NCOs and officers who train and supervise soldiers and marines. They’re responsible to make sure events like those alleged don’t happen. Because we know the power that our soldiers and marines have, we go to great lengths to ensure that they know right from wrong, what’s legal and what’s not, and what’s proper under our rules of engagement. That’s not to say that there are not gray areas--there are and sometimes those gray areas are very large. But, what has been alleged is not a gray area. If the leadership has done it's job in training these soldiers and these soldiers have done what is alleged, these soldiers should be punished just like any other criminals.

With that said, I do understand the intense feelings of losing someone or having someone close injured by an enemy attack. I can understand in concept someone “doing something stupid” in such a case by violating the Geneva Convention, just like I can understand in concept certain revenge killings that I read about back home. But, that doesn’t make it right or the norm. And doing right, is what is expected of a soldier—even that 19 or 20 year old soldier. The vast majority do, do what’s right, even under the hardest of circumstances. That's the norm. The vast majority know what they signed up for over here. While the vast majority do not like the realities of war, they understand and accept their responsibilities and are committed to them and their country, just like they are committed to their buddy next to them. And that, in large part, is what being a soldier is about.

While I was away on leave, I was asked on a number of occasions, “what is it really like over there?” Because it’s difficult to answer that question in the implied 30 seconds that one has to reply, my responses often varied, depending on the person and his or her interest. For my own sake, I frequently reflect on the question.

I put together a presentation for my daughter’s school. I touched on a variety of topics that addressed that very issue—living conditions, language, equipment, “how the war is going,” interactions with Iraqis, culture, weather, religion, geography, etc. I included plenty of pictures. One topic I decided to cover was media reporting.

I don’t have an axe to grind with the media. Based on the questions that I had received while on leave (and from listening to the BBC and NPR while I’m in country) though, there were some things that I wanted to highlight that from my anecdotal experiences weren’t accurate portrayals of what was going on, or issues or topics that weren’t being communicated back home, but of which at least I thought would be interesting to most citizens.

Below is a list and brief description of some of those topics.

• Every day crime (it’s responsible for a significant portion of the violence you hear about in the news even though it’s typically not reported as such and rolled up in the “insurgent violence” numbers—frequently involving a combination of turf battle, theft, revenge, and protection issues).
• Shia on Shia violence (it happens a lot as the various Shia groups struggle for
power. This was in part the reason for the recent crackdown in Basrah).
• A main source of IEDs is Iran (I’ve heard a couple of media reports on this, but most people don’t know it).
• There’s not a single Iraqi voice or belief about the Coalition Force presence in Iraq (I have a lot of stories I’m not at liberty to talk about, but suffice it to say, their opinions are as varied as ours).
• Soldiers are very aware of what goes on back in the States (we’ve got blogs, imbedded media, internet access, and TV in most mess halls).
• About one-half of the Iraqi population is under age 20 (see chart
below)
• Most Iraqis have never known any ruler other than Saddam and any system of government other than tyranny.
• Most Iraqis are familiar with socialism but few are familiar with a true free enterprise system or the benefits and responsibilities of a participatory democratic society.

While good news and positive information are shared back home on occasion, they usually are not. Have you heard about the following:

• Internet subscribers have risen from 5,000 before the war to 196,000 by last September.
• There were no commercial TV stations in Iraq before the war. Today there are 44.
• There were no independent newspapers or magazines in Iraq before the war. Today there are more than 100.
• There were no commercial radio stations in Iraq before the war. Today there are 72.
• Over 3,400 Public Schools and 30 Water and Sewage Projects have been built.
• Iraq's death rate per thousand: 5.37 (est.), U.S. death rate per thousand: 8.26 (est.) (I assume that’s in large part because of the young population).

Any way, those are some of the things I’ve learned over here and some of my anecdotal observations.

Over the years, Memorial Day has grown in importance for me. When I was growing up, I used to ask, “now which holiday is at the beginning of the summer and which one is at the end of summer?” I no longer have that problem remembering.

I spent a large part of this Memorial Day on a mission. We started at around 2230 on Sunday night. I decided to mix things up a bit for this mission. I wanted to sit in the 240B gunner seat—it had been a while since I had done that and I always want to have a good understanding of the good and bad that my soldiers are experiencing. I designated a good young Specialist (E4) who has shown tactical competence and leadership potential in the past as my truck commander. We were the lead vehicle that night/early morning.

I enjoy night time missions in the summer. Our temperatures lately in the day have been in the 115-120 range, which as you might guess is fairly unpleasant, especially when wearing gloves, goggles, helmet and the 45 lbs of body armor plus all the other equipment we have to wear. At night time, it’s been dipping down into the mid-80s, which is nice.

On this trip, I had an added bonus. This truck crew had been asked to field test a new cooling vest. The way it works is that while the crew is in the vehicle, they can wear a vest under their armor that plugs into the vehicle’s cooling system. A cool liquid substance is then circulated under the armor through the vest. I tell you what, it worked like a charm. I had a smile on my face for at least half of the mission just in wonderment on how well the system worked.

Any way, back to the mission. As we were heading north, we were contacted by a convoy passing us heading south. They said they had taken small arms fire from a couple of vehicles about a kilometer or two up the road. As we drove into the area, I oriented the 240B in the direction that we were given. We had our night optical devices on, but we didn’t see them. A vehicle behind us said they saw a few vehicles about 300 meters off the road, but they couldn’t confirm it was enemy so we just continued with our mission.

After we drove through that area, my attention shifted back to the wonderment of my cooling vest (smile and all) as I scanned my sectors. About an hour or so later, I saw tracer fire to our front. There was something odd about the tracer fire. It seemed to be originating from the road or within 100 meters or so from it pointing away from the road. What usually happens is that the tracer fire starts 100-300 meters from the road and crosses the road (as the fire typically is directed at vehicles on the road). We knew there were no friendlies in the area so we did not know what to make of it. We continued to move down the MSR cautiously. I oriented the machine gun in the general direction of where I saw the fire come from. I saw more fire in the general area. As we drove closer there was a disabled vehicle there with an Iraqi Police car next to it. We didn’t stop. We had heard that there was some in-fighting in the area among different Iraqi groups (not a Sunni vs. Shia fight).

I again shifted my attentions back to the wonders of my cooling vest and scanning my sectors. In the early morning hours of Memorial Day, we arrived at our destination. We dropped off our “cargo” and made the necessary coordination that we had to make. We sent some guys up to the KBR mess hall to pick up some food. At the location where we were at, they serve 24 hours a day (pre-cooked, short order type food during the off hours). We had some hamburgers, hotdogs, and some nasty fries. Once they brought the food back and we ate, we had to head back out on the road and escort some more trucks to their destination.

The sun was starting to come up and with it, the heat. Ahh, but I had my cooling vest that morning. Simple pleasures. After about three hours or so, we made it almost all the way to our destination and then had two trucks collide with one another as we were slowing down for a turn. The driver said that his brakes failed—I’m betting he probably fell asleep. Any way, we had to wait a while before the recovery vehicle arrived on the scene to tow the trucks away (as it would turn out, the following day this was virtually the same spot of an IED strike). During the wait, we had to block traffic and secure the area. Usually this is an awful job in the summer because of the heat. But, alas, I had a cooling vest that day. So I just smiled most of the time.

After we got back, I took a nap for a few hours before I got back to work in the afternoon. As the afternoon gave way to night, my mind began thinking more and more about Memorial Day and all those who have given so much for our country. I thought about the soldiers in our battalion who had given their lives. I thought about their families. I thought about those in our battalion who have given up eye sight, body parts, and/or their mental well-being. I thought about their families, their children . . . . By midnight, I was filled with several different emotions, many mixed, but all sincere. It had been a long day. A fitting Memorial Day.