a mobilized year

The Journey Home

2006-09-07T07:38:00.000-05:00

We started early in the morning with a 0400 wakeup. We were about to embark on a journey that we’d longed for and anticipated for months. We were the second of two chalks (groups) in our battalion to depart. Our logistics section had coordinated the day prior with customs officials to inspect our A Bags (traditional army duffle bags containing mostly army equipment and clothes) that morning in our temporary tents (instead of at their location). Most soldiers had sent back their B and C bags (also duffles) and totes (which contained mostly personal items and winter-type clothing and equipment) the month prior due to space considerations. Since the time we sent those bags home, most soldiers had been living out of their A Bags and rucks (which is like a back pack). A good share of soldiers (myself included) had a number of personal items (e.g., a pillow, computer games, books, “souvenirs,” and gifts) that we kept to the end and mailed back via U.S. Postal Service. Here's a picture of the inside of one of the tents we stayed in that holds about 70-80 soldiers:

The customs inspection that morning went without a hitch. Another gate was passed on the journey back home. Soldiers then cleaned and cleared the tents at our temporary housing location. We then drew our weapons and went to an accountability formation. Because of the large number of soldiers in our chalk (around 300 or so), we had to have the accountability formation outside. By that time (1330), it was quite warm out, probably around 120 degrees. We had to do sensitive item serial number checks and confirm that each soldier present had his ID card and dog tags. By the time we finished, the busses were suppose to be there to take us to the next stop. By my use of the phrase “suppose to,” you probably guessed that they didn’t show up on time. So, we waited in the sun for about another half hour before we “reclaimed” our cleared air-conditioned tents. By then, we were all drenched with sweat. Even the tops of my boots were wet from the sweat seeping through (yeah, I know, gross).

The busses showed up eventually and took us to our next destination. We received some briefings and they inspected our ruck sacks and our persons. Even though this was a charted flight (our unit only), with a couple of notable exceptions, we were subject to the same carry on restrictions as civilians who travel—i.e., no Leathermans/Gerbers, liquids, deodorants, sharp objects, etc. It created a perverted situation for us. Specifically, for myself, I wasn’t allowed to bring on a little tube of toothpaste, my deodorant, or a cup of coffee on the aircraft, but I was able (and required) to carry my M9 semi-automatic pistol and my M4 carbine automatic rifle. Go figure. It probably makes sense to someone, somewhere though.

The briefings and ruck inspections finished around 1730 or so. We then sat in a holding area for about six hours before being told that our aircraft was delayed. I’m not sure what the on-time percentage is in the civilian world, maybe 75% if I had to guess, but in the military world it’s got to be less than 10%. Most of the flights, like this one are actually civilian contracted carriers, so I’m not sure it’s a “military” issue. None of my six flights going to and from the States was within three hours of being on time of the scheduled departure. Others with whom I spoke have had similar experiences. I’m not sure what the deal is (perhaps a lowest bidder and/or lowest priority issue?). At this point, most soldiers expected it and most, like myself, were just glad to be getting home, eventually.

So, around 0200 we formed up at the holding area, were given another brief, and got on another set of busses to go to yet another holding area located near the Kuwaiti international airport. We arrived at this holding area at about 0330. We were fast approaching the 24 hour mark since we got up that morning. Virtually everyone was on adrenalin: trying to sleep or relax, but the excitement of returning back to the States was too great for most.

We waited at this holding area for about another hour before getting back on the busses and heading to the aircraft. The aircraft was an MD-11. I was spoiled and had the benefit of sitting in first class. The seats were absolutely wonderful, better than any other first class seats I had ever been in (well, the 4-5 times I’ve been bumped up to first class, anyway). They reclined way back and the seats had foot rests like a recliner sitting at home in the living room. Each seat had a personal monitor that lifted up from the arm rest. These were so nice that I felt a little guilty that everyone couldn’t sit in them. We waited on the aircraft for about 45 minutes of so and were able to watch our last Middle Eastern sunrise for this mission.

Our first stop was Lietzsig, Germany. We arrived there at about 1000 local time. Not much of an airport (or at least the part where we segregated to). There was a convenience store there and that was about it. It was the first time I had ever been to Germany. I bought some toiletries to replace what I was initially precluded from carrying onto the aircraft. Our Battalion Command Sergeant Major let the guys purchase a couple of beers from the convenience store, which was nice. It had been several months for most soldiers since they had had their last beer. After about an hour and a half, we took off for our next stop, which was Bangor, Maine.

Most of the trip over the Atlantic was cloud covered. As we made our descent into Maine, we broke through the clouds and saw an incredible sight: TREES! They were everywhere. Thick, green, lush. Oh, was it beautiful. I think there was a collective gasp on the aircraft when we initially made it through the clouds and saw all the vegetation. It was so green.

As I suppose is to be expected, when the wheels touched down in Bangor, the soldiers erupted with cheers, clapping and whistles. Another box checked in the long-anticipated milestones before getting back to Wisconsin. We were on American soil now. The time was about 1300 local (2000 Middle East time or 40 hours since we woke up before the customs inspections).

As was the case about a year ago when we were headed in the opposite direction, we were greeted very warmly by the people of Bangor. I must have shook the hands of about 50 locals. They greeted each of the 300 or so soldiers on our aircraft. People all over in the entire airport applauded as we came out. What a great group of people. What a great way to come home to the U.S. It really made all of us feel good. I’m frequently told by Viet Nam vets of the stark contrast that they experienced. After we made it through the lines of people, we were handed cell phones to call our loved ones back home to let them know that we had arrived safely back in the States. The cell phones were paid for by a local Maine group. Below are some pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the welcoming line. I was too busy shaking hands!

After we said our goodbyes and shook the hands again of the various people who greeted us in Bangor, we headed off to our final destination that day, Volk Field, Wisconsin. Despite having been up for almost 42 hours straight, the level of excitement in the aircraft was pretty high as we began that last leg of our journey. We were fairly excited about seeing our loved ones, being back home, and finally (and successfully) completing our mission overseas. It had been a long journey.

They integrated our landing in Wisconsin with an airshow that was going on at Volk Field. The pilot over the intercom explained the situation as we descended. We could see the cranberry bogs of west-central Wisconsin as we continued to descend. The trees, vegetation, and cars came into focus. We could see the rolling hills and textured earth. Good memories were recalled more vividly. Everything became more real. And then we saw the runway as the wheels reached for it. After a pause, we heard the screech of the tires touching down. They were immediately drowned out by cheers, roars, and whistles of the soldiers inside the plane. We saw the crowds of people outside of the plane waving their hands, jumping up and down and proudly showing their home-made signs welcoming us home. What a feeling. I thought for a moment about our lost soldiers and their families who weren’t with us to savor the moment, the feeling. After a couple of minutes the doors of the aircraft opened. The cool, fresh Wisconsin air rushed in. We were finally home.

RIP/TOA

2006-08-18T02:02:00.000-05:00

In the countdown of things to happen, this one has been long anticipated: the RIP/TOA, which stands for the Relief In Place/Transfer of Authority. A RIP/TOA occurs when one unit replaces another unit that is forward deployed. Ours occured in the mid-morning hours a few days ago.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been training our replacements for weeks. I was pleased at how committed our guys were to the training and transition process. I didn't see any of our NCOs or officers develop "short-timer" attitudes or take short cuts in the process. All were eager to train their counterparts in the incoming battalion (also from Wisconsin) and share their experiences. They knew the importance to the in-coming unit of that knowledge and experience and they knew the stakes. By the time of the RIP/TOA, the incoming unit was ready to take the mission and show their mettle.

The last of our men to cross the wire came back the day prior to the RIP/TOA. Because of space issues at Navistar, most of the battalion had already shuttled off Navistar to a camp in south-central Kuwait. Our RIP/TOA ceremony consisted of commanders, first sergeants, the command sergeant major, guide-on barrers, color guard, and certain staff officers from both battalions. It was a relatively short and simple ceremony. In his speech, our battalion commander reflected on the successes of our tour as well as our losses and sacrificies. The incoming commander thanked us for our training and transition time and challenged his unit to meet and hopefully exceed the milestones and goals that we set as a battalion.

This last year has been a long one that has gone quickly.

Memorial Service

2006-08-13T14:22:00.000-05:00

We walked over there at 1830. There it was. The familiar display of the two desert boots of a soldier with his M4 pointed down toward the ground between them. The soldier’s dog tags dangling from the M4 and swaying in the hot breeze. A picture of the soldier there, quietly depicting a happy moment in his life. The battalion’s colors on one side of the display and the United States Flag on the other. This display was different though from the others. This display was for a cavalry scout. Instead of a helmet resting on the butt of the M4, there was a ceremonial black Stetson with gold braids. And, around the boots were a set of spurs. These are items that select cavalry soldiers wear.

By the time I arrived, there were already about 200 soldiers there. We stood around for about fifteen minutes prior to the battalion formation. We engaged in somewhat awkward small talk, glancing at the soldier’s memorial display at every pause in the conversation.

This was the second memorial service in the last two weeks for us. Unlike the other ceremonies that were in the morning, this one was in the evening, which had an affect on the atmosphere. I think it was probably because there was more time during the day to think about the ceremony that evening. That particular evening was also different because of the humidity level in the air. The wind had changed direction for the first time in weeks if not months and was blowing moist air in from the Gulf coast.

We formed up, and the Generals and other dignitaries arrived. The familiar sequence started—the Star Spangled Banner, the invocation, followed by remarks from various people. The company commander spoke, the squad leader spoke and one of the soldier’s buddies spoke. Each talked of the uniqueness of the soldier, his selfless service, his commitment, his competence, and his virtually patented smile. Each of them shared personal experiences that they had with the soldier. Many of the experiences were funny or made me smile. The smiles were followed by sudden heavy and sharp feeling of hurt that I and others there felt from the loss of one of our own.

After the remarks and the recitation of the Fiddler’s Green (a Cav ritual), the NCO in charge of the 7-man firing squad belted out his commands to the firing squad. On his command of “Ready, Fire,” the squad fired in unison. A single loud “crack” echoed through the dense, humid air. There was a pause, then “Ready, Fire!” Again, the single loud crack. And finally once more, “Ready, Fire!” I can feel at will the tenseness in my neck and shoulders hearing those shots. Upon hearing the first volley, I anticipate the next, but yet for some reason I am still surprised when I hear them. The shots remind me of the abrupt, suddenness and finality of death.

After a silent moment, the bugler started playing a slow, mournful Taps. He was about 10 meters from me. I was there with my men behind me. I stood there rigidly; steady drips of sweat were falling down my back, my chest, my arms, my legs, and my patrol cap. I then heard about 100 meters away another bugler who also started playing Taps. They echoed one another. I was soon lost in thought about the soldier and his family . . . his youth, the finality of his death, the loss of the family.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, a recording of bagpipes played. As is customary, each soldier present paid his respects individually to the soldier who has given his life. A single file military line was formed. The over 700 soldiers present individually saluted the picture of the soldier, silently said something to or in remembrance of the soldier before saluting again and moving away.

These ceremonies are very well done, professional, and well-rehearsed. They are far from cold and impersonal. Many a soldier is seen shedding tears. There is no shame in it. They are tears of respect and caring. They are symbols of the brotherhood that has been established with others who you’ve shared common experiences with and with whom you share many values and beliefs.

These ceremonies are hard. I hope this one was my last one.

Their First Mission

2006-08-07T03:56:00.000-05:00

They rolled in on their buses. Rucks on their backs and duffle and computer bags hanging from their fronts and sides. It’s a familiar picture for anyone in the army/marines who has had to move his or her stuff from one location to another. The difference here was that it was 130 degrees in the shade (no, I’m not exaggerating) and these guys were our replacements.

The looks on their faces were familiar. I recall the feelings that we had coming off those buses for the first time almost a year ago. A strange mix of excitement and caution and one of relief that “finally, finally, after all that training, we’re here.”

We started our cross-training of these soldiers right away; we gave them initial training on all the specialized and newly fielded equipment that we had not even heard of a year ago that we had become experts on during our deployment. We shared with them the stories of our successes, challenges, and some of our close calls and yes, our losses.

An integral part of the training of our replacements is taking them out on the road with us. It was on the first day of this training that it happened. An IED took the life of one of the soldiers we were training. It also seriously injured two of their other soldiers and one of our NCOs who was training them. It was their first mission. First mission. I don’t even know if these guys had their stuff unpacked yet.

The cross-training at my level went from how to defeat enemy actions using the latest tactics, techniques and procedures to how to notify next of kin, how to enforce a communications blackout, and how to keep soldiers motivated and mission focused after a fatality or serious injury.

Any soldier seeing combat over here who came with a preconceived notion that “life is fair” will get a rude awakening. Death and injury can come to the young and the old, the naïve and the experienced. It can come to those who do everything right and yet miss those who do most everything wrong. It isn’t fair. This notion wasn’t news to me, but I was reminded of it too frequently this last year and it has been hard for some of my soldiers to swallow and comprehend.

The realities of this war have not shaken my resolve though. They have not affected my love of my country nor my belief in the principles for which it stands. They have not diminished my belief that the Iraqis have been given a great opportunity that may positively affect several generations to come. I still believe that ultimately democracy will prevail over here, regardless of whether a painful civil war is to occur as our own nation had to endure for four long years. It will likely take time and unfortunately, it may come at a dear price. Perhaps at a price yet to be paid.

Now That's Hot

2006-08-01T11:16:00.000-05:00

In a recent post, I mentioned the wonders of the cooling vests that some of my guys have had the opportunity to try out. On a recent mission, I got to experience the other extreme.

We had an SP time of about 0800 in the morning for a mission that was anticipated to have two, three hour segments. We were going to try to start the second segment in the late afternoon in order to miss some of the hottest weather of the day. We did our maintenance checks before we left and everything looked fine.

We headed out on time and everything seemed to be working OK. The inside of the HMMWV gets rather hot from a combination of the engine temperature and the sun beating down on the roof of the vehicle. When the air conditioner is doing its job during the day of the summer months, the inside temperature of the HMMWV is about 100 degrees or so, which isn’t too bad. When the crews arrive at their destination, they are quick to shed their body armor, goggles, gloves, helmet, etc. Typically, they’ll sweat a lot but the air conditioned temperature is just a mild irritation. When the air conditioner doesn’t work . . . well, that’s an entirely different story.

About 20 minutes into our mission, the air conditioner in our vehicle stopped working (or as my driver put, “hey, the a/c crapped out on us sir”). It quickly got very hot. Because of IED and sniper threats, we have to keep the windows all the way up. There were a number of vehicle issues with the trucks on this mission. What was suppose to be a three hour leg of a mission, turned into 4 ½ hours. With the temperatures soaring as the day wore on, sweat was just pouring out of us. Our eyes were stinging. We had each gone through about 2 gallons of water and Gatorade in just under three hours. The outside temperature at the beginning of the mission was about 105, but by midday it was somewhere between 120-130. I don’t know what the temperature inside of the vehicle was by then, but it was much hotter in the vehicle than it was outside of the vehicle.

To keep things light, I started a top 10 list with my crew members. It went something like this: “You know the air conditioning in your vehicle in Iraq has gone out when . . . .” I can’t remember all the ones we came up with, but here are a few of them (all of which are true):

When the gunner complains that the top half of his body is substantially cooler in 125 degree heat than the bottom half of his body that is in the vehicle.
When you can’t rest your covered elbows, forearms or hands on any internal HMMWV component (other than the steering wheel, thankfully!) for more than 15 seconds because they are all too hot.
When the three bags of ice in your cooler have all melted within a short time frame.
When you get up out of your seat, the canvas seat cover is as soaked as if you had left the vehicle window open during a rain storm.
When you take off one of your nomex gloves and your fingers are as wrinkled as if you had been swimming for the last hour.
When you can’t hold your 9 mm with your bare hand more than three seconds because it’s too hot.
And finally, you know the air conditioning in your vehicle in Iraq has gone out when you open the door and first step out into the 125+ degree heat, it feels like a spring breeze that is only surpassed by the feeling you get after taking off your body armor and getting a little chill down your wet spine.

For a Wisconsin boy, now that’s hot.

Have You Hugged an Historian Today?

2006-07-25T03:37:00.001-05:00

During this last year, I have found a new respect for history. I have spent a lot of free time reading history—time well spent I might add.

I am not a history buff, nor have I ever had a desire to become one. But, I have been amazed at what I have learned over this last year. I used to think about history as just the facts and figures, peppered with some interesting stories. But it’s much more than that.

One thing I have gained from history is perspective. In some previous blog posts, I’ve mentioned or alluded to the perspective one gains from history in gauging an appropriate expectation level for today—for example, the time it has taken historically for democracies to be established as compared to our current time expectations in Iraq, which has been driven by our current cultural of immediacy.

I’ve also gained some perspective on sacrifice in my recent readings lately on military leaders of World War I. For example, on one day (July 1, 1916), the British army lost 20 times the number of soldiers, marines, and airmen than we’ve lost since Operation Iraqi Freedom started more than three years ago. That’s in one day. In one battle during World War I, the French lost more men than we currently have on active duty in the U.S. Army. I don’t state these facts to lessen the sacrifices of the soldiers in my unit or other units who we’ve lost or who have been permanently injured and/or disabled during the war over here. But our sacrifices now are not unlike those that have been made for centuries. In fact, our collective sacrifices today pale in comparison to those of previous generations. The sacrifices of the individual, his family and friends, though are often the same and a part of the realities of war, regardless of time.

In addition to perspective, my recent exposure to history has given me guidance. Most people have heard the adage that goes something like, “if you don’t understand history, you’re bound to repeat it.” In other words, it is important to learn from the mistakes of the past. But, the guidance that history has given me is more than that. It has given me the comfort of knowing that most problems and issues we face now (or ones similar) have been addressed in the past. And just as we have learned from the mistakes of the past, we should not take for granted the successes of the past as well.

Our position in the world, whether it be from a military or a freedom and democracy perspective, is far from being a permanent fixture in time. Borrowing again from the first half of the 20th Century, with the successes from a rudimentary form of sonar that was developed in World War I, the British thought they conquered any threat associated with submarines. Because of their early technological successes in defeating submarines, they shifted their attention to other matters (both military and domestic related). Come the advent of World War II, the British were left with a situation of virtual logistic isolation because of the successes of German U-Boat subs. Through tactics and techniques, the Germans were able to overcome a temporary technology advantage of the British. Churchill later said that that the U-Boat threat was the only thing that really scared him during the war.

Applying that lesson, I can see now how we have become very reliant on our technological advantage and our military edge and dominance. In some regards, we’ve repeated a mistake of arrogantly relying on our technological edge/dominance in a war with the Iraqi insurgency. It’s still strange to think how a nation would have any difficulty in a war without losing a single battle or engagement with its enemy at the platoon level or above. The insurgency’s successes have been almost entirely in the media and public affairs. They draw energy and support not in a war of attrition, which they are losing, but from their enemy (us) whose primary source of power is from its people. By having sensational IEDs, kidnappings, scenes of anarchy and bloodshed, etc., the American people’s support for the war has waned and insurgent-friendly groups/nations rally to their cause, both spiritually and financially. In the end though, I am still hopeful that we’ll be successful in turning this around like the British did against the Germans, regardless of whether our solution is a military or political one.

For Sale

2006-07-13T01:53:00.001-05:00

Thanks for all the well wishes I've been emailed recently and yes, everything is fine here. Just been busy on missions and preparing for our replacements. Related to that, I wanted to share a sign I saw that was posted in the area:

For Sale

Centrally located in CSC Navistar, rustic 8 “room” condo, 2 years old, recently renovated, miles of beach front-like property (without water), over looking the famed Iraq-Kuwait border, just minutes away from local mini-mart, dining establishments, ping pong, free workout facility, free laundry service facility, physicians assistant office, and helicopter air pad. A/C & electric-most times, heat, free garbage pick-up & yard care, spacious foyer, furniture incl., wood floors, shatter resistant plastic windows w/ shudders, dent resistant siding, and cable accessible. Monthly community events and ethnic musical chants played at least 5 times daily. Quaint neighborhood w/security personnel incl., sorry no pets. Reason for moving—job transfer, available soon. Hurry, hot deal—I mean really hot. It won’t last!!! Showings upon request. Must move. No reasonable offer refused. If you find a similar condo at a cheaper price, we’ll beat it .

Seeing signs like this made me think about this last year. It's been a challenging one for most of our soldiers. Our soldiers have sacrificed and given a lot. You have reason to be proud of your fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands who are over here in our unit. They have done well. Our communications platoon has been formally recognized by many units as one of the best in the Iraq-Kuwait theatre. Our maintenance section has achieved one of the best equipment readiness ratings in the Iraq-Kuwait theatre. Our medics have not only trained U.S. and British soldiers and Iraqi nationals in the latest life saving techniques, they have received awards for rendering medical aid while under enemy fire. Our Tactical Operations Center crews have handled hundreds of IED strikes and small arms and RPG engagements with the enemy and directed our battalion’s gun truck crews to well over 5 million miles of gun truck missions all over Iraq. Our Admin and Logistics Operations Center crews have made sure that our battalion’s soldiers are promoted, awarded, and paid on time and have made sure that our gun truck crews got the latest equipment and safety devices as soon as they arrive in theatre. Our gun truck crews have shown on several occasions that they are the best in our battalion, including while under enemy fire. What’s impressed me most about our soldiers though is how we have come together as a team and helped one another out when times are tough. Every soldier has assisted the battalion by performing in a gun truck mission in Iraq. Every soldier has done what he could to ensure that our unit has achieved its mission. They have proved themselves over and over again to those over here with whom we work: the first sergeant and I have received many looks of surprise when we tell our active duty brethren from the various armed force branches that we are a national guard unit. We frequently get compliments on our soldiers' professional and expertise and our unit's willingness to go out of our way to assist and train others.

We don't have much longer to go. But, we're still focused on the mission and completing it successfully and safely before returning home.

The Norm

2006-06-28T02:59:00.000-05:00

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.

"What's it really like over there?"

2006-06-14T10:49:00.000-05:00

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.

Memorial Day

2006-06-01T05:50:00.000-05:00

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.

Juxtaposition

2006-05-26T02:09:00.000-05:00

Thirty six hours. I went from the heat, the threat, and the violence of an Iraqi border town . . . to the cool morning dew, the calmness, and the passivity of American suburbia.

I went from overhearing conversations about the latest enemy contact and carnage that followed . . . to overhearing a “heated” discussion between a father and son about how far a bush in their yard should be trimmed.

I went from having an open tent living space of about 8 by 6 feet adjacent to similar open living spaces of five other guys . . . to having a large home with each family member having his or her own room and large common areas, a refrigerator, deck, fireplace, yard . . . .

I went from loading up equipment, putting on body armor, conducting hour long maintenance and pre-combat checks and inspections before leaving on a short mission in the local town . . . to looking five minutes for my car keys before hopping into my car to head off to Wal Mart.

I went from worrying about driving into an IED . . . to worrying about driving into an area under road construction.

I went from living in a heavily-regulated military environment that dictates what I can wear and how I can wear it and what I can say and who I can say it to (with someone, somewhere always monitoring) . . . to living in a permissive environment where it is not easy to get noticed (assuming one wanted to be noticed) by what one wears or what one says.

That’s right, I went home on leave recently. I had a great time. I spent quality time with my family, friends, co-workers, and yes, my tools, my paint cans and my paint brushes. It was very relaxing. I hadn’t been back since the beginning of June last year. Since then, I’ve come to better appreciate some of the things (and people) that I have taken for granted.

One of the things that I did not expect when I was home was that I had a strong feeling that the area was really insulated, and in some regards insular as well. The events of September 11 took away much of the “insulation” that people felt that we had prior; that is, that the World’s significant problems happened “elsewhere” and our ocean borders insulated us from much of the World’s extremism. We were insular in the sense that while we cared about many of the World problems, we only infrequently intervened or intervened only in a way that did not impact the day-to-day lives of American people. The exposure to violence and terrorism was for the movies or limited to big city crime or the occasional local spectacle. As the cliché goes, “things changed on September 11.”

Well, I think for many people, things have in large part now changed back to the pre-September 11 time. People are focused on their normal day-to-day lives and the pedestrian issues and priorities that we always have paid attention to. Take a look at what people are watching on TV. As many people voted in the latest American Idol competition as did in the most recent presidential election. How many people know the name of the Iraqi prime minister that was just selected as compared to the names of the American Idol competitors?

Don’t get me wrong, I think the American people sincerely care about the soldiers over here and want a peaceful solution in Iraq. They know men are dying over here. They are curious about “what it really is like in Iraq.” However, terrorism or the war doesn’t really impact the way most people live their lives back in the States. Heck, we haven’t even been asked to pay for the war over here (it’s been added to the national debt for a future generation to pay). I suppose it’s natural and it’s probably good to have that layer of insulation. I don’t want my children growing up in fear of terrorism or war. But, it’s a strange feeling to go from the two extreme environments.

(btw, Nouri al-Maliki is the Iraqi prime minister and he replaced the interim prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari last month).

Rituals and Good Luck Charms

2006-05-07T06:36:00.001-05:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have one crew that always sings the theme to The Greatest American Hero before heading out on a leg of a mission. I've been asked on a number of occasions whether other crews/soldiers have superstitious rituals that they adhere to. Somewhat surprisingly, not too many of them do (or at least, are willing to admit to having them).

Good luck pieces though are more common. A number of soldiers have crosses they wear on missions. One crew has a set of fuzzy dice that they put up in their windshield. One soldier has a plush toy he takes with him on every mission outside of the wire. Some of the guys have pictures of girlfriends/wives with them. Most of the others I've seen are along those lines--something that they take with them to remind them of home and to carry them through their time over here.

A Good Day

2006-04-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

I sat there with one of my men’s blood-soaked IBA (body armor) in my hands. It was the end of a long day and I was exhausted. Although, I had a very strange feeling come over me. It was the feeling of having a good day. A damn good day.

Earlier that day, I received a dreaded message. I was summoned to the TOC because of an emergency situation involving one of my crews. The three minute trip to the TOC seemed like an hour with all the thoughts racing through my head. When I got there, I found out that two of my soldiers were injured in an IED attack.

The TOC crew was doing what they do best in terms of managing crises situations. They were true professionals, on the ball, in control, forward-thinking, anticipating issues, coordinating with non-U.S. coalition forces, etc. As we were receiving reports, it was clear that my other guys on the scene were doing a great job too: relaying reports, securing the scene, follow on searches, rendering medical aid, etc. They were well-trained and also professional.

My injured soldiers were MEDEVAC’d to the hospital. Despite the typical lethality of the type of IED they were hit by, my soldiers’ injuries were (thankfully!) not life threatening or permanent. They were walking and talking before too long. And by the end of the day, they were even joking. What a relief.

I went to examine their vehicle that had been towed back. It was chewed up pretty good. It did its job though. The .50 cal was totaled. I’m not suppose to talk about the specifics on the IED or the effects on the HMMWV. The IED was one of the “bad ones” though and we were very lucky that something more serious hadn’t happened. I knew it and my guys knew it. When I linked up with them at the hospital, we each said it to one another at least a dozen times that day.

By late afternoon, one of the Generals in our chain of command was able to pin purple hearts on my soldiers’ chests. They wore them with pride. The purple heart is kind of like the CIB/CAB (these soldiers had already been awarded those badges months ago). A purple heart is an award of acknowledgement of service. A symbol of sacrifice for one’s country. These guys were among the dozens that day that silently sacrificed for their country, joining the thousands of their brothers that have done so before them in their service to our country and its people.

Soldier Growth

2006-04-21T01:53:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about being a military leader is to see soldiers grow. I’ve witnessed a number of soldiers come into their own over the last 10 or so months during our mobilization. For example, I’ve got one soldier who a year ago could, at best, be described as “wayward.” He was always in trouble. He lacked discipline, didn’t care about much, and had an attitude about virtually everything. Today, he’s like a new man. He’s gained self respect. Others have come to rely upon him and he's become a real likeable and dependable guy. It brings a smile to my face just thinking about his turnaround.

And it’s not just the young guys. I can think of at least three NCOs/Officers who last year could be characterized as part of the over-35, past their prime crowd (yeah, I know that probably sounds funny to non-veterans--but the veterans out there probably know the type of person I'm talking about). These NCOs/Officers were just coasting—getting by from drill to drill, resting on their laurels/good ol' boy network, doing what was only necessary not to be called out. In fact, one of my previous first sergeants even wanted me to get rid of one of them. But, through some coaching and early successes during their tours, they all came into their own as well. They became proactive. They each built on their successes and achieved far more than I had confidence they would be able to. Their achievements were not only personal, but the unit overall is better for them. Each one of these NCOs/Officers I think has been surprised by his own success. You can see it through their new-found confidence in their smiles.

I know I'm proud of both the hard work they've all put in under a stressful wartime environment and what they've each accomplished. What I've witnessed during our mobilization has strengthened my belief in the potential and the abilities of the American Soldier.

Citizenship

2006-04-13T00:22:00.000-05:00

"I hereby declare, on oath,

-that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen;
-that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
-that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
-that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law;
-that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law;
-that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and
-that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;
so help me God."

It was a proud day when I heard that the other week. It’s the oath to become a citizen of the United States. Almost sixty U.S. Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen who were born in such places as the Bahamas, Ecuador, Mexico, Nigeria, Romania, India, Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua, Ghana, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Germany, Poland, Vietnam, Burma, and more than a dozen other countries, took that oath to become Naturalized U.S. Citizens.

The oath itself has been of some controversy over the years (wouldn’t you expect any type of oath to be in a pluralistic society?). The line "so help me God" is optional and, as you might have guessed, sometimes the lines " that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law;” and “that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law;” are omitted as well, if the prospective citizen can prove such commitments are in violation of his or her religion.

Naturalized citizens and natural-born citizens (those who became citizen at birth) share the exact same rights as citizens, except that only natural-born citizens can become U.S. President (sorry Arnold). Compare that with the 18 levels of citizenship that I’m told exist in Kuwait.

After years of attempting to become a U.S. citizen, one of my soldiers was granted his wish. He’s told me stories of his life growing up in Kenya and his struggles since he entered the United States in the mid-90s. The possibility of deportation proceedings was looming when we got the notice of our mobilization to the Middle East. Even though this soldier had a wife and child in the United States that he would have to leave for more than a year, he was very pleased when we got the mobilization order because he knew it created a clear route to citizenship and long-term stability for his young family.

Experiencing with my soldier the wonders of gaining citizenship has helped shape some of my thoughts on the immigration issues that seem so controversial now back in the States. I don’t pretend to have the answers for all the complicated immigration questions and issues that our representatives currently face. However, I am pleased that we as a nation face them though because it shows that we are a great nation worthy of immigration. It is also another opportunity for us to do what is right and demonstrate to ourselves and the World that we adhere to the principles upon which we were founded and for which we stand.

Blue on Blue

2006-04-03T06:54:00.000-05:00

Whether you know it as “Blue on Blue,” “Friendly Fire,” or "fratricide," the underlying matter is ugly. Downright ugly.

I had the unfortunate duty recently of investigating a Blue on Blue incident. The situation involved soldiers in one vehicle firing upon soldiers in several other vehicles. The events did not suggest any intentional wrongdoing. The vehicles belonged to different units and neither knew the other was there. None of the vehicles however strictly followed all the rules we have set up to prevent such an event.

Blue on Blue incidents are anything but new. I’ve read figures that estimate more than 15% of American deaths in World War II were due to friendly fire. With all the gadgets, electronic tracking, and refined procedures that we now have in place, the articles I’ve read recently in the public press seem to suggest that we really haven’t made much of a dent in that figure.

There are typically three causes of a fratricide incidents: (1) misidentifying friendly forces as enemy; (2) missing enemy forces and hitting friendlies as “collateral damage”; and (3) firing a weapon system incorrectly or accidentally in the wrong direction (e.g., field artillery, mortars).

Regardless of the cause, Blue on Blue incidents are very destructive. It starts with the obvious: one or more soldiers or marines are injured or killed by the acts of a fellow American. The life of the injured soldier is changed forever. The lives of the spouse, children, brothers, sisters, parents, and good friends of the injured or killed soldier are also changed forever. For those who escape from the incident with their lives, often times they will have permanent disabilities: lost hands, feet, arms and legs are common, and blindness, burns, and brain damage are far from uncommon. That’s the obvious part.

The not so obvious parts can also be devastating. Blue on Blue situations affect those unhurt—both those firing and those fired upon but not hit. There is an incredible feeling of guilt for those who fired. Here they are serving their country, doing what they think is right. And, they kill or permanently injure another American by a simple motion of pulling a trigger. They may or may not have done anything wrong. It doesn’t matter, the guilt is still there. There is also typically a significant loss in confidence. If not addressed, this can lead to depression or arguably worse, hesitation, which could jeopardize the soldier’s life and those around him if he’s put in harms way and hesitates or second guesses himself at a critical moment. The morale of that soldier’s unit can also plummet. Dissension and alienation within the unit happens frequently, at least for a period of time.

On the other side, the soldiers who were fired upon but not hurt may also lose confidence and perhaps more importantly, trust in their fellow soldiers or marines around them or from other units. It’s difficult enough to focus on defeating enemy IEDs, small arms fire, and RPGs that can be anywhere and go off at anytime. Adding to the mix the risk of friendly fire ratchets up that stress. It can lead to cynicism about coalition forces, paranoia, and unhealthy rivalries and dissension between units. When doing a dismounted patrol, the last thing that I would want to think about is whether that group of HMMWVs that are driving by me on the main supply route recognize that I am not AIF.

During my investigation, I was interviewing one of the soldiers who was fired upon. This particular soldier was not injured. He was clearly shook up by the event though. After asking him whether he had anything to add to his statement, he said with a nervous laugh that his buddies told him that instead of a CIB (combat infantryman badge), he would be “awarded a CFB.” “You know,” he said, “a Combat Friendly Badge.” For an infantryman, taking and/or returning enemy fire is sort of a right of passage in war. The Army gives a nod to the grunt by awarding him a CIB when that right of passage gate is passed. The CFB comment sort of emphasized to me some of the ugliness of Blue on Blue. There’s no such nod for a friendly fire incident (not that I advocate that there should be). But that soldier's life was every bit at risk as if it were the enemy's bullet. Everyone just wants the whole thing to go away—“learn from the mistakes,” try to forget about it, and move on.

The Pat Tillman story is a fairly public example of it. After the initial “cover up” was uncovered and various people apparently changed their stories, it became clear that his death was due to a Blue on Blue incident. The greatness of the American Hero that Pat Tillman was, is somehow stained by the fact that it was a fellow soldier’s bullet that killed him, rather than an enemy’s bullet. It makes no difference in my mind though. It doesn’t change who he was, what he gave up, and what he died for. But because of the fact that we are embarrassed and ashamed that one of our true heroes lost his life because of the actions of another one of our own, many of us think about Pat Tillman differently knowing he was killed by a fellow ranger. Somehow, because Tillman was associated with fratricide, he is less of a hero. That's wrong.

We all want fratricide to go away, we are doing a lot to make it go away (training, equipment, procedures, technologies, etc.), yet, we are very unsuccessful in making it go away. And when it happens, we’re either finger pointing, in a cover up mode, or struck with a malaise of not knowing how else to effectively prevent it without threatening force protection (i.e., security) or mission accomplishment. In all the years we've been at war as a nation, we for some reason have not been able to conquer fratricide, even though, logically, we should be able to through more training and better discipline. It’s been an issue I've struggled with and another lesson for me on the hardness of war.

Qatar

2006-03-27T09:13:00.000-06:00

To give soldiers a break from their wartime missions and for some units (like mine) to reward soldiers who have been doing an exceptionally good job, the Army has a pass system. For our unit, the people who are awarded a pass get to go down Qatar for four days. Qatar is a peninsula country offshoot of Saudi Arabia located on the Persian Gulf.

In Qatar, the air base there had a variety of events for soldiers (and marines, airmen, and sailors). Everything from water sports and fishing in the Persian Gulf to cultural tours and shopping. When I went, there was some difficulty in getting into the various activities, which was unfortunate. The one event that I did get to participate in off base was golf. I hadn't golfed in almost 3 years. My game showed it. But, it was still fun. Here are some golf pictures:

From a cosmetic standpoint, Qatar is very modern looking. There was a lot of construction underway while I was there. A fair amount of money was spent on artistic displays and statues.

Qatar however is far from "modern" from a social standpoint. In many ways, it is a very traditional Muslim country. They have very restrictive laws on speech. Despite the upper 80's temperature, we weren't allowed to wear shorts off base. We weren't allowed to take a picture of any building that had a Qatari flag on it nor were we allowed to take a picture of any Qatari citizens without their permission.

The day prior to the golf, I had a great experience eating a medium rare steak at Chiles (on the air base). Yeah, I know, that sounds lame. But, even though the meat wasn't the quality of a steakhouse back in the states, it was juicy with a pink center.

My mouth is watering just remembering it. Whenever the chow hall serves "steak" (and I use that term very loosely), it is always overcooked (well done and usually dry) and often kept warm by the fact that the steak is held in warm water. The other part of the restaurant experience that was neat is that I forgot (for an hour or so) that I was in the Middle East. It took me back to the feeling of being in any chain sit down restaurant in the states. Again, I know that probably sounds lame, but it was nice to get away (at least psychologically) from the constant reminders of conflict in the Middle East.

Here are a few more pictures:

Combat Lifesavers

2006-03-18T05:58:00.000-06:00

A solid bridge between the self-aid/buddy-aid medical treatment that every soldier is trained on in basic training and the combat medic is the combat lifesaver. The combat lifesaver is a non-medical soldier (e.g., an infantryman, mechanic, tanker, cook) trained to provide emergency care as a secondary mission. When he has completed his combat mission (or then currently has no combat-related task to perform), the combat lifesaver is typically the first responder when an incident happens. When a combat medic is present, the combat lifesaver assists the medic in providing forward care and preparing casualties for evacuation.

The combat lifesaver is taught advanced techniques in casualty assessment, hemorrhage control, and the treatment of tension pneumothorax. Among other training, the combat lifesavers are also taught basic techniques on casualty stabilization and administering IV fluids.

I am a big proponent of combat lifesavers and combat lifesaver training. I personally went through the training and certification a few months back. Well over half of my company is also trained and certified. Time and time again as indicated in after actions reports involving injuries, one of the first things soldiers mention about the incident is that they were so glad that they had a combat lifesaver in the gun truck.

The Chatter

2006-03-08T05:10:00.000-06:00

I've always wondered about people's behavior. You know, why do people do what they do? Most of the time, people's behavior is understandable. Every once in a while, I observe something that while understandable is still interesting and intriguing to watch. That is the case for what I have come to refer to in my tour here as the Chatter.

Often times, when one experiences something new and incredible, there's a strong desire to tell other people about it. Yes, I know, we're very social creatures. But what I've witnessed (and personally experienced) here is somewhat different than what I've seen on the civilian side. Or, at least is expressed more intensely here--almost an uncontrollable feeling to communicate with fellow soldiers. Let me give a few examples.

One soldier in my company just got back from a mission and it was the first time that he had ever encountered AIF. The soldier is rather shy and not very talkative. But upon returning from this mission, he wouldn't shut up for two days (and I am not exaggerating). He would go on at length about the mission, the small arms fire and the mortar rounds that they took. But it didn't stop there. He would talk about other stuff as well and became much more aggressive in his conversation style. He returned back to his normal self though after a couple of days.

Another example. We had a soldier who got back from a mission at about 2300 one night. During the mission (which lasted about 9-10 days), one of the HMMWV's in front of his was slightly hit by an IED. The driver though lost control of the vehicle and flipped it as they were going about 30-40 mph. No serious injuries thankfully. My soldier witnessed the whole thing as it unfolded. This same soldier also took small arms fire on more than one occasion on this mission. The soldier was still on adrenalin upon his return (even though the events occurred several nights prior). I don't think he even went to bed that night he returned. He told everybody that he saw that night about his mission and what he experienced. This continued for a day or two afterwards. Again, nonstop talking.

What I've noticed that is common among soldiers who exhibit the Chatter is that it occurs most often when soldiers run into the enemy for the first time (or after one of the first few times). The soldier exhibits unusually high levels of exhilaration, excitement, and intensity. In talking to the soldiers, there's also a sense of relief that they made it through the event (or series of events) without serious harm.

Based on my experiences and what I've taken from discussions with other soldiers, my guess is that the Chatter is a combination of a coping mechanism, a soldier bonding mechanism, and an expression of relief following the years of training that the soldier had in preparation of the day he first met the enemy.

I'm sure my observations are not new. But, it's still interesting for me to witness nonetheless. It's also interesting to know that despite all the differences that we have as humans (or at least Americans), there are definitely common behavioral characteristics that almost all of us share. And, the Chatter seems to be one of them.

BIAP and Al Faw Palace

2006-03-02T04:30:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the delay in posting everybody. I appreciate all the emails of concern for my well being.

February was a busy month for me (about 3 weeks of various kinds of missions in Iraq). On one of the missions, I had another delay. This time it was in BIAP (f/k/a Sadaam Hussein International Airport). BIAP now not only houses the Baghdad International Airport but also at least three other significant military camps: Camp Victory, Camp Striker, and Camp Liberty. I believe there are a couple of other small camps as well (such as Seitz), but the three that I named are the main ones. The camps are adjacent to one another and for the most part one can travel freely between them.

The overall area is fairly large—I’d guess somewhere between 75-100 square kilometers. It’s situated in the southwestern portion of Baghdad. Three of my crews and I spent a couple hours at the Al Faw Palace, which is what I’ll mostly elaborate on with this post.

The palace itself is built around a man-made lake that is stocked with carp. Here are post card pictures of the palace:

Around the perimeter of the lake is a path that’s roughly 2-2½ miles. There are a number of resort-type buildings there that I’m sure housed the buddies of the man who stopped his hunger strike because he got hungry (i.e., the power hungry sadistic dictator formerly known as President Hussein).

Below are some more pictures of the palace. The outside area and the front door:

Inside the door of the palace, there's a brief history of the place:

Here's one of the towers that seen better days (prior to 2003).

There are some fairly impressive bathroom facilities in this palace. Here's one of the common areas for a bathroom:

Off of the common area, there are a number of smaller "private" rooms. Here's one:

While they probably don’t rival those of certain Chinese-built facilities made for a certain former first lady, they are sure better than the porta-johns that I’ve become well acquainted with over here.

Here are some pictures of the walls, ceilings, and chandeliers:

And here’s the chair that I plan to bring back to the office with me.
Hopefully, there will be room.

A Commander's Stress

2006-02-10T07:12:00.000-06:00

“Sir, there’s been an incident.” An NCO from the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) walked into the dark tent I was staying. I was laying in bed, working on the computer thinking about going to sleep. I lost track of time and was up much later than I should have been. I looked down at my watch. It was about 0130 in the morning. “What happened?” I asked. “A convoy that your guys were escorting hit an IED about 10 minutes ago. They’re calling in MedEvac now,” he said “Are any of my guys hurt?” I asked anxiously. “We don’t think so,” he replied. He said he thought it was “the other unit’s gun truck” that was hit. The problem was that there was not suppose to be another gun truck with that convoy. Only my guys were suppose to have gun trucks.

I got dressed and went to the TOC. It was business as usual there. Soldiers in the TOC were dealing with the typical late night/early morning cases of small arms fire and IEDs that were “close.” I looked at the clock, 0145. “What’s the deal with my guys, you got an update?” I asked. “They called in a MedEvac, one casualty was ‘urgent’ and one was ‘priority,’” the battle captain replied. “Was one of my guys injured?” I quickly jumped in as he was speaking. “We don’t know yet, but we don’t think so,” he replied. “We’re trying to find out,” he said.

An “urgent” casualty is one that must be evacuated within two hours or he will either lose life, limb or eyesight. A “priority” casualty is one that must be evacuated within six hours or he will lose life, limb or eyesight.

When units are far away, we typically rely on a communications system that is something like a civilian version of instant messaging. It’s not as quick or complete as the radio but it’s secure and it works well over long distances. In situations like this, it’s important to have “tactical patience” when in the back collecting information. The first priority of soldiers on the scene is to address the situation at hand. Considering where these guys were at the time, they were likely focusing on securing the area of operation, stabilizing the injured soldiers, and marking the landing zone for the helicopter. I’ve been there and I know what it’s like when some guy in the rear is clamoring for information and I’m trying to address the situation on the scene.

I looked at the clock again. 0153. Tactical patience, tactical patience, tactical patience, I was thinking to myself. We got a message back indicating that the vehicle that was directly hit (and had the soldiers with the injuries) was a gun truck from the other unit. They apparently took an extra gun truck on the mission. I admit, I was relieved. It was quickly followed by a feeling of guilt knowing that I was relieved. Two other U.S. soldiers were seriously injured. They weren’t my soldiers, but I’m sure they were someone’s husband, dad, son . . . .

I asked a TOC NCO to send them a message asking whether the MedEvac was there yet. Strong winds, blowing sand and rain were anticipated sometime during the early morning hours that day. I wasn’t sure whether it had hit yet. This could have a significant impact on whether they could get the injured soldiers out via helicopter.

I looked up at the clock. It was 0207 and we hadn’t heard a reply yet. Thoughts were racing through my head as to what they were likely doing, the training that they had been through, and what the crews on site had already been through with IEDs, mortars and small arms fire in the past. I knew these guys. I knew what they were capable of. I knew they were prepared. I was confident in the leadership on the site.

0215, still no reply. I decided to plot their position on the map. I quickly discovered that the route that they were on was coded impassable earlier that day because of AIF activity and road conditions and according to the most recent information we had at the time, it was still coded that way. I asked the battle captain why they were on that route. He said he didn’t know. We later found out that the operations center where the convoy originated from at the beginning of the convoy apparently had “better” information and chose that route for them.

I looked at the clock again, 0221. We received a message that the bird hadn’t landed yet. This was getting to be an issue because it had been just over an hour since the incident and I’m sure the soldiers were getting anxious about getting that Urgent casualty out of there. I remembered back when we were manifesting (deciding who was going to go on this particular mission). Because of room constraints, I was debating on whether to include one of our medics on this trip. I smiled knowing that we decided to include a good medic on this mission. I imagined him rendering aid to the injured soldiers. Performing tasks that he was trained to do. I also thought about how much stress he was probably under waiting for that bird for over an hour. I was glad though that those soldiers were probably getting the best dog-gone combat medic treatment that they could possibly get.

The battle captain looked over at me. Probably realizing that I was starting to stress just waiting, he said, “want to play darts?” “Darts?” I laughed under my breath. “Yeah,” he said. Why not I thought. We started to play. After every turn, I looked at the clock and then the electronic message board.

Then, at 0235, we got a message, the bird had lifted off with the injured soldiers on board. What a sense of relief I felt. We didn’t get a status of the injured soldiers but I felt better that the helicopter was able to land and pick them up and get them to the hospital. The message also indicated that they were in the process of trying to secure the damaged gun truck. They had been on the ground for well over an hour. My concern was shifting to their vulnerability just standing there on that route for a long period of time. I then sent a message to my head NCO at the IED site. I wanted to reassure him and let him know that I was there at the TOC.

0250 and they were still at the IED site. We received some additional information about the damage to the vehicle and the tactics used by the AIF with the IED. The AIF ran away like they usually do. The mechanics were finishing up their work.

By 0310, they were back on the road, heading to an interim destination in order for the damaged gun truck to be further worked on. I decided to head back to my tent. I told the battle captain to wake me if anything else happened with that convoy. As I walked out of the TOC, I thought again about the training my soldiers went through. I tried to figure out if there were ways for me to ensure my soldiers were even better prepared the next time. What training should I emphasize in the coming months? What equipment should I try to obtain for them to enable them to do their jobs better?

I didn’t sleep much the rest of that morning.

Ur

2006-02-04T01:51:00.000-06:00

During a delay on a recent mission, I was able to visit the ancient city of Ur. It is located just outside of the city of Nasiriyah. What a neat place. Other than it being the birthplace of Abraham (revered as a patriarch in the Bible, Torah and Koran) and the starting point of his migration westward to Palestine in about 1900 B.C., I really didn’t know much about the city . But, the tour guide there, Muhsen, gave us an informative, close up tour of this amazing place.

The most visible dwelling in the area is the Ziggurat. It stands about 70 feet tall. Here are pictures of the Ziggurat from afar and one with me running up its steps:

The Ziggurat was built around 2100 B.C. One thing that I found interesting was that the structure itself is solid. That is, it has no rooms or open areas inside. According to Muhsen, the Ziggurat was built by the Sumerians as a way in which to be closer go the god of the moon. The moon god was suppose to come from the sky and walk down the steps of the Ziggurat to be with the people. The Ziggurat itself was uncovered in the mid-1800's by the British. Apparently, there was at least one more level above the current Ziggurat structure that didn't survive the excavation.

Most of the structures at the city of Ur site are original. Muhsen said that the bricks in the public buildings (like the Ziggurat) are held together with a natural tar-like substance. Because the substance was so expensive back then, private buildings (such as dwellings) often used instead a mud-based substance to hold the bricks together. Here’s a picture of Muhsen explaining some of the details about how the buildings were made:

Below are several things “of note” at the site that I thought were fascinating:

*The site had many examples of ancient cuneiform writing, which according to Muhsen predates hieroglyphics. Here’s a sample:

*Small sea shells from one of the two floods (estimated to have occurred around 4000 B.C. and 2900 B.C.) were all over the place. It was strange to see small sea shells not on the sea shore but on the desert floor instead. :-)

*There were several tombs of kings in which 50 or so servants were buried alive (apparently voluntarily). Here are a number of pictures.

Compare those pictures of tombs with a picture of a tomb of a “common” person, not much higher than mid-thigh:

*The world’s first arch according Muhsen (or perhaps oldest intact?) is located on the site. Here’s a picture:

*There was also a structure the Muhsen said was the first museum. It was a structure that housed a collection of items from earlier times that was put on display for others to see. Here’s a picture of that building:

(the cement on top was put there in the 1990s to preserve the structure in anticipation of a visit from the Pope).

*Finally, we looked at the house of Abraham. The house itself was rebuilt. When they dug up the ruins, all that was left from the site was the foundation and the floors. So, they rebuild the ground floor walls. Apparently, Abraham was fairly well off primarily because of his father’s success as a businessman. According to Muhsen, Abraham’s father earned money by selling idols. That’s ironic. Anyway, Abraham’s house was fairly large. It consisted of more than one level, which wasn’t common for a dwelling back then in that area. The pictures below are of the dwelling, including one with soldiers walking on the walls that formed the basis for the second floor.

Back in the day, the Euphrates River flowed near the city walls of Ur. According to Muhsen, the city reached a population of somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000. By around 400 B.C. though, the city was deserted. It is thought that the reason for this was the shifting of the Euphrates River. Prior to the shifting of the river, there apparently was grass, trees and a significant amount of vegetation. My, how times have changed.

Flood

2006-01-29T03:40:00.000-06:00

A couple months ago, I wrote a light-hearted post on the rain in Kuwait. It was at a point when I hadn't seen rain for quite some time--the early August rains of Mississippi in fact. Well, we’ve had a lot more rain since then. So much so, we had what amounted to a flood. Yes, I said a flood. Here are some pictures:

The Iraq-Kuwait border was hit pretty hard too:

For us, it caused just inconveniences—detours, items on floors getting wet, some periods of lost electricity, etc. But in Safwan, there were a lot more than just inconveniences. Here are some pictures that were taken about 4 or 5 days after the rain:

Over 150 homes were lost (homes typically house 10-14 extended family members). A refugee tent area was sent up in the city to house those left homeless from the flood. Here are some more pictures:

Without a public sewer system, there were fears that the flood would cause disease outbreaks. Thankfully, nothing significant happened.

The Hajj

2006-01-23T02:01:00.000-06:00

Earlier this month, we witnessed (albeit, from very much afar) the Hajj, or as some call it the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. The Hajj is an act of worship just like the Salat (five daily prayers) and Sawm (fasting in the month of Ramadan). Muslims from all over the world gather in Mecca in the last month of the Muslim calendar and worship Allah. This is an occasion that brings together Muslims from all over the world to one place–the Ka’ba. It’s typical to have well over two million Muslims attend this event. Sometimes, I’m told it reaches up to 4 million people. Think about it, that’s more than the population of the city of Chicago.

Performance of the Hajj is required of every adult Muslim (male and female), if physically and financially able. Many Muslims spend their entire lives saving and planning for the pilgrimage. Some Muslims make the pilgrimage more than once if they are able.

When traveling to Mecca, many (probably most) Muslims travel through Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the major port city nearest to Mecca. We witnessed some people in Iraq who traveled in groups in a southwesterly direction across Iraq toward Saudi Arabia during the time leading up to the dates of the Hajj. I’m told that as they approach Mecca, they stop at one of the designated areas to shower and change into a Ihram (simple clothing), entering into a state of devotion and purity for the pilgrimage.

The Hajj involves a sequence of ritual events that span over several days. On the first official day of the pilgrimage, millions of Muslims travel from Mecca to Mina, a small village east of the city. There, they spend the day and night in enormous tent cities, praying, reading the Koran, and resting for the next day. On the second day, Muslims leave Mina just after dawn to travel to the Plain of Arafat for the culminating experience of the Hajj. On what I’m told is called the “Day of Arafat,” the pilgrims spend the entire day near the Mount of Mercy, asking Allah for forgiveness. This is probably the most important part of the Hajj. Muslims from all over the world who are not at the pilgrimage fast that day.

After sunset on the Day of Arafat, the pilgrims travel to Muzdalifah, roughly halfway between Arafat and Mina. There, they spend the night praying and collecting stone pebbles to be used the following day.

On the third day, the pilgrims move before sunrise to Mina. There, they throw their stones at pillars that represent the temptations of Satan. When throwing the stones, the pilgrims recall the story of Satan’s attempt to dissuade Abraham from following God’s command to sacrifice his son (one of many intersections between the Muslim and Christian religions). The stones represent Abraham’s rejection of Satan and the firmness of his faith.

After throwing the stones, most Muslims slaughter an animal (often a sheep or a goat) and give away the meat to the poor. This is a symbolic act that shows their willingness to part with something that is important to them, just as the Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son to God. Males also shave their heads (females clip a piece of their hair).

The pilgrims then return to Mecca and perform seven tawaaf (turns or circuits) around the Ka’ba, the house of worship built by Abraham and his son. In other rites, the pilgrims pray near a place called “The Station of Abraham,” which supposedly is where Abraham stood while constructing the Ka’ba. The pilgrims also walk seven times between two small hills near the Ka’ba. This is done in remembrance of the plight of Abraham’s wife Hajar, who desperately searched in the area for water for herself and her son, before a spring popped up in the desert for her. The pilgrims also drink from this ancient spring, known as Zamzam.

At this year’s Hajj, you may have heard that they had over 350 people trampled to death at the stone throwing site. According to the BBC, the Hajj has witnessed many deaths in the last 20 years:

1987: 400 die as Saudi authorities confront pro-Iranian demonstration
1990: 1,426 pilgrims killed in tunnel leading to holy sites
1994: 270 killed in stampede
1997: 343 pilgrims die and 1,500 injured in fire
1998: At least 118 trampled to death
2001: 35 die in stampede
2003: 14 are crushed to death
2004: 251 trampled to death in stampede

I suppose that such disasters can be expected when you have millions of people coming together at one time.

Ar Ramadi

2006-01-11T09:30:00.000-06:00

We headed out of Al Asad in the morning, heading toward Ar Ramadi. For those who haven’t been following the news closely or who confuse the various cities in Iraq, Ramadi is part of the heart of the Sunni-based portion of the insurgency. Ramadi is located about 80 miles west of Baghdad and is part of the famed Sunni Triangle. There are fire fights, IEDs, and/or mortar attacks every day in Ramadi. As a result, the level of “attentiveness” when driving to or through Ramadi is always high. The day we came rolling down the road to Ramadi was no different.

Traffic was “well behaved” when we drove into Ramadi. Vehicles stood off from our convey at least 100 meters and there were no threatening actions taken by the civilians we encountered. Just as I was about ready to relax as we moved through the entry control point gate at the Ramadi base, a VBIED (vehicle borne IED) rushed the gate just behind us. The gate guards lit them up with crew serve automatic weapons and killed the three passengers in the vehicle.

We found out that just prior to moving into Ramadi, a couple of insurgents (or as some think, Al Qaeda members) blew themselves up at the glass factory in the city of Ramadi (which is outside the base I was on), killing around 70+ Iraqi Sunni police recruits as well as two American soldiers. We saw the smoke from the explosion as we rolled into the city.

Below are a few articles about the incident at the glass factory. If anyone doubts how the agenda or perspective of a reporter or periodical/news agency influences public opinion, compare your feelings after you read about the violence, chaos, blood and gore painted by the typical reports of the event by Reuters http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060105/ts_nm/iraq_dc and the Associated Press http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2006/01/06/build/world/40-iraq-bombing_v.inc with your feelings about the event when reading a story that tries to get beyond the sensationalism, over-generalizations and lumping together of various violent events: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ramadi6jan06,1,4360288,print.story?coll=la-headlines-world The stories were written on the same day and represent very different styles and perspectives. You can also notice how the AP author speculates that the only reason the men were there was that they were "desperate" for high paying jobs. Compare that with the on-the-ground quotes taken by the LA Times reporter, who writes of the Sunni's wanting to take control of their own area and situation--a stark contrast to the AP suggestion, and if true, a remarkable positive development over the last year. I’m betting if you heard/read about the bombing before reading these articles, the perspective of the reporter/author was one of the former and not the latter.

The Stars and Stripes did a decent piece on one of the soldiers killed in the attack: http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=34193 One of the officers in my unit knew the LTC that was killed.

We only stayed in Ramadi a few hours. As they were cleaning up the aftermath from the explosion, we received an SP time and route for our next location: Camp Al Taqaddum, or as almost everyone calls it, TQ. TQ is located just south of Fallajuh. Along the way to TQ, we encountered a PIED that turned out to be nothing. The weather turned on us though as we traveled in the late afternoon/early evening; the rain and fog rolled in. Inclement weather is both bad and good. It’s bad in the sense that it makes it difficult to see the enemy, but it’s good in that the enemy has a difficult time seeing you.

We arrived at TQ and stayed at the “barn,” which is a single, old factory-type building that houses everyone (transients) in a three-story or so room. I’d guess that there were probably 100+ bunk beds in the building. It’s always dark in there because there is always someone sleeping (and just coming off a mission), regardless of the time of day.

TQ has what I refer to as “moon dust” sand. It’s a 3-6” layer that has the consistency of powdered sugar. The moon dust is above a hard base, which I believe is just made of compacted sand. When one walks, the moon dust creates a little puff of sand that rises up above one’s boot. When it rains, the moon dust sand turns to a clay-like substance. Here’s a little more background on TQ for those who are interested: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/al-taqaddum.htm

After getting some sleep, addressing some maintenance issues, and having the trucks we were escorting reloaded, we left TQ a day or so later at about 2100. Our route was very circuitous, considering our destination. The route is typically dictated by the risk assessment conducted at the time (who is reporting what enemy activity and where, the current medevac situation, weather conditions, etc.). We were on the road for more than 8 hours after leaving TQ. We had to drive through parts of Ramadi, Falujah and Baghdad. Along the way, we saw a few IED explosions hitting the convoy in front of ours (no injuries), but we weren’t hit. Must have been because of singing the song, Greatest American Hero.

Al Asad

2006-01-09T09:30:00.000-06:00

A one and a two and a three . . .

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
It should've been somebody else.
Believe it or not, I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free eee eee.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

It's like a light of a new day,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,
Making all of my wishes come true ue ue.
Believe it or not, I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free eee eee.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

That’s how we started every leg of the mission, singing that song. For those who don’t remember, didn’t know, or aren’t old enough, that’s the theme song to the early 80s television show, Greatest American Hero. I admit, I had forgotten about the show, but it brought a smile to my face when someone reminded me of it. The truck commander for this vehicle apparently has all the series of this show on DVD (who would have guessed there was a market for that). Any way, the crew I was riding with on this mission sings the song at the start of every leg of every mission. According to the crew, this ritual has kept them safe through IEDs, mortar attacks, and small arms fire. As it would turn out, this mission was no different.

The fog was just breaking when we left Navistar. We were going to make one short sleep stop along the way before getting to our first destination, Al Asad. Al Asad is a camp in the famed al Anbar province.

Despite going through some of the “hottest” areas, our trip to Al Asad was mostly uneventful. Although, on the trip to Al Asad, I was amazed by a certain stretch of a single lane road, about 20 miles or so in length. This road was pockmarked with so many IED sites that you couldn’t travel 100 meters on this road without seeing scars from an IED. There were some places on this road that there were 5 or more IED explosion markings within as many meters. The gunner in our truck started to take some pictures of a few of the spots as we were traveling when it dawned upon him how vulnerable he was taking the pictures from the exposed turret. He quickly tucked his head back into the truck in order to avoid unnecessary exposure. As it turned out, it was a smart move.

About 10 minutes after we made it through this 20-mile stretch, we heard on the radio that a PIED (another military acronym, meaning potential improvised explosive device) was spotted along the route we had just past through by the convoy that followed us. When the unit that spotted it was calling it in on the radio, they took small arms fire. This is likely an indicator that the AIF were intending the IED to explode and were covering the kill zone with sniper(s). Thankfully no one was hurt.

We arrived at Al Asad within 24 hours of departing from Navistar. I had never been to Al Asad before. It primarily consists of Marines. From the news, I know that the Marines have been very busy with operations in the last six months or so in the al Anbar province. Although, contrary to my expectations, the atmosphere at the base seemed somewhat laid back. The base was fairly remote, but it was of good size. It had some relatively nice Haaji shops.

The billeting arrangements were interesting. The tent we slept in was large and filled with bunk beds (which is usually the case—although, some camps only have cots). The bunks though had some of the worst mattresses I’d ever seen (except for ones covered in mold and/or sand fleas). You could feel virtually every spring in the mattress itself when you touched it. When I sat on one mattress, I broke through the bunk bed support springs (I’m just under 200 pounds and did not jump) and the mattress quickly fell to the floor. Luckily, I was spared the embarrassment as I was the only one there at the time as my guys had gone out to move the trucks and bring in additional bags. The second bunk I tried at least supported my weight. Regardless of the bunk chosen, when one sat on the center of the bed, the mattress formed a “v.” Someone commented that they were kind of like hammocks. Not a big deal, I’ve slept in worse places. Just kind of funny.

When we got up in the morning, we received the route to our next destination: the beloved and ever-peaceful, Ramadi. I’ll write about that segment as well as our trip around Falujah when I get a moment in the next couple of days.

Embedded Reporter

2005-12-29T03:15:00.000-06:00

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.

Wonderful Supporting Groups and Individuals

2005-12-25T05:51:00.000-06:00

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.

Iraqi Elections

2005-12-16T04:56:00.000-06:00

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.

Kuwaiti Drivers

2005-12-06T23:14:00.000-06:00

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.

Care Packages

2005-11-21T01:02:00.000-06:00

I’ve been asked (at an impressive frequency) what would our troops appreciate over here and recently what would we like for the holidays. My reply has thus far been, “we really don’t need anything.” Of course, since people are so good natured, they ignore me . . . and end up sending something anyway. So, to avoid things being thrown away or wasted, I thought I would put together a list of things soldiers here have requested. Just so that we’re straight though, the soldiers here (myself included) are taken care of fairly well. But, because I know that some people are just “hell-bent” on sending holiday care packages, I thought that a list may be a good starting point in order to avoid receiving some of the items that we’ve already received that aren’t . . . well, let's say, totally appropriate (I’ve included a summary of those items in the second list below). The final list (and as you can tell, I do like lists) is a list of items of which we have many boxes of already.

The items below are ones that soldiers have mentioned would be nice:

PC Games (they have XBOX and PS2 games already)
DVDs (recent movies, TV series (season))
Twin bed sheets
Calendars
Mail order gift certificates
Starbucks (or other brand) canned coffee products for missions
Edge shaving cream
3 x 5 picture frames
Male/gender-neutral toiletries
UnderArmor/Coolmax undergarments (L-XXL)
Breakfast bars
CDs (music)
Christmas decorations
Trail mix
Jerky
Apple Cider and Cappucinno Mix
Dried fruit

Not to sound ungrateful (and I do hear in the back of my head a voice saying, "sometimes, you are such an ingrate!"), but the list below includes items that we have received that for one reason or another, weren’t appropriate for an infantry unit stationed in the Middle East:

Combs
Feminine hygiene products
Mistletoe
Nail polish
Rum
Perfume
Used deodorant sticks
Stale cookies (I’m sure they were fresh when they were sent)
Teen Magazine
Expired canned products
Danielle Steele books

This final list below contains items that we already have waaay too much of already:

Dry drink mix
Hard candy
Hotel soaps
Chapstick
Baby wipes
New Yorker magazines (we just received several huge boxes of them)

For those who can hold out and/or are interested, I’ll be publishing a blog update shortly on The Badger OIF Foundation and our efforts and needs there. That would be a more noble and needed cause to which to contribute.

IEDs

2005-11-17T01:42:00.000-06:00

By now, virtually everyone has heard (probably ad nauseam) of IEDs. I’ve become very familiar with these buggers, as I’ll elaborate on one episode in a bit. But, based on the number of questions that I’ve received concerning them, I wanted to first write a little about some of the unclassified (and publicly available) information that I’ve learned about them and how they are employed.

Not all IEDs are created equal. At the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality and effectiveness are poorly disguised mortar or artillery rounds (ranging from 120mm to 155mm) placed on the side of the road that are remotely detonated via wire device. AIF personnel will be somewhere between 50-150 meters from the roadside with a trigger device. Once the IED is detonated, the AIF run or drive away along a predetermined (usually concealed) route. Except in certain areas in Iraq, IEDs are currently not typically accompanied by small arms fire, RPGs, or other forms of engagement. It’s sort of a pop and run type tactic they use. Here’s a little more background on these types of IEDs: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/ied-packaged.htm/

Somewhere above the basic IEDs in terms of quality and effectiveness, are those that employ better technology or require more coordination to properly employ. In this category, one or more of the following are present: more sophisticated triggers such as shortwave radio or FM frequency initiated devices (remote control, garage door openers, beepers, etc.) that allow the triggerman to be further away or allow quicker emplacement, the munitions are bundled (e.g., four 155mm artillery rounds in a cement casing), or the IEDs are part of a “complex” attack. The complex attack can mean that an IED round detonates in combination with small arms and/or RPG fire in a single kill zone. Or, it could mean that the IED are sequenced in time—a second IED is detonated one minute after the first in an effort to hit the “first responders,” who often (at least historically) dismount from their vehicle to assist those hit by the first IED. Another form of complex attack is referred to as a daisy chain IED, which is what hit us the other week. A daisy chain is a string of IEDs that are strung 50-100 meters apart and are typically detonated at the same time by a common igniting device.

Our experience with a daisy chain IED occurred when we were traveling north, just south of Baghdad at about 0200 in the morning. I saw the explosion of one of the IEDs about 75 meters in front of us (11 o’clock to our direction of travel). At the same time, I felt and only heard (but did not see) the explosion of another IED that seemed much closer at about 8’oclock to our direction of travel. The explosion literally rocked our 12,000+ pound vehicle. At first, I thought there was only one explosion (to our front) and that the noise may have ricocheted so that it only sounded as if the explosion went off behind our vehicle. But, the gunner, who was oriented to our 5 o’clock direction of travel at the time, confirmed that an explosive device just behind our vehicle went off. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the IED behind us caused a 2” piece of shrapnel to slice through a portion of the rear of our vehicle (we discovered this later). After the detonation, we emerged from the dust and debris of one explosion and moved into the dust and debris of the second explosion to our front. I did not see the aftermath of the explosion behind us, but the one in front of us disabled a "white truck" (a TCN-driven vehicle) traveling south. I (along with the rest of my crew) was remarkably calm throughout the entire event. Our reaction was well-rehearsed and automatic, which I’m sure was the primary reason we took the event in stride. While I didn’t expect us to react in an out of control manner, I was just somewhat surprised at how relaxed everyone was—like it was "just another day at the office.” As I said in an earlier post, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” and that’s how we performed.

The most sophisticated form of IED to date are heavy shaped charges that are detonated by IR triggers. According to the BBC, the Brits think that these IEDs are actually brought in through Iran and the technology is actually Hezbollah based. Here’s an article on this type of sophisticated IED (although, I think the analogies in the article are over-sensationalized and somewhat exaggerated): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4320818.stm

Somewhere in the mix of the above are VBIED and other suicide IED attacks. VBIEDs and other suicide IED attacks get a lot of the headlines, but are relatively rare (under 1-2% of all IED attacks).

While the number of IEDs have gone up, rest assured, so have our efforts in defeating or at least minimizing their impact. In the overwhelming number of IED attacks or attempted attacks that we encounter, we walk away from unharmed and equipment undamaged. There are a number of devices and tactics that we have and use to overcome and beat the IED threat. Just as the IED threat is evolving, so are our technologies, vehicles, and tactics. While for security reasons I can’t elaborate much on them, take a look at the buffalo and cougar vehicles (http://www.forceprotection.net/news/news_article.html?id=60) as examples. We (as in the US) have also increased the budget for a "new and improved" IED taskforce (3-star general level) to over a billion dollars to address the IED threat. While I don’t for a minute think that the IED threat will go away in the foreseeable future, we are making considerable efforts to minimize their effects.

Liquid Sunshine

2005-11-10T02:35:00.000-06:00

There I was. 7 November. I was walking to the commo shop and I felt a drop on the back of my neck. It was just one drop, but it was rain. Rain. No doubt about it. Something I hadn’t experienced in three months, since leaving Mississippi. Within a minute, there was another drop that landed on my cheek. Yep, it was official—a Kuwaiti rain storm.

At the end of October/beginning of November, we started to have these crazy, white puffy things in the sky. If I remember right, I think they call them “clouds.” Since our arrival in Kuwait in August, the skies have been virtually spotless. The only exception to this has been smoke from the oil fires and blowing sand and dust, both of which can (and occasionally do) completely obscure the blue sky and sun.

Kuwait typically gets as little as an inch of rain a year. Some years though it gets up to a whopping 8 inches. Kuwait is different than Iraq in this regard. Some of the northern regions of Iraq get a lot more rain: some even exceed 25 inches of rain per year. For now, I'll just have to be happy with the two drops I received.

Udari Range

2005-11-06T04:19:00.000-06:00

One element of training that we keep up on while in country is weapons training. The other week, we made a trip down to Udari Range in Kuwait. We had an interesting experience.

Udari is a wide-open area that is well suited for a weapons range. It is in a fairly desolate area. Although upon arrival, it wasn’t as desolate as I initially thought. In opening the range, we had to clear it to ensure that no one was "down range." Upon sweeping the area, we saw men in trucks and a bunch of camels (the trucks and the camels were in different areas). We tried to usher the two groups off. Below is a picture of the camels. When they travel in packs/herds, they look pre-historic to me.

Curiously interested in one of the white camels, one of my soldiers (doing what he was told not to do) approached one of the white camels to get a close up picture. Another soldier took a picture of the interaction:

What was funny about this is that after the soldier took the picture of the camel and turned around to walk away, the camel let out a snorting bellow. The camel then started to run after the soldier and chased him for about fifty meters. Camels are fairly fast. In seeing this chase scene, one of my other soldiers concluded that there must have been some sort of mutual attraction between the two.

After we opened the range up, we fired the various weapon systems that we had in order to give guys more trigger time. We also took the opportunity to allow soldiers to cross train on different weapon systems. Here’s another picture:

At the end of the day, we cleaned up the brass and links (like we should have done). Right around dusk, a number of Bedouin appeared. They were very upset. Apparently, they have become accustom to picking up the empty brass cartridges after American military units fire on the range and then they turn around and sell the brass. We apparently frustrated their expectation.

For those who don’t know, Bedouin are small nomadic tribes that roam the deserts. They’re devoutly Islamic, but are not integrated fully with the locals. They typically survive by raising sheep and camels. I’m sure someone will correct me, but I view them as Middle Eastern gypsies.

The next morning, we had an absolutely beautiful sunrise. It was incredibly quick. The pictures below were taken within a five minute period:

The Badger OIF Foundation

2005-11-01T02:56:00.000-06:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was working on setting up a nonprofit organization to support some of our charitable efforts. Well, the organization has been set up and we’ve filed for the tax exempt status. The organization’s name is The Badger OIF Foundation, Inc. Our first project with the organization, assisting with the collection of school supplies for the children of Safwan, Iraq, is coming to a close. The end result was two (2) forty-foot connexes of supplies—pens, pencils, paper, crayons, scissors, etc. We literally have received hundreds of banker boxes of school supplies. Wow! I am still amazed by that. What an incredible response from the people of Wisconsin, especially in light of what people have already given to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In the upcoming week or so, we’re going to be handing out the school supplies to the kids. I hope to have some pictures of the events at the various schools.

We’ve already got an eye on the next couple of projects. One project involves acquiring 450 desks for school children and 50 blackboards on which to write. Another project involves obtaining soccer equipment for the area’s 30+ soccer teams. Many kids around here don’t even have shoes (let alone cleats). We’ve already obtained an initial commitment from the Milwaukee Wave, which has agreed to donate 1,000 used soccer balls (yes, 1,000!). FedEx has expressed a willingness to ship the soccer balls over here. With some luck, this will all come together.

Stay tuned!

Today's 11B Warrior

2005-10-27T04:18:00.000-05:00

“Boy, that looks good,” I said to the NCO sitting across from me eating ice cream. We both were taking a breather, enjoying some of the amenities at Anaconda, a very large army installation north of Baghdad. It had been an exciting and stressful last few days on the mission we were on, culminating in running into a small daisy chain of IEDs the night before. Thankfully, none of the vehicles in our convoy had serious damage—the blasts blew by either side of the vehicle I was traveling in causing only some shrapnel damage. The explosions definitely got the blood going.

As I sat there with my own bowl of ice cream, I thought about how the soldiers before me spent their time between missions. In some ways, I concluded, we got it made. We’ve got all these amenities—communications, computers, decent food, music, movies, new technologies, etc. But, I thought, while these amenities are nice, they don’t take away from the essence of war in being an American soldier: risking one’s life and health, suspending one’s own individual freedoms for a while, and being separated from one’s family and loved ones, all for the benefit of others, in furtherance of national interests, and/or in fulfilling the calling of one’s principles and values.

As I finished up my ice cream, my mind shifted to the upcoming task at hand: that night’s mission. We had to move 30 trucks from Anaconda to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warrior, a base on the outskirts of Kirkuk. For this mission, we had three gun trucks to protect all 30 trucks that we were escorting.

This mission, like most, had an early morning SP time (start time) of 0100. We gathered around midnight to conduct our PCC/PCIs—we checked our NVG’s, weapons, fuel cans, flares, grenades, vehicles, ammunition, combat lifesaver bags, etc. All was ready. We were ready.

As a sign of the "next generation" warriors that we have become, we stopped at a coffee shop on post at Anaconda to get our fix of caffeine just prior to the mission--not the traditional nasty army brew, but lattes, cappuccinos, mint teas, frappes, etc. instead. The notion still makes me smile. Yes, this is today's 11B, the grunts of yesteryear have turned into specialty coffee connoisseurs of today. I (at least) stayed with a traditional large black coffee, but I guess I'm one of the old-timer stalwarts.

We moved to the SP point and crossed the SP at the correct time. About three quarters of the convoy made it through the gate when I heard someone on the radio saying, “we’ve got an issue back here.” A white truck (one driven by a third country national) had a mechanical issue and blocked the serpentine maze at the gate entrance. We couldn’t move the rest of the convoy out or return the convoy in the gate without fixing or moving the white truck. To exacerbate the matter, the area outside of this particular gate was rather dangerous--it had seen several consecutive nights of small arms fire. So, we were stuck there until the truck that broke down could be moved or fixed. Luckily, they were able to fix the truck within an hour or so. We found out later though that AIF forces had struck that stretch of highway about an hour or so after we left.

The routes we travel often vary depending on the most recent intelligence reports we receive. While it was the least dangerous route that evening, the route that was selected for us that night took us through some fairly rough areas, including parts of downtown Tikrit (Sadaam’s hometown).

At about 0330 that morning, we approached Tikrit. On the outskirts of Tikrit, we saw a well-lit bridge that had a significant amount of debris on the right side (northbound) lanes—some type of explosion had apparently occurred there earlier that morning. On the far side of the bridge, we saw an IP (Iraqi police) car.

IPs are tough to deal with. While I know that probably a majority of them are good and at least neutral to the US presence, a very significant percentage of IPs are not trustworthy (at best) and are either corrupt or supportive of the AIF (at worst). As a result, IPs are (generally) viewed very suspiciously by coalition forces (especially the Brits).

So, there we sat: a convoy that stretched 1½ - 2 miles long on the verge of entering Sadaam’s hometown crossing a bridge that had seen an explosion a few hours earlier. On the far side of the bridge was an IP car on the southbound side with its lights flashing. We couldn’t just sit there. The exposure of the convoy to RPGs, VBIEDs, and small arms fire was much too large to stay there for any significant duration.

We decided to cross the bridge on the south bound (left) side—my vehicle first. We moved up cautiously looking for any evidence of IEDs or potential ambush. I could practically hear the fast pace of each of the hearts of the solders in my vehicle. That level of tension is what is commonly referred to a “high pucker factor.” We used the NVGs and binos to see if we could see any enemy activity as we traversed the bridge. As we crossed the far side of the bridge, we looked into the IP car. It was empty. Nothing was around. The streets were ominously quiet; all that could be heard was the diesel engine of our gun truck HMMWV and the distant sound across the bridge of the engines of the trucks waiting to cross the bridge. We cleared the far side of the bridge and signaled for the convoy to cross.

We proceeded to lead the convoy through a part of Tikrit. The built up areas in the city were among the nicest we’d seen in Iraq. Though, there clearly were areas where gun fighting and explosive devices had been used in the recent past. There were also several rubbled and abandoned buildings. We ran across a number of IP cars with IPs just emotionlessly looking at us as we passed.

As we were driving through the built up areas (which is a very risky thing to do, especially with large vehicles), we noticed that there was a significant ambiguity in the strip map we were given. The turn off from the main road was not clearly designated on the map (no grid coordinates, no street names, and no detail in the map). We had to guess which street was the proper street onto which to turn. Unfortunately, we guessed wrong.

We were off by one street. The problem was that there was no way to correct the mistake without turning around the entire convoy. Turning around a 30-vehicle convoy containing semis is not a small feat. Making it worse, the road that we were on was getting narrower and the area was becoming more built up (3-5 story buildings). If AIF were out that night in Tikrit (and prepared), we would have been in store for a lot of trouble. I’m pleased to report that they weren’t.

We found a place to turn around and were able to do so without incident. We headed out of Tikrit as fast as we could (safely). But that wasn’t the end of the excitement for that early morning.

Outside of Tikrit there are several large hills. Inside the hills are a number of caves, where it is known that AIF leaders meet. We seen activity (movement of individuals) in the hills, which only elevated the tension (or pucker factor) level.

One of the things that we do when securing a convoy is to ensure that no vehicle passes or enters the travel area of the convoy. Think of it as a bubble or buffer zone. As part of securing what’s in the convoy, we prevent anything from entering the bubble or buffer zone around the convoy. Iraqi drivers know this. They typically pull over if the convoy approaches them and they standoff at least 50-100 meters from an intersection where a convoy is turning. The lights from convoys traveling at night are very distinct (bright and long strings of lights). They can be seen typically for miles, making convoys relatively easy targets for which to prepare an IED or ambush in a short period of time.

As we passed through the hills, we had a number of vehicles that violated our buffer zone. We fired a number of warning shots near vehicles that did this. Hearing and feeling that 240B (pronounced, two-forty bravo) or M2 (pronounced, em two or ma deuce) firing from the top of your gun truck at or near vehicles is an interesting experience.

As we made it out of the hills, the traffic became more sporadic. We ran across a few areas that had been IED strike locations earlier that morning or during the evening prior, but we did not run into any IEDs.

By 0700 or so, we made it to Kirkuk, just in time for the area rush hour. I don’t think I would wish on many people the task of taking a 1½ - 2 mile long convoy through the rush hour of one of the largest Sunni cities in Iraq.

Thankfully, we made it through the portion of the city we had to travel across without any significant episodes.

Upon arrival at FOB Warrior, we collectively let out a big sigh. A successful mission—no deaths, no injuries, and no damage to the equipment that was delivered on time. We then laughed and mused about the mission we just ran. I felt the great feeling of having an incredible weight lifted off of me coupled with the pride of how well my fellow soldiers performed early that morning.

We couldn’t enjoy the moment too long or let our guard down. Within eighteen hours of our arrival, FOB Warrior received two mortar attacks, several small arms fire engagements, and a VBIED. And then, of course, we had to leave at 0600 the next morning with the same convoy of vehicles carrying a backload of equipment south through another high activity area in Iraq. But that was another mission.

Kuwaiti Oil Fires

2005-10-15T03:33:00.000-05:00

During the early evenings when I look to the southern skies, I usually see large orange glowing spots on the horizon. My camera doesn’t pick up the glow well enough to justify posting a picture at night, but here's a few picture/example of a fire in the day time.

Most people remember (at least those who were adults at the time) that when Sadaam Hussein retreated from Kuwait during the first Gulf War, he dumped millions of gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf and started ablaze hundreds of oil wells (cumulatively burning more than a billion gallons of oil). There were photos taken from outer space that showed the blackened skies surrounding the Persian Gulf. Much was written about the likely increased cancer rates of area residents and the impact that the fires had on some soldiers in the area (many saying it was a contributor/cause of Gulf War Syndrome).

About a year or so ago, I had heard that there were several of these fires still going. The reason, if I recall correctly, is that they assume that there are various forms of munitions that had been inserted in these lakes of oil prior to them being set fire. Trying to cap these fires may actually cause more explosions—thus, they are just cordoning the areas off and letting them burn.

On the way to southern Kuwait, we drive through these areas where we can see several fires extending more than 100 feet high. Here are a couple more pictures:

Oddities

2005-10-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

While there are numerous things that I experience as a soldier that would seem odd to most civilians, there are some things that I am experiencing now here in the Middle East that are odd even to me as a service member. Here are some of them:

1. Pogs. AAFES, kind of like a nonprofit, monopoly, army-version of a shopko-walmart (or in some cases, stop-n-go), has decried that it no longer wants to deal with pennies and most other coins. So, it has developed and issued a second form of currency that everyone calls "pogs." It’s gotta be illegal. AAFES describes them as “gift certificates” and not a second form of currency though.

They're made out of thick card stock paper. Here’s a picture:

The problem with the “gift certificate” notion is that no one goes into an AAFES and hands the checkout person $2.00 to purchase toothpaste for $1.50 and then says, “by the way, let me have an AAFES gift certificate for $.50.” It's a red herring. I’m sure the gift certificate designation is only part of a scheme to avoid the second form of currency issue. Still, this whole pog thing is strange.

2. Rounding Up. Well, since I’m on an AAFES kicking spree, I’ll continue. AAFES over here always “round up” to the nearest nickel when they charge at the cash register. So, if the price tag says that it costs $1.96, AAFES will charge you $2.00. Anyone want to start a class action lawsuit?

3. Toilet paper. Read on, it’s not what you think. The Army does a wonderful thing here in that they have wash stations in front of the mess hall so that all soldiers wash their hands before eating (which they do—compare that to civilians where most civilians before most meals, don’t). They also have wash stations outside of all port-a-johns as well, which is all great. But, in most places where they have these wash stations, the only thing you have to dry your hands with is toilet paper dispensed from these large toilet paper rolls. This practice is prevalent in both Iraq and Kuwait.

4. Travel and Commerce. Soldiers are generally prohibited from visiting any restaurants, shops, or other merchant stores in Kuwait. Unless out on a mission or making a military supply or maintenance-related run, soldiers are generally restricted to the camp, base, FOB, etc., that they are stationed at. I guess I expected that in Iraq, but not Kuwait.

5. Haircuts. A military haircut is a military haircut, right? Apparently not. The barbers here are from India. The cuts are very cheap--$5.25. After you get the cut (which is middle of the road in terms of quality), the barber treats your head like a speed bag (a la boxing). He puts either a fist or open hand (depending on which barber you get) on each side of your head. He then proceeds to wack each side of your head, back and forth, for about 15 seconds. The barber then moves to the shoulder and neck area, making various mysterious popping sounds as he hits your body with his hands that are now clasped in a certain way. He uses a rotating motion across the shoulders and neck area, making repetitive contact with various points. Then, before you know it, he is done. Afterward, you don’t know if you should thank him or file charges.

6. Advertisements. I don’t have a TV but they do have TVs in the mess hall. There are no product advertisements on TV. Instead, the military, in the controlling way that it operates, broadcasts public service and “be a good soldier” messages. For example, there will be information on operational security (loose lips, sink ships type messages), the importance of education and safety (e.g., driving, clearing weapons, using the buddy system), and how to marry a foreigner (Europe and Eastern Asia-focused). So, there will be one of these spots for every commercial that one would normally see back in the States—i.e., there are a lot of them. I should have recalled this when I was on active duty overseas earlier, but I forgot.

I could go on . . . perhaps on another day.

Ramadan

2005-10-04T00:30:00.000-05:00

For more than a billion Muslims around the world, Ramadan is observed as a “month of blessing.” Ramadan is the month when Allah revealed the first verses of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, to Muslim's highest prophet, Muhammad. Recitations, fasting and charity are required (by law in many places over here) during Ramadan as spiritual activities that can bring Muslims closer to Allah. While fasting, Muslims do not allow anything, including cigarettes and liquids, to pass their lips. The fast lasts from dawn to dusk every day during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is also one of the four “haram” months when fighting is discouraged.

Despite all this, Ramadan (at least) recently has marked a significant up tick in violence. On the day Ramadan began last year, four Christian churches were bombed (about 2-3% of the Iraqi population is Christian). The year prior, the beginning of Ramadan saw four near-simultaneous suicide bombers strike the international Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad and three police stations across the city, leaving at least 40 people dead and 200 wounded.

Ramadan begins on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. This year, Ramadan should begin on October 4 (tonight). The actual first day of Ramadan may vary depending on whether someone (reliable) sees the first sliver of a moon (if no one sees it, the beginning of Ramadan is postponed a day). You can tell there's a different atmosphere here among the workers who are Islamic. The local mosque's calls to prayer seem to be longer or more prevelant.

As with last year, many expect Ramadan to bring more violence and bloodshed than other parts of the year. I have not heard a satisfactory reason for this nor do a really understand why it would be so. I’m just hoping it doesn’t. But, we're ready for it, if it does.

Sad Day

2005-09-28T07:33:00.000-05:00

I wrote the entry below a couple of days ago. We were under a communications lockdown/blackout because two soldiers in our battalion were killed. The communications lockdown allows the military chain of command to communicate formally the news to the aggrieved families before they hear through the rumor mill or the media. Here's what I wrote that day:

This 26th day of September is a sad day. I mean a really, really sad day. We lost two soldiers in our battalion.

The day started out like most days, soldiers were in the motorpool doing their pre-combat checks and inspections (PCCs/PCIs) before heading out on missions. The gun trucks (HMMWV's with crew serve weapons on them) for the early missions had already left the motorpool. As we were finishing up our PCCs/PCIs, we heard on the radio that one of the early mission gun trucks had been hit by an IED and they were requesting a Medevac. While we've had gun trucks in the past hit by IEDs, this was the first in which a Medevac was called in.

At the time we heard the radio report, I was getting ready for a mission with my guys into the British sector. Since we were basically ready to go, we requested to change our mission to support the gun truck that had been hit by the IED and to escort a physician's assistant to the IED site. We had heard at the time that there was a small arms fire fight still underway and we were eager to assist in any way we could. The small arms fire fight information later proved to be either incorrect or overstated.

We were told to proceed with our original mission (which was expected to last 3-4 hours). We did. Since we were moving somewhat near the IED site, our weapons status was moved to red (rounds in chamber). We moved through the area without incident.

Before returning from our mission, we were told that one of the soldiers that was in the gun truck that was hit had died. Another injured soldier was being evacuated via helicopter. We were also told that there were unconfirmed reports of many AIF with various forms of weapons in a village that was en route to our return destination. Although we had heard some similar information a week or two earlier concerning both numbers of AIF and types of weapons, these reports were somewhat surprising because the village was fairly peaceful.

We then developed our plan to move through the village. We had M2's (.50 cals) mounted on each of the three gun trucks we had with us. We felt comfortable with the firepower that we had. We got confirmation from higher to proceed through that area and to confirm or deny the reports of the AIF.

We proceeded toward the village in question cautiously, but aggressively (if that's possible)--on alert for possible AIF, RPGs and IEDs. As we made it through the streets, we noticed that the streets were virtually empty. This was a clear sign to us that something was up. We checked each street we passed. There was no sign of AIF. We made it through the entire area without making contact.

After we crossed the border to get back into Kuwait and cleared our weapons, we heard more bad news. A second soldier in the gun truck that was hit by the IED had died. A third soldier in the vehicle was heading into surgery to remove some shrapnel. A fourth soldier that was at the scene was evacuated by ground military ambulance for shock. I knew one of the soldiers that had been killed. He was a school teacher, a very friendly and well-liked guy. Hearing the news brought a sense of haze and melancholy that was only amplified by my subsiding adrenalin level. That feeling is still heavy and has yet to lift.

Yes, it was a sad day today. But, tomorrow will be better.

The Not So Glamorous Days

2005-09-24T00:58:00.000-05:00

My not so glamorous and exciting days far outnumber the “war fighting” days (the ones in which I’m out on a mission). Here’s a typical non-glamorous day:

I wake up at some time between 0500 and 0600. I’ll either workout for 30-45 minutes or I’ll work on Arabic, read emails and/or address some issue that requires my immediate attention. I typically eat around 0730 (I’ve skipped about ½ of my breakfasts as of late, since I learned that I gained 10 lbs since arriving here--mainly from eating mess hall food and the initial flood of wonderful care packages that I received right after I arrived here).

By mid-morning, we typically have our Battle Update Brief (BUB). This is where I (along with the other commanders) get briefed on recent intelligence updates (what’s happening and where it’s happening in Iraq, both at the political level and the tactical level), operational issues (new and/or updated operations orders/missions), and maintenance status (primarily vehicle focused). Based on the information I learn from the BUB, I develop and assign missions and communicate the relevant intel to various soldiers within the company.

After the BUB, I usually walk around the area to check on my soldiers who are at Navistar. I’ll typically stop by maintenance, commo, supply and the various staff sections. I check in to see how things are going, address issues that have come up, and generally just make sure things are running smoothly.

Once I’m comfortable with how things are going, I return to the company command post (CP). I give my guidance and taskings for the day to the soldiers and NCOs that work directly for me before I begin my project(s) de jouer.

I try to spend the majority of my day on issues/topics that are important to me (avoiding, when I can, getting mired in putting out “fires”—I try to delegate fire-fighting tasks to others). For example, some of the issues/topics that I have been working on lately have been researching requirements for obtaining awards for my soldiers, setting up a nonprofit to support some of our efforts in assisting local Iraqi kids and Iraqi poor, identifying key equipment needs and ways to get that equipment for my unit, counseling and motivating soldiers, reading and learning from other units’ after action reports (AARs), tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), and lessons learned so that I can be more informed and lead the company better.

Around 1900 or so, I head over to the mess hall to partake in all that that day’s smorgasbord has to offer. After my day’s indulgence, I roll back to the CP. I typically will work for another hour or two before going either to my tent to listen to the ol’ ipod/watch a DVD or to the MWR tent to get whipped at ping pong or read a newspaper or magazine. By 2230-2300, I’m usually ready to go to sleep.

So, how’s that for an exciting day?

UXO

2005-09-21T01:45:00.000-05:00

"UXO" is unexploded ordinance. UXOs are typically rounds from artillery or mortars that were fired but for whatever reason, the rounds themselves did not explode on impact. UXOs are frequently used in IEDs, so they are sort of a big deal in the sense that if they are not taken care of (exploded, disarmed, etc.), they can be the next IED that one faces.

This last week, I was involved in a reconnaissance and security element (RSE) mission. RSE missions typically involve clearing a route for a convoy prior to the convoy getting there. RSE missions also typically require setting up traffic control points at major intersections or areas of vulnerability along routes.

It was a typical warm morning, somewhere between 100-105, when we were responding to a potential IED. As we were heading out, there was this boy trying to wave us down. Because of our priority mission at the time, we had to pass him by. As we were heading to the IED location, we were called off of the potential IED mission (an element that was closer to the site was called to investigate the potential IED). So, we headed back on the same route. As we passed through the area, we saw the boy again, making the same animated motions. We pulled over to talk to the boy. He was very distressed looking. He was adamantly pointing toward a certain direction and speaking very fast (we had no idea what he was talking about).

We pulled out our trusty visual translator (pictures to English words). The boy feverishly paged through it. He then pointed to a shoulder fired missile picture and then appeared to point toward a berm about 200 meters away. This got our crew alert.

We then mounted our vehicles and the boy then appeared to point at something closer. We drove a very short distance and the boy pointed toward the ground, about 20 meters to his front. We dismounted again and saw a mortar round laying on the ground. Here's a picture:

There were also some metal objects protruding the ground within a few meters. We then called up a UXO report to our higher headquarters.

While we were calling in the report, some Brits showed up in the area. The Brits actually "own" the area in terms of it being under their control and supervision. We showed them the UXO. By how they handled the situation, I'm not sure that these particular soldiers were that well trained in dealing with UXOs. Any way, during this process, the boy said that there was nothing behind the berm. We investigated the area and confirmed.

As a reward for helping us out, I gave the boy an MRE, a Gatorade and some money (he asked for two dollars so that he can have some shoes). Here's a picture of the boy with his reward:

The boy was so happy. He proceeded to tell us (as much as we could discern) that he was going to find a whole bunch of bombs and that he'd have to bring a wheel barrel out with him to carry away all the meals, Gatorade and money that he would get. Ahh yes, an entrepreneur in the making.

Kids (Part 2)

2005-09-18T02:48:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in the last post, the interactions with kids can be difficult. Not only can the kids present problems for the coalition forces, we can present problems for them. This was evident last week.

On a “routine” convoy last week that was heading through our area north into Iraq, one of the contractor truckers threw some candy out of the cab for one of the kids standing on the side of the road. Most of the contractors are from various “friendly” countries throughout the area. In my experience, of the convoys originating from Kuwait, very few contractors are Kuwaitis and very few are Iraqis. Most that I’ve run across have been from India, Syria, and/or Pakistan. There’s a decent contingent of American drivers as well (but less than 10% I’d guess). Most don’t speak English, except perhaps for a few words.

I’m sure the contractor in question was well meaning, but the candy that he threw rolled back onto the road. A 6-year old Iraqi girl raced to pick up the candy. This is not uncommon in that many kids run out into the traffic or cross the road in between moving vehicles, especially in built up populated areas. However, in this case, an Air Force HMMWV (as in a Humvee) was close behind the contractor’s truck. The HMMWV struck the little girl. The accident occurred right across the border in the town of Safwan. Coalition forces rendered aid and an emergency vehicle was called to the site.

Unfortunately, the little 6-year old girl died.

We’ve been ordered not to throw out things to kids or otherwise encourage kids to stand on the roadside.

One of my soldiers told me yesterday as he was going through the same area, a boy (about 5 years old) and a girl (about 10 years old) were standing about 10 meters off the roadside. As their vehicle was passing, the boy lurched toward the road. The girl grabbed that boy by the arm and whipsawed him around and threw him to the ground to prevent him from moving any closer to the convoy. Thank goodness for big sisters.

Kids (Part 1)

2005-09-15T01:29:00.000-05:00

One of the first missions I went on “outside of the wire” was a relatively short mission (approximately 8-9 hours in duration). We were escorting 30 contractor vehicles to a destination in Southern Iraq. On our way there, we went through both populated and desolate areas. In the populated areas, unlike in Kuwait, the people were generally poor. We were inundated with kids waving. I’m sure most of them were just seeking some sort of treat or goodie—not quite to the scope of an American parade mind you, but nonetheless there were a lot of kids waving.

After leaving these populated areas, we entered these long stretches of desert. On one of these long stretches, one of the vehicles in our convoy had a flat tire. Since at the time we were in a rather remote section and no apparent threat was present, we decided to wait for the vehicle driver to replace his flat. Then, virtually out of nowhere, small groups (2-3 each) of kids popped up. Kind of like gophers. I have no idea where they came from. But within twenty minutes, there were probably 25 kids ranging in age from about 3 to 10 around our vehicles and the vehicles we were escorting.

Iraqi kids present difficult challenges to our soldiers. Most people have heard of how, dating back to the early days of the war, some ruthless, immoral AIF strapped bombs to children in an effort to kill American soldiers when the soldiers approached the kids. Just as bad, on more than one occasion, suicide bombers drove vehicles into crowds of children that surrounded GIs. But more than 99% of interactions with Iraqi children are just like any other encounter with children.

In preparing to come over here, one interesting fact that I learned was that the average age of an Iraqi citizen is 19 years old. 19. Compare that to the United States where the average age is 36 (almost twice that of Iraq). This presents a real opportunity “to shape the hearts and minds” of this up-coming generation.

Any way, I digress.

When the kids approached us on that long stretch of desert road, we first cautiously checked them out. After everything seemed OK, we started to interact with them. One thing that the Iraqi kids really like and that make them smile a lot are pens. Any type of pen--ball point, felt tip, permanant marker, etc. Some of the soldiers gave them a few pens and some bottled water. While the soldiers were attempting to talk with the kids, I was mainly focused on directing some of the sparse traffic and ensuring no one else approached our halted convoy. Just prior to our departure, a 6 or 7 year old boy came up to me with a big smile on his face. We exchanged Iraqi greetings and he started to ask me something. I only know a few words/sentences in Arabic so I didn’t know what he was asking. He pointed to my hand (which was holding my weapon slinged in front of me). I didn’t know what he wanted. I held my hand out with my palm facing slightly upward. He took my hand and started drawing something. I had no idea what he was drawing at the time, but I was very curious.

After about 30 seconds of drawing, the boy stepped back smiling at me and waving. I then looked down at my hand to see what he had drawn. It was a smiley face with a smile that was as big as his. He then walked off with his siblings and friends waving as we loaded back onto our vehicles and headed off to our destination.

Primary Mission

2005-09-12T00:41:00.000-05:00

While I’m an infantry officer part of a light infantry battalion, our battalion’s current primary mission is not a typical infantry mission.

It shouldn’t come to much of a surprise that the preferred method for the AIF of striking against coalition forces is through the use of IEDs. Sometimes they’re delivered through tires, other times through vehicles or animal carcasses and yet at other times strapped to a person. It is also not uncommon to have IEDs used in conjunction with small arms fire. To counter against IEDs, the Army is tapping some combat arms units (e.g., infantry, cavalry, armor and field artillery) to guard/escort the transport of personnel, equipment, and supplies. That’s where my unit currently falls in.

Our missions run from the southern tip of Iraq in Safwan to all throughout the country (including north of Mosul). The unit we just replaced logged in over 5 million miles on Iraqi roads this last year. While our primary focus is to guard against IEDs and small arms and RPG fires, another role we play is to protect against vehicle hijackings (which you don’t hear much about in the states). Most of the vehicle hijackings and hijacking attempts are conducted by criminal elements as opposed to terrorist groups.

With our mentality and aggressiveness as a light infantry battalion, coupled with the training that we’ve had to support our primary mission, I think we’re more than ready for this mission. We had a good transition with the unit we replaced and we’re doing a great job with the “interactions” we’ve run into thus far.

While convoy security/escorting is currently our primary mission, we fulfill a few other missions as well. I’ll elaborate on those when I can in up-coming weeks.

Navistar

2005-09-06T04:33:00.000-05:00

Soon after we arrived at Beuhring, our battalion (consisting of 620 soldiers of which there are 4 companies, one of which is mine) broke up into two parts. Just over half went north with me to Camp Navistar and the rest stayed at Camp Beuhring (here’s some pictures of the route to Beuhring: http://rbombard.blog.uvm.edu/archives/2005/07/rogers_visitor.html taken by someone else and the infamous Burger King that’s located there).
When I’m not on mission, Camp Navistar will likely be the place that I’m stationed out of for at least most of my tour here. Camp Navistar is not too bad of a place (in fact, it’s one of the better places around). The location is right on the border between Kuwait and Iraq. When I say “right on the border,” I mean right on the border. I’m sitting in Kuwait currently and looking right now at a mosque that is about 100-200 meters away that is on the Iraq side of the border.

Living Quarters
The living quarters are OK. Currently, I share a tent with 11 other officers. Here’s a picture (mine is the bottom bunk):

We have air conditioners, but it’s not quite as good as you might think. Generally speaking, you can expect the air conditioners to reduce the outside temperatures by about 20 degrees. So, if you have 120 degrees outside, you can expect that inside the tent it will be 100 degrees. Some tents have more efficient air conditioners, but most that I’ve run across will give you about a 20 degree or so cooling. Once a few things happen here, I’ll probably only have to share a tent with around 6 other officers, which obviously means a little more room to spread out.

Chow
The food here is plentiful and the quality is above average (for army food)—although, almost all meats are overcooked (just past well done). I suppose that’s better than being undercooked. We have fresh fruit for every meal and a decent amount of variety (I’ll check back in on this in about six months to see if I still feel the same). If it weren’t for the heat, I can see guys gaining a lot of weight here. Outside of the chow hall, we have two food vendors at Navistar. One is a Subway and the other is a Pizza Inn. I haven’t tried either yet, although I’m sure I will be a regular before long. So, overall, not too bad in the food department.

MWR
Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) facilities here at Navistar are fairly good, especially considering the relatively small size of Navistar (it has just over 1000 soldiers plus representatives from the Navy and the UK). We’ve got an outside basketball court (plywood floors over the sand), some treadmills and exercise bicycles, weights, and weight machines, ping pong table, and a limited number of computer terminals for guys to use the internet.

Facilities
Virtually everything here is either in a tent or a trailer-type facility. The trailer-type buildings actually have excellent air conditioning (assuming the generators are properly working, the temperatures in the trailers are almost always comfortable—much better than the tents (presumably because of the “insulation” in the trailers)). My office is in a trailer that I share with my first sergeant, an operations NCO, supply sergeant and a clerk. We’re still moving in, but here’s a picture (we’re about to do our own little renovation to the trailer):

There’s a number of things I plan to write about (when I get the time), but if anyone wants me to elaborate on a topic or event, drop me an email or post a comment.

Our Trip Overseas

2005-08-28T03:38:00.000-05:00

We arrived in country, safe and sound. After I signed off last time on the hangar floor, we opted to “commandeer” the follow-on aircraft that was set up as the second of four chalks for our battalion (we were the first chalk). Instead of heading for Germany, this aircraft took us from Mississippi to Maine to Ireland and then to Hungary with the final leg to Kuwait.

When there is a large troop movement, the military typically charters commercial aircraft (with civilian crews). As you may know, when the military travels, we generally take our individual weapons with us so that we arrive in country ready to fight. In order not to alarm the public, we leave the weapons on the plane (when we charter aircraft) with some of our soldiers as guards.

Our first stop in Maine was a memorable one. We landed in Bangor and we were greeted by a long line of well-wishers, each shaking our hands. When we proceeded into the terminal, most soldiers were handed a cell phone and told they could call home. This was such a welcome. Apparently, this group greets all soldiers going through Maine (regardless of the time of day or night). That welcome in Maine will leave a long-lasting positive impression on me (see http://mainetroopgreeters.com/ for more information about their group). I had heard something about this group but it was still a welcomed surprise. This is another example of a good, positive story that doesn’t get much publicity.

After we made it through the terminal, we were allowed to step outside. I was then greeted with something I hadn’t felt in months—cool, low humidity air. Ahhhh . . . . I can still feel it if I close my eyes hard enough. I had a smile on my face a mile long. We stayed in Bangor for about 1 ½ hours before loading back up. Our next stop was Shannon, Ireland.

We arrived in Shannon in the early morning hours (~0100). We had to stay in the airport so we really didn’t get to see much—just the usual airport stuff. With the no alcohol policy, we didn’t even get to sample the local spirits at the airport pub—although, I was admiring the drafts on tap. Some soldiers took advantage of the customs-free shop to purchase European chocolates, jewelry, etc. but I don’t know if anyone really had a good handle on the then current Euro-Dollar exchange rate (if they had, I don’t know if too many people would have purchased what they did). We boarded the aircraft and then we were off to Budapest within an hour.

I was kind of excited about going to Hungary. I knew someone that grew up there and was interested in seeing at least the airport and immediate vicinity. Unfortunately, they didn’t even allow us off the plane. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour before taking off—our flight crew was being let off there (for a 5-day stay). That was definitely anti-climatic.

The final leg of our flight took us into Kuwait. We landed and were welcomed by the 125 degree heat and 10 mph wind—not quite the Bangor, Maine welcome but the weather was nonetheless saying “welcome my friend, to Kuwait.” My first thought was “Boy, that analogy of placing your face in front of a hair dryer wasn’t too far off.” It was hot, dusty, dry and breezy. We were moved to a series of places and given various briefings before settling in at Camp Buehring, which is in north-central Kuwait. The facilities we stayed in weren’t bad—large bay area-type tents with air conditioning.

In up-coming posts, I'll try to get some of my pictures (I don't have access to some of my camera-computer equipment yet).

Mobilization Station Training

2005-08-18T04:54:00.000-05:00

Training
We finished the training at the Mobilization Station and I’m currently sitting in a hangar waiting for our aircraft to be fixed. It looks like we’re going to be spending the night on the cement hangar floor in this wonderful heat and humidity. All in the day of the life of . . . .

Any way, back to the heading at hand—training. The training method that the Mobilization Station used was to focus on individual task training and then about half of the way through the summer, we switched to focus on collective task training—tasks that require more than one soldier to conduct.

Land Navigation. The land navigation that we conducted included both mounted (in a vehicle) and dismounted (on foot). The classroom portion of the training was OK (most soldiers were already fairly well trained), the dismounted course was challenging, while the mounted course was fairly easy. Most of the soldiers really enjoyed the challenge of the dismounted course—long distances, varied terrain (swamps to prairies to large hills with thick vegetation) There were a few marked “known” points on the course though that were considerably off (by a couple hundred meters), which frustrated some soldiers at times (myself included). But overall, good events.

PLGRs (a GPS system). Using the PLGRs (pronounced pluggers) was new to most of the soldiers. Even though the system has been around for a while, most soldiers hadn’t used the system before—although, many had used a civilian GPS. After we had a classroom portion, we went outside and went through a relatively easy course using the PLGRs as a navigational aid. While the training was satisfactory, more hands on would have been beneficial.

Individual Weapons Qualification. Going through the individual weapons qualification was an interesting process. We came to the Mobilization Station with M16A2’s. We were suppose to receive our new M4’s before we started the weapons qualification, but we didn’t. So, we had to qualify with the M16’s. Then, when the M4’s came in (three days after we fired the M16’s) we had to fire those. Then when the CCOs came in (close combat optics) several weeks later, we had to zero and fire those. By the end of July, our guys had had a lot of trigger time, which is good. Unfortunately, it was relatively limited on the actual weapon system (the M4s with CCO configuration) that we’re taking to the Middle East. Overall though, I’m confident in my weapon system (with its current configuration) and I’m sure my guys are as well. It is likely that we’ll have more trigger time once we arrive in country.

CTT (Common Task Testing--basic soldier skills). As almost every soldier will tell you, virtually every unit trains on CTT tasks frequently. From the early days of basic training, CTT is a focus. The CTT tasks vary to some extent from year to year, but most soldiers know most tasks fairly well. CTT tasks range from applying a pressure dressing over a wound on various parts of an injured soldier’s body to map reading, to throwing a grenade, to calling in a medevac. While there is one standard for these events (you know, the “Army Standard”), techniques vary depending on who is teaching/testing the task. This variance was clear at the Mobilization Station. Our medics complained that the techniques used for medical tasks could have been better and our soldiers who previously taught other tasks at a different Mobilization Station complained that the techniques used were not taught as well as they should have been, etc.

Culture Awareness. While the formal culture awareness training class was relatively short (an hour or two), we frequently touched on culture awareness-type training events throughout our time at the Mobilization Station. One thing that the Army has done (which I like) is to hire people with Iraqi heritage (or former Iraqi nationals). We mostly ran into them as part of our interaction with COBs (another great Army acronym, standing for Civilians on the Battlefield, and yes it’s pronounced like corn on the “cob”). I’ll elaborate later on COBs. Any way, with regard to culture awareness, we learned a little about language, customs, history, politics, etc. Probably not too much more than what is discerned from the news from the casual observer. I did have the advantage though of taking a three credit university college course earlier this year that delved into the same topics in much greater detail.

SINCGARs (radio systems). We had a brief instruction block on SINCGARs. We’ve been using SINCGARs in the national guard for a few years now. The radio system is great in terms of its capability and secure nature, but it is somewhat difficult to get to know how to use. Once one learns the perishable skills associated with running the system, it’s important to keep them up. The couple-hour block of instruction at the Mobilization Station was the bare minimum. We used several hours of our spare time for training on the SINCGARs system.

Theatre Specific Leader Training. A good idea that was not fully implemented (in my opinion) was leader training. Essentially, the trainers took about two days to teach E6’s (Staff Sergeants) and above on various leader tasks. It would have been nice to have a similar class with sufficient detail to cover all the main collective and key supporting training tasks that we were going to conduct throughout the summer. The instructors just touched on less than one fourth. Also, one set of the instructors for one of our groups was not very good. In fact, our battalion commander took them to the mat on the inconsistency between the message they communicated orally and the message on the instructor’s slides. Bottom line, the course is a great idea that should be expanded on in the implementation with solid instructors.

IED’s (improvised explosive devices). The existence, types, and effects of IED’s were really emphasized throughout the training at the Mobilization Station. In some of the training, the subject matter of IED’s was really oversimplified. For example, in some of the training scenarios, soldiers were suppose to move out, discover a potential IED, move away and call a report in a UXO report concerning the potential IED’s existence. It just so happens in the training scenarios that the IED is a pile of rocks, spray painted red (which was a frequent marker—not sure if the Anti Iraqi Forces know that they are suppose to paint them red). And that’s it. That’s not a very effective countermeasure in my opinion. Although, in fairness, it’s not as if the Mobilization Station or the Army for that matter is not trying to address the matter of IED’s—for example, they flew a retired special forces officer who is now working on the IED Task Force in Baghdad to assist us with IED issues. I believe the difficulty here stems from our inability to develop a coherent and effective response against the AIF’s use of IED’s. While I’m not sure if my soldiers picked up on this (I will be checking on this in the up-coming weeks), my take away from the training was that our response to IED’s needs to evolve and change over time in order to be effective—a single doctrine to be rooted throughout various Army manuals will not work. This really presents some issues in terms of training (substance and frequency) and continually updating and changing SOP’s and our approach to IED’s.

MOUT (fighting in an urban environment). Most of my soldiers really enjoyed the MOUT training. MOUT can be incredibly complex and it requires frequent training in order to preserve the perishable skills. We started training on entering and clearing a room. It’s a basic skill that is more difficult than it sounds. It typically requires at least a four-man team (or stack, which it is usually referred to as) that must work together closely and understand one another’s oral and nonverbal cues to effectively and efficiently clear a room. One great expression that is often mentioned in MOUT is “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” It emphasizes that one shouldn’t rush the task, but rather perfect the movements and the speed will follow from a smooth, well drilled motion.

Reflexive Fire (firing techniques in close combat). The event that preceded our live-fire MOUT exercise was reflexive fire. Soldiers worked on firing techniques for targets that are within 25 meters and weapon positioning when in a MOUT environment. Very enjoyable. The heart really gets pumping when using live rounds, especially when working closely with a four man stack that moves like silk.

Squad/Platoon Light Infantry Training. Imagine, if you will, wearing your full battle rattle, with MILES gear (laser receptors and transmitters that are equivalent to carrying a lead weight), humping (a/k/a moving in dismounted tactical formations) a crew serve weapon (a heavy automatic weapon like a M240B) and/or crew serve rounds in 100 degree heat with high humidity across long areas, culminating with a sprint in order to conduct an assault on a building with many COB’s present. That’s sort of what the squad/platoon infantry training was like. We also covered presence patrols and various dismounted movement techniques. Some soldiers bitched about the training when going through, but I think virtually everyone that went through it liked it. As with the crew serve weapons training, the non-infantry soldiers learned a lot and most felt challenged (at least physically) going through the training.

Base Defense Operations. Base defense operations covered three main areas: (1) ECP—entry control points (think of it as controlling the gate to an installation where you do personnel and vehicular searches), (2) quick reaction forces, and (3) perimeter defense. Overall, the training was good. Some of the instructors were better than others. For any given event, the training had from 10 to 75 COBs that would be a part of the training. For example, for the ECP training, they had a 50-person demonstration at the control point and then they had a small group hurling rocks and trying to enter through the concertina wire. Roughly half of the COBs were from the Middle East (the others were locals hired) and actively spoke Arabic and wore Middle Eastern attire. We also had several smaller direct one-on-one interaction scenarios. For instance, in one scenario there were two women who were taking pictures of our base perimeter and we were to react to the picture taking. The interaction could lead to either an escalated sequence of events culminating in an exchange of fire or a completely cooperative interaction in which we would retain the film and the women walking away.

Road March Stress Fire (firing after conducting a couple hour footmarch at a fast pace with equipment and weapons). The stress fire is designed to show soldiers the difficulty of firing when tired. I had the unfortunate distinction of shooting the worse of my group of 14 (thankfully, I wasn’t the worst in my company). Good event, but it would have been better if we had done it more often in order to get use to firing when tired and breathing heavy.

Ground Assault Convoy. The ground assault convoy involves conducting convoy operations and firing on the move. The training most closely resembles the mission that we will conduct in Iraq. Fortunately, we spent more time on this training than any other training event at the Mobilization Station and it was the training most of our soldiers liked the best. There were a few different scenarios that our soldiers went through but almost all involving firing from moving vehicles, calling in medevac requests and UXO reports, and performing self-recovery of a disabled vehicle. To put it bluntly, our soldiers kicked some butt. More than one instructor commented that we were among the top if not the top unit to go through this lane at the Mobilization Station, which has seen more than 20,000 soldiers pass through there in the last year. The training really gelled some of our teams. Target acquisition, distinction, and engagement were excellent. Team work, communication, and cooperation were outstanding.

We had other training at the Mobilization Station, but It’s the early morning hours now and I need to get some sleep. So that’s all for now.

Mississippi

2005-08-07T04:22:00.000-05:00

Here I sit in a tent under the sweltering Southern Mississippi August sun. Hands and arms dripping with sweat onto the computer keyboard. I’m in the middle of an ARTEP (a military exercise evaluation) with a lull in the action. I am thinking about all that my unit and I have been through these last two months and what awaits us in ten days as we depart for the middle east.

In looking back, it’s been a busy, fast-paced summer. My work day typically ranges from 14-20 hours, seven days a week. We did get July 4th off, but to be honest, I slept half of the day.

The training overall has been good. I’ve had some quarrels with some of the specific training (especially as it specifically relates to my company) or the quality of a few instructors, but I’m generally pleased: we’ve had a decent amount of trigger time, a lot of physically demanding training, and good team building time. I’ll go into some of the specifics shortly.

Living Conditions
I’m frequently asked, “what’s it like down there?” Well, it doesn’t take much to realize that it’s hot and muggy in Southern Mississippi during the summer. The days are typically in the mid-90s with high humidity. We wear “full battle rattle” most of the time, which means BDUs (long sleeve, long pants dark camouflage clothes), wool socks, boots, Kevlar helmet, Kevlar vest (with armor plates), weapon magazines, weapon(s), pouches, etc.

During my first month at the mobilization station, I split my time between FOB (Forward Operating Base) Hurricane and cockroach-infested, run-down billets with no air conditioning. The FOB contained tents that slept around 25 or soldiers with wood floors. Overall, not too bad. The ground outside the tents was made out of gravel that was somewhat arduous to walk around on. My troops had better conditions when we were in billets at the mobilization station. Most had somewhat modern billets, with air conditioning, which was helpful. During my second month here, First Sergeants and Captains and above moved to the “high rises,” which are two story buildings with single rooms with twin beds (that share toilets and showers). While not like the Hilton, Renaissance or Four Seasons, it’s like the lap of luxury when compared to where we were last month battling two-inch cockroaches on the way to the shower.

Everything is damp down here. A piece of paper that is not in an air conditioned room is always soggy. When putting on the BDUs in the morning, it always seems as if they are wetter than when you took them off the night before, despite hanging them up “to dry.”

Food and Drink
We have at least one MRE (meal ready to eat) a day, sometimes two and occasionally three. After two months of MREs, they are becoming, well, how should I say, not the food of choice. Don’t get me wrong, MREs are better than what they were in the 1980s and early 90s, it’s just that for some reason, despite the apparent variety of types of meals, they have a tendency to taste the same.

We typically eat two “A” or “B” meals a day, meaning hot meals (breakfast and dinner). An “A” meal is one served in the chow hall and a “B” meal is one that is brought to us in the field.

One could say that we have hearty breakfasts. The breakfast is virtually the same every day: scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, some form of meat (bacon, sausage, keubasa), grits, pancakes, oatmeal, packaged cereals, and fruit (banana, apple, or canned fruit). Most people don’t eat everything (but some do). Virtually everything is dripping with butter (even the oatmeal). I can’t eat the regular breakfasts often, they slow me down too much.

Dinners vary. They usually have a choice among two entrees, with one being some chicken product. Most dinners have at least one deep fried entrée. Dessert is a slice of pie or when we’re in the field some sort of Little Debbie product. When we’re not in the field, the drink selection is good: soda, juice, water, powerade, coffee, milk (chocolate or white—but no skim!).

Speaking of drinks, we drink a lot. I mean a lot! Not the booze (we’ve been under a no alcohol policy since getting here—not that we’d have much time to enjoy the local spirits anyway). Each soldier easily consumes 6-10 quarts of water a day. When it’s really hot, there can be an issue with soldiers drinking too much water (>12 quarts) in that in can have a significantly negative effect (electrolyte level?). During some of the light infantry lanes, uniforms are as drenched as much as if they were in a downpour. Uniforms drip, eyes sting with sweat, and it is not uncommon (as with myself) for soldiers to develop heat rashes and blisters (from wet clothes rubbing).

Typical Day
The typical day has evolved over time. Initially, when in the garrison environment, the days would start some time between 0400 and 0430. There would be some sort of leader meeting followed by physical training at 0500 or 0530 that would last around an hour or so. Training would often begin either at 0700 or 0800 and end either late afternoon or early evening. As the commander, I would go to a battalion command and staff call meeting that started some time between 1900-2100. These meetings, lasting 1 ½ - 2 hours) would be followed by company meetings where I would put out information from the battalion meeting and go over the next day or two’s schedule. It was not uncommon for me to get in bed between 2400-0130.

The training schedule changed frequently. On active duty, we always tried to lock in 5 weeks training and in the national guard, three months (because of the infrequency in which we would meet). Here at the mobilization station, trying to lock in anything more than 72 hours was a mistake because of the frequency by which there would be changes to the schedule. There would be various “mandatory” classes pop up for selected individuals or sections in which we would get 2 days notice. In one case, I was notified at 1730 for a class starting at 0700 the next day. Locations of events changed, start time times changed and event topics changed. All of which I’m sure there was a good reason for the change, but it created a very difficult situation for planning and logistic purposes (e.g., arranging transportation, meals and setting up makeup training for training that had to be completed prior to leaving the mobilization station).

When in the field, the day typically would start with a 0500 or so wake up. After breakfast, most training would last the entire day with a break in the late afternoon. Many events would have a night component to them so that the training would last until 2200-2300 or so.

Uniforms
Our experience with uniforms is a funny one. During the week prior to leaving Wisconsin, I received a lot of “one-liner jokes” from co-workers and friends about why we were wearing our BDUs (the standard green, brown, black, and tan camouflage uniforms) when we got mobilized instead of some desert uniform. I anticipated that in the first week or two of arriving at the mobilization station that we would receive our DCUs (Desert Camouflage Uniform) or ACUs (a digital pattern uniform that the Army is just beginning to field). As a result I only brought down to the mobilization station two serviceable uniforms--that was a mistake.

As it turns out, after having been here for two months, we still haven’t received our all our new uniforms. Somewhere between ½-⅓ of our battalion is either missing their tops or bottoms (we received the initial shipment at the end of July). Our IBAs (body armor) is one color (ACU pattern), the ammo and first pouches another color (DCU pattern) and our uniform and helmet color is yet another (BDU pattern)—although, some people have the ACU or DCU pattern for the helmet. This situation is particularly funny if one understands how the Army has historically stressed the importance of uniformity among its soldiers. We really look like a motley crew as part of the new “come as you are” army. Thankfully, these differences are just cosmetic and none of our soldiers are wearing uniforms that jeopardize safety.

Equipment
This is another interesting area. We’ve received a lot of “gee wiz” equipment, the most important of which we’ve had the opportunity to train on. We’ve obtained the new M4’s (the replacement for the M16), Close Combat Optics, PAQ4’s, TVS5’s, PVS14’s, M1114’s (up-armored HMMWVs, most of which we’ll get in country), ASAS-Lite, and a whole bunch more—too numerous to mention.

However, we’ve wasted hundreds if not thousands of thousands of man hours in unnecessarily dealing with equipment issues. It all started back in Wisconsin when we received our first equipment ODD (which is a “go to war” equipment listing). The list didn’t make any sense. For example, we had to inventory and pack up 60 sets of woodland green camouflage nets. Not only is that not the right color, very few units actually use camouflage nets in the Middle East. There were numerous other examples, such as packing equipment that is no longer used (e.g., AN-GRA 39’s) and been replaced by other equipment that we also packed. After packing and leaving this equipment for shipment, we received several subsequent “improved” equipment listings that required shipments back and forth between the mobilization station and Wisconsin. The end result is that we currently have a better overall equipment listing, with only a few quirks (e.g., 1 TA-312, which is a phone that requires to be hooked up with other similar phones in order to talk—which begs the question, what does one do with one phone?). But an unfortunate waste of time and money in the process of getting us to the point where we are now.

With regard to the newer equipment we received, it generally is a morale booster once the soldiers have the opportunity to train on it and feel comfortable with what it can do. It would have been nice to receive some of these items of equipment earlier in order to train on them more (not all equipment that we’ve received has been trained on), especially the lower dollar value items.

I’ve asked my 1SG to interject a little here:

I fully agree with my Commander, I lived next door to him and dined in the same chow hall, I just could not of said it as poetically. This has been a huge learning curve for me. I was a line Company First Sergeant with a different unit before taking this current job for this deployment. The inner workings, all the moving parts and the new names and faces are something to behold. Learning my new soldiers, their personalities, abilities, strengths and weaknesses, how they reacted to the heat and stress and the thought of what the lord has planned for their future and what they brought with them to Mississippi, from knowledge gained from the military and civilian world to family problems with wives, girlfriends and kids. We have several soldiers that are leaving home for the first time (other than their time at basic training). It was tough, going through the training with the soldiers during the day and then doing the meetings and planning at night, I don’t know how my commander kept the pace he did. But by crawling though the dirt and being just as soaked from sweat and stinky as the soldiers we learned a lot from each other. I have a new respect for these soldiers, yes they act like teenagers when they play with the IPODS and video games, but many are still teenagers. But they can put on the game face when need be.