I'd like to start this entry with a tribute the Cantor from my home Synagogue. While I can't be there at the event honoring his many years of service to the community back home, I can at least do this.
In addition to having been a frequent guest at his house growing up, I was also privileged to be among the many students he taught in preparation for my Bar Mitzvah. Although I was traumatized when he made me listen to a recording of myself singing, I ultimately forgave him. I had to listen to it once, though I was probably supposed to have listened to it daily--he had to listen to it regularly. And then my brother. And then my sister.
All of us have gone on to teach others. I know that the skills he gave me are what enabled me to lead at every level of the Junior Congregation program and to tutor others for their B'nei Mitzvah.
Ultimately, if there does prove to be a need for me to act as a lay leader to the small community over here, it will be just another community benefiting from his teachings.
- - - - - -
The role of religion over here is itself interesting. There is a chapel and a Chaplain staff. The Chaplain actually delivers a very universal non-denominational prayer before large staff briefs to the boss. Otherwise people have the opportunity to seek out co-religionists, use the Chapel, use the Chaplains, set up/attend bible studies, etc. Most of it is very subtle.
So it struck me as a very nice gesture to see a little pendant of the Patron Saint of Paratroopers on the display dog tags for all of the Catholic troops who have died as part of this Task Force over the years. For each member who has died there is a plaque in our main hallway to the JOC. On that plaque is a picture with a brief biography. Hanging on the plaque is a set of dog tags. It's very understated but very moving. I've read all of them a few times now.
We have one more being made. I hope it's the last. I know we tend to work in the shadows, but add to that the whole draw down process and focus on Afghanistan and it's like living in a different world.
But to support that drawdown, I'm actually looking at we can downsize w/in my specialty here. We'll see.
Otherwise, I finally got on wireless, but it was real spotty. Maybe not worth the trouble of driving over to the passenger terminal to use it. Oh well.
I also starting reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, by the author of The Kite Runner. So far, a few pages in, I like it better. We'll see.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Not the last...
Once again I saw the empty boots, helmet, and rifle of a young soldier on display. Another element held a memorial service for one of their own recently. Some of his buddies who were wounded in that fight were brought over from the hospital to participate. He wasn't from our element so I didn't stay for the actual ceremony. I felt like I'd be intruding.
But the war goes on. The next night his buddies will be ready to go out on another mission if need be. That is the part that I think is hardest to explain. In war movies they cover a battle. Think of the moview Blackhawk Down. That was one mission. What they don't show is that those guys were ready to go out and do it again the next day because that is what we do.
There is that moment of courage people might hear about on the rare occasions that a citation for bravery is mentioned in the news. That moment, however, was one of many throughout a rotation. The day before that moment, the troop in question was out doing the job. The day after, they were out doing the job. A few months after they get home, that one moment that happened to be documented and submitted is memorialized in a citation and they are given the medal. It's just one of those things I think about as I work with these guys every day and do my little part to make their missions happen and as my team mates are on missions in Afghanistan.
It also helps me keep focused while I work in the self-licking ice cream cone that is the JOC. If one of us went nuts one day with a pair of scissors and cut all of our network cables, the teams in the field would still do their jobs. They'd be a little less micromanaged, but somehow they'd survive.
As a disgruntled former team guy who now works on the staff pointed out, we took down the Taleban with a few teams and no giant JOC and no multi-layered planning approval process. We also took over Iraq. Granted, the aftermath may have had some issues, but those problems were in no way related to not enough micromanagament of these particular teams.
And yet... here we are.
So while at lunch with a bunch of the guys, they started to complain about how the Air Force hasn't provided enough of a certain specialty. As the token Air Force guy I felt a need to defend my service, but all I could say was that there just aren't that many people that join the Air Force to be ground pounders.
The Army or SOCOM can demand however many of something from the AF as they want. The AF can even create authorizations for all of those positions. But you still need bodies to fill those positions. I then foolishly used the example of my specialty, Special Operations Weather Team troops.
Most people in the AF don't even understand what we do. Most AF weather people don't really get what we do. So the conversation then became one of justifying my specialty's existence. I answered the initial why. The next question was "Great, but what does that do for my team?"
Fortunately, since no answer would suffice because these guys are suspicious of any AF ground combat capability until they need it, I was saved by one of the Warrant Officers. This particular Warrant Officer told my interragator, the JOC Director, that his team time was over anyway. We then proceeded to make fun of the JOC Director because he was too senior to ever have fun again. Or at least for the next few years.
During this particular meal I learned that our JOC Director earned a commendation for a prank. Really. He apparently created a fake museum exhibit detailing the exploits of an older member of his unit one day. That older gentleman did not find it was funny as everyone else. So, the older gentleman tried to complain to the command and to the JAG that something had to be done. The command agreed.
So, the command, finding the exhibit funny and the old guy's reaction funnier still, they gave the prankster an Army Achievement Medal. The citation mentions how he improved unit morale and esprit de corps. It is real. It is in his personnel file. My faith in the Army was restored.
- - - - - - - - - -
Meanwhile, my wife is enjoying a boondoggle in Miami. Free drinks at a medical conference. That can't be healthy.
It's not that I miss it, it's that it's forbidden. And a foofy umbrella drink would complement the heat real well.
And if you haven't contacted my mother to wish her a Happy Birthday, you are wrong.
But the war goes on. The next night his buddies will be ready to go out on another mission if need be. That is the part that I think is hardest to explain. In war movies they cover a battle. Think of the moview Blackhawk Down. That was one mission. What they don't show is that those guys were ready to go out and do it again the next day because that is what we do.
There is that moment of courage people might hear about on the rare occasions that a citation for bravery is mentioned in the news. That moment, however, was one of many throughout a rotation. The day before that moment, the troop in question was out doing the job. The day after, they were out doing the job. A few months after they get home, that one moment that happened to be documented and submitted is memorialized in a citation and they are given the medal. It's just one of those things I think about as I work with these guys every day and do my little part to make their missions happen and as my team mates are on missions in Afghanistan.
It also helps me keep focused while I work in the self-licking ice cream cone that is the JOC. If one of us went nuts one day with a pair of scissors and cut all of our network cables, the teams in the field would still do their jobs. They'd be a little less micromanaged, but somehow they'd survive.
As a disgruntled former team guy who now works on the staff pointed out, we took down the Taleban with a few teams and no giant JOC and no multi-layered planning approval process. We also took over Iraq. Granted, the aftermath may have had some issues, but those problems were in no way related to not enough micromanagament of these particular teams.
And yet... here we are.
So while at lunch with a bunch of the guys, they started to complain about how the Air Force hasn't provided enough of a certain specialty. As the token Air Force guy I felt a need to defend my service, but all I could say was that there just aren't that many people that join the Air Force to be ground pounders.
The Army or SOCOM can demand however many of something from the AF as they want. The AF can even create authorizations for all of those positions. But you still need bodies to fill those positions. I then foolishly used the example of my specialty, Special Operations Weather Team troops.
Most people in the AF don't even understand what we do. Most AF weather people don't really get what we do. So the conversation then became one of justifying my specialty's existence. I answered the initial why. The next question was "Great, but what does that do for my team?"
Fortunately, since no answer would suffice because these guys are suspicious of any AF ground combat capability until they need it, I was saved by one of the Warrant Officers. This particular Warrant Officer told my interragator, the JOC Director, that his team time was over anyway. We then proceeded to make fun of the JOC Director because he was too senior to ever have fun again. Or at least for the next few years.
During this particular meal I learned that our JOC Director earned a commendation for a prank. Really. He apparently created a fake museum exhibit detailing the exploits of an older member of his unit one day. That older gentleman did not find it was funny as everyone else. So, the older gentleman tried to complain to the command and to the JAG that something had to be done. The command agreed.
So, the command, finding the exhibit funny and the old guy's reaction funnier still, they gave the prankster an Army Achievement Medal. The citation mentions how he improved unit morale and esprit de corps. It is real. It is in his personnel file. My faith in the Army was restored.
- - - - - - - - - -
Meanwhile, my wife is enjoying a boondoggle in Miami. Free drinks at a medical conference. That can't be healthy.
It's not that I miss it, it's that it's forbidden. And a foofy umbrella drink would complement the heat real well.
And if you haven't contacted my mother to wish her a Happy Birthday, you are wrong.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Small World
A few days ago I ran in to a friend of mine from a course I went to in Alabama a few years ago. I told I'd stop by her office here so we could catch up. Last time I was here I ran in to another of my friends from that course. I didn't particularly enjoy that class, I thought the curriculum epitomized the way the Air Force has its head in the sand regarding the current conflicts, but I liked my classmates.
The other crazy small world moment was when I looked up at one of our TVs. As always, AFN News is a funny funny thing. A little bit of all the cable news networks so of course we, the steely eyed killers, are watching Rachel Maddow's show. And I knew the guest. Cool. I'd actually helped proofread for one of his books.
So I emailed him to let him know I saw him on TV again. I guess he's doing more MSNBC these days than Fox, even though he got his TV start as a regular expert on Fox News, because he's not a fan of enhanced interrogation methods. I'll add that he is a former Navy SERE instructor and counter-intelligence expert and not just some overnight pundit.
Anyway, he's working on a new book and sent me the manuscript. Nice. I don't think I'll get paid, but I will get a mention in the acknowledgements and learn a lot in the process. Nice resume bullet too, maybe.
I also heard back from our career field manager at the National Guard Bureau that he may be able to argue for central funding for a list of training courses I sent to him (along with justifications in both fiscal and mission-driven terms). That would be great. My goal is to meet our Active Duty counterparts where they are going in terms of training rather than try to just catch up to where they are now. Ironically, due to the crazy operations tempo, it may be possible for us Guard guys to pull that off since we have a slower deployement pace. We'll see what happens.
Today's other big even was wearing a clean uniform. My other uniform wasn't dirty or smelly really, just dusty. But it was my only Army uniform so it was the only uniform I'd worn up until this point. Not ideal. Fortunately I got some spares from a buddy.
Unfortunately, the spares came in a variety of sizes. I was able to piece together one set that was almost right. The pants fit fine. The shirt is a medium extra-long. We may joke about being knuckledragging Mongo-types, but my sleeve is apparently not that much longer than my inseam. It wears more like an ACU tunic than a normal ACU top. Close enough for now though.
Usually I only wear the uniform jacket when walking to and from work and to and from the chow hall anyway. Otherwise I'm happier in my t-shirt. Especially cause now I have my super awesome merino wool t-shirts in a close-enough-to-work-with-the-uniform color. Good times.
I also had to cut off my first callus of this trip. They form. They get torn off. Once they start coming it can be easier to just cut them off and make it clean. A new one forms and all is well.
I've also been informed that my posts are more interesting this time around. I think I'm a little more relaxed, the environment is a little less spooky, and I'm taking some notes during the day to log things that I think are worth sharing. Maybe that's it. I don't know.
The other crazy small world moment was when I looked up at one of our TVs. As always, AFN News is a funny funny thing. A little bit of all the cable news networks so of course we, the steely eyed killers, are watching Rachel Maddow's show. And I knew the guest. Cool. I'd actually helped proofread for one of his books.
So I emailed him to let him know I saw him on TV again. I guess he's doing more MSNBC these days than Fox, even though he got his TV start as a regular expert on Fox News, because he's not a fan of enhanced interrogation methods. I'll add that he is a former Navy SERE instructor and counter-intelligence expert and not just some overnight pundit.
Anyway, he's working on a new book and sent me the manuscript. Nice. I don't think I'll get paid, but I will get a mention in the acknowledgements and learn a lot in the process. Nice resume bullet too, maybe.
I also heard back from our career field manager at the National Guard Bureau that he may be able to argue for central funding for a list of training courses I sent to him (along with justifications in both fiscal and mission-driven terms). That would be great. My goal is to meet our Active Duty counterparts where they are going in terms of training rather than try to just catch up to where they are now. Ironically, due to the crazy operations tempo, it may be possible for us Guard guys to pull that off since we have a slower deployement pace. We'll see what happens.
Today's other big even was wearing a clean uniform. My other uniform wasn't dirty or smelly really, just dusty. But it was my only Army uniform so it was the only uniform I'd worn up until this point. Not ideal. Fortunately I got some spares from a buddy.
Unfortunately, the spares came in a variety of sizes. I was able to piece together one set that was almost right. The pants fit fine. The shirt is a medium extra-long. We may joke about being knuckledragging Mongo-types, but my sleeve is apparently not that much longer than my inseam. It wears more like an ACU tunic than a normal ACU top. Close enough for now though.
Usually I only wear the uniform jacket when walking to and from work and to and from the chow hall anyway. Otherwise I'm happier in my t-shirt. Especially cause now I have my super awesome merino wool t-shirts in a close-enough-to-work-with-the-uniform color. Good times.
I also had to cut off my first callus of this trip. They form. They get torn off. Once they start coming it can be easier to just cut them off and make it clean. A new one forms and all is well.
I've also been informed that my posts are more interesting this time around. I think I'm a little more relaxed, the environment is a little less spooky, and I'm taking some notes during the day to log things that I think are worth sharing. Maybe that's it. I don't know.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Entertainment
Apparently there is a band called "Dos Gringos" that consists of a bunch of F-16 pilots that actually have a sense of humor about themselves. They have a song called "I'm a Pilot" that makes fun of all the pilot stereotypes such as having no regard for the maintenance personnel.
If you've worked with fighter pilots, it's really funny. If not, then it makes no sense.
I was also showed a video where Quentin Tarantino asks "How Gay is Top Gun?" Based on how they cut and edited scenes... very. Looking back, I feel the same way watching the volleyball scene in "Topgun" that I do when I see He-Man cartoon re-runs. Funny in ways I didn't see when I was five.
Other mature things that we do to pass the time including making "Your Mom" jokes on our internet chat program. Many are horribly obscene. I had a great one but couldn't laugh because it was the middle of a big update brief for the boss. Somehow not being able to laugh and show it off to people made it funnier.
I am also happy to report the Yussuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, is back in the game. I'm looking forward to hearing his new stuff. Last time out I discovered that not only do I enjoy his music but "Peace Train" is the best soundtrack to an airstrike being watched live via surveilance video.
There was a song on the network credited to him that sounded like him that was a call to jihad in Afghanistan (from the 80's) that was actually very moving and haunting. I have no idea who actually recorded it.
In any case, supposedly on this new album he has a song about being turned away by TSA because he was on a no-fly list. It was a mistake, incidentally, as his alleged radicalism has been way overblown from what I can tell.
I haven't really been that up on new music. Something about this return after so many years intrigues me and I want to hear what he has to say.
In other news, as a sign of the dark humor pervasive in the military, or at least in my experiences of the military, we have added jokes about stress. It is not that we take the concept of stress lightly since many of us have had friends cope with PTSD and other bad situations before, during, and after deployments. It is that everything is fair game and nothing is sacred.
I was being given a hard time by the others in my row for not wanting to put a thin sheet of plexiglass on my desk. The idea is that you can put a bunch of common reference sheets under the plexiglass without your desk being a mess. I don't have that many reference sheets and didn't feel like messing with my set up. So they gave me crap for it because that is what we do. I said they should be nice cause I'm feeling stressed. One guy pretended to duck. The other jumped toward the (unloaded) sub-machine gun on the shelf. Then we all laughed and debated whether rules would now come down mandated full armor all the time just in case.
I debated about sharing that little incident, but figured that is what this little blog is about. A little window into the mundane and sometimes absurd routine of a staff officer here.
I will also point out that whenever updates on the shooting incident in Baghdad come on AFN news on one of our flatscreens, everyone pretty much stops to watch/listen.
She'll be embarrassed that I mention this, but tomorrow my wife is heading off to present a poster at a medical conference. People are paying to fly her to a major tourist destination in order to hear what she has to say about her research findings. As well they should.
Tomorrow is also a big day for my partner. Test scores are being released and he finds out if he is getting promoted. Wish him luck.
One of the other guys in my little Iraq team is officially being promoted later this month. I'm hoping one of his can get to him and make sure some kind of ceremony is performed. I'm not sure, however, if that hope is more driven by the need to support a friend or the desperate need to get out of the JOC for just a little bit.
If you've worked with fighter pilots, it's really funny. If not, then it makes no sense.
I was also showed a video where Quentin Tarantino asks "How Gay is Top Gun?" Based on how they cut and edited scenes... very. Looking back, I feel the same way watching the volleyball scene in "Topgun" that I do when I see He-Man cartoon re-runs. Funny in ways I didn't see when I was five.
Other mature things that we do to pass the time including making "Your Mom" jokes on our internet chat program. Many are horribly obscene. I had a great one but couldn't laugh because it was the middle of a big update brief for the boss. Somehow not being able to laugh and show it off to people made it funnier.
I am also happy to report the Yussuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, is back in the game. I'm looking forward to hearing his new stuff. Last time out I discovered that not only do I enjoy his music but "Peace Train" is the best soundtrack to an airstrike being watched live via surveilance video.
There was a song on the network credited to him that sounded like him that was a call to jihad in Afghanistan (from the 80's) that was actually very moving and haunting. I have no idea who actually recorded it.
In any case, supposedly on this new album he has a song about being turned away by TSA because he was on a no-fly list. It was a mistake, incidentally, as his alleged radicalism has been way overblown from what I can tell.
I haven't really been that up on new music. Something about this return after so many years intrigues me and I want to hear what he has to say.
In other news, as a sign of the dark humor pervasive in the military, or at least in my experiences of the military, we have added jokes about stress. It is not that we take the concept of stress lightly since many of us have had friends cope with PTSD and other bad situations before, during, and after deployments. It is that everything is fair game and nothing is sacred.
I was being given a hard time by the others in my row for not wanting to put a thin sheet of plexiglass on my desk. The idea is that you can put a bunch of common reference sheets under the plexiglass without your desk being a mess. I don't have that many reference sheets and didn't feel like messing with my set up. So they gave me crap for it because that is what we do. I said they should be nice cause I'm feeling stressed. One guy pretended to duck. The other jumped toward the (unloaded) sub-machine gun on the shelf. Then we all laughed and debated whether rules would now come down mandated full armor all the time just in case.
I debated about sharing that little incident, but figured that is what this little blog is about. A little window into the mundane and sometimes absurd routine of a staff officer here.
I will also point out that whenever updates on the shooting incident in Baghdad come on AFN news on one of our flatscreens, everyone pretty much stops to watch/listen.
She'll be embarrassed that I mention this, but tomorrow my wife is heading off to present a poster at a medical conference. People are paying to fly her to a major tourist destination in order to hear what she has to say about her research findings. As well they should.
Tomorrow is also a big day for my partner. Test scores are being released and he finds out if he is getting promoted. Wish him luck.
One of the other guys in my little Iraq team is officially being promoted later this month. I'm hoping one of his can get to him and make sure some kind of ceremony is performed. I'm not sure, however, if that hope is more driven by the need to support a friend or the desperate need to get out of the JOC for just a little bit.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Moving on...
My neighbor in the JOC is having a flag flown on a mission as a thank you gift to some friends of his for all their help during this trip. In addition to sending packages and the like, they did one thing that is particularly inventive.
They took his wife out for her birthday. Nothing crazy there. But waiting for her at the restaurant was a blown up life size picture cut-out of him. A flat-him if you will. Flat-him had dinner with everyone. Flat-him went to the bar with everyone. I suggested they send flat-him on his next deployment instead. Everybody would win w/no degredation to operations.
He's actually pretty busy some of the time. Things come in spurts at the JOC. He also has some additional duties that take more of his time and attention than his primary duties. Funny how that can work.
He was nice and gave me a couple extra sets of the Army uniform he had lying around. I'm waiting for the second set that I had on issue to come in and so have been making due with the one I bought before I came out here. Now I have one more set close to my size and an extra that would fit two of me. Technically, I'm not supposed to be wearing the Army uniform anyway, but I like it better and it's more comfortable. No one here cares.
One of today's amusing adventures was roaming around the conventional side of the base. They salute and stuff over there. It's like they forgot we're in a war zone. We have to carry a weapon, but it must be unloaded. What's the point?
So I grabbed my pistol. I put it in a concealment holster for convenience and it was kind of like being back home. Except back home I am treated like an adult and can carry my pistol loaded. I guess if anything happened I could seek cover, take the magazine out of my pocket, load the weapon, chamber a round, and engage the threat. Seems like it save time and lives to just be able to draw and engage, but apparently it is unsafe for members of the military to carry loaded weapons when prosecuting a war.
Sure some people will bring up yesterday's incident where apparently the shooter did not kill himself as originally reported but instead killed five of our comrades. Actually, the current policy of carrying unloaded weapons is due to an institutional fear that Joe will shoot himself in the foot and so rather than train people we take away their bullets. The individual that killed his brothers is a special case.
Maybe the Brady campaign will come and take all the guns away and then we'll all play nice together.
Anyway, the whole point of going to the conventional side of the post was to pick up the supposed stash food. But, as I should have expected, it was all Halal meals.
Of course.
My other funny moment was talking to one of the senior guys here about terminology during my briefs. There are only so many ways to say that due to X weather condition, asset Y will be unable to operate or whatever. The terms my predecessor used were favorable, unfavorable, and marginal. Apparently go and no-go are the desired terms. Works for me. I'm briefing the ground guys. They don't need the details of what will impact things, they just need to know what they can use and what they can't on any given day. Drive on.
I was also told that I should explain that when I discuss impacts to certain communications equipment, that I'm referring to the impact of activity in Space on our radios. He said there are maybe 4-5 people in the JOC that understand the technical details, but I should clarify which aspects of the functionality I'm covering. I made sure he understood that I'm not one of the 4-5 people that knows all the technical details, but that I could give a quick overview so people know what it is I'm referring to when I brief impacts to communications.
They took his wife out for her birthday. Nothing crazy there. But waiting for her at the restaurant was a blown up life size picture cut-out of him. A flat-him if you will. Flat-him had dinner with everyone. Flat-him went to the bar with everyone. I suggested they send flat-him on his next deployment instead. Everybody would win w/no degredation to operations.
He's actually pretty busy some of the time. Things come in spurts at the JOC. He also has some additional duties that take more of his time and attention than his primary duties. Funny how that can work.
He was nice and gave me a couple extra sets of the Army uniform he had lying around. I'm waiting for the second set that I had on issue to come in and so have been making due with the one I bought before I came out here. Now I have one more set close to my size and an extra that would fit two of me. Technically, I'm not supposed to be wearing the Army uniform anyway, but I like it better and it's more comfortable. No one here cares.
One of today's amusing adventures was roaming around the conventional side of the base. They salute and stuff over there. It's like they forgot we're in a war zone. We have to carry a weapon, but it must be unloaded. What's the point?
So I grabbed my pistol. I put it in a concealment holster for convenience and it was kind of like being back home. Except back home I am treated like an adult and can carry my pistol loaded. I guess if anything happened I could seek cover, take the magazine out of my pocket, load the weapon, chamber a round, and engage the threat. Seems like it save time and lives to just be able to draw and engage, but apparently it is unsafe for members of the military to carry loaded weapons when prosecuting a war.
Sure some people will bring up yesterday's incident where apparently the shooter did not kill himself as originally reported but instead killed five of our comrades. Actually, the current policy of carrying unloaded weapons is due to an institutional fear that Joe will shoot himself in the foot and so rather than train people we take away their bullets. The individual that killed his brothers is a special case.
Maybe the Brady campaign will come and take all the guns away and then we'll all play nice together.
Anyway, the whole point of going to the conventional side of the post was to pick up the supposed stash food. But, as I should have expected, it was all Halal meals.
Of course.
My other funny moment was talking to one of the senior guys here about terminology during my briefs. There are only so many ways to say that due to X weather condition, asset Y will be unable to operate or whatever. The terms my predecessor used were favorable, unfavorable, and marginal. Apparently go and no-go are the desired terms. Works for me. I'm briefing the ground guys. They don't need the details of what will impact things, they just need to know what they can use and what they can't on any given day. Drive on.
I was also told that I should explain that when I discuss impacts to certain communications equipment, that I'm referring to the impact of activity in Space on our radios. He said there are maybe 4-5 people in the JOC that understand the technical details, but I should clarify which aspects of the functionality I'm covering. I made sure he understood that I'm not one of the 4-5 people that knows all the technical details, but that I could give a quick overview so people know what it is I'm referring to when I brief impacts to communications.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Let your balilaika sing what my guitar longs to sing...
The Scorpions wrote a song in the late 80's called "The Winds of Change." It was a German band writing about the end of the Cold War. They actually performed it on the remains of the Berlin Wall soon after it came down. Maybe it's cheesy but the live recording of it is one of my favorite songs and always gives me chills.
I mention it because at the end of a briefing where all the sub-elements updated the commander, a little video/slideshow of recent events was played. It showed clips of Iraqi soldiers working with the Iraqi people, delivering supplies, running medical clinics, and taking on a lot of little daily functions that we used to do here alone. "Winds of Change" was the soundtrack to it. Fine, it was propoganda, though only for internal consumption. But it fit.
Theirs is now an Army of volunteers that for all it's issues and continuing growing pains has braved unimaginable personal and family risks to get where they are now. It is actually becoming a trusted civil institution.
I read a story in I think the Washington Post or NY Times about the Iraqi Security Forces stumbling. Of course. And they will continue to for a while. But they are making huge steps forward and the training wheels really are coming off and are completely off in many ways.
- - - - - - - -
I heard a lot of people were worried when they heard about the one troop that chose to kill himself and four of our brothers today. We're fine. We are angry. We are saddened by the loss of four of our own in this way. As for the shooter, I don't care how rough his situation was, how distraught he was, or anything else. There may have been signs in his command about his worries and maybe some kind of intervention would have prevented this. I don't know and do not have the information to judge it. I do know that the shooter crossed the line from suicide to murder suicide and I can no longer recognize that person as having been a peer.
We are here to take care of each other. We failed that troop. But that troop unforgivably betrayed us.
It reminds me of a CNN story about the animal that raped and killed a young Iraqi girl and killed her family when he was in the Army and deployed here a few years ago. The article was actually sympathetic to the convicted criminal and tracked with the sickening narrative of the Army turning people in to monsters and this war making the poor veterans go mad--with the obligatory references to President Bush and Vice-President Cheney being the cause of this crime somehow (beyond President Bush ultimately being responsible for the deployment).
When patronizing and insulting tripe of that nature is written about today's murderer, do not believe it. When it continues to be written about any criminal that happens to disgrace the uniform, do not believe it. You, the civilian that may stumble upon this, owe us that much.
- - - - - -
On a lighter note, I was able to Skype with my Dad. He took a grainy snapshot of me through my webcam.
And we may have found a stash of meals. I'm going to run over there w/a truck and just grab them.
There's only one thief, the rest of us are just trying to get our stuff back.
I mention it because at the end of a briefing where all the sub-elements updated the commander, a little video/slideshow of recent events was played. It showed clips of Iraqi soldiers working with the Iraqi people, delivering supplies, running medical clinics, and taking on a lot of little daily functions that we used to do here alone. "Winds of Change" was the soundtrack to it. Fine, it was propoganda, though only for internal consumption. But it fit.
Theirs is now an Army of volunteers that for all it's issues and continuing growing pains has braved unimaginable personal and family risks to get where they are now. It is actually becoming a trusted civil institution.
I read a story in I think the Washington Post or NY Times about the Iraqi Security Forces stumbling. Of course. And they will continue to for a while. But they are making huge steps forward and the training wheels really are coming off and are completely off in many ways.
- - - - - - - -
I heard a lot of people were worried when they heard about the one troop that chose to kill himself and four of our brothers today. We're fine. We are angry. We are saddened by the loss of four of our own in this way. As for the shooter, I don't care how rough his situation was, how distraught he was, or anything else. There may have been signs in his command about his worries and maybe some kind of intervention would have prevented this. I don't know and do not have the information to judge it. I do know that the shooter crossed the line from suicide to murder suicide and I can no longer recognize that person as having been a peer.
We are here to take care of each other. We failed that troop. But that troop unforgivably betrayed us.
It reminds me of a CNN story about the animal that raped and killed a young Iraqi girl and killed her family when he was in the Army and deployed here a few years ago. The article was actually sympathetic to the convicted criminal and tracked with the sickening narrative of the Army turning people in to monsters and this war making the poor veterans go mad--with the obligatory references to President Bush and Vice-President Cheney being the cause of this crime somehow (beyond President Bush ultimately being responsible for the deployment).
When patronizing and insulting tripe of that nature is written about today's murderer, do not believe it. When it continues to be written about any criminal that happens to disgrace the uniform, do not believe it. You, the civilian that may stumble upon this, owe us that much.
- - - - - -
On a lighter note, I was able to Skype with my Dad. He took a grainy snapshot of me through my webcam.
And we may have found a stash of meals. I'm going to run over there w/a truck and just grab them.
There's only one thief, the rest of us are just trying to get our stuff back.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Package!
8000 calories of M&Ms! 48 OZ of peanut butter! 48 Zone Bars! What are zone bars?
And 5 packages of beef jerky in 5 different flavors.
Nice.
Today's big adventure for everyone was scrambling to find working phones and internet to call their mothers. A bit of a scramble, but I did manage. The call of course dropped when we were about to say good bye. I tried calling back so we could properly hang up, but it wouldn't go through.
Skype is where cell phones were a few years ago. Not too shabby.
And 5 packages of beef jerky in 5 different flavors.
Nice.
Today's big adventure for everyone was scrambling to find working phones and internet to call their mothers. A bit of a scramble, but I did manage. The call of course dropped when we were about to say good bye. I tried calling back so we could properly hang up, but it wouldn't go through.
Skype is where cell phones were a few years ago. Not too shabby.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)