Annex B

I'm away from the internet

2008-11-30T04:17:00.001-08:00

Just a note to let you know that I am doing okay but cannot post many blog entries right now. We have moved from our CHUs to tents. As a result, our internet connection had to be disabled. It is pretty hard to add to this blog because of it but I will add several entries soon.

Take care.

SABER 02,
out.

TAJI and the Fun Haters

2008-11-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

I’ve mentioned Taji a number of times. Here are just a few things about it. Taji is a Coalition Force (CF) base that is north of Baghdad. Taji is huge. Right now it is one of the larger CF bases in the country both in size and occupants. Tenants there are Iraqi Security forces, Air Force (U.S. and Iraqi), U.S. Army, civilians and the list goes on. There is an air strip, several dining facilities, housing for thousands and they are building a new prison for Iraq. There is lots of activity going on there. When we do eventually leave Iraq Taji will once again be a huge hub of Iraqi military and security force activity.

Infant Taji:
You may recall that when the CF (Coalition Forces) entered Baghdad in 2003 the Iraqi military basically dissolved. They just quit fighting and went away. Well, Taji was a huge Iraqi military base at the time and it fell into CF hands. Of course we blew a few things up before we went in but basically we went in and took it over.

Fast forward to April 2004 when I first went there. I was still in awe at just having living through a trip through Baghdad when I first saw Taji. Run down buildings, roofs with bomb holes in them and piles of metal just about everywhere. Oh, and it stunk…smelled like burning trash and oily dirt. I stayed there a few weeks before I moved to a FOB (Forward Operating Base). Taji also has the dubious honor of being the location of my first eye-witness mortar attack. Ahhhhh, what a twisted memory to have of a place.

Adolescent Taji:
Things were very primitive in Taji’s early days. Electricity was scarce, inhabitable buildings were scarce as well but as U.S. and CF personnel rotated through there things improved. Our PX moved from an old warehouse to a decent steel building. Dining facilities were built (there are 3 or 4 now), motor pools improved and the list goes on and on. It has become a crowded, dirty base. It’s nice to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.
One unique part of Taji is the armor graveyard. After the initial push of the war the discarded and bombarded tanks, artillery pieces and instruments of war had to be put somewhere. Taji evidently seemed like a good place for a dump so the armor was dumped. You can drive by the boneyard of Iraqi armor and pass literally hundreds, if not thousands of rusting metal hulks. Of course, when fronted with such an incredible sight, what is a G.I. going to do? Spray paint a message on it and take a picture. When I was there I only took the picture because I didn’t have paint and there is hardly any room for more graffiti.

Teenage Taji:
Of course, the true measure to quality of life of any military post is how good the PX is and how many franchise eateries there are. As I mentioned, the PX is pretty decent. Taji has Pizza Hut, Subway, Burger King and the real measure of how much of a ‘soft spot Taji has become is the addition of a Cinnabon franchise. Yeah, Cinnabon…just what a soldier who doesn’t do enough PT needs….sweet, fatty pastries.

One final measure of where the war is at is the anal-retentiveness that has increased over the years. Taji is pogueville (a pogue is a rear-echelon weenie who doesn’t fight or go outside the wire…combat arms guys like myself have several not-so-flattering terms for these pogues). The king of pogues is the Pogue CSM (Command Sergeant Major).

Now, I have great respect for most CSMs. They are often the most squared away, tough soldier you will ever find. They have a job to do which is important…looking out for the welfare of soldiers and enforcing the Army’s standards. I have no beef with these warriors but Taji (and other large posts such as Adder) have a very large population of CSMs with a flare for pogueness and they have too much time on their hands. These senior NCOs and their pogue underlings are also known as ‘fun haters.’

The P-CSMs are known for constantly enforcing standards that don’t really fit in a war environment. As the rockets and bullets have decreased, the P-CSMs have increased their haranguing of soldiers who’s drip pans aren’t under their vehicles, aren’t wearing reflective belts with their PT uniforms, aren’t saluting every officer they pass and, in-general, aren’t behaving in a professional pogue-ish military manner. The Pogue CSMs are just a pain-in-the ass. They’ve nailed me for a few things that I was guilty of but….ahhhh.

Truckstop Taji:
Anyway…back to Taji. Our Squadron escorts vehicles to there every night. We bring up the full trucks. Sleep, eat, refuel, then take the empty trucks back the next night. It’s what we do. Taji must have its fuel, spare parts, reflective belts and cinnamon roll ingredients. The P-CSM must have his sweet, fatty pastries.

SABER 02
Out.

Taking Amtrak to Taji

2008-11-16T11:15:00.000-08:00

Our crew made it back from Taji. Taji is a huge operating base that lies just north of Baghdad. I’ll write more about it in another entry.

This was one of my last trips north because my unit is getting short. A couple of us have been wanting to get back on the road for a few weeks so we pulled a Nike and just did it. The team went with was Bandito 16, they are a convoy security company based out of Magnolia Arkansas. Bandito 16 is a pretty good collection of very capable soldiers. Their six original vehicles had the internal call signs of “RICKY BOBBY”, “CARNY”, “5-O” (the TC is a real-world police officer), “MINNIE”, “SEX PANTHER”, and “REHAB”. Obviously there is a draw to Will Farrell movies for these guys. They gave my truck the call sign of “AMTRAK”. That’s because two of my crew are Captains and since our ranks look like railroad tracks….well, there you go.

The crew of the Amtrak:

DRIVER: Staff Sergeant Shannon Eichenseer. Shannon is from Cattaraugus, New York (South of Buffalo). She normally works in our Brigade Headquarters Intelligence Section but I’ve been trying to take her out on the road for months so she can better understand the mission she supports. She finally broke free long enough to be the driver of a 40,000 pound MRAP. She and I got licensed on the vehicle just so we could go on this trip.

TC—TACTICAL VEHICLE COMMANDER: Captain Marcus Pierce from North Little Rock, AR. Marc is normally my Squadron’s Signal officer…the guy who manages all things communications-wise to include computers and radios. Marc is an avid runner (his running blog is http://runaddict.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/gi-blues-and-a-runner-reborn/ ) Marc served in the right seat as the TC and he handled all the radio business.

GUNNER: I got to do something I’ve always wanted to do….gun. I.e. the guy that pokes his head out of the top. So, Captain Lynch got to do what a Specialist or Private normally does....man an M240B machine gun for the 9 hour mission. I was the guy who operated the turret and kept the vehicle in a fighting posture for the duration of the trip. I also had the best view.

PCC/PCI (pre-combat checks and inspections): We did the normal pre-combat checks the night before the convoy rolled out. Nothing spectacular: we got the radios ready, the truck stocked with water and fuel, and made sure the vehicles and weapons were ready for a long road trip. Then we stocked up on sleep. Driving all night means having a good night’s rest.

The day of the trip we attended the Operations and Intelligence brief. This is where the crews get their latest information about road conditions, weather, and enemy activity on our routes. I’m usually on the giving end of the brief. Today I was the audience along with three other convoys going out that night . After the Intel dump we went to the staging lanes where we conduct our final PCCs/PCIs before we hit the road.
I’d like to tell you some exciting story about the journey north but it was pretty uneventful. After we linked-up with the vehicles we were escorting we pointed north and drove….and drove….and drove. We left in the afternoon and arrived at Taji in the middle of the night. Overall it was a 9 hour drive in the dark with nothing significant to report. We like it that way but it does get boring.
We spent the next day at Taji and slept, visited a couple of friends stationed there and then put the convoy back together again for the return trip south. Once again, we pointed towards COB Adder which was south and drove….and drove….and drove.

One thing you learn is how to stay awake. These convoys are about 4 miles long. We drive at speeds that vary between slow and much slower. Slow so we can find IEDs (you can’t outrun them). Staying awake is a team effort. In most cases it just involves conversation among the crew of a vehicle. We talked about everything from the election to our boss to what we would do when we get home….you name it…we talked about it.

At the end of the trip the sun was barely up and we were smoked but there was one last thing to do….eat. I don’t normally eat breakfast in the chow hall but at the end of a night of driving and staying awake a trooper gets hungry. We drove the vehicle to the chow hall and marched our stubbly faces to the dining facility and proceeded to eat an Army breakfast. Afterward we secured our weapons and vehicle for the day and proceeded to sleep. And sleep I did. Rock-type sleep…the reward for 3 long days of delivering gas and groceries.

Well, that’s a convoy. 600 miles, 3 days, no incidents. I’ve done it 6 times so far. Our regular escort teams do it once every 5 days. Escorting convoys is our primary mission and it’s what we have done every day since my Squadron has been in-country. This might have been my last mission through Baghdad ever. We’ll see about that. If I never see it again I will be okay but if I do….well, at least I know the way.

SABER 02,

Out.

More Rough Men

2008-11-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of our various mascots in the ITO (Iraqi Theater of Operations)...

Barton, this one is for you:

Have a great week...and get more cow bell.

SABER 02,

out.

Happy Anniversary

2008-11-13T11:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Anniversary.

Today marks another one. Another one I have missed. It’s one of those things that we’ve never really got too wrapped up about. I mean, being home on an anniversary is nice. But being absent from one is nothing new.

This is 16. Of the sixteen I think I’ve been gone 5 of them. You’ve always been understanding and I really appreciate that. One of the many things we miss when we are overseas are all the special days. The birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations and holidays. We miss them a lot but we never forget them. As always, I’ll try to make up for it when I get home.

One more major holiday away from home and then I’ll be on my way home.
I Love you and I miss you.

Happy Anniversary Sherrie.

Love,
Joel

Veteran's Day

2008-11-09T12:52:00.001-08:00

"Where do we get such men? Where do we get such men who are willing to sacrifice all they have in service to their country?"

---James Michener

(to view a larger version of these panels just click on them)

I used to think of Veterans as a group of old men who were once in the Army. Now that I am one, and I serve with so many young Americans abroad I have a different view. Veterans, young and old, men and women, have put on the uniform of our country and voluntarily served all over the world in conditions that cannot adequately be described....and we come back multiple times to do it again.

Veteran's day comes and goes. Take a minute to think what others have done to make this a free and strong country. For the Veterans that I have the honor to serve with, I am sharing with you their faces and names. They are all truly great Americans.

A Salute on this
Veteran's Day!

SABER 02,
out.

Getting Around: The Victors

2008-11-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

Life on COB Adder involves a lot of getting around the COB. Our living areas are a pretty good hike from the PX , our motor pools, headquarters building and our chow hall. Getting from one place to another can be somewhat of a pain unless you are one of the lucky few that has transportation.
Back home most of us have cars or trucks that we can get in anytime we like. Its something unique to Americans to have so many sets of wheels on demand. Here in Iraq few of us have that luxury. Usually someone whose job requires a vehicle or if their rank is high enough to warrant one actually gets a 'Victor'.

Let me address nomenclature right now. In typical Army fashion we have abbreviated and slanganated terminology to describe the various forms of transportation. Let me explain. A Victor is a vehicle. Victor is the phonetic word for the letter V. V is short for Vehicle, translated to Army-nese it is ‘Victor.’ That’s really more confusing and not any shorter than saying vehicle but we are mostly guys and it sounds cool so anytime we see a car on the road we say, “there is a Victor on the road.” Don’t try to understand it, just accept it. Its just the way we are.

More, less-confusing terms: The NTV is a non-tactical vehicle (a pickup or SUV). A Tactical Vehicle is the heavier armored vehicle we use on combat missions. A few of the TAC-Vs are the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected), the ASV (Armored Security Vehicle) and the famous HUMM-V (the work horse of the bunch).
We have “FOB Runners” that are old Humm-Vs not adequately armored for missions. There are Rangers or ATVs (like you see off-road or at the deer camp). Our ‘public transportation’ consists of Scooby-busses (bigger than a van but smaller than a full size bus). And there are a host of others but those mentioned are generally what we use.

For those who walk we have LPCs…Leather Personnel Carriers (otherwise known as shoes).

Okay…enough terminology.

You average Iraqi doesn’t have a car. There are lots of vehicles here but usually a family in the city will have one. Rarely does a family have two or more. Most Iraqi citizens rely on taxis, buses or feet. They are not as mobile as Americans. Most of everything an Iraqi citizen needs is in their neighborhood and their families aren’t as spread out as our American families are so the need for vehicles is not as great.
Here in southern Iraq transportation often involves a tractor, a donkey or a camel. More often than not they get around on a good old fashioned pair of sandals (LPCs). Dirty feet are the norm.

Back to Adder...

We have a bus system that is operated by KBR (the contracting company that provides logistical support for us). The KBR busses are what we call ‘Scooby Busses.” These Scoobies run along routes throughout Adder. Their times vary. Their seats are small but it beats walking…usually. The bus routes can be frustrating because there isn’t a set time for them to arrive at a bus stop. We often have to wait 20 or 30 minutes for a ride.
Guys who have an assigned tactical vehicle use them to run around Adder. Its not always easy because these victors are cumbersome but once again…it beats walking.

Other forms of getting around involve bicycles (I have one) ATVs or Polaris Rangers and a variety of small European style vehicles.

If the mission requires it we will walk a dozen miles with a pack on our back in full gear. We are trained to do it and we do it well. But, when the mission doesn’t require it and we just want to get to the chow hall, by golly we are gonna wait for the Scooby or maybe hitch a ride on a camel. It beats walkin’.

SABER 02
Out.

Heading North...again

2008-11-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

I’ll be on the road again this week. Ill be heading to Taji, one of the large bases that is just north of Baghdad. We go there all the time. Even though it’s not a new destination, every mission is unique in some way. The pictures here are soldiers preparing for the mission.

For those who have just starting keeping up with this blog let me explain what it is I do. I am part of a Cavalry Squadron whose mission is to escort logistics convoys in Iraq. Usually we escort 30 or 40 semis full of parts, fuel, supplies and various other things to support the coalition forces based in and around Baghdad.

These missions last for several days and span a few hundred miles. If you total all of the miles that our trucks have driven since we got here in April we’ve driven over 1,500,000 miles. That’s a lot of driving.

Before a mission, extensive preparations are done. Then those preparations are checked. In Armyspeak we call it PCCs (Pre-Combat Checks) and PCIs (Pre-Combat Inspections). We load and prepare everything we take such as weapons, ammo, radios, ice chests, trucks and, of course, soldiers.

These PCCs follow a rigid standard. Every soldier has a certain amount of ammo. Each has a first aid kit attached in a specific place. Radios have predetermined frequencies. Weapons have a standard load of ammo and a place to store it. All of this is the result of years of experience and training.
I’ll write you about the journey north from COB Adder through Baghdad when I get back. We’ve literally done this mission hundreds of times. Most are uneventful but we prepare for the worst just in case. The worst I have experienced is a flat tire…in fact it seems to be my running them. I’ve had two flat tires in the middle of the night. No fun but it hasn’t been too bad.

One reader suggested that I make a can of Fix-A-Flat part of my standard combat load. I’ll see if the Army will buy me a case. Until then…pass me the jack.

SABER 02
Out.

Leaders

2008-11-02T12:49:00.000-08:00

"The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office."

---Dwight David Eisenhower

Ok, it is time to vote…so go do it. I’ve seen a lot of media stories about the presidential race. Who’s ahead. Who made the gaff of the day. Which candidate is qualified to be president and for what reasons. I think we’ve all seen our share of stories.

Voting absentee has been a huge push over here. We have all had the opportunity. Some exercise their right to vote. Others are more complacent to do nothing. I am our Squadron's voting assistance officer which means its my job to make sure all soldiers are aware of and get assistance with voting. My vote was cast in late September. If you have loved ones overseas and they didn't vote it was because they chose not to.

Who should you vote for? I serve in a business where leadership is a way of life. Everyone in the Army is a leader and a follower on some level. Every soldier trains to be in charge or to follow someone who is. Soldiers can’t escape the responsibility and most of us who willingly put on the uniform don’t try to.

Voting for your President is really a rare event. Think about it. When was the last time you had a say in who your boss would be…who would be your teacher…who would head your organization? I’ve never had a vote in who my commander was. Whomever was put in charge of my unit I supported. Its what we do.

There are many characteristics of a good leader. No one thing makes a person good when he is in charge. It’s a combination of many things. He* (or she) must care for those who he is in charge of. He must have vision and manage priorities. He must be willing to lead. He must be willing to follow. Any leader who serves himself is not a leader, he’s just the guy in charge. It’s no fun working for that guy and at the end of the day the organization goes nowhere.

One thing our media has created is a zero tolerance environment where anyone who makes the slightest mistake is blasted. Thank you Mister Olberman (sarcasm). The media leads us to believe that we can find a perfect person to be our leader. No such man or woman exists. Quit looking for them. Just look for the best one.

Over the years I have had the privilege of serving with many fine leaders. Some are better in combat operations, some in training, some in a day to day environment. No one person is the perfect leader in all situations. You have to look for many qualities and see what you value most. That person gets your vote. Then we have to support them and work together. A house divided cannot stand…right? Lincoln was onto something.

Look for the best candidate for you. Cast your vote. And when the results are in our jobs begin again. We must work together and support the country no matter who wins. “He’s not my President, I didn’t vote for him” is an extremely divisive statement. Don’t be a hater. Support your country. If you aren’t happy with it, try to do something positive to change it.

SABER 02
out.

*I use he for most of this entry but ‘she’ is interchangeable. Women and men are equally capable of being good leaders.

One Child At A Time

2008-10-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

I’m stepping back from this entry. We have a Squadron publication called SABERS SENTINEL. It’s filled with stories about soldiers in our units and what they’ve been doing. It is edited by Sergeant Rick Fahr, a very talented and likeable, real-world newspaper editor. He works with Sergeant First Class Tammy Treat, another talented photographer and writer. I’m using (with permission) one of their stories. Its about our soldiers volunteering in an Iraqi burn clinic. Its an incredible story.

One child at a time
Troops making difference at Iraqi burn clinic

By Sgt. Rick Fahr
1-151st Cavalry Regiment
Photos by Sgt. 1st Class Tammy Treat

SCANIA, Iraq — YaYa sits quietly on the table. A flowered plastic band holds back her black hair, revealing a smile that only a child’s heart musters. YaYa’s sparkle grows for a moment as a Soldier walks toward, but then she notices the tweezers and the scrub brush. Remembering, she turns grim. The next half hour will bring excruciating pain. There will be candy and perhaps a toy later, but the pain comes first.

Sgt. 1st Class Stanley Krupsky smiles as he reaches out to welcome YaYa back. The girl’s hand finds his shoulder. She is ready. YaYa cries as the Soldier peels and scrubs away the dead skin. She muffles her screams, and Krupsky turns away more than once.
He hates to hurt the girl, but he has no choice.
“I know it hurts, but it’s got to be done.”
Krupsky, a convoy escort team commander for Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 151st Cavalry Regiment, 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Arkansas Army National Guard, is helping YaYa recover from burns suffered in a fire more than a month ago.

Two of her family members died from their wounds, and two others travel with their grandmother three days a week to Scania, to a free burn clinic where Soldiers from Charlie Troop and other units volunteer.
Most of the patients are children who have suffered horrific burns, their arms and legs blistered and raw. Krupsky and the Troops in his team rearrange their mission schedules, sacrificing what little off time they might otherwise have between missions, to spend a few hours
at the clinic. They do what they can to help the children and leave them with a smile — candy and toys the Soldiers buy at the post exchanges or receive in the mail.
“We just do what we can to help,” Krupsky, of Oregon, said. Staff Sgt. Mark Kellogg, senior medic for Charlie Troop, explained that the Soldiers are fighting infections in the severe burns.
They remove damaged skin in and around the burned areas and dress the wounds, directing the patients’ parent or guardian to repeat the process several times a week.
“We let it heal from the inside out,” he
said, noting that the process can take several months. Troops who volunteer to help receive a
crash course in procedures, Kellogg said, and the available medics oversee all the work.
Their work often involves seeing the agony on the faces of their young patients. Sgt. 1st Class Tammy Treat of North Carolina recalled one child who violently resisted help.“She was hitting herself in the face and trying to bite her mother’s hands. Even with the child in so much pain, the mother was smiling so big because she knew we were helping,” Treat explained.

Though many of the Troops who volunteer at the clinic have only limited medical training, they have ample desire to help.
“I’ve got four kids, and when you hear about something like that happening to kids and you are
away from your own, it’s a way of trying to keep in touch with yourself, doing something for
somebody aside from yourself. It gives you a good feeling,” said Spec. Ronald Branum, a Virginia resident who joined the unit several months ago.
That feeling of accomplishment resonates throughout the team.
“It’s nice to be able to give back to the kids, especially when you see how messed
up some of them are,” noted Sgt. Shea Lindsey.
Spec. Courtland Walker agreed.
“You think about your own kids in that situation, so you just want to help them however you can,” he said.
Walker said that after leaving the clinic to continue the team’s convoy escort
missions he reflects on what he sees and hears and feels.
“You have to take that one deep breath, but afterward you think that they are gonna be all right, and you feel good about yourself,” he commented. “You just wish you could stay longer and help more.”

Sgt. Kevin Jackson said he hoped that the benefits of the Troops’ work at the clinic go beyond the children who recover. “It shows them we are here for more than to just fight a war. It shows them we are here to help.”
Branum suggested the relationships built through the clinic are bearing positive fruit.
“The community knows we are there helping, and they are gonna tell people.”

These soldiers are incredible people.

SABER 02,
Out.

Rough Men Stand Ready

2008-10-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." ---George Orwell

Everybody has an image of themselves. Think about it. You may see yourself as a smart, educated person…a poindexter type. Maybe you are the rough outdoorsy type. You may be the soft, cuddly ‘kitten’ type. Or you may just look in the mirror and see something else. We (the Army) see ourselves in many different ways. Usually those ways are a little rough around the edges, it involves a weapon of some sort and, in many cases, we see a scary creature.

After all, an effective Army isn’t made up of kittens, puppys and little chickens. We think an effective army is better staffed by Knights, Monsters, muscled up masked thingys and other scary sorts. We call ourselves ‘Commandos,’ ‘Copperheads,’ ‘Banditos’ and ‘Berserkers.’ Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Save the powder puff stuff for the cheerleading

competitions. Send your Desperados to Iraq.

Your Army is a practical Army. We have to be since we deploy in the most ugly, God-awful locations. So, when we stop somewhere and stay awhile, such as at places like COB ADDER, we start to make things better. We paint rocks....line them up and call it ‘Improving our foxhole.” When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? Well, KBR is fresh out of lemons but they have provided us with a few thousand concrete barriers. They come in all shapes and sizes and paint adheres to them very well.

So, in an effort to improve our foxhole we paint those rocks and make these inanimate objects serve multiple purposes. One of my favorite Armyisms is to turn them into motivational artwork. There are literally thousands of these painted barriers all over Iraq. They not only provide protection (their intended purpose) but they are esprit de corps builders. If you could paint testosterone, these barriers are what it would look like.

The barriers also serve as a historical record of sorts. Its evidence that a unit has been somewhere. Everybody comes and goes to Iraq through Kuwait, therefore, Kuwait is littered with these barriers. Go to any Army installation in the world and somewhere you will see something scary painted on a wall. It’s just the way we are.

We are YOUR army. You don’t need to be scared of us but the bad guys should be.

So, sleep peaceably in your beds tonight because we stand ready.

And we’ve painted a few thousand rocks to let you know it.

SABER 02
out.

CLS: Sticking It To A Buddy

2008-10-20T10:32:00.001-07:00

Last week about 40 of us received medical training in the Combat Lifesaver course. Combat Lifesaver (CLS) is a level of medical training that is somewhat advanced but not as medically educated as a Medic.
Since the American Civil War, combat medicine has advanced by light years. Back then if a soldier was shot, there was a really good chance he would have that leg or arm amputated or he would die from infection. Since then the Army has made a concentrated effort to improve the chances of surviving battlefield injuries.

Your U.S. Army is one of the few, if not the only, country in the world that actually dedicates helicopters and vehicles to serve as ambulances so casualties can be evacuated quickly. We train a great number of soldiers in advanced trauma care. And we have the most advanced aid stations and combat hospitals in the world. Our Surgeons are real Surgeons and our Doctors are practicing Doctors. It’s something our country takes for granted but your soldiers are the best cared for troops in the world. Very few soldiers actually die from wounds sustained in combat. Think about it. In 5 years of a very violent war just over 4,000 have been killed. That is very tragic but without this kind of care the numbers would be much higher.

CLS is part of that. Every soldier learns a certain amount of first aid training in basic training. The basic first aid training amounts to how to stop bleeding, patch a hole, and stabilize a patient. That’s already more than some countries train soldiers. At CLS we learn those skills plus how to assist breathing, apply special bandages, dressings and splints and a few other tricks. Additionally, we learn to use some specialized tubes and needles that helps a wounded soldier breath.

In a nutshell, we learn how to take a serverely wounded soldier, patch him, stabilize him and care for him until he can be evacuated to higher level of treatment.
Most people have heard of the Army’s Medics, right? The Navy and Marines call them Corpsmen. Medics are very highly trained soldiers. They actually go to schools that are months long to learn field medicine. Many of them are EMTs, work in hospitals back home or are going to school to get nursing or medical degrees. These guys and gals are sharp.
Every convoy we send out has to have at least one medic with his/her aid bag. The aid bag has all kinds of dressings, bandages, tubes, patches, tapes, splints, saline bags, etc, etc. It’s their equivalent of the old time Doctors Black bag but this thing weighs about 40 pounds.
When Medics are assigned to a Convoy Escort Team (CET) they get to know the soldiers they are responsible for. After awhile they form a bond. You know they are getting tight when their soldiers start referring to them as DOC. I once worked with a Medic that I noticed was having a really good day. He was all happy and smiling. I asked him, “How’s it going?”
He said, “Great, my boys just called me Doc.” He was really proud that day. And he was a damn good Medic so I know he deserved it. The Medics get very protective of their platoons and CETS. Its really a wonderful thing to see. I’ve seen some of these guys performing very traumatizing feats under incredible pressure and they do it so well. They have my trust.

Back to CLS….The Medics are the ones who teach the course. One of the final things we learn is the stick. That is, properly inserting an IV needle into another person’s arm. It is a bit unnerving and it’s the last thing the course tests. We all have about 4 days to anticipate this. It is very unnatural, and in most cases illegal, to stick something foreign into another person.
Well, on the last day we summon up the courage and stick another person in the class. You find a vein, prepare it, watch the other person get really nervous, then insert it. Its really simple and relatively painless (or not very painful). We all survive. Some of us still have bruises on our arms to prove it, but we’ve completed the task to become a certified Combat Lifesaver. We aren’t Marcus Welby or Hawkeye Pierce…but in our own small way we medically proficient.

Hopefully we will never have to use our newly-learned skills, but if we do have to…there are plenty of us around to help each other out.

SABER 02
Out.

Combat Lifesaver Class shots

2008-10-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Medical training is a big thing for soldiers serving in forward areas. You never know when you are going to want someone with medical knowledge that goes beyond Motrin and band-aids. Here are a few pictures from a class I recently attended. Ill tell you more about it and Army Medics next time.

(Top) All eyes are on the needle in SSG Ben Wood's hands.

(Left) SSG Wood's prepares to 'stick' SPC Middleton.

(Below) Three Amigos. The contents of a saline bag are delivered to the patient.

SGT Foster, a Combat Medic instructs decompressing a
Tension Pneumothorax.

These experienced Medics know their stuff. I'll let you know how an old Infantry Officer did in their class in my next entry.

SABER 02
Out.

Warrior Farewell

2008-10-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

A soldier died.

Last week a soldier from COB Adder was killed by an IED. Several weeks ago another lost his life due to natural causes. I will not write about the circumstances. I will tell you how we honor our fallen.

As soon as we learn of a death, dozens of actions begin taking place. We have rehearsed this battle drill because it is not unexpected. The amount of work that has to be done right away to make sure this soldier and his family is taken care of is amazing. I won’t tell you about all of it because I don’t know everything…there are lots of personal, administrative and command details that have to be tended to in a very timely manner.
When a death happens, no matter what the cause, several things go into motion. First of all we try to get the situation under control to make sure no one else gets hurt and that wrong information doesn’t get put out. It’s natural for people to speculate about the details of a death but most of the time that is not very helpful. We sort those out in due time.
Immediately a commo blackout is put in effect, that is, all communication back home stops. The phone lines are put off limits and the internet services shut down. In this day and age of instant communication we have to get that under control to prevent word of the death making it back to the families until official notification gets to them. This prevents second and third hand information from getting to the family which can be incomplete, incorrect and insensitive. The blackout lasts until the notification is made which could be a couple of days. The official notification is made in-person back in the states by trained soldiers and chaplains.
The soldier's remains must make it back to the states. A plane is immediately coordinated to take the remains of the fallen back to the states. Within hours a large ceremonial detail was coordinated. The plane lands and about two hundred of us are in formation on the tarmac. Airmen and soldiers alike in two parallel formations form a line that leads to the back of the aircraft. Our Squadron colors and the U.S. Flag blow in the stiff, hot wind. The aircraft ramp slowly dropps revealing the dark insides of the plane. The formation marches toward the back of the plane. The formation splits to form a lane ten feet wide. We stop short of the plane.
The Sergeant Major shouts a command, “CENTERRRR, FACE!” We sharply turn toward the lane. A formation of pall-bearers carries the flag-drapped casket to the plane and then into it. As the casket is secured to the deck of the plane our Chaplain said a prayer and words to send our warrior from us a final time.
That complete, the formation moved from the plane, “FORRRRRWARD, MARCH!” We move away as the ramp closes, the propellers began to turn and our friend left us for the final time to be laid to rest in the states.
Short, solemn, honorable. The farewell lasted only a short while.
Other details were taken care of. Personnel and administrative details were handled by subject matter experts. Awards he was due were processed, final payroll completed, life insurance details for the family dispensed.
A formal farewell ceremony was prepared and rehearsed. While this was taking place the soldiers from his unit were looked after with counselors working to ensure that his close friends were coping with the loss.
A final ceremony was held at our Memorial Hall which was filled with Squadron soldiers. Much like a funeral back home, pictures of our friend were posted, flags were standing, solemn music played. During the ceremony there were several speakers. Friends and leaders of our soldier spoke about him. What was he like, how did they come to know him, how he would be missed. Of course the Chaplain spoke and verses from the bible were read. At the end a 21 gun salute was rendered and Taps was played. The first volleys always take the crowd by surprise. We all salute our friend as honors were rendered.
At the end every soldier marched by the soldier’s memorial. Flags, his photo, and our soldier’s rifle, bayonet attached, stuck in the ground with his dog tags hanging from the weapon. We pass by the memorial one-at-a-time and give our final salute to a soldier who deployed, did his job, and gave his life while serving our nation.

The past few months I’ve painted you a relatively rosy picture of life on a dusty base. It's not always that rosy.

Every soldier that has lost his or her life while serving received this same type of final farewell and sendoff.

The youngest private and the highest General, should they fall, will get a similar sendoff. All are important. All are valued. All are missed. All play a part in the huge team that is assembled here. Nobody just slips away unnoticed.

SABER 02, out.

Brigade Run

2008-10-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

There are lots of signs that things are going well here in Iraq. Signs that the violence has dropped and is continuing to get better. That’s what a big part of my job as the intelligence officer is; I track the bad guys. When things are going well and the threat is low then we do things that a normal Army unit does. Last week we had a Brigade run.

The Brigade our Squadron is assigned to is the 7th Sustainment Brigade and it is is about 5,000 soldiers strong. That’s a lot of soldiers. Here at COB Adder we were able to get a few thousand or so of us on the road at sunup and run for about 3 miles along the streets of COB Adder. That’s a big formation. If you’ve ever been near an event like this it is somewhat impressive. We bring out the guidons and unit colors (flags) and run in a long column.

If you’ve ever seen a movie where soldiers are running and singing cadence this was what they were trying to replicate. We sing a number of different running ‘songs’ to stay in step and help pump us up until the end. It’s an event that is all Army…nobody else does stuff like this.

Being on a deployment to a combat zone gives a soldier opportunities to get in shape. There isn’t much else to do and after about 5 years of being in Iraq our forces have managed to acquire some decent workout facilities. Some soldiers use the opportunity to develop some muscles…others don’t. I’m somewhere in between.

The ones that don’t stay in shape don’t do too well on the run. They run as far as they can and fall out and end up in the ‘line of shame’ on the sidewalk. Towards the end of the run it’s pretty apparent who hasn’t been working out. But most of us finish the run with a sweaty shirt, a motivated spirit, and a sense of esprit de corps that you just can’t get anywhere else.

But that’s not the point of the run. Sure, we are supposed to stay in shape…that’s part of being a soldier. But the run is a unifying event. It brings soldiers together under their unit flag and strengthens our unit identities. Your Army is made up of thousands of units big and small. Strong, small units combined make a strong Army. You can rest assured that you have a strong Army.

Just a few more months….a few more miles.

SABER 02,
Out.

Random shots

2008-10-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

Things are going well. Just some pictures today.

Saber 02
Out.

Driving In The Dark: Another long, strange trip

2008-09-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a trip up north the Anaconda. Anaconda is one of the super bases here in Iraq. that I wrote about it earlier this summer. I had to attend an Intel meeting so I decided to go there by the Saber Squadron's preferred means on transportation: a convoy.
One of the reasons I went was to go on one of our convoy escorts. Its one of our regular missions and it’s our biggest one. The trip from COB Adder to Anaconda is just under 300 miles and we do it in one night: a long, dark night. From start to finish we drive the trip in about 10 hours with only one scheduled stop. Sometimes we have to stop to check out things on the road or get a quick pit stop but generally we knock it out in two ‘legs.’

We drove this mission with the Commando 1-6 escort team. On this trip I was the driver. Our Brigade S2, Major Christianne Ploch was the vehicle commander (this was her first trip), and our gunner was one of my intel analysts, SGT Samuel Murphree. This was Murph’s second trip to Anaconda.
There are no positions on military convoys that are comfortable. The seats are slightly cushioned, you are surrounded by radios, gps trackers, computers, jammers, and you wear all of your stuff. By stuff I mean our helmets, body armor, protective eyewear, bulky headphones and a few other things. On top of all that we are strapped in like an astronaut on the space shuttle. There isn’t much wiggle room.

These trucks are built for missions…not for comfort. Military vehicles are designed around engines and weapons. People are given a space but ask any soldier about that space and he or she will say it isn’t enough. There is adequate room for a person in uniform to sit but the designers failed to factor in the extra space the body armor takes. It is tolerable but not very comfortable (I’ll have some cheddar with my whine thank you).
The trip was all at night. We left about sundown after a quick meal on our Hummvee hood. We drove for hours, keeping each other alert by talking on the radios and drinking Gatorade and a few Red Bull type drinks called ‘Rip-Its’. Our A/C didn’t work very well so we downed a lot of Gatorade. You have to pace your fluid intake so you don’t risk fluid outflow if you know what I mean. Pulling over and finding a suitable latrine isn’t very easy or common. You just have to pace yourself.

This was my 4th trip on the road since I’ve been here. This also happened to be my second blown tire. I guess I’ve got a knack for destroying tires. On this night’s mission I happened to be the trail, or last, vehicle in a 50-vehicle convoy. When my tire blew it wasn’t immediately noticeable so the rest of the convoy pulled ahead of me before I realized I needed to stop. When I stopped, it was my truck, my wingman, and a sea of darkness….we were in southwest Baghdad. Not the best place to have a flat.
We set up security, turned off all the unnecessary lights and had another gun truck come back to assist. Our crew was new so it was a slow process. It also didn’t help that we were wearing all of our body armor which is somewhat cumbersome. It took us about 30 minutes to get the 15,000 pound truck jacked up, wheel replaced, and put the truck back in service. We couldn’t have done it without the help of some of our KBR Trucker friends we were escorting. They had some special equipment which helped us get the tire changed.

After the 4am tire change we got back on the road and proceeded north through Baghdad and on to Anaconda. The sun began to rise as we made the final leg to the base. We hit the gate at about 6am after 11 hours on the road. We were smoked but we did make it. When our heads finally hit the pillows at about 10am we quickly found deep sleep.
That was a long trip. Since I was at Anaconda for a conference I got to rest up. I broke contact with Commando 1-6. I would ride back with another escort team. Commando 1-6 was due to return that night after a quick 7 or 8 hours of sleep. It’s what my Squadron does here in Iraq. We escort convoys. We have gotten pretty good at it.

SABER 02,
Out.

White socks and Spam: Mail Call

2008-09-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

Mail = Morale. Mail always has been, and always will be, a great thing to receive. You just can’t beat the feeling of receiving a letter or package from a loved one or someone who cares. We get our share and we can’t get enough.
In this day and age of texting and e-mails letter writing is somewhat of a fading art. Not many people take the time to write. It’s the same for us. We don’t write home that much either. The convenience of technology has made us lazy. We are all guilty I suppose. This blog is a perfect example; one blog = hundreds of letters....right?

But, it is much more exciting when we get U.S. snail mail. The days of troops gathering around a jeep and listening for their name to be called have almost vanished. At COB adder that has been replaced by the mail clerk coming around our office and saying, ‘Sergeant Johnson, you have mail.’ It doesn’t make for a great Hollywood war film moment but it gets the job done.

There are quite a few organizations that send care packages to ‘Any Soldier.’ They stuff boxes full of things and mail them to a list of soldiers whose churches or families have signed them up to receive stuff. SGT Sam Murphree, one of my Intelligence Analysts, has managed to get his name on a couple of these lists. Every few weeks or so he gets boxes filled with things from chapstick to toothpaste, popcorn and tuna, gold bond powder and soap….anything you can imagine. We make sure it is all distributed to all our soldiers. by the way, I want to thank all the hotel chains across America for unknowingly donating a zillion mini-bottles of shampoo and tiny little soap bars. We get a lot of those.

White socks seems to be a popular item. For some reason America thinks the deployed soldier needs white socks. We get them all the time. White socks. Most of the time we wear Army-issued green socks. Only with our fitness uniform do we wear white socks. Believe me when I tell you we don’t do that much PT…but we’ve got plenty of white socks if we ever choose to workout more. Hey, I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth but we do get a lot. Thanks America! Thanks for those white socks.

My friends the Cannons from Minnesota always send some great stuff. Rich is also a soldier and he’s a good friend from High School. He and his family helped raise a lot of school supplies for Iraqi children during OIFII in 2004. They know some really great stuff to send soldiers: energy drink mixes, vitamins, unusual snacks, and other useful stuff. But amazingly enough….Rich and his family have never sent me any socks.

The mail also brings us hand drawn pictures and thank you cards from kids. They are always fun. You get everything from hearts and crosses to army soldiers and oddly striped American flags. The Cannon and Lynch girls’ artwork is proudly scotch-taped to my CHU wall. We also get Kid’s questions like, “How big is your tank”, “Have you killed all the teroists?” “What’s it like to live in a fox hole?” and all kinds of crazy, funny, innocent stuff like that. Art Linkletter would have had a ball with our letters from elementary school kids.

I genuinely thank all of you who have taken the time to write a letter, send a package or donate to an organization that sends us packages. You’ve really helped us out. Our morale is high and the postal clerks are eating their Wheaties because mountains of Christmas mail is right around the corner.

America, keep the artwork coming, never stop sending spam and you can throttle back on those white socks. I think we’re good.

SABER 02,
Out.

Worshipping in the War Zone

2008-09-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Ok…religion and politics…something you should stay away from but I’m going to touch on both.
Did you notice there is an election coming up? Even 8,000 miles away we noticed. We only have one television news outlet and it is loaded with cable news shows that ramble on and on about the election. I imagine you’ve seen it too.

One thing I’ve noticed that really bothers me is the way the news media has dealt with the candidates’ religious preferences. Particularly Palin’s. Some reporters who appear to be a bit less tolerant of Christianity really bother me. In the end I trust Americans to filter out the reporter’s opinions and campaign marketing gimmicks and make a good choice.
Religion is important to many of us. Freedom of religion is one of our basic principles. It is definitely something the military takes seriously. On COB Adder we have about a dozen Chaplains and a variety of religious services to support a soldier’s right to worship.

Many of our National Guard Chaplains have left their churches back home to serve with us. Chaplains are a unique breed. By nature they are preachers but leading church services is not the only thing they do. Chaplains look after our spiritual well-being. They not only give soldiers and families religious support but also morale support. Sometimes we just need someone to talk to or counsel us in tough times. Our Chaplains are trained consellors and are very good at it. Chaplains are champions of confidentiality…..they rival lawyers in keeping things to themselves.

Another thing about Chaplains is they are the only soldiers that don’t carry weapons. None. They have a Chaplain Assistant that helps them out and carries a weapon. The CAs are kind of like the Secret Service. If there’s danger around their job is to protect the Chaplains.

The best church services I remember were not in a church but in the woods lead by an Army Chaplain. Cammo paint on his face in front of a jeep, out in the woods, leading songs with an acoustic guitar. Simple is better. Church on COB Adder is also very simple. Lots of singing. Lots of praying. We have a couple of different soldier bands playing everything from drums to guitars to horns. They are pretty good. Of course we pray. Pray a lot. Prayer is popular when the building you are worshiping in is surrounded by sandbags. And finally we have a message.
We have Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish services. Muslim is available but we don’t have a regular guy to cover that. The Christian community is very open here at Adder.
I belong to a very large church back home but here the audience in a service is about 30 or 40. Most of us know each other either from working together, going on missions together and eating together. Chapel brings us closer together. Here the services are very open to interaction between the soldiers. Testimonies are encouraged, community prayer is very common and singing…wow we sing. Just the closeness of the service encourages everyone…including me to participate and share.

Of course I want everyone to know God and experience worshipping him. I think by going to church it helps reinforce what is right and wrong and it helps us make good choices. I don’t hold it against anyone if they choose not to go to church….but I think it’s a good thing.

So I do want to know if my Presidential Candidates go to church. It tells me a lot about them. It just irritates me when a reporter says a candidate may be whacko if they attend church.
Ill continue to go and make sure my soldiers have the opportunity to do so as well. And we will sing. And we will pray. And we will be tolerant of other’s choices of how they worship or even f they worship.

One thing is for sure; here on COB Adder if we want a Chaplain there’s a man without a gun nearby.

SABER 02,
Out.

8,000 MILES In 3 Days

2008-09-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

The trip from Iraq to the front porch takes awhile. It’s a little more than 8,000 miles from my trailer to my house. To get from one to another is somewhat of a pain but the reward at the end of the road is worth it. Here’s how it goes.

Day 1: Moving around
I waited around for most of the day for my plane. The Air Force works on a different kind of schedule than the army. The Army has SPs (starting points) LDs (Lines of Departure) and we plan for exact times that we cross each. Apparently, when the Air Force flies for the Army they use WWDWFLITs (When We Damn Well Feel Like Its). Anyway, they damn well felt like it about mid afternoon. I shuffled across the 140 degree tarmac, loaded the C-130 (ugly Air Force cargo plane) and strapped in for the 45 minute trip to Kuwait……nice ride.

When we get to Kuwait we ‘in-process’ with many briefings, turn in gear, assign first class accommodations (sarcasm), eat chow and continue to wait for that next ‘time hack’…the next time you have to be somewhere or do something. That’s all we really care about. My first time hack isn’t until 7am so I’ve got time to call home and go to the McDonald’s at the base. Yes…McDonald’s for the first time in months.

The operation in Kuwait is actually pretty impressive. Servicemembers from Afghanistan and all parts Iraq come though their ‘Gateway’ and get their orders approved, book a civilian flight for the next day, eat, sleep, kill time, store equipment and unwind. All of it is done with the intent of reversing the process and getting a soldier back to his unit with all of his stuff in about 2 or 3 weeks. They do this every night or so for about 200-300 Soldiers/Airmen/Sailors/Marines and a few civillians. They are Pogues* but very proficient Pogues.
*a Pogue is a rear echelon person. Also known as a REMF. They don’t fight the war but they run the war…or at least part of it. Often looked down upon by the actual trigger-pulling soldier.

Day 2: Airborne
After we kill some time in the USO and MWR facilities our flight arrives the next evening. It’s a civilian 767. Nice ride. During the 18 hour journey I see 4 movies (all date movies) eat 3 airline meals, drink several non-alcoholic beverages (no drinking aloud) sleep off and on for about 6 hours, read, stare out the window, stop for refueling in Germany and try to do the math on what time it is where I’m at. We cross 8 time zones. It’s a long trip.

Day 3: Texas Patriots Ambush Soldiers
Then we arrive in Dallas. Dallas is great. They have a cheering line that greets servicemembers when we get off the plane. They’ve been doing it for 5 years now and it’s amazing. Picture 200 tired jet-lagged Soldiers dragging their gear off the ramp, walking to their next flight then when they least expect it dozens of fine Americans ambush them with clapping and cheering and patting on the back. It’s amazing. Just like a football team taking the field….but waaaaaay better.

After a few hours in the DFW Airport I finally get on my connecting flight and fly to Shreveport. That’s a great 45minute ride. Can you imagine sitting in one place and just smiling for an hour? That’s what that leg of the trip is like.
8,000 miles, 3 days, 4 date movies, 1prize: I see my family for the first time in months.
I’m a lucky guy. I made it.

SABER 02
out.

Takin' a break

2008-08-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Hey folks. Sorry for the absence of blog entries. As many of you have guessed I am currently enjoying a couple of weeks of leave time and 'getting my mind right' at home. I'll be back in Iraq by Labor day. When I get plugged back in I'll be back with a few updates on my time in Iraq.

Take care.

SABER 02,
out.

God, Steely Dan and the Swiffer: Gettin’ your mind right.

2008-07-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Here in Iraq the missions run 24-7. Our Squadron’s mission, escorting logistics convoys, runs every day no matter what the day of the week, holiday, or if the weather sucks. Come hell or high water (usually it’s the former) somebody is always on the road somewhere.

But from time-to-time everybody needs a break or he’ll go nuts. Notice I said break, not day off. Staff Officers don’t get days off and we don’t post a schedule anywhere that lists a ‘day off.’ That’s a great way to get stomped by the Sergeant Major. ‘So Captain, you don’t have enough to do? Well, let me find something to keep you busy.’ Nope, I’m not taunting that man. Smart leaders and managers work downtime or ‘minimum manning’ days into the schedule. We call that Fighter Management (no kidding, the Army actually has a bureaucratic name for a day off).

I give the guys in my section a real day off every other week or so when we can swing it. My intent for them is to not come in at all. Go do laundry, watch TV, go to the gym, listen to music…whatever they want but don’t come into work. Sometimes mission tempo doesn’t allow for them to be gone but we try. The mission always comes first. I work a half day off every week or so. I never take a whole day off. I can’t. I don’t. However my day ‘not off’ is Sunday. That’s the day when most non-essential soldiers lay low to sleep in and go to church. We don’t have a morning meeting that day so it’s the only day I can swing it.

On my typical Sunday I get up, check some email, maybe catch up on some news. Its a typical lazy Sunday like back home. Mood setting music is a must. Usually its something jazzy or more laid back like Steely Dan or Pink Floyd. Something like that. It’s ‘get your mind right’ music.
A big event for me is cleaning the room. It doesn’t take long. I live in a 10’x10’ room with no carpet. All I can do is sweep the floor and push my little Swiffer Sweeper around. Those things are really popular for a deployment. Mopping without a mop bucket…a soldier must have invented that.

And finally I end my morning with what you should do on a Sunday…go to church. Our chapel has several services during the day..all religions and styles. That’s one thing they do well here at COB Adder. They give everyone an opportunity to worship and there are about a dozen chaplains or more to assist. The Lord is definitely represented in ACUs here.

After church I head across the street, eat a really good Sunday meal then I go to work. It will be about 1230 or 1300 by the time I get in to the office. Then the break is over. I’ll put in 5 or 6 hours after that.

That’s a Sunday for me here on COB Adder. It’s a break. Not a total escape. Darn sure not a ‘day off’ (did you catch that Sergeant Major?). It’s a time to take care of a few things and do like Strother Martin says in Cool Hand Luke* ‘Get my mind right.’

SABER 02,
out.

*Cool Hand Luke, (1967). Prison movie with Paul Newman and George Kennedy. One of the greatest movies ever!!! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061512/

Daddy, What’s A Bed-Win?

2008-07-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Even while we are here in Iraq doing the mission we still have to conduct training on various subjects. EO, common skills, annual certifications in various subject areas and weapons training. In the military, as in most civilian jobs, you never stop training. Today was range day for me. A chance for me to refresh my skills on the M240B machine gun.

The Army has some very sophisticated shooting ranges in the states to develop and hone our marksmanship skills. We shoot pop-up targets, shoot indoors, shoot outdoors using electronic scoring, speakers, lights, thermal targets and various daytime targets. We have ranges you can walk up to, run up to, drive on, drive through, fly above, shoot and scoot…all kinds of ranges.
Near COB Adder we have Bardia range. It is equipped with…..sand. Yup, that’s about it. Sand. Bardia range is an open-desert area near Adder that is not too far away and it allows us to shoot our weapons safely but there isn’t much in the way of training aids.

CPT* Forrest Tuckett and SGM* Doug Pettit were in charge of the range. They have the most difficult job which is planning all aspects of the shooting event. Rotation of troops, ammo requirements, safety, communications, range ‘throughput’ or how we move troops onto and off of the range, everything to do with the range is what they plan. Forrest and Doug are two of the best soldiers I’ve ever known and I’ve known them both for years. They are real pros. They know infantry tactics, soldier skills and they are both real good friends. Sherrie and I know their families and have been with them on many occasions. One other quality Doug and Forrest have in common….they are both former Marines and both veterans of the first Gulf War.

So, according to plan, we drug some old pieces of metal and wood and put them at various distances away from a road. That at least allows us to have something to shoot at. And really, that’s all we need at this point. If a soldier arrives in the combat zone lacking shooting skills he’s kinda screwed. We develop those skills before we ever get here. Today is just what we call ‘trigger time.’

The M240 machine gun, the MK19 automatic grenade launcher and the M2 .50cal machine gun are my Squadron’s weapons of choice. Those are what we fired at Bardia. We shoot them all from the turret on our vehicles while driving down Bardia road. Its pretty simple really. Load the gun…drive the truck….aim the gun….shoot the gun….hit a target.

One reason we don’t have fancy targets at the range is they will be stolen if we leave them there. Anything of value is stripped from the desert by the Bedouins. Yes, Virginia, there are Bedouins, they exist in the desert, and they are a pain in the ass when you are trying to shoot in the open desert.

Our Army has a lot of stuff and the Bedouins know it. If you leave something unsecure it will be taken. If you leave an old car for a target they will drag it off. If you leave a piece of plywood for a target it will be taken. If you leave an MRE or a bottle of water on the ground it will be snatched in a heartbeat. Like I said they are a pain in the ass.

They are also a concern for safety. It is not unheard of them to come out on the range while we are firing and take things off of the firing lane. We post security at the edges of the range and we use interpreters to help keep them away. Like a child, they will mind if they are being watched but when you look the other way they steal your stuff. It’s what Bedouins do.

One good thing about the Bedouins is as soon as we leave they pick up all the expended brass casings. They can have it…it’s trash to us. They sell it somewhere. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure…literally. I’m okay with that.

So I braved the blowing dust, shot my hundred rounds and didn’t drop any Bedouins then I went back to Adder. That was my day. It was a good day. Hopefully it will be the last time I pull a trigger in Iraq.

SABER 02,
Out.

*CPT is a Captain *SGM is a Sergeant Major

Living on the COB: War Crimes

2008-07-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

COB Adder is the base where I live…so do about 10, 000 other participants in the two-way live fire exercise that is Iraq. COB stands for Contingency Operating Base. I just thought I’d clear that up. Using the word Contingency instead of Fort makes somebody feel a little better about our temporary presence here.

One of the keys to tolerating Iraq on this COB is to not think about Iraq. Well, at least, don’t think about it too much. Part of the ‘don’t think about Iraq’ approach is to bring a little slice of good old American commercialism with us when we go to war. A Soldier’s morale is higher when he or she can enjoy a good hamburger in the sand and 120 degree heat of the courtyard.

Pizza Hut….Taco Bell…Burger King…they are all here on COB Adder. Now, there isn’t a drive through and you cannot phone in your orders but they have the all the markings of the real thing back home. The restaurants are in little trailers surrounded by blast walls and the employees are people from Iraq and Kuwait and other places…never an American. When your order number is called out over the PA system its hard to understand the thick middle eastern accent over the loud drone of the power generators.

I never eat at these fine establishments. It is my sense of cheapness that keeps me away from the fast food trailers. You see, your tax dollars (and mine) have already paid for a really good meal about a block away so I’m not going to buy my dinner. Some guys buy most of their food. To each, his own (or a fool and his money are soon parted). I freely admit that I am cheap…frugal, spendthrift…whatever.
Some of the bigger bases have even more things. In Kuwait there is Starbucks and a donut shop. No kidding! Starbucks surrounded by blast walls. At Camp Taji, just north of Baghdad, you’ll find a Green Beans coffee house and a Subway. Those sandwiches taste like the ones at home. I don’t know how they do it but they do.

I am saddened to report to you one war crime. A culinary war crime. Camp Taji has crossed the line with a Cinnabun. Yep, a Cinnabun! Now, when a soldier gets off patrol or finishes a day of dodging car bombs and rock throwing kids he may go for a slice of pizza or a cheese burger but not something from the Cinnabun! That’s too soft for me (but it does smell good). A few of us try to stay away from words that have punctuation over the letters. Any word that has a French accent mark like 'latte' ' or 'frappe' ' is to be avoided in a war zone.

I can just picture the testimonial in the commercial now; “Ya know Sarge, after a hard day of lobbing grenades and running Al Qaeda out of Iraq, there’ nothing I want more than a foamy Starbucks Latte’ with my battle buddy.” The Clydesdales are hoofing off to Belgium with tears in their eyes at the thought of such a thing.
But never fear good citizen. There are still a few of us old guys around. I hang out with a few old school cigarette-smoking salty soldiers that still order their coffee one way….black.

Anyway, thank you America for coming along to the war with us. Even if it is with just your food….and your foamy grande’ latte’.

SABER 02,
out.

Steaks, NA Beer and General Order #1

2008-07-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Everybody gets to go home on leave, or what’s commonly known as R&R. It lasts a couple of weeks and my turn is coming up in August. I’m starting to make a list of the things I want to do, places to go, and where and what am I going to eat and drink. My current craving for steak, Monjunis, Mexican food and beer are beginning to be more frequent.
We do what we can to try to replicate some of the things from home when we can. The army doesn’t allow much of that but we try anyway. Like clothing. The only thing you can wear here is your Army camouflage uniform or your fitness uniform. I do wear my own choice of shorts and t-shirts in my living area…but don’t tell the Army.
Some of us have grown tired of the daily chow hall food (it is good…but it is repetitive). We have taken to the Sunday evening cookout. Our maintenance guys have turned an old field sink and fashioned it into a grill. It ain’t purty but she cooks a mean steak. Actually our Chef, Sergeant First Class Rocky Wells is our primary beef grillin’ king. With the aid of a flashlight he can do a pretty good job.
We gather a few things from the PX or the chow hall to round out the meal. The only disappointing point of the evening is our limitation of beverages. Particularly the beer. You see, in Iraq it’s Near Beer or No beer thanks to General Order #1.
General Order #1 is a policy that restricts certain activities and things so we can all get through this part of the war without offending the culture. Alcohol is one of the things that is restricted. Muslims don’t drink (well, they aren’t supposed to). Therefore we don’t.
So Iraq is a dry country in more ways than one. If you know me, I enjoy the occasional cold one. For 2008 that will be limited to tea, soda and a few other beverages. I’ll survive. I have several times before. I guess I just need to look at the bright side; I’m saving a heck of a lot of calories.

SABER 02,
out.

History of our 4th

2008-07-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

The following was written by our unit First Sergeant, Jeff Mock. When not deployed he is a middle school teacher in southern Arkansas. He is one of the most patriotic soldiers know. He shared this history of Independence day with all of our unit. It's worthy of your attention too.

Well here we are on Independence Day. It is a holiday like all othersin America where we have long since forgotten the significance orrelevance of the day and its importance. Take time today to find a copyof the Declaration of Independence and give it a read.Two hundred and thirty-two years ago our founding fathers took amonumental leap in declaring our independence from the British Empire.The Declaration of Independence outlines all the reasons that thethirteen original states believed it was necessary to seek a divisionfrom Great Britain. Most of the very issues that were consideredviolations of our rights as British citizens found their way into theConstitution and the Bill of Rights some years later. You can read inthe Declaration at all the things that Parliament did to the Americancolonists that were violations of individual rights and then read theBill of Rights and see where the states ratified the first tenamendments to the Constitution in order to protect the very individualrights of all citizens of our Republic: freedom of speech, freedom ofreligion, right to assemble, right to petition our government, theindividual's right to bear arms, right to a trial by jury, protectionagainst cruel and unusual punishment, and the amendments that limit thepowers of the Federal government and empowered the States and thepeople.For more than a year before the Declaration of Independence militiaunits of various states were actively involved in combat with the forcesof the British Empire. The Battles of Lexington and Concord had alreadyoccurred and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The American Revolution began ayear prior to the Declaration of Independence. There were some in thecolonies that did not support the war or independence. As a matter offact many historians believe that only a minority of people in thecolonies would have been considered Patriots. Many people in the 13colonies did not care one way or the other who won the war, they did notsupport either side. Then there was another segment the population thatout right supported the British, known as the Tories.It is interesting to consider that on our nations 232ND birthday thatour Revolution for Independence was not supported by a majority of theAmerican people and yet through Providence our Founding Fathers and thecountless numbers of Patriots that fought for our independence struggledthrough a war and win a victory over the British Empire.It would not be until 1787 that the thirteen states would considercreating the Constitution. For those years of the Revolutionary War andthe few years following the end of the war our nation was governed underthe Articles of Confederation.From the time that our Founding Fathers declared Independence on 4 July1776 it was not until 1789 that our Constitution was ratified, 13 years.We should be glad and thankful that no one in the world instituted atime table or established a set of parameters over the creation of ourRepublic. It took thirteen years to create the document that governsour Republic today. If we could not do it overnight it may be doubtfulthat anyone else can either.
Happy Independence Day
Rackensacker 7

We hope you enjoy your Independence Day weekend. Take care.

SABER 02
Out.

Independence Day

2008-07-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

This is my 4th Independence day in the middle east. 1999 (Saudi Arabia), 2002 (The Sinai, Egypt), 2004 (Baghdad), and 2008 (here).
I’d rather spend it at home with family and friends but voluntarily I spend it here.
At home my 4th goes like this. On the night of the 3rd, my daughters and I take little flags and put them in front of every house on our street. We do this for all major holidays. When the neighbors wake up they see a street lined with Little American flags it really looks good.
We get up early and Sherrie, the girls and I go run/walk in the Firecracker 5k, a huge event in Shreveport. Then we come home, chill out, and wait for the evening when we get with our fantastic friends and neighbors and blow up fireworks (keeping the injuries to a minimum) and in general have a great time. That’s my idea of a great fourth.
Holidays overseas are a bit different. We try to make the days special by keeping work to a minimum but the missions don’t stop. We’ll start the day with a 4 mile run around the base. Usually there will be special food in the chow hall, probably steak and ribs. There will be a few fun activities planned but we are limited by resources and where we are.
There are no fireworks displays although someone always manages to shoot off a flare somewhere. We have the biggest assortment of real pyro here but we save that for the real deal. Celebratory fire is not authorized.
As you know our country has been able to celebrate our independence for over two hundred years. Soldiers serving in Iraq, especially those of us who were here in the first couple of years, feel proud that we have helped a country gain its independence. No matter what our politics are we have done that. Iraq is fighting hard against many opponents to keep that independence and they are demonstrating that they are capable of governing and securing themselves.
I was here during the first free national elections in 2004. You may remember the photos of all the ink-stained fingers. I was here that day and it was truly one of the proudest days I have had…ever.
Initially Iraq didn’t fight for their independence, we gave it to them. But they have been fighting for it ever since. We have sacrificed a lot for their freedom. Iraqis have sacrificed even more. That doesn’t always come out in the news. One day things will settle down and Iraqi families will get to spend a quiet day to mark their independence.
Eventually I’ll get to celebrate our American Independence day back home with my family. For now I celebrate it with my military family…voluntarily…like I’ve done several times before.
Take a little time this year and think about that. What we have, what we’ve fought for, what we’ve earned, and what we continue to sacrifice for. It’s not just watermelon and fireworks. It’s who we are.

SABER 02,
Out.

Wind Chill Factor

2008-06-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

Its been hot. I hate to keep mentioning the weather but it has such an impact on our mission and our daily lives that I have to share it with you. Yeah, it’s hot in the desert in the summer. Duh, got it. But how hot does it get? You can see from the photo, how hot. This picture was taken at our back porch thermometer. Not exactly scientifically calibrated but in the shade it is 120 F at about 1pm.

We are routinely having days where it gets over 120F. This day was 122. Everyday gets 115 or hotter now. August is typically the hottest month where we expect temps of 130 +.

On a windy day it actually feels hotter. The heat index is over 130 now. The Air Force’s instruments still call it ‘Wind Chill Factor’ but that’s too ridiculous to write down so we just use Heat Index. Imagine standing in front of a huge hair dryer. That’s how it feels. There is no rain. The dust blows about 4 days out of 7. It sucks but it’s our Tallil. Drink water.

SABER 02,

out.

Happy Birthday To You!

2008-06-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Sherrie!

I'm sorry I missed another one. I wish I could travel the 8,000 miles that separate us and celebrate it with you. Thank you for all you do: taking care of the girls, taking care of our home and taking care of yourself.

I love you.
I miss you.
Happy Birthday!

1-4-3
Joel

On The Road: The Pit Crews

2008-06-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

When you and your family or friends take that vacation this summer and head out on the road you have the luxury of knowing that if things don’t go so good you have some options; Triple A, the next gas station, a cell phone, Wal-Mart.
When you are out on the road in Iraq you have to be self-reliant. There aren’t any E-Z Marts to stop at to buy a soda, Triple A isn’t going to come and give you a boost and you can’t just pull into the next McDonald’s to go to the bathroom. In Iraq a soldier on the road has to have a plan, have resources and have the training necessary to do what are routine tasks back in the states.

Our convoys start at COB* Adder. After we leave we join up with anywhere from 40 to 50 semis then we escort them for about 300 miles in a single trip. We travel primarily at night when its cooler, somewhat more secure and we don’t have to fight the traffic. In the Army we say that ‘we own the night’. For our convoys that is true. That’s the time of day when we do the majority of our mission.
The mission is to escort supplies from point A to B and make sure they get there safely. We escort things like parts, supplies, equipment, ammo and fuel. In fact, since we’ve been here we have escorted almost 5,000,000 gallons of fuel to various points in Iraq. At $4 a gallon back home that is a lot of valuable stuff.

Along the way we encounter the same problems on the road that you do. Traffic jams, fuel stops and flat tires. We plan our route to include secure fuel stops but sometimes you cannot plan for unexpected stops like when you are waiting for an IED to get cleared or you are stuck idling on the road until a traffic problem clears. When fuel runs low we pull out the 5 gallon ‘Jerry Cans’ and do a tactical refuel. The photo is SGT West, aka ‘Little Budha,’ putting about $50 of diesel in the tank. He’s wearing 60lbs of gear and its 110 degrees in the middle of nowhere.

‘Little Budha’ is like a one man NASCAR pit crew. I watched him on two occasions dump fuel into hummers on the side of the road. When we do roadside pit work there isn’t a pit and time is always an issue. The longer you take to fix or fuel the more exposed you are to the elements and to the enemy. We say ‘slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.’ In other words don’t get in a hurry and things will go a lot better. Little Budha is smooth. Especially when it comes to getting a truck back on the road.
Flats are another battle drill that is done with NASCAR precision. Every truck in the convoy has a job to do when a tire needs changed. Some move to form a secure perimeter. Another pulls next to the ruptured tire to shield the crew and provide power to an impact wrench. Still others stay with the convoy to guard the flock.

These pictures were taken at 3am on my last road trip. I felt like an idiot. I mean, I can handle myself when we are in contact. I can change a tire on my civilian truck. But I had not been a part of this crew when the Tire Change battle drill is executed. I just stayed out of the way, held a flashlight and took pictures. Mainly I just stayed out of the way.

From the time we called over the radio that we had a flat to the time we were pulling out with a fresh tire was probably 10 minutes. Sergeant Mayo and Staff Sergeant Woodmansee knew exactly what to do. One loosened the lug nuts while another got the jack and impact wrench out of the recovery truck. Then one jacked-up the 15,000 pound vehicle while the other got the spare off the back. Then the tire was replaced and the process was reversed. All this while wearing 60pounds of body armor and keeping their weapons nearby. These guys are good.
When things go wrong out on the road in Iraq these soldiers don’t do a whole lot of standing around and scratching their heads wondering what to do. They know. They execute. They roll on.

Like I said, these guys…and gals…are good.

SABER 02,
Out.

*A COB is a Contingency Operating Base. Basically it’s a secure place where we live and work.

Wind, Convoys and Heroines

2008-06-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

It’s like a broken record….or these days a scratched CD. The weather. It continues to blow and blow. For the past two or three weeks we’ve had whats known as a Shamaal: winds that blow for days. It creates dust storm situations where visibility is often less than ½ a mile which is a big safety concern for our convoys and our aviation.

I’m going to try to catch another ride on a mission going north. I risk being on a three-day convoy that turns into six or seven days. When the winds shut down the convoys pretty much stop at the nearest coalition location and wait it out. It can be a long trip. I’ll risk it. I’ve got to get back on the road.

I’ll be riding with another Commando unit. Commando 2-6. I’ll be the TC (vehicle commander). My vehicle crew are old friends. One I’ve known and deployed with off and on for the past ten years, Sergeant Dale West. He’s a great guy from Camden, Arkansas. Dale is a super soldier, an infantryman with a passion for combat arms and a real leader.

The other will be my gunner, the soldier that rides in the turret for the entire trip. I met her for the first time on my last outing. SPC Poindexter. I don’t know her first name but she calls herself Barbie and she is from Oregon. She even has a nametag sewn on some of her equipment. She is something else; a very outgoing personality, not afraid to work hard and if you ever meet her you would see her infectious, positive personality immediately.

This 20-year-old soldier was with a unit that did their tour and went home a few months ago. She is one of a handful of soldiers who stuck around to help us fill our ranks. This mission will be her last. She’s going home in a few weeks after a hard tour.

Another interesting fact about her is she is has been decorated for heroism. An Army Commendation Medal with V device (for valor). I don’t know the details but I do know she has seen her share of fighting and when things got tough, she, and her machine gun, got going. Can you picture the girl in the photo behind a flaming M-240B machine gun? I can now.

SPC Poindexter amazes me. She would rather gun than do anything else. In fact, she says if Commando wasn’t going to let her be a gunner, she was going to pack it in. They let her gun and she’s been with us about 3 months.

Well I feel comfortable knowing I’ve got two real pros riding in my armored Humm-V. I’ll let you know how it goes.

That is, if the wind calms down.

SABER 02
Out.

Keeping Our Sanity

2008-06-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

One thing about mobilizations is the routine. I wrote about groundhog day. You get the point that it is pretty routine most of the time. Something I’ve learned over the years and deployments is you’ve got to take care of your troops and yourself by setting aside time for yourself. If you constantly work hard and never do something that is non-Army, you will eventually get dull and become ineffective.

We have limited ways to do that here at COB Adder. There is the internet which helps a lot. We have movies to watch, books to read and we get plenty of opportunities to call home and stay in touch. Even that can get repetitive.

Softball has been a surprisingly good way to escape the routine. We were looking for something to do together outside of work so we put together a softball league. It is made of teams from Arkansas. There are several units from Arkansas here so it seemed a natural thing to do. What has surprised me is the enthusiasm the league has had. Sometimes all you have to have is someone to just get the ball rolling and that’s what I did. I put out the word and set up the framework for our ‘league.’ With a little marketing and the help of a few others in the squadron it took off.

Now we have a regular Friday night softball league and we literally have hundreds participate. It took off like wildfire. I think our soldiers were just looking for something to do that was non-military and fun. That’s what we gave them.

We have a makeshift softball field. As you can imagine, no grass and plenty of rocks. It makes a grounder very unpredictable. The MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation ) unit has a very limited supply of equipment so we do have something to work with but there is a whole lot of sharing going on.
A typical Friday night is the various units of our organization are paired-up and we have a good-natured game. There is lots of teasing and comradery. We sit around, watch the games, drink non-alcoholic beer and give the umpires a hard time…we are our own umpires.

The faces change from week to week due to the fact that some people have to be out on missions every day of the week. That’s no problem. Our league is mission-sensitive and we don’t get too carried away with the rules. Its mainly here to escape the routine and have some fun.
Here’s one way you can help if you’d like. Do you have any old softball equipment that’s gathering dust in the garage? Maybe your kids moved out and left it there or you have replaced some equipment over the years. Well, we would like to have it.

Particularly right handed gloves for left-handed players. We only have one and its for a little kid.

We barely have enough equipment to field a team. Only a few of us brought gloves or bats on the outside chance we would play the game. Well, don’t go out of your way but if you do have anything like that laying around send it to me at the address on the right and we will put it to good use.

Softball is just one of the ways we keep our sanity. Can we play softball up until Christmas and still stay sane? We’ll see.

Batter up!

Saber 2,
Out.

Groundhog day…again

2008-06-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

It’s the beginning of June.
Its 122 degrees
Its Groundhog day.
Again.

What is our daily routine? I’ve been wondering what to write in this blog. Of course I want it to be interesting so you’ll come back and read more. I guess that’s the TV marketing guy in me. Well, I’ve wrestled with that. Most of what I do on a daily basis I consider boring. Maybe it isn’t to you but I’m sure some of it will have you saying, “so what?”

Well, here is a little. We say that every day is Groundhog day because there is so much repetition. For a staff officer like myself, a lot of what I do is routine. Even for the soldier who lives his deployment on a rotation of sleep, eat, maintenance, mission, recovery, do it again, it is Groundhog day. We live a life of cycles.

My day begins at about 5am. I get up, make the coffee on my crappy little German coffee pot. Community coffee, dark roast…black is better in the morning. I’ll turn on my TV and watch one of the 9 TV channels that the American Forces Network pumps into our mini cable system…it’s a bad signal but it keeps me company in the morning. Ill watch the news and like you, tune it out because it’s more about Obama andHillary.

About 15 of us have purchased a satellite internet system so we can have internet in our rooms. What a blessing that has been. It’s a little faster than dialup but it is a window to the outside world. Hats off to our commo guy, CPT Pierce (note his blog on the right).

I turn on the computer and see if my wife is on and talk to her for a few minutes. 5am here is 9pm at home. Ill tell her good morning and tell her Im off for a run. She’s probably herding the girls to bed so her day is still winding down. After about 30 or 40 minutes of running in the morning sun Ill get back to my CHU (Containerized Housing Unit…or what most people call a trailer). After I cool down Ill turn on the camera and chat with her for about 30 minutes. A great way to start of a day. Ill eat a little in-trailer breakfast, get a shower, dress and get on my bike for the 1.5 mile ride to our headquarters building.

Ill usually get in the office (a small one) at about 0830. My analysts have already been to work since about 7 pulling down reports of enemy activity that have occurred in the last day or so. My first big event of the day…every day…is our Squadron’s Operations and Intelligence briefing. It’s my job to brief the commanders on what has occurred along our routes against coalition convoys, and any other attacks that affect our mission.

That’s’ my job. I study the bad guys. More on that another day.

By the time the O&I brief is done its almost 11am. The morning is shot so we head to the DFAC (Dining Facility) for lunch. We fight the crowd of a few thousand other Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who happen to go to lunch at the same time. The chow is good. More than enough for us to eat. Then its back to work to get ready for our second big event of the day…the Convoy Briefing.

The convoy briefing is probably the most important my section does on a daily basis. It directly supports the mission we are on. I have 3 soldiers who work directly for and with me preparing this information. They are great Americans and I’m proud of them for what they are doing. You can be proud of them too.

More on the briefings another day (is this a recurring theme here?) Groundhog day continues.

After the briefings the two analysts are done. They go off to do whatever analysts do when they aren’t working. They read, watch TV, workout, surf the internet.
I continue my day by working on the myriad of other tasks I do. I analyze enemy activity, prepare briefings for higher headquarters and subordinate units. I requisition special maps for our operations. I am also in charge of some areas of security and anti-terrorism. I do a lot of things…and never seem to get any of it done.

At about 1600 its 8am at home so I try to call home every other day. I am fortunate to have a DSN phone in my office that can reach the states with no fee. It’s a crappy connection with a 3 second delay but I am glad to have it. 8am is a good time to call my wife since she’s just getting her day underway. Since its summer I can talk to my girls for a few minutes but it is 8am and they aren’t very chatty at that time of the morning.

The afternoon turns into evening. A few of us late workers go to chow together again at about 1800 then we come back and prepare a few things for the next day or finish up work of the current day. At about 20 or 2100 I ride my bike back in the dark to my CHU (trailer) and watch a little TV, work on this blog, I may workout or read. Then its hop in bed at about 2300ish and get some sleep.

Another Groundhog day complete.
Another Groundhog day begins tomorrow.

SABER 2,
out.

Anaconda or Bust, Pt.VI: Homestretch

2008-05-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

Let's wrap this up.

So we are finally on the road. Once again I am the #2 Scout vehicle in what is now a relatively short convoy....6 vehicles. We leave Anaconda and travel down the paved, although very rough, road in North Central Iraq. We bathe the road in light so we can detect anything in the road. To our side is the blackness that is Iraqi farmland….a very nice place for someone to hide but tonight they don’t mess with us. We are travelling with our ‘teeth showing’. That is we have our weapons systems trained in all directions, we are tactically spaced and we move with a purpose. If your convoy looks like you are not to be messed with…they won’t attack us (at least that’s one theory).

We pass onto the highway and roll down Iraqi Highway #1, passing ISF* checkpoints in the opposite order we passed them the night before. Our unit makes it to Baghdad without incident. At about midnight we start to drive by the urban areas of North Baghdad. On the roads are other CF** convoys. They are stopped. We find out they are waiting for EOD*** to clear an IED that is found. These delays turn out to be the norm for the night. We don’t find one but others do…and we are stuck behind them, marking time in the Baghdad street.

We pass through my old area of Baghdad…slowly. As we make our way, the radio is alive with some small talk but mainly its communications about what is happening on the routes. When you drive through a city in the night you expect to see the lights of the streets and buildings. Tonight it is dark except for a few porch lights or light generators in the distance. Overall it is dark except for the lights we cast on the road. We pass the Iraqi tanks that are parked on the overpasses. Our vehicles gladly slow down for the tanks and the soldiers on these checkpoints because it is their overwatch that is keeping AQI* from seeding the streets with IEDs.

Baghdad is like this throughout the city…checkpoint after checkpoint sitting in the darkness. We stop for fuel at Camp Liberty, one of the largest bases in Baghdad. While gassing up we find out there is a delay on the route while another unit clears an IED so we wait in Camp Liberty to pass time. After about an hour the all clear is given. There is still about a 6 hour drive ahead of us so we are eager to resume the drive.

We drive….and drive…and drive…and drive some more. Nothing much is going on as we pass convoys, make contact with Army attack aviation (Apaches) who cover our move, and zip down the highway. We have one more stop to make; Scania for breakfast and fuel.

Before we get to Scania the front end of my vehicle suddenly drops. THUD. It doesn’t seem too serious. Could be anything…probably a flat. I radio for the vehicle behind me to come up and inspect my ride. He pulls up beside me and confirms….flat.

Changing a flat tire at night sucks. Changing one at night in Iraq under combat conditions sucks more. Ill tell you about how we pull it off later. This is blog is getting long and you already know how it ends, right?

Anyway, we get back on the road and push down to Scania. Fuel, breakfast, pick up more trucks then head south. It is finally light. After 6 days on the road I finally get to see what we are driving in. The open desert is…well, barren. Not much except the occasional camel heard, goat herd and a few people on the road walking to school or work. Some are just wandering.

After a few more hours, an overheated truck, and a trip where we continually fight sleep….we’ve been on the road for 9 hours….we finally make it back to COB Adder.

The mission quickly winds down. After we secure our weapons, clean out the truck and account for all of our equipment and baggage we are done. My crew drops me off at the hooch and its sleep time. You know what its like after a very long trip. You just want to sit down. I do. Then I sleep for hours. Its just about noon. I’m exhausted, excited because I’ve accomplished a pretty big mission, and I can’t wait to do it again.

I will.

SABER TWO,
out.

*Iraqi Security Force
**Coalition Force
***EOD=Explosive Ordnance Disposal: the bomb squad
*Al Qaeda in Iraq

Anaconda or Bust, Pt. V: Anaconda

2008-05-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we wake in the late afternoon, just in time to head over for chow at the DFAC (Dining Facility). We all eat a healthy meal, talk with a few old friends we run into and get ready for the trip to Anaconda. By now the routine is pretty familiar, only the places and faces are changing.

After we do our PCCs (Pre-Combat Checks) on our men, weapons and equipment we load up, link-up with our convoy and head for the gate. Anaconda is less than an hour drive from Taji so it doesn’t take long. We still take the journey very seriously and watch the road with total focus. After passing several Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, and Sons of Iraq checkpoints, we make the turn into Anaconda.

We count in the vehicles to make sure none of the trucks have become separated in the darkness then we head over to refuel everything…this takes a couple of hours since we have so many vehicles. After refueling is complete, some administrative chores are done then we find our way to our next set of modest, very modest, accommodations. The housing we stay in is very plain, almost like a boy scout camp. The billeting for transient units like ours is very basic; 4 walls, a roof, and a cot for each of us. We all are in the building together. Sleep is what is needed and that is what we do.

Anaconda is called an Logistics Support Area. It is one of the largest bases in Iraq with facilities to support maintenance, supply and sustainment for almost everything. While we are there we take the opportunity to visit the various specialty shops to fix equipment that has developed trouble during the trip. I have to have my communications gear worked on so we let the civilians in that shop do their mechanical magic.

Anaconda is also home to a very busy Air Force base and Army Airfield. Jets are constantly taking off with afterburners and landing after missions. Army helicopters are always in the air. It is a busy place.

Nighttime comes and we do the usual PCCs for the mission. We get our intelligence briefing then find out we don’t have a load to escort south. Our plan is to ‘deadhead’ south. That is, we just drive by ourselves. This is good news to us because it means we don’t have to hassle with a long convoy and we can make good speed. We have a long drive ahead of us so with the news of the dead head we plan on making a one-night hop back to Tallil. It will mean about 9 hours on the road but after the week we’ve had, we think we can make it.

Commando 1-6 gathers the members of the unit together and we discuss our plan. The usual information is disseminated, battle drills are rehearsed, and equipment is once again loaded and prepared for what will hopefully be our last night on the road.

We gear up, start up and line-up for the trip. Its 10pm. Let’s roll….again.

Saber Two,
out.

Anaconda or Bust, Pt. IV: Baghdad

2008-05-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

We make the turn off of one MSR (Main Supply Route) to another which turns us in the direction of the Iraqi Capital city. The road is a four lane interstate-type highway. It is dark. There is a checkpoint at the turn manned by an Iraqi Security Force unit. Their job is to make sure insurgents don’t have free-reign over the road.

As we pass the checkpoint each vehicle with a radio calls in his location;

“Commando One-Six (the Convoy Commander), this is Scout,…passing ISF checkpoint, time now.”

Scout #1 and me, still ahead of the main body, drive into the dark. We dodge holes in the road and inspect each one with a spotlight as we pass. There are a lot of holes in the MSR. We don’t like this road very much because of its trashy condition. IEDs are often camouflaged in trash and there are lots of places to hide them on this route.

“Commando 1-6, this is Scout, passing blown tire on the right…marking with chemlight…its clear. Over. “
“Scout, Commando 1-6. Roger, out.

There are bushes, piles of old barbed wire, trees, and lots of previous blast holes in the road from IEDs of days gone by. We check each one and mark them. Something is moving off to the side. It’s a dog. A stray dog in Baghdad. What a miserable existence that animal must have.

“Commando 1-6, this is Scout. Iraqi Army checkpoint ahead. Crossing median, time now.”
“Scout, Commando 1-6. Roger, out.

This area of Baghdad is pretty remote. It is lined with junk yards, cluttered lots, piles of construction debris, and not much that appears to be worth a damn. Areas like this are prone to attacks on convoys but tonight…so far…none have occurred. This part of the route lasts for several miles before we come to our next change of MSR.
We maneuver a maze of checkpoints, sharp turns, and on-ramps to get onto the next part of the route. This part is particularly hairy. It is known for its frequent attacks. There are many checkpoints and guard shacks on the route to keep the insurgents in check. Each one we pass has men with weapons, staring into the darkness, looking for the enemy.

“Commando 1-6 this is Scout. Passing Iraqi T-70 tank. Pass on the right.”
“Scout, Commando 1-6. Roger, out.

There isn’t much chatter on the radio during this leg of the journey. Everyone’s eyes are trained on the route around them; total focus. We turn onto the final MSR that takes us out of Baghdad proper and leads us out of the city then northward to Anaconda. It’s almost daylight. We’ve been on the road for about 5 hours non-stop except for the occasional ‘code yellow.’ I used to be responsible for this part of town. It’s a homecoming of sorts: a strange homecoming. Even in the dark I can see it has changed….more concrete barriers, more fences, more crappy Iraqi buildings, more war damage than 4 years ago. It appears to have gotten worse. I’m a little sad to see that.

Civillian traffic is starting to pick up. As we clear Baghdad we get a call from the Movement Control Team. They tell us that we are to make an unscheduled stop at Taji. “What? You gotta be kidding me. We’re almost there?”

“SABER Main, this is Commando 1-6, Request permission to push straight to Anaconda.”
“Commando 1-6, this is SABER Main, permission denied. R.O.N. at Taji. Out.”

URON…Unscheduled Remain OverNight. It basically means stop, rest, move out tomorrow.
So, we pull into TAJI, a large logistics base north of Baghdad. We could have made it but this does a couple of things for us. It gets us breakfast in an hour or so, gets us another day’s rest, we get to hit one more large PX, and it adds one day to the already unusually long mission.

Sometimes you don’t get a vote. FIDO. Tomorrow we push north….again.

SABER 02,
out.

Anaconda or Bust, Pt.III: The Milkmen of Iraq

2008-05-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Its midnight and its dark inside my HMMW-V (hummer). The only lights on the inside are a few green or red LEDs on my radio. The bright glow behind me comes from my gunner's video monitor. My gunner is PFC David Knighton. They call him Crow. He stares into that monitor for the duration of our nightlong journey to Anaconda. This is one of the tools we find IEDs with. Ahead of us is the dark night. The only light comes from our unusual amount of spotlights that turn the night into day. To our left and right is a sea of darkness....it is the Iraqi desert....there's something out there but we are primarily concerned with the roads...this is where our fight is.

Tonight we finally continue the trip to Anaconda. We are escorting dozens of semi tractor trailers full of stuff. Things like fuel, milk, food, lumber, vehicles, and a myriad of other things that allow soldiers in this war to operate under the best conditions possible. My CET (Convoy Escort Team) Commander, LT Lang Doster calls himself the Milkman of Iraq.....without his escorts....the GI has no milk.

As we drive the only sounds we hear come from the chatter on the radio. My driver, SPC Ryan, PFC Knighton and me keep each other awake by talking about everything....the army, the war, other people, politics, home, religion and anything else. We will drive until after sun-up so any topic we can think of we talk about. On the late night Iraqi highway its a survival skill.

The other noises in our headsets come from the rest of the convoy. We cross-talk about the mission at hand and we also call about humourous topics. We mercilessly pick on each other. Anything is game. Once again...survival on the late night highways. Falling asleep at the wheel is something we are very aware of and we talk to avoid it.

My radio can't hear everybody in our convoy because our string of vehicles is so long. Our vehicle is one of the scout pair so we are way out in front of the main body, making sure the route is clear for everyone else. The other night we had to turn around in the highway because of the weather. It took almost 90 minutes to do that. There is an old song that says, "give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around." Well, how many acres does it take to turn around our string of semis in pitch black darkness? Apparently we had enough because we did....with much difficulty.

The road is a 4-lane interstate of sorts. There are no painted lines. Farms come right up to the shoulder. There is the occasional concrete jersey barrier, checkpoints, discarded wire and old blown tires. There are also lots of scars from the war. Mostly in the form of blast holes from previous IEDs. Those usually get patched but there are several right along the edge of the road that show evidence of explosions in the not-too-distant past.

As we approach the big city of Baghdad we fall behind another convoy. We debate about passing it but find out that it is a route clearance team. These guys have special equipment to find IEDs on the road. We decide it is better to trade speed for security so we follow the RCT for several miles.
After an hour or so the RCT and us part ways and we continue toward Baghdad. We are close…right on the edge. It is about 3am and time to make the turn into the city. It was an interesting turn…..I’ll tell you about that part of the trip tomorrow.

SABER 2,

out.

Anaconda or Bust, Part II: Scania

2008-05-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn’t make it far. We made it to Scania.

Our trip to this point is uneventful. We left yesterday evening after evening chow. Our convoy got on the road with all its trucks. Usually our convoys are enormous and are made up of semi-tractor trailers hauling everything from fuel, milk, lumber, vehicle parts, and anything you can imagine. It is a long, long group when you string them out on the road. We passed one convoy that had nothing but flatbeds full of SUVs destined to ride the roads up north. They got a piggyback ride for this trip.

In this convoy I command one of the scout vehicles. We drive ahead of the convoy with our eyes and sensors trained on the road. Our job is to find the turns and get us safely from point A to point B. It is also our job to find trouble before the convoy gets to it. In this part of the world trouble is damaged roads and IEDs. Last night we found plenty of the former, none of the latter. It was a good trip.

Point B for yesterday’s journey was a place called Scania. It is also our home for tonight.

Scania is the name of a military truck stop somewhere in south central Iraq. It’s a relatively small place. It is secure; surrounded by tall concrete walls and tough men with weapons in guard towers.

Scania has food, fuel, a few things for us to do, and it has my convoy. Dust storms stopped our forward progression. We hoped to push forward today but we already know our fate; sleep here again. We didn’t even get our wheels rolling. That’s how bad the weather is.

We geared up, got our vehicles ready, did our radio checks and coordinated for the move but nothing rolled. Other convoys are stuck here with us. Its like a convention of stranded tourists….much like people stuck at the airport during a snowstorm….everyone stuck in one small place together with one thing in common: they don’t want to be where they are.

Tomorrow we will try again but for tonight we stay here. What does the convoy-bound soldier do in Scania? Sleep, eat, pull maintenance on your vehicle, clean your weapon, watch movies, call home, sleep, eat…wait.

As soon as we learn we are stuck we don’t dare go to sleep…we save that rest so we can sleep right up until tomorrow’s move. We head off to the small movie rooms at the MWR building and find a movie we haven’t already seen a dozen times.

I’ll stay up, eat chow then go to bed. When we get up we will do a few things then start the routine all over again with another Operations and Intelligence update. We will do more pre-mission maintenance then get ready for the next leg of our journey and hopefully make it to Anaconda.

For now, we wait.

SABER 2,
out.

Anaconda or Bust

2008-05-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today I am going on the road. I got a ride in one of the convoy escort Humvees that make the run to and through Baghdad. This is my first combat mission since I've been here and I am excited. It's not like the last time I was in Iraq. Then we went on hundreds of short-duration missions inside Baghdad. We interacted with the locals and did a whole lot of work to get the country back on its feet.

This time we are doing very long convoy escorts that last for a couple of days and cover hundreds of miles. Its day 1 and we will pick up our convoy and drive ot our first refueling stop...a place called Scania.
Before we roll we prep. We prep men, weapons and equipmetnt for the long journey north. The photo on the left is the Operations and Intelligence briefing every convoy member gets priort to start. Its where everybody learns about the routes and what may lie ahead on the journey....including the weather.

The weather is supposed to be dusty this evening which may mean we won’t complete our trip north. With a little luck and a clear route we will drive all the way to our destination, place called LSA Anaconda. Anaconda is a Logistics support area. Its got everything.....big PX, nice chow halls, first rate maintenance shops, airfield and a lot of other good stuff. The convoy we escort carry the things that Anaconda needs to support the rest of Iraq.

Our trip will take us through hundreds of miles of open desert, camel herds, sand, poor construction, Bedouins, date palm groves, and one city...Baghdad. I'm a little apprehensive about Baghdad because it has a tendency to make the news a lot. Also, its a city I don't want to get lost in. Making the wrong turn on a poorly-lit street can make for a really interesting night.

We'll see how it goes but I think we will do okay. There are several of us who have been there before and can feel our way around pretty well. Plus we've got more maps than we know what to do with.

Anyway, that's what 's on my plate today. I'll try to update you on the trip later.

SABER 2,
out.

Live Under A Blood Red Sky: Raining Mud

2008-05-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, Ive really done a terrible job with my blog. Ill try to do better and Ill try to get a new topic next time but Im in a weather rut.
My roommate in college, Don, introduced me to the rock band U2 back in the 80s. Ive been a fan ever since. I think one of the best live albums ever is Live Under A Blood Red Sky. I always that that was a neat title but it really couldn’t mean anything. Well, I thought about that album the other day because we were Live Under A Blood Red Sky…another dust storm, but the effects were incredible.
The dust storm coincided with an actual thunderstorm. The sky turned brown with sand then rapidly went to a yellowish tint and about 10minutes later the entire area was red. Literally it was a blood-red color. Then it was almost black as night. This was at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It then began to rain. Naturally, the drops cleansed the sky of the sand as it rained. The effect there was muddy water raining down. Everything caught outside was covered in muddy water. My uniform had numerous brown stains from the mud rain.

The weather here is generally boring. Hot, dusty, hot, dry and hot. Temps have averaged about 110. So far the hottest was 118. As we get into the summer the temps will naturally climb. I think it will be about 120ish in June and near 130 in late July and August. I can’t wait (he said sarcastically). I’ve got to get another thermometer…mine only goes to 120. They sell thermometers that go to 140…I’ll have to get one..somehow.

Other than that, things have been pretty normal for this place. Our convoys go out daily and we continue to study the enemy and find ways to safely and successfully execute our mission which is to escort those logistics convoys. I think I’ll get out on one this week and make a trip through Baghdad to see what the routes are like.

I normally don’t do convoy work. My job is support those convoys by analyzing and briefing enemy activity. This trip will get me out of the office and give me a chance to get a feel for what I am supporting. It helps me do my job better when I understand what’s going on on the roads. Wish me luck. Ill tell you about it when I get back.

That’s about it for now. Take care and Ill write more later.

SABER 2,out.

More Damn Dust

2008-04-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today there was another dust storm. It was predicted but we didn’t expect what blew in. If you remember 5 years ago when U.S. forces were first moving into Iraq during the invasion. There was a huge dust storm that shut down the advance for about 3 days. The news footage was pretty incredible. You could barely see the correspondents give their reports. Well, that’s the kind of dust storm that blew in today.

It was hot and breezy one minute then a few minutes later visibility was cut down to ¼ mile. It shut us down. Now we wait. It’s supposed to stay this way tomorrow too then eventually clear up so we can get back to 100% operations. Right now we limit some of our over-the-road traveling for safety reasons.

Temperatures are getting up there too. Its springtime and temps are already hitting 100 degrees everyday. We have a thermometer that goes to 120. I’m afraid that won’t be robust enough since I’m sure it will start to ‘peg-out’ next month. I should have brought a thermometer that goes to 140. That might be more appropriate.

More later.
SABER 2, out.

Back In Iraq

2008-04-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

I’m back. Back in Iraq. I’ve been busy the past couple of weeks moving in, moving around and learning from the unit we are replacing. My blog maintenance has been lacking….kind of like my own little writer’s strike I guess but I don’t have reruns.

Anyway, after a short Sherpa flight I made it to Iraq. (A Sherpa is a very small, ugly, cargo plane….sometime known as the ‘Vomit Comet’). I’m currently located in south central, Iraq at a former Iraqi Air Force Base known as Tallil. (Google Tallil, Dhi Qar Iraq and you’ll get pretty close). The largest city it is near is An Nasiriya (it makes the news occasionally) Tallil is huge. Since the beginning of the war it has evolved into a big base that supports a lot of different coalition efforts in Iraq.

Tallil isn’t very far from Basra which has been making a lot of news the past few weeks. Believe me, we are watching the news from Basra but currently it hasn’t affected our part of the operation. We hope it stays that way.

Let me tell you about my new neighbors from the coalition who live here. Here you will find Australians, English, Romanians, Fillipinos (primarily working here), civilians and probably a few others. From the U.S. we have representatives from all branches; Navy, Air Force, Army (hooah!) and Marines. There are a lot of people here.

I mentioned the unit we are replacing. They are known as the 11th TRANS. They are an Army transportation unit whose wartime mission is to conduct ship-to-shore logistics operations. In fact, when they salute they say their motto, “Over the shore”. Well, they got the sand part of their wartime mission right, but the Army left out the water part. They’ve been doing convoy security operations up and down the Iraqi highways for the past 15 months. It’s strange how things work out.

Now they get to go home and I’m glad to help them on their way. Be proud of these Americans.
They’ve been doing a tough job over here for a long time. They’ve had to adapt to harsh conditions, unfamiliar missions and an extended time away from their families. They are really special soldiers. I’ve known them for about 2 weeks now and I haven’t heard one of them complain yet. They are a great bunch of soldiers and you can be proud of your Army. I am honored to stand in the same battlespace as them.

I’ll tell you about my counterparts and our transition in my next writing.

“Over the Shore!”
SABER 2, out.

More on Sand Storms

2008-04-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Weather in the desert isn’t too difficult to forecast…except for the dust storms. In Kuwait most days have been sunny and hot since we’ve been here. Our daytime highs have been around 100 degrees. This week we’ve not only had to deal with the heat but also dust storms.

Dust storms or sand storms…whatever you wish to call them…are a pain. The winds have been kicking up around 15 to 20mph and they’ve been blowing from out in the open desert. The winds pick up the sand out in the big desert and drop them on us at Camp Beuhring.

Once the winds begin the sand stays in the air all day. Sand gets in your eyes, your nose, your ears, your pockets, your computers…everything. Visibility is cut down to about 100-200 yards. The wind doesn’t die down until evening then the next day the winds pick up again and we start all over.

When dust storm conditions occur it shuts down the roads and helicopter operations. Since we need the roads to get to and from the ranges it pretty well stops our training for the day. Today the winds shifted and started blowing from the Persian Gulf. That keeps the dust down but brings in the heat. Tomorrow its supposed to be 105. It’s a dry heat but 105 is hot no matter what the humidity is.

SABER 2, out.

Sand Storm

2008-03-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

We had a little dusty weather this week. Sand storms. 3 so far this week and another is expected tomorrow. The dust goes real well with the 100 degree heat. I'll post a complete description soon but I wanted to upload a few images to share with you.

The desert is an interesting place. Not a nice place to visit and I certainly don't want to live here. We're moving on in a few days...not a moment too soon.

More later.

Saber 2, out.

Kuwait....sandy, sandy Kuwait

2008-03-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

26MAR08

Kuwait…sandy Kuwait.

Well, I made it to Kuwait. I’ve been here almost a week and will be here for a couple more weeks. Kuwait is a launching point for troops going to Iraq. It’s a time for everyone to regroup from the plane trips, get your equipment together and do some final training before we go north.

The other day we went to one of the many ranges in the middle of the desert to fire our weapons. Everyone shoots his/her weapon before heading north to Iraq….just to make sure they still work and can still hit the target. We also do additional weapons training like convoy live fires, general weapons familiarization, crew served weapons (machine gun) training and a few navigation excercises.

Navigating in the open desert can be tough. We rely heavily on satellite navigation equipment. There just aren’t any terrain features to navigate with. When you stand out in the desert you can literally see for miles and miles in any direction and see nothing but sand. Anything that lives in the desert has got to be tough so we just leave it alone (camels, spiders, snakes, Bedouins).

That’s me standing in the middle of Camp Beuhring. The camp can hold up to 20,000 soldiers and their stuff. We currently have most of that number here. It’s huge. There is no privacy, there are lines everywhere (PX, chow hall, showers) but that’s just the way it is here. Fortunately we don’t have to stay here that long. I’ll try to give you a glimpse of the camp every so often. Internet access here is hit and miss but I should get another chance to drop some more entries before I leave.

Everyone here is U.S. Army, civilians supporting the army, coalition forces getting ready to go north (mainly English and Australian) or a local national working on the camp in dining facilities or maintenance jobs. We have a Starbucks (just as expensive as back home), KFC, Burger King, and a few other U.S. food chains. Just enough to keep you in touch with thing back home.

Everything in the camp is painted tan or white. There are no plants or grass…just sand and gravel. Very plain. Right now the temperatures are about 100 degrees each day and 70 at night. Sand is constantly blowing…some days worse than others.

That’s it for now. I’ve got some more work to do. Take care and write when you can. My main e-mail is jlurch@aol.com

Joel

2008-02-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

Im working on the blog. More to follow...soon.