Came across the Navy Wives web site and there found a link to the song Little Soldiers. It made me think about my little soldier back home. The words to the song made me cry as I thought about how strong my boy and my daughter have been throughout this deployment.
"That's a long time, daddy."
"Yes, yes it is son." But it's almost over now. I miss you, buddy. I miss you, princess.
Aloha
Day 177
Here it is, the end of August. Wow! Six months we've been here. March 8th seems like a long time ago.
There are some new guys in camp. It was interesting. I introduced myself and they said, "yeah, we know you."
You know me. What's your name? Turns out they've been reading this blog for quite a while. Pretty cool.
aloha
Day 173
Comics On Duty World Tour performed for us tonight. Great show. I was going to send you to their web site but it completely sucks. So, tomorrow, no wait, the next day I will list the comedians that were on the tour. If they happen to be in your neighborhood, go see them, even if you don't like them, shake their hand and tell them thanks for supporting our troops. We appreciate it.
It also made me think. Would have been cool to see Bob Hope. Sure would be cool for someone to step up and take the mantel of being the entertainer to the troops. War is not cool with the Hollywood crowd anymore. Mr. Hope came from another era. Too bad.
It's late, I have duty tomorrow, I'm going to bed. Good night.
Aloha
Day 172
First I read this article in the Army Times. Of course, I then had to find out what Captain Estrada had said which led me to this article in the Washington Post. In the course of looking for Captain Estrada's article I also found an editorial reply of sorts from the Washington Post.
It all eludes to a very important aspect of what it is that Civil Affairs Specials do. As someone who has spent a career in cross-cultural communication it is apparent to me that a key component that is missing is an understanding of culture, its variances and the nuances of cross-cultural communication and interaction. This is actually something I've been concerned about for a while now. Will the American handler be able to accept the Iraqi interpretation of democracy? Because there is no way that democracy in Iraq will look like anything in America.
There was an interesting article recently in Foreign Affairs(this is a preview only, the full article can be purchased). The article talked about the transition in Russia from communism to capitalistic democracy. The article talks about how the West was a lot more comfortable with Boris Yeltsin capitalism and democracy than they are with Putin's. The article makes the point that Putin's government is, at least for now, democracy Russian style.
It will be the same in Iraq. Much as the American public – and maybe the current administration – would love to have instant democracy to which you just add people, no such thing exists. The Iraqi people are accustom to living under Saddam Hussein. They know nothing of free elections, representative government, etc. This is a society that, a little over a year ago had an election in which there was only one name on the ballot and 99.?% of the people cast a ballot for Saddam. The West found this laughable. What do the Iraqis think about it? I don't know but I think it is pretty important to find out. Someone needs to have a clear understanding of what Iraqis think is coming. What do Iraqis think democracy is?
Capt. Estrada's article worries me. The Army's reaction to Capt. Estrada's article worries me as well. If we are to involve ourselves in the business of nation building, which is really what we're involved in here in Iraq, we really need to understand the mechanics of it. If we set out to build little Americas throughout the world we are surely destined to fail. Those in power will tell you with a chuckle, of course we're not trying to build a little America in South West Asia. The problem is that while they know they can't build a little America they also don't know how to go about building an Iraqi democracy either. And there in lies the problem because that is the task we have in front of us.
Aloha
Day 168
This letter, written by Ben Stein, is titled Strength At Home. Altough it is addressed to one particular Army wife, in the text of the letter Mr. Stein makes it clear he is talking to all military spouses. I love the whole letter but there are two passages that I would like to comment on. Please read the whole letter.
Military service members "protect Republicans and Democrats, Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists. They protect white, black, yellow, brown and everyone in between. They protect gays and straights, rich and poor."
This is significant. We are every one. My unit has whites, blacks, yellows, browns and even a full blood red. I'm not certain about the full religious gambit of my unit but I feel it would be interesting to find out. And that's just one very small unit. But we are one unit. In this unit there is no white, black, yellow, brown or red. We are one unit.
"They feed the kids, put up with the teenagers' surliness, the bills that never stop piling up, the desperate hours when the plumbing breaks and there is no husband to fix it, and the even more desperate hours after the kids have gone to bed, the dishes have been done, the bills have been paid, and the wives realize that they will be sleeping alone -- again, for the 300th night in a row."
The unsung heros of this and every war are the spouses and families who sit at home keeping the home fires burning. Mothers who hold the children as they cry because daddy hasn't been home for a long time. Moms who have to deal with teenagers and fill the role the dad is usually there to handle. Children who are forced to grow up too soon to help others in the family. Wives who some times cry themselves to sleep, alone in a bed that was meant for two. These families get up in the morning and start again.
And you want to know the amazing thing. For many of those families, if you ask them how they feel about their spouse's chosen profession, they will tell you that they are proud of them.
aloha
Day 167
I am being ordered to take the First Class exam today. I don't believe I am qualified to advance yet. I do not have the professional knowledge that an Information Systems Technician First Class should have but my command has order a test for me and now insist that I take it. Fun organisation, the Navy.
Had duty yesterday. A pretty busy day. Lots of work to do. Hot and sweaty all day.
Got out into town today. Went to the airport. I enjoy being out in Kuwaiti society. I'd really like to get out and involved in Iraqi society. I like to see first hand what is happening in Iraqi cities. I would like to talk to the Iraqi people and hear from them what differences there are since the fall of Saddam.
aloha
Day 165
Weather is a little cooler today. It's about 105 outside right now. Probably get into the teens.
I've been reading a lot of news articles about Kerry lately. Interesting guy. According to the Economist (sorry, can't find a link to the article), half of Americans do not know what John Kerry's positions are. Kerry's position on the Iraq war is that a new president will have a better chance to negotiate with countries that are frustrated with Mr. Bush. Mr. Kerry wants to tie Mr. Bush to the wealth yet Mr. Kerry has never held a job other than that of politician. Moreover, Mr. Kerry is married to one of the richest women in America. Mr. Kerry has chosen for a running mate a man who has only served one term in office and when he registered to run for that office, he didn't know what party he was registered with.
Interesting guy.
aloha
Day 164
Five days since my last post. I am sorry. I've been kind of busy. Stood watch, of course. Revamped my resume. Not so much a revamp as an up date. I added a recent job change that happened just before I came out here and I added this temporary stint that I'm on now. I've submitted the resume to 4 or 5 companies. Places like the FBI, FEMA and Northrop Grumman. I plan on checking the CIA's web page today.
This story happened right near where I work. None of us knew anything about it until we read it in Stars & Stripes. A pretty sad commentary on the state of communications in our area.
I finished Janet Evanovich's book, Two for the Dough. I liked it. Stephanie Plum, the bounty-hunter in training that is Evanovich's heroin, is more crass than Kinsey Millhone. But Stephanie is a bit funnier too. And Stephanie' friends and family are definitely crazier than anyone Kinsey might run with. Two for the Dough was a fast read. I finished three quarters of it whiling away the hours yesterday on duty (yes, it was a slow day). I would now say that my current favorite authors are Charles Knief (though the boy does need to hurry up with that next book), Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich.
The music in my life right now is a lot of jazz in the fusion genre. They've gone to calling Fusion 'smooth jazz', 'commercial jazz', and 'popular jazz'. Back in the day is was Fusion, so called because the style mixes jazz with other styles, mostly rock. At any rate, Spyro Gyra, Hiroshima, The Rippingtons and Yellowjackets are getting a lot of playtime. Still like Hawaiian but I seem less in the mood for it since I've been over here. I need to spend some time in the islands.
aloha
Day 159
Today was a busy day and I wasn't even on duty. That's a good thing for reasons I can't go into.
159 days in the middle east. I wish I had more opportunity to interact with the culture here. Kuwaiti society seems very interesting. There seems to be some pretty significant differences between Kuwaiti cultures and society and that of Iraq. Granted I've only met a handful of Iraqi people and only observed Kuwaiti people from a distance.
aloha
Day 156
Same old stuff. Went swimming. Swam 500 meters. Swimming it stronger and more steadily now. Much stronger strokes. I'm hoping to try and run this afternoon, well really this evening.
I think I forgot to mention that I finished Joint Task Force America and am now reading Janet Evanovich's Two For The Dough. Joint Task Force America was OK. I won't be running out in search of another book by David E. Meadows but I also would not refuse a book simply because he was the author. Meadows suffers some of the shortcomings of Tom Clancy. At one point Captain Meadows spends five and a half pages explaining how boats are tied to a pier or landing and the adjustments that must be made to the lines during a storm. The minute detail did nothing to advance the story. It did leave even a sailor like me who enjoys such details, bored to the point of skipping over about half the section.
I'm only a few pages into Two For The Dough but I am already certain that I do not like Evanovich's hero, Stephanie Plum nearly as much as I like Sue Grafton's hero, Kinsey Millhone. Stephanie Plum is a bit more crass than Kinsey albeit usually for the sake of humor. However, like I said, I'm only a few 10s of pages into the book. Let's see what happens. In the meantime, I did order four more of Sue Grafton's books.
Excuse me, Mr. Knief, I'd love to be ordering a hard cover copy of another John Caine novel but I just searched Amazon and see that I currently own all the John Caine novels they offer. What's the hold up, mate?
I ate breakfast at Camp Spearhead the other morning. That still looks like the more interesting place to be. There were a number of Korean military eating breakfast. It would be interesting to get to know some for the Koreans who are serving over here.
Shots have become so insignificant that I think I failed to mention that I got two more the other day. Another Anthrax and Tetnus. A complete non-event from my view. Saturday I also got another PPD test. I have to get some medical person to look at my arm today and confirm that there is no reaction.
aloha
Day 155
Had duty yesterday. Actually got a decent night's sleep out there last night. It was a quiet night.
Went swimming today, big news that, huh? Anyway, I still getting my exercise.
I'm gonna miss Boomer. I wish he could have stayed with us for the whole deployment. So does he. God's grace to you and your family Boomer.
Said goodbye to a new friend, Nishi. Met him while I was out on the oil terminals. He's headed home as well. Fair winds and following seas, Boats. I hope our paths cross again.
aloha
Day 153
It seems I got a little dehydrated. I was feeling dizzy and thought it was just BPPV acting up again. I went to sick call and explained my symptoms. They raised the possibility that I might be dehydrated. I came back to the tent and started drinking water. A lot of water. I feel quite a bit better. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Didn't swim today cuz I felt crappy. I have duty tomorrow so it will be Monday before I can swim again.
aloha
Day 152
Went swimming today. Slept a lot. Reading Joint Task Force America.
Got off duty this morning. It was a pretty uneventful day which was nice.
Just another hot and sandy day in paradise.
Aloha
Day 149
I didn't go swimming yesterday. Never managed to get the motivation together to go. Going today though provided that work doesn't get in the way which it is threatening to do.
Watched X-Men 1.5 last night. Great movie. Really fun. I'm looking forward to watching X-Men: United tonight. Then I'll be out of movies and back to reading unless I can find something in the exchange today. I don't hold out much hope for that. The stock of DVDs in the exchange doesn't seem to turn over much.
"Take off your Burqas." An Apache Unit spends four months in Afghanistan making no contact with the enemy. They know the enemy is in the area but they will not engage. So what's a soldier to do? A little schoolyard ribbing seems to have been all that was required. Of course, then the Taliban came out and got their butts kicked but that was the whole point anyway.
aloha
Day 148
Trying to get motivated to go swimming. I'm almost there.
Busy watch yesterday. The day went fast. Sleeping in CCP isn't something I'll miss much. Slept a lot today. Probably why I'm struggling to get in the pool and swim.
I finished Charles Knief's excellent book, Silversword. I really enjoyed it. I hope Mr. Knief is busy writing his chronicle of John Caine's adventures. Thank you, Mr. Knief.
So now that I've finished all of Mr. Knief's works I'm having to broaden my literary horizons. I'm currently reading Joint Task Force America by Capt. David E. Meadows.
aloha
Day 147
I ran across Sgt. Ray Reynolds email and also read the dissection of it on Orwellian Times. I read most of the comments to the Orwellian Times article. It is amazing to me the number of people who seem to believe that the Iraqi people would be better off under Saddam's regime.
I think calling Ray Reynolds' email propaganda is inflammatory. Propaganda is defined by WordNet as a noun that means "information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause." Strictly speaking, Orwellian Times was not incorrect in its labeling of Sgt. Reynolds' email. However, the word propaganda carries with it a connotation that I think is really beyond what Sgt. Reynolds' intended. Sgt. Reynolds' didn't have his facts straight. That's too bad. As many people mentioned in the comments section of Orwellian Times, Sgt. Reynolds' intended message is still valid. Sgt. Reynolds' clear states the intent of his message. "And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you."
Reading through all of this gave me some insight on why it is that the media carries far more 'negative' stories than positive one. You hear it all the time. "I don't read the newspaper because all that's ever in there is bad stuff." Why is that? One possible answer is that it is a lot easier to discover and track terrible things as they happen. Everyone notices and tells their friends when bad things happen. Catastrophic events by their very nature command a lot of attention. Success and good deeds are far less disruptive.
Orwellian Times took the time to discredit Sgt. Ray Reynolds. They might have followed up their critique of his email by pointing out some positive facts that Sgt. Reynolds might have used instead. However, that would not be in keeping with the primary motivation of the web site. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that Orwellian Times primary motivation is very probably to provide propaganda, "information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause."
To Sgt. Ray Reynolds' point, I believe there are some good things going on here. 25 million people on longer suffer under the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein. For a real glimpse into what that was like read the first third of Kenneth Pollack's book, The Threatening Storm. The Iraqi people are already enjoying new found freedoms that they did not have under Saddam Hussein. They realize that they are free to speak out against the ruling leaders and are doing so regularly. Witness those protesting United States presence. How many Iraqis do you suppose were willing to speak out against Saddam Hussein? There were many but none of them lived in Iraq.
For those interested in tracking the positive progress made in Iraq USAID publishes weekly reports. Reading this week's report, number 42, I would like to comment on one particular item. The re-opening of Umm Qasr. The port of Umm Qasr, the waterways leading to Umm Qasr and the oil terminals in the Northern Arabian Gulf waters off the coast are all currently protected by Coalition Warships. I was on the oil terminals when the port of Umm Qasr was reopened. I was able to see the increase in the number of cargo vessels taking goods into Iraq through the port of Umm Qasr. This article talks about what it was like in this region at the beginning of the war.
Coalition forces currently provide the protection to ensure that the oil terminals stay open. This is Iraq's primary means of delivering the oil it sells. Selling oil is fundamental to the Iraqi economy. Coalition forces also keep the waterways leading to Umm Qasr open and free of piracy. One anecdote. While I was on KAAOT, one of the oil terminals, an Iraqi worker on the platform complained of severe stomach pain. Our corpsman took a look at him and decided that he was probably suffering from appendicitis. The military team on the platform and the ships around the platform sounded the call to action. Although seas were very rough and it was already dark, a British ship put a RHIB (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat) in the water to make its way over to our terminal. The ill man was by now in so much pain he could not walk. Sailors and Iraqi workers together carried him, first to the ladder which led to where the boats usually tie up. It was decided that the patient would never be able to negotiate the ladder. The Iraqi workers suggested putting the patient in a motor boat that was on davits. The boat would then be lowered to the water where the patient could then be transfer to the RHIB. The RHIB was notified and the patient was carried to the boat davit. It was no easy going on the ocean that night. The seas were rough and it was dark. The RHIB had difficulty holding position long enough to get the patient transferred. Once transferred the boat pulled away and then returned. The coxswain insisted on including two of the patient's friends for the transfer to the ship and its medical services. The two friends turned out to be critical in helping the patient remain calm in the very foreign environment.
The patient was stabilized and made comfortable on board the ship while a helo was called in to effect a med-evac. The patient was flown off the ship that night. The corpsman stayed with the patient all the way to the hospital not leaving his side until the patient was on his way into surgery. There were a number of heros that night. I suspect there are a lot of similar stories from all over Iraq. I've heard quite a few talking to the guys coming out of Iraq. You've got to wonder why the media can't find these stories.
Aloha
