With more time to write, I would wander through those memories recounting each and every one. My daughter was an awesome child and is an amazing person. It is only the promise of what she is yet to become that holds back the torrent of sadness that would overwhelm me at the passing of her childhood.

My daughter very often seeks my counsel. She also does me the honor of taking my advice. When she was first old enough to understand what it meant I told her that she only gets one childhood and then the rest of her life is adulthood. Do not rush toward adulthood but cling to childhood and innocence. I believe that my daughter has truly enjoyed her childhood. I believe that she has managed to carry more of her childhood into adulthood than most people. Good for you, girl! Good for you!

"Go on, take on this whole world but always know the road that will lead you home again..."

aloha

I am somewhat needle phobic. Me getting poked bothers me a little bit. Watching other people get poked bothers me a lot. I have one more experience to go through that involves needles. Not sure when but at some point I will need to take the Combat Life Saver course. This course teaches the fundamental advanced first aid required to keep a wound soldier alive until s/he gets to the trained medical folks who can actually save his life. That's a good thing. Learning to start an IV. Passing the class requires actually starting an IV on a live person. Your buddy starts one on you and then you start one on him. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to like it. I might also get to have an airway inserted up my nose. Sounds like an E ticket ride.

Found this article today. Presents an interesting summary of the situation in Iraq after the surge.

That said, it's still an open question whether the surge accomplished its main goal: of providing breathing space for the Iraqi government to regroup.

Iraqi politics has been a bastion of corruption, deceit, and intrigue for over forty years. Iraqis must learn a whole new set of skills to function in a new society in which the government is a servant to the people and not the other way round.

aloha

Tomorrow we will travel to Fort Dix to begin the mobilization process in earnest. Should be a lot of fun. Once we get into the rhythm of things, I really kind of like being Army. I absolutely hate goodbyes. I have that to look forward to tomorrow morning, or very late tonight depending on your lifestyle. The really early morning flights will put us into Fort Dix in the early evening which means we might get a reasonable night's sleep tomorrow night, which would be cool.

Today is day three of the deployment.

Smittie ]]> tag:blog.smittie.com,2008://3.1346 2008-08-18T06:16:58Z 2008-08-19T07:44:06Z

Several interesting points here. Everyone, including Mr. Obama, is assuming an open-ended presence in Iraq in the form of a residual force. How big that force is, where it is based, and what its mission will be are open questions but everyone on the US side is planning to leave a residual force in or near Iraq.

That the Iraqi leaders think now is the "time to start planning a reorganization of troops in Iraq" is a direct result of surge. The 16 month time frame that Mr. Obama talks about today is significantly different that the one he originally proposed, which was intended to put pressure on the Iraqis. In fact, what Mr. Obama does not mention is that Iraqi leadership is actually beginning to put some pressure on the US to plan on leaving completely.

Lastly, given that Mr. Obama wants to shift the military focus to Afghanistan, increasing troop strengths there and possibly expanding military operations to pursue al Qaeda and Taliban into Pakistan, I have to wonder just exactly how much of that $10 billion a month would actually get spent on shoring up the U.S. economy.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Obama, politics

For a man who prides himself on his judgement, it seems to have failed him this time. In the course of planning a world tour in which he would meet with many world leaders and the purpose of which was to enhance his image before voters back home, Mr. Obama did not realize that a visit to Landstuhl military hospital might be misconstrued as having political overtones? Nor did he have the political acumen to realize that abandoning the scheduled visit suddenly would also have political ramifications.

It seems to me the smart move would have been to tell Maj. Gen. Scott Gration that he would need to sit this one out, take only his senatorial staff and visit the troops as the Senator from Illinois. Chalked it up to poor judgement due to lack of experience.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: military, Obama, politics

The problem now for Mr. Obama is twofold. First, if Mr. Obama did not believe that a surge would work in Iraq a year ago and is still only willing to call it a contributory factor in the progress in Iraq over the past year, why is he calling for what is essentially a surge in Afghanistan? And what if Afghanistan turns out to be the quagmire that Mr. Obama promised Iraq would be?

Second and far more important to me as one of the soldiers who will end up serving on the Afghan front, how does Mr. Obama define victory in the war on al Qaeda, the war on terror? I suspect that once he gets it all worked out it will look something like this:

The best way to secure long-term peace and security is to establish a stable, prosperous, and democratic state in Afghanistan that poses no threat to its neighbors and contributes to the defeat of terrorists. When Afghani forces can safeguard their own country, American troops can return home. (source)

And one last thought. Has it occurred to Mr. Obama that at least part of the reason for the increase in al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan is because of the surge and the success in Iraq? That maybe al Qaeda is shifting personnel from Iraq to Afghanistan?

aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: election, Iraq, military, Obama, politics

“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.

”But he is not president of the United States,“ a reporter reminded the adviser.

”He is going to talk about the issues as an individual … not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator,“ the adviser added.
original article | digg story

This is pretty funny. First, I would argue that pretty much every time the sitting President of the United States opens his mouth it's a political speech. The Press sure seems to think so.

Second, which is it? Is Mr. Obama speaking as the President, an individual or as a senator? Each is significantly different though some might argue that speaking as a senator is similar to speaking as the president. It is a commentary on the senior foreign policy adviser that s/he does not seem to appreciate the difference or even that there is a difference. The initial example is, in my opinion, enlightening in that it shows the frame of mind from which the adviser is approaching this campaign trip.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: election, Obama, politics

My employer has been very supportive of my military service. Out of my respect for that support, I try to be as timely as possible in informing my employer about upcoming military events that will require my absence. As soon as I recieved a written copy of my orders, I submitted them to my employer. My employer made accommodations for the fact that these are not involuntary mobilization orders but are in conjunction with involuntary mobilization orders. So, they gave me the benefits that I will recieve once I am on the actual mobilization orders. With everything in place for me to go on a military leave of absence and report on 21 July 2008, I took one week's vacation to spend time with my family before things started getting crazy.

Today, Friday at 1417 (2:17 pm) I recieved an email telling me that my orders to report on 21 July 2008 have been cancelled. I am not to report on 21 July. New orders will be issued with report date of 01 August 2008. This is because there is no money to pay us for 38 day. I called my command to confirm this because I really could not believe that they were cancelling these orders at 2:17 in the afternoon of the Friday before we are suppose to report. My employer expects that I'm going to be gone for a year to 14 months. Imagine his surprised when I called him Friday afternoon. Fortunately, I am employed at a large corporation. I explained the situation to my manager and asked if he could find work for me to do for another month while the Army holds a bake sale or something to raise the money to pay us. I want to point that no one from the 445 CA BN called my employer to explain what happened and apologize for the inconvenience and trouble caused them. The Army apparently thinks that is my job.

I have some options in how I choose to respond to this. I can simply do what they, my chain command, asks. Whatever day they finally arrive at, they'll cut a new set of orders, I can resubmit those to my employer, have them redo everything and then show up as ordered. Or, I can refuse the orders. At some point the actual involuntary mobilization orders will show up. I can't refuse those but those are pretty solid and reliable. People like the Secretary of Defense's office have to sign those. It's much more likely that someone has already made sure there's money in the bank to pay us.

So, what is the cause of all these problems and drama? The unit could simply wait for the official, from the President, pack your crap, you're going to Iraq, involuntary mobilization orders. The one year clock would start the day we report. We would spend a couple days or a week at our home station, getting everyone and everything together and ready to go. Then, we would move to a Mobilization Site (Mob Site). There we would process into the active duty Army (medical, dental, payroll), get issued whatever new gear and complete the required training cycles for deployment. Then we would move to green ramp where we would wait for an airplane to take us to wherever we're suppose to go. All told, it would be about 100 to 130 days for us to get to doing the job we're suppose to do, where we're suppose to do it. Because we can only be moblized for 12 months, we need to leave the place 30 to 45 days before our clock runs out so that we can be out-processed in time.

The purpose of pre-mobilization orders is to reduce the amount of time spent at the Mob Site. Reduce that 100 to 130 days. By doing training on voluntary pre-mobilization orders, the amount of time spent at the Mob Site can be reduced. Keep in mind, the total amount of time the soldier spends on active duty is increased by the number of days on the pre-mobilization orders. So, if a soldier goes on 45 day pre-mob orders, the total time spent on active duty will be 445 days. The primary purpose of pre-mob orders is to increase the amount of time the soldier spends "boots on the ground," "in country". Pre-mobilization is not intended to make things better or easier for the soldier or his family or his employer. Pre-mobilization benefits the Army.

The problem comes in that, the money for pre-mob orders does not come from Big Army but rather from major commands. In the of 445 CA BN, that would be U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC). Apparently, someone only today discovered that there is not enough money to do as planned. If we simply wait until the involuntary orders arrive, the money comes from Big Army.

To my knowledge, no other branch of service does this. When I mobilized with the Navy in 2003, there were no pre-mob orders. Everyone showed up when the involuntary mobilization orders said to. We recieved the orders 30 days in advance. The Air Force guys that I've talked to have no idea what I'm talking about when I say pre-mob orders.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: family, military life

It was nice. We talked about politics. This will be the first election in which my daughter can vote. We talked about Iraq. We talked about her social group. Mostly, I just enjoyed spending time with my kid and studiously not thinking about the fact that I will not see her for a year. She says the family will be alright this time. I think she'll play a part in making sure everyone is alright this time. We talked about the past. She thinks she had a pretty good childhood. She knows her parents love her. She knows it's pretty cool to have parents who love and care about her. We talked about the future.

On the one hand, I will miss my daughter and the family very much. However, their support and strength is part of why I have chosen to do what I do. We ran into a friend at the restaurant. He asked my daughter how she felt about the deployment. She said she was fine with it, it's what we do. He made the observation that deployments are part of the military family culture. It's what we do.

aloha

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: family, military life