The Interested Soldier

A Problem of Logic

2011-02-11T08:50:00.002-05:00

House GOP Declares War on Planned Parenthood and

Republicans Hug Big Brother in Abortion Fight: Ann Woolner

Sponsored by New Jersey Republican Representative Chris Smith, it would void tax breaks given to companies and the self- employed for insurance premiums on policies that cover abortion. The idea is that by leaving more of your money in your pocket, the government is giving you some of its cash.

Nor could a woman pay premiums for such a policy with pretax, flexible-spending accounts. True, she earned every penny of that money, but if she’s not paying taxes on it, she can’t spend it on something anti-abortionists don’t like.

Hyperbolic headlines aside, the House Republican logic is: A tax break is tantamount to a subsidy. Now follow that to its logical next point...

Who else doesn't pay taxes, in this case property tax...

Why churches, that's who.

So, House Republicans, it seems this is one of your have your cake and eat it too moments. If tax breaks are tantamount to subsidy, and we can't allow tax breaks for things we can't subsidize... take your pick.

Personally, I'm for the system in place, but hey, it would be interesting to get property valuations on all those churches. I wonder how many could afford it.

What are US interests in the Middle East (a quick rant)

2011-02-09T11:00:00.003-05:00

In Egyptian Uprising, A Tale Of Two Risks For U.S.

On one side are those who say the U.S. should stick with the Mubarak government and not be swayed by all of the people demonstrating for democracy. Among them are John Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush.

"We have a profound interest in the stability of the Israeli-Egyptian peace relationship," Bolton said, speaking on Fox News in the early days of the uprising. "We've got an enormously strong relationship with the Egyptian military. Mubarak ... has been an American ally for 30 years.

"These are not things you toss away lightly against the promise, the hope, the aspiration for sweetness and light and democratic government."

Ok. Here is the problem. If we're saying "Fuck democracy in the Middle East, we need to focus on vital US interests," then what about Israel? How is the survival of Israel a vital US interest? I have no desire to see Israel fall, but if the US doesn't give two shits about democratic protests in Cairo, why does the US give two shits about Israel. The Suez is a vital interest. Saudi oil is US interest. Egyptian air space and Air Force basing is a US interest. A Jewish (as opposed to Arab) government in charge of Jerusalem tourism? Not a US interest.

I think we're generally doing the right thing in regards to Israel, but let's not lie to ourselves and say that Israeli interests are US interests. If we're going to write off Egyptian protesters and back Mubarak (and I don't think we will) because Mubarak encourages peace with Israel, we're hypocrites, perhaps even to ourselves.

Obligatory Apology Post

2010-10-29T13:00:00.002-04:00

As you have no doubt noticed: I've not been posting lately. Life has been prosaic, and therefore fairly uninteresting to you. I've moved from Lewis to Fort Huachuca, Az. I'm closer to Mexico than the nearest decent-sized American city. I'm here for several months doing training and professional education. Arizona is surprisingly beautiful. I may post some pictures here if the are convenient or interesting.

Scents

2009-12-05T00:48:00.000-05:00

The Ugandan guards burn wood to stay warm now that it has started to get cold at night. They climb down from the guard towers and huddle around a burn barrel to warm their hands and feet. They burn wood, usually pallets, and it makes a clean, hot smoke that rises quickly. It’s the only fire around here that doesn’t smell of paper or trash, of melting plastic or rotting food. As it cools here the ever-present smell of dust and rot is cut down by the crispness of the air, and late at night it smells like a cabin in winter.

Brassfield Mora

2009-09-28T18:50:00.003-04:00

Fob Brassfield Mora was named after two soldiers who were killed in a mortar attack north of Samara in 2003. Built on the site of an Iraqi grain storage facility, it was immediately off of a major highway - a grid of huge, long rectangular warehouse buildings. At its peak it housed, fed, trained, maintained and entertained over one thousand soldiers. Like almost all FOBs, it was surrounded by high walls (stacked 7 foot wire cubes filled with dirt and topped with razor wire) and guard towers.

I got there just before it started to get dark, a time of day solemnly commemorated by soldiers across Iraq by the switching of eye protection lenses, from dark to clear. Brassfield Mora lacked paved or gravel roads and everything threw up a plume of dust as it moved. The sun, low on the horizon, was invisible through a tan haze. A backhoe with a giant claw was grabbing piles of sand bags and dumping them in the back of a dip truck, destroying half of them in the process. The FOB TOC building was a one story Iraqi building, yellow brick with a large patio covered by a newer wooden awning. American soldiers in PT uniforms and Iraqis soldiers in the standard IA hodgepodge uniform sat talking in the shade outside.

Perhaps it had always been a sparcely decorated, utilitrian building, but the interior of the TOC had a feeling of emptiness. Hard cases were stacked against the walls, tables looked empty despite being cluttered with dust and small objects and the walls of the TOC proper had already been stripped of maps and posters. It felt like the last week of school or a going out of business sale.

I came prepared with a list of DFAC equipment, mostly tables, chairs, refrigerators and buffet serving lines, that Brigade and Division had said we were allocated. After introductios, the NCO in charge of giving away all the excess equipment told me to take anything we wanted from the entire FOB. Anything that was not presently in use was up for grabs.

The DFAC occupied about a third of long warehouse, perhaps 200 meters long, that had acted as Dining facility, gym, Internet and phone center, game room, and chapel all subdivided with plywood walls. All the expensive lightweight equipment - computers, voip phones, tvs and books - had already been removed, but the building still maintained a feeling of only having been abandoned for a couple of days. It was a ghost ship or a summer camp from some cheesey horror film, the traces of it's previous occupants hinted at and just out of sight. Though, not so frightening if only because there were twenty-five of us, all armed.

The gym and the DFAC went first. A knowledgable guy was put in charge of each, figuring out what to grab and organizing the guys to load the equipment, whether it be weight benches or deep fryers, into to 20 foot shipping containers we brought with us. We grabbed everything that we could, anything that seemed like it might be useful. Some things were left behind only because we couldn't fit them through the door.

As I looked further into the small maze of rooms and closets that had been built into the building, the signs of an army presence, of soldiers become more and more evident. Doodles and graffiti on the tables in the now emptied phone center. Closets full paper towels and old trophies for some forgotten event, already ransacked for more valuable things. Small, personal spaces - webcam booths, small reading rooms, even a confessional booth made from plywood in the chapel - remained largely untouched. They retained a feeling of privacy, that though long gone, it felt that I was invading.

This place was always a bit sad, a bit off from the norm. From its begining, the whole facility was not quite home. Soldiers ate good food, but a DFAC is never the same as home or a restaurant. Soldiers came here to call their loved ones, not be with them. You're no farther from god in Iraq, but you are farther from his familiar trappings. The men and women who made this place theirs, who made me the intruder, were gone, almost all rreturned to their homes, families, friends. They won't be back - at least not here.

It seemed only natural when I returned to FOB Warhorse, two years later, for this deployment. Despite the temporary, transient nature of everything we build in this country, it still feels as if it all should be here forever. Everyone who has deployed more than once has been back to a FOB or a city they had been in previously, and it feels normal, familiar, like going back to your college town, or the house you grew up in. A captain I know found an empty an inventory sheet he'd signed as a lieutenant, in a shipping container, on a FOB he'd never been to before. We like to say, "It's a small Army." It's a small war.

But that's changing. The security agreement, our changing mission, and the overall goals of Operation GTFH have led to "Responsible Drawdown." It's a decent buzzword for the idea of retrograding all the equipment, buildings, vehicles, ammunition, and stuff that we've poured into this country. In most places, most times, operations lead logistics. Right now, in most units, it seems that operations are justifying the time we need to complete the logistical work of finding all of our stuff and taking it home with us.

Iraq is building itself. Literally and figuratively, Iraq is winding up, finding it self. And our presence, our war, is winding down as we find the door. And try to fit all of this stuff through it.

Around

2009-08-25T14:09:00.003-04:00

The obligatory post apologizing for not posting. I've been traveling around the province, trying to take a couple classes. My internet is spotty - especially for Blogging. I will keep adding more words on the left hand side. My new favorite - "predecisional."

Sorry I have not been able to call or email much. When I return from Warhorse, and move into my permanent home, I'll have much better connectivity.

New Feaure

2009-08-16T12:58:00.002-04:00

<-- See new feature. I'll update it as I hear more.

I am arrived.

2009-08-16T12:31:00.003-04:00

I have arrived at my more or less permanent FOB, FOB Caldwell, my home for the next 8 months. Though I had any number of concerns about the quality of this place prior to coming here, I have to say, it's not bad at all.

I have a very large office/supply room, well designed and well furnished. It, like the rest of the Squadron headquarters, is a real, hard-stand building, with indoor plumbing. We have a small dining facility with a good variety of tasty food. I'll live within 100 meters of a gym with more than enough room and equipment. I will soon have my own room, with internet, sparsely furnished, which Alsmasi likens to my Freshman dorm room. Combine all of this with the fact that this place is small (less than 2 sq km) that it takes five minutes to get from any one place to any other, and I can certainly say that I have lived in worse places.

There will be much more to follow as I get more and more access to the tubes. I am alive and relatively well. Anyone who wishes to send anything to me can find me at

CPT David Von Bargen
1-14 Cavalry, 3-2 SBCT
FOB Caldwell, Iraq
APO AE 09324

That said, I'm, sitting fairly well right now, so feel no obligation.

Google voice

2009-08-09T02:35:00.002-04:00

Cidy has turned me on to and helped me establish a Google Voice account. I have a web-based voicemail account that anyone can call to leave me a message. The great thing is that it then emails me the voicemail and a transcript. The number is below, and if you click on the widget below, it will connect you to the voicemail for free.

(925) 335-6053

On violence...

2009-08-06T23:54:00.000-04:00

In the words of the warrior poet Ice Cube: "Any day in which you don't have to use an AK is a good day."

From Generation Kill (Book and Miniseries).

So, we've been having a bit of a dust storm...

2009-07-30T01:23:00.003-04:00

though you can't tell as well in this photo.

There is a quality of living in a video game here. The dust drops the visible horizon to a couple hundred meters, and everything just gets fainter the farther you are from it. Even before this storm, everything was coated in a layer of dust so that nothing looks as it did when it was new. Everything blends together - there are sand drifts that lead into the concrete barriers, the dust sticks to any and everything, lending everything a mottled tan hue. Essentially, there are a limited number of textures that get repeated throughout the world.

More than just visually, though it seems the analogy holds. There are no windows in our tents and buildings, so when you exit buildings there are often dramatic light changes as the sun has set or risen. The map here is fixed - we stay within the limits of the camp, being stopped by fences and berms. Finally, is the voice of God. A massive speaker system/siren is mounted throughout the camp. It sounds taps and the Third Corps Song (the theme from the movie Patton) twice daily, and conducts a weekly test, running through its various alarms and warnings.

This is the weirdest part, as they very nearly use the same semi-robotic voice used the Half-Life game sequels. The disembodied voice that seems to come from every direction warns you of fire, artillery attack, ground attack or air attack, preceded by unique sirens and alarms. During this test, the constant discordant sound, the quality of the light, the visibility, and the difference of this place from normal life sends my mind to the closest parallel. As I walked though the din, I felt disappointed there weren't helicopters overhead, nor Combine soldiers firing at me.

And then there is the mildly surreal act of walking into a Starbucks with a gun.

Kuwait is ...

2009-07-27T02:03:00.002-04:00

Kuwait. Yeah. Really, I don't know a good way to describe this place. It's flat, insanely hot and bright in the day; though night isn't so bad. The wind blows, but the dust isn't too bad.

The amenities aren't bad... there's a good size store, two dining facilities, once of which is much nicer than expected. I'm typing on inexpensive wifi from my cot. There are some mediocre pay food options (Pizza Inn, Panda knock-off, a coffee place) and a bazaar of local random vendors. We have a tiny movie theater, a couple of tents with TVs, books and XBoxes, a good sized gym, and an aerobics tent.

Let me take a moment to talk about the Starbucks. Imagine a triple-wide prefab building. One side is all windows. Inside, its is all but identical to every Starbucks you have ever been to. The floor tile, the light fixtures, the straws, and the little table they sit on - all the same. The only difference is that this Starbucks has the menu in Arabic and English. Sadly, they don't have the Date Frapaccino anymore.

Here, anytime we leave the Brigade tent area we must, on our person, have a weapon, water source, eye protection, and another person equally equipped. We are like little children - we use the buddy system. Of course, though we are required to carry our weapon, we are not allowed any ammunition.

As for the doing - well not much of that yet. In theory, we should only be here long enough to do some very limited training, get all our people and get our equipment off some ships. Through the vagaries of Big Army... things... we will be here for a while.

Greetings from Limbo

2009-07-24T17:19:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Kuwait, or Limbo, the first circle of Hell in Dante's inferno. Limbo is the land of the virtuous non-believers, and is filled with ennui. Its inhabitants lie around in its endless sand and heat, sighing. At its center is a castle in which Socrates and Plato reign. So far, i think, in this metaphor, that is the water tower.

I have some many weeks here in Kuwait as I await the arrival of the rest of my unit, and the arrival of our things. The two appear to be having a competition to see who will arrive later. it is dull here, and will likely remain so, intermittently interrupted by moments of insane busywork and movement. I will likely call some of soon, as there are phones here, and, as you can see, internet. This is actually wifi in my tent, using my computer, so hurrah!

Finally, I have been instructed by my love to catch and bottle the soul of an unbaptized baby so that she might flavor cookies with them.

Frustrating and emotionally unsatisfying.

2009-06-13T16:59:00.000-04:00

NTC in short.

I have learned a good deal - but I don't feel it. I feel as if I've been muddling along, occasionally getting things right, but mostly not doing my job. This also comes from the fact that I largely don't understand my job.

I spent 2 weeks on the FOB. I was surrounded by beautifully stark desert terrain, but I couldn't go anywhere but walk back and forth across the dust from sleep to work to food and back. This place would be interesting if I could drive or walk it on my own - have some training or time to learn what the hell my new job entails.
Instead I was driven out of the box inside of a Stryker - unable to even see the terrain one last time.

Perhaps I need a some time to breathe and think about this place and the job I'm to do.

- - -

The above was written as I was leaving NTC in the back of that Stryker. I could see little more than slits of sky passing by - there are no windows. I was able to turn on a B/W thermal video image from a camera fixed on the front of the Stryker so I didn't get motion sick, but it was a far cry from satisfying, and intensely different from being a Platoon Leader in that hatch - in charge.

The following posts were all written at NTC, but as I lacked the ability to access blogger, I couldn't post them. They are, as I say often of this blog, an airing of grievances, not an objective review of the Army, NTC, or my new job.

Army Logistics

2009-06-13T16:50:00.001-04:00

The more I learn about the methods and systems of the Army Logistics
system, the more I hate it. The physical systems – trucks, flat
racks, wretches, etc, are all pretty cool, and fairly well designed,
but the information systems, the methods we use are idiotic. They are
cumbersome, archaic and arcane.

We just received a new computer with software called BCS3. It’s a
fourteen thousand dollar system designed to do any number of things –
from tracking vehicles and supplies to sending up reports on supply
levels. In theory we can update our higher headquarters as to how much
stuff we have. The thing is that it looks like parts of it were made
in 1990, 1997 and 2003 and then kludged together. To get it to talk to
anything it has to have 3 DOS windows open. Seriously. The only useful
tool for me – enforced on me – is the Logistical Reporting Tool. The
only decent way to input data into it is to export to excel and import
after making changes. It rolls up my data and the data from all the
parallel units and sums them at BDE. All of its functions could be
accomplished with a cleverly designed spreadsheet using macros.

Of course, they won’t let us request any supplies using this system –
we still have to submit an asinine form to get that

Even ignoring this new, and in my view, mostly wasted BCS3 system –
Army logistics are dumb. Every system I have seen used is bloated,
unnecessarily difficult to use and hopelessly opaque. An insane number
of forms are required to do the simplest things.

Part of this screed is against the methods here at NTC – they use
contracted assistance for almost every possible thing – from bringing
us water and ammunition to putting up living tents to installing the
Army laser tag systems (we call it MILES equipment) on our vehicles.
These contractors are, at best, training distractors. An example: A
Company in the Squadron goes to draw loaned vehicles. They identify a
broken piece of equipment that had been installed by contractors. They
annotate this fault and do not sign for this broken piece of
equipment. They are told to take the vehicle to a different lot to the
contractors who installed the equipment to get it fixed. Upon reaching
the contractors they are berated and the contractors, who are paid
exorbitant amounts for minimal work, refused to fix the equipment with
a 5-day investigation process. I could fix the equipment with a
soldering iron and a special screw driver and no training.

I was punished with this job for excelling at my previous position. I
signed away three additional years of my life to this Army to avoid
doing this kind of work. I knew it sucked and I wanted no part in it.
It’s stupid, inefficient and painful. I feel cheated, and I’ll be
dealing with this idiot system for the next year. In Iraq.

I'm back

2009-03-31T12:57:00.003-04:00

It looks like I'll be returning from my long hiatus... I'm heading to NTC very soon, and not too long after that, Iraq.

I'm still in 1-14 Cavalry - which is in the same Brigade as I deployed with last time, but in a new Squadron (see this for a useful, pretty chart. The Squadron is in yellow.) I'm the Squadron supply officer (S4). This is a move that looks good - it's a primary staff spot, it's a captain slot (I'll be making CPT in June or July) and it's a difficult and vital job. That said - it blows. S4 takes the best parts of being an XO and removes them; it takes the worst parts and multiplies them.

I'll be at NTC until the middle or end of May, and then I'll go straight into surgery for my wrist. For those of you who I may not have told, I broke the shit out of my wrist back in November. I fell and broke the end of my radius in to 4 pieces. My doctors cut me open back in December, put a titanium plate in and I went to rehab for a bunch of months. Sadly, the bones didn't heal properly in my wrist joint. This will lead to excruciating arthritis by the time I'm 35 if I don't get it fixed, and soon. So... a second surgery in May, recovery and then deploy. It will be exciting to be doing my occupational therapy in Iraq, but I'll get by.

I don't imagine there are a whole lot of you left reading this, but if you start wandering back in with later posts, I thought I would give you a little back reading to do.

Check out my flickr for photos from the Yakima Training Center from March, and some I'll post from NTC in California. And I'l see if I can get some of my CT/Xrays on here. Pretty cool looking.

Bracelets

2008-09-30T22:16:00.001-04:00

The Bixby Letter

2008-07-31T01:18:00.004-04:00

The beginning of "Saving Private Ryan" features a letter from Abraham Lincoln to a mother (at the time) thought to have lost five sons in battle during the Civil War. It was written to Mrs. Lidia Bixby, a widow, and was later published in a Boston newspaper. The letter is simultaneously very (by modern sensibilities perhaps too) formal, and poignant.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln

There is a beauty in the words, a visceral (however detached the reader may be) horror in the content. It has contains a terrible beauty that, in its small way, encapsulates a part of war.

Read the wiki. I dare anyone to read the sentences that follow the letter's text and not laugh. Horrible, yes. Funny (if only because of the shock), also yes.

Hail and Farewell

2008-04-19T20:48:00.004-04:00

Aside from the latest post, which is really about something that happened back in November, I've not posted in some time. Sorry. My job is certainly less interesting now (well it is for me, and I imagine it would also be for you), so less to post about. That said, I'm happy, enjoying my life, and generally enjoying the states. I've changed jobs, even units this week. I've given up my platoon, and am taking over as the executive officer in a different troop (~~Troop:Company::Cavalry:Infantry~~ Troop:Cavalry::Company:Infantry - bet you never thought that construction would be useful again. And I thought I would get it right.). This means, of course, that I have moved out of 5-20 IN, into 1-14 Cav, the Cavalry Squadron in my Brigade. (See wiki for a pretty chart that will make much more sense). That said, I am now in a Cavalry unit. It's not too different from my previous unit, but there are differences, some of which I may blog about. The short bit; I get to buy a sweet hat.

To hails and farewells.
A very belated welcome back to Audrey. She's back now, which is awesome, reunited with Rip, and now with a dog... adorable, hyperactive Zephyr. Also, a good luck, do good things, to both Elizabeth and Danielle. They're both deploying this month. Again, good luck, fun stories and a boring deployment to you both.

And finally, I entreat you all to comment. I know some of you are still reading this, and many new folk keep showing up. This month alone, I have visitors from all over the US and from Pakistan and Thailand. Those ones are new for me, so if I know you, say hi. If I don't know you, say hi and how you found your way here to my 40 acres.

2008-04-18T10:30:00.001-04:00

At the beginning of November of last year all of our equipment arrived at the Port of Olympia by ship from Kuwait. Our Strykers, 18-ton armored vehicles, and the shipping containers that held all of our personal and military equipment, were unloaded over a couple of days. As soon as news of this got out, a series of demonstrations protesting the Army’s use of the port began. The protests were fairly large and usually entailed the protesters attempting to block the movement of military equipment out of the port, forming barricades using people and trash, once even blocking a portion of the I-5 Freeway. The Olympia Police used riot police, pepper spray and mass arrests to keep the port open.

I was only in Iraq for a very brief period, essentially a long summer, before I redeployed with my unit. There was some very intense fighting in Baqubah, a city about 30 miles north of Baghdad, especially before I arrived, but I didn’t experience any truly traumatic events that often cause soldiers to have problems readjusting to life at home. I led a platoon through a wide variety of missions, securing vital routes, raiding suspected insurgents, systematically clearing large parts of the city and conducting humanitarian aid missions. We spent most of our time moving on foot through the city, spending nights in Iraqi houses, periodically returning to a Forward Operating Base to rest and resupply. In the city we were constantly on guard, scanning everything around us for threats.

I returned to Fort Lewis, just south of Seattle, in October and quickly resumed my old life. One night the week our equipment arrived in Olympia, much of my Battalion moved by busses down to the port drive our Strykers the 15 miles to Fort Lewis. The atmosphere was chaotic, the entrance to the port blocked by more than 200 protesters, held at bay by a very significant Police presence. We prepared our vehicles to move, but had to wait several hours for the Police disperse the crowd. More than sixty people were arrested that night. By one in the morning we finally pushed out the gate with a heavy Police escort. It is a strange thing to see an 18-ton armored combat vehicle being escorted by a Police cruiser.

I was toward the front of a large convoy of Strykers, standing in the commanders hatch of my Stryker, the same place I had stood for countless movements in Iraq, wearing much of the same protective equipment, working with the same vehicle crew I had for months in combat. As we pushed through Olympia, protesters moved along our route in small groups looking for a gap in the police protection, trying to split and block the convoy. I naturally and continuously scanned the buildings, streets and roofs as we moved through the city. Obviously I knew that the protesters posed me no physical threat – I wasn’t even scanning for them. It had become ingrained. I was driving in a Stryker through an urban environment, strikingly similar to Baqubah, and the only natural response was to do what I had done for months – constantly look for the threat.

Once we reached the freeway the feeling of familiarity, of hyper-awareness, faded. I haven’t had any similar experiences since, and I doubt I will. I wasn’t scared or uncomfortable at the time, or now looking back on it. It simply was.

Brief return

2007-12-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

So many of you know that I really don't like country music much at all, with very few exceptions. This, however, is a fairly cool song. Video is pretty cool too.

Oh, Mother Jones...

2007-11-01T00:18:00.000-04:00

So, Mother Jones, an interesting news magazine has, as it's cover story this month, an article entitled, "U.S. Out How?" using a play on the anti-war movement's phrase "US Out Now!" Interesting article, though it seems a little light on substance, relying mostly on sound bites from people to whom they sent a survey, and on half-baked statistics. Still and interesting article, but, as I plan to illustrate, they really didn't try to dig any deeper than what they had lying around.

To me, this seems to be attempting to point out some of the incongruity, the strange "comforts" that differentiate this war from previous ones. I can't impugn their intent because I don't know exactly what it is. However, I can impugn their use of their data, which is massively flawed. The numbers used in reference to facilities seem accurate enough. The number of night vision devices seems very low - it would give one set of NVD for every five or so US soldiers, one in six if you include marines. Plus "night-vision equipment," to me, should also include night sights for weapons and perhaps even vehicle-mounted sights. My company alone probably had 20-50 pieces of "night-vision equipment" in addition to the set of individual NVD that each person was issued. So that number seems rather low to me. The body armor number makes much more sense, and I wouldn't be surprised if the NVD number was much closer to it in reality.

The truely ridiculous number, however, is the Playstation/Nintendo/XBox figure. 48? Seriously? If this is meant to represent the number that US government owns in MWR-type facilities, I might buy it. It still seems low, though. However if it is meant to represent the number of game consoles in use in Iraq (which seems implied), it is off by orders of magnitude. Again, using my personal experience, no. Freakin'. Way. There were more than 48 consoles at FOB Warhorse. Hell, the Warhorse MWR had at least four, and it was a terrible, small MWR. My platoon (a very small platoon) had at least another eight. I really doubt that I've seen all the consoles in all of Iraq, but I saw at least 48 in person over there.

These are obviously trifling little complaints about an interesting article, but they speak to a lacksidasical way the whole article was put together... it seems to be more quotes and infographics than the type of deep, smart journalism we usually get from Mother Jones.

The

Flickr photos posted

2007-10-08T19:47:00.000-04:00

I have posted all of my Iraq photos on flickr. There 565 of them. Look down and to the left to see some samples. However, they are listed for friends and family only - this means that if you don't have a Flickr membership, you will not be able to see them. (Photos are private for all sorts of reasons.) However, being the clever chap that I am, I have made a work around: If you have a Flickr, friend me and you'll be able to see the photos. If you do not have, nor want to get a flickr account, I've made one for the use of my visitors. Just email me and i'll give you the account info.

The photos are numerous and cool. Look at them.

Triumphantly,

2007-10-04T10:31:00.001-04:00

I return. I'm back at Fort Lewis, enjoying the rain and cool weather. And trees. And trees.

I can be reached on my cell phone (nine two five) three six oh, six oh five three, or by (domestic!) snail mail at

however, don't try to visit me there - it's not even the right city. Don't ask me how it works - I haven't the slightest. However, anyone wanting to visit will be provided with directions. Thank you all for the support, packages, emails, comments, did I mention packages, etc. They were, and are, much appreciated. Look to Flikr soon for a ridiculous number of photos of my travails.

Protect and Defend.... what was that last bit?

2007-09-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

As I've discussed before, we have a web filtering program here at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait that blocks our access to various sites based on categories.

I don't like, but understand, the use of filtering technology on government computers. I understand that pornography is banned under both General Order #1 and considered unprofessional in a public setting. Similarly, I am only mildly annoyed by the fact that the Army has chosen a system that prevents me from viewing web sites that are “Tasteless” or contain "Adult Materials.” Keep in mind that "Adult Materials" does not mean pornographic, porn get its own category. “Adult”, in this case means, as best as I can tell, “naughty” materials like sex toys and swimsuits (sites featuring these are blocked). I will argue that all of the personnel using these computers are adults (or 17 year-olds enlisted and deployed), as they are all members of the US Military or DOD civilian employees. Perhaps they can handle seeing the Victoria’s Secret catalog.

The system, Fortigaurd, blocks all sorts of categories it feels might be controversial (view them all here). I am used to the Army, in circumstances such as this, thinking that I need to be protected from my own immature, prurient ways. As I said above, I don’t like it, but I can abide it. What I cannot abide is wholesale censorship of legitimate (and legally protected) political viewpoints.

And that is what it does. Fortigaurd blocks the Planned Parenthood site, among others I imagine, under the category, “Abortion.” The site for the organization Veterans Against The Iraq War is blocked under "Advocacy Organizations."

Advocacy.

I won’t address in, this post, DoD’s new blogging policy – that is a different beast entirely, involving Operations Security and classified information. This is about information – incoming information. Advocacy is banned. Perhaps they've never read the Constitution. (It is rather long - like four whole pages, five if you include the amendments.) You would think, though, that someone might have at least gotten around to reading the first part of that last page. Censorship, especially against those whose job it is to “protect freedom,” is the worst of hypocrisy. To prevent servicemembers from getting information that you disagree with it is both shameful and unconscionable.

In my mind, in a free nation, this kind of censorship is tantamount to treason.

The News

2007-09-26T06:13:00.000-04:00

Iraq suicide bomber kills 25 at Shiite-Sunni meeting

It's a good article about a shitty thing that happened in Baqubah, where I left last month. A lot of people were killed, Perhaps people I’ve met. It's surprising that no Americans were killed, especially considering the number that were there (the article doesn't say how many, but COL Sutherland, a Brigade commander was there, so you can assume he had a decent-sized entourage).

I’ve met Alexandra Zavis - she was embedded with my company in Baqubah. Her reporting, that I have read, has always seemed, better than most, to show the scene of what is happening. She understands the situation and the underlying issues that surround Baqubah and Iraq. My problem with this article, and others like it, is this: the quotes and the location are new, but the story doesn’t feel that way. The article feels like a cut and paste job of "Suicide bomber kills [number] at [denomination] [site]," followed by a recap of similar events all over Iraq. I don't blame Ms. Zavis necessarily for the lack of specifics, but instead the media environment that has become so saturated with this kind of story.

I understand that most people reading the article will be largely unfamiliar with Iraqi, let alone Baquban, geography, but a description that's more complex than "a mosque" would be much appreciated. I probably know some, if not many, of the people who were there. I've likely been by that mosque, depending on which one it is. A simple description, like Khatoon or Old Baqubah, or even just east or west would give informed readers a much more useful picture. I know that I tune out some of the specifics of stories about attacks in Baghdad or Mosul - I just don't know the geography well enough to make us of the details - but I imagine the people there would like to know more about the stories as well. Newspaper websites mediate length constraints, and make the addition of graphics and maps much easier to add to stories. Perhaps if stories about Iraq, especially about violence in Iraq, were less generic, people would read more than just the headline.

As brevity is the soul of wit,

2007-09-19T14:42:00.000-04:00

I'll be brief. Looks like I will be heading out of Kuwait sometime in the first week, or so, of October. Not before then. That is all.

no. goddamn. words.

2007-09-18T14:47:00.000-04:00

Gold Star Mothers, got you, okay, thank you -- Blue Star Mothers, Gold Star Mothers, all the mothers, yes. (Applause.) Every day is Mother's Day as far as your concerned, isn't it?

- My Commander in Chief

Perhaps. A tad. And now, sarcasm.

2007-09-12T11:33:00.000-04:00

So, perhaps I came across a little to angry last night. I still do think that Kuwait should be a hardship tour, not a combat tour, but I was definitely angry when I posted. Tonight, however, makes up for it - You see, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are here, and I believe they're putting on a show right now about 150 meters from me. So, you know, I was wrong. It's all cool now.

On to other news - I can't view Indietits because the web filter the Army is using here says that it's "Tasteless." I let Jeph know - and this was his response. (Look for today's strip - I can't)

Finally: Use the comments, people. I know there are some of you lurking out there (like the ones in Chicago or Beaumont, Tx or Richmond). Comment. If I say something a little crazy (like last night), ask me about, tell me I'm crazy, etc. If you have questions about me, my time here, the weather, my current weight or anything else, ask them. The comments are for more than just Elizabeth. In fact, I'll even give you all a topic.

Over a short distance, a cheetah can outrun a Stryker. Discuss.

What. The. Fuck.

2007-09-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

I just walked from the gym here. It's a nice, large gym with lots of good equipement, and I have lots of time to use it, so I'll likely be going twice daily whilst I'm here. On my way there I passed a lot of people just sort of hanging out at some tables and there was a speaker system set up playing country music. Nothing too odd, but it reminded me a lot of parks in Walnut Creek at night in the summer - nothing to do, so you hang out and bullshit, without, to use a cliche, a care in the world. Not what I expect in the Army, but I'll deal.

As I left the gym, though, the music was still going, and the area in front of the speakers had become an outdoor dance floor, with couples slow dancing, like a fucking high school dance. These people are all dressed in civilian clothes - a thing my guys haven't worn in over a year, short of very brief periods on leave - and they're are working tax free and collecting combat pay. Most of the people on this FOB don't carry weapons, half of them don't wear uniforms. I'm sure they provide vital services to the war effort, but it rubs a little that those people dancing get the same benefits and wear the same combat patch as my men who sifted though rubble and trash for the body parts of their friends in Baqubah.

It means austerity

2007-09-11T07:46:00.000-04:00

I’ve begun to appreciate the sense of asceticism this place requires. I’ve never thought of America as decadent – at least not in a bad way – but the, if you will, Spartan lifestyle has some appeal. This is not to say that I am living like a monk – I have my computer, DVDs, AC, when I wrote this I had my own room – but compared to the life I’ve been accustomed to, this place is a major change.

Part of it is the level of free time. This refers much to Baqubah than Taji, Baghdad or Kuwait, as I haven’t been to busy outside of Baqubah, but while we were still doing combat ops, we’d be out for several days at a time, O’d be walking with about 100 lbs of gear in 115 F heating, eating crappy, or at least unappetizing food. The dearth/lack of internet, TV, phones, distractions makes you think more, has made me write more. Like camping or rehab, my time here has allowed me to appreciate what I had in the States, and realize that I didn’t need it quite as much as I thought I did. The combination of near constant GI pathology and mediocre food, along with natural exercise has made me lose weight – which I now need to work to keep off, hence the gym.

I've said privately that I wish I was set to be here longer. I was conducting combat operations for only two and a half months. About long enough to really get the hang of it and then stop. I kind of hoped for Iraq to be my forty days, or fifteen months, in the desert. I will not be complaining too hard, obviously, but A huge reason I wanted to come over here was to learn about myself. I've done that, but not to the degree I had hoped.

Much more on all this later.

Roundup

2007-09-11T07:08:00.000-04:00

First, a link buffet.

- An amusingly, slightly biblical look at the big situation in Iraq by Kevin Drum at the Washington Weekly.

- A good look at the conflict in Baqubah, before I got there, from an enlisted perspective. Less politic, and more visceral, Alex is in my Battalion, and though some evidently doubt it, he is a real guy in 5-20. Army of Dude is his blog.

- A friend of mine, who is also Horton's platoon leader writes about this deployment and his previous one. He wrote them in the form of Letters from Iraq.

Second, for all those who seem to be intently awaiting it, I am in Kuwait. It's a nice FOB, old (about 15 years), lots of food and entertainment possibilities. However, we are stuck in a shitty tent, which on its own is not so bad, except that I just went from a single bed in my own room and a tent with WIFI respectively, to the top bunk in a small, dusty tent with mediocre AC. Also, there is a large, bright florescent light that hangs over my head. But, I complain too much. Very nice gym. More later.

What I did on my Summer Vacation

2007-09-03T07:20:00.000-04:00

I got to take a pretty cool helicopter tour of Baghdad several days ago.

I’m sure any number of you will defecate masonry upon hearing this – largely due to your media-fed misconception that somehow flying in Iraq is way more dangerous than driving around – but I flew over Baghdad twice, during daylight, without a single problem.

The reason I’m staying Kuwait longer than the rest of the Brigade is that I will be managing part of the property paperwork for my company. Right now I am signed for 20ish Strykers (I don’t recall the going price for a Stryker these day, but it’s well over $1 million), and will soon be signed for all of the communications gear for the Company as well. All told I’ll be responsible for upwards of $40 million worth of gear – all personally signed over to me.

As part of this detail, I had to attend (“had to,” in this case, means that I was required to by persons higher ranking than I, not that it in anyway related to my ability to accomplish my mission) a meeting on a different FOB in Baghdad. I knew the FOB already, as it was where I waited for my flight to Baqubah, back in June. Since the two FOBs, Taji and Liberty are so close, just across Baghdad, and as I’ve said before, flying is faster and safer than driving, we took a couple Blackhawks.

Considering it was Army transportation, it was remarkably hassle-free. The birds arrived on time and we loaded up quickly. On the flight over to Liberty I sat on the outside facing forward (there are two rows of four seats, one facing fore, the other aft), which, whenever I’ve been on a Blackhawk in the past was a great seat to be in – good view, a little wind in your face. This time, instead of flying with open doors, we flew with closed doors, but without window. This, evidently changes the aerodynamics fairly significantly, turning that seat into the end of a 200 KPH wind tunnel. With eye pro and eyes closed I was still streaming tears out the sides of my eyes. Inconveniently, even if I had been able to see, my seat was on the wrong side to see much of the city. I was facing out to the country. Pleasantly, it was morning, and the air was still in the 90s, which when it is blowing at you 200 KPH with a little moisture, is quite comfortable.

We had our meeting, sat around, walked around, were generally bored. I got on another Blackhawk (or perhaps the same one) and began my trip back – this time with an inside seat, facing rear. This time though, I could see the city – pretty well since we were flying under 200 feet. This flight lasted a while longer as we made a stop along the way, and I could actually see during the entirety.

My entire experience of Iraq proper has been in Baqubah – a small city north of Baghdad that, before the war, acted a sort of a retirement community for former Ba’ath party members and high-ranking soldiers in the Iraqi Army. It is a much smaller city that lacks freeways or many buildings over four stories. Baghdad is huge – when I was in the center, it spread as far as I could see, crisscrossed with freeways, taller buildings and impressive mosques. As a whole, it looked different than any city I had seen before, but taken as pieces, it, like almost all modern cities I’ve been in, it was very familiar. It had parts of Los Angeles (short, sprawling, smoggy, on fire) a little Albuquerque (heat, surrounded by conquered desert) and little bits from others I can’t place. An interesting city, a city I wish I could have hung out in a bit more, lived out in, worked in, driven through, seen up close. There’s always ’09.

Yeah, that kind of idiot

2007-09-03T07:15:00.000-04:00

I was sitting on the bus here that takes us to the main part of the FOB. We live a ways off to one side of Taji, and it’s a rather long walk to the DFAC or the PX (or the MWR). I was sitting there, listening to the radio (the fairly decent rock station that AFN puts out), and two or three guys behind me start talking about Muslims. Reduced, their comments were undisguised ignorance and bigotry. I have seen a good number of people here who have started to hate almost all Iraqis, but as ignorant as that is, I have rarely seen prejudice that generalized – at least not in person.

One of the guys started off using a sort of Manchurian Candidate argument about interpreters that, no matter how long a soldier had worked with a terp, no matter how much you had trusted that person in the past, that because they were Muslim they could turn on you at any time. He actually said that there must be some gene (yeah – gene – yeah), some switch that gets flipped and they all, all Muslims, would turn on you. Would turn in to suicide bombers and insurgents. One even argued that there was nothing they could do about. I wasn’t really sure which sickened me more; the bigotry or the ignorance.

I was getting more and more pissed off by the pure extremist idiocy of these soldiers when they added another component to their arguments – the Antichrist. This – along with Hitler, the ender of all rational arguments – dropped from one of their mouths without so much as a flinch from the other two. The two agreed, if not explicitly, and continued talk about this, agreeing that the Antichrist was alive and was definitely a Muslim (despite all the “knowledgeable” authorities and literature espousing the belief that the Antichrist is a Jew). Despite how angry I had been at them, despite all the ignorant, idiotic, bigotous bullshit that had been spewing from their mouths seconds before, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Obligitory, but related, Kung Fu Monkey link - here.

Like Gameboy, only bigger.

2007-09-03T07:12:00.000-04:00

I just played Tetris with forty men, two forklifts and two shipping containers. I did all that at two AM. I just had the most fun I’ve had in Iraq.

The most painful part of redeploying to the states is the constant packing, paperwork and repacking. We have to make sure everything will fit inside the shipping containers (aka milvan, conex), then, starting at nine at night, we have to lay it all out on the ground and wait while the US Customs inspectors look through it all to make sure that we are not smuggling back illegal items (porn, alcohol, dirt [I shit you not], animal parts, human remains, embargoed merchandise [Cuban cigars], weapons, etc). Then, under their watchful supervision, we reload all of the equipment into the containers, seal them up and leave them to be loaded for their journey, by way of Kuwait, to the US.

We laid everything out, it was inspected, and time, tonight, came to load it all back up. Around this time the First Sergeant left, leaving brief instructions with various squad leaders on how to make the load plan happen. Aside: this, in and of itself, is not a big deal. Squad leaders, especially after over a year in combat, can most likely handle themselves and make things happen. The problem with leaving like he did was mostly that there was little centralized leadership – which is where Staff Sergeant Buenteo (my senior NCO and acting Platoon Sergeant while SFC Howard is away) and I came in.

Once all the boxes and bags that were going into the conex were packed, we went to work. We had loaded a good number of large boxes called conex inserts (continently shaped and sized to fit well inside conexes), but when loaded these boxes, about five feet by four by three or four high, are rather heavy – not liftable by hand. One of my guys suggested that we steal a small Bobcat forklift that was sitting, unused nearby. About two minutes later, another one of my guys was at the wheel (with the appropriate safety equipment, amazingly enough) lifting and moving inserts around. Once we started with those we began to load smaller boxes, crates and other items. I directed, with Sergeant Buenteo, from inside the conex, hopping from box to box and hauling things up to me. By the end I had climbed up on the piles several times, grabbing stuff, throwing it around, moving bags and boxes to better spots. I was holding the last bag up as we closed the door, and I had to pull my arm as they it closed.

Sergeant Buenteo had moved over to start the next conex over while I finished up the first. I finished and moved over to the other conex which was about half full. The Milvan required a little more gymnastics, in the end necessitating that four of us crawl over the top of the inserts, through a space perhaps two feet high, to the back and push a wall of inserts forward because the forklift couldn’t get at them.

We finished the last conex after two thirty in the morning. I kept joking with people “That was fun. Let’s do it again tomorrow night!” which of course was wry because we have three more conexes to load in the coming nights. But it was also true. Near the end of the first conex, I realized I hadn’t looked at my watch for two hours and didn’t realize it was one thirty. It was exciting to actually be doing something physical (yeah, split infinitive, I don’t care), not paperwork. It was a fun challenge, trying to find a place for everything. It was fun working with all my guys and other soldiers on a task that we could accomplish. It was also at night, so a fair amount cooler. I had a hell of a lot of fun.

Parallels

2007-08-24T05:29:00.000-04:00

I’ve moved to Camp Taji, another FOB that’s closer to Baghdad. 5-20 was based out of here for a while before they moved to Baqubah, and now we’re back. We drove down in Strykers in the early morning and when I stepped out of the back the sun was still fairly low in the East. A little groggy from the ride, and trying restore the blood flow to my ass (interior seating is not as comfortable as one might want), I looked and walked around the area we live in. And that was when I was hit with some serious déjà vu – I could have been in some small old town in California’s central valley.

It was early enough in the morning that the heat hadn’t kicked up to what I think of as normal Iraq levels. It was dusty, but not sandy (like most of Iraq I’ve been in – Kuwait is sandy, but my Iraq experience has been limited to river valleys) and there was just enough scrub vegetation around and on the horizon to differentiate Taji from Warhorse. This part of Taji is much more wide open, where Warhorse was smaller and had a lot more internal barriers and other obstacles that obscured sightlines. I can see for more than a kilometer in many directions, and off to one side there is huge junkyard/trash dump filled with hundreds of vehicle carcasses and engine parts.

Warhorse was built on an abandoned airfield, but a fairly small one. Taji also has an airfield at its center, but it’s a much larger, more active one. Most of the buildings on Warhorse, left over from the original Iraqi construction were larger hanger-type buildings, and the rest of the construction was obviously newer and American. Taji is littered with smaller, single-story residential-looking buildings left by the Iraqis – buildings that are of fairly crappy construction and that were obviously neglected a bit. They’re still structurally sound, but they look a hell of a lot like some of the old motels on the less traveled parts of Route 66 in Arizona or off of Highway 5 in the central valley. There is this “abandoned by time, but still holding on” feel about the buildings – like someone lives here, but no one loves it.

It’s funny – the timing isn’t that far off. Last summer I was traveling all over the US in the middle of summer, driving through various parts of the US that look very similar to parts of Iraq. This is the beginning of the end of my time in Iraq. (To be fair, this is still Iraq – the enemy has the PX pretty well dialed in with their mortars – hits in the PX complex have killed half a dozen people in the past couple weeks, and the main gate was hit by two car bombs while I was at the phone center a few hundred meters away, but I’m safer than I was in Baqubah). I’m definitely still working down here, but I’m not going outside the wire, I have a good deal better accommodations and a lot more free time. This realization of how familiar this place looks is the final psychological confirmation.

If anything, this place reminds me a bit of my dad. The single best comparison I can make is the little general aviation airport somewhere in California where he made his first solo flight – it was hot, dusty and flat – and the fact of continually moving aircraft helps. That or the summer he and I, rather unsuccessfully, tried to get our remote controlled plane to fly.

On living with the enemy

2007-08-24T05:25:00.000-04:00

I was sitting in a house in Old Baqubah. I’ve been in this house a hell of a lot. In fact, I realized several weeks ago, much to my chagrin, that I’ve been in this house more than I’ve been in the new houses or apartments that any of my friends have gotten since graduating college. This house is and was held by the Baqubah Guardians, essentially a neighborhood watch group that we’ve been working with to keep stability and security in Old Baqubah. We meet with them on a regular basis to discuss how the neighborhood is doing, what we need them to do, what they need from us, etc. I don’t even remember the details of this meeting – It could have been about people in the neighborhood had been detained, the curfew in OB, questions about suspicious AK gunfire during the night – anything.

I was speaking to the BG leaders through my old interpreter, JJ, for a while. As happens a lot, there were long periods where one side would talk, and the other, not having a bloody clue what the other is saying, has to pretend to be interested until the other party stops and the terp gets his turn. (A good terp can handle these really long, complex exchanges, which really allows much more complex, natural conversation – with a bad or inexperienced terp, you have to talk in short burst, about a clause at a time, and check that he knows the words you’re using.) During one of these particularly long exchanges, I began spacing, and thinking about how Old Baqubah had been much more dangerous immediately before I arrived. US forces didn’t operate in OB the way we do now, as recent as June. It really is a remarkable turn around, and I only hope it can last.

I began thinking about how, less than two months prior, sitting down in this house, with the level of security that we had would have been out of the question. I had a decent sized element, all armed of course, with me, but we were surrounded, and outnumbered by Iraqis with AK-47s. These were Iraqis who, when the Battalion entered Baqubah in March, might have been shooting at Americans. Short term or long term, it would make no sense for them to shoot us right then – every one of them would have been killed, half the neighborhood would have been destroyed by missiles and artillery and the inroads into power that the Baqubah Guardians had made would be lost.

Regardless, I began to think of, in the ways of a paranoid fantasy, what would happen if this meeting, this day, was an ambush. I began picturing, quickly what might happen if one or more of these Iraqis were to open fire on me and my men. Who was keeping a close eye on all of the Iraqis? How easily could I lift my weapon, considering my posture and body armor? Could I sweep it around to the guy over my right shoulder? How was the background – was I going to hit any of my own men? Might they hit me? To the best of my knowledge, I showed no outward signs of my train of thought – I kept looking at the BG leader who was speaking, though I understood perhaps one word in twenty – and these thoughts lasted perhaps ten seconds. A couple of seconds after I mentally dismissed this line of thought as paranoid, and a little funny, I noticed, out in my peripheral vision, the man over my right shoulder raise, very quickly, his arms up. There was a pause, and then a small motion and loud, complex “click.”

It took me, perhaps, two tenths of a second to realize that he was lighting a cigarette.

Language Barriers, or why I miss JJ

2007-08-24T05:21:00.000-04:00

Obviously, there is a language barrier out here. Local Iraqis usually have some English, but nowhere near enough to converse with us. It’s mostly phonetic stuff and really common phrases. My guys, some more than others, have about the same grasp of Arabic. Hence the terps. We had a great interpreter, named JJ, up until a couple days ago. He doesn’t want to work with any other platoon, and wants to go back to college (finish up his fourth year), so to make sure he doesn’t get stuff here after we leave, he quit early. This was fine with us because JJ was a great terp – he almost never complained, was always up to work, had a very good grasp of both English and Arabic and was truly enthusiastic about the mission and working with people – also a mean dominos player. JJ, a pseudonym we used when talking with him in front of other Iraqis, put himself in a very dangerous situation on a regular basis – the standard danger that every one of us faces out here, plus the danger of being recognized on the street (though he is from a different area of Iraq than Baqubah) and having his family targeted and the possibility that someone might recognize him after he quits working as a terp and goes back to a normal life.

However it necessitated us using a new terp that we had not worked with before. This new terp, like many, is from the north or Iraq, or as he calls it Kurdistan, and so Arabic is not his native language. Neither is English, and it shows. Now, obviously, his Arabic skills far outshine mine, or those of any of my men. However, it made it very difficult to communicate difficult or complex concepts the people we were trying to talk to. Our new terp’s, shall we say communicative difficulties, doubled the length of any conversation and led to a great deal of frustration on both sides of every conversation. Having been so lucky with JJ in my previous months, I hadn’t really realized how difficult it could be to conduct otherwise simple business with Iraqis. I’m definitely thankful for JJ now, and I guess I’ve come to appreciate more the difficult job terps have out here.

Wes Clark at Yearly Kos

2007-08-15T08:39:00.000-04:00

Wes Clark gave a pretty good speech at Yearly Kos this year (I wonder if Adam saw it in person, you lucky bastard). He brings up a lot of good points, a lot of widely varying points. It was definitely more of a rallying cry than a call for the implementation of specific policy. My shitty internet prevents me from linking to it right now, but try googling “Wes Clark: Iraq- Military and Diplomatic Solutions.” I agree with a lot of what he says, especially his analysis of Bush, and especially his call for Bush to defend his policy without falling back to the senior generals.

Clark lists a number of things (a lot of them straight from the Administration’s own ridiculous rhetoric) that he feels we can’t manage in Iraq – and he’s right. But then he lists the things he things we can manage –

"But what we can hope for still is a state that holds together, that doesn't break apart. And we can hope for a state that tries to work law and order issues with its own, within its own territory and doesn't become a breeding ground for future terrorist activities or for exporting violence in the region. And we can hope for a state that in some way will allow the wonderful, industrious, smart and capable people of Iraq to make their own way forward. And we can hope for a state in which thousands of Iraqis aren't dying every month.

Those are pretty modest, those are pretty modest objectives, and as we move toward those objectives, if we do it the right way, I think we can protect the larger U.S. interests in the region and we can withdraw our troops, but we can't do it without a change in the United States strategy of engagement in the region. "

and here is where begin my problems. While none of the propositions in the first paragraph are particularly spectacular things to hope for, they are by no means modest. Iraq is a very long way from being “a state that tries to work law and order issues with its own, within its own territory.” Having worked with the Iraqi Army and Police (and having spoken to Audrey, I imagine she’ll largely agree), law and order are not high on the ISF priority list – though you can get SVU if you have a satellite dish. On a small unit level, the Iraqi Police are largely cowardly (not unreasonably so in many cases), on a larger scale they are corrupt and incompetent. In Diyala they’re either afraid of, or working for a local militia. Depending on the station, or who you ask, they’re infiltrated by Jeesh al Mahdi. Individuals in the Iraqi Security Forces (IP and IA) may be dedicated to law and order, but on an institutional level they’re dedicated to graft and survival.

Iraq is already “breeding ground for future terrorist activities or for exporting violence in the region,” and it’s sure as hell not going to get any better soon. The best thing we can do in this respect is to get US forces out Iraq as soon as possible (not necessarily my position on the overall war). The fewer US forces that JAM/ISI/AQIZ/1920s have to practice against, to hone their skills against, they more will their training decline. The fewer people (civilian and otherwise) US forces kill in Iraq, the less likely it is that their loved ones will want to attack us (export violence). The “fight them in Iraq instead of Kansas” argument is not valid (read and read – both are good arguments and very funny), and us not being there has the added benefit of not killing Americans. It is tragic that thousands of Iraqis are dying every month – I’ve met a number of Iraqis that I like and respect - but thousands will still die with or without us. Thousands of people are being killed in underdeveloped nations around the world every month.

But the one argument that grabbed me first was “And we can hope for a state that in some way will allow the wonderful, industrious, smart and capable people of Iraq to make their own way forward.” We don’t need to hope for this one. It’s already happening – two million Iraqis have already left this country, with another two million internally displaced. The smart, industrious, capable people of Iraq have left to places where they can be smart, industrious and capable without their work and lives being destroyed. They’re making their own way forward – out of Iraq. There, of course, is the other set of smart, industrious, capable Iraqis that have remained in Iraq – leading new movements, creating new technologies – but the US is actively working to kill or capture them because they’re insurgents.

I agree with a great deal of what General Clark said, but to call any of those objectives modest is to be pathologically optimistic (reminds me of the Administration) or to casually minimize the chaotic political and military situation in the nation.

Quick update

2007-08-11T01:25:00.000-04:00

Another commo blackout. Not sure what happened, though I’ve heard a couple possibilities – either way, I’m fine. Back in for a couple days, finally, though I still have a lot to work on. I almost look forward to being in sector now, if only because I have a good idea of what to do out there. Back on the FOB we’re moving back and forth from one weird BS tasking to another – whether it’s packing and repacking our shipping containers (which will have to be un- and re-packed at least 3 more times in 2 or more locations) or getting together more lists and numbers and names to shovel into the gaping maw that is the Army’s redeployment paperwork engine (I’ve been reading some steampunk).

However, it’s trying to do both – go on mission and do BS – that’s tough. And of course, it all means that going home is always tantalizingly on the horizon. Of course I’m lucky I get to go home so soon, my guys have been here 15 months, Audrey will be here near a year before she goes, etc. In the end, it reminds me of the end of high school - that summer after graduation, waiting to go to college. This line of thought - that I’m almost done with one thing, waiting for the next thing to begin – sucks. Of course, to make the analogy work, I’d have to be taking high school finals two weeks before I moved off to college, and having no summer – except for the heat.

This is a airing of grievances, not an objective review

2007-08-11T01:01:00.000-04:00

I’m going to make a departure from my usual posts to do with the Army, Iraq and politics to address something that has been bothering me for a couple days now.

I’m pissed at J. K. Rowling. I understand that Deathly Hallows is a departure for her, in that she had to write away from the familiar structure that Hogwart’s semester system allowed her. I understand that it, no matter the author, will be difficult to end a seven-book saga spanning years and several thousand pages in a way that will satisfy adults while remaining palatable to younger readers. All of that said, I kept waiting for the book to begin in earnest.

Perhaps the hallmark of the Potter series is the mysteries that the protagonists must solve to overcome the central challenge of each book. Hallows central mystery is the identity of the horcruxes and how to destroy them, with the Deathly Hallows as a side challenge that, I think was meant to help strengthen the horcrux line. Throughout all the previous books, Harry, Ron and Hermoine work, sneak, research and fight to gain the occulted answers that will allow them to defeat whichever enemy they happen to be fighting that book. In Hallows the answer to every problem Harry faces is handed to him. Gryffindor’s sword, the goblin, how to defeat Voldemort, the mystery of Dumbledore’s family: all are handed to Harry with minimal effort on his part. The most you can say Harry does to discover the secrets he needs to find is to hang around in the woods for a couple months. I understand that the pacing of the book cannot rely solely on Harry’s actions, and I realize that great tension can be added forcing the protagonists to deal with rapidly changing events. However, I think Rowling could have given Harry a more proactive role in his own final book.

This leads to my main problem with the novel – after he leaves Godric’s Hollow, Harry doesn’t really make a single decision. Even Harry’s decision to give his life isn’t a decision – it’s a blind acceptance of Dumbledore’s orders. It is almost as if Ms. Rowling’s hand is pushing and prodding Harry through the book so she can go outside and play. The plotting of Hallows is rushed and seems to move from one major event to the next with only occasional brief lapses for introspection, whether by the characters or the author. Sadly, it feels like Rowling has been taking notes from the most recent Harry Potter movies, eschewing character development and internal examination in favor of jumping from one epic action sequence to the next. And even when Rowling goes for epic, as with the penultimate battle in Hogwarts, the scenes seem flat, lacking in description and atmosphere. A great deal seems to be happening, but the reader is left to assume most of the battle, running from one end to the other with blinders on. Harry doesn’t even ever battle Voldemort, he simply has to let Voldemort try to kill him twice.

The previous books have very rarely been plot based – character development having been the most important aspect. Not so with Hallows. I understand that length (acceptable in a children’s book) and the amount of things the characters needed to accomplish must have constrained Rowling in the pacing of Hallows. Regardless, once Harry breaks into Gringotts, the unrestrained plotting brings to mind the worst of the James Bond movies – plot as an excuse to move from one action scene to another shot in exciting locales. And when it’s all over, less than ten pages of final introspection and grief for the multitude of characters killed. The final chapter, Nineteen Years Later, while fun and a bit cute, does not reveal anything unexpected (aside from the fact that no one named their kid after Fred - WTF). Instead of showing the readers the hours and days after the final battle, truly interesting healing, grieving, loving and working to fix major problems at Hogwarts and in the wizarding world, Rowling chose to show a prosaic scene that takes place long after the conflict, involving characters we barely know and have little invested in. All that final scene shows us is that life has indeed gone back to normal, without any of the interesting, messy work that it took to get there. As I said before, it seems as if Rowling had a plot outline, and not necessarily a bad one, but instead of fleshing it out with deep, interesting character development, she rushed through it – for whatever reason.

In the end, Rowling wrote this as if it were the final Harry Potter film, not the final book – much to the detriment of both, and to the detriment of her fans.

I know why

2007-08-08T06:51:00.000-04:00

A woman came into our strongpoint house several days ago with her toddler son. She was looking for information about her husband. He’d been kidnapped last winter and she had heard almost nothing about him in months – just rumor and possible sightings from people imprisoned with him. The first thing that struck me was her age – she was in her 30s and her husband was in his 60s. The next thing was her demeanor. She was so calm. Perhaps the intervening time since his kidnapping had tempered her emotions, or perhaps it was denial about the likely possibility that her husband was dead, but her ability to talk calmly, normally, about her situation was indeed strange.

I’m doing well here. My platoon is getting along well - in the sense that they are doing the right thing and working well, and that there really isn’t any infighting. I’ve done a couple stupid things, pissed a couple people off (mostly outside the platoon), but for most part, my screw ups have been minor, new guy stuff. That said, the air of “let’s get the fuck out of here” has definitely affected me. Part of it is that I really want to get back to the states and, for the first time in one and a half years, actually have a semi-permanent home. Of course, there is also the part where I want to get the fuck out of this country (with the heat, the shitty phones and internet, the dust, the shitty facilities, and of course, people wanting to kill you).

So, Kuwait will likely be better than here (better communications, and I’m hoping for better accommodations), and it will mean I’m closer to being back at Lewis, and closer to being able to see you all. It will also mean I lose my guys for a month or so, which sucks, but at least I’ll have company. A buddy of mine will be on the same detail with me. Not so bad, and I get a little extra money to be able to afford furniture, block leave travel, et al.

Also, don’t send me any more packages. I won’t be able to get any mail that hasn’t already been sent until I get my new address in Kuwait, so don’t waste your money. Thank you all again for all the awesome stuff you’ve sent. It has meant a great deal.

And yet I’m still in a shitty mood. Huh.

It's over now - this was meant for several days ago

2007-07-31T04:26:00.000-04:00

The moon has been huge lately. Bright and high in a nearly cloudless (and haze less) sky. Makes getting around at night much easier. The FOB at night is rather dark – no exterior lights to make mortar spotting harder – so walking around can be an interesting experience. This is the sort of place that makes you realize the importance, and our dependence on, street lights (and sidewalks). The ground here is uneven – occasionally rocky – moving from gravel to thick silt and back and then to hard packed ridges left in the road from previous rains. I try to get around without a flashlight, partially because I don’t want to have to use one, and partially because I don’t often remember to grab one. The moon’s size and position can be predicted fairly easily – it’s the clarity in the sky, the lack of light-choking dust, that has caught me off guard of late.

Communication Blackouts suck.

The first reason is obvious – they only happen when someone on the FOB has died. It allows the Army to make next of kin notification through official channels, ensuring that no one discovers that they’re a widow on MySpace. Commo blackouts suck because it means that someone, a fellow soldier, has died, in most cases someone you didn’t know – and to find this out at the phone center is a strange thing. You feel for this person’s friends – the ones he or she lived with on the FOB, the ones who likely had to recover the remains, the people who are simultaneously grieving and thankful they’re still alive – and you feel for this person’s family – the ones who don’t know yet what they don’t yet know. But for the rest of us, those who know this person only by the uniform and the FOB we share, it’s a disconcerting reminder of both our own mortality and the smallness of one person’s death.

The other reasons become apparent as you live through the blackout. There’s no way, no matter how cold your heart, to really blame the dead for your inconvenience – for your inability to call your girlfriend. But you can blame the Army. For whatever you want – that is a soldier’s right. You can blame the Army for (in order of increasing import and decreasing rationality) for its inability to contact the next of kin. Honestly, how hard can it be – the number of times I have had to give various parts of the Army my parents address, phone numbers, place of business, most common route to work, stride length, etc baffles me – to find someone? You can blame the Army for getting this soldier killed – through some overt act or negligence or lack of training or maintenance or equipment or leadership. You can, and many do, blame the Army for us being here – Iraq, Baqubah, not in the US drinking beer – entirely, seeing that as cause enough for this most recent death.

Communications with the outside world is what keeps us sane. Most of this communication is one-sided – in the form of movies, tv, dvds, magazines, et al. – but it helps keep us sane. That’s why the Army lets the Haji shops sell bootleg dvds – we’d all revolt if they didn’t, or get the same product off post, in a much more violence-prone locale. But at least in my case (and I’m not even married, or in a relationship or trying to raise children), you can only watch so much tv and play so many video games and write and not send so many blog posts before you need to actually hear a familiar voice telling you anything at all. We all have friends here, work friends, close friends, friends we would likely die for, but it’s the communication – the personal communication – with all of you out there that keeps us sane. For good or ill, we here are all tainted with this place, this place we all fought to get, continue to fight for, and want so much to leave. Talking about the world outside this place – the little things, the personal bits, the tiny and huge things that we miss most about the world we’ve all left behind – that is what keeps us from despair. (I once told a friend of mine, in fact my favorite bartender, that his place was the reason why I fought. I find that just as true now – I’ll keep on going here so that when I get home I can sit at that bar and drink amazing microbrews and Belgians.) Remember what good – what small, seemingly insignificant, taken for granted things – we have to come home to, that is what we lose. That we lose at the same time as we are filled with uncomfortable reminders of our own transience.

Of course the blackout isn’t as total as I make it out be. For one thing, you’re reading this. Because the death wasn’t in my Brigade, our internet center is open, working on the assumption that I either don’t know enough about the death or don’t know anyone to tell. However, the post phone center remains closed, which is why none of you have received any calls this week.

- In fact, if anyone could find me the email/snailmail address of Steilacoom Wine and Brew (of Steilacoom, Wa), I would be much obliged. I’d like to drop Jake a line.

A couple of things

2007-07-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

The FOB is on a commo blackout - someone on the FOB died (I have no idea who, just that their not in my BDE). That means no phone calls out - which sucks, because I've been wanting to call a lot of people, and can't. Shitty. More on this later.

My platoon had an Iraqi photographer tailing us on a mission recently, and we got a lot of photos on the AP wire. That was cool. I'll get those photos up when I get better internet.

I got a lot of letters and care packages from people lately - Manny and Eliz most recently - and they were all awesome. I appreciate them all - they're great, really. That said, stop. Yeah, we'll be moving away from this FOB soon enough that if you don't send me something, by let's say, 01 August, I probably won't get it. It'll get lost somewhere in Iraq. Thank you all the stuff, and if I stay in one place long enough I'll get you all my new address.

Finally, I will not be getting back to Lewis until early/mid October. The rest of my Battalion will be getting back mid September, but I get to stay in Kuwait for about an extra month doing paperwork. Sucks, but I'm the new guy and I've only been here a couple months instead of fifteen. C'est la vie.

Why I won't get a Combat Action Badge...

2007-07-23T04:20:00.000-04:00

The clearing operations we’ve been doing in Baqubah have been relatively uneventful (considering the number of soldiers involved) since I got here. During the operation were involved in now, clearing Old Baqubah, we really only took fire in the first hour or so. When we were on the west side of Baqubah, after the first two days, we only had sporadic contact with the enemy. We’ve had people killed (mostly by IEDs), and more injured, but considering the number of soldiers moving on the ground, and compared to the types of losses my battalion was seeing before I got here, the losses from this operation are light. Similarly, during the two operations I’ve been a part of (on the west and east sides), we’ve largely failed to capture the high level Al Queda (AQ) and Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) targets we were hoping to scoop up.

The six weeks I was at Fort Lewis, preparing to come here were terrible for my battalion. We lost 10 men and 6 Strykers in six weeks. Six men from my company, and Russian reporter were killed when their Stryker was destroyed by a giant, deep-buried IED. Only the driver survived. I don’t know the number of soldiers who were wounded in that same time period, but I do know it was significant. Baqubah was declared by the ISI as the new capital of a fundamental Islamic Iraq – after the surge began high-level AQ and ISI leaders fled the 30 miles north to Baqubah to establish their new headquarters. All of this to say that Baqubah, especially Old Baqubah, where we’re operating right now, is a very dangerous place, a place not to be taken lightly.

So, why has it been so quiet here since I arrived and why have we been unable to capture any of these AQ and ISI leaders? I argue that it’s largely the same reason for both. We attacked this city in a slow, smart, methodical way. We went from a battalion to a brigade plus (four or so battalions) to hold the city. Instead of moving through the city in small groups and leaving, we cleared routes, held them then moved into the city, clearing building by building, holding the ground we’d taken. It took time and coordination to build the combat power to be able to do this all. It took time, it took more and more people, and because eventually (I hope) we’re going to hand Iraq off to Iraqis (and evidently they’re already ready) we had to tell the Iraqi Army about it. All of this, combined with a flawed cordon, lead to a large number of leaders, and perhaps fighters, fleeing Baqubah. The commanders of my battalion and my brigade made the decision to conduct this fight slowly and safely (as safe goes in the Army). They must have known that the slower, the larger, these operations got, the fewer AQ and ISI members they would find. They decided that force protection was more important than getting every insurgent we could.

And do you know why I agree that it should have been done the way we did it? Because this place isn’t worth it. The Army will continue to do its job. We will stay, trying to accomplish the objectives we’re given, trying to provide some measure of stability to this country until the bastards in suits (read this - now) tell us to come home. That said, this place is not worth taking chances. We might have been able to cut off more of the head of the insurgency in Baqubah if we hadn’t waited for the rest of the brigade to arrive, or if we had been more aggressive in going on raids or clearing. And that might have had an impact on the ability of Al Queda to operate in Iraq. Or it might have had no impact on the insurgency. But it would have gotten more of my men and my friends killed and maimed, rest assured. As military leaders, we’ll continue to do our best to accomplish our mission; but our first mission is bring everyone home in one piece.

I’m not quite as bitter as Audrey (though she’s not really as bitter as her blog makes her seem) – I would love it if I could help Iraqis. I feel bad kicking Iraqis out of their houses for a night so we can use it as an overwatch. I feel bad for blowing up the door to a shop to search it, knowing that we may have destroyed the livelihood of that shop owner just because his locks were too good. It was kind of nice delivering food to people (though the mob mentality that developed made me hate people, all people, just a little more), helping the people who’s city we’ve been blowing up. But it’s not worth taking risks that get my men killed. We’ll clear Baqubah, hand it off and go home. Maybe this place will be a little safer for us having been here. Hopefully. Hopefully all of Iraq will be safer. Maybe a couple decades down the line Iraq will look a bit like Vietnam does today. I’ll do my job to the best of my ability, but this place isn’t worth my guys dying.

To whom it may concern...

2007-07-17T01:33:00.000-04:00

This is one of those letters without an addressee. It has to be a letter – it doesn’t really feel like a journal entry of any kind – and it definitely should be read by someone. I just can’t tell who you’re supposed to be.

So maybe that’s the problem. I just watched Garden State, and listening to the final song – it brings up this feeling, this feeling very well summed up in the movie – and it requires, yes requires, some response, something done in reaction. It’s that song, that movie, that time that it came out, all of fills me a feeling of love and and anticipation of something great coming up. And therein lies the new, interesting twist and the reason I’m writing to you.

That feeling that I had to share this great feeling, share it with someone (though I don’t know who) because something big is about to happen. And it occurs to me that, indeed in my life, something big is about to happen. We’re starting our clearance of [REMOVED] soon, and while I am not expecting any kind of terrible thing to happen to me, I know that it could. And all this thinking of someone to share it with makes me realize that I never wrote you the letter I had intended. The letter I had meant to write months ago and leave in a safety deposit box in Dupont, Wa. Just in case.

It’s not a fear of death. For some reason, I don’t fear it at all (and that may change once I’ve experienced a little more combat), and the thought that I might die doesn’t really affect me at. It’s not really fatalism (I don’t think), it’s just that if I die, if not I don’t, and while I’m here in Iraq I’ll do all the things I can to stay alive (but this being the Army, all of those things are already rules I have to follow anyway). It’s not even a fear of being misunderstood. If I’m dead and you didn’t know exactly what I thought of you – well, that’s unfortunate, but I’ll live (pun intended).

But I should have written you a letter – I intended to. I was going to tell you all the stuff you and I already knew, things that we don’t talk about because they would complicate things or because they seem too sappy said aloud. I was going to be casually eloquent – too verbose, too formal and I would sound forced, too casual would read forced and not leave the impression I was looking for.

I thought about writing the letter before I left, giving it to you the last time I saw you – telling you to read it once I was safely far away, still in the US, maybe, or maybe once I took off – but I decided against it. Perhaps because I chickened out, perhaps because I thought it wouldn’t be productive, and might even be detrimental. Maybe I just ran out of time. Whatever it was, I’ve neglected it too long. So, soon I think I’ll write it soon. For now, however, you’ll have to make do with this one. How long you’ll have to wait for the next one depends on a lot of factors – only some of which are under my control.

The Army as High School

2007-07-10T15:49:00.000-04:00

It’s funny how much army life can resemble normal life in small, amusing ways. Any number of people like to think of the Army (and I think that this applies more to “the old Army” than to the current “professional Army”) as a place for boys who never grew up. I don’t think that that is fair for any number of reasons, however that doesn’t mean it’s entirely wrong. But I think it’s more than that, a small bit of the Army’s microcosm is stuck in high school.

Both have an integral class structure; one being year, the other being rank. A great number of people, largely enlisted, enter the Army immediately out of high school. Both the Army and High School significantly limit immediate mobility. It is fairly difficult to get away from the people you’ve been assigned with, whether you like them or not. This leads to increased levels of tension – from being forced to interact with people you may not like and from a natural human inclination to form a social hierarchy. In terms of dating, long term deployments can lead to a level of promiscuity often seen in high school relationships. Additionally, the heavily skewed gender ratio in theater specifically, and in the Army in general, adds extra tension.

Obviously, there are any number of reasons why the fit isn’t perfect (age, experience, senior leaders, violence, availability of weapons, discipline, missions, etc). That said, there are parallels, and high school is one of the few experiences that almost all Americans share (and the media loves to use).

Perhaps all this is to say that while I walked by the movie theatre tonight, I saw a number of people, in pairs and trios standing around outside, just hanging out, talking, probably even flirting. It was like any summer night, anywhere, outside any movie theatre (except even darker and more private) in America. The mental throwback to high school was striking, a bit funny, but mostly, reassuring.

Notes and errata

2007-07-08T08:37:00.000-04:00

I'm slowly recovering from a lovely bout of "Saddam's revenge" (think Montezuma's made local). It's not so terrible, but was made more interesting by the heat and activity of this area (needed an IV to prevent dehydration). I'm out of the woods and into some swampy meadows, and should be back on the road to over-extended metaphor in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

I am, fortunately, looking at having some more free time in the next couple of days, and so hope to have time to call more (assuming you pick up [pointed glance]). I've also started receiving mail, which is much appreciated. This however leads me to the following conclusion: I am only loved by the following people:

The Kohan family (who sent me a very lovely card)
My parents
A colegue of my father's (whose package, mentioning my last bout of naseua on Thanksgiving, arrived in the midst of this bout)

And that, apearantly, is it. No one else. I am abandoned to the insurgents and the desert winds by those I thought would care. Alas and Alack! I may not recover from the heartbreak.

2007-07-04T09:09:00.000-04:00

This place has this bizarre dichotomy about it. Every detail you could think to describe a war zone –houses rubbled, fairly regular explosions, military occupation, ever-present attack helicopters, curfews and cordons, breakdown of essential services – it’s all present. When we run patrols, we do so expecting contact, covering high and low, down alleys, popping smoke grenades to mask our movement through open areas and clearing every building we go into. If we need to, we will bust in or even blow up doors to get into buildings we suspect. Despite that, despite the fact it seems it would be very difficult to forget that there’s a war on, the people we see everyday often seem to be doing just that. There is a discordant air in this place.
I think part of what feels odd about this place is the air of familiarity. Despite all the massive and obvious differences between life here and the life that I’m accustomed to, there are enough small similarities. My platoon seized a house that overwatched an intersection that we need to control. We were as nice as we could be in the situation, but in the final look we evicted a family of six from their house with minimal compensation. While I sat or lay in the ridiculous heat in this house for several days it reminded me of my grandparents’ home in southern California. The heat (though Baquoba is much worse than Dana Point), the slight breezes, the concrete, and most of all, the light all reminded me of sitting on the patio with my grandparents in the summer.
Perhaps the strangest thing is the reaction of many people we encounter. Despite then fact that we are an occupying army, and that when we came into this neighborhood we cordoned off the entire city and started blowing up houses (houses that were rigged with explosives by Al Queda, or used by snipers), many of the residents I’ve talked to have thanked us for being in the neighborhood. The head of the family I evicted, whose house we essentially stole for several days, told me that he was very grateful that we, US forces, were there to protect the neighborhood and that we had kicked out Al Queda. His was not an unusual sentiment. As we patrolled through the neighborhood and went into houses to speak with residents we were often offered chai (hot, sweetened black tea) and food.
Days later we walked through a neighborhood in southwestern Baquoba. Even before the war, this place had open sewers that flowed into the dirt road between houses. We were polling the residents on the overall feeling in the community, looking for sources that would inform against Al Queda, getting what we call “atmospherics.” The power has been out in this part of Baquoba since the beginning of this operation (taking with it local well water pumps), and no one is allowed out of the neighborhood, so almost all food and water come from US/Iraqi Army sources or small local stockpiles. The complaints we get often center around the scarcity of food and water, the lack of power, and the cordon.
We came to the door of the courtyard of one house (all houses here have walled courtyards around them), and listened to an old woman bound to a wheelchair tell us that they had very little food and water because she couldn’t go to the humanitarian aid drops. She was surrounded by her family members, one of which was a little girl of perhaps ten or twelve. The little girl, through all of this talk of deprivation, had a bright, adorable smile spread across her face. Perhaps she was used to the situation – children seem to adapt more quickly – and perhaps she was excited or intrigued by our presence, but she seemed genuinely happy despite all that was going on around her. And even as we moved down to the next house I couldn’t get over how much she looked like Susann Almasi when she was that age.

How is it that I'm actually surprised...?

2007-07-04T05:38:00.000-04:00

Sweet god. I actually didn't see this coming. It really is the "shame exploit." Read the whole article. Fuck.

2007-06-30T03:57:00.000-04:00

I really need to have my mom start writing more of my blog. She really makes it sound much more exciting than it really is. Honestly, mom, I think I would be less bored if I were doing all the things people think I'm doing. That said boring is better than exciting. (I've come up with my own scale: Boring = what I've been doing; Interesting = stuff like the Humanitarian Aid, stuff that keeps you occupied but has a low liklihood of violence; and Exciting = violence, of which I have personally not had any.)

Honestly, most of the things I do are incredibly boring, they just happen to be done in a relatively dangerous area. For instance: I've been sitting on an intersection fo a couple of days now, our strykers on the roads, overwatching to make sure no one plants any IEDs or tries to set up roadblocks, etc. Most of my guys are living in a nearby house. Nothing happens for days. My guys sit on guard for shifts, and when they're off they sleep, bullshit, clean weapons, etc. When we're in the house we are down to t-shirts because it's safe to, and its hot as hell with no AC or fans. A couple times we go on patrol through the neighborhood, but not for very long or far because I don't have enough guys to do full size patrols. Lots of families around, some with sick kids, some just hungry or hot or tired (like us, but with less hope). But overall, it's a safe place. We hear gunfire occasionally, but not often and not aimed at us. It's quiet mostly, and like I said, boring.

However, 4 days a go, a guy sitting in a Stryker at that same intersection got shot in the head. He's fine, it didnt go through his helmet (it was the 4th time this luckyluckylucky dude has nearly been shot). In response to his shooting, we leveled a house in the neighborhood (where the shots came from).

So, like I said: mostly boring.

2007-06-27T06:25:00.001-04:00

Hey. I'm still alive, well and a bit tired. See if you see my platoon giving out humanitarian Aid in Baquoba on the NBC nightly news.

still alive...

2007-06-24T13:43:00.000-04:00

Baquoba is blowing up around me. Cool, no? Anyway, now that you all have my address you can send me stuff! I don't really need food (though, perhaps some easy breakfast stuff [pop tarts, et al] would be nice), but the thing I would love is humor. Send me cds/dvds of burned Daily Show and Colbert and the like. Good, funny viral shit too. Thank you all. Also, comments people, comments. Finally, check the comments for my mom's blog - it's sort of a counterpoint to mine. ta.

2007-06-17T09:59:00.000-04:00

I'm alive. I'm in Baquoba. I'm incredibly busy, so sorry guys. I picked up my platoon. They're good guys and I have a great platoon sargeant. Finally have an address:

2LT David Von Bargen
4th PLT, A-Co, 5-20In, 3-2SBCT
FOB Warhorse
Baquoba, Iraq
APO AE 09336

Those of you I like, you know it. Those of you I love, you know it too. Those of you who aren't sure, well, I'm going to keep you guessing.

Attack 4-6, Out.

A quick update and some thoughts

2007-06-12T05:34:00.000-04:00

First the quick update. I'm still here in Baghdad. I'm at FOB Liberty near the Baghdad Airport. Living conditions here are even nicer than in Kuwait. I have a real (though broken) bed with two mattresses, we have AC, more power outlets than I can shake a stick at (though, to be fair, sticks are not all that prevelent), amd terrible, expensive WiFi. The down side is mostly the long walks to get anywhere. The Kuwait FOBs were much, much smaller, ergo, shorter walks. No Starbucks that I've found, though there is a Cinabon. If anyone would like me t pick up something while I'm here (interesting jewelry, cheap knock-off electronics, Cuban cigars, rugs) let me know and I'll see what can be done.

I'm heading up to FOB Warhorse (Baquoba) in the next couple of days to meet my unit (finally). I'm going to be the leader of an anti-tank platoon (3 Strykers with TOW missile tubes on top). Evidently I may also get some other guys, or possibly some more Strykers as well, depending on mission. Anitipating greatly. Another cool side: My friend Audrey is already there. She's been leading a Military Police platoon up in Baquoba for a couple months now. So, party.

Enough of me. Found this delightful article on the web : Video Recording Leads to Felony Charge
. Essentially, a man was arrested for video taping a traffic stop he was involved it. He was in the passenger seat and recorded the interaction of the driver and the officer during a stop, using his phone. He was arrested for illegal wiretap. Yep. Evidently, if the sound had been off, he'd have no problem. Ironically enough, the police officer was also recording the traffic stop from his police car.

First thing: This goes straight to the ability of the public to demand accountiblility from police. What possible reason could the police have for preventing the man from recording. He did not leave the vehicle or interfere with the traffic stop in any way. He sat there, holding a camera phone. Would the police have arrested a bystander on the street with a camcorder? Considering that a, the police car camera was recording the event (which should a public record, and if not, could be FOIA'd), and b, the possiblity (and legality) of any number of security cameras in the vicinity, the police should have absolutely no leg to stand on to prevent taping of stops.

Second thing: While this stop didn't get violent, it makes me think of the Rodney King incident. The only reason (some of) those officers were tried at all is because of the video taping of Mr. King's beating. Without the ability of the citizenry to hold police accountible for their actions (even if in this case, prior to arresting the passenger, they were doign nothing wrong), we lack a serious check on governmental power in this (well, that) country. Look at the police response the Mayday march in Los Angelos last month. Does anyone believe the current Police chief would have had the same reaction to the melee without the aftermath of the Rodney King video? I don't mean to get sappy, but, "protect and defend the Constitution" is kind of the reason I'm over here. I hope that the ACLU or some similar body gets involved in this case. If anyone finds any more news on this case, or relevent caselaw, please, post it in the comments.

Heading to Baghdad

2007-06-08T01:52:00.000-04:00

Hey, real quick note to all interested. I'm heading up to Baghdad sometime today. As for what i'll do when i get there, or where i'll be, or what kind of internet/phone/bed situation I'll find - No idea. [To be fair I probably couldn't tell you anyway.] If anyone has any good articles/stories from the news they want to send me (via email) I'd love them. i'll especailly take any articles on the surge or the new Czar.

2007-06-04T02:56:00.000-04:00

Brief mesage to let you all know that I'm safely in Kuwait. Not much to tell. Living in an overly air conditioned tent (was freezing last night), which is kinda nice considering it is in the mid 100s during the day. Not too hot, though, considering. I should be here for a couple more days (up to 6 before heading to Baghdad). I don't have an snail mail address yet, mostly likely won't until the middle of June. It's funny; food here is petty good, there's bottled water everywhere (litterally by the palateful), and there are fast food places all over the place too, supposedly there is a Starbucks here somewhere. That said, everyone is carrying a weapon, its 100 F in the shade and the dust is everypresent. So it's not going to be confused with home. Not bad, all told. We'll be doing training at various times the next couple of days (of course we don't have any of it locked down particularly, so we're kinda in the dark).

I've always wanted to see Scotland...

2007-06-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

...I just wish I could see more than the inside of a tiny provincial airport.
I heart Army. Due to some delightful miscommunication/miscalculation/idiocy on someone's part, I (and 120 of my closest Army buddies) are sitting in a tiny Terminal in Glasgow, Scotland. For an unknown amount of time. We were supposed to have gone to Germany, but were at max weight for the aircraft, and stayed too long on the tarmac at JFK, so we didnt have enough fuel to make it to Germany. So now we sit, stranded, without anywhere to sleep for upwards of 16 hours at the mercy of Brittish Airport prices and a weak dollar. I'm hoping we can go straight to Kuwait from here, but we may still end up going to Germany first, then Kuwait. Huzzah.

2007-05-31T13:22:00.000-04:00

So, I'm still in the US, it looks like I'll be flying tomorrow, though who knows considering the number of times I've already been bumped. This looks real though. Today is when i try to see if I can actually fit all my gear, personal crap, books, laptop, et al into 2 duffels, a ruck and a assault pack. I don't think It'll be too tough. The one thing I'm looking at though, is where the hell to put my body armor.

Anyway, as today and tomorrow are my last days in the states, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. Also, if you want to get emails from me in Iraq, comment or email and I'll add you to the list. von dot bargen at gmail dot com

I fly in about 2 weeks

2007-05-10T10:39:00.000-04:00

It's been quite some time, but considering my upcoming deployment, beginning to post again seemed the thing to do.

Yes, i am aware of the new regs, and their possible chilling effects on milblogging. But until I'm in country, there's really nothing I/they can do. I'll run it by my commander and I'll go from there.

So, for those who do not already know: I'm assigned to Fort Lewis, the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), Second Infantry Division. The rest of the SBCT has been in Iraq for some time now, so moving into a PLT with soldiers who've been doing this for almost a year (ignoring previous tours), and leading them will certainly be a leadership challenge. On the other hand, I'll be leading men who have a ridiculous amount of experience. I'm looking forward.

Honestly, at this point, I really just want to get on a damn plane. Sitting in a hotel, with most of shit in my car, doing not a whole lot, with 4 years of rotc and almost a year of TRADOC under my belt, I would really like to, you know, do some Army stuff.

So, I was talking with...

2006-04-09T18:02:00.000-04:00

Onlooker just now. We'd been talking earlier about how it looks like the US might, just maybe, go into Iran. I will reserve judgement on all of that for now.

However, I was bemoaning the fact that I will be in TRADOC (Army Training and Doctrine Command, ie. not commanding troops) for at least another year. Andrew points out that by that time my first deployment was done (April 2008 at the earliest) that we might be done "pacifying" Iran.

Then it occurs to me. Iran's got a decent army. I might actually be able to get some decent tank combat time in. Maybe this whole Iran war thing isn't so bad after all.

Cobra II

2006-04-08T17:37:00.000-04:00

I'm reading Cobra II ^{(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)}, the new book by Michael R. Gorden and General Bernard E. Trainor (USMC). Incredibly well-researched and in-depth, it gives an amazing look into the war in Iraq (From planning to execution to the recent past). I'm not even that far into it, but it continues to impress. Despite being very detailed about war planning and internal Bush Administration politics it remains compelling and interesting. I would recommend it as a (so far) non-political, detailed look at run up and execution of the current war.

I say non-political because the book delivers the discussions, motivations, actions and meetings that shaped the war. On the other hand, to me at least, there are some parts that I cannot help but see the political aspect of. For instance:

On August 5, [2002,] Powell ... told the president ... when the United States took out the Iraqi military it would striking a blow at the institution that held the country together. When the army cracked, the Iraqi government structure would crack and Bush would be the proud owner of 24 million people. It would take time to put a new Iraqi government in place and in the meantime the United States would be the government. It would be a multi-year commitment, which would tie up 40 percent of the U.S. Army for years. I would, Powell said, suck the oxygen out of everything else the administration wanted to do. Powell was later said to invoked the Pottery Barn rule: if you break it you own it. But the message was more blunt: it will break and you will own it.

Smart guy, that Powell.

Idiocy, meet Distributed Competence

2006-03-29T10:20:00.000-05:00

An interesting look into something I (and much of the rest of the web) have been saying for some time.

This past week or so has been a good one for blogs. Two rather incompetent folks (Ben Domenech and Howard Kaloogian) tried to lie online. Domenech was more of a generally unqualified (and not particularly eloquent) columnist, and I imagine that would be enough to get him fired, even if he hadn't plagiarized (as well as accused Coretta Scott King of being a communist) earlier in his career. Kaloogian (or someone on his staff), on the other hand, straight-up lied. Look at this photo of "Baghdad" and it's not too difficult to spot the problems.

We took this photo of downtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.

I have to say, that kind of statement, with that bad a lie is going to be uncovered. And here we come to my point. That's the brilliance of blogging. That is the thing that most large-scale media critiques miss when discussing blogs' lack of editors. Everyone who reads becomes a potential editor. In real time.

If a blogger lies (especially on blogs with large bases), people will notice. They will quote you, find data, previous posts, photos, whatever is required, and prove you lied. And then they will compare notes with the other people who also realized you lied. That is the brilliance of the web. There is a written, accessible record of your lie and a forum (either in your comments, or on another blog) to publish that rebuttal. And due to the brilliance of most search engines, a search for one will also call up the other. No more corrections a week later on A2. Real time. Distributed.

More on Jarhead... and linkage

2005-12-29T23:05:00.000-05:00

Go over and talk to Onlooker for a bit. Hes got something interesting to say about coming back from war...

A little holiday linkage

2005-12-29T22:46:00.000-05:00

I try not to be too political in this space, and limit myself to just military topics. However, i really felt like linking to Rogers for a little "my thoughts exactly."

Scroll past the first few paragraphs of rememberance if you're not a usual Monkey reader. Worth your time. New Year's Resolution.

How do we feel it?

2005-12-08T05:17:00.000-05:00

A Look Akance is right on with this one.

I don't know, if there is an answer to this one, if it is a.) make the war real at home, or b.) not have the war.

Generally, I'd be behind B, but I have issues of how to effect A. Certainly, if you have a war that's hemorrhaging five and half billion dollars a month there should be some spending restraints put in place, but seeing as resources are not scarce like they have been in prior wars, there really aren't a whole lot of things the average American can do to help (aside, of course, from stifling dissent: Freedom is on the march, and if you disagree you're helping the terrorists).

Draft Dodger Rag

2005-12-04T22:04:00.000-05:00

It will be interesting to see if we get anything like this coming out in the near future. Personally I'd love to hear the Eminem cover.

Phil Ochs - Draft Dodger Rag.mp3

New movie.. maybe

2005-11-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

So I feel like I have to weigh in on this one... if only because it's hilarious. Plus I get to do my first Pajamas Media/OSM/Pantsload Media link.

The short of it: Bruce Willis is looking to make a "pro-war" movie based on 24th Infantry Regiment in Mosul, Iraq. This acts as a lightning rod for anyone who likes to make arguments for or against Hollywood and its biases. Especially since the movie is still in pre-pre-pre-production (ie. no script).

Anyway. Aside from the (in my mind baseless) comparison of this possiblity of a movie to the Passion of the Christ, the reigning feeling I've seen from the (admittedly conservative) smattering of blogs I've read is that this will be a breath of fresh air from the "string of malicious Hollywood movies depicting out troops... [sic]"

First: A list of all the war movies made by "Hollywood" in the past, lets say, decade: (I'm going to stick with movies depicting real wars the US was involved in)

The Patriot
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers (mini-series)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
The Thin Red Line
Windtalkers
Pearl Harbor
We Were Soldiers
Three Kings
Jarhead
Blackhawk Down
Behind Enemy Lines?

These are the big war movies to come out of "Hollywood" (scare quotes used to indicate disbelief in a unified US movie-making apparatus) in the past ten years or so (I'm sure I've omitted some). For the sake of disclosure, I saw neither Captain Corelli's Mandolin no Windtalkers. The only movies on this list that negatively portray US servicemen and women or US involvement in a war would be Three Kings and possibly the Thin Red Line. In Kings our ne'er-do-well soldiers redeem themselves (certainly in the eyes of the film if not the audience) by saving the lives of dozens of Iraqi dissidents who rose up against their government. In Line we see the traumatic effects of war on the psyches of veterans. Neither of these things is inherently anti-war; perhaps jingoistic. Jarhead, I would argue, is not anti-war so much as it is the portrayal of one man's expiriences, good and bad, in the Marine Corps.

Yes, for those Swiftboat-obsessees, who have yet to get over the fact that there was public outcry against Vietnam, there were anti-war movies made about the conflict in Vietnam. And guess what? Soldiers (and policy-makers) did some pretty fucked up things in Vietnam, some things that rightly should be addressed in the media. Movies like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, et al exist for a reason, and that reason is not a "peacenik Hollywood."

However, there is certainly a debate to be had over what constitutes an "anti-war" versus a "pro-war" movie. Most people would look at Apocalypse Now and say "anti-war movie." But look at the begining of Jarhead, as the Marines about to ship out watch the gunship attack of a Vietnamese villiage to the strains of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. They don't think it's anti-war. The disposition of most movies is going to be more about what parts you watch, and your personal predisposition to the subject.

And finally. Bruce Willis: You do not want to make this war's Green Barets. Come on.

Double Plus Scary as Fuck

2005-10-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

Via Kung Fu Monkey:

Military blogger silenced [and more].
This last post reminds me a lot of Gallileo writing Dialogue Concerning Two Chief World Systems under the Inquisition. Post. Commentary. Or perhaps 1984 is more apt. He seemed to think so.

Going to go read more of his stuff now. But what I have read is gorgeous and scary.

the Army, the GED, and the public

2005-10-16T21:19:00.000-04:00

So the army has decided to dumb down its standards. We're letting in just about anyone: dumb motherfuckers, people without GEDs, etc... right?

Well, no. Not really.

So it got big press: the Army set up a new program to allow recruits in without a GED. What most articles don't say (or emphasize) is that Army Educataion Plus program doesn't so much let in people without GEDs as it does pay for them to take the test.

You cannot be in the US Amry without a GED or a High School diploma. We'll now pay for the classes and/or the test. The cap of new recruits allowed in is still 10%. The one change we did make, the one that does freak me out, just a little bit, is the ASVAB testing changes. We're letting in more people in ASVAB category IV (16-30). That means, from 1-99, you scored 16-30 on a fairly easy test. That's not a thinker, per se. Still, they're only going to be 4% of the incoming recriuts (up from 2%). It's not horrible, but its not so super.

As a nice little counterpoint, lets look at who we need in this new kind of warfare. The US Army needs leaders at all levels. We have squads, sometimes teams acting independantly within cities, interacting with civilians, making decisions that affect international relations. ASVAB cat IV guys aren't going to be able to that well. The Army Times quoting LTG James Helmly (Chief, Army Reserve Command):

" [T]he best soldiers in today's war on terrorism are 'learners' who adapt.”

2005-09-12T10:01:00.000-04:00

Via atrios, Jack Kelly:

It is settled wisdom among journalists that the federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was unconscionably slow.

...

A better question -- which few journalists ask -- is why weren't the roughly 2,000 municipal and school buses in New Orleans utilized to take people out of the city before Katrina struck?

Mr. Kelly seems very ready to defend the National Guard against what he seems to perceive as an attack against their response time or their competence. He then seems to try deflect that perceived blame on to local governments for not evacuating citizens. (Note: I've seen a hell of a lot of journalists asking about NO's failure to use their busses well.)

The funny thing about that is that I haven't heard any serious critisism of the Guard or the military in general (and I have been paying attention) except for some general feelings of unease about martial law being delcared in NOLA. The critisism I have heard has generally been going two places: 1. Local officials for not evacuating (or preventing the evacuation of) civilians and ; 2. FEMA and the civilian Federal response.

There have been some scathing indictments of New Orleans' (and the surrounding areas) failure to evacuate people, especially the poor. Worse still, it seems that people were physically prevented from leaving New Orleans by police from nearby areas.

But by far, I think, the lion's share of the critisism has been leveled at FEMA and the President for their seeming incompence and vacationing respectively. FEMA director Brown and his immediate subordinates showed their ignorance, incompetence and disregard for the situation on the Gulf Coast very publically. The President was on vacation for the entire hurricane. NOLA was formally declared a national disaster area about 70 hours before Bush came near it. The governor of Louisiana declared the state a disaster area and it took a couple days for the paperwork on the federal level. If there's shame to be handed out, it goes to the administration, not the National Guard. For timelines on all of this see ThinkProgress or NPR.

I don't know if Mr. Kelly is being partisan and trying to shore up the administration's position by blaming local officials (and using the Guard as a federal red herring), or if he has just seen a lot of media critisim of the National Guard that no one else has. Either way I think we will both agree that if there's blame to be given, it shouldn't be going to the National Guard.

The army, the hurricane and the future

2005-09-04T17:29:00.000-04:00

An interesting little view into the Army, in light of the disaster:

As everyone knows, the National Gaurd is being mobilized (throughout the nation, ie. from all states, and possibly the district). Interestingly, all the PMSs, the heads of all Army ROTC programs in the nation, got an email from the commanding general of Cadet Command saying that if cadets get mobilized and sent to the NOLA area that there will be nothing the PMSs can do.

Let me explain the way a couple things work. 1. ROTC/West Point/OCS are the way the Army makes officers. We need officers, and officers take a lot longer to make than do privates, etc. We cost more money and have longer commitments because of it. 2. ROTC Cadets who do SMP, the Simultaneous Membership Program, are simultaneously cadets and members of National Gaurd units. This allows them to train and gain expirience with units that they will eventually go into once they commission. And, because the Army realizes that they would be robbing Peter to pay Paul, those cadets can not be federalized (ie. sent to Iraq). However they can be mobilized as part of a state action, and in this case, can be sent to the NOLA area for god knows how long.

This is not a complaint in any way. Cadets know that as National Gaurd folk that they can be called up at any time. Almost all joined the the Army after September 11, and know that we are at war. Most expect to be called up and deployed once they commission. The one major difference here is that this natural disaster will have a much longer shelf life than many others. I have no idea how long the NG will be deployed, but it will be a long damn time. I also have no numbers as to how many cadets around the nation will be affected by this. It does mean that some measurable number of cadets will not commission on time, and will have to recycle to the graduating class one year back. This will probably not be a large impact, but I just don't know.

It is just one more way that the nation and the Army will be affected by this disaster. Yet another thing to think about.

Cute, but no.

2005-08-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

There seems to be a bit of a trend in a number of liberal blogs of late: Accusations of Chickenhawking.

While I definitely understand the urge to call "bullshit" on the people who led the media and blog push into Iraq, this is not the way to do it. Yeah, the Democratic party has been the one to nominate veterans for the last two elections, but his lack of expirience didn't make Clinton any less the Commander in Chief. Similarly, bash Bush (and, while you're at it, Cheney) for avoiding service or for failing to have a coherent plan for Iraq; but the one doesn't have anything to do with the other.

This whole, "You like the war so much, why don't you marry it," thing doesn't really work. I generally like Michael Moore, but bringing the Marine recruiters to the Capitol in Fahrenheit 9/11 was dumb. Similarly, telling columnists (whether or not they're idiots and/or blowhards) that in order to support the war you need to fight it (or even more fucked up, have your kids fight it for you) is at best stupid, at worst offensive. It diminishes the sacrifices that soldiers, marines, etc. are making and it really doesn't make sense. There are some things that you just can't say, "put up or shut up" on. This is one of them. I'd love Michelle Malkin to shut the fuck up, but her going into my Army is not a viable second option. (Her stance on internment, however... maybe we can arrange something there.)

We have an all-volunteer military for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is "freedom." Yes, that's right, one of my favorite parts about joining the Army was that I (and you) didn't have to. Military service is not a prerequisite for citizenship or political participation (outside a time of war [real war, not GWOT]); If that's not your pursuit of happiness, then go have a nice, non-military life. Another reason for an all volunteer military is that the Army, Navy, etc. don't want to have to deal with people who don't want to be here. I'm going to be a Platoon Leader, and if half of my guys are there because it was that or Canada, they are going to be less combat effective and more likely to get themselves, and me, killed. It doesn't matter how you do it, I don't want it, their Drill Instrutors don't want it, and the Joint Chiefs don't want it.

The First Ammendment (and, I'd say common sense) say that you can voice your opinions as you please with or without practical knowledge to back you up. I don't need to go to Iraq (yet) to be against our little war there. Hindrocket doesn't need to go there to be all for it. Stop saying he does. There are so many legitimate issues to beat these guys to shit with, don't use the retarded ones.

In summery (-rants): Calling "bullshit" is fun, but this is a stupid, defeatist (and often funny) way of doing it.

Thoughts on Iraq coverage

2005-08-18T18:47:00.000-04:00

In response to Onlooker (briefly) on the NY Times on conditions in Iraq:

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me how much stuff soldiers will buy to make their places nice. At Airborne School we had guys bringing XBoxes and DVD players for a three week school. If you're going to be in country (in shitty, dusty, getting-shot-at country at that) for a year or more, you're going to want at TV and some decent escapist entertainment for your downtime.

But that's not really the point. This is: What someone (and at present it looks like only the NYT or the WaPost could actually pull it off) needs to do is show us data, not anecdotes. It's nice reading about the people in this or that FOB (forward operating base) have nice trailers and big DVD collections. It's also nice for the Times to point out that this is not the norm for many. These are nice anecdotes about Iraq. But it's not what I want. I want data. I want someone to say that x% of all troops live in these nice trailers, the y% live in captured Iraqi palaces (ala the folks from Gunner Palace, and not actually as nice as the trailers) and the remainder (z%) live in tents, or are constantly on the move from one patrol base or seized house to the next. Then give your examples, your personal narratives that involve the reader. Give me a full section (not just a couple of unconnected stories) that details how many units are actively seeing combat in Iraq, how many are staying in Kuwait, how long they've been there, how many times they've been there, etc. Give us articles breaking down who's got what kind of equipment (HMMWVs armored and not, APCs, M1A1s, M16A1s vs. M4s, Interceptor Armor, etc.) and why (Artillery units w/o artillery as in Gunner Palace, etc.) and in what regions.

Basically I want systematic intelligence, not scattered factoids. Obviously I don't want information that will comprimise anyone, but you can give me that kinda of data without endangering anyone. There's nothing really wrong with the scattered articles that are being put out by the major outlets (I will generally exclude TV from this because the time allotted per segment is significantly less than print). A lot of them are interesting and useful. But what would be infinitely more useful would be something that would give a concerted, overall picture of how US forces are living, working, and sadly, dying, in Iraq.

I don't want snapshots. I want a mosaic that shows an overview.

2005-08-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

Heading back to DC soon. Nice to be done with LDAC, nice to be getting on with MSIV year.

Here's hope for a good year, hope for getting some changes in the Battalion.

Here's hope for some improvement in Iraq [and, hell, here]