Thursday, March 6, 2008

Monday, March 3, 2008

Letter on Science Education and Medicine

This week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News (Washington DC, weekly, 140,000 subscribers) published a letter I wrote in support of science education based on the technology that put me back together after several bad accidents. It's a subscription Web site, so I am copying the letter rather than posting a link.

Broken neck, evolutionary biology

One of the few moments I remember from the hours following the bike accident that splintered my seventh vertebra and broke nine other bones is the neurosurgeon saying: "You have two choices. Get the surgery or we can put you in a halo cast for a year and see what happens." I said, "surgery." And I have walked three to 10 miles per day since I left the hospital eight days later. Since the cervical collar came off on Aug. 2, 2007, I have been back on my bike.

But 10 or more years ago I would have had no option but the halo cast. My seventh vertebra was in pieces. Cadaver bone replacement was not a routine option in 1997. I would still be screwed into a cage or maybe in traction or recovering from surgery to "harvest" bone from my hips. In 1967, I would have been quadriplegic or dead.

C&EN writes well and regularly about modern science and why evolution is so important to our intellectual life. Understanding how the body works at the molecular level is key to accepting donor body parts. So for me the insights of Darwin and Mendel, which led to the discovery of DNA by Watson and Crick, then to huge advances in medicine and all biosciences in the past 50 years, allowed me, a 54-year-old bicycle racer, to walk out of the hospital eight days after a 50-mph crash that would have left me caged for a year, quadriplegic, or dead if it happened earlier in my life.

I am also a believer. So in addition to thinking rejection of modern science is crazy, I also think it is very bad manners. I would respect those who believe in science-rejecting young-earth creationism more if, consistent with their beliefs, they lived in caves and refused all of the technology that comes directly from science in the past century. But who in America does not benefit from modern medicine or high technology?

In my adult life I have been blinded by shrapnel, seen the bones and ligaments inside my knees after a motorcycle crash, and in 2007 was saved from paralysis by the latest trauma medicine. I certainly support modern science on an intellectual level, but for me I am also a fan of modern medicine, as passionate as my fellow Penn State alums are about football.

Obviously, I am writing with no specific expertise, just an ACS member who thinks support of modern science and rejection of pseudoscience is not just right—it's a matter of life and death.

Neil Gussman
Philadelphia

Friday, February 29, 2008

My Father and Fort Indiantown Gap

My father, George Gussman, served in Pennsylvania for most of World War II. His first enlistment was in 1939 at 33 years old. When the US declared war on Japan in 1941, Dad was close to discharge. Of course, no one got discharged after December 7, 1941. My father was the fourth of six sons of immigrants who came to America just before the turn of the 20th century to escape the pogroms in Russia. My father went to school only through the 8th grade then went to work. He liked to say he was a Teamster when there were really teams of horses. His first job was stable boy, working the wrong end of those horses.

When the war broke out my father was twice the age of the other recruits and had real experience in warehousing, what the Army calls the quartermaster corps. Despite his lack of education, he went to Officer Candidate School. As a brand-new 36-year-old 2nd lieutenant, my Dad was soon put in command of a Black maintenance company at Camp Reynolds in the northeastern part of Pa. He was very proud of that command. I still have scrapbooks of clippings and photos of the men he commanded. He kept in touch with some of his sergeant's long after the war was over.

Then he got assigned to Fort Indiantown Gap. More on that later.

Passed Phase 1

I just passed the last module for Phase 1 of the 63J course. A week from tomorrow I report for Phase 2 school at Aberdeen MD. I'll be blogging daily from the school--everything from wake up calls to lights out if I can.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Orders for 63J Training

I just got orders to report for 63J10 training at Aberdeen MD on March 8. So the clock is ticking now for me to complete the seven modules that make up phase 1 of the training. I just returned from a business trip to Boston. I took the train and went through most of one of the modules on the way up and back. Here's a picture of the steam cleaner that is part of the latest module.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Laser Fire

Saturday morning I was able to join another company is a laser fire exercise. I fired an M-16 with a laser device attached tot he end of the barrel at electronic targets. It has been so long since I fired an M-16--in tanks my personal weapons were a .45 Cal pistol and a "Grease Gun" submachine gun--that I was happy to practice aiming, squeezing the trigger, and assuming firing positions. Firing prone I put together a 3 cm shot group. Kneeling and standing, not so good. I also had a good shot group sitting, but that's not part of qualification fire. I am looking forward to live fire at summer camp.

PT Test

Sunday morning I took the PT test again with a couple of guys who missed the previous tests. The morning was cold and because of a snow squall the track was icy in some spots and wet in others. My run time was 16:23, 42 seconds slower than September, but I did 11 more pushups and 14 more situps (42 and 66 respectively) so I got my overall score up to 271. Next fall I hope to get my score up to 290 by get my run time down to 14:40 (max for age 52 to 56) and adding a few more pushups.

Friday, February 8, 2008

My New Washer Dryer

Here it is!

I Flunked Laundry!

No Kidding. So the fifth of seven modules in my phase 1 training is how to maintain and operate a field laundry. I have four kids and do the laundry at my house. I thought the laundry module would be a cinch. But it's mostly about maintenance and operation of a diesel-powered field set up. I scanned the material, took the test and scored 53%. Unlike the other modules, I am going to have to study this one thoroughly--even though this is the one thing so far I actually do in the course of a normal week. But troubleshooting a diesel powered laundry is nothing like doing the laundry for one household. Oh well.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Chemical Weapons Training On Line

I have completed four of seven modules in Phase I of my 63J10 training. So far no chemicals. I will be responsible for maintaining chemical weapons detection equipment. So far, the the first three modules cover repair and maintenance of power generation equipment. The fourth module is how to operate and maintain a 350 Gallon Per Minute pump for diesel fuel.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

New Computer, New Army

Since my last post, I received the CD-Roms in the mail for Phase 1 of 63J10 school. The computerized Army is a Microsoft Army. The disks I received were dated June 2002 and would not run on a Mac. I have a Mac Powerbook, so I bought a cheap computer to run these disks. My son will eventually need a Windows computer for school, so it was not a waste of money. The courses are well organized and I have completed two modules so far. One of the instructors from the 63J school called and asked if I had the materials and wanted to make sure I had time to finish phase 1 by March 8. So after being nowhere last week, everything is going well--and I own a Windows-based computer.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Different Century, Same Army

When I left the army in 1984, the computer at the gunner's right elbow in my M60A1 tank was a metal box with three cams inside. It adjusted the elevation of the main gun to the ballistics of the three rounds in our basic load. So 23 years later, in a new century, it has been interesting to see just how much personal computers and the Web have changed the army. Not much that I can see so far. Last year our training NCO enrolled me in 63J10 school. The school is remote learning (CD Roms) for Phase 1 and on-site for Phase 2. In November I was put on a wait list for Phase 2, no mention of Phase 1. Two weeks ago, I got an email from the Phase 2 school asking me to prove I have completed Phase 1 and reminding me I will be sent back to my unit if I arrive at the Phase 2 class in March without proof of Phase 1 completion. I called and emailed the school and my training NCO saying I have not completed Phase 1 and have no hint that I can get the materials. A week after my training NCO sent this correspondence to training HQ, I received an email (just this week) saying I am now enrolled in Phase one and giving me two links to course materials in case they are available on line. I went to those sites--CD Rom only. So I sent an email to the address that came with the course notification asking to verify the address they have for me, so I would know where the disks are arriving.

Yesterday I got the answer: "Request for Assistance Denied" was the subject line of the email. The email gave me another Web site to log into that is the official place to ask questions. It may be computerized, but Army paperwork remains the same as 1970s, and, I suppose, the 1790s.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Adoption Class

Today my wife and I attended the first of three day-long adoption classes. Annalisa said she wants to adopt a brother (or maybe a sister) for Nigel. I agree that it will be good for him. And she thinks it will be a lot better for Nigel to have a brother than be an only child if I get deployed. There are lots of kids that need homes in PA and in America. The Web sites of kids waiting for homes is www.adoptpakids.org for the whole country: www.adoptuskids.org .

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Forensic DNA Presentation

This morning I listened to a talk by Joan Bienveneuve of the Army Forensics lab. The presentation was part of a seminar held at my day job--Chemical Heritage Foundation. She spoke about identifying the remains of soldiers using DNA. With this process, unknown soldiers have been identified from as far back as the Civil War. Although most IDs are from the Viet Nam and Korean wars.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Class A Inspection Part 2

I got the Class A (dress green) uniform back from the tailor the day before the drill. I bought the last of the ribbons and badges I needed at 0715 for an 8 am inspection. I was getting dressed in the locker room and just before formation asked a young guy from another unit to make sure my collar brass was straight. I helped him with a sling--he had an injured shoulder--then we both went to our inspections. An hour later I saw him in the hallway and he asked where I was stationed "back in the day." I told him I was in armor in Germany between 1976 and 79. It turns out this young soldier had enlisted a few months before after graduating high school in 2007. His Dad did the same and was assigned to a tank unit in Germany from 1984 to 1986 near my old base. He thought it was pretty funny that his Dad is ten years younger than I am.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Class A Inspection

Saturday morning, January 5, our company will have its annual Class A (dress uniform) Inspection at morning formation. At the end of last drill my squadleader said not to worry about the inspection for the very good reason that my Class A uniform pants are on backorder. We made all the obligatory jokes about me getting inspected without pants. But I found you can buy ANYTHING for an Army uniform (of many armies for that matter) on line. So I bought Class A pants from a North Carolina on line store.

I got the pants and jacket tailored at the men's shop where I get all my suits for work. I had a nice conversation with a guy who works there about why I joined. And it turned out he was in Germany as a student when I was there in the Army in the 70s.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Lisa and Nigel Help Clean Up

In the morning before the holiday party, a half-dozen of us set up additional tables and chairs and put nuts and mints on the all of the 59 tables set up for the Christmas lunch. After lunch, the 23 tables and 184 chairs we added to the usual set up had to be put away again. Lisa and Nigel helped pick up trash and stack chairs for an hour after the party ended. Because we were cleaning up Lisa took leftover fruit and salad home with us. She brought "Army salad" for lunch. I can say confidently she is the only kid in her high school having Army food for lunch today. Nigel's best moment was when a young enlisted man decided to push a cart with 10 eight-foot tables stacked on it. He was having a lot of trouble getting it moving, so Nigel ran over and started pushing. Nigel helped the soldier push the 200-pound load the length of the mess hall and was very pleased to have helped an "Army man" push the tables.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Brigade Christmas Party

On Sunday beginning at noon, members of our brigade on drill this weekend had a Christmas party, complete with Santa and an Army Christmas dinner. This is the first time my family went to any official Army event. Nigel loved the food. At dinner he asked if we could put gravy on the shopping list--lunch included turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, all with gravy. Lisa, now in her sixth month as a Vegan, at the salad, fresh fruit and dinner rolls that were part of lunch. Although this was Annalisa's first step into Army culture, she did meet an old friend. Our battalion chaplain was for six years in the 1990s assistant chaplain at Franklin and Marshall College. He is Greek Orthodox and when he was at F&M had a full beard, so even though I had seen him a couple of times in the past few months, I did not recognize him without the beard. He went to Afghanistan in 2004 and seems excited to deploy again.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Warning Order for Deployment

This morning at a battalion formation our commander told us we now have a warning order for deployment. If all proceeds according to current plans, we will move to Fort Sill OK on January 20, 2009, and be deployed two months later.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Sept. Sunday News Link is Down--Here's the Story

He's (back) in the Army now at 54!
Executive joins Guard, hopes to use his knowledge of chemicals

By JON RUTTER, Staff writer
Sunday News Published: Sep 02, 2007 12:17 AM EST LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Fifty-four-year-old Neil Gussman is in the Army now.
Actually, he's in it for the second time.
He originally joined back in 1972, when the draft and the Vietnam War were still on.
Gussman had just graduated from high school in Boston. He enlisted to get money for college. He was, by his own admission, clueless.
"I had no political opinion. ... I don't think I had a view on the war, positive or negative."
Thirty-five years later, Gussman lives in Lancaster with his wife and four children. He travels the world as a corporate executive. He's a self-described "token Democrat" at his church, Wheatland Presbyterian.
He isn't out to spill blood. "I'm 54 years old," he reiterated. "I didn't join the Army now to kick down doors in Tikrit or anything."
So, then, why?
Why forfeit a weekend a month and two weeks each summer to serve in Echo Company, 104th Aviation Battalion, in the Pennsylvania National Guard?
Somebody has to do it, Gussman reasons, and he's eager to give back.
He expects his helicopter-maintenance-unit job at Fort Indiantown Gap to lead to a slot as a chemical-weapons specialist.
Chemical weaponry is cumbersome and unpredictable, Gussman acknowledged. Strategically, it's dead. But it's tailor made for terrorists, and thus remains a critical threat to the modern world.
"My intention is to get training [in detection] and then later join the unit that goes out and looks for this kind of thing."
Red scare
Gussman knows chemicals.
He's a communication manager for The Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia.
"I've been writing a lot about chemical weapons" for work, noted Gussman, who also focused on that subject as a sergeant in an Army tank unit in 1976.
"Once a month, I would teach people how to survive" chemical weapons and nuclear attacks. "We were stationed in Germany and waiting for World War III to start."
The Communist onslaught failed to materialize, and Gussman eventually returned to the States. He married Annalisa Crannell, a mathematics professor at his alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College.
Crannell's altruistic spirit has led her to volunteer for Hospice of Lancaster County and other causes, Gussman said. Five years ago, she donated a kidney to an ailing co-worker.
He, too, yearned to make a difference, he said, but his type-A personality has never quite fit the charity mold. "I believe the same things she does, but I don't really do anything."
Of course, Gussman has been doing something.
He's an avid bicycle racer who competed in 50 events to celebrate his 50th year, among other feats.
While descending Turkey Hill at 50 mph during a training ride in May, he recalled, his front wheel kissed the derailleur of another bike; the crash flipped Gussman onto the pavement, knocking him out and breaking 10 bones.
The accident has not dampened his enthusiasm for riding. But it deepened his conviction to risk his neck for a worthier cause than simply "flying around in Spandex."
He said he first thought of re-enlisting last fall after researching an article on weapons of mass destruction.
About a month before the cycling accident, he'd rung up Kevin Askew, a Pennsylvania National Guard recruiter at Fort Indiantown Gap.
It turned out that chemical-weaponry specialists were in demand. Askew said the Gap's chemical-disaster team especially welcomes knowledgeable people such as Gussman.
"Neil's experience is going to put him on a track to be able to work with those guys," Askew said.
There was one other hurdle besides the bike wreck: Gussman exceeded the maximum enlistment age by a dozen years.
Congress raised the cutoff for all branches from 35 to 42 in 2006. But there is a caveat.
The military subtracts one year from a person's chronological age for each year he or she has served previously.
"It's Army math," said Askew, who entered the service when he was 18, in 1989. "It's not supposed to make sense."
With 11 years under his belt, Gussman was close enough to get in on a waiver. He drove to the Gap a week ago to pick up his green-and-brown-patterned uniform and lunch with his new "homies."
A handful of Gussman's "older than dirt" peers clustered at one end of the table. The guys at the other end had not yet been born when he left the service the first time, in 1984.
"I get the idea there's not a whole lot of people doing this at my age," Gussman cracked.
Fort Indiantown Gap had no available age-specific data on recruits. However, according to Sgt. 1st Class Gino Burns, the Gap recruited 701 individuals with prior military experience and 1,419 with no service experience through July this year.
Shocking episode
Graybeard or no, there are bright spots.
Gussman said he enjoys the camaraderie of military life. He's looking forward to flying around in helicopters.
Plus, he said, "I can still keep my job" and stay close to wife and son, Nigel, 7; stepdaughter, Iolanthe, 17; and daughters, Lisa, 16, and Lauren, 18.
They're conditioned to a crazy, bike-racing dad, he added, so they're OK with this latest venture. "So far, my kids think it's really cool."
His biking roadies are perplexed.
Scott Haverstick said he supports Gussman in this latest "shocking episode" of his life.
"Honestly, to his credit, this is all about service. I've got a lot of respect for him." On the other hand, pondered the self-proclaimed "old '60s lefty" from Washington Boro, "What in the hell is he doing?"
Gussman's peleton assumed his age would disqualify him, Haverstick said. Then came the horrific crash, which Haverstick witnessed, and which he initially thought had killed his friend.
Gussman, bleeding profusely and spitting teeth, was medevaced from the scene. He came back with fused vertebrae.
The military accepted him anyway, said Haverstick, who remains incredulous that injury and age seem to pose no barrier. "I'm 60. I'm going to start slinking around for fear they'll get their hooks in me."
Gussman, meanwhile, has been running to prepare for his physical fitness test, coming up in October.
He said he started running when he was still in a cervical collar.
"I think I won't be the slowest guy in the fitness test," predicted Gussman, who must complete a two-mile run in 19 minutes and 30 seconds, among other challenges.
An Army training course will update him on detection equipment, which has gone digital since the days when experts sniffed out chemical contaminants with litmus paper.
Gussman will not likely be going to Baghdad. But nobody can predict what dangers lie ahead.
Dispatched to the Utah desert during the Vietnam War, Gussman recalled being temporarily blinded by munitions test shrapnel.
His buddies who were deployed to the war zone returned without incident. "I was the only one who came home in bandages."
Such sacrifices remain necessary, according to Gussman, who said he is frustrated by what he calls "the complete failure of conservatives" in Iraq.
"The war is a fact now. Whether you support the war or not, somebody's got to go."
 Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com .

Not So Supreme: A Conference about the Constitution, the Courts and Justice

Hannah Arendt At the end of the first week in March, I went to a conference at Bard College titled: Between Power and Authority: Arendt on t...