Saturday, December 12, 2009

You Win!! Too Bad

At chow tonight I was sitting with a sergeant who just won NCO of the month. The prize is two days at Camp Victory near Baghdad, actually an interesting trip to see Saddam's palace and some other sights of the old regime. I am in aviation so I congratulated him. He didn't look so happy. He said he would rather have two days off here. I started to say how many of my friends thought Camp Victory was cool. He then said, "I'm infantry. If I take the prize I go in a convoy." Great!! He gets to roll for hours in an armored truck hoping he does not get hit by an IED.

He's right. If I were him, I would take two days in my room at Tallil before I took my prize-winning trip to Baghdad in the back of an armored truck. We were trying to think of a civilian equivalent. Maybe a trip to Florida by bus stopping in every major city from Boston to Miami--and never being allowed out of the bus.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Two Bikes Down, One to Get to 5000 Miles

Today the fifth spoke broke on the rear wheel of my single-speed mountain bike. The wheel is twisted. I put my last mile on it. So both of the bikes I brought here broke beyond my ability to repair them after 2700 miles each: 2721 on the road bike, 2767 on the mountain bike. So now I have a Giant mountain bike to ride until the end of December. I only need 162 more miles to get to 5000 in Iraq and 265 to have 7000 miles for the year.

And I have a buyer for the mountain bike at the end of the month. At this point I am not sure exactly when I will be leaving, but it should be sometime in early January.

This Sunday is my riding buddy's last day before he goes home on leave. If he is stuck in Kuwait for any more than a day, I may not see him again. He wants to ride 100 miles Sunday. I may go 100km. Either way, I will have most of the miles I need before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I am going to be the emcee at the Christmas music night they will have here on Christmas Eve. It will be good to have something to do on Christmas Eve. Christmas will be just another work day except the lines in the DFAC will be longer.

And to continue on with yesterday's post on music--sometimes I ride for a mile or two with no hands, just to do it. Last night I was riding the 29er in the dark with my super bright light and singing as I rode with no hands for three miles. It can be boring riding here, but turning corners with no hands keeps my concentration up.

One more month and I should at least be in America.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Emotional Roller Coaster

Tomorrow is the goodbye ceremony for most of our Brigade. We will be the last battalion to go home in Pennsylvania's biggest deployment since World War 2. Not the distinction I wanted. Many of the soldiers who are going home very much wanted to stay. They came here because they wanted to earn tax free money and would rather stay longer than leave early.
A good indicator that I am over tired or in emotional disarray or both is my iPod. When I am healthy, happy and well rested, I listen to New Yorker podcasts, "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" from NPR, Books on Tape, Mars Hill Audio or Teaching Company courses. I am currently listening to a course on "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville. But not tonight.
Everyone at home is happy, ending the semester, getting ready for the holidays. I had to tell my wife to tell everyone not to send anything because they will be sending our mail back home beginning some unspecified date before we leave. And since by Saturday, I will only have a duffel bag and a half to live out of, anything bigger than a pen will stay behind.
When I am a mess, I listen to music on the iPod. I bounced back and forth between Amy Grant, Toby Keith, Joan Jett and Aerosmith--Hey, it's my iPod.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A Report for the New York CS Lewis Society

The following is a report I just wrote for the New York CS Lewis Society. I have been a member since 1980 and, as far as I know, the only member in Iraq.


One of my big goals when I knew I was getting deployed to Iraq was to start a CS Lewis book group and, if possible a Dante group. We arrived here in early May 2009 after two weeks in Kuwait and two months at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I thought about starting the groups right away, but I went on leave five weeks after I arrived, so the book groups started in late July. The CSL group, Beyond Narnia, met on Monday nights at 8pm. Our first book was The Weight of Glory. The Dead Poets Society started meeting on Tuesday nights at 8pm reading Inferno--it would be hard to find a more appropriate book. We read five cantos a week for six weeks. During each of those six weeks, the mid-day tempo topped 130 degrees.

The first night of the Beyond Narnia Group, I talked about CSL's life and works. Then we read "Why I am Not a Pacifist." I thought it would be good to start with an essay that describes CSL's clear-eyed view of pacifism and his service. On the following night, the Dante group had a long discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins and their order in Hell. From the first week the two groups had a surprising (to me) difference in
participation that has carried on right to the end (as I write there will be just two more weekly meetings before I go to Kuwait and back to America).

The Beyond Narnia Group was older, almost all officers, and was very steady in attendance except when on missions. The Dead Poets Society was almost all enlisted soldiers and airmen under 30. When I say old I mean 40s. At 56, I am beyond Methuselah in Army years. I was surprised because I had the idea that the Narnia movies (which I have not seen) would inspire someone to read more of Lewis. The Captains and Colonels in my group all had wanted to read CSL long before the movies ever came out and for one reason or another had not got around to it. After The
Weight of Glory we read The Four Loves and are finishing with The Screwtape Letters. Over time the group became more and more animated.

One of the Chaplains in the group disagreed with CSL on something every week, but was very happy to discuss more. The meetings were set for an hour, but The Four Loves discussions went almost two hours.

After Inferno, the Dead Poets Society voted to read Aeneid. We are now reading Purgatorio and should finish it by the time I leave Iraq. This group was very taken with Virgil and upset that Dante kept him in Hell, especially when they found out Cato was going to go to Heaven.

These groups allowed me to meet and talk with soldiers who really care about books and ideas and the Faith--at least in the case of the CSL group. The Dead Poets Society included non-believers. Despite everything and anything I had to do, I never missed these meetings. And I am sure I will miss them when I return to America where weekly
meetings to discuss books is simply impossible. But I am also very ready to go home.

Book Groups

Tonight it occurred to me (I don't know why it took so long.) that the book groups here are almost done. Depending on when we leave we will meet just two or three more times then I will be either on the way home or caught in something I can't get out of. It also occurred to me that I have not missed a meeting since the groups started. I really wanted them to continue and I managed to keep from flying anywhere or doing anything that would keep me from the book groups. I think we will finish both Purgatorio and the Screwtape Letters or get very close before we are wheels up and on the way home.

This year was supposed to be a year I would do more reading, but it was less. By the time I started doing the weekly newsletter I was already overcommitted. When the newsletter began I was buried. If it weren't for the book groups I would not be reading much of anything. Although I am still dawdling along in Les Trois Mousquetaires. If we get stuck in Kuwait, I should finish it. I read a very old simplified edition in Fort Sill. This one is newer, easier and flatter than the 70-year-old one. The ardent love of The Duke of Buckingham for Anne of Austria is very subdued in this one--as is the confrontation between the Musketeers and the Cardinal's men, the key scenes of the book.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Newsletter 11

Today I sent my 11th newsletter in as many weeks. Actually it's 12 in eleven weeks because I also did an Echo Company newsletter in the past 11 weeks. I will do three or four more in Iraq, then one in Kuwait (maybe) then the last one in America--or maybe two. Many things could still change about our trip home. But I am planning for about 16 issues before my newsletter goes into electronic storage, just a memory of being in Iraq. Every time I think about going home the idea is more real, but I just cannot quite believe it. My world is trailers on rocks. I ride an endless circle on my bike. There are so many things I repeat dozens of times that being here has a permanence that is spooky.

Even though I have ridden hundreds of times with Scott Haverstick on the same daily ride, I have ridden more than three thousand miles just on Perimeter Road, Tallil Ali Air Base. There is no single road on the daily ride, not even River Road, that I have so many miles on,in such a short time. When I get back to America, I will be able to ride on just about any road I want to. And I won't have to carry a rifle.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

For Nigel--MEDEVAC Trip to Bases at Al Kut and Garry Owen


Today I flew with the new MEDEVAC unit to Al Kut (FOB Delta) and Garry Owen. The trip was routine, the weather was good and I got some pictures of Blackhawks flying, getting fuel and landing. Here's pictures for Nigel--and anyone else who likes helicopter pictures.




Saturday, December 5, 2009

Who Fights This War?--The Construction Boss


Staff Sgt. Elisa Long, 27, of Selingsgrove, Pa., builds, repairs, and improves offices, workshops, containers, hangars and other structures wherever the 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion has soldiers and facilities. Long is the NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge) of special projects for the battalion. Anywhere a pile of lumber is becoming a deck or a new CHU (Containerized Housing Unit) is being fitted with electrical wiring and air conditioning to serve as offices, Long is likely to be there with a hammer, saw and drill.
"Construction is kind of a hobby for me. A few years ago I helped one of my friends renovate a huge old farm house in Beaver Springs," she said. "When I was in junior high, my Mom and I built a deck on our hunting lodge in Potter County."
Long has served for nine years in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, serving first as a wheeled vehicle mechanic. She volunteered to join the 755th Chemical (Nebraska) in 2007 for her first deployment, serving at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. The unit was assigned to convoy operations with Long serving as the wrecker operator on convoy security missions.
In addition to her role in special projects, Long is NCOIC of Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) Warfare for the battalion. While in Iraq, Long completed four college courses for 12 credit hours toward a bachelor of science degree in biology. She plans to work in a medical field, but has not decided on a specialty yet.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Getting Ready to Go Home

In a week we will turn in a footlocker, a duffel bag and a rucksack (big backpack) to begin the process of loading them in containers for shipping home. On the same day I will be packing the Trek T-1 Single speed. I thought it was going to be a tough decision which bike to keep, but the right crank and chain ring worked loose from the shaft that connects the two cranks through the bottom bracket. I can't tighten it, Larry the bike guy is still on R&R leave, so I will box the bike up and send it back home for the Bike Line guys to fix.
The other bike I will probably sell cheap or maybe mail it back. Not sure yet. I would have sold the roadie bike, but I don't want to sell a damaged bike in a place where there are no shops.
I filled the footlocker this morning--mostly books and boots. I will fill a duffel bag next week before turn in. I will also mail a box or two home. I can bring a duffel bag and a half with me on the plane--we need half of one bag for the bulletproof vest and helmet.
In the afternoon and evening I was worn out with two really good interviews. I got to interview our brigade commander--the first woman to command a combat brigade in Iraq. Other women have commanded support brigades. She is the first to be the top officer in a combat aviation unit. In the evening I thought I was talking to a Blackhawk company commander about a routine part of his mission, but it turned out 1/3rd of his soldiers were here to support operations in the battle for Fallujah five years ago and the Armored Brigade commander here was a battalion commander in that battle. So the pilots and the ground commander were reiunited after five years. It shoudl be a good story.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thanksgiving--168 Hours Later



Last week we ate Thanksgiving dinner which was opulent by any buffet standards and was free--except to tax payers. But even with shrimp cocktail, ham, turkey and every kind of fruit and vegetable you could want, it really wasn't much better than every day fare here. Last night there was a huge line at all four main serving lines when I walked in the chow hall. Wednesday night is surf and turf night. Last night was king crab legs, fried shrimp and prime rib. I was meeting some friends who were already at the chow hall, so I went to the wings line, got lemon pepper wings--my favorite here--fresh cut watermelon, celery sticks, and fruit salad--apples, kiwi, pineapple, melon in yogurt. 20 minutes later the line went down so I got fried shrimp and a chocolate milkshake. I also had orange juice.

Tonight, I had shrimp scampi and everything else I had last night. The food here is the best I EVER ate in the Army and for sheer ridiculous opulence, the only time I eat better is at expense account dinners.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Who Fights This War? -- All Female MEDEVAC Crew


“Charlie’s Angels” Fly First Mission as All-Female Crew
For the three days before Thanksgiving, one of the on-alert crews for Charlie Company, 3-238th MEDEVAC, is the first all-female MEDEVAC crew to fly in this company’s history. “This is the first time an all-female crew has come up in the rotation for us,” said Maj. David Mattimore, 38, of Hampton, N. H., the Charlie Company Commander. “And it would not have been possible until one of our avionics sergeants became a crew chief.”
The four women that comprise this crew have a total of nine deployments and each has between eight and twelve years of service. “This is the first all-female crew any of us have flown with,” said Capt. Trish “Cocaine” Barker, operations officer. According to the other members of the crew, Barker got her nickname because she is high energy and addictive. She has ten years service enlisting in 1999 as an aircraft fueler. Barker, 30, went to Officer’s Candidate School in 2003 and Flight School in 2004. A native of Menominee, Michigan, she was deployed to Bosnia in 2005 as a MEDEVAC section leader.
When she returns from this deployment she will return to her job as the State Occupational Health Specialist for the Michigan Army National Guard.
“Same for me. Never flew with an all-girl crew,” said Staff Sgt. Misty “Monkey” Seward, 30, of Owosso, Michigan. Seward enlisted in 1998 and has severed as a medic for a total of eleven years. She has four years as a flight medic and seven years on the ground. She deployed to Kuwait in 2001-2 and to Baghdad in 2006-7, both tours as a ground medic. When she returns from serving as a flight medic in a war zone, she will resume her job as a security officer at a Level One Trauma Clinic in Lansing, part of Sparrow Health Systems.
The Pilot in Command for the crew is Chief Warrant Officer Three Andrea “Anddie” Galatian, 31, of Lansing, Michigan. “There must have been another all-female MEDEVAC crew somewhere, but I haven’t seen one,” she said. Galatian enlisted in 1997 and served five years as an administrative clerk before going to flight school in 2002. She has served seven years as a pilot including a deployment to Bosnia in 2005. As a civilian, Galatian is the business analyst for the Real Eastate Division of the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The newest name on the flight roster is Sgt. Debra “Guns and Knives” Lukan, 43, of Keene, New Hampshire. She enlisted just after 9/11. “I just barely made the age cutoff,” said Lukan. She trained as an avionics mechanic and just recently switched from the shop to flight crewmember. Lukan deployed to Camp Spyker and Tikrit in 2005-6 in avionics and is happy to be on the flight rotation this time. “My family doesn’t know I’m flying,” said Lukan. “They worry a lot, but I suppose I’ll have to tell them eventually.” Lukan is a federal technician working in avionics in the New Hampshire National Guard.
“It may be months before this crew comes up in the rotation again,” said Mattimore. “We only have nine female flight crew members and everyone rotates to our remote bases, so the odds of them being back together again are low.”
“I’m glad we got a chance to be first even if it is just first for us,” said Barker.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

What Does Socialism Look Like? It Looks Like Us.

When I listen to the TV or radio news commentary from back home I
hear political commentators accusing each other of Socialism. Many of
those commentators have no idea what Socialism really looks like.

But we do over here. It looks like us.

In a Socialist system, all the money is collective--there is one budget.
Just like us. There is an Army budget. If pay goes up, procurement
goes down. The opposite is also true. Reduction in Force (the Army's
version of layoffs) means more money for equipment.

Medical care is free, or the same price for all, but no one gets to
choose their doctor. Just like the Army.

In a Socialist system everyone gets the same pay if they have the same
rank, regardless of their productivity. Unions work this way. In the
Army an E4 with four years service who is a first-rate Blackhawk crew
chief, fit, and fully qualified makes exactly the same pay as an E4 with
four years service who is truck driver flunked the PT Test and still
can't fill out a maintenance inspection form.

In a really ideal Socialist society, no one owns private property. Your
housing depends on your rank. If you lose your rank you lose your
house. Since there are no privately owned vehicles, the only vehicles
are state-supplied and go with a position. So a unit commander gets an
SUV, a platoon sergeant takes the bus.

In a really radical Socialist system, everyone would dress alike and eat
together. If they had to carry weapons, they would only carry the
weapon designated for their job.

So here we are with assigned housing, assigned vehicles (or not), and
assigned weapons. We eat in the same three DFACs. We all dress alike,
both men and women. The commercials on our radio and TV do not sell
products, they attempt to modify our behavior for the betterment of the
state. We get the same pay for very unequal work. We all have the same
doctor.

In a radical socialist system we would not have freedom of worship as we
have here. In an interesting socialist aspect of life here, all
Churches use the same building. So the Catholics, Lutherans,
traditional and contemporary Protestant services, Gospel service, and
any other group that wants a worship service holds it in the same room.
This aspect of our socialist world emphasizes that all Christians really
worship the same Lord. I like that.

In America, in the active Army, even though we still dress alike at
work, we can wear our own choice of clothes after work. A Colonel can
choose to drive an 8-year-old Chevy and a Specialist with a
re-enlistment bonus can drive a new BMW M3 or a Suzuki GSXR. But not
here in Iraq.

We are defending freedom but for now, we are what Socialism looks like.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Bike Update

By the time I go to bed, I will have close to 850 miles this month. So I should get to 5000 miles in Iraq and 7000 miles for the year by mid December. If I time it right, I should be able to hit on of the milestones on December 19--the 40th Anniversary of my drivers license!!!

I celebrate that day every year. Usually I can mention at a holiday party and say I am pretending this particular celebration is in honor of my driver's license anniversary. It's usually good for a laugh. It turns not so many people celebrate their driver's license anniversary.

In sad bike news I think I am losing a bearing on the road bike. It makes and awful sound when I pedal and the freewheel is not very free. If it is a bad bearing, I don't have to sit up nights trying to decide which bike to ship and which to keep. The road bike goes in the Conex, the Mtn. bike stays.



On a completely different topic, I got my 7th Army Coin today. It's an unofficial award that recognizes a good job, sometimes on the spot and has no paperwork. I'll take a picture of mine, but the ones on the photo above are typical. Today's coin was for being the emcee on Veteran's Day from the Garrison. I got another one from my brigade commander for the same event.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Evangelical Icon Fading

At Chapel today the Chaplain asked the audience "how many people know the name Joni Eareckson?" Three of us raised our hands. I suppose there were 80 or 90 soldiers and only three raised their hands. If you don't know the name here are the first two lines of her Wikipedia entry:

A diving accident in 1967 left Tada hospitalized and paralyzed (as a quadriplegic; unable to use her hands or legs.)[1] After two years of rehabilitation and in a wheelchair, Tada began working to help others in similar situations.
Tada wrote of her experiences in her international best-selling autobiography, Joni, which has been distributed in many languages, and which was made into a feature film of the same name.

when I became a believer in 1973, it seemed Joni was everywhere in Christian media and even secular media.

Two years ago, Joni returned to my life in a way. She and I had very similar injuries. She smashed the fifth vertebra in her neck, I smashed the seventh. In 1967 MEDEVAC was rare. More importantly, medical science was only beginning to bring the discovery of DNA into practical treatments. In 1967 Joni's first responders may not have put her on a backboard. She was not MEDEVACed from the scene. And her hospital did not have a neurosurgeon who just returned from Baghdad and was very skilled in replacing smashed vertebra with bones from cadavers. All of which I had.

Joni has touched millions of lives with her ministry as a paraplegic. I may have had a ministry as a paraplegic, but I consider it a very awesome blessing that I do not have her ministry.

The advances in medical science since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA (They knew from Mendel and Darwin what they were looking for) are something I am VERY thankful for on this Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend. Younger Christians here often talk excitedly about how Christian rock stars cross over and get played on secular stations. The new icons of Evangelical Culture play metal and alternative and get picked up on secular stations. They make movies, or at least animated vegetables. More sadly, they put saddles on dinosaurs in an indoor theme park labeled a science museum.

It's strange to think of Joni as passing to the margins of Christian culture.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Life Here Seems to be on Hold, but Life Goes on Back Home

Last month the last of the six Gussman brothers died. My father, George, was the fourth of six sons born to two Jewish emigres from Odessa, Russia. My grandfather died in 1932 just over 20 years before I was born. I have very few memories of seeing my father's three older brothers: Abraham, Emmanuel and Ralph, but I occasionally saw the youngest of the six, my uncle Harold, and most often saw the fifth brother, Lewis. In our family, everyone referred to him as Uncle Louie. He was the most successful of the five brothers, following Grandpa into the produce business and building a highly regarded business of his own.
Louie always drove Cadillacs and often drove too fast. My father liked to tell the story of Louie being one of the first to get a new Cadillac after the auto plants started making cars again after World War 2. Louie wrecked the car not too long after. He wasn't badly injured, but no one seemed to car about him anyway. People at the scene and after said what a shame it was to wreck a new Cadillac.
Uncle Louie had one son, Bob, who I always thought of as an uncle rather than a cousin because he is about 15 years older than I am. I saw Bob more than any of my cousins. He had a very dry sense of humor, in contrast to the loud exclamations that characterized most of the people at Gussman gatherings. Bob, like his Dad, is still working long past the age others retire, and if he lives to 100 like his Dad, he will also probably work till he is 98.

The obituary below is from Produce News--a trade paper. It says a lot about Uncle Louie as a businessman and as a person that they would run his obituary.

Mutual Produce founder dies at 100
by Brian Gaylord

10/21/2009
BOSTON -- Lewis Gussman, founder of Mutual Produce Corp., here, died Sept. 30 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, MA, following a brief illness. He was 100.

Mr. Gussman launched the wholesale company, formerly named Mutual Produce Inc., at the New England Produce Center in 1955. He sold the company in 2000 and continued to work for Mutual Produce Corp. until he was 98.

"He paid his bills on time, he ran a good business," Richard Travers Jr., co- owner of Mutual Produce Corp., said of Mr. Gussman. He added that some shippers have been doing business with Mutual Produce for 30 years.

Mr. Travers said that Mr. Gussman loved the produce business because "no two days are the same." He said that Mr. Gussman would "jump on the phone" to tell callers that he'd rubbed elbows with their grandparents.

Sadly for Mr. Gussman, he outlived his contemporaries in the produce industry. "He was the oldest guy around here for 15 years," Mr. Travers said. "He was an icon of the produce industry."

Mr. Travers recalled that Mr. Gussman "loved playing with fruit, creating displays that were outstanding."

Paul DiMare, president of Boston-based DiMare Inc., said that Mr. Gussman was a mentor of sorts to him. He described Mr. Gussman as "honorable" and "one of the best produce people."

"He was a double A house in [the] Blue Book," which meant that he paid his bills every week, Mr. DiMare said. "There aren't a whole lot of companies that do that."

Mr. DiMare said that "everybody respected [Mr. Gussman] in Boston" and that he had a "great list of top-notch shippers."

Mr. Gussman's five siblings -- all brothers -- also worked in fresh produce, though not at Mutual Produce. Mr. Gussman's father also worked in fresh produce.

Mr. Gussman is survived by a son, Bob Gussman, and his wife, Trudi, of Winchester, NH, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Lewis Gussman was preceded in death by his wife, Ethel Rosenberg, in 2004.

Bob Gussman said that the family is considering holding a memorial gathering in the spring.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Ups and Downs

Last week I mentioned that I have been sending friend messages to my high school classmates on Facebook. After 38 years away from Stoneham, I am missing my childhood home in a way I never thought I would. I suppose getting homesick in Iraq is about as surprising as getting thirsty in a desert.
Today I got a brief message from one of my high school classmates thanking me for getting in touch and asking me to Google his son. His son was killed in action in Baghdad in 2006. I read the many messages from his friends and family on the memorial web site. Seems clear from the messages he was a good soldier and a good man also. He was 22.
Before I went through the pre-deployment processing and training for this trip, I made three visits to Brooke Army Medical Center, which everyone refers to as BAMC--pronounced BAM-See. BAMC is the treatment and rehabilitation center for those who lose limbs. I was in San Antonio for four days, had some free time and thought I ought to go and see what this war really costs.
I talked to parents at BAMC. But they are different than the parents of the dead. Even when their child is maimed, he or she is alive. The parents of the dead have only memories. I have other friends who have lost children. Two men in our unit lost children during this deployment. I went to one of the funerals when I was home on leave.
Part of what we are here for is to comfort each other when we face grief. On this day after Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for four healthy children. And I will put the grieving parents I know at the top of my prayer list.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I Won the Race--Story in the New York Times "At War" Blog

The race went off fine. My runner and I won the team competition. And the story is on the "At War" blog in the New York Times!!

Here's the link to the story with photos.

---------

Among the hundreds of things I miss about home during my year in Iraq is the Turkey Day bike race in Lancaster County, Penn. This unofficial final race of every season draws 50 or more racers from around the county, and it shows which cyclists kept up with their fitness routines since the end of the season in September. So when I finally got a chance to organize a bike race on Tallil Ali Air Base after six months here, I wanted it to be on Thanksgiving Day.

As far as anyone on the base knows - and there are civilians who have been here since late 2003 - no one has ever organized a bicycle race at Tallil base, or as the Army calls it, Contingency Operating Base (COB) Adder. To the purist, the Task Force Diablo Biathlon was not exactly a bicycle race, but bikes raced in it and bikes crossed the finish line, so it was a bike race.

A biathlon was also an easier sell at Garrison Command because the cyclists don't ride in packs. In July I tried to organize a race for Labor Day weekend. I had a promoter, Rich Ruoff, who put the race on his Web site and was going to handle registrations online. Bike Line of Lancaster gave me two boxes of prizes. I could get medals from the KBR people who organize the running races. Everything was set, but then I met with a sergeant major (who has since left) and the race was over before it started. He wanted me to guarantee participation of at least 100 entrants and guarantee their safety - a tall order for a bike race.

The current garrison sergeant major was stationed in Italy and rides a Colnago road bike himself, so he was more amenable to hosting a race. Early in November, we had a meeting at Garrison, got the green light and started to put together road guard crews, medics and advertising.

Everything was in place, then the day before the race it rained. Real rain. After six arid months here the roads were awash in mud. Tallil has about 20 squat, dirty trees in 20 square miles of base and no grass. As soon as it rains, the armored trucks and fuelers with their four-foot-high tires drag mounds of mud onto the road. I rode that morning and found myself and my bike caked with mud by the end of the ride. I thought the race might be canceled. But by afternoon the sun was out, and an east wind was drying the mud.

We had both team and solo racers. The really cool people race solo. (I have a heel spur and raced as part of a team.) Being half of a team also solved a problem I had with organizing a bike race and riding in it. I was worried about winning my own race. But since I was in the "less cool" category I did not worry. We also kept the distance short -5k run, 15k bike - which favors the runners.

At 5:00 a.m. I walked the ¼-mile to the start/transition area at the House of Pain gym. I walked both of my bikes because my commander, Lt. Col. Scott Perry, was borrowing my single-speed mountain for the race. By the end of the race he wished it had gears.

The coffee shop is just 200 meters from the House of Pain so I could start the day caffeinated. The road guards started arriving right away and the medics followed soon after. By 5:45 there were only 20 competitors. Five minutes later we had the safety briefing and I gave the race instructions. I thought I was very clear. But not everyone listened.

At 6:10 a.m., 30 racers started the 5k run. Ten were doing only the run. Six of us stood at the side of the road and watched the runners disappear in the pre-dawn gloom of this cloudy morning. We were the riders in the team event. Around the edge of the House of Pain parking lot, leaning on the concrete blast walls, sat two dozen bikes - from a perfectly clean 20-speed Giant carbon road bike with bladed spokes to a $100 mud-covered PX special.

After the runners left, I did a few sprints to get warmed up. There's just no way to be a race organizer and warm up. As the race timing clock neared 18 minutes, my partner, Sgt. Derek Miller, made the final turn on the 5k run. When he finished, I took off riding as hard as I could into a 10mph east wind. Our main competitors were a pair of Air Force security police. Their runner was nearly a minute behind mine, but their rider had gears and I was on a single-speed road bike. As it turned out, the only other rider I saw was the guy on the 20-speed Giant. He was coming toward me when I was just past half way. He yelled, "Am I going the wrong way?" I said yes and kept pedaling. He won't do another race without riding the course first.

At 50:12, I was the first finisher. The Air Force team was two minutes behind. The next finisher was the overall solo winner, Maj. Joel Allmandinger, followed by two more solo competitors. Their race for fourth was the best race of the event. The two riders are both colonels, Colonel Perry, who commands the aviation battalion, and Lt. Col. David Callahan, the deputy commander of the armored brigade at COB Adder. The pilot beat the tanker in the run, but Colonel Perry was on a single speed mountain bike. He was O.K. on the first part of the course riding into the east wind, but on the south side of the course the tank commander could change gears and was going 6 or 7 mph faster with the tail wind. Colonel Perry got passed on the south side. Colonel Callahan stayed ahead until the finish.

After the race I handed out the helmets, gloves and water bottles from Lancaster Bike Line and the medals from KBR. I am hoping we can do one more race on December 19th.

Sgt. Neil Gussman rejoined the Army in 2007 after a 23-year break in service. He blogs every day about his experiences as a 56-year-old soldier at http://armynow.blogspot.com. Sergeant Gussman is a Category 3 masters racer. He has done more than 120 races since he turned 50, including three while he was home on leave in June.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Who Fights This War?--Coming Back to Iraq


When the IED exploded it ripped through the left side of the humvee. The vehicle commander and the other passenger were shaken but not badly injured. The driver, 19-year-old Spc. David Broome was not so lucky.

His legs and hands were bleeding. His right thigh was badly damaged.

Medics were at the site in moments. They stabilized Broome, then loaded him in an M113 armored personnel carrier for transport to a MEDEVAC site.

After that short ride, Broome began a long journey from rescue, to recovery, to return to duty.

He was flown by Black Hawk to Baghdad hospital and initially treated for what he remembers as two or three days.

After that, he was transferred to the hospital at Joint Base Balad, where further treatment was performed on his badly injured right thigh. The next stop was the Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, then Fort Gordon, Ga.

In all, Broome was a patient in four hospitals for nearly two months before going home to begin the rehabilitation process.

After several surgeries and treatments, he regained the use of his right leg, but some of his thigh muscle is missing so he has limitations.

In 2008, when the pre-mobilization training began for his current deployment to Contingency Operating Base Adder with Task Force Diablo, Broome looked at deploying a bit differently from most Soldiers.

He knew how dangerous duty in Iraq could be. But he also was ready to go back.

“I’d say I am 50/50 about being outside the wire,” said Broome. “Part of me wanted to get back out on the road and see how much had changed from 2005, but part of me is happy to stay here on Tallil.”

At 23, Broome already has six years of service. The Manayunk , Pa., native enlisted at 17 after being a member of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) at Roxborough High School. He went to basic training in June 2003, and then to advanced training in 2004 to become a human resources specialist.

In January 2005, he was mobilized with the Pennsylvania National Guard’s “B” Troop, 1st Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment.

In June 2005, he was in Ar Ramadi.

Two of the biggest battles of the war were fought in Ramadi. According to Michael Fumento, who wrote about 101st Airborne operations in Ramadi, the phrase “The graveyard of the Americans” was scrawled on the walls of the city of 400,000.

Broome was assigned as a human resources specialist, but spent less than a week in that job.

“They needed more soldiers on patrol, so I was attached to a Vermont line platoon,” Broome said. “My truck commander taught me room clearing, convoy route security and detainee operations.”

“We responded when the gate got attacked,” he said. “We were attached to a Marine unit for missions.”

Broome served four months on security and patrol duty until he was injured and evacuated from Iraq.

“I know this tour is rough on some of the first timers,” said the Purple Heart recipient, resting his hand on his right leg as he spoke. “But compared to my first tour this time is cake for me.”

Sunday, November 22, 2009

100k on Sunday, PT Test on Monday

On Sunday my bike buddy had to cancel our plans to ride 100 miles, so I decided to ride 100km. It was a beautiful day yesterday so I did three laps of the base then stopped for lunch. I did another lap then met up with the HHC first sergeant to make sure of road guard placement for the race on Thursday. My first sergeant was part of the meeting also. He told me that I had to take the PT Test in the morning--this morning. So I decided to finish the 100km and use 6.2 of the last 15 miles to time myself on the bike distance for the PT Test.

So I got up at 0440 and went to the gym to take the PT Test at 0530. The first event is the pushup. I need to do 56 in two minutes to max--get 100 points for the event. I got 49. Not bad. I was tired. I have done 56 when I felt really good, but after the 100km ride, I did not feel "really good." The situps were next. I needed 66. I got 66 in a minute, 50 seconds. Because I am over 55 I can take an alternative to the run. For the bike I have to ride 10km in 30 minutes. I am not allowed to change gears--which is fine since I have single-speed bikes. I rode the 6.2 mile course with 7 turn arounds in 20:03 on the road bike. For the PT Test, I ode the mountain bike and finished in 22:37.

I expected to have a full day's rest before the PT Test. I didn't. It's nice to know that I can score 288 out of 300 on a day when I am tired and haven't had much sleep. But I was wiped out afterward. I worked in the morning, but felt like I had cotton inside my skull. I took a nap at lunch.

Now I have to just be cool till Thursday morning and the race.

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...