Who Fights This War--Mother and Daughter

Sgt. JoAnn Wevodau, a technical supply sergeant and technical inspector
in Delta Company, joined the U.S. Marines in 1977 when her current
company commander, Capt. Michael Girvin, was just four years old.
Three years later, in 1979, Wevodau finished her enlistment and returned
to civilian life.
Then after 20 years as a civilian, she re-enlisted in the Army National
Guard in 1999 along with her daughter Sgt. Amy Torres, who is now 28.
Wevodau and Torres work together as technicians at Fort Indiantown Gap,
Pa. She will return to her technician job and rejoin her daughter after
this deployment is complete. This is Wevodau's second deployment. She
served at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in 2003-4. She is eight years
from retirement and expects to have one or two more deployments before
she reaches 20 years of service.
A resident of Jonestown, Wevodau is the mother of five grown children
and has three grandchildren. She is married to Mike Wevodau, Command Sergeant Major of the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade.

TODAY--40th Anniversary of My Driver's License!!!

Among the many milestones I reached in Iraq is one I have celebrated for more than a quarter century--my driver's license anniversary. On December 19, 1969, after a one-semester delay while my grades got better, I went to the Registry of Motor Vehicles office in Woburn, Mass., and there took and passed my driver's test.

I had already bought and sold my first car--a Black 1963 Dodge Dart and so did not have a car on that wonderful day. But my Dad let me drive his car--a 22-foot-long 1965 Chrysler New Yorker. I was in Heaven. I had wanted to drive as long as I could remember and the day finally came. With my license my obsession with cars moved from wanting cars to owning cars.

In three weeks I had a 1964 Opel Station wagon. A month later it was a 1963 Chrysler Newport. Back then I thought I liked working on cars, but really, all I wanted to do was drive. I wore cars out. I broke them. I am the same with bicycles, although with bikes I know I do not want to work on them. I just want to ride.

Meeting Mrs. Mullen at MWR

On Friday, December 18, Deborah Mullen accompanied her husband, Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, on a visit here at COB
Adder. Sgt. Monique Usher NCOIC of MWR (Morale, Welfare & Recreation)
for the Garrison Command asked me to meet Mrs. Mullen as part of her
tour of medical and MWR facilities. I have led two book discussion
groups since July. The six books we have read are by authors who have
been dead for half a century to two millenia.
Mrs. Mullen walked straight up to me and introduced herself, then asked
why I limit my book choice to dead authors. I told her that you know
dead authors are good by the judgment of history, that's never true with
living authors. She said I should try reading live authors which led to
a discussion of who and what I should read. In the end she is sending
me a copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary
Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
The choice shows how gracious and funny Mrs. Mullen is. The book has
two authors. Mary Ann Shaffer died last year. Annie Barrows is very
much alive. A charming compromise.

5000 Miles In Iraq

At 6:30 this evening on Perimeter Road, I passed 5000 miles on the bike in Iraq. I need 99 more miles to have 7000 total for the year. I should make it by Christmas.
That makes more than 400 times around the Perimeter Road. I am a hamster!!!

Screwtape Loves Creation Science

Screwtape: The Devil as a mid-level bureaucrat.

We are currently reading Screwtape in the CSL group here in Iraq. I wrote this a few days ago. It's how Screwtape would look at Creation Science. 

If you haven't read The Screwtape Letters, this won't make much sense--and if you had to choose, it would be better to read a the real Screwtape Letters than my imitation. 

My Dear Wormwood, 

Very true, I did tell you in my very first letter to keep your patient away from science, but I meant real science based on math in which theories are the best current description of observed reality. And the theories are not absolute: the latest discovery can make last year's greatest theory obsolete.

Of course you should let your patient immerse himself in Creation Science. That ridiculous pairing of words is one of the many recent triumphs of our Infernal Marketing Division. 

Real science is wretched for us. The Enemy has made the material universe so complex that the deeper the humans penetrate reality the more surprised they are at what they find. And He made it so vast that in time and space that no one can fully comprehend it. 

We know he did this for the sophomoric reason that he wants the human vermin to be free to choose to Love Him, or not. The universe is so complex from the micro scale to the galactic, that no amount of mere facts can convince anyone of the Enemy's existence. All this disgusting beauty is more of what He calls Love. 

Creation Science does away with all that. It says Einstein was wrong, Darwin was wrong, Mendel was wrong, Watson and Crick were wrong, and an Australian biology teacher who built a museum with saddles on dinosaurs is RIGHT! 

All the messy reality of life, the universe, and everything is tied up with a bow in Creation Science. All of modern science that does not conform to their particular literal view is wrong. Wormwood, it is wonderful. I could show you cages full of proud fools who watched a four-hour Deep Science video series and from that day were able to look down on the millions of people who have held science PhD degrees in the last hundred years. 

Pride, Wormwood. It is the best path to Our Father's House and who could be more sneeringly proud than a man who cannot solve the equation that describes a falling rock yet believes he knows physics at a deeper level than Einstein. If we spirits had lips I would kiss the man who dreamed this heresy up. 

Your Affectionate Uncle, Screwtape

Blogging Blackout!

The following is from David Marron, editor of The Thunder Run www.thunderrun.us blog:

Wednesday 16 December 2009,

Many if not most, fellow milblogs -- including This Ain't Hell, From My Position, Miss Ladybug, Boston Maggie, Grim's Hall, and those participating in the Wednesday Hero program -- are going silent for the day. Some are choosing to go silent for a longer period of time. This blog will resume operations on Monday December 21, 2009.

The reason for this is two-fold.

First, milblogs are facing an increasingly hostile environment from within the military. While senior leadership has embraced blogging and social media, many field grade officers and senior NCOs do not embrace the concept. From general apathy in not wanting to deal with the issue to outright hostility to it, many commands are not only failing to support such activities, but are aggressively acting against active duty milbloggers, milspouses, and others. The number of such incidents appears to be growing, with milbloggers receiving reprimands, verbal and written, not only for their activities but those of spouses and supporters.

The catalyst has been the treatment of milblogger C.J. Grisham of A Soldier's Perspective. C.J. has earned accolades and respect, from the White House on down for his honest, and sometimes blunt, discussion of issues -- particularly PTSD. In the last few months, C.J. has seen an issue with a local school taken to his command who failed to back him, and has even seen his effort to deal with PTSD, and lead his men in same by example, used against him as a part of this. Ultimately, C.J. has had to sell his blog to help raise funds for his defense in this matter.

An excellent story on the situation with C.J. can be found at Military Times: While there have been new developments, the core problem remains, and C.J. is having to raise funds to cover legal expenses to protect both his good name and his career.

One need only look at the number of blogs by active duty military in combat zones and compare it to just a few years ago to see the chilling effect that is taking place.

Milblogs have been a vital link in getting accurate news and information about the military, and military operations, to the public. They have provided vital context and analysis on issues critical to operations and to the informed electorate critical to the Republic.

On Wednesday 16 December, readers will have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it. Those participating are urging their readers to contact their elected representatives in Congress, and to let their opinions be known to them and to other leaders in Washington.

Some milblogs will remain silent for several days; some just for the day. All have agreed to keep the post about the silence and C.J. at the top of their blogs until Friday 18 December.

The issues go beyond C.J., and deserve careful consideration and discussion. We hope that you will cover this event, and explore the issues that lie at the heart of the matter. Contact the milbloggers in your area or that you know, and hear the story that lies within.

A Partial List of Participating Blogs:

This Ain't Hell
Boston Maggie
Blackfive
Miss Ladybug
Drunken Wisdom
Grim's Hall
From my position
CDR Salamander
LL

Two cartoonists join in!

Private Murphy
Delta Bravo Sierra

Check them out as well...

If you wish to donate to CJ's defense fund, please use the following address, or click the link below. He's in a serious battle against a serious foe. Read the article to find out all about it.

Grisham Legal Fund
c/o Redstone Federal Credit Union
220 Wynn Drive
Huntsville, AL 35893

Please write "Grisham Legal Fund" in the memo line if you use this option.

Milblogs have been a vital link in getting accurate news and information about the military, and military operations, to you. Today, many milblogs are gone and others are under attack from within and without. Today, you have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it. Make your voice heard by writing your congressional representatives and others, and by making donations as you see fit.

The battle for freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas is fought on many fronts and in many ways. Without your help, the battle may well be lost.

For Nigel--Blackhawks at Sunset, Big Trucks in Iraq

Dust Clouds

Tonight I rode through clouds of dust to get to my office. I went to the office after the CSL book group. The night was absolutely beautiful when I left our living area. You can only see up where we live. Twelve-foot-high blast walls surround our trailer homes. So I looked up and saw Orion's belt and sword so clearly I almost thought the mythical warrior could step out of the sky and come to our base. So I looked up at the blue-black sky till my neck hurt then rode south to my office. On both dirt stretches the air was brown from long convoys raising dust. The front of the convoy was stopped and the back closing up to the front as they stopped and waited. Dozens of flatbed semis waiting to load with containers and drive to the port. It's strange how the sky can be clear and beautiful just a mile from where it is choked with a stagnant cloud of dust.

At my office I am trying to copy all of my photos off the hard drive of the computer I am using. The computer is cheap and sometimes quits. It is a PC and I am a very committed MAC user. Every time I use a PC I become more convinced that I love my MAC. I did not work very much. I have been up early and am too tired to work effectively late.

Eleven days till Christmas.

Flat Out of Luck

Not me for a change. David, my riding buddy got a flat on Wednesday, fixed it. Broke a spoke on Friday which warped his wheel right away. So he dropped his bike off with Larry the Bike Guy who was kind enough to give him a loaner. Today David wanted to ride 100km before he goes home on Tuesday--just to do it.

This morning the weather was cold but better than it has been, maybe 50 instead of low 40s. But if the weather was good, David was not. He is a former body builder and has been dong P90X along with 9-mile runs and biking about 50 miles per week. He hurt his back.

But he decided to go anyway this morning. About three miles into the ride as we passed the burn pit, it was clear this lap would be his last. He asked the shortest way back, then got a flat. One of our Apache pilots was driving to the other side of the base and picked David up. So I decided I could at least pass some solo milestones. I rode 50 miles today--enough that I am within 100 miles of 5000 in Iraq and within 200 miles of 7000 for the year. And no problems with the new bike. I went to the gym and did enough sit-ups so I am over 11,000 for the year, 9,000 pushups and 800 pull ups. I guess that means the shoulder surgery worked out well.

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.