Who Fights This War? And Just Keeps Going

I have mentioned my roommate before. Sgt. Nickey Smith joined Echo Company with a dozen other guys from Connecticut at the beginning of the deployment at Fort Sill. All the other CT guys in our company are fuelers and have mostly been assigned to remote bases to refuel aircraft. Nickey was the only CT guy assigned to the motor pool. And from his first day he was put in the squad with the squad leader who was already showing signs of being overwhelmed at Fort Sill. More and more as training progressed, Nickey found himself in charge of a team and picking up the slack as his squad leader fell apart. Shortly after we arrived in Iraq, Nickey got assigned to as the maintenance sergeant at one of the fueling bases. Life is a lot more Spartan on these bases, but one of Nickey's best friends was there and he was away from the drama of his squad. He was very happy to go and not so happy to be back.
When he got back, his squad leader fell apart completely and was assigned to another company doing and enlisted man's job. Nickey took over as squad leader and as a maintenance team leader. For a while he was the only sergeant double assigned that way.
Despite all this, he was rated as just average when he got his NCOER (NCO evaluation report). When many other sergeants, myself included, took jobs at battalion or somewhere else, Nickey stayed in the motor pool, worked at a job a pay grade above his own, and did everything necessary to continue the mission. When the PT Test loomed before us, and the maintenance soldiers had to report to the motor pool at 0600, Nickey was getting up at 0300 to work out at least three days per week.
Two nights ago when I came back from my work he was sitting on his bed surrounded by papers making sure all of his squad got good evaluations for the work they did here in Iraq. Earlier in the year he made sure they got awards when that ball had been dropped by his predecessor.
Nickey fits no definition of average. I encouraged him to appeal his NCOER. He was told it was too late and he would have to wait until we return to America. Nickey deserves better. There's a lot of things I will miss about my year in the Army when I return to civilian life, but I won't miss the way paperwork crushes reality.

Who Fights This War--Col. Newell and The Battle For Fallujah

I wrote the following form published reports about Col. Newell at the Battle for Fallujah. This is a sidebar to yesterday's post. 

The Battle for Fallujah, November 2004 The battle for Fallujah in November 2004 was the biggest operation in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad at the beginning of the war, an assault on the city that had turned into Iraq’s nastiest nest of insurgents. Commanding the lead battalion of the Germany-based Task Force 2-2 was then Lt. Col. Peter Newell. He said the battle for Fallujah was, "as pure a fight of good vs. evil as we will probably face in our lifetime." Newell said he never doubted his troops would win the battle “It was [over] before the fight started,” he said. “It was just a matter of how long it was going to take.” The 550 soldiers of Task Force 2-2 fought for 12 days in Fallujah, killing 330 insurgents and foreign fighters including the No. 2 man in the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musabal-Zarqawi terrorist organization. Nine men earned Silver Stars for valor. Five of them — including Newell’s and his three company commanders’ — were for bravery at Fallujah. Newell’s 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment earned a Presidential Unit Citation, the Army’s highest unit honor. Lt. Col. Newell’s Silver Star Citation: Newell deployed a 550-soldier mechanized task force on 72 hours’ notice to Fallujah in November 2004, leading a continuous 12-day attack in the heavily fortified Askari district. His forces overwhelmed resistance in the first 14 hours, ultimately killing 330 enemy fighters, capturing 48 others, destroying 38 weapons caches, two roadside- bomb factories and one car-bomb factory while becoming the first battalion in the division to achieve its objective. On Nov. 12, Newell was caught in an ambush following an 11-hour night attack. Narrowly escaping enemy fire, he left his tracked vehicle and personally assisted in the evacuation of a mortally wounded officer. From published reports in The Stars and Stripes and The Rolling Stone.

Who Fights This War? Warriors Reunited from 2004

Col. Peter Newell

Making new friends and saying goodbye to comrades in arms is a regular part of Army service, but sometimes chance and circumstances can reunite soldiers in new assignments after years apart. 

Just such a reunion happened in May when Alpha Company 1-106th, part of Pennsylvania-based Task Force Diablo, was assigned to support the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division commanded by Col. Peter Newell. In 2004 Alpha Company deployed to Joint Base Balad for 15 months as part of an Illinois-based Army National Guard Aviation Battalion. Part of their mission was support of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, commanded Newell, the lead Army unit in the Battle for Fallujah. 

Because National Guard soldiers can often serve in the same unit for their entire career, sixteen of the 53 soldiers in this Air Assault Company deployed with Alpha in 2004-5. Alpha flies daily “Adder” missions in support of Newell and the 4-1. “Our mission is to support the ground mission,” said Capt. Jason Henderson, the Alpha Commander. “The Adder mission gets Colonel Newell and [Lt. Col.] Callahan and their staff out where they need to be.” Lt. Col. David Callahan is the Deputy Commander of 4-1.

When the Adder mission began Henderson would adapt the mission schedule to Newell’s needs. Initially there was resistance from aviation brigade headquarters “but they came around,” said Henderson. Chief Warrant Officer Herb Stevens said flying for Newell is easier than for many senior commanders. “Many commanders want dedicated aircraft. Colonel Newell will free up the Adder aircraft for other missions when he does not need them,” Stevens said. “He’s all about helping soldiers. If there is an empty seat, he will take soldiers waiting for flights on his missions.”

“The support provided by Alpha Company is essential for my brigade to operate effectively across three provinces in southern Iraq,” said Newell. “I’d fly with these guys again on any combat tour; and, consider them part of the Highlander Brigade’s family.”

“One Day Colonel Newell said a 4-1 patch would look good on the nose of his aircraft and we made it happen as soon as possible,” said Henderson.
Col. Teresa Gallagher, commander of the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade—the former headquarters of Task Force Diablo—was initially against putting unit patches on the nose of aircraft. “But when I heard about the depth of the relationship between Alpha Company and Colonel Newell, I was in favor of it,” she said.

“Several books have been written about the Battle for Fallujah,” Stevens said. “We are proud to be flying Colonel Newell again.”

Together Again in Iraq
Of the sixteen members of Alpha Company who deployed in 2004 and are back in 2009, eight are in new jobs. First Sgt. Tom House was a platoon sergeant in 2004. Chief Warrant Officers Ashley Higar, Damien Germscheid, Thad Simpson and Nate McKean were enlisted in 2004, with Higar working in maintenance. McKean, Simpson and Germscheid were crew chiefs. Sergeants First Class Daren Cagle and Mike Simard moved from crew chief to platoon sergeant and Staff Sgt. Garath Mills to assistant platoon sergeant.

Eight are in the same seat they occupied in the previous deployment. Chief Warrant Officers Pat Schroeder, Herb Stevens, Dave Hammon, Greg Calvin, and Scott Wiley were all pilots on the previous deployment and are still flying with Alpha. Sergeants Robert Kulage, Joe Seitz, and Craig McGuire served then and now as crew chiefs.
Although not among the sixteen who were actually in Alpha, Staff Sgt. Mike Maass was a fueler and crew chief in 2004 in Headquarters Company and returned this tour as a door gunner. Henderson was a member of Alpha Company in 2004, but was at flight school during the deployment.

When a unit has this kind of continuity many procedures that other units must develop over time are already in place. Alpha uses a “Push Crew” system. Crew chiefs and door gunners who are not flying get missions ready to go, bringing weapons and equipment to the flight line, removing doors and windows in the summer and performing maintenance checks while the flight crews are going through briefings and planning. Alpha developed the system in 2004 and adapted it to operations at COB Adder.

New members of Alpha Company join a band of brothers, men who have served together for many years, rely on each others strengths and share a bond that only years of service and sacrifice can forge.

Who Satirizes This War?--PT Belt Facebook Fan Page Tops 6000

Spc. Jason Guge of Delta Company, Task Force Diablo, has attracted more than 6,000 fans to his Facebook page dedicated the Army PT (Physical Training) Belt. He almost certainly will have 7000 fans by the year’s end. Guge has added an average of more than 60 fans every day since he created the site on September 5 of this year. In fact, he has added more 100 per day in the last month. He topped 1,000 fans in the first month then added 3,000 more in the last six weeks.
Asked about his method for success Guge said, “I promote it within Facebook at other pages, and I send out messages within Facebook. I also rely on word of mouth. My wife tells people back home about the site. She has even written on the site a couple times as Mrs. PT Belt.
Typically, more than 100 fans leave messages every day , most trying to be more silly than the last:
“My PT Belt keeps me safe in combat. It is my "DO NOT SHOOT" Profile, so the enemy knows not to shoot at me.”
With a philosophical twist: “If you don't wear your PT Belt in the Forest and there is no one to see you without it, will a Command Sergeant Major still hit you with a Gator?”
“I didn't know what I was missing out on when i was in the Navy until I joined the Army...now I'm in the PT belt circle!”
“I read that the only reason Apollo 13 made it back was because all three astronauts had PT belts.”
As of late November, the top countries where fans live: United States 2,805, Iraq 415, United Kingdom 165, Germany 123, Kuwait 92, Canada 79, Hong Kong 74.
It is not surprising that Canadians would be PT Belt fans, but why would there be nearly as many PT Belts fans in Hong Kong, one big city in China, as the entire country of Canada? So many PT Belt questions to answer! Other countries with more than 10 PT Belt fans: Afghanistan, Italy, France, South Korea, Serbia, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Lebanon, Japan, and the Netherlands.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Clarissa Landeros is a fan with seven PT Belts and three more on order from the states. “They are all different,” she said sitting in Coalition Dining Facility with a group of soldiers and airmen. “I’ve got pink, basic white, orange with a stripe, checkered—Wait, look at that lime green one,” she said pointing to an Air Force Staff Sgt. with a lime green PT Belt. She was clearly thinking about her eleventh PT Belt. “You can’t have too many.”

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.