New Year's Eve--2009 by the Numbers

What an odd year for a 56-year-old guy who works at a museum. This year I have lived in two US states and two middle eastern countries--Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Iraq and Kuwait. Lance Armstrong wrote a book titled "It's Not About the Bike." If I wrote that I would be lying. so the first numbers are about the bike.
Miles: 7100 total
PA--500
OK--1300
Kuwait--100
Iraq--5200
I competed in four races. Three in PA while I was on leave, one in Iraq.
I rode four bikes outside PA. Two I bought for the trip and broke them both. The single speed 29er and track bike are in Conex containers on the way to America. The post chaplain at Fort Sill OK loaned me his bike while I was there (May the Lord bless him!) I bought a $100 bike for the two weeks I was in Kuwait in the spring, broke it and traded it for a latte at Starbucks. I bought a bike for $250 in Iraq in December after I broke the 29er. I sold it the day before I left for $250 and threw in a pump.

I read only 15 books this year--lowest total since I started keeping track. And almost all of them were re-reads: six by CS Lewis, Inferno & Purgatorio, Aeneid, and The Three Musketeers (an old edited French version). New to my reading list were George Orwell's Essays, another of John Polkinghorne's books on theology and physics, and The Audacity of Hope by President Obama.

The unabridged Democracy in America is my first book for 2009. I am halfway through The Oak and the Calf by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and a second (very different) abridged French version of the Three Musketeers and should finish them during the long hours in Kuwait.

By a rough calculation I have written more than 75,000 words on my blog and am just short of 50,000 visitors too my blog since I started keeping track in June of 2008.

Since August I have written more articles than I ever have in my life. The 16th weekly issue of the newsletter goes out Monday. I also wrote four newsletters for Echo Company and had stories picked up by many Web sites and newspapers--none cooler, of course, then the New York Times "At War" blog on Thanksgiving!

Although many are different angles of the same shot, I have taken more than 5000 pictures. It will be very strange to have no camera when I leave active duty.

Counting each take off and landing as a flight, I have been on two dozen helicopter rides, mostly on Blackhawks, but also on the big Chinooks. It was the Chinooks that turned out to be the best single photo subject. It was wonderful watching them hover, six feet above a container with a flight engineer on top of it who hooked the 5,000-pound load, jumped to the ground and ran through the hurricane-force winds as the big helicopter flew away with 2.5 tons dangling 20 feet underneath.

I bought just two meals the whole time I was in Iraq--pizzas at Ciano's. But I bought a few hundred lattes at Green Bean's. The last one was free. I am sitting in Green Bean's in Kuwait writing this post.

I fired a lot fewer rounds this year than I did as a Cold War tank commander in the 1970s. But then we were training for a real war that seemed immanent. Now we are in a real war that is ending.

Oh right. And I made 387 blog posts in 2009. I will continue posting every day until we are released from active duty. Then I am going to take a break during the 17 days I am still on terminal leave. And when I am finally and officially a civilian again, I might write about some of the stuff I can't write now.

Happy New Year.

One Step Closer

Today we flew to Kuwait by way of Basra stopping at three bases before finally arriving at the transient base. We will be here for several days and, just as when I was stuck here for seven days in July, I won't know when I will leave here until I am on an airplane. Several times on the last trip, my name got called, I was on a manifest, I dragged my bags up to the meeting area, I was ready to board the bus then. . ."Sorry. Come back at 0500 hours."

But it's OK with me. We are on the way back to America. I am out of Iraq. I have lots of work to do, assuming I can do it using personal computer on a wireless hookup. Sometime in late January this year will end and I can go back to being a civilian again. I liked some of this year. I hated some of this year. The parts I hated probably helped me grow.

One thing it confirmed for me is how very difficult and very worthwhile it is to build community. It is very clear very fast that even people who think of politeness as optional, a sort of window dressing in life, rapidly find that politeness of some kind is necessary to live in close quarters. And they believe more strongly every day that if politeness is not natural it had better be enforced by someone.

An hour ago we moved eight of us moved into a 16-man tent, filling the all the available bunks. The lights are supposed to stay on 24/7, but if everyone agrees, the lights can go out until someone needs them. We may or may not have lights out, but if we do, it will be because 16 men agreed to shut off the lights at a given hour and turn them on again when needed.

It's very likely (though not certain) I will spend New Year's Eve and Day in a transient tent without any of the usual celebration. Certainly no alcohol. But it won't dampen my spirits. In a month or so, I'll be home.

Who Fights This War? Public Affairs Officer, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division

Today I have a guest post from Maj. Myles Caggins of the 4th BCT, 1st Armored Division. We have had a chance to work together on a few projects and even to talk politics.
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Twelve months ago I was in Washington, D.C. having just finished my graduate degree requirements from Georgetown. D.C., the most powerful city in the world, is an easy draw for the media and the military. In contrast, Contingency Operating Base Adder just south of Nasiriyah, Iraq is relatively unknown and military operations here seldom gain wide-spread press attention.

At least not until December 18.

This day Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, our nation’s highest ranking military officer visited my brigade at COB Adder. Mullen was traveling with seven members of the Pentagon Press Pool among the 20+ other staffers and security personnel in his entourage.


Serving as an Army Brigade Public Affairs Officer my job is to tell the story of the 4,000 Soldiers assigned to the 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division. I want audiences to know who they are and most importantly what they do in Iraq in 2009.
Gone are the days of U.S. Soldiers kicking down doors and rounding up IED makers, terrorist mortarmen, and other outlaws. In today’s stability operations environment, we are simply here to advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces.

Most readers of this blog believe that. However, if I stood in downtown Nasiriyah and tried to explain “stability operations” doctrine the local citizens would be skeptical of the message and the messenger—and of course 30% of what I say would probably be lost in translation.

Imagine if some dude from a foreign Army pulled up in your driveway in a 10’ tall armored truck; stood in your front lawn with body armor, an assault rifle, and a team of security then stated “I’m your friend, I come in peace.”

Needless to say, I might come off to be a Kevlar-clad Joe Isuzu to the average Iraqi. Remember him here and here.

So on my next post, I’ll explain the solution to gaining and maintaining a positive perception for American forces in southern Iraq…and how I changed the price of oil 2% with one quote on December 18.

For Nigel--Blackhawk Banking Left

Yesterday I was on an all-day flight that lasted into the night. It was the first time I flew in a Blackhawk at night. I flew in a Chinook at night, but I was up inside the fuselage and could not see out very much except through the tail door.
I was sitting right behind the door gunner on the Blackhawk and could see all the countryside on the final leg of our trip. The desert is prettier at night than in the brown dusty day. The shallowest ripples look deep in the dark and trace out shapes that are much more interesting than simple sand ripples and ditches.
The trip went from here to Kalsu for hot fuel (with the engines running and rotors turning) then to Baghdad and a visit to one of Saddam's bombed out palaces. I'll try to put a few more photos up soon.
After Baghdad we flew up to Joint Base Balad, where we should have gone back when we got here. It's a beautiful base. Oh well.
Then Back to Kalsu in the fading light, then back to Tallil in the dark. I was not told till the night before I had to go. I had a lot of work to do the next day and asked the commander if he really wanted to me to go. He said, "This is a war Gussman. You're going." So I went.

Who Fights this War--Coach on the Range

During the two days Echo Company ran the marksmanship qualification range on COB Adder in November, Sgt. 1st Class Jason Guinn, 30, strode back and forth on the dirt mound where the shooters were firing. Guinn adjusted a body position here, made a suggestion there, pushed in an elbow, all to help soldiers to qualify with their M16, M4 or M9 personal weapons.
Guinn served for four years on active duty as a Marine before joining the Army National Guard. “We don’t spend enough time on PMI (Preliminary Marksmanship Instruction),” said Guinn, NCOIC of Operations for Task Force Diablo. “In the Marines we moved out to the range for two weeks every year. We would a full week just practicing different firing positions.”
Guinn serves full time in the Army National Guard and is planning to work as a Readiness NCO in 28th Combat Aviation Brigade after this deployment. He currently has the additional duties of Master Weapons Instructor and Master Marksmanship Instructor for the 28th CAB. During his service with the Marines from 1997 – 2000 Guinn was a Master Marksmanship Instructor. “In the Marines, marksmanship can be a primary duty. In the Army it is always an additional duty,” said the Enola, Pa. native.
In addition to weapons training in the Marines, Guinn has received six months of advanced weapons instruction from several Army schools, including the five-phase Master Weapons Instructor School which he completed in 2004. He is currently on his third deployment. He went to East Timor with the Marines in 1998. He went to Kosovo with Bravo Company (Attack) 1-104th Aviation in 2005-6 before his current tour with Task Force Diablo.
Guinn says “practice makes perfect” in marksmanship as in many areas of life. He practices partly through competition. He has earned the Governor’s Twenty tab for marksmanship and competed in international events. He is especially proud of being a member of the team the beat the highly rated Italian Special Forces team.
Later this week, on December 3, Guinn will be conducting a marksmanship class for his staff in operations. “It’s a full day just to go over the fundamentals of shooting,” he said.

For Nigel: The Best Picture

One more sling load photo because I did not include the best one. This is the one of the ground crewman setting the hook.

For Nigel: A Chinook Sling Load

A few days ago, three Chinook helicopters hovered 20 feet above the north runway waiting for the signal to fly over to the south ramp and pick up sling loads. The Chinook can haul a container with thousands of pounds of stuff underneath and fly. These pictures show some of the views I had. It was tough to get some of the pictures because Chinooks are named after the near 100mph wind in the mountain west. For the picture looking up under the Chinook with the sling load, I laid down on the airstrip 100 meters ahead of the Chinook as the sling was attached and took the shot as it flew over me.

Who Fights This War? A Father and a Son

It’s a very proud Dad who has a child that follows him into his profession, so Sgt. First Class Gary Williard of Delta Company, Task Force Diablo, is a doubly proud man. Williard has two professions and each of his two sons has chosen to follow Dad into one of those professions. Williard is a retired police officer and Army National Guard aircraft maintenance platoon sergeant. His older son, Gary Jr., joined the Tower City police force where Dad retired in 2006 as chief of police. His younger son is Sgt. Joshua Williard, of Bravo Company, 628th Aviation Support Battalion. Joshua worked in the next hangar over from Dad during much of the deployment and is currently completing his deployment with final processing in America.

“I pinned on Joshua’s sergeant stripes when he got promoted here on August 27,” said Gary Sr. “That was quite a moment for me.” Joshua said he plans on a career in aviation maintenance with the Army National Guard.

The Williards are a close family. Gary Sr. and Joshua managed to get the same day off, Friday, through most of last summer here in Iraq. They watched bow hunting and deer hunting videos and football together on their day off. Gary Jr. worked for his Dad for five years in the Tower City police department before moving to the Pennsylvania State Police where he has worked for seven years. Williard and his wife Dina ran an automotive repair business together. Now they have apartments which they rent. “Dina runs the apartments while I am away,” said Williard. “With Joshua and I deployed and Gary Jr. busy with work she’ll be very happy for us to come home.”

Gary Sr. began his military career in 1976 as a prop and rotor mechanic for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and remained with the Guard through his entire career. He had an eight-year break in service from 1982-90 and after returning to the Guard has worked in maintenance on many aircraft. Gary Sr. previously deployed in 2003-4 to Kuwait in both aviation maintenance and security roles. “Even on deployment, I was still a cop,” said Williard.

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 from 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.