The Flag of Israel, A White Falcon, Beeping Horns and Real Pride

On Sunday, June 11, 1967, in mid-afternoon, a small parade of cars drove north on Oak Street in Stoneham, Massachusetts, past my house.  I happened to be in the yard. I went to the street to see what was going on. The first car of the six or seven in line was a white 1962 Ford Falcon convertible with a tattered Israeli flag tied to its antenna.  It seemed like a dozen men and women in their 20s or so were sitting on the doors and the trunk and standing on the seats, waving and yelling.

"Israel won! Israel beat the Arabs! Israel!" They also yelled in Hebrew.  Most of them were wearing something blue or white or both.  The lead car was the only convertible. The rest of the cars were sedans with people sitting on the doors or hanging out the windows also waving and yelling.

Israel won!

Stoneham is a suburb nine miles north of Boston. When I was 14 years old in 1967, the population was 12,000 and growing.  But the Jewish population was in the hundreds. Most of the town was divided between old families that went back to the Revolution or further. Stoneham was incorporated in 1636. The other half was Irish and Italian Catholic families.  It seemed like the entire Jewish population of Stoneham was in those cars, at least those between 18 and 25 years old.  I am technically not Jewish, my father is Jewish, not my mother so I am not Jewish by Israel's official definition.

But on this day, for the first time I can remember, I was really proud to be Jewish.  Israel beat Egypt, Jordan and Syria in just six days.  The victory was crushing. Israel was outnumbered 100 to 1 and sent all three armies fleeing. Until that day, when I thought about being Jewish, I thought about being a victim. I did not know much about my heritage or the Holocaust, but I know that millions were killed by the Nazis.

The Six-Day War changed that for me. Israel could fight and win against impossible odds.  Israelis were not victims, they were warriors.  I just finished reading Six Days of War by Michael Oren. This book brought together all of the details of a war I knew from news reports at the time. Oren makes clear the cascade of errors and arrogance by the Arab leaders that led to such a quick and crushing defeat.  He also details how many of the victories were last-minute decisions in the moment that could have gone another way. Taking Jerusalem, for example, was not a plan. There was an opportunity. Israel took it.

Reading this book was also a counterbalance for me to my visits to Holocaust sites and memorials this summer.  I spent the summer being reminded of how dangerous Nazi and white supremacist ideology really is.  Oren's book reminded me that Israel is ready to fight any enemy of the Jewish people.

Eight Years Ago Matt Jones Was My Mentor, and the Same Age as My Kids

From Left: Me, Matt Jones, Dale Shade and Andy Mehler

Ten years ago this month I moved from Echo Company to Task Force Diablo HQ. My new mission was to write about as many soldiers as I could and take hundreds of pictures.  

The last time I took photos professionally was in the 70s. Cameras had film. I needed help.  At Brigade Headquarters there were two Public Affairs sergeants, but only one had been to the Defense Information School. The sergeant who handed me a digital camera and showed me how to use it was Matt Jones.  Of course he was less than half my age, everybody was. But this young, quiet sergeant who was about the same age as my oldest daughter was also my mentor. He showed me how to use the new camera, how to frame shots, how to care for the camera in sandstorms and prop wash from helicopters, and how the Army does public relations.  

I had more than 20 years experience in public relations, but the Army is a much more controlled environment than the civilian world. Matt guided me through the virtual land mines of Army approvals. He is also an excellent line editor and made several of my stories better and more focused. 

Although we occasionally worked in the same office and we were both in the same Brigade, Matt's work environment was sadly different than mine. The people I worked for in Task Force headquarters gave me everything I needed within their power to help me do my job. Matt worked for a headquarters with a troubled commander and the infighting that always happens in that kind of situation. While I got praise and encouragement, Matt got criticism and disdain.  

Matt is now just another old guy, over 30!, with kids and a career. Ten years ago, he helped me to succeed while he handled his own set of difficulties.  

Thanks again Matt. 

The Army is Progressive When the Country is Divided

When I enlisted in 1972, racial integration was a fact in the American Army, but was an on-going mess outside the gates of every base. At that time, the very few women in the military were very separate and no one could be openly Gay, but the Army was ahead of the civilian world in racial integration.

Part of the success of integration in the Army was shared suffering.  Everyone in Basic Training of whatever background had a common enemy in the Drill Sergeant. After Basic, soldiers of every color had a real enemy in Vietnam. Rifle squads live by trusting each other.

During my first enlistment between 1972 and 1984, I lived in an Army that changed from a draft to a volunteer Army.  By 1977, one of the Volunteer Army infantry battalions in the armored brigade I served in was majority minority--Blacks and Hispanics were almost 70 percent of the soldiers in the unit.

By the way, in the 70s the ranks of Black Drill Sergeants grew rapidly. It was still difficult for minority soldiers to achieve officer ranks, but Drill Sergeant was open to every career sergeant who mastered all the essential soldier skills. And that meant soldiers of every background were taking orders from a Black man from the first day of their service.

When the Army became "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the 90s, it was far ahead of a culture in which old people (voters) were against Gay Rights and young people (non-voters) were mostly in favor of Gay Rights.

The Iraq War saw the integration of women in the Army in a way they never had been before and later Gay soldiers were allowed to serve openly.  Last year Transgender soldiers joined the ranks. The President is issuing orders to ban Transgender soldiers, but he is fighting a trend that toward inclusion that is more than a half century old and will continue.

The military squeezes people into tanks, destroyers, Humvees, submarines, aircraft and holes in the ground. In those confined spaces, they learn to survive and thrive.

I wish there was a civilian equivalent of a bunker or a Stryker vehicle. We would have better world.