USA Today--Today

The cover article on today's edition of USA Today was about troops killing time and what they do to fill the hours. One of the people quoted at length in the article was me. The reporter talked about the two book groups I lead and even provided links to CS Lewis, Dante and Virgil. Here's the article. Meredith will be calling me an ink slut again--but somebody has to do it.

New Office--Great Discussion

This is my new office--the top of the line in trailer living. I thought you might like to see my new digs.
Last night's CSL group book discussion was great. We talked about the Affection (storge) in The Four Loves. In describing each type of love, Lewis follows an arc taking us to the highest and best expressions of love, in this case domestic affection, then dropping us like a Six Flags roller coaster with descriptions of Mrs. Fidget, Mr. Pontifex and Professor Quartz. Two members of the group are counselors and another is a negotiator, so the love gone bad section of the chapter was very useful for them. Next week Friendship or Philia.

Who Fights This War--Flight Surgeon

Lt. Col. David Doud, 42, returned home to Gettysburg last week at the end of his tour as flight surgeon for the 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion. Doud joined the battalion in 2006 after serving as the Medical Company Commander for the 728th Maintenance Support Battalion.
He has nearly 18 years of service in the Army National Guard as a doctor. Doud deployed to Kosovo with the 56th Brigade in 2003-4 as the Brigade Surgeon. On this deployment Doud had the opportunity to fly with the Nebraska MEDEVAC Company attached to the 56th. After deployment he took the training course at Fort Rucker to be qualified as a flight surgeon then moved to the 2-104th.
The day Doud remembers most clearly on this deployment is June 10, when a suicide bomber in Al-Batha killed and wounded many civilians. The Tallil Medical facility asked Doud to help their staff with the emergency surgery patients that were being flown in. Doud said, “I treat car accident victims and gunshot wounds in the States, but the damage to the human body by high explosives is beyond anything I had seen.” Doud and his team
treated five patients.
Two had non-survivable injuries and were made as comfortable as possible. The other three were critical, but Doud was able to perform surgery that kept them alive for evacuation to a larger medical facility. “The three critical patients lived. We made a difference.”

First 50-mile Day in Iraq

From the day we arrived here it was so hot and dusty that I limited my riding to early morning and late afternoon. The dust hangs in the air at night sometimes, so I did not relly consider riding in the dark until recently. But now with my new way-cool bright light I have been riding more in the dark.

And last night I took the long way home from work at midnight so I would get 50 miles in one day here. Next target is 63 miles (100k) and maybe when it gets even cooler I will try for a Century!

Speaking of bike milestones, there is a chance I will be able to ressurect the bicycle race in the form of a biathlon: 5k run, 15 or 20k bike. The run-bike format will eliminate the mass start. Of course, running 5k will also eliminate me from contention, but it's probably better that the organizer doesn't win.

I will let you know more as the back-channel negotiations proceed. Tentatively, Thanksgiving is the day. The Tallil Turkey Trot Biathlon (it would be great alliteration if we could set up a triathlon, but the sand swim would be difficult.)

Jumble of News from Home

I just checked the on-line box score and my oldest daughter's college soccer team lost again today. Not a great season so far and it's almost over. I haven't talked to Lauren today, but she is a tough competitor, always fights to win, and won a lot of games from Junior High School through graduation. Defeat will give her a chance to learn the grace that only loss can teach, but I wish she were learning this grace another way.

My other two daughters were home last weekend, Iolanthe brought her boyfriend Devon to Lancaster and they went to the Renaissance Faire as did Lisa and her Mom. I am looking forward to going back next year. While they were home, Lisa and Iolanthe both tried to play a new drum riff that Nigel had learned. Neither could play it so Nigel demonstrated how to do it. He was happy to show them his new skill and they were very entertained by their brother and his increased ability.

My wife, Annalisa, is working with three different contractors to insulate the house and make it more energy efficient. It is a huge project and it should be completed by the holidays.

I am already making plans to go back to work. I am going to register soon for the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) annual meeting in February (President's Weekend) and will will travel to Orlando two weeks later for an instrumentation conference. I will go to Church in the morning with 75 people armed with automatic weapons so I am not home yet, but it is getting closer. New Years Day here, but most of the New Year in America.

Who Fights this War--Gets the Aircraft Ready to Fly

For door gunners and crew chiefs in Company A, 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation Regiment, the longest days are the ones when they don’t fly. This Illinois-based Army National Guard unit uses a push crew to make sure every mission takes off on time and each aircraft gets back to mission-ready status as soon as possible. If a mission is set to fly at 6 a.m., the flight crew arrives for a pre-flight briefing at 3 a.m. The push crew begins its work at 2 a.m. “The first thing to do at 0200 is start the coffee,” said Cpl. Ricki Jenkins, 40, of Glasford, Ill. “Before going to the airfield, the push crew writes down the crew roster, the tail numbers of the birds, time out and time back.” The push crew normally consists of one crew chief or gunner for each pair of Black Hawks, but sometimes the crew is just one Soldier. The crew takes a Gator vehicle from the orderly room and drives a half-mile to the maintenance hangars, where they switch to a specially-equipped Push Gator. Before going to the flight line, the push crew gathers Aviation Life Support Equipment, weapons, water, ice and the egress kits for ground-mounting the M-240 door guns. The push crew also gathers the crew members’ flight bags, helmets, vests and communications gear. Soon the push crew is on the flight line loading equipment and getting the Black Hawks ready for the mission. “We remove the doors and windows and stack them in the trailer, then pull the ropes tie-down ropes on the rotor blades, pull the engine plugs and (Auxiliary Power Unit) plugs and engine covers,” Jenkins said. “We mount the M-240s on the birds then head back to the maintenance Conex to load the doors and windows in storage racks.” By 4:30 a.m. the flight crew will be at the aircraft with night vision goggles, rescue radios and other equipment. After this equipment is installed or stowed, the flight crew and the push crew go to breakfast together. When they return the flight crew goes through the pre-flight checks. If everything goes normally, the mission takes off on time and the push crew remains at the airfield for 40 minutes just in case a maintenance issue arises early in the flight. If the aircraft has a problem before takeoff, the push crew is ready to move the crew and equipment to another aircraft. “Our priority is to make sure the mission goes on time,” said Capt. Jason Henderson, Co. A commander and a Normal, Ill., resident. “If there is a mechanical problem, the push crew can bump the flight crew to a spare aircraft.” Henderson said the push crew’s role in post-flight operations is just as important as getting the mission ready to go. “They make sure aircraft are ready for the next mission,” Henderson said. “When the mission is over, the push crew identifies and fixes faults right away.” A half-hour before the mission is scheduled to land, the push crew is back at the airfield, loading the doors and windows in the Gator’s trailer. As soon as the first Black Hawk lands the push crew and the flight crew work together to get aircraft ready to fly for the next mission. The M-240 door guns are dismounted and set in the Gator. The crew members take off their helmets, vests and other flight gear and load their bags. The push crew re-hangs the doors, installs the windows and ties down the rotor blades. While the equipment is loaded, post-flight maintenance begins. The Gator has a rack above its dashboard with every kind of lubricant a Black Hawk helicopter needs as well as tools for on-the-spot repairs. “By the time we get the gear stowed and the weapons turned in to the arms room it’s a long day,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Maass, 27, of Hillsboro Ill. Maass is a door gunner who was with Co. A on its previous deployment to Iraq in 2004 and 2005. Maass is a full-time Army National Guard technician and a wheeled vehicle mechanic who volunteered to be a door gunner for this deployment. “Door gunner is a job that only exists in a war zone,” he said. “We (door gunners) all volunteered to deploy.” If a mission takes off at 6 a.m. and returns at 1 p.m., the push crew starts work four hours before takeoff and may still be finishing routine maintenance hours after the flight lands. Twelve to fourteen hour days are average for push crews. The standard rotation for a Co. A door gunner or crew chief is four days of flight, two days of push duty and one day off. Chief Warrant Officer Herbert Stevens of Normal, Ill., an Alpha Co. pilot, said the push procedures reflect lessons learned during the unit’s last tour. “There’s no room for error in aviation. We developed procedures that reduce risk and make sure the flight crew can focus on the mission.”

Who Flies this Aircraft?

I will be writing more soon about the crew of the Blackhawk I flew in on Saturday, but I wanted to give you a preliminary description of the four-man crew: two pilots, a door gunner, and a crew chief. They are all from an Illinois National Guard Company attached to our unit for this deployment. In the National Guard, you get people of many backgrounds serving together and that is true down to the smallest units--like a Blackhawk crew.

Pilot 1--Has 21 years in the guard, the whole time flying. He just completed flight school as the Gulf War ended so he was not deployed until 2004. At that time he was based at Balad and flying air assault missions. He said, "This (meaning the trip I was on flying at 1000 feet and 125 mph) is garrison flying. If you were here in 2004 you could have gone on a real mission--175 mph at 50 feet of the ground. That's fun." He actually gave the speeds in knots. I am sparing you the conversion.
So what does this action junkie do in civilian life? He is one of ten pilots on the governor's staff--in Illinois--since 2003. He has flown Rod Blagojevich for 6 years (except for the time he was in Iraq). He would not answer any questions about flying the disgraced gov.

Pilot 2--Decided to join the Army Guard and become a pilot in 2002. Needed a job that would be OK with a lot of leave for military duty. Took a job with the Norfolk Southern Railroad. Flight school 1 yr. in 2003. Deployed 15 months 2004-5. Advanced flight training 2007. Pre-deployment training many weeks 2008. Here 2009. Said he worked 2.5 years since he took the job, but has full seniority. Smart guy.

Door Gunner--24-year-old graduate of Massapequa High School, NY. Grew up in Queens. Enlisted at 18. Went to Iraq at 19 in 2004 as a combat infantryman in Baghdad. Came home and worked as an executive security guard. Volunteered to go to Iraq in late 2007 as a door gunner, then volunteered for another consecutive year here now. He is going to flight school next fall. He plans to deploy with his home unit in NYC to Afghanistan in 2012. Then he said, "I think with four deployments I'll be ready to settle down.

Crew Chief--26 is on his first deployment. Is going home to finish college then become an officer after he gets a bachelors degree from Illinois State.

Pilot 1 got married just before deployment and is on his honeymoon now in Australia. The other three are single.