Two Bikes Down, One to Get to 5000 Miles

Today the fifth spoke broke on the rear wheel of my single-speed mountain bike. The wheel is twisted. I put my last mile on it. So both of the bikes I brought here broke beyond my ability to repair them after 2700 miles each: 2721 on the road bike, 2767 on the mountain bike. So now I have a Giant mountain bike to ride until the end of December. I only need 162 more miles to get to 5000 in Iraq and 265 to have 7000 miles for the year.

And I have a buyer for the mountain bike at the end of the month. At this point I am not sure exactly when I will be leaving, but it should be sometime in early January.

This Sunday is my riding buddy's last day before he goes home on leave. If he is stuck in Kuwait for any more than a day, I may not see him again. He wants to ride 100 miles Sunday. I may go 100km. Either way, I will have most of the miles I need before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I am going to be the emcee at the Christmas music night they will have here on Christmas Eve. It will be good to have something to do on Christmas Eve. Christmas will be just another work day except the lines in the DFAC will be longer.

And to continue on with yesterday's post on music--sometimes I ride for a mile or two with no hands, just to do it. Last night I was riding the 29er in the dark with my super bright light and singing as I rode with no hands for three miles. It can be boring riding here, but turning corners with no hands keeps my concentration up.

One more month and I should at least be in America.

Emotional Roller Coaster

Tomorrow is the goodbye ceremony for most of our Brigade. We will be the last battalion to go home in Pennsylvania's biggest deployment since World War 2. Not the distinction I wanted. Many of the soldiers who are going home very much wanted to stay. They came here because they wanted to earn tax free money and would rather stay longer than leave early.
A good indicator that I am over tired or in emotional disarray or both is my iPod. When I am healthy, happy and well rested, I listen to New Yorker podcasts, "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" from NPR, Books on Tape, Mars Hill Audio or Teaching Company courses. I am currently listening to a course on "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville. But not tonight.
Everyone at home is happy, ending the semester, getting ready for the holidays. I had to tell my wife to tell everyone not to send anything because they will be sending our mail back home beginning some unspecified date before we leave. And since by Saturday, I will only have a duffel bag and a half to live out of, anything bigger than a pen will stay behind.
When I am a mess, I listen to music on the iPod. I bounced back and forth between Amy Grant, Toby Keith, Joan Jett and Aerosmith--Hey, it's my iPod.

A Report for the New York CS Lewis Society

The following is a report I just wrote for the New York CS Lewis Society. I have been a member since 1980 and, as far as I know, the only member in Iraq.


One of my big goals when I knew I was getting deployed to Iraq was to start a CS Lewis book group and, if possible a Dante group. We arrived here in early May 2009 after two weeks in Kuwait and two months at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I thought about starting the groups right away, but I went on leave five weeks after I arrived, so the book groups started in late July. The CSL group, Beyond Narnia, met on Monday nights at 8pm. Our first book was The Weight of Glory. The Dead Poets Society started meeting on Tuesday nights at 8pm reading Inferno--it would be hard to find a more appropriate book. We read five cantos a week for six weeks. During each of those six weeks, the mid-day tempo topped 130 degrees.

The first night of the Beyond Narnia Group, I talked about CSL's life and works. Then we read "Why I am Not a Pacifist." I thought it would be good to start with an essay that describes CSL's clear-eyed view of pacifism and his service. On the following night, the Dante group had a long discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins and their order in Hell. From the first week the two groups had a surprising (to me) difference in
participation that has carried on right to the end (as I write there will be just two more weekly meetings before I go to Kuwait and back to America).

The Beyond Narnia Group was older, almost all officers, and was very steady in attendance except when on missions. The Dead Poets Society was almost all enlisted soldiers and airmen under 30. When I say old I mean 40s. At 56, I am beyond Methuselah in Army years. I was surprised because I had the idea that the Narnia movies (which I have not seen) would inspire someone to read more of Lewis. The Captains and Colonels in my group all had wanted to read CSL long before the movies ever came out and for one reason or another had not got around to it. After The
Weight of Glory we read The Four Loves and are finishing with The Screwtape Letters. Over time the group became more and more animated.

One of the Chaplains in the group disagreed with CSL on something every week, but was very happy to discuss more. The meetings were set for an hour, but The Four Loves discussions went almost two hours.

After Inferno, the Dead Poets Society voted to read Aeneid. We are now reading Purgatorio and should finish it by the time I leave Iraq. This group was very taken with Virgil and upset that Dante kept him in Hell, especially when they found out Cato was going to go to Heaven.

These groups allowed me to meet and talk with soldiers who really care about books and ideas and the Faith--at least in the case of the CSL group. The Dead Poets Society included non-believers. Despite everything and anything I had to do, I never missed these meetings. And I am sure I will miss them when I return to America where weekly
meetings to discuss books is simply impossible. But I am also very ready to go home.

Book Groups

Tonight it occurred to me (I don't know why it took so long.) that the book groups here are almost done. Depending on when we leave we will meet just two or three more times then I will be either on the way home or caught in something I can't get out of. It also occurred to me that I have not missed a meeting since the groups started. I really wanted them to continue and I managed to keep from flying anywhere or doing anything that would keep me from the book groups. I think we will finish both Purgatorio and the Screwtape Letters or get very close before we are wheels up and on the way home.

This year was supposed to be a year I would do more reading, but it was less. By the time I started doing the weekly newsletter I was already overcommitted. When the newsletter began I was buried. If it weren't for the book groups I would not be reading much of anything. Although I am still dawdling along in Les Trois Mousquetaires. If we get stuck in Kuwait, I should finish it. I read a very old simplified edition in Fort Sill. This one is newer, easier and flatter than the 70-year-old one. The ardent love of The Duke of Buckingham for Anne of Austria is very subdued in this one--as is the confrontation between the Musketeers and the Cardinal's men, the key scenes of the book.

Newsletter 11

Today I sent my 11th newsletter in as many weeks. Actually it's 12 in eleven weeks because I also did an Echo Company newsletter in the past 11 weeks. I will do three or four more in Iraq, then one in Kuwait (maybe) then the last one in America--or maybe two. Many things could still change about our trip home. But I am planning for about 16 issues before my newsletter goes into electronic storage, just a memory of being in Iraq. Every time I think about going home the idea is more real, but I just cannot quite believe it. My world is trailers on rocks. I ride an endless circle on my bike. There are so many things I repeat dozens of times that being here has a permanence that is spooky.

Even though I have ridden hundreds of times with Scott Haverstick on the same daily ride, I have ridden more than three thousand miles just on Perimeter Road, Tallil Ali Air Base. There is no single road on the daily ride, not even River Road, that I have so many miles on,in such a short time. When I get back to America, I will be able to ride on just about any road I want to. And I won't have to carry a rifle.

For Nigel--MEDEVAC Trip to Bases at Al Kut and Garry Owen

Today I flew with the new MEDEVAC unit to Al Kut (FOB Delta) and Garry Owen. The trip was routine, the weather was good and I got some pictures of Blackhawks flying, getting fuel and landing. Here's pictures for Nigel--and anyone else who likes helicopter pictures.

Who Fights This War?--The Construction Boss

Staff Sgt. Elisa Long, 27, of Selingsgrove, Pa., builds, repairs, and improves offices, workshops, containers, hangars and other structures wherever the 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion has soldiers and facilities. Long is the NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge) of special projects for the battalion. Anywhere a pile of lumber is becoming a deck or a new CHU (Containerized Housing Unit) is being fitted with electrical wiring and air conditioning to serve as offices, Long is likely to be there with a hammer, saw and drill.
"Construction is kind of a hobby for me. A few years ago I helped one of my friends renovate a huge old farm house in Beaver Springs," she said. "When I was in junior high, my Mom and I built a deck on our hunting lodge in Potter County."
Long has served for nine years in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, serving first as a wheeled vehicle mechanic. She volunteered to join the 755th Chemical (Nebraska) in 2007 for her first deployment, serving at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. The unit was assigned to convoy operations with Long serving as the wrecker operator on convoy security missions.
In addition to her role in special projects, Long is NCOIC of Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) Warfare for the battalion. While in Iraq, Long completed four college courses for 12 credit hours toward a bachelor of science degree in biology. She plans to work in a medical field, but has not decided on a specialty yet.