The importance of Cultural Awareness Training

By Major Dave Olson, Public Affairs Officer, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

“Your soldiers shot and defaced the Quran,” declared Sheik Ayad Alawi al-Jabour, the Radwaniyah Tribal Support Council Chairman. “We demand that your soldiers be punished!” The dozen other Radwaniyah Sunni sheiks at the hastily scheduled meeting May 13, 2008 were deadly serious as they peered with stern faces at the American leader.

Lt. Col. George Patton (name changed for security reasons), commander, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, was startled and speechless. What were the sheiks talking about? How should he respond? He reflected over his 22 years of service in the U.S. Army; he had never faced a situation like this.

It is important for military units to conduct aggressive and comprehensive cultural awareness training before deploying to a foreign country.

Cultural awareness training is critical to the successful completion of a unit’s mission.

Mistakes are easy to make even under the best of circumstances. One wrong word spoken or printed to the target audience or the right words taken out of context can have negative repercussions. Or one wrongful act, regardless if done in ignorance, can cause a firestorm of negative sentiment directed at the offending military unit compromising the entire mission.

My boss, keenly aware of the importance of cultural awareness, designed for our unit what many senior leaders from the 4th Infantry Division referred to as the best home station cultural training conducted before a deployment that they had seen.

Col. Ted Martin, the commander for the 1st “Raider” Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div., saw Iraq first hand on two previous combat deployments and knew his unit needed to focus on cultural awareness to be successful on the battlefield in Southern Baghdad.

Martin’s training plan consisted of four major events designed to hone the cultural skills of the unit’s key leaders for a 15-month combat tour in Iraq beginning in March 2008. The situation in Southern Baghdad from March to May 2007 was tenuous with approximately 30 enemy attacks per day against the Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces in the Rashid District.

The first event in Martin’s training plan was a three-day seminar at Fort Hood, Texas led by the Battle Command Training Program instructors from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in June 2007. The classes focused on the history of Iraq and Arab culture. The staffs from the brigade and each of the six organic battalions plus all the 31 company commanders attended. Many of the platoon leaders from the brigade and officers from an explosive ordnance disposal company, a psychological operations detachment and a civil affairs battalion, who might deploy with us, attended as well.

The second plank of the training was a week-long seminar at Fort Hood led by the contractors from the Asymmetric Warfare Group in July 2007. The target audience was similar as the first event with the addition of select noncommissioned officers, who would be the instructors for the train the trainer sessions. The NCOs would share their training down to the squad level in each of the battalions. The information taught was expanded to include additional tasks for various special teams, such as human intelligence collection teams and personal security detachments.

An additional event was the Mission Ready Exercise conducted at the National Training Center on Fort Irwin, California during August 2007 by the entire brigade, which consists of approximately 3,800 Soldiers. The focus of the training is to verify that each unit and section from the platoon-level to the brigade headquarters has mastered the primary collective tasks to be used on the looming deployment. At the NTC, the Army hires hundreds of native Arab speakers from Iraq or other Middle Eastern nations to serve as contracted role players who live at the 10 mock villages in the Mohave Desert during the two-week scenario. The role players played the Iraqi civilian leadership, Iraqi Security Forces, local vendors, farmers, enemy combatants and everyday citizens that U.S. Soldiers or Marines would meet on the street or the countryside. Every Soldier or Marine who departed the various base camps experienced what Iraq might be like by engaging the local citizens during the scripted events of the complex scenario built by the NTC’s Operations Group. (I didn’t count this event in Martin’s cultural awareness training plan since every unit who deploys conducts a MRE, but the leaders and Soldiers do learn aspects of Iraqi culture by engaging the world-class role players.)

The third event was the quarterback arm sleeve training taught by contractors of T3 Inc. in October 2007 at Fort Hood. The target audience was the PSDs and special teams who would use the device to assist them with using Arabic. The NCOs and Soldiers attended additional cultural classes, basic Arabic language training and how to use the device during a five-day session.

The fourth event was a two-day seminar taught by the faculty of the Department for Middle Eastern Studies on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin in February 2008. The classes covered Iraqi history, Arab culture, Iraqi society and Baghdad local government. The target audience consisted of the same group as the first event.

Returning to Patton, he did respond correctly to the Radwaniyah sheiks’ demands.

During the May 13 meeting, he promised a full-scale investigation to see if the offense did happen and to swiftly correct the situation if a Soldier was found responsible for the cultural faux pas. Two days later a Soldier did confess to committing the grievous act of shooting and defacing the Quran. Patton sent the Soldier home in disgrace with a reprimand a week later. Martin and Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commanding general of the 4th Inf. Div. and Multi-National Division - Baghdad, apologized at a public meeting and presented the Radwaniyah sheiks with a new Quran. The American leaders also promised the Sunni sheiks many reconstruction projects for their community such as cleaning the debris from the irrigation canals, repairing the fresh water pipelines, rebuilding a series of roads and bridges, furnishing micro-generation capacity, building a local government center for the community, providing 100 greenhouses for the local farmers with three farmers cooperation associations and refurbishing a medical clinic and a number of local schools. The Radwaniyah sheiks brought Iraqi media to the event, so the citizens of Baghdad saw the public apology and the people were satisfied with the handling of the situation. Several weeks later, President George Bush also publically apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

After six months the Americans kept their promise as the reconstruction projects were completed. Meanwhile, the relationship between the Sunni sheiks and the Americans continued to blossom. Many of the Sunni tribesmen severed ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist cells, joined the Sons of Iraq program that transitioned many unemployed workers into the Iraqi Security Forces and assisted the Americans in defeating the al-Qaeda network in Southern Baghdad.

The results, after completing a 13-month deployment in Baghdad, were that the six battalions from the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div. fared very well as the Soldiers engaged the host nation’s citizenry. The culture awareness training was one factor that helped reduce the violence levels to less than one attack per day in the Rashid District during the last several months of the deployment.

However, some battalions such as the 4th Bn., 64th Armor Regt. from the 4th BCT of the 3rd Inf. Div., who were attached to the Raider Brigade during the deployment and did not receive the same intense cultural training that we did, committed cultural mistakes and experienced challenges when working with the local population in their sectors or areas of responsibility. Perhaps, they learned their cultural awareness lessons the hard way or they had a “strategic Soldier” who caused an international incident.

Speech.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – Kareem al-Kinani, the agricultural engineer, gives a speech at the Radwaniyah farmer's co-op association's greenhouse ground-breaking ceremony in southwestern Baghdad Jan. 22, 2009. Sheik Hussein Ali Alash, the co-op's chairman (left of Kareem), owns the property where the first 20 of the 100 greenhouses are being erected. Sheik Ayad Alawi al-Jabour (right of Kareem), is the Radwaniyah Tribal Support Council Chairman. Leaders from Troop B, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, attended the ground-breaking ceremony.
(U.S. Army photo by Maj. Dave Olson, 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B)

This story is not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. Army. The views are entirely my own.

Serving is Freedom

July 1, 2008

Maj. Dave Olson
1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B

FORWARD OPERATION BASE FALCON, Iraq – There are many types of freedom that Americans cherish: financial, religious, political and the list continues.

Growing up in a small, rural community in the Midwest, I did not fully understand the meaning of freedom until I gave mine away for a greater cause. I lived in blissful ignorance of the cost of the freedoms I enjoyed. I was aware that service members died in our nation’s wars to guarantee my lifestyle, but they were faceless phantoms to me.

When a young person joins the military, they give up their individual freedoms to provide that same gift to others. For example, when I joined the U.S. Army in the early 1980s and reported to basic training, I gave up some of my individual freedoms and accepted the values of the organization that I swore allegiance.

In basic training, I had to obey and follow the instructions the drill sergeants told me to do. I had to wear the specified uniform and show up on time to the proper location for training. If I decided to do my own thing and disobey the instructions, I would invite some unwanted personal attention from a drill sergeant.

Twenty-five years later, I must still follow the instructions of my boss or I will invite his wrath. I must still be at the proper location on time wearing the specified uniform.

Though the standards of military life have not changed, my understanding of freedom has. Instead of the faceless phantoms from past wars, I now clearly see the faces of those who paid the ultimate price for my freedom and the freedoms that my fellow Americans enjoy.

I remember the face of my friend Capt. Drew Pearson from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, who died April 30, 2008 in the Rashid district of Baghdad and Capt. Ian Weikel from Troop A, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B, who was mortally wounded near Saab al Bour on April 18, 2006. There are other faces that I know as well.

Freedom is expensive when people I know paid the price for it. However, I know they gave willingly, because they too loved freedom.

mourn.
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – 1st Lt. Erik Ogilvie, executive officer, assigned to Troop A, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, mourns in grief for Capt. Ian Weikel, the former commander, Trp. A, 7th Sqdn., 10th Cav. Regt., who was mortally wounded near Saab al Bour, Iraq, April 18, 2006. The memorial service for Weikel was conducted at Camp Taji, Iraq, April 24, 2006.
(U.S. Navy photo by Photographers Mate 1st Class Michael Larson, 1st BCT COMCAM, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B.)

Good afternoon, sir!

April 25, 2008

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq– An Iraqi boy salutes the Raider Brigade’s Public Affairs Officer, Maj. Dave Olson while observing other Raider Brigade Soldiers during a mission in Baghdad April 25, 2008. Olson is assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division— Baghdad.
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Vin Stevens, 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B)

Week 38, OIF6

Thursday, 27 November 2008

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot of things to be thankful. One thing I’m thankful for is you. Thanks for supporting me and my comrades.

I must apologize, I sort of fell off the face of the earth. I’ve been in communication silence too long.

For the record things in Baghdad are going well. We keep the enemy off-balance. We constantly keep the pressure on him. Nearly every day we capture a few bad guys and / or find and seize some of their toys. Every time we seize a weapons or munitions cache, we are making the place safer for the Iraqi citizens. The last two months, we averaged five attacks per day across the entire city of Baghdad.

When we arrived here in March, there were 164 attacks that month in the Rashid District of southern Baghdad. (An attack includes roadside bomb attack, indirect fire attack (mortar or rocket), or direct fire (sniper, drive-by, etc.). The attack figures do include murders, which is an attack against the civilian population.) Divide 164 by 31 days, that’s about five attacks per day. In June, there were 53 attacks, which is almost two attacks per day. In August, there were 24 attacks, which is less than one attack per day. So far in November, there were 21 attacks, which is also less than one per day. The reason I’m explaining all this is to show you with actual numbers, that we are operating at an all time low in violence since this war began.

I could almost make the leap and say it is now safer in Baghdad than in Chicago, the murder capital in the U.S.

Compare this data to 2007 and the numbers are drastically different. May 2007 was at the height of sectarian issues with 928 attacks in the Rashid District, which is the southern quarter of Baghdad. The daily average was almost 31 attacks per day. In August 2007, the surge of U.S. troops started and the attacks dropped to 501 with a daily average of 16 attacks per day.

We did have a slight uptick in violence during Ramadan, which was September this year. We had 38 attacks during this Ramadan month; whereas, there were 414 attacks in October 2007 during last year’s Islamic holiday. During this time, we had a 6-week period where Al Qaeda was attacking Shia markets with car bombs. We had five during that surge. The good news is with the T-walls surrounding the neighborhoods with the marketplace and checkpoints at the entry points, the Sunni extremist cell could not get their vehicles laden with munitions into their priority target like they wanted. They ended up hitting a secondary target by getting as close to the market as possible, parking the vehicle and detonating their rolling bomb. Yes, there were casualty figures, but they were a fraction of what they would have been inside the marketplace.

We have defeated Al Qaeda in the Rashid District. These Al Qaeda attacks were coming from cells outside our area. We still have some bad guys to kill, capture or drive away. There are other Sunni rejectionist cells plus a wide variety of Shia extremist cells in our area keeping us busy. For example, we have captured about 430 criminals or terrorists so far. We have over a 95% conviction rate, so these criminals go to Iraqi jail for a long time. In May & June, we were so hot on the Shia extremist groups that their senior leadership fled to Syria or Iran. Their leaders have not returned yet. That leaves the mid- to lower-ranking bad guy who is not motivated to attack us, so many have quit and reconciled. The attacks they do try are ineffective, because they do not have the skill-level without their leadership. We have also found and seized about 400 caches. Some of these caches consisted of brand new rockets and mortar rounds manufactured in Iran. Some of these mortar rounds were made in February or March 2008, which is newer than the ammunition we are using.

That’s enough of the security update. Now for some good news…

Yesterday, I went on an 8-hour patrol with my boss. We visited Doura Technical College for the first day of the week long Doura Arts Festival. I took a bunch of pictures, which are illustrating a story we submitted earlier today. (I get out about once per week.) With the security situation under control, the Rashid District has blossomed as Iraqi life returns to normal. The Doura Market did have about 200 shops, now it is well over 800, so the economy is booming. Other businesses have taken off. Last month, I visited a soda factory which opened its doors about five months ago. They sell canned beverages all over the city of Baghdad.

This morning, I ran another five kilometer race. Today’s was called the Turkey Trot. I am getting old. I finished with a time of 21:19. To place in the top three, I would have needed to run 90-seconds faster.

At 11 a.m., I played the keyboard for the Thanksgiving Day service. One of my guys was escorting a CBS News crew. They also filmed the 5K race and of course, the Thanksgiving Day feast.

I am still working 20-hours a day. I can’t seem to break the cycle. However, we continue to lead Multi-National Division – Baghdad in nearly every recorded public affairs category except hometown news interviews.

Just for numbers sake (and I’m a bean counter) here’s last month’s statistics:

113 senior leader media engagements (a senior leader means Lt. Col. or above)
54 media visits
8 media embeds (an embed means the reporter stayed at least two days and one night with us)
8 hometown news engagements
23 print stories
6 video stories
6 radio beepers
76 other press releases

I included the raw numbers to give you an idea what kind of volume we crank out of my four-man section. For the record, it takes a minimum of three hours of coordination to plan a media embed. Sometimes, I have to change their itinerary three or four times during a short three-day embed.

When I’m not working, I am compiling an advanced civil schooling packet. It is due to Human Resources Command in a few days. So, I’ve been applying for a master’s degree in broadcasting from several schools. Lois is helping me with a bunch of the hoops to make this happen. My school of choice is the University of Missouri – Columbia. The University of Oklahoma – Norman is my second choice. The University of Nebraska – Lincoln is my third choice. The University of Texas – Austin is my fourth choice. I haven’t had much sleep the last several weeks.

I’m in my 6th week of the “Body-for-LIFE Program” by Bill Phillips, which is a 12-week workout schedule with guidelines for eating healthy. I lift three times per week plus run three or four times per week. At the four week mark, I lost one pound and 2% body fat. (I’m not trying to lose weight. I’m actually trying to gain strength and size.)

Thanks for all the prayers. Pray for our troops over here. Some of them are getting complacent and really missing their Families especially during the holidays. Also, keep our Families in your prayers. Our Families have it harder than we do. I wish you well. Psalm 91

Keep looking up!

Weeks 6 - 7, OIF6

Sunday, 27 April 2008

The rat race here in Iraq continues…and yes, the rats are winning. (By the way, the bad guys are not winning here.) It seems that I’m constantly on the go, except when I must stop to attend the dreaded meetings. The saying around here is, “get back on your oar.” Such is the life of a staff officer.

Monday (14 April) morning, during my 4-mile run the artillery was busy firing at the bad guys. Hearing “outgoing” is much more comforting than “incoming.” Most of my day was consumed with editing stories and submitting input to the daily fragmentary order. Whenever we need to put information out about an event or a tasking, the brigade includes the data in a daily FRAGO that comes out every night. There were some changes in the way we were doing business that I needed to get out to our seven subordinate battalions.

I have cranked out enough stories and releases about our brigade now that our units are public knowledge, so I’ll introduce the line-up. Normally, a heavy brigade combat team (such as the Raider Brigade that I’m assigned) has two combined arms battalions. In our case, we have 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment. Each CAB has seven companies and they have about 1,000 Soldiers when they are augmented with the civil affairs teams, psychological operations teams and other augmentees. For the CABs, the A and B companies are infantrymen with 14 M2A2 or M2A3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles each. The C and D companies are tankers with 14 M1A2 SEP Abrams Main Battle Tanks. Company E is the engineer company that also has M2A2 Bradleys plus some other special equipment such as Armored Combat Earth movers for digging vehicle fighting positions or as we say ACEs. The headquarters company has a scout platoon, a mortar platoon, a medical platoon, and a communications platoon to support their battalion in addition to their command group and staff sections. They have some other neat toys, but I won’t belabor the details. The only difference between the armor and infantry battalions is the armor battalion has one more tank in the command group than the infantry and vice versa.

Each heavy BCT has an armored cavalry squadron, in our case we have 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment. They have three line troops (A, B & C) with scouts and M3A3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicles. The primary difference with the M3 from the M2 is the M3 has a larger payload for ammunition, which means less room for troopers. They are equipped to fire more Tubular-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided (TOW) missiles. They have about 500 troopers with attachments.

Each HBCT has an artillery battalion, in our case we have 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment. They have two firing batteries (A & B) of artillerymen with eight M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers and eight M992 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicles or ammunition carriers per battery. The Paladins are our biggest guns that fire a 155mm round and they can reach out and touch people a long ways away. This battalion has less than 500 personnel.

Next each BCT has a support battalion to provide the logistics for the brigade. We have the 4th Support Battalion, which has less than 500 personnel. Company A is the supply unit that also has a transportation platoon to haul supplies, fuel and ammunition from our higher headquarters. (The battalions have their support platoons that pick-up the supplies, fuel and ammo. from Co. A.) Company B is the maintenance unit that provides direct support for all our vehicles, weapons and communications equipment. Company C is the medical company that provides the Level 2 medical care. This company has the medical professionals who support us. If the Soldier requires additional medical care or treatment, they are evacuated by helicopter to a combat support hospital in the center of Baghdad.

Last but not least, each BCT has a special troops battalion. We have 1st Special Troops Battalion, which has less than 500 personnel. Company A is the military intelligence company that handles the lion’s share of the human and signals intelligence collection plus analysis for the brigade. Company B is the signal company that handles the communication and automations network for the brigade. The headquarters company has a military police platoon, a chemical decontamination and reconnaissance platoon and some other enablers. The civil affair company, the psychological operations detachment and other enablers such as MP working dogs, Explosive Ordnance Disposal detachments are attached to the STB.

However, here in Iraq we are further task organized for the complex fight. Since there are light BCTs also operating in the Baghdad area, they don’t have as much fire power. So we received orders to cross-level one of our CABs to 4th BCT of the 10th Mountain Division and they gave us a light infantry battalion. So, we lost 1-66 AR and received 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. Additionally, we gave up our artillery battalion to 2nd BCT, 101st Air Assault Div. However, we were augmented with two other units. We gained 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment from the 4th BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. (They are organized exactly like our 1-66 AR.) We also received 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. The Stryker and armored cavalry regiments are totally different animals. Not to be puny, but their mascot is the Cougar. I’m still learning about their organization. They are essentially an infantry battalion that rides around in the Stryker vehicles. Strykers have eight wheels with a 25mm chain gun in the turret and are a later version of the USMC’s LAV-25 Piranas. (During my first campaign of OIF2 in August 2004, I was attached to 1st Bn., 23rd Inf. Regt., which was a Stryker unit in 3rd BCT, 2nd Inf. Div. During that campaign I rode in Strykers for nine battles in Wasit Province, so I learned a little about the Stryker vehicle. The vehicles are quiet. They are fast easily reaching a cruising speed of 80 mph. We were able to quickly close on a target and conduct the raid often catching the bad guys in their beds without them knowing we were coming.) So, the bottom line is we gave up two battalions and gained three. Nearly all of our units have up-armored humvees and the new Mine Resistant and Ambush Protected vehicles, so we don’t use tanks and Bradleys all the time.

Tuesday (15 April) morning, 4-64 AR found a large cache with Iranian-made 107mm rockets. We cranked out a press release and I rode with an EOD element and took images of the rockets. It was fascinating, because the rockets were brand new and many were still in the packaging with the lot numbers clearly visible on the sides. The dates of manufacture were also clearly visible. I sent the release up and it hit the streets showing up in all sorts of media outlets.

The rest of the day, we continued to crank out stories and press releases on current activity. We conducted a live DVIDS interview with COL Ted Martin talking to one of his hometown TV stations in Jacksonville, FL. (It was a Fox News local station.) The boss was thrilled.

The DVIDS (Digital Video Imagery Distribution System) is a satellite system with a dish and receiver./ transmitter. We can send audio and digital imagery and receive only audio. Therefore, we can conduct live or taped TV or radio interviews with any Western broadcast news agency. We aim our dish at a satellite somewhere in space over the Atlantic Ocean. So the signal goes from Iraq and up to the satellite which bounces it back to earth to the hub in Atlanta, GA. The hub connects us to anywhere in the Western world. During the past several years I have done dozens of interviews with ABC News, BBC, CBS News, CNN, Cox News, Fox News and a bunch of others. I call it my “crew-served weapon” because it takes two people to operate and we get lots of effects out of it.

The commanding general of 3rd Inf. Div. in Multi-National Division – Center found out about the huge Iranian rocket cache. Since our CG, MG Jeffery Hammond, wasn’t doing a press conference on the event, he decided to do one. We share a boundary to the south with MND-C, so he wanted to further highlight the find to the media. His division public affairs officer and their 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO called me asking for my photos. I had no problem sharing them. (I already submitted the release with those same photos to MND-Baghdad PAO for distribution.) Later, I found out that in the 3rd Inf. Div. press conference, MG Rick Lynch, claimed that his unit had found the huge cache. (I wasn’t sure what to think about that. The find was clearly in our sector not far from where I’m currently sitting. True, 4-64 AR is a 3rd Inf. Div. unit in name, but they are our unit for this deployment. Besides, he was using the imagery that I had taken.)

Wednesday (16 April), we (4-64 AR) found another huge Iranian munitions cache. This time it was a bunch of mortar rounds, 60 x 60mm and 46 x 81mm. They were also brand new. I sent one of my men out to take images of the find with an EOD unit. However, my press release was snagged by the Multi-National Force – Iraq spokesman, a two-star general. He embargoed it (which means hold for a later date), because he wanted to use it at press conference next week to show the Iranian influence. (As it turned out, he didn’t use it after all, so we did not get any bounce in the media on that one.) I was busy cranking out the script for the boss to brief the commander’s update to the CG, because today was the spotlight on public affairs. Plus I produced some slides to go with the script. (My boss is a fierce competitor, so he wanted me to include all the statistics of what we do each week. I’m a good bean counter, so that part was easy.)

For some reason, I had the urge to call home. (I hadn’t called home since the day I flew to Kuwait with Zack & Jim from Waco 100. During a refueling stop in Canada I called using Jim’s international phone since mine had no reception, but I have not called home since. One of his sponsors provided him with the free phone with a big international calling plan…plus international calling cards for use during his 18-day Iraq tour for “The Morning Show with Zack & Jim” live from Baghdad.) What I found out when I called home shocked me. Jasmine had just been released from the hospital. She had been a patient for two nights and one day. Evidently, she went on a hike in a wooded area with some of her buddies and had found some poison ivy. She had it all over her face. It took the doctors a while to figure out what it was. Her face was very puffy with one eye swollen shut. Lois sent a picture later. (You’ll recall that I’ve been having some serious issues with internet connectivity and we were in a blackout due to two of our guys getting killed, so I had no previous communication with Lois for some time.)

Thursday (17 April), I did a bunch of planning for future western and Iraqi media events and submitted requests for support not to mention cranking out more stories and releases due to the bad guys we were catching and other weapons and munitions cache we were finding.

Friday (18 April) morning, I facilitated a media visit with Andrea Stone from USA Today. She came to do some interviews with my civil affairs buddies and we showed her the power plant being built on our forward operating base. Everything went well. She was happy, because she had more data than any reporter would want on electrical projects. MG Rick Lynch, the 3rd Inf. Div. CG, came to visit. We covered the event because he was seeing our unit…4-64 AR. Then I spent part of the night fielding Andrea’s requests for more information. I spent part of the night trying to get one of my embeds (Slovenia TV) out of here, but they were weathered in by another sand storm.

Saturday (19 April), was a busy day for stories as my NCO returned from covering an operation with 2-2 SCR, so we also cranked out some releases on that event. I also had one of my guys out with one of the units collecting a story on the 7th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Div., who held a graduation for some Sons of Iraq, who completed some training. In the evening, I had my staff sergeant cover for me at several meetings, so I could play the keyboard and sing for special music at the Protestant Liturgical Service. Slovenia TV successfully departed during the late evening

Sunday (20 April) morning, my Baghdad alarm clock was working like a champ! At 4:56 a.m., I woke up to the sound of incoming rockets. I hit the floor, then quickly scrambled to a nearby bunker. At 7 a.m. the comforting sound of out-going artillery blessed my aching ears. After chapel, I focused most of my time on planning The Army Times visit. They were embedding with 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regt.

Monday (21 April), I hosted The Army Times crew, facilitated a VIP brief and inserted them with 7-10 Cav. Then I worked on another Andrea Stone USA Today visit. This time she wanted to cover a neighborhood council meeting in Doura. I also requested Iraqi media for upcoming events.

Tuesday (22 April), after some dreaded meetings, we conducted some foreign disclosure training with the military intelligence bubbas from MND-B. (I am no longer mentioning the story and press release production. That’s daily routine business.) I also requested more Iraqi media for more events.

Wednesday (23 April), is a big writing day. I tabulate all the statistics to include in my script for the boss plus the accompanying slide show. I also set Rana (my interpreter) up with an Army Knowledge Online account. (That’s the first time I sponsored someone on the AKO system, so it took me a bit to figure it all out. I’m not very tech savvy. I joined the Army as a private in 1982 when we were still using manual typewriters, white out and carbon paper. Nearly all of my NCOs were Vietnam vets. I still have a set of khakis with private first class stripes in my closet at home.) Now she can do her media monitoring from the office instead of visiting the internet café. Then I submitted some air mission requests to fly some reporters around the battlefield. (This was my first AMR for this tour. I’ve done a bunch on other tours, but the procedures keep morphing with new quirks.)

Thursday (24 April), I listened to the beautiful sound of out-going artillery fire during my morning 4-mile run. After some long meetings, I rolled with EOD to get some more images of another huge cache. This time the unit was Company E, 2-2 SCR. When I returned, we started to record Mother’s Day greetings for our loved ones in the States. I did three: one per mom and my better half. I also edited our monthly magazine, The Raider Brigade Rally Point, so we could send it to our vendor for printing. It is a sharp looking, 24 glossy page, 4-color magazine. (I hope it looks as good on print as it does in the digital version.)

Friday (25 April), I skipped PT to attend 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt’s prayer breakfast. Then, I rolled on a patrol to one of our combat outposts with my boss, Col. Ted Martin. After visiting one of the gas stations to crack down on some black market operations, we also stopped at one of the National Police headquarters to further our partnership relationship with our Iraqi Security Forces partners. (Don’t worry, I did plenty of PT during our dismounted patrolling.)

Saturday (26 April), I rolled on another mission with my boss, Col. Martin. This time we attended a grand opening for another building in the District Council complex. After the ribbon cutting ceremony, we had the traditional “goat grab.” Our Iraqi brothers are great hosts. They had a large spread of Iraqi food laid out in one of the meeting rooms. Everyone crowds around the tables and eats with their hands stuffing lamb, beef kabobs, rice and freshly diced vegetables into their mouths with flat bread that also functions as a napkin. Then we checked out some bridges that cross the Tigris River. The ISF have check points on the bridges that our CG wanted us to inspect. We did more dismounted patrolling. After the mission, I played the keyboard for the evening chapel service. After my walk to the office from chapel, the enemy provided a light show as rockets flew overhead. After chapel, I started to get some work done.

Sunday (27 April), I played keyboard and sang with the Praise Team at the morning chapel service. The rest of the day was a battery of meetings, one after the next. So, I could finally get some work done after the dust settled at 9 p.m. I worked on documents for upcoming operations until around 2 a.m.

I better get this out to you. I’m whooped.

Thanks for all the prayers. Pray for our troops over here. We had more Soldiers killed. Pray for the Families of these Soldiers. Also, keep our better halves in your prayers, who are playing “mom & dad” for our young ones, which is exhausting work. I firmly believe that military Families have the toughest job. We Soldiers are focusing on the mission that we forget about the yard work, the cars breaking down and so on. I wish you well. Psalm 91

Keep looking up!

Week 5, OIF6

Sunday, 13 April 2008

This week has been crazy. I am just now compiling this week’s edition. I made it out of the wire twice this week. Unfortunately, I’m getting back into my old bad habit of working late and getting up early. However, so far I’m getting out of the office around midnight instead of 2 a.m. during 2006.

Saturday (5 April) morning, I rolled out on a patrol with my boss, COL Ted Martin, and COL Ricky Gibbs, the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team commander, which is part of the 1st Infantry Division. We attended a special meeting of the Rashid District Council at what we call DAC Hall. (The district council used to be called a district advisory council, hence the nickname DAC. DAC Hall is like a county courthouse back in the States.) We entered the DAC Hall compound, which is surrounded by a three-story cement wall to protect it from sniper fire and other direct fire weapons. The building is newly remodeled so it looked nice. When we dismounted from the vehicles, we were ushered into the DAC Chairman’s office, sat down and exchanged pleasantries. A steward came to each of the guests and poured us a communal cup of Turkish coffee. It was hot and burned my tongue plus it tasted horribly bitter. Next he passed out some Iraqi pastries, which were sweet in contrast to the coffee. COL Gibbs knew the senior DAC members by name, so he exchanged the Arab hug with each one. The Iraqi leadership did not know COL Martin and me, so we simply shook hands and exchanged Arabic greetings. On this mission, my task was to take pictures and write a story on the event. So, I took a bunch of images.

During the meeting, we moved into a grand hall with a dozen tables placed in an inverted U- configuration. A member sat in a chair behind each of about 30 microphones that lit up when a member spoke into it. I took copious notes as the interpreters translated Arabic to English. So, I had plenty of good quotes for a story. The meeting was primarily about saying thank you and farewell to COL Gibbs, the out-going American senior commander in the area, and meeting the incoming commander, COL Martin, and the new U.S. State Department guy, Tom Lynch, who will be working with us. (His title is the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team leader and his rank is equivalent to a two-star general. He has several civilians on his team who specialize in various areas, such as business development, economics, government and other skills.) A bunch of Iraqi DAC members made flowery speeches thanking COL Gibbs for the progress in security and helping them transform Rashid as one of the most dangerous districts in Baghdad into one of the safest. COL Gibbs pitched a nice speech as well. Then my boss said a few words of introduction to the council membership. COL Gibbs presented three gifts to the Three Musketeers, as he called the three senior DAC leaders. (Gibbs is quite the flamboyant diplomat.) Then the DAC Chairman presented COL Gibbs, Tom Lynch and COL Martin with gifts. I took more pictures.

After the meeting, the DAC Chairman invited us to a dinner in our honor. So, we retired to another large room with an 80-foot long table covered in various native Iraqi dishes. The men all stood around the table and used their hands to dip goat or lamb meat, bread, rice, vegetables and other delicacies from the communal plates to their faces. (They did have a few plates with plastic ware for the sensitive American who didn’t want to use their hands.) Initially, I used my hands for the “goat grab” as we Americans call it. Later, I used a plate for the second and third round of feasting. After the meal, everyone gathered for some group shots at the front door. Then, we boarded our vehicles and returned home. We spot checked some Iraqi National Police and Iraqi Police checkpoints on the way home.

That evening, I played the keyboard for the Liturgical Protestant Service for Chaplain David Fell from 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment. (I played the piano for his worship services during our brigade field training exercise in April – May 2007.) After church, I saved a bunch of files from one of the laptops that I was turning into my signal officer to wipe for use as a secret machine.

Sunday (6 April) morning, I played the keyboard for the Contemporary Protestant Service. After the service, I ate chow with my counterpart at the dining facility. (In March 2007, some mortar rounds hit the DFAC wounding a number of people. I can still see the patched holes in the tile floor where the shrapnel damage occurred.)

In the afternoon, I wrote my story from Saturday and edited some other stories my men had written.

In the evening, I attended the Traditional Protestant Service. After the service, I edited the magazine contract again and prepared it for approval. We are hiring a vendor to print 2,500 copies of a 4-color, 24-page, glossy coated magazine for $4,100 each month. The vendor also delivers the magazine to us and we will distribute it to our various combat outposts and joint security stations.

Monday (7 April), we moved to the left seat meaning we now run the office and our counterparts observe us and coach us on how they did business. (Previously, we were in the right seat, meaning we were observing them in action. This is all part of the relief in place. Typically, the transition is a two-week process where both units overlap. It can be stressful, having two units on top of each other for two weeks, which places a strain on the services with long lines, such as the DFAC, laundry facilities, gym, lodging, water usage, sewage, etc.) Therefore, I was writing the Situation Reports, Drumbeats and the paperwork, which really hasn’t changed much since 2006 during my second tour here during Operation Iraqi Freedom 4. The hard part was getting adjusted to our Raider Brigade battle rhythm. I had grown accustomed to the Dragon Brigade way of doing things the past couple weeks.

General George Casey, then the Multi-National Force – Iraq commander, started the Drumbeat Report. (He’s now the Army Chief of Staff.) I heard him ask for such a report in August 2004, when he wanted a document to show all the good news story events happening in the field. This way he could see that the events were being covered by the media or public affairs. I was the guy who started crafting them for Multi-National Corps – Iraq during OIF2, so I am intimately aware of how to compile them. A few times I even briefed him on the events, before I was dispatched to various infantry battalions to participate in three different ground campaigns. (What is sad is that we are covering all the good news story events about the Iraqi Security Forces or the lower levels of the Government of Iraq, yet many of the stories do not get picked up by the main stream media in the western world.)

Tuesday (8 April), I sent one of my men out to cover a story with one of our units. He covered an International Orphan Day celebration hosted by the Iraqi National Police. We invited Iraqi media to participate and cover the story as well. The event went well and we submitted the story. I edited some other stories and releases as well. In the evening after I submitted the reports, I practiced with the praise team for Sunday.

Wednesday (9 April), I wrote the script for my portion of the brief to the commanding general and built the slides. I sent my guys out to cover various unit events; however, our events were postponed in anticipation of Sadr’s demonstration. One of our battalions conducted a transfer of authority ceremony and officially assumed their mission. Again, I edited stories and releases. My boss actually briefed the CG using my script in the evening. (During these updates to the CG, each day is a different theme. Wednesday night is the information operations highlights, so public affairs is one arm of the IO fight.) The new battle rhythm is still smoking me. It seems I’m in meetings about 5 – 6 hours per day.

Thursday (10 April), I sent my guys out with various units again. Another one of our battalions conducted a transfer of authority ceremony and officially assumed their mission. My broadcaster was to cover the Iraqi National Police conducting a medical operation (meaning their medics screened and treated several hundred Iraqi citizens and issued medicine at no cost to the patient), but his patrol was diverted to hunt for a mortar cache instead. We were still able to do a release on the medical operation even though we were not there. We used the images from the American unit’s physician’s assistant that was observing plus we had Iraqi media covering the event. (Actually, my plan is to send my guys out as much as possible to get the good stories, so it only makes sense that I’ll be editing their products everyday.) I spent most of the day writing the public affairs annex and embed plan for another operations order for a future offensive operation.

Friday (11 April) morning, I flew with my boss to Camp Liberty. My counterpart and his boss also flew on the same mission. The brigade commanders attended a Multi-National Division – Baghdad commander’s conference. My primary task was to be a mule by helping my counterpart carry the large gifts (four poster-sized framed prints and four knit blankets) that COL Gibbs was giving to the MND-B generals (MG Hammond, BG Milano and BG Grimsley) and the division’s senior enlisted man, CSM Giola. My secondary task was to interface with MND-B public affairs and other division staff officers. So, I visited with LTC Steve Stover (PAO) and the rest of the public affairs staff, the G1, the G2, the G3 Air, the media operations center personnel from 130th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, the MWR staff and a few more folks including our brigade liaison officer. I also spoke with BG Grimsley, BG Milano and CSM Giola for a bit.

For the most part MND-B headquarters has not changed that much. I visited it in OIF2 when 1st Cavalry Division owned it. I visited it several times in OIF4 when 4th Infantry Div. owned it. And now I visited it in OIF6 when 4th Inf. Div. owned it again. There were a few differences. The 4th Inf. Div. is adding on to the building complete with a second floor. I’ll probably see the addition completed when I come back to visit later in the tour. The MOC was a little different as well. In OIF2 & OIF4 the TV studio was set-up on the north side using a green felt backdrop. This time the studio was set-up on the south side and the backdrop included camouflage netting. This time there were two Digital Video Imaging Distribution System satellite dishes on the roof of the MOC. Before, there was only one DVIDS satellite dish in operation. While I was visiting the MND-B headquarters, a thunderstorm hit with lightning and rain. (The rain was not even a nuisance since the temperature was in the upper 80s…it was actually refreshing.)

When I flew home in the afternoon my load was lighter, but I still had all my work to do since I was out playing all day. I had to really crunch to get all the reports in on time. The good thing is that my super staff sergeant had started the reports. I merely had to refine them and make corrections. I have a much stronger team this time than I did during OIF4, so this tour will be more productive.

Saturday (12 April), the ground was still muddy in places from yesterday’s rain, so it stuck to my shoes during my run. My guys had several events to cover. A general came to see one of our battalions do their transfer of authority ceremony as they officially assumed their mission. I reviewed a bunch of broadcast products, both radio and TV. I also reviewed combat camera footage for release.

So, for this week we submitted 21 stories (print, radio and TV) and operational releases. What I mean by operational releases is short press releases about killing or capturing bad guys, finding weapons or munitions caches, finding roadside bombs before they explode and hurt people, etc. Operational releases are shorter than print stories, because we aren’t required to have at least two quotes from different sources and three to five images with captions to accompany the story. We like to include a quote and an image if we have one, but if we don’t…no one cares. Speed is the issue, because we are trying to beat the bad guys to the punch by getting our piece in the news first. If we can out maneuver the bad guys by getting our story out first, we win by virtue of position. Otherwise, we are reacting to the misinformation the bad guy is saying and he is not bound by the truth like I am. The enemy is a master at getting their misinformation out quickly, so it is quite an ugly game. For example, if we kill six terrorists after they ambush our patrol, the enemy quickly hits the street with a story that the occupation forces killed 12 innocent people including women and children. The Iraqis use what we call “Iraqi math” when they count casualties. They often double the number of real casualties to make their story sound more sensational. Then, we are playing catch up by responding to their garbage. It sometimes takes awhile for us to get all the data to present an accurate statement of what happened. However, if I can get out the truth first, the enemy does not have any room to maneuver. Sometimes, we have imagery from aircraft to back up our releases.

In the evening, I had my staff sergeant cover for me at several meetings, so I could play the keyboard and sing for special music at the Protestant Liturgical Service. Everything went well, except my boss asked my staff sergeant a question he could not answer.

Today, I woke up at 6 a.m. like normal for an early meeting with my boss. After several meetings, we conducted the brigade transfer of authority ceremony. We had a number of distinguished guests including my boss’ younger but taller brother, who is also a colonel, but he works at MNF-I. I broke contact after the TOA ceremony to play the keyboard for the Protestant Contemporary Service, but I had to leave half way through the service for another meeting. (I am angry about the new battle rhythm, because on Sunday there are meetings scheduled on top of both services that I want to attend.) I broke contact from work in the evening to attend the Protestant Traditional Service, but again I had to leave half way through for another pow wow. (When I walked into the chapel, my friend Chaplain Ron Boyd asked if I could play the keyboard for the service. I was surprised, but of course agreed. I was under the impression someone else was handling the music at the evening service.) Next week, instead of moving the battle rhythm around the brigade chaplain is told to rearrange the chapel services, because I’m not the only one with this complaint.

Thanks for all the prayers. Pray for our troops over here. We had two Soldiers killed this week in one of our battalions that is detached to another brigade. The memorial is coming up in a few days. Pray for the Families of these Soldiers, who are in the grieving process. Also, keep our Families in your prayers. Our other halves are playing “mom & dad” as a single parent, which is exhausting. I wish you well. Psalm 91

Keep looking up!

Week 4, OIF6

Friday, 4 April 2008

This week was anticlimactic compared to Week 3. I did not leave the camp once. I thought I was one day, but plans changed. Everyday I attend a bunch of meetings. The meetings come in many flavors, sizes and shapes, but I’ll spare the details.

Saturday (29 March), I set a new land speed record during my daily run around the camp. It felt good to ratchet the pace up a notch. I handled some routine tasks: turned in laundry and sat in the barber chair for a haircut. (I didn’t have much work to do in getting a haircut… simply sit still and endure the trauma. The hardest part was waiting in line for 70 minutes. Lines are common now that there are two brigades worth of people on this tiny camp. I really didn’t mind the wait; I brought the good book along and did some reading.) I continued to shadow my counter part, Major Kirk Luedeke, the best brigade-level public affairs officer in the Iraq Theater as LTC Steve Stover, the Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO says. (Kirk has done an amazing job. His section out produces most of MND-B with all the stories they produce and media embeds they host.) More Shia rockets flew over the camp, but they missed. (Forward Operating Base Falcon is about two square kilometers, so sometimes the bad guys miss as the rockets explode outside the base.)

On the way to drop off laundry at the Laundry Facility, I was showing my new room mate around FOB Falcon. It only takes about 10-minutes to walk from one end to the other. Brian flew in the night before. He is our assistant operations officer, but he will serve as the Iraqi Security Forces coordinator. We were room mates once before, when we deployed to Korea in August 2005. (We really lived in a large canvas tent, known to Soldiers as a GP Medium. GP means general purpose and it holds about 16 – 18 cots with space for a stove in the winter and an air conditioner in the summer when used as a sleeping tent. I was technically still the 4th Public Affairs Detachment commander on that trip, but I also served as the deputy III Corps PAO. Two of my guys had departed a week earlier to help set-up for the mission and to take pictures and write stories. On that mission, Brian served as a Liaison Officer to the Korean Eighth Army. We deployed as part of III Corps for Operation Ulchi Focus Lens. That seems like a lifetime ago.)

Sunday (30 March) morning, I attended the Contemporary Protestant Service. The praise team did a pretty good job, but it was their last performance. Most of them will be gone by next Sunday. After the service, I huddled with Chaplain Ron Boyd and some other guys as we talked about forming our own praise team for next Sunday. I volunteered to play the keyboard.

In the afternoon, our equipment arrived by ground convoy from Kuwait. So my other duffle bags and tough box arrived as did the rest of our section equipment. My guys hauled the mountain of gear into the office. I moved my personal gear to my hooch, which is really one small room in the 3-room trailer. (Hooch is just Army slang for our sleeping place. Usually it applies to some sort of make-shift shelter that we built under a tree in the woods, but there are only about a dozen trees on this camp. Most of this camp is gravel or medium to large stones that look like little dinosaur or sea turtle eggs. The gravel or stones were brought in over the course of the last 2 – 3 years to combat the mud during the rainy season. This place has poor drainage, so when the winter rains come, the ground turns into a massive mud hole and the moon dust turns into peanut butter sticking to everything. Therefore, walking across the camp is quite a workout as more and more mud sticks to one’s boots making them 10-pounds each.) There is not much mud right now, except by the gun line where our howitzers are positioned to fire counter battery missions…in simple English this means return fire when the bad guys launch indirect fire at us.

In the evening, I attended the Traditional Protestant Service. Later that night, our gun line did fire about a dozen rounds at the enemy. The wind was coming from the direction of the gun line, so the smoke and noise of the guns were all over my hooch area. The roar of the outgoing 155mm artillery fire was very loud.

Monday (31 March) between meetings, I spent most of the day organizing my files on two laptops that I brought. One I’ll use for secret business and one I’ll use for unclassified business. In my occupation, most of my work (95%) is unclassified, because I release stories, press releases, and media advisories to the public. I keep all the stories, images and releases in my electronic files. I have files dating back to 13 Sept. 2005, when I joined this fine brigade. Therefore, I had to save the data to a hard drive as to not lose the information. After the data was saved, I turned in the laptops for the automations people to work their magic. I also picked up my clean clothes from the Laundry Facility. (Normally, it’s a 24 – 48 hour turn around for laundry; however, with the surge of people on the camp the turn around can be up to 72 hours. I’m not complaining, the laundry service is free and I receive the clean clothes folded. What a deal!)

Tuesday (1 April), I thought I was going on a mission outside the wire, but April fools… the plans changed. So, the joke was on me. I still have plenty of work to do, so I stayed busy. I read one of Kirk’s articles about one of his Soldier’s relatives earning the Silver Star in WWII that was published in Alumni News, Winter 2008. (Kirk is an alumnus of The Citadel, Class of 1994.) It was a fascinating story. His Soldier’s mother sent her cousin’s letters, which was Kirk’s primary source for the article. Kirk is a good writer.

Wednesday (2 April), I worked the contract paperwork for our Raider Brigade monthly publication. We plan to use a local Iraqi contractor who has been doing the Dragon Fire magazine for the unit we are relieving. I also practiced music for Sunday in my hooch. I plan to sing “Word of God Speak” by Mercy Me.

Thursday (3 April), I spent some time working with various battalion public affairs representatives. My frustration is that I get a guy trained and a few months later the units switch people. The units move guys to different jobs for various reasons. When we arrived here nearly every unit switched people again, so the strong guys I had developed with experience from the National Training Center are doing different jobs. So in addition to transitioning to business in Iraq, I’m training new folks. (This fall, winter and spring, I’ve enjoyed a strong team as we lead the 4th Inf. Div. in producing quality news products. I had a bunch of help. Part of that success was our UPAR program of battalion stringers also writing for us.) I also traveled to the chapel to practice the keyboard, but I could not. The chapel was reconfigured for another memorial service. One of the units not in our brigade or 4th BCT, 1st Inf. Div. was killed in action. Since the keyboard was out of action, I could not practice.

Today, instead of running around the camp for physical training, I lifted weights at the gym. My new plan is to run five days a week and lift weights three days a week. I’ll see how that goes. I was waiting until some of the 1st Inf. Div. guys left before venturing into the gym, because it gets quite busy. I also ventured to the chapel to practice the keyboard and was successful. This time the keyboard was set-up and ready to go.

Another frustration I’ve dealt with is automation. We experienced internet outages about half the time this week. As I stated 95% of our work is on the unclassified network and no internet means no email. That’s how we communicate with most of the media bubbas that want to visit or embed with us plus send many of our reports and stories to higher headquarters. At least higher HQ has exercised patience with us and took most of our data (not stories) via the telephone.

Here’s a quote I found posted on the conference room wall. I thought it was pretty apropos.
Burn the midnight oil
“A dead soldier who has given his life because of the failure of his leaders is a dreadful sight and a crime before God. Like all dead soldiers, he was tired before he died, hungry undoubtedly, dirty, wet, and possibly frightened to his soul. And there he lies…dead needlessly, on top of all that…never again to see his homeland. Don’t be the leader who failed to lead him well! Burn the midnight oil so that you may not in later years look at your hands and find his blood still red upon them!” Major James W. Bellah said this in 1941. He later wrote, “She wore a yellow ribbon” and it became a John Wayne movie.

Speaking of midnight oil, I need to get to bed. I do not want to fall into the same cycle I did last tour of only getting four hours of sleep a night for an entire year. That aged me. I need to do a better job of taking care of myself.

Thanks for all the prayers. Pray for our troops over here. They are doing incredible work in an austere environment, since many of them operate from combat outposts. Many get to rotate back here once a week for 24-hours to refit. Also, keep our Families in your prayers. Our other halves are playing “mom & dad” as a single parent, which is exhausting. I wish you well. Psalm 91

Keep looking up!