Letters from Iraq

Bunnies, Doves and Our Assurance

4 September 2004
FOB KMTB (Caldwell)
Diyala Province

Greetings from Camp Happy! We had hoped the Iraqi soccer team would have done even better than they did in the Olympics since soccer is their sport and a big win there would have gone a long way toward a new national identity. They certainly seemed to do as well as our basketball team. Oh well.

Iraq continues to be filled with irony. Our supplies and mail must be moved by combat patrols out to forward operating bases (FOBs), like Camp Happy. The supplies are moved by priority and a week ago, we received some boxes of chocolate Easter eggs and chocolate rabbits that were certainly intended to be in the mess hall for Easter. Don't know if they were intended for Easter 2004 or Easter 2005, but we got them August 22. They were either late or very early.

Recently some of the best minds in the Brigade tried to figure out why the coveted chocolate Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies arrived so late. Here are our top ten best reasons:

1. The first shipment melted in the 130-degree heat on the way, as did the second, and the third, and the fourth shipments.

2. The Bunnies had to be quarantined before the Kuwaiti government would allow them into Iraq and they had a chilling experience in the back of refrigerated trucks during their long wait.

3. The Iraqi people do not celebrate Easter themselves so they were just confused as to the date.

4. The Easter Bunny was arrested by the Iraqi Police (IP) on the way here and was incarcerated for selling fake Rolex watches.

5. Willy Wonka and his employees were on an extended R & R.

6. Only a dozen chocolate Easter bunnies were shipped and we were waiting for them to procreate into the millions needed for all the military personnel in Iraq.

7. A giant sand storm covered up the bunny trail and they become disoriented in the desert.

8. They were stopped at the front gate to KMTB (Caldwell) and were detained for four months as they were suspected of carrying an EBIED (Easter Basket Improvised Explosive Device).

9. The Easter Bunnies heard that none of us had new Easter outfits so they didn't think we were properly observing the holiday and didn't want to come here.

10. Our support unit, the Garrison Support Unit or GSU withheld the order because they were debating which came first, the egg or the bunny.

One of our missions is to teach marksmanship to attached Iraqi military units. We want these guys to learn to shoot well so we can go home. Marksmanship is probably not a sport in which they should enter the next Olympics. After training them on sight alignment, breathing, and trigger pull technique, we discovered only a few could qualify on their rifles. We have ordered more ammunition in hopes that they improve their marksmanship skills. Come on guys, help us out here.

On 27 August 2004, many soldiers of the 30th Brigade Combat Team also qualified on the M-16. As they came back to their quarters and places of work, there were many long faces. It seems that many did not shoot as well as they normally do. Of course, there were a plethora of excuses:

1. One had to use the bathroom and couldn't concentrate.

2. One guy came in with his finger all taped up and said that he had burned his finger on the trigger, as it was so hot.

3. Another complained that he couldn't properly aim his weapon in the normal way which was to rest the butt of the weapon against his cheek bone. It would have burned his face.

4. Two claimed they were still recovering from jet lag attributed to just returning from R & R.

5. The live rounds hitting the Iraqi desert stirred up so much dust that it obscured the target from view.

6. Helicopters constantly flying overhead distracted them. Right!

7. One female said she couldn't shoot well because the ants were biting her all over.

8. The ground was too hot.

9. The issued ballistic goggles fogged up and they couldn't see a thing.

10. Sweat was pouring into their eyes and blurred their vision.

11. It was the malaria pills' fault. Everything else is, why not?

As some of us say at home, this place is warmish. It's still averaging 120 during the days with lows averaging 85 at night. It is usually down to 100 or so by ten at night. But then we hear that it is a dry heat so it must not really be hot. How hot is it? You shouldn't shower between 11:00 a.m. and early evening. The water is stored in tanks on top of buildings and with no such thing as shade, it heats close to the boiling point by 1700 hours.

When it was more than 120, butane lighters were known to explode in soldiers' pockets. Now there is a reason to give up smoking. The gunners on our HUMMWVs must wear gloves to keep their hands from burning while holding their weapon. And yet, one of BG Hickman's Personal Security Detail (PSD) still burned his hands from the extreme heat.

You would think a nice breeze would cool things off, not at Camp Happy! First, it exacerbates the effects of the heat by pulling the moisture and coolness from your body. Most soldiers describe it in terms of standing in front of a giant hair dryer. But then, who has any hair that needs drying?

The 25-pound armor vest we all wear is perhaps the biggest impediment to finding any comfort. It does not breathe and it traps moisture against your body thus reducing the body's natural cooling ability. Now this body armor has saved lives so there is no problem getting us to wear it. I wonder what happened to making things lighter and more comfortable. Well, our folks in intelligence tell us that it should soon start cooling off. Never thought I would find myself looking forward to 100 degree days so I could cool off.

On Wednesday of this past week or 25 August 2004, the unofficial opening day of dove season in the Diyala Province, it has been rumored that BG Dan Hickman got his daily limit in one trip. He was returning from a Commander's Conference in Tikrit when his Blackhawk helicopter came upon a huge flock of Iraqi doves.

Being an old helicopter pilot himself, BG Hickman was keenly observing the abundance of winged creatures headed directly for the mechanical bird. An unfortunate fate met twelve of these symbols of peace as they collided with the General's mode of transportation.

Not that we would have ever doubted our esteemed leader but his story did have greater credence as we actually noticed a bird feather stuck in the holster of his pistol. All of which is further proof that our commander's marksmanship is unrivaled in the Brigade as he doesn't even have to draw his weapon to hit the target.

Chaplain (LTC) Travaglione recently paid a visit to the 30th Brigade. Father T, nobody can say his name, gave up his terminal leave between Active Duty assignments to serve the soldiers of the First Infantry Division. As a Catholic priest, Father T will temporarily serve the needs of the 26,000 member First Infantry Division while our priests are on leave.

We put up flyers all over the base announcing a Thursday night Mass and Father T was so pleased with the number of soldiers there. He listened to Confession for a full hour before holding Mass. The sinning power of the mighty 30th once again has confounded an Active Duty priest. But, all in all, Father T was so impressed with his reception that he told me he is going to tell Division about this Brigade. Go Father!

The following is the article that I wrote for the First Infantry Division magazine that is produced in Iraq. It is called "Danger Forward."

Greetings from the 30th BCT! The 30th was created in 1917. From its beginnings it was known as "Old Hickory" in honor of Major General Andrew Jackson. Its most notable achievements in WWI were the cracking of the Hindenburg Line. The 30th had 12 Medal of Honors awarded in WWI. It was reactivated in September 1940.

In the summer of 1944 the 30th toiled through Normandy in the St. Lo breakthrough, one of the most publicized battles of WWII. Later the 30th played a vital role in the assault of the Siegfried Line and the Battle of the Bulge.

In 1944 the 30th was an integral part of the 1st Infantry Division, here it is 60 years later and again the 30th is side by side with the 1st ID. 2000-2001 saw elements of the 30th taking part in a 6-month rotation for peacekeeping duty in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Now fast forward to the summer of 2002 when the 30th conducted an MRE at Ft. Riley, Kansas with the 24th ID and we were reorganized as a Heavy Armor Brigade in the same year. The next year in June we went to NTC at Ft. Irwin, CA, mobilized to Active Duty on 1 Oct 2003 and went to JRTC at Ft. Polk, LA in January of 2004 before deploying to Iraq in February.

We are unique in that we were the first enhanced combat National Guard Brigade to be pushed so hard in such a short period of time and our citizen soldiers rose to the challenge. This is who we are and the following is what we believe.

In Luke 3:14 some soldiers asked John the Baptist. "What should we do?" He answered, "Be satisfied with your pay." What does this mean to the deployed soldier? Maybe it means, "Don't be a whiner. Be loyal to your fellow soldiers, your unit and serve your country without reproach."

John 3:17 (CEV) reads, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!" We are instruments in the Master's hands that are sometimes sent to perform that which is difficult, dangerous and frankly disagreeable. Yet, we are the ones whose duty it is to confront evil.

In this war against terrorism, the line is drawn in the sand and our objectives are fixed. The issue for this generation and the next is whether God and His children will indeed inherit the earth or whether we will forever live as slaves to terrorism.

Believers in God have a right to feel that we are fighting on God's side. The battle is to keep the ideals of Jesus alive; ideals worth fighting for and that will in the end prevail.

Our lives are to be lived to glorify God and our battleground is Iraq. There is nothing that can separate us from that blessed assurance that God cares for us even here. In fact the Bible says, "He will give His angels charge over you," so we have no need to fear.

The quality of life that we bring to Iraq and that we offer to the Iraqi people are both honorable. And even here, we can exercise our faith in the service of our country. Praise be to God!

CH(LTC) Dennis Goodwin
30th Brigade Combat Team

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