Commander's Update #4 (Why We Are Here)
01 Feb 2005
I want to take a few minutes to give you my view on why we are here and why this mission is so important.
As most of you probably know by now, the elections went extremely well throughout the entire country. Both AMB Negraponte, the US Ambassador to Iraq, and GEN Casey, the MNF-I Commander, described the day and the performance of all involved as magnificent! What the world just witnessed exceeded everyone's expectations. There were many concerns and unknowns leading up to today. We were worried about the police and the Iraqi military showing up and fighting to protect the citizens and the polling centers. They did both. We were worried about the polling workers showing up and staying despite the intimidation. They did both. And finally, we were concerned about the people coming to the polls and voting despite the violence and threats and they did both. The Iraqi people kept their courage and stood up against the insurgents and terrorists and took a major step toward getting their country back.
There were instances where insurgents in suicide vests blew up in polling lines and the people just walked around them and continued to stay in line. On at least one occasion, in disgust, they spit on the remains of a dead suicide bomber. An angry mob even attacked an ambulance that the insurgents were using to throw hand grenades out at voters. At some locations over half of the voters were women. These events alone are truly remarkable.
All of your loved ones are playing a major role in the freedom that is being established here. You should be proud that they are partaking in something that their grandchildren will read about in history books. The road ahead for the people of Iraq and the U.S. forces supporting them will be long and hard, but I am convinced that our cause is a righteous a one and righteous always prevails. When I try to make sense of the situation here I remind myself of a quote by Edmond Burke "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Well that is enough of me giving my two cents. The soldiers of the 571st continue to impress me more each day. We have been conducting the mission for almost 2 weeks now and we have already saved numerous lives. The official Transfer of Authority is tomorrow. It is basically a ceremony to recognize the accomplishments of the unit we are replacing and officially hand the torch to us. The 507th is the unit we replaced. I cannot say enough good things about them. They have been very professional and made the transition very smooth. They definitely understand that we are all in the same Army and it showed with the way they had things set up for us when we arrived. After the ceremony tomorrow I get to do one of my favorite jobs as a commander, promote soldiers. I will promote PV2 Dempski to PFC , PFC Hull to SPC and CPL Patrick to SGT.
Currently we are still operating out of 5 locations. The mission requirements at one location will cease soon and I we'll be able to pull those crews back here. Right now we have just enough crewmembers to accomplish the mission at all five sites. Once the one location goes away the duty will be decreased for all the crews. Here at Al Asad we have the best facilities, but the crews at the other four locations are living comfortably. We try to bring them mail and any other needed items weekly. I have put a satellite phone at all remote locations and authorized the crews to use it for calls home once a week. They cannot talk very long, but they can at least say hey each week.
Well I must close for now. It is 0200 here. I will write again in a few weeks.
WITCHDOCTOR 06
ERIK G. RUDE
MAJ, MS
Commanding
571st Medical Company (AA)
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