Our post lost a soldier last week. The memorial for PFC Jason Ludlam was held today, and unfortunately I couldn't get out of work to go. My friend went, and her description of the military roll call was enough to make me cry. I hope PFC Ludlam never doubted that there are people out there who appreciate his service and honor his sacrifice.

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Woo-hoo, we're going to Poland!

In western Europe, which hosts about 102,000 U.S. military service personnel, most of the expected reduction would come in Army forces in Germany. The Army would withdraw more than 60 percent of its 56,000 troops in Germany, home to the 1st Armored and 1st Infantry divisions, officials said, and several overlapping high-level commands would be consolidated.

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See, this I can respect. Poland says that they're disappointed they were misled by the WMD intelligence, but they still maintain that going into Iraq was the right thing to do. They also don't blame the USA for the bad intelligence; they only lament the fact that it happened. I think some informed criticism is legitimate and I applaud Poland for remaining a strong ally.

"We will be in Iraq as long as needed to achieve the intended goals, plus one day longer," Kwasniewski told Bush, according to Siwiec.

I knew there was a reason I'm dying to visit Poland.

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Today is the one year anniversary of the shock and awe campaign. At the time, I was visiting my grandparents in New York while my husband stayed behind at Fort Knox. During that showdown 48 hours, my husband and I would talk on the phone and wonder what would happen. At 48 hours on the nose, he called, and we said, "Huh, I guess nothing is happening." We hung up, and that's when it started.

One year later, things have turned out better than I imagined that night last year. Enlistment into the Army has remained steady. They've darn near caught the whole deck of cards, including the father and sons who represented decades of Iraqi misery. We've rotated the entire Army in and out of Iraq; in the future it will be a shock to see someone who doesn't have a combat patch on his right shoulder. And it seems that slowly but surely the war on terror is working. Our take-it-to-the-enemy strategy has prevented another attack on American soil and scared the pants off of Libya. We've shown we're in this for the long haul, and we're not going to be distracted by weasels or donkeys.

A while back Glenn Reynolds said, "I realized after the second anniversary of September 11 that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and pacing is required."

Wise words.

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We're at the halfway mark for troop rotation in Iraq, and you'd never know it. If you don't know someone in Iraq or don't read a servicemember's blog, you would never know what's going on in a small port in Kuwait. Thousands of men are moving in and out of the most dangerous region we can imagine right now, and it's not even newsworthy. Because it works like clockwork. Sure there are some broken cots and some long lines, but so far this rotation has gone amazingly smoothly. Our military can get 'er done.

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Capt. Joel Cunningham of 10th MountainÂ’s 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment is in Afghanistan right now. He characterized the war on terror in a way I've never heard before.

"It's like working a jigsaw puzzle blindfolded and drunk."

Much of what our servicemembers do is extremely difficult work. It's hard to tell who the bad guys are. It's hard to scour an entire country for one man or one WMD. And our troops often don't have all the pieces to the puzzle; I remember reading that a reporter told a LTC that Saddam had been captured just 50 miles from where they were in Iraq, but the news had not reached them yet. Each unit focuses on their individual mission to help complete the big puzzle that our Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of Defense see.

While sitting with other wives at dinner one night, one of them said something that stuck with me. She said that going to Iraq is like going to the Superbowl; it's the culmination of everything you've practiced for in your whole career. I like that analogy. Another woman remarked that every soldier she knows who is not in Iraq desperately wants to be there, which made me proud of the caliber of soldiers we have in our Army. I feel proud that my husband can be a part of the culmination of all of the Army's work, the conclusion of interactions with Iraq that have lasted for 13 years, and the beginning of a new Iraqi constitution and chapter in Iraq's history. I'm proud that he can help contribute to that puzzle in a significant way. As my friend said, "Evenings are no fun, but like you said, as sad as I am, I'm just so incredibly proud. If you think about it the guys were really lucky, I mean how many people can say they were a platoon leader during actual conflict?"

What a positive attitude: our husbands are lucky. Our soldiers are lucky to be part of something so monumental in history. When the puzzle is complete, all their work will make sense, and a beautiful new Iraq will emerge from the pieces.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:21 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Our Division lost her first soldier.

Sacred Words.

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Through our Family Readiness Group we got a list of planned demonstrations in Germany for the month of March. Dang, Germans demonstrate a lot. Most of them are anti-war with the occasional free-Tibet thrown in there, but there is one in Heidelberg on 20 March which is supposed to be pro-USA. We military folks are not allowed anywhere near these demonstrations, whether they're pro- or anti-, but if anyone else is in that area and could go, I'd love to hear about it.

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The worst part of this deployment is that we saw it coming for so long. We knew in July that they'd be leaving, and it was just a matter of waiting for the day. So when my husband and I were talking the week before he left, I told him my biggest fear: it's not that something will happen to him; it's that we'll survive these 14 months and he'll come home to me, and 12 months later we'll have to do it all over again. Half of the Army was in Iraq last year; the other half is there now. Who do you think is going next year? 3ID is, the same folks who were there when it all started. That means the Big Red One's slated for the next go-round. That's what causes a sinking feeling in my stomach: he's only been gone for three weeks and I already see the second deployment on the horizon.

(This depressing thought brought to you by Tim, though it's certainly not his fault. His stuff's mostly good today; I laughed out loud at the Gangs of New York and swinging a cat.)

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I may have found a lead on why they call the man who's messin' with your wife "Jody". Based on Bunker's comment, I googled "jody" and "music" and came up with a funk song from the 70s called "Trackin' Down Jody" by Darker Shades Ltd. It's about trying to find a guy named Jody and killin' him (I don't know who he is / but all I know / Jody could be the man / livin' right next door). That could be where it came from, or it could've already been a popular expression that was made into a song. Who knows! But you can listen to the song clip here.

MORE TO GROK:

So my guess that it was already a popular expression seems to be right. Amritas dug up the real meaning, found here. Well done, linguist.

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Reader Tracey sent a link to a wonderful article she says puts the "smackdown" on John Kerry. I agree. The author describes herself:

I'm the daughter of Lt. Col. Roger J. "Black Bart" Bartholomew, a First Air Cavalry rocket artillery helicopter pilot who was killed in Vietnam on Thanksgiving Day 1968, when I was eight years old. I'm a former journalist with a military newspaper, a U.S. Marine widow, and I am appalled at Mr. Kerry's latest assertions that our president "has reopened the wounds of Vietnam."

Anyone who has praised my strength lately needs to go read Ms. Armstrong's article. Then you can see what real military-family strength looks like.

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Sgt Hook has a tribute to our soldiers called Who Is Defending You.
Go read it. And make sure to click on all the pictures.
"That's an order!" as he would say.

And if you've never read the story of Rick Rescorla, do so as well. He survived the battle at Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam, only to die in the WTC. He's a true American hero.

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Dear Stars and Stripes,

There are more battalions over in Kuwait than 1-77. Why are all of your articles about 1-77? Not that I have anything against them -- one of our best friends is with 1-77 -- but I'd still like to hear you talk about all of the units instead of just one. Thank you.

A jealous wife who wants to read about her husband,
Sarah

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In an unexpected turn of events, Porphyrogenitus has joined the Army! What an exciting new start for him, and I wish him the best of luck with his enlistment. I'm proud of you, soldier.

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My husband called this morning, and it was the first time that I didn't take notes. Not much has changed, so we just got to spend the time talking about nothing, which was nice. He also told me a funny story. He tried to call me several times on Monday but never got through (normally it's my day off, but I traded with my co-worker) and didn't know where I was. He joked with his soldiers that I must be at Jody's house since he couldn't find me; "Jody" is the Army word for "the guy your wife's cheating on you with." His soldiers immediately responded with a chorus of "No way, sir! We've met your wife and she'd never do that! She's too nice!" Husband explained that he was just kidding, but he thought it was sweet of them to come to my defense. At least I know they like me, and no one said, "For real? Maybe she is?"

By the way, I have no idea why they use the name "Jody". It sounds like a girl's name to me anyway, but that's the standard joke; if you talk about Jody, everyone knows what you mean. Do any of you out there know where that name came from?

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Chief Wiggles isn't the only one to start up an organization for Iraqi children. Reserve SPC David McCorkle has started American Aid for Children of Nineveh, Iraq since he's been deployed.

His is an inspiring story: a 44-year-old man loses 125 pounds after September 11 so he would qualify for the Reserves and then deploys for a year in Iraq. And then he spends $5000 of his own money to start a charity for Iraqi schools.

My favorite quote: “I want to raise awareness and understanding of what issues the children face here, and take him to Disney World." That sentence betrays SPC McCorkle's American-ness: wanting to do something big for the child's common good as well as something fun to lift his spirits. It reminds me of a quote I read a long time ago where a soldier looked out into the Iraqi desert and suggested building an amusement park there.

Something that brings the lasting joy of democracy and education, as well as the momentary thrill of a roller coaster.

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Sgt Mom has some advice for Hollywood filmmakers when it comes to making movies about the military. My husband and I went to see the movie Basic this summer, and about ten minutes into the movie I did a double-take and turned towards him. He was slouched down in his chair groaning, "I know, I know." For him, it was pure torture to watch a movie where a Sergeant wears Specialist rank, where they're riding in a Blackhawk and no one's wearing a Kevlar, and where there's a female Ranger.

Incidentally, one of the things that bothered him most about the show was that (spoiler...) the characters were able to switch identity by swapping dogtags. He grouched, "They look at your ID card; no one ever looks at your %#$@ dogtags to find out who you are." On the Saturday that he deployed, the SFC in charge shouted to the group, "Line up over here where you'll get weighed and have your dogtags checked!" I leaned over to husband and said, "If you switch with someone, no one will ever know who you really are..."

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You know that He's Gone post that I wrote when my husband deployed? I also sent it as an email to many of our friends and family, and I always include my husband's ROTC cadre on that list. I just got an email from the LTC there saying that he forwarded my email along to one of his good buddies, the Brigadier General who's the ADC(M) in Kuwait. Gulp.

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I've been keeping this thought in the back of my mind for a few weeks now, and so I thought I'd bring it up now. I found this article at DailyKos and I can't get it out of my mind: 7 Soldiers Meet Death in Iraq at 18

Now obviously the Truthout website had an ax to grind, and the heartstrings they pull are less than subtle. One soldier still collected baseball cards. Another already had a son. We read tragic-laden sentences like "Less than a year after leading the Pledge of Allegiance at his high school graduation, the former student council president and cheerleader found himself preparing to cross the Tigris River last April 7 in the siege of Baghdad. He never made it."

Before anyone thinks that I'm belittling their deaths, let me say that I'm crushed when any servicemember dies. I live surrounded by these young men and women, and the thought of any of them dying tears at my heart. But what Truthout spins away from is the sense of duty and obligation these young men had for their country; instead they spin towards the boys' parents' bitter resentment.

One soldier left a letter in a safe-deposit box for his parents, saying

Everyone sooner or later has to part this world. It makes me proud to know that I left while protecting the United States.
Eighteen is such a young age, and you're probably thinking of all the things that I'm going to miss out on. Don't. I got to live such a wonderful life because of you two, and because of that I don't regret missing anything that would later come in the future.

Another Lance Corporal told his mother, "Mom, they're messin' with my country, and I won't let it happen." Most of the quotes from the boys are about patriotism, duty, and love of country. But their parents are quoted saying things like "It's a big waste of his life" and "They messed up all his plans."

I just think that's sad, that's all.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:10 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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