Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan
Page 15
“As I walk around and eat in the chow hall, I’m very aware of the fact that I’m now a Major. I easily outrank at least 99 percent of the people I see every day. It’s polar opposite from being a lowly Captain at the Pentagon, where 99 percent of the people I saw everyday outranked me pretty surreal,” Major Brad Head emailed shortly after arriving in Iraq.
Head experienced what officers often face: silence.
“When I sit down at a table in the chow hall, conversation typically comes to an awkwardly abrupt halt. I try to convince the soldiers to carry on. Sometimes they’ll ask me a question about how I think things are going. It’s strange to have young soldiers stop to hear what the major is going to say.”
The questions gave him a reason to live up to his rank.
“I understood, for the first time in my career, the responsibility to give a positive but honest evaluation. I generally assure them that what they are doing is incredibly important. So many sources tell them every day that what they’re doing is wrong and inevitably doomed to failure. These assessments are based on lies so it’s hard to keep them from getting extremely cynical,” Head explained.
Head also discovered some hard realities. He met one soldier who occasionally was tasked with suicide watch. Head immediately thought the soldier meant guarding a post targeted by insurgents. Instead suicide watch was staying awake all night with a fellow soldier who was suicidal to prevent that person from injuring himself.
“When people at home say they support the troops, they just don’t support the war that is garbage. That is not a distinction you can make. That’s like saying, ‘I hate schools and everything they stand for but I support the teachers,’” Head continued.
All the political talk at chow time led Head to observe the reason they fight.
“Never fear, these soldiers aren’t fighting for the administration or even their military leadership. At the most basic level, they are fighting for each other. When bullets start flying, you can be assured no one is thinking about politics. They are fighting for the soldier on their right and left.
“Please say a quick prayer for the young soldiers, Marines, and Airmen out there on the front lines every day. They are doing a hard job much of their country doesn’t support, and losing their lives, limbs, friends, and innocence in the process,” Head concluded.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I pray for strength, encouragement, and discernment for the men and women serving in the United States military.
“Brothers, pray for us.” (1 Thessalonians 5:25)
April 6
PRAY FOR THE IRAQIS
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
When Air Force Major Head met with his Iraqi interpreters for the first time in the spring of 2007, he got a first-hand telling of Iraq’s harsh realities, both past and present.
One interpreter’s brother had recently been murdered by insurgents. Another had lied his way through a checkpoint, telling the insurgents he was Sunni when he was really a Shiite. He made up family names, an indicator of tribal heritage, to stay alive. Each interpreter used a pretend name to protect his identity. Zero’s story was particularly heartfelt. He had joined the Army when Sadaam was in power, but left before completing basic training, staying only ten days.
“We’d only known this guy for thirty minutes. When we explained that we were going to be training Iraqi Air Force officers and enlisted Airmen, he passionately urged us to make sure we taught future officers to respect their enlisted troops. Apparently the reason he left Saddam’s Army is that enlisted men were routinely raped by their officers as a form of punishment for not following orders,” Head explained.
Despite his traumatic experiences, Zero had a great sense of humor.
“I asked if he had girlfriend and he assured me he was engaged to actress Angelina Jolie. He said they had talked about it last night and she agreed to leave Tom Cruise (he meant Brad Pitt) and move to Baghdad to be with him. He then winked and told me it was only a dream but a ‘good dream,’” Head wrote, noting if Iraq is going to succeed, it will be because people like Zero face their fears and do the right thing.
“Abraham Maslow’s psychological hierarchy of needs says that people first need food, clothing, shelter, and security before they can be concerned about higher order needs like self-actualization. The Iraqis have spent so much time struggling for the basic order needs that they have never dreamed of moving up to the higher levels we so often take for granted.
“Please join me in praying for these and the millions of Iraqis like them who want nothing more than what the average American wants: to get married, have a family, a stable job that pays well, food on the table, a couple of kids, and a lasting sense of security and stability for themselves and their country,” Head related.
Prayer:
Lord, I pray for Zero and the other interpreters in Iraq as they seek to rebuild their lives. Reveal yourself to them in remarkable ways.
“What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” (Deuteronomy 4:7)
April 7
Recreation & Reflection
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
“I boarded an Iraqi C-130 for the worst ride I’ve had in my fourteen years in the Air Force. It was hot and bumpy, I was cold and sweaty, and half-way through I started looking for a barf-bag. One of the Iraqis in my direct line of sight had already located a bag and was regularly using. Fortunately it was a short trip, and I managed to make it without puking chewing gum and drinking lots of water help!” Major Brad Head wrote about flying to Ali base, where General Allardice had been invited as the guest speaker for a special celebration for the Airmen there, honoring the United States Air Force’s 60th anniversary.
After the festivities, Head did what many service members did while visiting Ali base tour two of Iraq’s most historical sites: The Ziggurat and the House of Abraham.
The Ali base is located on the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, the one mentioned in the Biblical account of Abraham. Over 4,000 years earlier King Shulgi ordered the construction of the brick Ziggurat (similar to the Egyptian pyramids).
While touring Head saw the oldest example of a free-standing arch in the known world; the oldest example of indoor plumbing; and script written into bricks which were placed more than two thousand years before the Romans ever existed. The House of Abraham was the last stop on their tour. Although no one can verify that it’s actually Abraham’s house, the Iraqis have long made the claim.
“It was incredible to think about walking in the same area (even if it is not exactly right, it has to be close) where Abraham walked. Like Jerusalem, all of the world’s greatest religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) can trace their roots to this one place,” Head wrote, noting the Ziggurat is also supposedly perfectly aligned with the four corners pointing in the cardinal directions.
Touring these sites was a welcome break from Iraq’s severities, such as riding in full armor on a bus through Baghdad or experiencing the worst airplane ride ever. The sites were reminders of humanity’s roots, particularly God’s promise to Abraham to make his descendents more numerous than the stars.
One condition shared by the tourists with father Abraham was the heat. Head used his trademark humor to make the connection.
“The whole time we were walking around (in the 120 degree heat), all I could think of was that when God told Abraham to leave here and go to the place that I will show you, Abraham must have been thrilled!” Head observed with a grin.
Prayer:
Thank you for historical markers that show the greatness of the past and the promise you have made for our future.
“He also said to him, ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.’” (Genesis 15:7)
April 8
MUDDY SEASON
Lt. Col. Greg Rosenmerkel, United States Air Force
The Iraq rainy season isn’t best defined by rainfall inches; it’s unofficially measured by how long the mud ponds last.
“We’re right in the middle of the rainy season,” Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Greg Rosenmerkel explained in a January 2007 email to his friends after only a few weeks into his six-month deployment. “From what I’ve seen so far, that statement may be a bit misleading. While it has rained four to five days this month, up to 1.5 inches in a day, it’s the lingering ponds that keep one thinking it’s a ‘season.’”
Rosenmerkel commanded an Air Force team whose mission was to oversee a number of engineering projects at the Logistics Support Area Anaconda, collocated with Balad Air Base, about thirty miles from Baghdad. Rosenmerkel’s team provided capabilities the Army needed but couldn’t provide from within.
“The base is flat. Storm sewer inlets are few and far between. The soil is impermeable silt clay, and the Iraqi irrigation canals surrounding us are higher elevation. Even in wartime, we can’t make water flow uphill. Mud is everywhere,” Rosenmerkel observed.
“All the mud really just adds to the inconvenience. We’re obviously in uniform all the time, so when you gotta go in the middle of the night, you get dressed, schlep through the mud to the porta-potty, and try to get back in bed without bringing the mud with you,” he explained.
Mud clings to everything. It’s consistency is not normal mud either it’s slippery. It could be described as somewhere between a McDonald’s chocolate shake and baby poop. It’s got a remarkable ability to track one hundred feet down a hallway, then when it dries it just turns to dust and finds its way into your coffee cup.
Boot scrapers dot all doorsteps. These boot brushes are everywhere, but they really just serve to remove the big rocks and fling mud higher on your pant leg or your buddy’s.
The mud in Iraq is hard to get off because it’s fine and silt-like. Understanding Middle East mud sheds new light on the Biblical phrase “shaking the dust off your feet” a response to an insult or inhospitable gesture. Rosenmerkel’s observation literally shows how hard it can be to “shake the dust from your feet.”
Just as it’s sometimes necessary to clean mud off your feet, so it’s also important to let go of life’s insults. Like mud, it’s better to view them an inconvenience.
Prayer:
God, enable me to let go of the insults that sometimes come my way. Keep them from becoming grudges. Instead, help me to have the persistence to wash them off as mud from my feet.
“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.” (Matthew 10:14)
April 9
GRAVEL JOB CONDITIONS
Lt. Col. Greg Rosenmerkel, United States Air Force
To build roads, one needs asphalt. To make asphalt, one needs gravel. Sometimes getting gravel for engineering projects at Anaconda-Balad-Balad Air Base seemed as primitive as the cartoon celebrity, Fred Flinstone, operating a bronco crane at Bedrock’s Slate Rock and Gravel Company.
After eighteen years in the Air Force, Lt. Col. Greg Rosenmerkel was used to having some discretionary funding authority. The United States military process in Iraq was very different. No matter your rank, all expenditures went all the way to the “corps” for approval.
“One of our challenges has been getting construction work estimated, bid, and completed in an incredibly volatile market. In the past few weeks we’ve seen costs for gravel range between $200 and $400 per ton. For those of you that don’t buy much bulk rock that’s about a factor of ×10+ off market rates in the states, which makes it hard to come close on estimates when it takes forty-five days for work to get funded,” Rosenmerkel emailed his friends.
Gravel woes went beyond paperwork pushing and market drivers. They were gravely serious.
“The story goes that this week the quarry operator was taken hostage and the family had to pay a $500,000 ransom,” Rosenmerkel wrote, adding the driver was beaten or worse. “Further, a passage fee must be paid to the village sheiks to use the roads, so in an industry where profit margins are generally around 3 percent, there ain’t much left.”
Getting gravel delivered also created security problems, which slowed the process. Because a truckload of gravel is a great place to hide a bomb, and the U.S. military try to give work to local contractors and suppliers, and getting material on base is quite an operation. First, the local contractors line up at the gate, often as far as the eye can see. One by one, they come in and dump their load for dirty ops where the material is screened. Once that’s done, it’s loaded into other trucks that are permitted on base as clean ops. Camping overnight in a line is something Americans do for concert tickets, not paychecks. Not so in Iraq. If their gravel truck didn’t go through dirty ops early enough to ensure they would be out by 1700 hours, the Iraqi drivers would line outside the gate and camp overnight.
“It’s a good reminder of the blessing of having regular work hours as most Americans do,” Rosenmerkel concluded.
It’s also a good reminder to pray for those in need.
Prayer:
Thank you for reminding me of the blessings you have given America. I pray that the Iraqis will soon overcome the challenges they face just to get a paycheck.
“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” (Psalm 40:2)
April 10
BAPTISM AND COMMUNION
Lt. Col. Greg Rosenmerkel, United States Air Force
A muddy place in need of gravel for making asphalt no doubt had other rudimentary buildings. The Anaconda-Balad chapel was no exception. On the inside, this expandable shelter was lined with plywood. The outside had a traditional-looking bell tower topped with a pointy A-frame roof. However, the bells were far from traditional they were empty 105mm shells.
What proved to be time-honored, however, was the role friendship and faith played in giving Rosenmerkel perspective and inspiration in Iraq.
“Early in the deployment, my team and I all sat down and discussed our goals for the next six months. One of Captain ‘Donna’s’ goal was to get baptized. Yesterday at 1400 hours, we got to witness this great event, and it sure helped shift focus on the present and future,” Lt. Col. Greg Rosenmerkel emailed his friends.
The presiding chaplain offered this during the ceremony prep: “This is a historic region, especially for a Christian baptism. While Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible, Iraq is mentioned second most often. The names used in the Bible are Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia. The word Mesopotamia means ‘between the two rivers’ more exactly between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The name Iraq means ‘country with deep roots,’” Rosenmerkel expressed, noting that Iraq is home to the ancient land of Assyria, land of Eden, Tower of Babel, Nineveh, Babylon, and Ur, Abraham’s home.
“If you can mentally escape from the current situation, it’s truly awesome to be here. The Tigris is on our base map.”
Encouragement also came from casual conversations ending in poignancy.
Despite the chapel’s rudimentary conditions and makeshift bell tower, Lieutenant Colonel Rosenmerkel found that what most mattered in a church is not its appearance, but those relationships and friendships that direct a heart toward God.
“Friendships and a re-kindled participation in church really helped us keep perspective,” he observed.
Prayer:
Father: Thank you for those ceremonies, ministers, and people who direct me to your word and lead me to you.
“And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ “ Then the people bowed down and worshiped.” (Exodus 12:26–27)
April 11
FIELD TRIPS
Lt. Col. Greg Rosenmerkel, United States Air Force
One trip was to the CRAM operation at Anaconda-Balad Air Base, known as Mortaritaville. “CRAM stands for Counter Rocket, Artillery, Mortar It’s loud, and not a favorite alarm clock. The ‘shooter’ is a phalanx 20mm gun off Navy ships,” he emailed. Rosenmerkel attached a photo showing their tour guide holding the rocket that had interrupted their physical training session earlier that morning. The mortar turned “our ‘push-ups’ into ‘get downs.’ CRAM system did its job. We were back at it in no time.”
His team visited a number of places, including the reverse-osmosis water purification plant. The people were always more impressive than the process. The boss of the whole water production program is Eloy. Greg’s favorite story of Eloy is from summer 2004. He was relaxing on the deck at 11 p.m., shirt off, cooling down, and watching the new X-Men movie in 3D when a mortar hit about fifteen feet away. Of course he was knocked out, woke up and thought, how cool is THAT technology. They pulled a chunk from his skull, left one in his shoulder, and he laughs about it. Incredible guy, loves his country, loves the military, and loves making water.
They also visited “Monster Garage Iraq,” the contractor shop that assembles IED detection equipment and repairs battle-damaged rigs so they can return to safe-clearing supply routes.
“While the equipment provides great protection, we’re still losing people as the bad guys figure out how to break stuff. Our technology is constantly improving, as is theirs. The repair shop guys are warriors, incredibly dedicated to keeping soldiers safe. Seeing the vehicles in the shop with holes in them where people used to sit is the most angering thing I’ve seen since we got here. I find it ironic how cowardly the insurgents are fighting the battle,” Rosenmerkel emailed.