Art La Flamme

So, yeah. Bird Day.

Three things:

1) I am thankful for my wife. Wow, she puts up with a ton of crap, just because I choose to be in the Army. I could make decent money, if I wasn’t in the Army. I could come home at a decent hour, if I wasn’t in the Army. I’d be home right now, if I wasn’t in the Army. I’ve come dangerously close, time and time again, to putting the needs of the Army ahead of the needs of my wife and my family. Time and time again, the Army has called, and I have dropped everything to answer the call, always knowing that my wife will hold down the fort, raise the kids, pay the bills, and fight the good fight while I go off and do whatever it is that I do. She rules. Every damn day I am thankful she’s in my life.

2) I am thankful to be right here, right now. I am thankful just for the chance to serve our nation. Today, the Iraqi parliament voted to approve the draft of the Status of Forces Agreement (here). This is awesomely cool, for about 45 different reasons. We’re all moving beyond the days of a UN-mandated American presence, into an era of American troops being here under terms agreed upon by two sovereign nations. Wow — that just blows my mind. In the coming weeks, the Iraqis will have their next round of provincial elections — the second time the Iraqis have done this. Consider this: Iraq became a nation at the end of WWI, and it was a monarchy until 1958 when a coalition of groups overthrew the king. After ten years, Saddam emerged to grab control of the country, and ushered in his era of totalitarian Ba’athism. After the 2003 invasion, Iraq had the one round of elections in 2005, but that really was done with a lot of hand holding. So, here we are — the Iraqis are about to do it again, and I expect that they will do it all on their own. Wow. I find that to be incredible. I am thankful to be here, and to have even the smallest of roles in this amazing period of Iraqi history.

The Descent into Baghdad

3) I am thankful to be able to run. I was going to say that I was thank for my run today, but really, it’s more than that. Some of you may know that I don’t run just for exercise; I run because I have PTSD. Yep, post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s like being an alcoholic — I will always have to deal with it, and I will deal with it, one day at a time. When I started showing signs, back in 2003, I was such a physical wreck that running wasn’t an option. A two mile run would kill me for a week. Two years later, when I admitted defeat and decided to do something about the PTSD, I had found a new doctor / physical therapist who had patched me up enough to run again. He, of course, thought I’d be good for a couple of miles, tops, but that sounded like crap and I set out to prove my wrong. And the running helped the PTSD. It helped a LOT. Folks with PTSD are often treated with all kinds of drugs, none of which I wanted. None of which I thought I would need, if I could get my body to produce the same ones naturally. To produce the same ones, by running. And so I ran. A little here, a little there, and then poof, I ran a marathon. Injuries aside, I’ve been running ever since, through good times and bad. Today, I took off and ran 10km — 6.2 miles. And yes, I was in pain every step of the way. Which is fine — with this broken body, I will be in pain every day of the rest of my life. No need for it to keep me from doing what I want and need to do. I ran today for no reason other than it was a Thursday and Thanksgiving and I could sneak out to do it. And it felt great. I don’t ever want to go back to being so broken and such a mess that I can’t take off and run like I can now. Running is such a positive part of my life, that I can’t see living without it. I’ll likely run for the rest of my life. And to have found running, and learned the positive role it has in my life, it priceless.

So, there you have it. A guy in Iraq, who could easily be wallowing in the misery of being away from my family and all that crap, and I have three great reasons to be thankful just to wake up and start another day.

Lavatory

I’m going to head back to my hooch now, and maybe watch a movie or something. Enjoy your bird day. Be good.

The United States of America mismanaged detainees during the initial phases of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) because it did not understand its own history. The American administration failed to capitalize on its own lessons learning during the establishment of Prisoner of War (POW) procedures during World War II (WWII), and the legal precedents established in Johnson v. Eisentr?ger (1950). This is important because civil rights groups and others are legally challenging the US Government on its detention policy.

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Back in July, I tuned up and posted a blog entry (here) that recounted the tale of what my soldiers did in support of the rescue of Jessica Lynch and the recovery of the remains of those killed in the attack on the 507th.

I wrote it and published it because one requirement of my class was to blog. The long and the short of it is that our CG (Commanding General) thinks that we need to learn to do more to interact with our citizens (or, at least, that’s how I interpret it), to do more to tell our tales.

As I saw it, Jessica Lynch and her rescue was a very tangible topic familiar to most folks.

I had talked about it before. In the aftermath of the ground war, I’d talked about it a bunch — I’d given a whole bunch of briefs, just never to the public and never outside the protection of the Army.

I’d written about it, too. I first wrote about it when my second deployment was coming to an end — I was putting together a small handwritten book of short stories for my father, about what I had seen and been a part of, and this was one of those stories. But that writing didn’t really see the light of day. Other than a couple of immediate family members, it’s just sat and collected dust, probably waiting for my kids to be old enough to understand what it says.

Two years ago, three years after the events and two years after I’d written my little book, I cleaned up this story and posted it to the web (here). If that seems like a long time, well, it might be. I was slow to decide how to tell it, and slower to decide that I was willing to just barf it out there for the world to see.

This time around, though, it seemed the right topic for the assignment at hand. It felt good to go back and re-tool it, to give it some love and some attention and to republish it. It met the course requirement, too, which was a bonus.

But when the school-related aspect of it was done, I decided to turn it up to 11. And honestly, I have no idea why I decided to do this. I flipped through the on-post magazine, FYI, and found the email address for the editor. I dashed off a note and the URL, and waited to hear back from them. Would they be interested in running the article? Yes (minus the F Bomb). Would they be interested in the two photos I happen to have with me? Yes. Would then honor my Creative Commons license? Yes.

Three for three — pretty good. Just like that, I was set to be published.

Pretty soon thereafter, I got an email from the post Public Affairs Office. A reporter from Augusta wanted to interview me, about an article related to my piece. Was I game? Yes. Yes, because it seemed to me to be in keeping with what I thought out CG was trying to teach us.

An interview, and a wait. And today, and article.

To be honest, I think the article in the paper today is something of a non-story. I think I certainly offered far more details in the magazine article and the blog. To each their own, I suppose. It’s not that I didn’t give her enough material, either.

I told her about the soldiers I was fortunate enough to lead. I talked about my role a the token figurehead, and the absolutely conviction of the soldiers to do all that they could to support the efforts of our soldiers and of our units. I just happened to be in change, but they did such amazing things, it still stings to thing about it.

I told her that there was gobs and gobs of stories like this one, stories that could be told by so many soldiers about so many things. I was trying to tie it all back into what I saw as the intent of the CG, to show and illustrate for her that there’s more out there if she or others are just willing to ask, and are willing to wait for when a Soldier or Airman or Marine or Sailor is willing to tell it.

And I tried my best to stress that this is just one of what must be countless stories of soldier innovation, of soldiers finding a way to do more than ever expected or intended, all to support the mission. That hardware they gave us, it was certainly never intended to be used in this way, but these soldiers were smart enough, insightful enough, daring enough to put aside the textbook answer in order to find a better way. And that is just humbling.

So, yeah. I’m in the paper. It was published today, here. An interesting footnote to my time spent in Augusta.

Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri?s 2005 letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq addressed the information, social, and time critical variables of the contemporary operational environment. Zawahiri, as a senior leader and chief strategist for Al Qaeda and the pan-Salafist movement, used the letter as a means to offer guidance to Zarqawi, whom he viewed as a senior tactician but junior strategist.

Zawahiri is a longtime Mujahid. He began his involvement in the Salafist movement in his home country of Egypt, as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and later with the umbrella organization al-Jihad, or the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. By the time al-Zarqawi took up arms against the Jordanian monarch in the mid 1990?s, Zawahiri has been detained and tortured by the Egyptian authorities for his crusade against what he perceived to be an apostate regime in Cairo, had fought in Pakistan and Afghanistan, had been expelled from Sudan, and even been arrested in Russia as he began his global effort to united the Salafist movements.

Zawahiri?s global perspective drives his view of the contemporary operational environment, and in his letter to al-Zarqawi, Zawahiri stresses the social critical variable over all others. Zawahiri believes that ?the strongest weapon which the mujahedeen enjoy – after the help and granting of success by God – is popular support from the Muslim masses in Iraq, and the surrounding Muslim countries.?

Zawahiri stresses the cohesiveness and unit of action amongst all Muslims, and thus all Iraqis. He urges al-Zarqawi to conduct operations and undertake actions that will unite the Iraqis against the Americans and what he see as an apostate regime in Baghdad. They will find success, Zawahiri argues, ?by the alliance, cooperation and gathering of all leaders of opinion and influence in the Iraqi arena.?

But at the same time, Zawahiri also urges to show more restraint in conducting operations against the Shia, if for no other reason than embracing the importance of the social critical variable of the Iraqi environment.

?We must repeat what we mentioned previously, that the majority of Muslims don’t comprehend this and possibly could not even imagine it. For that reason, many of your Muslim admirers amongst the common folk are wondering about your attacks on the Shia. The sharpness of this questioning increases when the attacks are on one of their mosques, and it increases more when the attacks are on the mausoleum of Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib, may God honor him. My opinion is that this matter won’t be acceptable to the Muslim populace however much you have tried to explain it, and aversion to this will continue.?

But in addition to the social critical variable, Zawahiri also stresses the importance of time in al-Zarqawi?s operations. He urges al-Zarqawi to understand, appreciate and embrace the long struggle of which his efforts in Iraq are only a part. Zawahiri stresses that it will take considerable time to expel the Americans; establish an Islamic authority in Iraq, in the void created with the departure of the Americans; extend the jihad to neighboring secular states; and finally to take to war West, in order to defeat Israel. Zawahiri stresses this, knowing the strategic importance of the role time will play, and understanding al-Zarqawi?s tactical background.

Lastly, Zawahiri stresses the role that information plays as a critical variable both in the contemporary operational environment in Iraq, and in the global contemporary operational environment. He emphasizes recent media coverage from the international press, messages sent to the followers, and he specifically cites the role of the media in the struggle for the support of the people. He urges al-Zarqawi that ?more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media. And that we are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our Umma (community of believers). And that however far our capabilities reach, they will never be equal to one thousandth of the capabilities of the kingdom of Satan that is waging war on us.?

Zawahiri used his letter to al-Zarqawi to stress the information, social, and time critical variables of the contemporary operational environment in Iraq and around the world. Zawahiri?s emphasis on these three critical variables stresses the integrated nature of the critical variables, and his understanding of their role in the contemporary operational environment.

I mentioned awhile ago that I had to blog for this course. After some anguish, I ended up writing this — a piece about what I did during the ground war. Really, what we did during the ground war.

I chose that subject ultimately because, after reading everything I could about why they wanted us to blog during this course, I realized that what the Army wanted was a story like this. They think America needs to hear these things. And I think they’re right.

For the folks who are in the year-long version of this course, not only do they have to blog, but they have to do two other things: submit something for publication, and speak to a group (outside the military).

I sent the link for my piece, to the lady here at Ft Gordon why runs the on-post magazine. We went back and forth some on email, and they opted to print it. September has Patriot Day, and it fits well into that theme. I sent along a couple of photos I had with me — to include one with my dad, which I thought was super cool. I also asked for and got her agreement to include the copyright notice – that the piece is protected under the Creative Commons license, and that it was being published with permission. Viva Creative Commons.

When I got back from lunch today, there was a copy of the magazine on my doorstep. Sure enough, page 27 has the article. I think it came out pretty well.

The PDF for the magazine isn’t online yet. I’ll throw up the link when it’s online.

Now, the question is: Who in my school’s administration reads the post magazine? I’m not going to say anything to the school about this being published; I want to wait and see if they notice. If nothing else, I’ll tell them when I’m about to leave.

Yeah, it runs opposite a whole page of awesome ads. Hey, nothing says “Patriotism!” like self-storage, world poker leagues, and real estate agents!