Journal: ‘ThunderCat6’ gets to know Baghdad

DATE: Aug. 28, 2006
TO: Friends, family and colleagues

SUBJECT: Iraq — The Worst Heat Is Over — 33% Done

All,

The hottest part of the summer is officially winding down. I made it with only a single case of sunburn and not one serious heat injury to any of our troops. (We did have to administer a few IVs for people after we returned from a mission or two due to soldiers getting dizzy or cramped, but nothing too bad.) The needle stayed mostly in the high teens and hit 120+ on only a few days. But alas, since I am leaving in the spring, I have faced the hottest that Baghdad could dish out and I now scoff, mock and laugh in defiance of Mother Nature’s best this summer.

Well, time continues to fly. I am taking my mid-tour leave in 30 days. I will be in the States from 1-15 October. A few days in Atlanta with my wife, two days in D.C. (running a 10-mile race on Sunday the 8th), four days in NYC area and then back to Atlanta with Hiwot until I head back to Kuwait. I might even sneak down to Daytona Beach to check on my house (still up for sale) and play a round of golf.

August — slow month?
Well, this was an uninteresting month. I only left the wire a handful of times over the past 30 days. That included one 12-day stretch where I didn’t leave the FOB at all for various reasons. That made it much different than my typical four to five times per week since I first arrived. The Sadr City mayor even called me a few times to confirm I was coming to the weekly meeting. I am not sure if he missed me (the boycott is over) or he wanted to set me up in an ambush with his Mahdi buddies. Sick as it sounds, you actually miss getting out there each day. Now I know how the Fobbits feel.

When I finally did make it out back to the Government Center this week, there was a giant poster of Sadr hanging from the four-story building in the corner. When I say giant I am guessing 100 foot by 50 foot — HUGE! It covered the whole building. Just like the old ones of Saddam — not a good sign.

Tracking and reporting (9:1)
Another reason for slow progress here? I have found a large number of “staff and support” people who do a lot of tracking and reporting. I haven’t found a lot of people who execute and actually take action to make things happen. I have often heard the ratio when I first entered the military in the mid-‘80s, “for every soldier on the front line there are nine in the rear providing support.” I felt like I was in a bad “Who’s on First” skit while trying to find out who actually could help me get food, clothes and shelter for 2,000 homeless I had found in Sadr.

I found plenty of people who wanted me to fill out a spreadsheet, form or report and no one that could tell me what they actually did with that form or who it actually went to. I filled them all out — still waiting. I even got in trouble for e-mailing the division officer in charge of Humanitarian Aid. It is in his job description and part of his title on his business card, and even he didn’t know how to actually (get) access to the goods. That is what happens when you have 100 percent turnover in an organization every 12 months for three years. Things get lost in translation, no economies of learning.

Why I am SO HAPPY
I am very happy because of the new Battle for Baghdad. I am sure you have been reading about the increase in troops, including the extension of the 172nd Stryker Brigade to help clear out enclaves/areas of bad guys. I have no idea what the long-term effects will be, I really don’t. But, I am just happy to see that we are no longer sitting on the sidelines coaching the benchwarmers, pretending they are doing well and letting innocent people get killed.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
Well, I can now do 86 sit-ups in two minutes and I continue regular training for the 10-miler in October. I am still reluctant to discuss push-ups progress and even more reluctant to actually do them regularly to improve — maybe the two are related?

I leave you this month with two quotes:

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.

ATTITUDE
By Charles Swindoll

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

“Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.

“The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.

“And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our attitudes.”

MORE FROM CHARITY BEGINS AT WAR

Charity Begins at War Section Front

Part 1: From executive suite to Baghdad Journal: Called back to active duty — ‘No joke’ Day 2: Minimal training for a huge task Journal: Readying for ‘very dangerous job’ Part 3: Venturing ‘outside the wire’ Journal: ‘ThunderCat6’ arrives in Baghdad Part 4: It all comes back to garbage Journal: Goodbye Baghdad; hello bed rest Part 5: Charitable spirit survives Journal: A new foundation Charity Begins at War Section Front   Add Charity Begins at War headlines to your news reader: