Sunday Forum
We got a ton of thoughtful letters and questions related to last Sunday's Dispatches from Iraq piece, so let's get right into it. Please keep in mind that each letter is the opinion of the individual writer and is not necessarily endorsed by this web site:
READER FEEDBACK
Steve from upstate New York says: I am one of the many who believe we made a terrible mistake going into Iraq, but think we might make a worse one pulling out too soon. I can't adequately convey how very much I appreciate the very difficult work all of you are doing and how important blogs these are for providing a window onto that work. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work and stay
safe.
Melinda from Mississippi, who runs the Big Al's Army Life blog, says: From a military wife, I just wanted to say thank you for your weekly "Dispatches from Iraq" segment. My soldier is a nurse in the desert right now, and the more that we can get the word out in a grassroots way about what "war" really means (i.e. "shut up the think tanks" lol!) -- the more that the American people might take a vested, personal interest in what's happening.
Kathi from Orange County, CA says: I just found your site and enjoyed reading it. My son is a soldier with the Strykers also out of Fort Lewis. He has been in Mosul since his arrival in Iraq almost a year ago and is scheduled to return near the end of September.
I am grateful for his descriptive and often graphic communication with me regarding what's happening while he's doing his job. It clarifies the extreme stress these soldiers work under and amplifies how minute the small annoyances are in my world.
I hope every soldier coming home from deployment is met with compassion, acknowledgment and respect regardless of where people stand on the war.
The men and women of our military have been in a devastating situation but still met their side of the commitment they agreed to without quitting, or suing or complaining about the politics.
When the war is in your home, the politics are forgotten and the focus is on the soldiers.
Where I stand politically pales in the shadow of were my son and his unit stand physically.
Thank you for your site. I love the fact that it is an open forum, encouraging difference of opinion, respectfully discussed.
An email from an anonymous reporter forwarded to the site:
While we may not have a f--ing clue what it's like on over there, our soldiers have no f--ing clue what's going on over here. I do write stories about dead and wounded soldiers on a regular basis and I just wanted to tell you that this particular passage in the blog was bulls--.
Dave responds: There's one in every crowd. It is absolutely galling there is someone out there documenting dead and wounded soldiers who has the attitude "soldiers don't have a f-ing clue." In my experiences in the journalism business, most individual reporters and editors really do endeavor to maintain ethical standards and handle matters as fairly as possible. They honestly do. But then I see emails like this, and it becomes crystal clear why journalism is held in such low esteem in some quarters. Good reporters far outnumber clowns like the author of this email, but the clowns make life difficult for the rest of us.
Susan in New Jersey says: I may not agree with the reasons you are over there risking your life in this particular war, but I want you to know that there isn't a day when I don't say a little prayer that all of our soldiers come back home from Iraq safely and as soon as possible.
As for your fallen comrades, none of them are just a statistic to the rest of us. I live in NJ and the local newspapers have made sure that we all know how special each and every fallen soldier from this area is by printing long and inspiring articles about their sacrifices. I would imagine that papers in all parts of the country pay tribute to those from their areas. I feel very strongly that this is what each soldier deserves. There isn't a day when I don't see a pink ribbon decal on the back of a car which is one of many reminders we all see everyday. I pray for you all and your families as do so many Americans, no matter what side of the war we are on.
Anthony Munoz from Houston says: What a moving story. I can say for myself, that I don't really get the war. I don't understand the necessity for war at any time. But the world we live in requires that we sometimes do the unthinkable. That's what it is. It's unthinkable that we would kill other human beings we don't even know.
And these people in Iraq, what do we know of their lives, save for what we see on TV and that is heavily monitored by our government? I believe the truth of the matter is that we, as Americans, have no idea how the rest of the world really lead their lives. How was can we presume to know that Iraqis want democracy when we can't possibly empathize with them? We don't know what it's like to grow up in a place where you don't ever have the freedom to pick your own government, so why would you want that? And do we really pick our own government? Does every vote count? At the end of the day, I don't believe every one gets their say, but it's the only thing we've got and I'll support it.
As for the soldiers, I had a friend who went to Iraq on the first deployment and came back intact and safe. I remember saying goodbye to him at the armory and sobbing and feeling a pain and sadness and heaviness in my heart, because I didn't want him to die or be injured. I didn't want him to come back damaged mentally from what he'd seen or done. I prayed. I'm not really religious, but I prayed for him, and he's okay.
We may not all support the war, but we should do our best to remember that soldiers are just like us, only braver. no higher being is on our side in this matter, but I pray to that higher being to somehow give comfort those who are fighting for their lives. Be brave, be strong, be scared, be afraid, but most importantly, come home. We miss you.
ASK MATT
Christopher in California asks: I would be most interested in Matt’s no-holds-barred opinion on the status and development of the Iraqi security forces.
Matt replies: I’ve actually had a few questions directed at me about the status of the Iraqi Army: How do you know they’re not terrorists? How difficult is it to train them without speaking their language? And the incredibly popular, When will they be able to fight for themselves so we can get out?
The Iraqi Army is a volunteer army (like the U.S. Army), with soldiers aged 14 to 60. They wield AK-47s in all states of disassembly, missing butt stocks, bent or missing sight posts, little hand lasers taped to the side for night firing. Some of their weapons are handed down from past generations. Their skills are equally varied. The only thing they have in common is that they’re willing to die for their country.
I was lucky enough to train mainly Kurdish soldiers. The Kurds appreciate US presence in Iraq, because while Saddam was in power, they were treated as second-class citizens. They were grateful for our training, and it progressed nicely. The difference in their skills and their mindset was apparent by the time each cycle of training finished.
My only problem with the training as it stood was that it kept changing. We would train them to one standard, an effective standard which ranged from squad movement and communication to kicking in doors and clearing buildings. Then, another group would take over the training, and train them to a different standard, confusing the Iraqis that had already been through the training. I believe that they were finally assigned a training battalion while I was on leave that will be with them for a year. I read in the Army Times that they have been doing that in Southern Iraq/Baghdad for a while now, and I believe standardizing it is the only way to continue their progress.
Now, I don’t know whether I trained the "bad guys" or not. There’s no way to tell. I will say that I went on missions with the men I trained, and came out alive. I’ve also been around them in training where they had plenty of live ammo and could have had a “training accident” at any time, so essentially I trust them with my life. I can’t say the same for the rest of the Iraqi Army. We’ve had problems with security leaks about missions, but they usually involve higher level officers. It can be completely frustrating, but just like anything, we keep trying to improve the situation.
We have had other issues on missions, less with the danger of them shooting us or each other, and more with stealing from the houses they raid. We even caught a Sergeant Major stealing some jewelry. We try to keep it from happening, but we can’t stop it all. The simple fact is that such soldiers, as unscrupulous as they might be, are the ones willing to fight for their country, so we do what we can with them. When you’re given lemons, make lemonade. In this case, make lemonade and train it not to shoot you.
Ben in Kentucky asked for Matt's review on the Stryker as a vehicle in and of itself.
Matt says: Well Ben, I decided that it wasn’t enough to get a ground-pounder like me to answer your question. I’m really only familiar in how effective it is to dismounting troops. I enlisted the help of my friend Chris, a certified diesel mechanic and Stryker driver, to help out. He has been driving a Stryker on combat missions in every season and all types of weather for eleven months. He has been in the driver’s seat for six Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), and is by far the most knowledgeable and experienced driver in our company. I'm relaying his feedback in my words.
The Stryker is by far the safest vehicle on the streets of Mosul. When our weapons squad vehicle was hit by a suicide vehicle-borne IED in December, I thought for sure that everybody in it was dead. Turns out only one person was injured badly enough to send them home. When one of our first platoon’s vehicles was hit in November, the explosion went off directly underneath the driver, and went up and straight through the hatch above him. He got out with some scratches on his forehead. Chris was in the first explosion our platoon ever encountered back in November. His Stryker was hit with two rigged up mortar rounds, one on each side, and he saw a giant fireball engulf the nose of the vehicle. The Stryker was incapacitated with six flat tires, and two of the men up in the hatches took shrapnel, but again, everybody lived. As the year has gone on, we’ve only made improvements in safety. We’ve added sandbags and/or steel reinforcements around the air-guard hatches, and the slant armor that surrounds the vehicle has been extremely effective in blocking Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attacks.
We have occasional problems with the ramp, but the interior is roomy. The protection it provides is incredible. There are problems and flaws, however. My most serious concern with the Stryker has been its susceptibility to mud. In the wet Mosul winter, the mud sucks our Strykers down, and at one point it seemed like every time we went out, we were recovering one from a mud hole. We replace a tire once a week on average due to damage caused by the extreme weight of the vehicle, and at $1200 a pop, it’s costing the Army quite a bit. I’m not saying this can be improved upon, noting that I am not a tire expert, but that it is one of the disadvantages of having a wheeled vehicle instead of one with tracks. Another problem I see is that the Remote Weapon System (RWS) that controls our .50 caliber machine gun or Mk-19 automatic grenade launchers doesn’t level out when on the move. Some kind of gyroscopic device would help with that, and I’d be surprised if one wasn’t in the works. The RWS’s screen and controls have already been improved in our year out here to include more information, and quicker start-up time.
From the driver’s perspective, Chris says that the Stryker handles extremely well for its size, and is reliable considering the conditions in which it’s used. He feels that it is a bit heavier than it needs to be and wishes it had a wider wheel base, but the slant armor already makes it a bit wider than would be optimal for driving through some of the smaller streets. He thinks that the Stryker can be used more thoroughly to its potential, but is happy overall with its performance, as am I.
Please understand that this is from an infantryman’s perspective, and some aspects may not apply to other versions of the Stryker such as the anti-tank guided missile vehicles, the medical evacuation vehicle, and the engineers’ minesweeper. I hope this answered your question efficiently.
Thanks for reading, folks. As always, if you you feel this has been a worthwhile read, please send the link to a friend or two.
Dispatches from Iraq series links
posted by Dave Doyle @ 12:01 AM
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