Wartime Latrines

It's not pretty...but for those of you who are not acquainted with how it rolls in the Army, using the bathroom - latrine - is pretty critical business.  And part of my personal awareness mission in life is to go through these crazy experiences and how we adjusted in the most trying circumstances.  Have you ever wondered how - or where for that matter - 50,000 Soldiers (to include females) go to the latrine in one day in the middle of a desert?  No buildings - no trees - just miles and miles of open desert.  Or you're in a convoy crossing the border into Iraq at 0245 in the morning and hearing shots being fired all around and not sure who is shooting or where the shots are coming from; and you've been drinking water for 5 hours because you are told to keep 'hydrated.'  And now your body is saying 'it's time.'  Do we stop the convoy?  When it does stop do you wander off into the desert to do your business?  And then, do you dare take off your chemical suit?  You can't wander off...the enemy's out there!
Or, when you do finally stop for a couple of days of stop and go movements, there are no 'job johnnies' around and someone gets this bright idea that he'll build a small latrine out of some wood he found in a house but builds it so poorly that in the first windstorm two of the sides blow off while you're sitting there.  Orrrr, when you can stand it no more during the day that you decide to wander off to a 'seemingly' private spot over a small berm (hill), and think you're doing your business in private (#2) when around the corner comes a HUMMV with your buddies hanging out the doors laughing their heads off at you.  Yeah!  That's the bomb my friend.

And what do you do with female Soldiers?  You know it's tough on them - especially when they're in the same convoy on a mad march to Baghdad.  We take care of them of course and turn our backs while they go out into the desert with another female escort - this is real desert now...no trees, palm trees, nothing but sand.  Can you imagine how that was for them?
After awhile we are finally leaving Baghdad and heading to Mosul in Northern Iraq.  There are some trees, grass and we are living at the airport in a hanger where I guess Saddam's family used to wait and fly out from (dangling participle).  Anyway - we are sleeping outside and in the back of the building on our cots.  I sleep in the back of the HUMMV and am quite comfortable.  We have our chairs and finally have the opportunity to take off our chemical suits after I don't know how many days we've been wearing them (over a month for sure)...we did not smell well.  So we get our PT uniforms on and heat some water on the hood of the HUMMV and take our first shower in Iraq.  Outside of course, in a PT uniform, lots of people just hanging around while you're lathering up a t-shirt and shorts. 

But I digress - SQUIRREL!  I'm back.  How does the latrine work up there?  Now the game begins.  Up early everyday for sure to clean up a little and shave, brush teeth.  But you wait for the  latrine.  Why?  You want it "unused."  In other words, you want to use it when it's been cleaned out.  What is it like?  Four sides with a spring door and latch (this was our first real latrine 3 months).  There's a "toilet" seat over a 55 gallon drum that's been cut in half.  And that's where you do your business?  Why wait?  Every morning about 0600 the HQ people would come by to take out the old can and put in a new one that's been cleaned out by burning the waste the night before in diesel fuel.  No gasoline because that will flare.  Diesel is slow burning but for the unfortunate supply person or the Soldier in some sort of trouble; someone has to stand there and "stir" the waste in the can - as you can see from this picture.  Are there smells that stay with you a lifetime?  You betcha!  But it's better smelling the diesel over the other stuff...can't wait for 0630 tomorrow...

But honestly - that's not the worst experience...more to follow...Getting better.

"What are they doing grandpa?" Memorial Day Musings.

I attended the Huntsville, Alabama City-wide Memorial Observance this last Monday at the Maple Hill Cemetery right smack in downtown Huntsville.  The cemetery has quite a history with over 15,000 burials and  contains the likes of Senators and Congressman both Northern and Confederate.
But best of all I think is

LTG Formica and
Mayor Tommy Battle

Congressman Mo Brooks
and the Rabbi

Konrad Dannenberg b. August 5, 1912 d. February 16, 2009, a Rocket Scientist who helped Germany bomb London during World War II, then helped America put a man on the moon, go figure...Other people at the observance included Congressman Mo Brooks of the 5th Congressional District of Alabama, Mayor of Huntsville Tommy Battle and Lieutenant General Formica, Commanding General of the Army's Space Command (and a devout Christian).
flying squirrels sighted!  So I'm sitting next to the Rabbi in my winter warm new Army Service Uniform with the tie and coat, and  the all too necessary black WOOL beret in the beautiful 90+ degree sunny heat.  Sweat is poring of us all - even in the shade.  Somebody asked me the other day if I liked Huntsville and I had to say, "Not yet!"  We arrived here in snow and cold, winds blowing, then rain almost constant with a back yard holding a foots depth of leaves from last year and then the small pond that forms back there every time it rains...then we get hit with TORNADOES! of all things about three weeks ago...Com'n!!!  Okay-I'm back from ADHD land...
Coolest though was being able to sit in front of Mike Durant, the pilot shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 during Bill Clintons ill-fated and useless waste of American lives by trying to capture two of Warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid's senior subordinates in the Bakara Market Mogadishu, Somalia (They got those two by the way).
What an honor!  http://www.mikedurant.com/  He autographed my book and we reminisced about our time together at Fort Campbell, KY.

After I gave the invocation and the program got under way, the 500+ people were there to pay tribute to the ones who gave so much in defense of the country and our cause.  The people bore that heat better than you can imagine considering the humidity.  There was a band, speeches, and presentations.  The sound system was screwed up but LTG Formica said that is nothing to worry about - why we were there mattered (well said).  A lot of the program dealt with presenting wreaths on behalf of various military organizations.  The elderly from the 8th Air Force Association, the Marine League, the Submariners (in Alabama?), the VFW, American Legion, Saints all of them, coming forward to present their wreath and then step back a few feet to salute their fallen brothers and sisters in arms.  Moving.

Then something caught my eye.  I looked to my right and a little girl was being led up the street by a lady.  I didn't think anything of it - a little kid got restless and mommy was helping her get away from it all...until LTG Formica started his remarks.   He thanked everyone for their attendance and for being there.  He then said he wanted to recognize a very special family in the audience.  About two rows back from me sat a young lady and two elderly people.  Turns out the little girl was the daughter and granddaughter of those people.

Allison Hall - wife of Jeffrey,
talking to the media

Allison was her mother's name.  Her father???  Staff Sergeant Jeffrey Alan Hall, born 1 April 1981, DIED, 1 June 2009.  Audrey was 1 year old when her daddy died.

He died along with two other soldiers on June 1 in Nerkh, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle.  

Audrey Faith Hall looking at her dad's grave

Audrey is three now and talking.  She was over by her dad's headstone with her grandpa after the Observance.  She was bashful and wouldn't let me take her picture.  But in a fleeting moment I got it...She had just turned to look at the people around her dad's grave.  Right then she said, "What are they doing grandpa?"  Grandpa replied, "They are here for your daddy."  Audrey replied, (God's Honest Truth), "That's a good thing."

Staff Sergeant Hall's Monument in the
Maple Hill, Huntsville, Alabama Cemetery
St Michael,  Patron Saint of the Beloved Airborne,
watching over him

So much for the protesters...

The Bikini Girl at Fort Dix-1973

I originally joined the Army in February 1973 in the delayed entry program while still a senior at Tunkhannock High in PA.  When I graduated on 20 June I was on my way to Fort Dix with 40 other guys form the area 4 days later.  We were called the "Molly McGuires."   Of course, if anyone knew the history of these guys, they may have wanted to pick another group to name us. ADHD moment coming "SQUIRREL!!!  
The "Molly Maguires" were miners in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania who organized into a union during the 1860's and 1870's. These miners were chiefly, although not exclusively, Irish and the union was called the Workingmen's Benevolent Association. In general, the members of this union were also members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a semi-secret fraternal society, which had its origin in Ireland as a completely secret and anonymous association.

This organization of Irish miners was dubbed the "Molly Maguires," after a group of Irish peasants who dressed up as women to antagonize their landlords. This group was infamously known as murderers and assassins and the press and police in America applied the name to the Irish miners. The label was used by both the press and the owner-operators of the mining companies to their distinct advantage. They called anyone who was pro-union a "Molly," inferring that they were criminals at best. This helped to subdue, even if only slightly, uprisings in the work place.semi-secret fraternal society, which had its origin in Ireland as a completely secret and anonymous association.  ADHD Left - squirrel is gone.  
I digress.  We get off the bus at Fort Dix and are told to stand on the painted feet in the parking lot.  Like it was yesterday - these MPs come driving by in an open jeep with their white helmets and one of them yells,  "You'll be sorry!"  "Ha! I thought,  I want to be here."  Do I?  Right...of course.

So a Drill Sergeant tells us to go into this room and sit on some bleachers.  "Who here smokes?" he says.  Most of the guys raised their hands.  "Who smokes Camels?"  A few raised their hands.  "Good then, give me a cigarette."  He then proceeds to light up.  "Go ahead and smoke," he says so they all light up.  Great, my first intro to the Army and it's almost midnight and my first look at a real "Soldier" is a Drill Sergeant who bums cigarettes.  This would not happen in today's Army.  No way no how.
That was the "hollow" Army.  And that was no joke.  The Vietnam War ended just months before and these guys coming back were a mess.  Drugs were all over the place.  Shoot - at my first assignment I was with a Military Police Company that kept guys who got busted for drugs in the Headquarters Barracks.  One Sergeant got busted for selling pot and and four months later he's a Sergeant again...BIRD!!!!!!
My first meal that night?  Hot dogs and beans - yeah, can ya believe it?   Could there ever be anything more clichéd than beans and franks in the Army?  I doubt it.  But all that to say that basic wasn't what I thought it would be.  I flew through.  Of course, I played sports year round so all the hard Soldier stuff was a breeze.
Then we had our first pass.  Five of us went to the enlisted man's club and sat down for a few brews.  I didn't drink (at that time) so I was the designated walker to be sure we all got back on time.  Not one of us was over 18 and I was still 17 but this was the Hollow Army and the thinking was that if a guy could go out and fight and maybe die for the country doggone it why can't he have a beer?  All we needed were our ID Cards and you got served.  Heck, we even had beer machines in the barracks.  At some places you could drink beer for lunch while on duty and they would issue tickets you could use to get the booze since they put a limit of 2 beers on you during duty.  Of course there were bad non-drinker guys out there who would sell their beer tickets to the highest bidder.  Every Friday afternoon was beer and soda time and the Commander or First Sergeant would buy beers and sodas and put them in iced garbage cans and that was the warm up for the evenings fun.

So here we are and the guys are building castles out of their beer cans when she appears.  Now back in those days women were looked at a little differently...not in a bad way or that it was ever right - it was the way it was.  Heck, the main magazine for the Army - Soldier's Magazine, would have a picture of a girl in some type of swimwear on the back inside issue cover of every issue.  But out this lady? comes.  She may have been 21. She was wearing a bikini, she didn't look too good to tell you the truth and I think she may have had a few before she got there...Then the magic starts...she turns on this boom box on the floor and starts gyrating...it was so bad that any teen-age lust was overcome with barrels of laughter.  I mean, come on - this was supposed to entertain us?  Not likely...not in this generation.  But hey - there she was.  The entertainment didn't last very long that I remember but it was a memorable performance...at least for five new teenagers in the Army.

Hard times for a great-grandmother - Susannah Phillips and the Wyoming Massacre

Want to know hard times? Take a read of my 4th great grandmother - daughter of Deacon John Phillips who fought with the Green Mountain Boys in Vermont in the American Revolution and a descendant of Mayflower passenger George Soule who also happened to be a signer of the Mayflower Compact!  Quite a lineage in our family!

SUSANNAH- 2nd daughter of Deacon John and Mary (Chamberlain) Phillips, born August 7, 1773, in Pownal, Bennington, Vermont (She was born in Vermont because the family moved there to avoid the Yankee-Pennimite War where Connecticut claimed the northern tier of Pennsylvania). She died August 8, 1849 and is buried in Marcy Cemetery, Duryea, (cemetery located behind the United Methodist Church) Pennsylvania with her husband.

Marcy Cemetery, Duryea, PA

     They lived in Hughstown, Pennsylvania which is where all their children were born and raised.  She married on 17 September 1789 to Samuel Miller Jr.  Miller was born in Dutchess County, NY, and of Holland decent, (She married at 16 and had 13 children), and died 9 April 1839 in Hughstown. Samuel Miller Jr., was the son of Samuel Miller, Sr.  Samuel Miller Jr. was known to be a farmer, preacher, physician and undertaker.

     Susannah often told her children how (when she was young) played with little Indian children before the Wyoming Massacre, 1778 (http://www.revwar75.com/battles/primarydocs/wiom1778.htm). One day while she was holding a stick for a little Indian boy to cut with his tomahawk, he cut her fingers.  Suddenly, some hostile Delaware Indians came upon their homes.   Her parents, hastily wrapping up her fingers and hand, hid her between the feather and straw beds. At the first opportunity, they escaped alive and uninjured.  Several families fled and hid in the mountains. They suffered severe hardships, working constantly to get sufficient food when one day were glad to capture a pig.  Susannah, about 1778, she would have been around 6-7 years old, was kept busy taking care of the babies within the group. While watching the roasting of a pig by a woman whose baby Susannah was caring for, the woman threw her a bone and said “There child, eat that if you are starving."  When the cloth was taken from her hand where the Indian boy cut it, 3 of her fingers were grown together.
 

     It is said that Susannah, as women did back then, spun her own flax and wool, and that "a beautiful piece of linen spun and woven by her is a cherished relic in the possession of one of her
great-granddaughters."  She was a strong woman, and one day, while hoeing in the garden with a man, bashed him. (What happened there!?). She died of a stroke @76.

"(Quote taken from a newspaper written about 1901).  (Most of this information is on Ancestry.com)

Saturday Morning with TAPs - a MUST read

     I'm standing in the doorway of a room in Bicentennial Chapel, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama.  I turn and see a little guy about four years old with wire rimmed glasses, coat swinging open and blond un-combed hair.  He's holding the hand of a Soldier walking down the hallway.  I hear him say something to the Soldier.  "My daddy was killed in the war and now he's in heaven."  Thankfully, the Soldier is quick on his feet and says, "That's a good place to be."  "Yes, it is," the boy responds.

     Where do you hear these types of things from someone so little?  At a TAPS event, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.  This organization sponsors events to help the Families of Soldiers killed in action, by accident, by suicide, whatever means; to cope with their loss.  Childcare is provided for the little ones who will never know their Father, Mother, Uncle, or Aunt.  Then there are programs for everyone from 4 years old to grandparents.
     I'm standing with the teen group participating in a "Good Grief" Camp.  With the teens, they start by going around the room and talking about their favorite color, food, most embarrassing moment etc. - throwing a small ball to the next person to talk.  Soldiers are there with them in the room talking about their favorite things.  It's all very light and a great ice-breaker.

  
Light-hearted suddenly turns to somber...
     "You don't have to speak," the moderator says,  you can pass to the next person."  "This is a safe place," she says.  "Nothing leaves the room unless there is concern you may hurt yourself."  The room takes a much different air.
It starts simply, "What is the name of the person you're here for?"   All answer quietly - naming their lost loved one.
 "How were they related to you?"  - Answers?  Dad, Uncle, Stepdad, sister..."

Okay those of you who have read thus far.  Sear the following in your memory and remember why we do this.

The next question to our teens:  "How did your loved one die?"
Responses?  IED - "Improvised Explosive Device" (Bomb planted by a coward), RPG - "Rocket Propelled Grenade"..."a sniper, the bullet entered through his flak vest and hit his liver"..."we didn't know where his body was for a month"..."he killed himself" - "he killed himself..."

Is there anything you'd like to ask them if you could?  "Did he die immediately or not?"  "Why did you kill yourself?"  Why?  Why did you ride the command vehicle?  Why did you kill yourself?

There are some tears - and alot of silence...What would you say?  Many had been to a Good Grief Camp before.  Next was to take magazines and cut out pictures that remind them of their loved ones...

There are some who believe it is best just to put all the sadness away.  Forget about it.  Get over it, all that.  Get on with your life.  People who think that don't understand military deaths, especially for the children.  Your loved one was sent to a far-away land to put their life in jeopardy because their country calls...and everyday they are gone you wonder if it is going to be their last - You wonder it EVERYDAY!  There's no mourning beside a hospital bed, no"prep" time in anticipation - just 365 days of wondering...waiting...

Why do we Soldiers fight?  It's a calling as much as there is one.  Some join for the college, the paycheck - true - but if they stay long enough they become transformed somehow...and it's an amazing thing to see.  Soldiers hate war.  While they risk their lives far away many Americans are oblivious to what they are doing and wonder why? our military does it...That's what those of you who have never been a part of what we do will never understand.  We don't hate the enemy in front of us, we love the Soldier beside us.  That's why we do it.

It's bitterly cold here today at Redstone.  Wind is howling.  Sun trying to  peek through but to no avail.  Just plain dreary.  But the sun is shining inside this chapel.  People are remembering the ones who died.  They're speaking their loved one's name.  They're talking about how they died.  They're remembering that these young men and women LIVED...God bless em all.

Why I will always Claim the Screaming Eagles - Another Hero Dies - MAJ Winters

MAJ Dick Winters, E Company, 506th Parachute infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.  Major Richard Winters was the third commanding officer (CO) of Easy Company. While initially serving as a platoon leader of Easy as a 2nd Lieutenant, he gained the mutual respect and the trust of the men who later be part of one of the largest invasions known to mankind.

Colonel Sink, who was the first and only CO of the 506th Regiment, promoted Winters to the rank of 1st Lieutenant, and the 1st CO of Easy, Captain Herbert M. Sobel, made Winters the executive officer (XO) of Easy.

When the airborne troops finished jump school and were shipped to England, they prepared for the big invasion of Fortess Europe. Sobel was promoted and transferred to a jump school for civilians (chaplains, priests, doctors, etc.) called Chilton Foliat. Lieutenant Meehan from Baker Company took over as CO of Easy Company. He would remain CO until his plane was shot down during the invasion.

When D-Day came, the paratroopers dropped deep into Normandy under enemy territory. Their objectives were to secure a series of causeways, or roads, that linked to the beaches of Normandy, where the regular US Infantry would make their assault on Utah and Omaha beach. The Germans flooded the fields inland, so securing those causeways was the only option.

Easy Company's objective was to secure Causeway #2, which linked to Utah Beach.  However, during the drop, the planes, desperate to evade the incoming flak from German anti-aircraft guns, dropped troops far from the designated drop zone (DZ).  Lieutenant Meehan's plane, which also included E Company's First Sergeant, William Evans, was shot down during the invasion. Lieutenant Winters lost his weapon, which was located in his leg bag, when the bag was torn off from the tether that it was attached to.

Prior to the main invasion, the 2nd Battalion of the 506th, which consisted of Dog, Easy, and Fox Company, set up headquarters near a secured farmhouse. Intelligence reported that 4 German 105mm artillery cannons were aimed and firing at Utah Beach, where the 4th Infantry Division was making their assault. Easy Company was ordered to eliminate those cannons, which were causing massive damage to the beach area.

90 % of Easy Company was still unaccounted for at that time. Lieutenant Winters had no choice but to do his best given the circumstances. He ordered machine guns to create an enveloping fire on the guns, while another squad, led by Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton, took the left flank and tossed grenades into the trench where the first gun was. Sergeant Lipton and PFC Myron Ranney took the right flank. This base-of-fire technique would become a textbook case for assault on a fixed position, and is still taught at West Point Academy today. 

When the Germans at the first gun were eliminated, Easy Company began their main assault on the trenches. They spiked the guns with TNT and completed their objective with the aid of Dog Company, led by Lt. Ronald Speirs, who would later become the last CO of Easy Company.

Lt. Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross for taking out those artillery pieces. However, many believe that he deserved the Congressional Medal of Honor because of the importance of this assault.