Camp Lejeune: The General's Visit

We had a gathering of all the activated reservists who will be a part of 1st Battalion 10th Marines’ Task Force Military Police (TFMP) while in Iraq in order to hear from Lt. General Bergman of the 4th Marine Division (the Reserve Division). He had a lot of motivating things to say and helped remind me that there are very smart and competent leaders in our military (sometimes a few errant NCO’s and SNCO’s give me doubts!) The general came primarily to check up on us reservists to see how we were doing and how we were coming along in our mobilization pre-deployment training.

He said that it was good that many of us had not deployed before because "multi-deployers have the potential to be the most dangerous." This is because the war in Iraq changes so often that what worked 6 months ago may not work today and those who have already developed habits or a ‘know-it-all’ mentality about that war would be at a greater risk to themselves and their fellow Marines. This came mostly as a warning to us that we should all keep an open mind and seek first to understand the nature of the war and our task before developing and sticking to arbitrary SOP’s (standard operating procedures).

The General also spoke of the vitality of cultural awareness training for this particular conflict. He emphasized the necessity of winning the hearts and minds of Iraqi’s as the way out of Iraq and as personally important to our safety because the Iraqi you offend today may become the terrorist that kills your comrade tomorrow. He also put our minds at ease about the political turmoil over pulling out: "if we pulled out tomorrow we’d be somewhere else, we (The Marines) wrote the book on small wars," meaning that as reservists we would be effected the same way by pulling out because of the many micro-fronts on the war on terror (to include Indonesia and the Philippines) which would still require our service. The Marine Corps has a rich and vibrant history and successful record of fighting small conflicts all over the globe in ‘every clime and place.’

He went on to say that "the American people believe in you" and that we should walk with our heads held high despite the seeming out lash everywhere that is created by the loud cacophony of a liberal minority. Finally he exhorted us to live by our Marine Corps values and assured us that if we do we would not have any problems in Iraq like those that have dominated the recent media spotlight (Haditha, etc.). He asked us "would you do the right thing while alone?" I was surprised that he spoke in these terms. In a way, the General reminded me of a wise Bishop or Stake President in my church.

A few questions were asked, two in particular that caught my attention. The first was about tattoos which will become the topic of my next blog entry and the second was about the accessibility of Tricare health care benefits to our dependents while on active duty. Apparently, as reservists we are entitled to Tricare benefits for ourselves and dependents for up to 90 days prior to our mobilization (activation date). However, those benefits are only accessed once you have been issued your official activation/mobilization orders. In our case we were notified that we were being activated way back in January, a full 5 months prior to our activation date, however we were not given our orders until approximately 2 weeks prior to our actual date of activation. The problem here is that many people had to quit jobs or make serious life re-arrangements prior to our activation date because there were a number of training days and annual training for 3 weeks right before our activation date. This would potentially leave many people without health insurance coverage for a time. According to the General, we were supposed to be given our orders around the 90 day prior mark and thus yield the health insurance benefits. He wasn’t sure why our orders were not issued in a more timely fashion but he promised to find out. All in all it was neat to have an afternoon with the stars! Oh, by the way, Camp Lejeune is very hot and I think I sweat continuously every minute of every day here.

Arriving in Camp Lejeune

We were activated and amid gear inspections and paperwork we prepared for our departure to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. I was chosen to go ahead of the rest of the company in order to assign rooms and iron out any other details prior to the rest of the company’s arrival. This ‘advance party’ assignment only meant I ended up spending a few less days in Utah with my wife (to include a weekend) and a few more days in the VERY muggy Camp Lejeune! The base is located right on the Carolina coast and includes a large river/inlet which increases the coastline bordering parts of the base. This means I sweat A LOT. I think I have my father’s gene for sweating, he sweats a lot too. The advance party duties are not difficult but the NCOs here on base that we work with to iron out these details would say otherwise. You would think it was the hardest thing on earth for some of them to find room keys or missing furniture for the rooms. I think really they just pick the Sergeant or Corporal that they don’t want around or doing anything important and put them in charge of things like barracks. When we first got here the rooms they wanted to assign us looked like a hurricane came through. They were torn apart and dirty. I was shocked and appalled that anything military related could look like this. Half of the damage looks to be the result of stupid drunken behavior or just mere carelessness. Boy am I glad I haven’t had to live the barracks life for very long in my Marine Corp career. I would go nuts. The people here are loud and obnoxious and are constantly throwing beer bottles and cigarette butts off of the higher floors. The grass in between buildings is littered every morning as if the back to school fall frat party just took place. While there may be some adjusting to do and some kinks to work out here, I think Camp Lejeune won’t be that bad, once everyone gets here I think we will make it livable and accomplish our training schedule. Our company gunny/ops chief is also good at hooking up lots of great things like rental mini-vans for each platoon to use to drive around base and town. All in all it won’t be so bad and could definitely be worse. The only complaint is that we have 3 months to accomplish the tasks we could complete in 1 back in Utah. I guess that is part of being on active duty. Wasted time and resources and lots of inefficiency.

Joining the Corps

Well,

The reason most people join the reserves and guard and such is for money for college and for the easy commitment of only "one weekend a month and two weeks a year!"

When I first signed up in September 2000 (I actually swore into the military on Sept 11 2000, exactly 1 year prior to 9-11) my mom freaked out and said:

My Mom: "but what if we go to war and they call up my only son to go to the front lines of battle!?"

I laughed and said dismissively:

Me: "mom, your crazy, we have not had a real large scale war for 2-3 decades, the gulf war was over before it began and there is nothing on the horizon to suggest we will be engaged in a real long protracted military conflict in the proximate future, furthermore, they rarely call up the reserves, only if it becomes really bad and this is highly unlikely, so don't worry mom, your overreacting!, this is a great opportunity for me to be involved and serve my country while attending college and reaping some nice benefits too."

Well, I went to boot camp in May of 2001 and graduated in August of 2001 so that August 2001-September 2001 I was in Marine Combat Training (MCT: a shortened version of infantry school for non-infantry personnel). On Tuesday September 11th 2001 we were awoken by the sound of our Infantry Instructor: "Oh my h*ll, somebody just blew up the world trade center in New York, I think they fired a missile on it, wake up, your never going to believe this, were under attack!" Throughout that day I couldn't focus on my infantry school final exams, I couldn’t remember the difference between an M240 G and M240 E machine gun, all I wanted to do was watch some news and see what was going on. Throughout the day we got little updates about the attacks and the implications for our next set of schools and training. Throughout the day the instructors were able to find a television and between our final exams we were able to watch a little news.

Many of us thought we were going to be activated right there on the spot and sent to war considering we were freshly trained in infantry tactics (yeah right, imagine that, a bunch of boots tripping over themselves in Afghanistan!)

One immediate impact of the attacks for me was that when we graduated that week we would not be leaving right away for our various MOS schools due to a shutdown of flights. I was pretty sick of our squad bay living arrangement and crappy chow hall food. I was pretty sure that the Army Post in MD (Aberdeen Proving Grounds) was better, so it was a disappointment that we would not be leaving right away. How selfish of me considering the great tragedy in New York (similar in a magnified way to how many of us see an accident on the highway and get mad at the traffic inconvenience it causes).

The other impact was that I never saw much television news coverage on September 11; it wasn't until Friday September 14th that we were able to leave on some of the first flights and were able to buy some newspapers and magazines and watch news.

I flew to Newark NJ on a “red-eye” overnight flight on Friday September 14th. We got in around 4 am Saturday September 15th. If you know Newark NJ, then you know it is east of Manhattan across the bay (see attached picture of the view from Newark pre 9-11). Well this meant that the sun would rise behind the Manhattan skyline that morning. It was a chilly clear morning with a bright sunrise, but not for the Manhattan skyline. As the sun rose, the light through the still billowing smoke from ground zero filled the sky with a deep reddish gray hue. Even 4 days after the collapse of the towers, the site was still smoldering and the sky was still filled with smoke. It was a sad and eerie sight that morning, but still somehow pretty in an eerie way. I still can't really believe the unique situation I was in during that time and the view I was able to have firsthand from that particular vantage point. I wish I had taken a picture but I didn't have a camera. Luckily I found this picture of the same vantage point pre 9-11.

Later that morning we flew into BWI (MD) and eventually arrived at Aberdeen Proving Grounds for our respective MOS schools.

Now, nearly 6 years later, I have served an LDS mission to Boston MA, married a beautiful girl, and finished college. I am set to graduate this April 2007 with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Economics and with University Honors. All the while I have continued serving in the reserves wondering if I would eat my words that I so ignorantly spoke to my mother. Well this past month (January 2007) I was promoted to the rank of Sergeant (the "back bone" of the Marine Corps as they say) and in the very same formation as I was promoted, our LAV (Light Armored Vehicle) company, was given a "warning order" through our commanding officer that we were to be activated for the period of a year and to serve a 7 month deployment in Iraq as a provisional military police company (not LAV’s) most likely in the Anbar Province of western Iraq. It turns out Mother always knows best even if seemingly irrational at the time! Our company was excited for the chance to serve again because the first time they were deployed (while I was in IRR status on my mission) they only spent 4 weeks in Iraq during the initial invasion and then 7 months in Okinawa on various cross-national training missions. Luckily, the schedule will permit me and other students to finish this semester (for me, graduate) before we begin a three month “workup” training before deployment some time in September.

Other details at this point are loose and vague and due to the need for "OpSec" (Operational Secrecy) any more than this is probably not open to disclosure. At this point it sounds like we will be operating as mobile infantry which means armored “humvees” (actually HMMWV: High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle) and thus probably convoy security. If you know Anbar, you know that it is the center of the "Sunni Triangle" west of Baghdad. It is known for its insurgent activity due to its Sunni population and has two major cities along the highway that follows the Euphrates river from Baghdad to Syria, Fallujah and Ramadi, also known endearingly by US forces as the "explosive road." Missions in this area include securing the major cities in the province from insurgent forces, securing the waterways and major highways, and securing the border against "illegal immigrants" from Syria (think Arizona only with gun toting insurgent Mexicans!) who tend not to be "looking for jobs" but rather looking for a fight.

While I am happy and somewhat excited to serve and be a part of this monumental time in history, I am sad for my wife who will have to deal with my extended absence and for my family and friends who worry about the safety of our servicemen. The biggest thing I am apprehensive about is my new position as a Sergeant. Most likely this translates into stewardship over the lives of fellow Marines while in Iraq. I feel up to the task and confident in my leadership and military abilities; however, nothing can settle the nervousness that comes with being responsible for the lives of fellow Marines in a combat situation. I plan on training hard and paying close attention while in our 3 month training workup so that I will never have to feel I could have done more to save someone’s life. While any operation in a place like Iraq is seemingly dangerous, I feel that our servicemen and our company in particular, are up to the task. I feel the Lord's watchful presence and know he will not abandon us.

Screaming for Freedom everywhere

The problem with today is...

At this point you should be somewhat alarmed. Any piece of writing that begins with a line like this is suspect. Its declarative nature immediately brings doubt. I don't know what the problem is, I don't have all the answers; in fact, nobody has all the answers. If someone is claiming to have all the answers, you should be alarmed. Instead, I know that people everywhere, collectively, have all the answers which is why we need freedom, lots of it. Government has gone too far in its declaratory claim on knowing all the problems and having all the answers. Bureaucrats everywhere believe they are solving the world’s problems one government form at a time. We need a lot more freedom. People need a lot more space. States need a lot more autonomy from the federal government. Corporations need a lot more space to "pursue happiness." In short, freedom and liberty are the answers to the problems of today, not more solutions spouted from the bully pulpits of government halls. We need freedom SCREAMED from every rooftop! This means that individual citizens need to take on more responsibility for themselves (read here: http://www.friesian.com/rights.htm)