Letter 3

Fort Lewis, WA

September 24, 2008

Hello Everyone:

I cannot believe that is has been 2 weeks already since I last wrote. It is hard to describe the phenomenon of “ground hog day” when deployed. I honestly have all but lost track of what day of the week it is. Everyday is the same day…we get up at the same time, put on the same clothes, eat the same stuff at breakfast, do a similar event during the day, eat the same stuff at dinner, go to bed, and repeat.

I received multiple emails from people asking me what my opinion is on the current Presidential election, as many want the opinion of a soldier getting ready to go overseas. The truth is that the soldier’s viewpoints are as diverse as the general population. They run from the far left, to the far right and everything in-between. Honestly, I wish I had an answer that worked for everybody, but the one thing that I can say is to vote. I am willing to risk my life, and thousands of soldiers before me have already died so that we may have this freedom. I was in Afghanistan during its first ever free election and the risk of getting killed was very high for the locals who voted...more than 95% of the country voted in spite of the risk...they wanted to feel that freedom. We should not take it for granted. I feel very strongly about who I am going to vote for, but it comes from research on the topics. I suggest finding the platforms of the candidates, find 5 or more topics that are important to you and form your opinion then look at the platform positions. Make your informed decision based on the issues, not based on media, friends, how they speak, etc. Make it based on what you know, not on what you think you know! There are lots of websites that will have the platforms, just make sure that the site is not biased. I like http://www.votegopher.com/ as a neutral site.

Did you know that it is actually against the Uniform code of military justice (UCMJ) for a soldier while “on duty” or in uniform to speak on politics…endorse a candidate/speak against the President. Next time during the State of the Union address, watch the soldiers (Joint Chiefs) with their applause…it is only on non-partisan issues.

Many of you reading this were “with me” during my first deployment, and/or followed the entire process with baby Qudrat. I spoke with Stacia Mathews (Channel 6, WRTV in Indianapolis, IN http://www.theindychannel.com/), and she just finished a follow-up story on Qudrat and his family. I thought I would include some of her email to me in this letter:

"Last Friday I did a follow up story about Hakim Wardak [Qudrat’s father] and all that has resulted from that initial exam, medical journey and Hoosier generosity.
Jim Graham told me Hakim, Tasbara [Qudrat’s mother] and their youngest daughter moved back to his village in Northern Afghanistan. He used the money Hoosiers gave to give back to his community.He went back to college for two years. Then he opened a school (shaded by thicket only) that's attended by 120 kids ... 40% are girls.He teaches in the morning and runs a medical center in the afternoons.Rotarians bought land to build a well for fresh drinking water.Right now women walk a mile to the nearest river for water, but it'scontaminated and Hakim has been treating children with cholera.Rotarians are trying to collect more money to build a school house sothe kids will have class indoors.What we didn't know is that Hakim had eight kids before Qudrat.Jim said he was too ashamed to tell us how poor he was; the familyseparated to keep from starving to death. He was able to reunite with six of them.Right now it's too expensive to move to Indy, but Graham hopes Hakimwill be able to come back for a visit.He could have kept that money for himself, but he didn't.It's an incredible story."

I wanted to add a few comments to Stacia’s update that I think is hard to fully grasp. The poverty in Afghanistan is beyond comprehension. The World Health Organization has listed Afghanistan as one of the 5 poorest nations in the World. Hakim was given a huge amount of money by their standards, and could have easily used it for his personal gain and for his family. He did not, as he understood that it was the generosity of the Americans that tried to save his son, and help his family. Look at the “butterfly” effect that has taken place simply because I chose to treat him when he came to our gate….then all the people (Americans/Hoosiers) that have been involved after the initial visit that has lead to the above. This is what our country is all about! This is the America that I defend, the greatest and most compassionate country on the Planet. Thank you Stacia for the update and please let me know if you hear anything else and I will keep everyone on this blog “informed”.

The big news for this letter is that we have finished all our official training before we make our move into Iraq. The past two weeks, our training cycle has increased dramatically. Most of our training has been with infantry tasks, but what is interesting with this training versus when I deployed 4 years ago is the more realistic situational training. The U.S. has employed many Iraqi’s and brought them to various mobilization sites. We encounter them in various “training lanes”. We have to use our interpreter, and work with them as we would overseas. The picture below shows how fast and chaotic events can occur. The first picture was at the gate to our base. The group of “locals” are protesting the fact that we increased our searching of their village, which is just outside our FOB (Forward Operating Base). The reason for our increased movement was that insurgents have been moving into the area and mortaring our base.

The villagers were chanting, and protesting. Of course most of them were armed. Suddenly, mortars started going off and our base started taking small arms attacks. The picture below is some of the chaos the ensued.

This was just after a mortar landed close to the civilians. Obviously, some of them were hurt. What made it real was the blank ammo, the “actors” playing their part. Look at the lady in the middle holding her baby. She is yelling as her husband was injured. She is holding a baby that is loudly crying (it had a speaker). Our soldiers were trying to get to them on the other side of the wire, but there was a sniper that had a line of site just outside the truck and wall. Additionally, there are injured locals in the way to pull the gun-truck out to suppress the sniper…what to do. Of course, while our soldiers are trying to figure this out, mortars are going off, and small arm fire is coming from the village. This picture is actually taken from a guard tower that is firing at the sniper position. It makes me anxious just writing about it, but this is what our soldiers are facing and the training really has been very good to help us deal with impossible situations.


Here is Baji village from the same tower that took the pictures above. If you look closely you will see a foot patrol entering the village on the right. We of course are worried about taking fire from the large Mosque, as we are not allowed to engage that building. Look at the all trees! It really is actually very pretty here.

Below is a scenario that we set up a quick traffic control point to screen some vehicles and personnel. Again, these were real Iraqi citizens and they spoke Arabic, and we actually had to use our “terp” to speak with them.

Below is a picture of Mount Rainier. It is taken from our training area at Fort Lewis. The picture does not do it justice, but it is a pretty amazing site, especially with all the trees.


We finished the infantry part of our training with a lot of convoy operations. This was all with gun trucks (Humvees with large weapons in the turrets). This training was very good, and it is an amazing experience to be in one of these trucks when it is firing live ammunition. It is amazing at how fast one can become desensitized to mortars, and the sound of gunfire.

The last 3-4 days we have been doing our medical training, and simulation of clinic operations. This involved general sick call all the way to mass casualties with critical injuries. All the patients, even the simple sick call patients were moulaged. The make-up was so well done that I almost forgot that they were not real patients. They stressed us as much as possible and it was actually fairly difficult. Just know that the soldiers are being trained well, they are learning how to fight with deadly force, but at the same time provide compassion.

Tomorrow starts our four day pass before we are shipped overseas. I am excited to finally get to see my wife, but it is also hard as I do not get to see my kids. Additionally, I have to say good-bye again which is always difficult, especially, when you know that this good-bye is it for a very long time to come. We did just receive the news a few days ago that it looks like we are going to get our two weeks of leave while we are over there.

I think I am going to end my blog with a “shout out” section. First, I have to give kudos to my PA1 students for enduring several lectures with mortars going off in the background. That is the level of my dedication to teaching! I want to also thank a specific anonymous PA1 student who sent me a note in the mail that I appreciated more than words can say…thank you, I appreciate your words, prayers and encouragement. Thank you to the Sundance spa guy for helping my wife with my large outdoor bathtub (I would call it a hot-tub but it does not seem right with 4 Barbie dolls, a snorkel, and plastic fish floating in the water. Finally, thank you to everyone who has brought foot and helped with my kids…and dogs. I know that I have forgotten many, but I will “get you next time”

Finally, never forget our soldiers and their families. Never forget the sacrifices of a few for the freedom of many. Never allow anybody to let you think you do not live in the greatest country on Earth. Do not ever lose faith or trust in America, we have always prevailed. Be proud of your country. Please remember my family in your prayers, and throw a thought and prayer my way (and for the soldiers) if you think of it. My next letter should be from Kuwait.


Captain Mike Roscoe