Letter 16

May 25th, 2009
Balad. Iraq

Everyone:

I hope this letter finds everyone well. I wanted to spend some time talking about Memorial Day. This as always been a special solemn day for me, but this year it seems that I have been more introspective. Perhaps, it is because I am in Iraq, maybe it is that I have had friends that have been killed in action. Either way, I will try to organize my thoughts a bit below, but I ask to please take the time to think of our military members who have given everything for our freedoms.

The first picture that I want to include is actually from my Afghanistan deployment in 2004-2005. This is so very personal to me that it is a bit hard to type this. This is a picture from our fallen comrade ceremony when four soldiers from our task force were killed by a road side bomb. I knew all them.

The military always uses symbolism with its ceremonies. In this case the helmet and identification tags signify the fallen soldier. The inverted rifle with bayonet signals a time for prayer, a break in the action to pay tribute to our comrade. The combat boots represent the final march of the last battle.

I include this pictures so that we all do not lose sight of what Memorial Day is and represents. The World does not stop, when sometimes we all wish it would. However, we can stop for a few seconds…remember not just the fallen soldiers but the families and friends who have lost part of their lives as well.

I guess the above picture summarize my thoughts better than words will ever do. I have included below several editorial cartoons for Memorial Day that I think are very appropriate:

Thank you to all the Veterans who are reading this for your sacrifices. Thank you for paving the way for us. We current soldiers remember your sacrifices, and will never forget! I am very proud to be part of a family (both mine and my wife’s side) that have a history of service.

The irony behind this letter is that while composing the ideas for it, our base took another aggressive mortar attack. There were three soldiers injured when the mortars landed in a living area not far from us. Fortunately, nobody from our task force was injured. There was also later an Iraqi that came to our gate that had a portion of his hand traumatically injured. Turns out that this Iraqi was probably the same guy that actually fired the mortars! Of course our base treated him. I wonder what the insurgents would have done if it was the reverse situation. I guess that is what separates us from them. The worse part of indirect fire attacks (mortar, rockets) is that you cannot fight back, and the randomness of what they are going to strike. You just have to get down or in a bunker and hope it is not close.

I think it is time to lighten the tone of the letter. Below is a picture of an old anti-aircraft Iraqi weapon that probably has been at this location next to the airstrip since we first came here.

There are some interesting things in this picture. First, if you look behind the tree on the right you will see an old Iraqi bunker. In typical American fashion on top of the bunker is a little gazebo that we built. I am sure it is for smoking, and hanging out. You can also see the main control tower in the background. The picture below is of a convoy that just entered our base. They park near our clinic. That is because the PX and MWR building is close:

The large vehicles are all called MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected). They are designed to protect against road side bombs. They are amazing and I know that I have mentioned them before, but they really are saving lives. Look at how much bigger they are then the Humvee next to it. I like this picture as I was able to get the Indiana street sign in it as well. The “guns” on the vehicles are all .50 caliber machine guns. This is a pretty well armed convoy group. My last three pictures for this letter are more aircraft type pictures as these are pretty popular. The first is a close view of an F-16:

Amazing! These things are very loud when they use their afterburners as they take off. They do this to quickly gain altitude to be out of range of any enemy fire. This of course rattles my CHU! The picture below is of a Kiowa Warrior:

Remember in a previous email I mentioned that all helicopters are named after Native American Indians. This is the Kiowa. Specifically, the Kiowa Warrior as it has rocket pods. I am not sure if you can see them in this picture. This is a small recon helicopter that is very fast and mobile.
I want to close this letter with the idea of how it started. Below is a picture of a pair of Blackhawk MEDEVAC helicopters landing at the hospital here in Balad. These were carrying injured soldiers.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support me and my family. I am on the home stretch now. I should be home sometime in August so we are under our 90 day window and are officially “short-timers”. Please continue to pray for all the soldiers, marines, airman, and sailors that are here defending all of our freedom. NEVER FORGET all those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice and gave all. NEVER FORGET that we live in the greatest nation on Earth with endless opportunities only because people have been willing to fight and die for the idea of freedom. I know it is past Memorial Day, but when you get this letter please pause for 10 seconds and give a prayer for all the service members, especially the families. Make sure to include the families that have had a service member die. Thank you again for supporting all the troops!

Major Roscoe

Letter 15

May 14, 2009
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

Again, I must apologize for the slow correspondence with everyone. The clinic has been extremely busy over the past several weeks. Additionally, the semester was ending at Butler and I was working toward finishing off the semester. I am very thankful that the semester is over so that I can hopefully work to finish my dissertation. I suppose that by now everyone has read/watched about the massive tragedy in Baghdad where a soldier went into a combat stress clinic and killed 5 people. It has created an amazing amount of tension here in Iraq. It is almost overwhelming for us as soldiers to comprehend one of our “brothers” shooting a fellow soldier. It is bad enough to deal with the daily stress of indirect fire attacks and the chance of being killed by the enemy, but to have a fellow soldier commit fratricide is unthinkable. The sad item is that two of the 5 people killed were reserve doctors from Indiana. Part of the unit that lost the soldiers is stationed here in Balad. Our unit/medical providers especially feel the pain of this horrific act as the mental health specialist are fellow medical care givers, and are reserve soldiers from Indiana. It just shows that anything can happen at anytime, anywhere. Please pray for the families of these soldiers as the loss of loved ones is hard, but the loss like this is even more difficult. Pray for SGT Russell’s family (the shooter) that they may find peace with what their son did.

Perhaps it is the multiple deployments, the time away from home, or whatever the news will give you as a cause for this action. I will tell you that I have been on multiple deployments to different combat zones totaling about 30 months in < 5 years. This is stressful! The military recognizes this and there are stress clinics on just about every base here in Iraq and in Afghanistan. There is help everywhere! We have lectures every three months on suicide/homicide prevention. Soldiers also generally take care of each other…this sort of act is an anomaly thank God, but the military is trying to get help for its soldiers. When the news/family wants to blame the victims (medical staff) and the military, I have a problem with this. I do not have the urge to hurt anyone…we still make our own choices. SGT Russell made a choice…his choice. A tragic choice that he will have to live with…it is not the fault of innocent soldiers that he was broke, and chose to kill. The fact is that he was at a mental health clinic by a command referral! Either way, I am safe. Outside of this event in Baghdad, our base here at Balad has been pretty quiet over the past several weeks. It has been at least a week since our last attack. We did learn that our base and Mosul are the two most attacked bases in Iraq…comforting. Our newest threat is apparently snipers. Fortunately, there have been no reports of any small arms fire. Summer has fully arrived here in Iraq. It is regularly over 110 degrees now. Check out our thermometer from last week.

It is not even June yet! But hey…it’s a dry heat! You know why they say that…because at this temp all the freaking water has evaporated! Also, with this big heat wave came the worse sandstorm that I have experienced since being in Iraq. It was a clear beautiful day, walked to lunch…then you see this literal wall of sand coming. We just made it back into the clinic when it hit. Below are some pictures of this storm.

I have shown this view in several previous letters. You can not even see what structures are across the street. If you look there are two people walking on the sidewalk. They are seriously no more than 40-50 yards away. Below is another picture but is the backside of our clinic. When you look at this picture, remember it is about noon. It was a beautiful clear day approximately 15 minutes prior to this picture. Behind the tent there is a tree…cannot even see it. Welcome to our colony on Mars!

This area of the clinic is our ambulance entrance. The two trucks are indeed ambulances which in the military are known as FLAs (front line ambulance). When the crosses are displayed (or crescent if from a Muslim nation, Star of David for Israel) it means that they are on a medical mission/have a patient which by Geneva Convention means that they are supposed to be “off-limits” for attack. When the crosses are displayed they also cannot attack nor do anything that would be considered offensive (attacking). So there are flaps to cover the crosses when not doing medical missions. (Tangent warning) - I think that the US is one of the few nations that actually try to follow the Geneva Convention. We already know that our enemies do not care about it as they like to cut off American’s heads. I guess this makes water-boarding seem like child’s play. I am just not sure if we can really get intelligence from terrorist (one’s whose agenda is to cause fear/pain) without getting our hands a little dirty. I promise you after being over here; they would not hesitate to torture us…but not just for information. I find it troubling that we have a ruthless enemy here (Iraq and Afghanistan) and America feels like we need to investigate/prosecute Americans trying to keep us safe. I am not saying torture is correct, but what we did is hardly torture. I can tell you another time of the torture items I saw with my own eyes in Afghanistan and the mass graves of women and children. Maybe our leaders should see some of these sites before going after our CIA. (Tangent over).

We just named our sidewalks in our living area. This helps me find my CHU (room) when I have those late night drinking binges. Anyway, Travis Welch and Bryan McFarland and I all live on the same “street” (all Butler grads). Below is the name of our street:

Butler University now has a “street” named after it in Iraq! Beneath the “street sign” you are looking down one of our internal bunkers that we have to get into if we have an IDF (indirect fire attack – mortar/rocket) that is coming into our sector. Sitting on top of the bunkers are T-Walls which are very reinforced concrete slabs that will stop a mortar/rocket. If you look at the top of the T-walls you will see a ton of wires…looks like a shanty town. These are all wires for the internet. Most of them are not really connected to anything. It is just easier to restring wire than to try to find its origin and pull it all out. It actually provides some nice shade though. Here is another picture of our beloved Butler Bulldog Boulevard:

The arrow below the street sign is a typical military sign. It is to show you the way out of the housing area in case of fire. Really! I would have never guessed. The building seen through the gap in the bunker wall is the PX (store). It is seen in the first sandstorm picture above but is almost invisible. Gives you another idea of how bad that storm really was. Below is a random picture of my roommate.

It is taken just outside my chu: This little sparrow is one of the loudest creatures on Earth! At least his song is pretty. He likes to make sure that I am up early to be able to get to the gym. I need to think of a name…maybe I will take some suggestions. I have yet another random type picture…if you recall in a previous letter I talked about how we (soldiers) like to paint some of the T-walls to give some color to our Lunar landscape. Anyway, here is our T-wall that was recently painted in our company area:

All companies have a motto/mascot. We are the Guardian Medics, and our symbol is an Arch-Angel. This is our unit/deployment picture. I think it is pretty cool when you think that it was painted on gray drab piece of concrete with crappy brushes and paint. The final set of pictures for this letter is in my tradition of trying to show you some mundane things to show you some of our daily areas. Below is of our restroom (when not using port-a-johns), and our shower area.

This is one of two porcelain toilets we have for the men. The stuffed animal is for Alan Antao (and my PA students)…See it is possible to get this on toilet seats! Anyway…looks cozy. I especially like the nice pattern on the wall tile. This pattern can be seen everywhere here. The toilets work most of the time, but they have low pressure which is why we need to keep the plunger close. Below is one of our three showers for about 60 guys.

Again, admire the wall tile. This tile has a nice mold accent that seems to be resistant to all known forms of bleach. That is a window on the left, but it is covered with sandbags on the other side. I will finish this letter with some email stories that I received that I think are very are very pertinent for this letter. The first is for a major shout out to all my PA students who have finished a long year, but especially to the new graduates that now get to fly from the nest. They are all awesome and I am so very proud of them. The story below is for them to help keep them grounded as they enter the very scary “real world”. The story is a pretend story about the right of passage a boy must take to become a man:

"His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a man. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat there, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man... Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm. We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him."

I liked this story, it is appropriate for all of us, but especially for these new graduates and their new jobs/lives…sitting on a stump with the perception of being alone…not so! Please stay in touch, all the faculty and especially me, will always be around to help as we can. Shelby, please tell our babies this story and let them know that I will always be there watching over them as well. The last story that I was sent gives a picture of the average American Soldier currently deployed overseas. I would say that it is pretty accurate. I thought that it was appropriate with the horrible events that happened in Baghdad this week.

“The average age of the military man is 19 years.. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's, but he has never collected unemployment either. He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer. He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk. He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark. He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must. He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional. He can march until he is told to stop, or stop until he is told to march. He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient. He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry. He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low. He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands. He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job. He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed. He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away ' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful. Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years. He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding. Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood. And now we even have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so. As you go to bed tonight, Pray for our military...use the prayer wheel below: Prayer Wheel 'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need... Amen."

I think those two stories sum up my feelings pretty well. Thank you to all the support. It is getting better as I will be home in less than 90 days! I am planning on having a home coming party and would like to have everyone who gets this letter to come. Continue to pray for all of us and our families. Thank you to Dean Andritz for your very kind and humbling words that you gave on my behalf at the hooding ceremony. Thank you PA3 students for wearing a pin on your regalia on my behalf. I am humbled. NEVER FORGET the freedoms and opportunities that you have in America. NEVER FORGET that you live in the greatest nation on Earth. NEVER FORGET that sacrifices that all our soldiers, sailors, Marines and Airman give for all of our freedoms.

God Bless:

Major Roscoe

Letter 14

Letter 14
April 21, 2009
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

I am sorry that I am behind on my letters. I have been busier than normal since my last update. When I arrived back, Major Romig left for his leave. He is the OIC (Officer in Charge) of the clinic, and I assumed his job while he was away. The OIC is essentially the “chief of staff” of the clinic so deals with all the provider issues, complaints, and any care issues for the TMC (Troop Medical Clinic). The OIC also is a liaison between the administrative leadership and the clinic. What this means in English is that our clinic has essentially two bosses: 1) the standard administrative leadership of our Company Command, and the Battalion that we work for. 2) The Battalion Surgeon (surgeon in the Army is a title of senior medical leadership) who dictates any medical issues. They are both at Battalion, but they do not always communicate with each other. It is a busy job added on to an already busy clinic work schedule. Below is a picture of Colonel Shoupe, who was the BN Surgeon that I have been working with. A COL is one rank below the General ranks.

This picture was taken in our provider room and is the three Butler University PA Program graduates with COL Shoupe. I am on the left, COL shoupe is next to me, CPT Bryan McFarland, then on the end is 1LT Travis Welch.

Additionally, with my hectic schedule I had the big push toward the end of the spring semester at Butler University so I have been working hard on my teaching, which still amazes me how much time it takes. The good news is that Major Romig is back and I can “give” him his extra duties job back. Also, I have finished all my lectures, written all my exams for Butler. Finally, I can get to my PhD dissertation and maybe even get that completed in the next three months.

Life here at Balad since I last wrote has really just been mundane. We get the standard indirect fire attack several times a week (although this last week has been very quiet). We have had some really nasty dust storms…some of the worse since I have been here. The last several that we had I think were so bad that we didn’t even get an attack. The only difference is that the temperatures have really been climbing. Below is an outdoor thermometer outside of 1LT Welch’s room.

I know the weather back in Indiana has been all over the place, but I heard that it was pretty cold for a few days. This was taken one day about 10-12 days ago (not in direct sunlight). I am sure that within the next month this will be buried at the 120 marker. If you look behind the thermometer you can see the large concrete “T-Walls” that protect our living area from indirect fire attacks. If you look at the window seal you can see the thin layer of sand/dirt that seems to be on everything.

Well, I have another good story for you. Do you remember Major Altman from Tennessee? He was the doctor that went “down range” and Major Romig replaced all his underwear with women’s panties. Anyway, when Major Romig went on leave, Dr. Altman was heading home. They met up and spent the day together in Ali Al Salem, Kuwait. Major Romig thought everything was good, safe…come to find out that Major Altman was still “wounded” about the underwear issue. One of the steps for us to do before we get to get on a plane to come back to the U.S. is go through customs. Customs searches everything. Major Romig steps up for his turn and he has to dump out everything out of his bags, including any “extra” or “hidden” pockets. As he dumps his bag, out falls a half-filled pee bottle. The pee bottle is a nasty habit that many soldiers resort to as there are often no restrooms close to where you sleep or live. Anyway, Major Altman’s “gift” to Major Romig was not as well received by the customs officials who were very disgusted with Major Romig. Can you see Major Romig “it was my friend” “it is not mine” There was nothing that Major Romig could say except to take the comments and lecture given by the grossed out customs officials…Disgusting, but funny. Somehow, I think that this is not completely over as Dr. Altman accidently left his stethoscope here.

Easter came and went here, just like all the other major holidays. I find it hard to really “get in the spirit” of the holidays as nothing changes here. I did go to Easter Mass which was nice. It was a truly international service as there were people from Africa, Asia, Arabia, Americas and Europe all there. It was a bit interesting to be “packing heat” to go to Church. Below is everyone leaving after the service.

You can see in the picture all the soldiers that have weapons. The back wall of windows may have been pretty cool if they were not enclosed with concrete walls making the entire chapel a large bunker. To give you an idea, below is a picture of the outside of our “Provider’s Chapel”:

The buildings have the canopy to protect against indirect fire. Everything on this base has reinforcements due to the large number of attacks that we get.

There was a large Ecumenical Sunrise Service at our stadium that I heard was really nice. They were able to finish the service just before it started to rain. Remember, a ¼ inch of rain here causes flooding so it is a big deal as we just do not get a lot of rainfall. The other thing is that with this sand-dirt that we have here it not make mud per se but rather this nasty paste like substance that just refuses to come off of your boots and clothes.

Emotionally, I have had a hard couple of weeks. I think most of it has been from missing my family and loved ones, but also with just always being busy. Well, there was an MWR (moral, welfare and recreation) event that was on our base that really helped my spirits this week. The MWR events range from musicians to celebrities and anything in-between. Well, I went and really enjoyed myself. Below is a picture of me with the musician…do you recognize him?

If you guessed Charlie Daniels you would be correct. He was incredible! He has been actively recording music since 1950! He and his band were so gracious. I tried to thank him for coming to entertain the troops…he was almost offended. He said “do not thank me; it is I who must thank you”. It was said with complete sincerity. He sounded great and is quit an amazing musician. Below is another picture:

He is signing some guitar picks for me. I did mention something about is Union Cavalry Hat (he would have been a good Confederate). He just laughed and thought it was funny. I do not normally listen to a lot of country music but Country music singers do seem to visit the troops more than any other group of performers. Here is a picture of him singing during the show:

This is actually at our movie theater. This theater was actually an Iraqi theater that we left standing when we invaded because the US Command thought that we may use it in the future. I am glad they did not bomb it. What I find interesting with this picture is the crowd. First, look at all the digital cameras (all the LCD screens). During some of the songs such as “Devil Went Down To Georgia” it looked like everybody had one. Also, almost all branches can be seen. The guy in the black shirt in front is a civilian contractor. Next to him in the old DCUs (Desert Camouflage Uniform) affectionately known as “coffee stains” is Navy. In front of them is the “Tiger Striped” camouflage uniform of the Air Force. Then in front of him is the PT (Physical Training) uniform jacket of the Air Force and the Army PT uniform jacket to their right. Below is an outside view of the movie theater:

You can see the framework that the US added around the building. Again, it is to protect against any mortar and rocket attacks. Yes, there is indeed a subway inside. I guess war has changed a bit since my dad was in Vietnam and certainly since the hell that our soldiers went though in Korea and WWII.

Changing gears, I wanted to show some updated pictures of my room. I have been constantly improving my living quarters and I think I am very lucky to have such a nice “home” when compared to my first deployment. The first picture is just as you enter my room and if you sat at my desk and looked at my bed:

The most noticeable item is my large Butler University Flag (Thanks MK). I did not intent to have the flame always light up when the sun is out, but I think it is pretty cool. My blanket on my bed is from Afghanistan. Can you see my couch? It was made for me by an Iraqi furniture maker. How cool is that? Of course always have to have our weapons at arms reach so my pistol is on the end of the couch. Above my bed is one of the single most important structures here and that is the Air Conditioner. Mine actually went out for a few days and it was so hot in my room that I could hardly been inside. If I were to sit on the bed and look 180 degrees this is the view:

My door is just to the right of the locker. You can see that I do have a TV. We get about 8-10 channels that show a variety of TV from the States. Of course it is via a signal so if the weather is bad we sometimes lose reception. Next, what do you think of my desk? It was “acquired” when I first arrived with the help of my medics from my original company that I was the commander of before I came over. This is where I spend all my “other time” with teaching and working on my PhD.

My military picture of this letter is of the Osprey, which is a new aircraft in the US armory. It is part helicopter and part plane. It can take off as either one, and literally fly as either one depending on which is best suited for the mission. In this case it is flying like a helicopter.


I have not seen a lot of these craft here at Balad. In fact, I think that this is the only day that I have seen one here. It is a transport/cargo craft and often carries troops in the back. Some would ask why it would be advantageous to be able to fly as either a helicopter or a fixed wing plane. Well it can fly faster and higher as a plane, but can land and take off vertically. It is actually a pretty large aircraft.

I need to close this letter, and I will try to not have too long a gap between my next correspondences. My major “shout out” for this letter has to be all the PA students and faculty. They have all been working so hard this semester and all have done amazing. We have a new soon to be graduating class…sorry that I will not be there for that, but know that I am thinking of you and please do not be strangers. To my wife and kids…not that much longer…hang in there and know that I am most proud of you and cannot wait to be HOME. Thank you to everyone for your prayers, thoughts and help with my family. Please continue your thoughts and prayers. Please NEVER FORGET why we are away from our families. NEVER FORGET those that do not get to come home to their families. NEVER FORGET that we live in the greatest nation on Earth with all the opportunities that others can only dream about.

Major Roscoe