letter 12

March 9, 2009

Letter 12
Balad, Iraq
Ali Al Salem, Kuwait
Indianapolis, Indiana U.S.A.

Hopefully, this letter finds everyone well. I am doing very well due to being home on my leave. I cannot express to you how great it is/was to see my family, friends, my students, and everyone else who has supported me. I want to organize this letter chronologically so I will start with the week that I left Iraq.

In a previous letter I spoke of Dr. Altman, who is a family practice doctor from Tennessee. He has been working with an active duty Stryker Brigade at a small FOB (forward operating base) south of Baghdad. This unit spends the majority of its time “outside the wire”. The picture below is of a Stryker in Iraq, although it is not mine as I do not have a current picture of a Stryker.

Before I continue with my story I will address some points with this picture. The first item in the picture is to note the wire mesh on the outside of the vehicle. The mesh is used to breakup an RPG or (other rocket) so that the shrapnel/rocket pieces will hit the armor over a larger surface area and prevent penetration. The second item of note is the canopy over the top. This is used to protect against snipers which is an ever present danger. The other items sticking out are to counter IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

Continuing with my story, one of the U.S. Strykers with this unit was out patrolling and was struck by two “daisy chained” anti-tank mines that were used as an IED. None of the solders inside were killed but two of the three inside were very seriously injured and MEDEVAC to Balad for emergency care. Now, the point of this story is to try to explain the kind of bonds that are formed in the military that you just don’t see in the civilian world. Dr. Altman came up to Balad with three Strykers full of soldiers that were all part of the platoon of the injured soldiers. They drove over two hours on the same roads that their friends were just blown-up on, risked their own life…why? They came up just to make sure that the injured soldiers knew that they were not forgotten, just to let them know that they were supported and they would be there for them. In the civilian world, we might send an email, maybe call, probably not drive across town and certainly not during rush hour. I had the fortune of being in the hospital parking lot when they wheeled out one of the injured soldiers to see his “buddies”. The interaction that I witnessed will stay with my forever…a bunch of invincible, manly soldiers not knowing what to say…but words were not needed. There were stifled tears, then the hugs and the look of pure gratitude in the injured soldiers face that spoke volumes, and the awkward words were not needed. This is what selfless service is! This is what YOUR military members do! They quietly risk their lives for all of us, and are not looking for fame, a “golden parachute” or a one-year multi-million dollar contract that seems to dominate our news today.

Speaking of that, the mainstream media is not even talking about Iraq anymore. In talking with people and watching the news there are numerous comments being stated that it is “all over” in Iraq and that there is no more violence. Several people even stated that it must be due to President Obama’s plan to leave Iraq. (Most of the locals I have spoken with do not think that the changing of the US President will make any difference in Iraq). Most are afraid of what will happen when the US leaves. Regarding the violence, besides the above story with the Stryker, there were three American soldiers killed just outside the perimeter of my base the week I left. The hospital ER and operating room have increased its trauma care by about 300% over the past month and our base still gets a mortar or rocket attack about 3 times a week. I would tell you that I personally have not seen a drop in the violence from where I am at. I do think the media wants the American public to support the withdrawal from Iraq and one way to do this is “out of sight, out of mind”. I am ok with us leaving Iraq we need to at some point, but I am not ok with media “minimizing” the great work and sacrifices being made by our service members. I am not sure if the increase in violence is due to the spring weather and/or the increased sand storms, or simply a result of the decrease US patrols/presence.

I have come to hate sandstorms! They get sand in spaces that should not have sand. Below are two pictures of sandstorms at our base. The first one is outside of my living area. The second is by the hospital. The difference in color is simply due to if there are clouds present above the storm.

The problem with the sandstorms is that they ground all the aircraft. This means that the predators and other craft that prevent attacks on our base are unable to fly. We must then man all the towers and the risk for attack is very high. Needless to say they are miserable for every possible reason.

Let’s switch gears and lighten the tone. I have spent the last week and half on leave and spending time with my family. I flew from Balad to Ali Al Salem (Ali) air base in Kuwait. This of course was in a very crowded C130. When we arrived the military is amazing in its efficiency (not comfort). They processed 300+ people with briefings, worked as a travel agent to get us civilian flights all the way back to our homes, housed us, and worked us through customs all within about 24 hours. Ali had a lot of Australians working there. They even had a McDonalds… (I was good and resisted the urge). Anyway, there was a black cat that looked like my kid’s cat that was visiting our soldiers in this area.

This is a random soldier that was trying his best not to feed the cat. However, the cat was relentless. At one point the cat had both paws up on his shoulder. He did end up sharing his french-fries with the cat. It was actually pretty cute (in a manly, military way of course). If you look at the table across from the soldier and the cat you will see my “Kuwait desk”. This is where I gave one of my lectures to my PA students...awesome! If you look between the two buildings you will see some bunkers. Kuwait is still considered a combat zone, although it is pretty safe. I think they are a bit “sensitive” about the “combat zone” thing as during one of our briefs they had a series of practice alarms that seriously lasted 5 minutes…this was about 4.5 minutes longer than our real alarms at Balad.

From Kuwait we bused about 2 hours down to Kuwait City where we boarded a large civilian aircraft and flew to Leipzig, Germany which took about 5 hours. We then flew all the way to Atlanta which was about 9.5 hours of flying time. Upon my arrival in Indianapolis, I felt like a kid in the parking lot to Disneyworld. Walking out of the terminal to where my family was my kids almost made it to the magic black line on the floor before running to me. Well, we ended up about 12 inches across the line and some TSA agent started trying to yell at the kids to “get back”. I am in full uniform and it is obvious that I have just returned and we are so close to the line…she continues to yell at us. Watch out….terrorist could be anywhere…especially in four kids under the age of 12 and a U.S. soldier in uniform returning from Iraq!

It was great seeing my family. When I arrived home and was finally changing out my uniform I looked out my bedroom window and this is what I saw:

I thought this was a pretty cool view, what can you say?. This is the flagpole that was given to me and my family from the faculty and staff of the College of Pharmacy and Health Science at Butler University. Thank you to everyone that contributed, it looks great and was a nice sight to see on my arrival home.

I have continued my crazy pace since arriving home. I have continued to teach and even gave a live lecture to my PA1 students which I loved! I forgot how much I prefer lecturing live compared to via the internet. I also gave a general talk about some of my experiences in Iraq.

Here I am lecturing about the different influences in Iraq. Yes, that is a normal population curve on the whiteboard behind me! If you already knew that you are a math/stat geek! Thank you to all the people who came to the talk. I also want to thank Dr. Bonnie Brown for creating the miracle of “cokes and pizza” to feed the masses while I gave the “sermon on the podium”. Sorry….bad analogy alert.

One of my favorite things was the “surprise” birthday party that all of the PA students were going to throw for me. The idea was that they were going to “call” me via Scype at my party, but I was going to reverse it and surprise them at the party. Well it sort of worked out, but the secret got out and I am not sure how much of a surprise it really was. I was genuinely humbled by the turnout and the support that the students all showed me. It is amazing and reaffirms my decision to go into academia. Thank you! Below are all a series of pictures for my surprise birthday party.

There are so many things that need to be commented on in this picture. First, that is Kolbe, my son in the middle of the picture with the unicorn party hat, and my oldest, Mahayla on the left. Second, the creepy looking thing on the table is something that my wife would have tasered if she walked in and it was dark. The face cutout is in of itself a bit creepy, but I think my students took a little too much joy in cutting the eyes out. I do like how they added a “tasty beverage” to the guy. Third, if you did not think the guy on the table is weird, what about the “mini-me” hanging from the ceiling? The military would be happy as I have on my eye-pro (eye protection). Third, back to the table…the arm anatomy model holding the balloons…at least the models are getting used.


The picture above and below are some of the PA3 students who will soon be graduating. They have all worked very hard and are some of the best students that we have ever had!

Of course my kids all made it into the picture. Mahayla (11) is in front of me with the white shirt. Rachel (9) has the green hat on. Kolbe (7) has the Army hat on between Mahayla and Rachel. Abby (6) has the jean jacket on.

Above and below are some of the PA2s. I was this class’s advisor and have a special affinity for them. They are indeed one of the purely smartest bunch of students that I have ever dealt with…also the most high stress group that will all be on heart medication in the next 2 years!

They are wearing red for me. I wore red with our administrative assistant Mary Kay on Fridays to support the troops. They have continued the tradition in my absence. What a great group. I cannot wait to see what they do when they graduate. Finally, are some pictures of the PA1s.

Above and below are the PA1s. I have been lecturing them via on-line and this is the first time that I have really formally met them. I guess when you are a rookie (PA1) you get stuck eating your food on the floor. Maybe next year you can eat at the “grown-up table”.

Here are the PA1s, and of course my kids again made it into the picture…Rachel even is holding “creepy head” with the little bit of “extra effort” in cutting out the eyes. Below are all of the students that were there.


Without Photoshop this is the best picture that I can create. It is one big group shot of all the students. It is like a where’s Waldo picture. Find professor/Major Roscoe. Find three pairs of glasses. Find three “creepy heads”. Find a “pretend uniform” (hint: look for an Air force uniform). Ok, that is enough.

The final picture for this letter is a picture of my wife Shelby, who is one of the hardest working women that I know, and the secret of the success of our family.

If you look at my oldest daughter’s eyes you can see the evil spirit of a teenager lurking to get out. The beads around her neck are actually pieces of garlic to try to prevent the emergence (also to keep the boys away). So far it seems to be working. One of the reasons to include this picture is to note Shelby’s pixie haircut. On March 18th Shelby is going to shave her head along with Rachel my 9 year old daughter and Kolbe my son all in support of St. Baldrick’s day. It is an event to support the fight against childhood cancer. “Team Roscoe” is shaving their heads to support Joey Chamness (a student at St. Thomas Aquinas with osteosarcoma). Please see http://www.stbaldricks.org/ for general information. You can view the Team Roscoe site by clicking on the “find a participant tab” and typing “Team Roscoe”. Otherwise the following address will take you directly to Team Roscoe. http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/team_info.php?TeamKey=2009-4615 I do not normally ask people to support various causes, but this one is very personal to us and I would ask you to at least consider it…if not say a prayer for all the kids and families that are dealing with cancer.

I of course want to add an email story that was sent to me by Tina Vawter at Butler University.

"Six Boys and Thirteen Hands...Each year I am hired to go to Washington, DC, with the eighth grade class from Clinton, WI where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall's trip was especially memorable.
On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers raising the American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo Jima, Japan, during WW II. Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked, 'Where are you guys from?' I told him that we were from Wisconsin. 'Hey, I'm a cheese head, too! Come gather around, Cheese heads, and I will tell you a story.'
(James Bradley just happened to be in Washington, DC, to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to his dad, who had passed away. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington, DC, but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that night.) When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak… (Here are his words that night.) 'My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin. My dad is on that statue, and I just wrote a book called 'Flags of Our Fathers' which is #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me. 'Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to play another type of game. A game called 'War.' But it didn't turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of 21, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't say that to gross you out, I say that because there are people who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were 17, 18, and 19 years old - and it was so hard that the ones who did make it home never even would talk to their families about it. (He pointed to the statue) 'You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire. If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was taken and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph; a photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for protection because he was scared. He was 18 years old. It was just boys who won the battle of Iwo Jima . Boys. Not old men. 'The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the 'old man' because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn't say, 'Let's go kill some Japanese' or 'Let's die for our country.' He knew he was talking to little boys.. Instead he would say, 'You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers.' 'The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona. Ira Hayes was one who walked off Iwo Jima. He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, 'You're a hero' He told reporters, 'How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only 27 of us walked off alive?'
So you take your class at school, 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only 27 of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes carried the pain home with him and e ventually died dead drunk, face down at the age of 32 (ten years after this picture was taken). 'The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky; a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't get down. Then we fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all night.' Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of 19. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. Those neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away. 'The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John Bradley, from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's producers or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say 'No, I'm sorry, sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is coming back.' My dad never fished or even went to Canada. Usually, he was sitting there right at the table eating his Campbell's soup. But we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the press. 'You see, like Ira Hayes, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, 'cause they are in a photo and on a monument. My dad knew better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died in Iwo Jima, they writhed and screamed, without any medication or help with the pain. 'When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, 'I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did not come back. Did NOT come back.' 'So that's the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima, and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time.' Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero for the reasons most people would believe, but a hero nonetheless. We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for us to live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice Let us never forget from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terrorism and all the wars in-between that sacrifice was made for our freedom. Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also pray for those still in murderous unrest around the world.
STOP and thank God for being alive and being free at someone else's sacrifice. God Bless You and God Bless America.
REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day. One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that is not mentioned here is. If you look at the statue very closely and count the number of 'hands' raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand of God. Great story - worth your time - worth every American's time"

Sorry that this letter is a bit longer than some of the past editions, and maybe a bit more Butler oriented. I want to take a few minutes and recognize my St. Thomas Aquinas Community. All your support for my family is beyond belief! Thank you to everyone who takes my kids during the week, especially the Prein, Haas, Cain and Forsee families. Thank you for helping take care of my children. Thank you to Mary Kay for all her efforts on my behalf with all the Butler students, faculty and staff. I am sorry if I did not get to meet with everyone on leave…it was so busy and simply not enough time. I will be having a homecoming party when I get back and I want everyone to come. I must close this letter, and I think you know the words by now. NEVER FORGET the soldiers and families that are still sacrificing for all our freedoms. NEVER FORGET all those that came before us to provide for us to live and raise our families in the greatest country on Earth. NEVER FORGET our veterans. Thank you for all your support!

Major Roscoe

Letter 11

February 19, 2009

Letter 11
Balad, Iraq

Hope this letter finds everybody doing well. Sorry that I have been slow in getting this out, but I have been swamped with teaching and working in the clinic with limited medical providers. I am happy to report that there have been no major attacks since my last letter. We have had some, but they have been isolated and not that close. I have been busy living ground hog day over and over as it seems everyday is the same. I am really looking forward to going home and seeing my family…and getting back to just one job.

The only major drama is that we still do not know what combat patch to wear on our uniforms. There has also been some drama with our current company commander, but we will get everything worked out. Anyway, I am finally going to be able to show you our clinic and a few pictures from the ER. First, here is the outside of our clinic; the proportions are a bit off as the picture is from a wide-angle camera.

The sick call sign is for our military sick call. We are actually open 24 hours a day, but we try to get routine items done during that time. We also hold a sick all in the afternoon for civilians, contractors and third-country nationals (TCNs). Our housing is to the right and it is “sealed in” by the T-walls which are mortar and rocket resistant to make our living area one big bunker. The painted T-wall in the middle of the picture is to protect the entrance of the clinic against rockets and mortars, and is in honor of a soldier that was killed a few years ago in an indirect fire attack. Below is a view of one of our three treatment areas.

This room is the main “emergency” room. The “bed” in front is a stretcher for our ambulances. We do have a fully stocked crash cart and can handle most emergencies on-site. The clinic is mostly similar to a Med-check or an outpatient family doctor’s office, however in the past two weeks; I have seen some pretty significant illness. I helped diagnose pancreatic cancer with acute ascites, diverticulitis with an acute rupture, pituitary dysfunction, and of course a 1,000 colds. We do get a lot of bone injuries and minor lacerations…but you can tell that it is busy and varied. It is interesting that we see everything that happens to people on a normal basis…then mix in the combat zone and everything that goes with it and the combination makes for some interesting medical cases. Down the hall to the left leads to the pharmacy, our portable x-ray machine, the waiting room and the main desk. Below is where we keep all our supplies

The cabinet that is in the middle of the picture is actually a chest that all you have to do is tip it backwards, put a lid on it and it can be moved quickly. We are actually stocked pretty well. It is hard to keep things well organized as we see at least 50 people a day and over 150 on our busy days. Below is a picture of some of the ER beds at the Air Force Hospital.

The ER here is as nice as the ERs back at home…they have “real beds”. I like the quilts on the beds to try to make it more comfortable. The difference is that this building was built to be a hospital. Our building was some Iraqi building that we converted. I have included a surgery suite below. The patient is an Iraqi. Look at the excellent care that is being given! This is what our military is doing here…we are making a difference, even if it is one person at a time.

The equipment is state of the art, and it is one of the reasons why the survival rate is so high from serious injuries. The sub-specialists here have been great to us in referring patients.

I am going to switch gears and show you a few pictures from around the base. The first is for my dad, who is a Vietnam Veteran, and I am so proud of his service. I just wish that our country treated them better. If you see a Vietnam Vet, make sure to take the time to thank them for their service and welcome them home!

This is a Chinook helicopter and is what my dad served on in Vietnam. They serve a variety if roles. They are primarily a transport craft either for equipment or for personnel. When they are somewhat close to the ground they open the back hatch where a 50cal gun (or other weapons system) is manned.

The picture below is taken by the mosque on our base. The mosque itself is “off-limits” to all US soldiers, but not to the birds! I will show a regular picture of it in another letter.

This picture reminds me of “Baghdad Bob” during the first few weeks of the invasion. “There are no Americans in Baghdad”. The Helicopter is an Apache gunship. They are pretty lethal craft and are amazingly quiet. Keeping with the helicopters, here is a MEDIVAC Blackhawk flying over us to the hospital. They are coming and going all the time and at all hours.

If you have not noticed, the Army names it helicopters after American Indians (Chinook, Blackhawk, Apache, there are also Kiawa and others). The helicopters tend to fly in pairs for security reasons; they also fly dark at night, until they get over our base. Then they light up their spot-lights. It is to help them find the landing area, but also I have been told from our C-RAM guys that the air-defense likes to automatically “ping” them (which they hate) and they like to make sure that the C-RAMS know they are “friendly.”

The final picture is for my PA students. We are fairly close to the runway, and the F-16s are a bit obnoxious with the noise.


The fighters use their afterburners (seen above) to gain altitude quickly. It tends to create a sound “shockwave”. They seem to like to take off while I am lecturing which I can only assume is pretty loud for the students. I will show more of our base in future letters. I wanted to give some shout outs.

First, Terry Rankin…thanks for taking care of my son, Kolbe. Terry helped my son build is soapbox derby car for boy scouts. This is the type of stuff that makes it hard to serve overseas. It is the missed memories, but if I am not here, somebody else will have to be. Either way, I am blessed to have people in my life that I know are watching out for my family. Second, I have failed to acknowledge my parents. They have always been there for me, and have set my moral and value system that has enabled me to be the person I am today. They instilled the sense of service especially for something bigger than me. I am proud of my service, even through the hard times. Third, I must always acknowledge my wife, who is the strongest women I know, and is “surviving” my deployment. This goes to all the spouses of veterans…”They also serve”. Finally, I wanted to share a story that was sent to me by a good friend of mine, Matt Wright (US Marine) who served in Iraq. It is very, very moving and it goes along with my comments above regarding our Vietnam Vets.


“I encourage you all to check out this website:https://bumail.butler.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=9c52c657856f48a0b31003ae3be61fe4&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.roskamdogtag.comIt is the story of a woman and her husband who found 37 dog tags for sale in a Saigon (Vietnam) market, in 2000. They bought them for $20 and returned them to their rightful owners, or their families. There is a 40 minute video documentary their journey. I'm not entirely sure why this struck such a cord with me. Maybe the connection to my Uncles Larry and Lannie, having been in Vietnam. Or maybe a more personal cord of seeing myself and my friends in the stories of these guys. Either way...it is an impressive story. And they didn't HAVE to do this.

If you don't have time to watch the video, at least take the time to read the story. They have a nice website that documents all 37 of the men, what happened to them and how they went about returning their dog tags.

I'd also encourage you to thank a Viet Nam vet next time you see one. They didn't hear it enough, although (at least with my generation) Americans have seemed to try to correct that. Even if you don't, and all you do is read the story, at least you'll be another person that remembers what they sacrificed for all of us. And maybe, that's enough. I dunno...and I'm not going to sit around and philosophize if it is or isn't.Just remember that you woke up today in a country that allows everyone equal opportunity to succeed.
To be successful on their own merits.
To say whatever they want.
To elect their leaders.
To become President...literally anybody.”

Thank you Matt! I need to end this letter. So I must close with my message to anyone reading this. NEVER FORGET what our soldiers [sailors, airman, marines] are doing for our freedoms overseas. Please NEVER FORGET our soldiers and their families. NEVER FORGET that we have the fortune of living in the greatest nation and even when times are tough for us it is not nearly as bad as the rest of the World. I miss you all and look forward to the day that I get to see all of you again. Please continue to send your thoughts and prayers for all the soldiers and their families.

Major Mike Roscoe

Letter 10

February 1, 2009
Letter 10
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

This has been a busy two weeks since my last letter. We continue to be down two doctors for our clinic which means no days off for the rest of us. We have been working non-stop everyday for about a month and it is starting to wear me down a bit. Between working 8 hours a day and then going immediately back to my CHU (Container housing unit…sometimes called a connex housing unit) to work on my Butler stuff has kept me busy until wee hours in the morning. The only other thing that I do regularly is go to the gym and eat. I guess this is good as it makes the time pass by quickly and you know what they say about idle hands!

I have lots of stories for this letter so lets get started. One of our doctors is a family doctor from Tennessee name Major Altman. Major Altman is a bit of a prankster and has been tormenting the rest of us innocent medical providers on a fairly regular basis. Anyway, Major Altman received a tasking to go to a base south of Baghdad for the next 6 weeks. Being the good soldier he packed his bags and went back to the clinic to finish his patient notes. Major Romig, a PA from Illinois, has received the majority of Dr. Altman’s “abuse”. The rest of us kept Dr. Altman busy in the clinic while Major Romig went to the PX and bought several packages of women’s underwear. He then “broke into” Major Altman’s room and took out all of his underwear and replaced them with the newly purchased women’s variety and repacked his bag. Now, I neglected to tell you that the base that Major Altman is travelling to is a small austere place with no PX or other “creature comforts”. About 12 hours later we received a phone call from base X with a simple phrase “good one”. We of course had to ask “commando or women’s”…..a pause……..a small voice replied back “I’m wearing them”. This caused a large round of belly laughs from the PAs and a sense of justice passed through the clinic.

It has not been all smooth sailing these past two weeks. In an incredible show of bad taste our active duty unit that we work for has decided that they no longer want our Indiana National Guard unit to wear their patch. We have since been ordered to stop wearing their patch as our combat patch, even though we have had an official patch ceremony. What can you say…it is ok, I am proud to wear my 76th BCT patch from my parent unit and of whom I deployed to Afghanistan in 2004/2005. We had Indiana citizen soldiers killed on that deployment and I will wear that patch proudly to honor them, rather than an active duty unit that would rather protect its own patch.

I must tell you another story that I found entertaining. I was seeing an Iraqi patient with Dr. McPhee (has since left Iraq), and we were trying to tell him that he needed to get any future care from a local doctor and that we cannot continue to see him as he is not a US citizen or soldier. He looked up at us and seriously said…”but it is dangerous out there” we were like “but you live out-there” he responded “I KNOW”. We ended up arranging some more care for him, but I found it interesting as he would rather come to the Americans.

This leads me to the next event. We had a mass casualty exercise (MASCAL) to demonstrate the American model to about 12 Iraqi doctors. The Iraqi medical system simply does not work. They are unorganized and egocentric. They will not accept any medical training certificates or validations if it is written in English (must be in Arabic). They also have no means or measure for ensuring competency. Anyway, we set this exercise up and it seemed to go pretty well and the patients were all moulaged to add to the realism of the experience. Here I am during the exercise with the “immediate” category patients.

You can kind of get an idea of the numbers as this is just one area where we were seeing patients, and they are all lined up. I was responsible for the three that you see in the picture and all three were badly injured. What made it difficult was that we were supposed to be in “full battle rattle” (I was still seeing real patients inside so I “escaped” this). It is hard to show the “organized chaos” that is present with having so many patients. Of course they are playing their parts, yelling if able, asking for their friends, having non-injured people trying to enter the area looking for people. I believe that the military handles this better than the civilian sector. I would have included some pictures of the Iraqi doctors but we are not allowed to show their faces if the pictures are going to be published.

Below is an action shot of me moving to another patient and giving evacuation orders to 1LT Nott the big guy on my left for the patient that I just finished up working on.

We almost had the opportunity a few nights later to actually perform a MASCAL for real. At about 9 PM we received a rocket attack of 5-10 rockets. These actually landed pretty close to our clinic. The sound was unbelievable, and it rattled everything in my CHU. It sent us all scurrying for cover. This is one of the first sustained or multiple indirect fire attacks that we have had since being here in Balad (usually the attacks are mortars and are 1 or 2). I have since decided that rockets are much worse than mortars! What made this more unbelievable is that the rockets actually ripped through a civilian living area just down the street. Nobody was killed...I do not know how. It destroyed three CHUs but two of them the residents were not home. The third had a person that was in bed and had just lain down for the night. Next to where his bed is are sandbags. These sandbags shielded his bed. The rest of his CHU was shredded. Below is a picture of the his CHU

I am not sure if you can see all the shrapnel holes, but these are the ones that actually went all the way through the building. If you look to the right there is a piece of cardboard taped to the wall which is where the majority of the blast hit. The person inside is about as fortunate as can be, and I have no idea how he survived. We saw lots of minor injuries associated with the attack. It certainly brings things back to perspective real quick.

Working in the clinic has allowed us to meet all kinds of people. One of our favorites is a guy named Baresh, we call him “boris”. He is Turkish and we have starting having dinner with him and his colleagues every Sunday. They spend a lot of time cooking for us and it is good to have some real food. Below is Baresh with me and Dr. Perez.

Dr. /LTC Perez is a family doctor from Guam. It is really interesting talking with him about “island life”…Shel…want to move to Guam? If you look at the left lower corner of the picture you may just see the edge of a fancy tea cup. This is for serving Turkish coffee after our meal. It is kind of similar to an espresso. It was good, a little thick, but ok. After taking a few drinks of the coffee, Baresh asks us if we liked it…being good guest we quickly tell him how great we think it is….he proceeds to tells us he hates it. What I like about this picture is that it really almost shows three different regions of the World sharing a meal and having a good time together, especially here.

We closed out today with a physical fitness test or physical training (PT) test. This is the lovely Army test that active duty likes to make us do in a combat zone to ensure that we are physically fit. It consist of 2 minutes of military style push-ups, 2 minutes of full sit-ups and a 2 mile run for time. Here I am in the middle of my push-ups

I chose this picture because there are a lot of items to point out. (My $5 haircut is not one of them). We are doing the test inside Holt Stadium in our base. It used to be a soccer field and track. Rumor has it that there were numerous public executions here. Somebody even said it is the infamous site where the Iraqi National Soccer team lost and were later tortured for losing. In front of the stadium and to the right are of course bunkers for any mortar attacks. The track behind me is concrete and in really bad shape. Finally, This was taken today (Feb 1st …sorry I am in shorts and a t-shirt and I have heard that it is cold with feet of snow back home in Indiana). Below is me immediately after running my two miles.

Ignore the toothpaste on my lower lip…or maybe it is that I am rabid? I am holding what position I finished in the company on the run…not to brag but I put in the fastest time at 13:36. It could also be the number of months before I get to come home on leave! It looks like I get another shot at leave and may get to come home toward the end of February. Of course, it is at the Army’s discretion.

I have received several email requesting pictures of different aircraft or other “cool Army stuff” from some kids. One of the more popular requests is for the Predators. Here is one flying over our base providing security for us.

I know it is a bit hard to see, but I will give you a better picture below. Apparently there is at least one predator up at all times. I do not know for sure as they are pretty quiet and we only occasionally see one. Here is it up close


I will try to add some pictures of our base in the next letter. I know that I have still yet to give you a “tour” of our clinic…maybe next time. I wanted to take a few moments and thank everybody again who has been helping my family out. I also must continue to get a shout out to Shelby, my wife, as she is handling 4 children, working, and keeping our house from falling down. Not so sure that I could do that job. Keep praying for our soldiers…to my Butler PA students…how is the drink from the firehouse? It will get better. To everyone, NEVER FORGET what our soldiers are doing for our freedoms overseas. NEVER FORGET the sacrifice of the families, and NEVER FORGET that we live in the greatest nation on earth, recession or not, it still provides more freedom and opportunity than anywhere else in the World. Stay safe with the winter weather, and keep your prayers coming.

Major Roscoe

Letter 9

Letter 9 January 16, 2009
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

I hope this letter finds everyone well. It is hard to believe that it is a new year already. Time keeps moving on, which makes me happy as I can officially state that I will be home this year! I do look forward to getting back home and seeing everybody again. The big news since my last letter is that I received my promotion orders, so I am now officially a Major.

This is my transition period in the picture…they just pinned the Major to my chest and we are in the process of changing my cover (hat). It was a nice ceremony and better yet is that there is no alcohol here so I did not go broke buying drinks to “wet the rank” which is an old Army tradition.

Here is one more picture from just after the ceremony. It is the three doctors and our commander and XO all helping to “point out” the new rank.

The entire back row consist of all Majors…we made the Captain kneel. I think it is a new tradition that we should really embrace. One thing to note in this picture is all the gravel. We have gravel everywhere…I cannot wait to stop walking on gravel.

There was a medical conference in Baghdad for physician assistants last week. Major Romig and Captain McFarland went, I unfortunately was unable to go as one of us had to stay to cover the clinic. I am including several pictures in this letter from their trip so that you can get an idea of Saddam’s area in Baghdad. Below is a picture of Al Faw palace, which is where the conference was held.

It is a pretty cool looking building right on the water, especially at sunset. I think it is hard to get the idea of how big this palace is. Below is the entrance.

The people walking below can give you a better idea of the opulence. What do you think of the marble outside the entrance? Below is the main foyer inside Al Faw palace.

What else is there to say? You can look at this picture and then look back at some of the pictures from earlier letters with the poor living conditions around Balad and you can get an idea of the class system in play here. Even the bathrooms were “over the top”

All marble everything. I chose this picture because if you look at the wall between the restroom stalls (with full wood doors) you will see a light switch. Those go to the stalls…why put them on the outside? We have them the same way here at Balad. Well, I do not have an answer, except it is fun to turn off the light when somebody is in the stall…It is a good idea to keep a small light on you at all times, especially if you need to use the facilities. You will only forget once.

Just to show the amount of marble stone used…here is a picture of a staircase.

Check out the multiple story chandelier down the middle. The picture below is of the former home of Tariq Aziz (the left side of the picture), who was the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister under Saddam.

It is now home to our commanding General. The almost as impressive structure behind and to the right was the home of one of Saddam’s daughters.

The next two pictures are of another palace that is relatively close to Al Faw Palace…what is up with Saddam and his palaces?

This palace was known originally as the Victory over Iran, which was changed after the first Gulf War to be known as the Victory over America…I guess looking at this palace that it did not work out that well, and maybe they should have kept the original name. The damage is from a few JDAMs (bombs). Again, look at the person on the right side of the picture to give you some size comparison for the scale of the room. I cannot show all the pictures with this palace, but it had an indoor pool and outdoor pool and of course marble everywhere. Out the side of this palace was a bathhouse…on the water.

The structure in the foreground is the bathhouse. I am not sure about the juicer structure in the background. The picture below is a view of Baghdad.

There are a lot of Mosques which often have the minaret’s which can be seen in the middle of this picture. The structure behind it looks like a space port for Mos Eisley…if you got that last joke you have no life and should seek help immediately. If not, you are fine and we already know that I need all the help I can get.

I think that is enough Baghdad pictures for now. I will try to get more pictures of Balad in future letters…our base has nothing compared to Baghdad. I promise I will get clinic pictures in one of these email letters.

I have been so very busy lately. All I do is work in the clinic everyday, then go work at my desk to continue to work to finish my PhD and teach full time at Butler (with the 17th ranked Men’s NCAA Division I Basketball team). The only other thing I do is eat and workout. I was scheduled to take my two week leave at the end of this month, but one of our replacement doctors never showed up at the mobilization station, and Major Altman is scheduled to go on another mission…that means we were short medical providers so I “lost” my leave. I was pretty bummed as I was looking forward to seeing my family. I do not know when I will get the chance to have leave again, but I will keep everybody posted.

Thank you to everyone who helped take care of my family over the Holiday season, and sent me cards. It is nice to get letters from “the real world”. Everyday is the same here, it is really easy to lose tract of the days of the week. I also wish to give my condolences to you with your weather…it got down into the 30s a few nights here, but we spend most of our days in the 50s and nights in the 40s. It will all come around when summer returns and we have 120-130 degree temperatures. I must be closing this letter. Please NEVER FORGET our soldiers and their families. NEVER FORGET that we have the fortune of living in the greatest nation and even when times are tough for us it is not nearly as bad as the rest of the World. Keep praying for my family and throw a few my way. I will do the same.

Major Roscoe

Letter 8

Letter 8 December 26, 2008
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

Well, I hope everybody had a great Christmas. I have been pretty busy since I last wrote. The first item is that I am finally a full PhD Candidate. This means that I get to start writing the final draft of my dissertation and hopefully be granted my degree soon. This is a long road that I have been working on for about 5 years…to say that I am ready for it would be a severe understatement. The topic of my dissertation revolves around cutaneous leishmaniasis which is a parasitic disease that is endemic in this part of the World. My research is specifically within Afghanistan. However, about a month ago I saw a patient in our clinic that I diagnosed with leishmaniasis. I finally just received the pathology report from Walter Reed and my diagnosis was confirmed! It is one of the few cases in American Soldiers seen in our area of operation (AO) within Iraq. It is amazing that I saw a case of leishmaniasis here and it is my dissertation topic.

We also received our combat patches since my last letter. The combat patch is a symbol that Army soldiers wear on their right sleeve below the American flag that indicates a soldier is a veteran that served in a combat zone. We are serving under the 421st Med BN which is part of the 30th Med Brigade. They are an active duty unit that is currently located in Germany. The combat patch is seen below:

The Army has symbols in everything. The patches are no different. Everything on an Army patch has meaning. The maroon background on the patch is the Army color for medical. The snake is a universal symbol for medicine. The sword indicates combat (I am not sure of all the additional meanings with the sword). The star in the snake’s mouth is for the State of Texas (star on their flag) which is where the 30th Med Brigade originated in 1933.

The Holiday season has been…interesting. It has not felt at all like Christmas to me. I have found it hard on me emotionally this time around as I really miss my wife and kids and of course everybody back at home. The Army and our unit as tried to help ease the difficulty of being away from home. Santa came to visit us at our unit…below is his surprise visit.

This picture is taken in our MWR (moral, welfare, and recreation) room at our clinic. We even have a Christmas tree. If you look along the wall of books you will see that nothing says Christmas like an M16 rifle…it kind of makes Ralphie’s request in “A Christmas Story” for a Red Rider carbon action BB gun a little less dramatic. Santa is actually Major Romig, who does a pretty good Santa. We actually had a Christmas parade on post and he was the Santa in the Parade. I also ran in a 5K jingle run road race…this means that we had small jingle bells on our shoes while we ran….yeah, that lasted about ¼ mile and they stared flying off shoes creating a potentially dangerous obstacle course for those in the back of the pack….No…I was not in the back…ouch that hurts to all of you who immediately thought of me falling down.

The chow on Christmas was pretty good. They served us prime rib, glazed ham, and turkey…wow…here are some pictures from our chow hall.

This is our food lines. That is “fresh” meet that is being sliced for us by some locals. Again, all the decorations are a bit over the top. It was a bit surreal to have Iraqi’s or locals serving us dinner with “Merry Christmas” aprons on and “Santa hats” on especially here in Iraq. Here is a manger scene that is actually made out of bread and icing.

The sign above the manager states that the items are all made out of bread dough. It was a pretty amazing piece of food art. I look at this picture and several questions come to mind…where is Joseph? The most pressing question to me is why is there a Holstein cow at the manger…Is it for baby Jesus? Got Milk Jesus? Here is another piece of Holiday art work from our chow hall.

Reindeer and penguins…together…with palm tree leaves? Is that surreal? Wow…the stage behind Noah’s ark is where some Iraqi men performed some local festive folk dances for us. I did not get any pictures of them dancing…sorry, yes it was…interesting.

Finally, below is a picture of our “Christmas tree” here at Balad:

Balad used to be a major Iraqi air-base. This is one of the major roads on our base and the “tree” is on a round-a-bout. This is near the hospital. The road leads to one of the major gates entering our base.

The base has been pretty quiet over the past couple of weeks…well, I say that and I just heard an “all clear” over our alarm system indicating that we just had another indirect fire attack and it was ok to leave the bunkers…yet another attack that I did even know we had. We did not have any attacks over Christmas; I guess the insurgents respect the Christmas holiday. We also did have another larger attack today…not sure where the mortars landed, but it was not near our area.

We are close to one of the runways, below is a picture of an F18 taking off near our clinic.

The fighters use their afterburners once they are airborne to get altitude before they leave the security of our perimeter. The use of the afterburners is very loud. It is a pretty awesome site.

I wanted to have a picture of all of our medical staff for our clinic.

This was taken in our provider room in our clinic. From left to right: LTC O’Bannion who is our dentist is from Kentucky. Next is 1LT Welch (Butler Grad), then me, MAJ Baez who is from Massachusetts. 1LT (now CPT) McFarland in front is another Butler Grad. Behind him (blocked by CPT McFarland) is Major McPhee from Michigan. Major Romig a PA from Illinois, and finally Major Altman from Tennessee. What do you think of our new camouflage scrub tops?

Finally, I wanted to thank everybody who has sent me pictures, cards, care packages. I am overwhelmed at all the generosity. Here I am opening one of the packages that was sent:


I am in the clinic (can tell by the coffee pot)…for those that have been overseas, there is nothing like getting mail. I am sorry that I have not written to everybody, but I really want to thank everybody for all the support for my family and all your thoughts and prayers. There are simply too many people to thank. I also wanted to tell all my students that I am proud of all your hard work this semester…one more down.

I look forward to the New Year. Please keep all the soldiers in your thoughts and prayers. Please especially remember the families and NEVER FORGET why we are here and what we are doing. NEVER FORGET that we live in the greatest nation on Earth. I did almost forget; Major Romig is helping some Iraqi doctors try to set up some healthcare clinics in this area for the local population. They really have nothing. If you are thinking of sending something to us over here and not sure what to send, maybe you might consider anything medical. We are not talking about anything major, maybe a cheap stethoscope, blood pressure cuff etc. The clinics have nothing and there is not a lot of money that our State Department is willing to spend for an Iraqi clinic. You can mail it to me or directly to Major Jeff Romig. Our address is 215th ASMC/Phipps Clinic, APO AE 09391.

God bless all of you, and know that you are all in my prayers as well! Have a great New Year, and I look forward to seeing each of you in person in 2009.

CPT Mike Roscoe
(Almost Major)

Letter 7

December 06, 2008
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

I hope this letter finds everybody well. Things have been pretty busy here since my last letter. The clinic is busy as usual, and I have been pretty swamped with teaching and working on my PhD. The weather has started to turn cold…it actually gets into the 50s now at night…sorry, I know it has been pretty cold back home. Thanksgiving was interesting here. It just was…off…here are some pictures from our chow hall to show you what I mean.

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a bunch of carved watermelons…especially with carvings of frogs. It was pretty amazing “fruit art” but having a local serve me fruit just didn’t feel right. Here is another picture.

This is a view back toward our serving lines. Look past Tonto and Pocahontas and you can see some more of the over-the-top decorations…”Thank S”…The food was pretty good. We had all the traditional staples of a good Thanksgiving dinner, and there really was an effort to try to give us a sense of home. However, the two mortar attacks during the day were an effective reminder that we “are not in Kansas anymore”. I think that is what makes this place so surreal. We have things like a movie theater, Burger King, a pool and….bunkers.

The world is a small place! I met up with the head of the ER at the Air Force Hospital, which is the hospital for this part of the country. Anyway, his name is COL John McGoff…six degrees of separation means that he is an ER doc with Community Hospital North and East in Indianapolis. I worked for him as a PA for several years! Even more…he was a class mate in med school with my boss at Butler, Dr. John Lucich! Can you believe that? Below is a picture of Dr/COL McGoff, me and 1LT Travis Welch (a Butler PA grad).

We of course are standing on Indiana Avenue. The large building behind us is our PX (mini Walmart type store). The large roof on it is for mortar protection. What is most amazing about this picture is that Dr. McGoff is Air Force and has his weapon on!

Anyway, I will send pictures in the next letter or two from the hospital and our clinic. Col McGoff wants me to work some shifts in the ER with him. More to do, but it would be great experience. I am not sure if you saw on the news this week about another suicide bombing in Falluja…I was in the ER when several of the patients (all Iraqi) came in…it is amazingly terrible what these blast do to the human body. The blast was of course meant to kill innocent civilians. This place is insane…it just seems that the Sunni and Shi’ites just can’t wait for us to leave so that they can get back to killing each other.

We do not get trauma in my normal clinic. We generally see “med-check” or “doc-in-the-box” type of things, but I did see four US soldiers that were in a vehicle that was a direct strike on an IED. The vehicle they were in was similar to the one in the picture below:

These are very, very, very armored vehicles. The soldiers all walked away from the blast without any injuries! This is the same type of blast that was killing our soldiers less than three years ago. It is really amazing all the things that we now have to keep our soldiers safe. Speaking of that, below is a night picture of what is known as a C-RAM. It is an anti-mortar system. It shoots down incoming mortars before they hit the ground. In this picture it is a test fire (I would not be out if it was a real attack).

It looks like a laser, but it is a bunch of large tracer rounds that are moving so quick the camera can’t distinguish the difference. It is a pretty awesome site; it is close to our clinic, so I feel a whole lot safer. It is one of the primary reason that no mortars have landed close to where I live and work.

I want to show you “Hero’s Highway”. This is the tunnel where injured soldiers are moved from the MEDEVAC helicopters into the ER.

The top picture is from the Air Ambulance entrance into the ER looking out to the landing pad. The bottom picture is from the landing pad looking toward the ER. It is very solemn, but I also felt proud of our soldiers and their sacrifices in this place.

Ok, Ok…time to lighten the letter a bit. Last week we had a USO show here on base. Aaron Tippin, a country music singer, gave us a concert. Below is a picture of the show.

We are sitting in the stands of a stadium on base. This base was an Iraqi air base before we took it over, it was also the site where the Iraqi Olympic team trained. The stage is actually on a soccer field surrounded by a track. The lights just over the American flag, in a line is actually the perimeter of the base. I guess it gives motivation for the singer to put on a good show, in that everybody (except the Air Force) is armed…gives a new meaning to “knock ‘em dead”. It was a good show; I have a lot of respect for the entertainers that are willing to come here for our soldiers.

The final part of this letter is a tribute to how God always seems to present something to me at just the right time. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything going on, I was missing my family, busy with teaching and working on my PhD, I had just gotten off a very busy shift in the clinic when I walked into our break room to find some hand knitted caps that a Church sent to us. I took a picture of the message that was sent with the hats. Anyway, I wanted to share it in my letter because I think that there are several people that need this simple message besides just me. I know that there are a lot of PA students that are feeling a bit overwhelmed right now with finals being next week. I know how hard it is for my family with me being gone…We all have a purpose that God has given to us and nobody said that our cross would be easy or light, but we have to keep moving forward and be willing and open to His plan.

Thank you everyone who has written me, sent me packages, and has prayed for me and my family. I appreciate it more than words. However, I think I have had enough Halloween candy to last a lifetime! Thank you to everyone who continues to help my family out. I appreciate it more than words can say. Please continue your thoughts and prayers for all the soldiers and their families, especially during this holiday season. Never doubt that you live in the greatest country in the World with freedoms only dreamed by others. I will hopefully have the next letter out within two weeks.

CPT Mike Roscoe

PS: If you are just receiving this letter for the first time and you want to see previous letters, please go to http://buprofessor.blogspot.com/. Additionally, my address is:

Mike Roscoe
215th ASMC/Phipps Clinic
APO AE 09391