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

Letter 6

November 15, 2008
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

I hope this letter finds everyone well. Sorry that this posting is a bit late but I have been swamped with my clinical duties, teaching, and trying to finish my PhD. There is a ton of topics that I wanted to cover in this letter.

I have received numerous questions regarding the reaction from the troops and Iraq regarding the election. The troop reaction is probably exactly the same as it is in the United States in that we are nothing more than a cross-section of the general population. There are those that are ecstatic and those that were upset…and every shade in-between. If you noticed during the election there were no “reactions” in the new from soldiers. There were no cameras or media allowed on our bases in Iraq. The real reason is that the head of the military is the President, and it is punishable by UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) to openly speak out against the President, President-Elect or any other public servant. We can also get in trouble for openly supporting a candidate while in uniform or on active duty. Since we are deployed soldiers, we are always on active duty with no down time. I would say that I am cautiously optimistic with a new President, but I think that people should be realistic in what he will be able to accomplish once he enters office. I have also spoken to several Iraqis here at the base. Most of the Iraqis here are Kurds and Chaldeans (very pro-US) which leads me to my next section.

In my last letter I discussed some background on the Sunni and Shi’ites. I actually did have an error that I need to correct. I erroneously mentioned that Iraq had a Sunni majority; it actually has a Shia (Shi’ite) Majority. If you recall from the last letter these are the two main Muslin religious factions that had influence form the Arab (Sunni) peninsula, and from Persia (Shi’ite). Anyway, if you were to put this into a percentage, Iraqi is about 60% Shi’ite and 40% Sunni…so it really is a crossroad (or battle ground) for these two religious sects. In simple terms, neither of these two groups particularly likes the United States. Almost all the insurgents are from these two groups. The other two groups that I wanted to discuss are the Kurds and the Chaldeans.

The Kurds are a nomadic tribal people that had a large area under the Ottoman Empire that extended into Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. The area is often known as Kurdistan (although this is often now only means the area in Northern Iraq – Iraqi Kurdistan). They compose about 17% of the population in Iraq and are mostly Muslim. They associate themselves more with their tribe then their religion. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, the Kurds supported Iran, and Saddam Hussein retaliated and implemented anti-Kurdish policies and committed mass murder of hundreds of thousands of civilian and wholesale destruction of thousands of villages. (He often used chemical weapons (WMD) to complete the task…so yes they were here).


The second minority group that I want to discuss is the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans trace their heritage all the way back to around 500 B.C. and King Nebuchadnezzar II. In this time period Chaldea was a kingdom/territory. King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Phoenicians (Syrian population) and territory of Judah (Semitic population). In keeping practice with the time he brought the King of Judah and forced a large part of the Jewish population (estimates of more than 10,000 people) to relocate to what is now North Central and Northern Iraq. On an aside King Nebuchadnezzar rebuild the city of Babylon to be the most impressive city of the day and included the Hanging Gardens of Babylon which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Nebuchadnezzar also rebuilt the great temple-tower or ziggurat, the Biblical "Tower of Babel," ….what does this history lesson have to do with Modern Iraq? …well we are getting there.

In the first century A.D. Saint Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity (Catholicism) to the Chaldeans. This Christian population was East of Rome and was then part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Byzantines (Christian empire in the East) were in constant conflict with the Persians and also broke ties with the Universal Church (Roman Catholic). In 634 A.D. Muhammad conquered the entire region and brought it under Islamic rule. In the 16th century portions of the Christian population re-established ties to the Church of Rome. From this date forward those Christians in union with Rome were known as Chaldeans and the remaining Christians were known as Assyrians. Here it all is in simple terms: Chaldeans are the largest Christian population in Iraq. There are about 650,000 Catholics (Chaldeans) and about 200,000 other Christians Assyrian, Nestorian, Armenians, etc). Now, do you remember about King Nebuchadnezzar…he brought a large contingent of Semitic population to Chaldea. These Christians have maintained some of the original B.C. culture (Semitic) and actually have their own language that has a Hebrew base. We talk about this area as the cradle of life (between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers), well the Chaldeans have ties to all three major religions in the world. To say that they are persecuted by the Muslims in this part of the world is an understatement (Christian and with a Semitic heritage).

What do you think the response from the few Iraqi that I have talked to are? I have talked with two groups of Iraqis that have been heavily persecuted in the past. They are terrified that the United States is going to leave Iraq. I mentioned to a Chaldean that it was a shame that there would probably be a civil war between the Sunni and Shia when the United States left. He merely stated “good”. He said that with the US here the Muslims here have retaliated against the Chaldeans because they are easier to “pick on” then the armed Christians (US military). See the United States looks at this as a geo-political struggle. Many Iraqi’s view this as a religious “thing” almost more than a political thing. Of course the Sunni and Shia just as soon have us gone tomorrow so they can get on with fighting each other. They are happy with the prospect of the new President sending US troops home.

On election day we were received a mortar and rocket attack and had an IED at our gate…more attacks in one night then the entire week prior. However, since Obama won, we have not received any attacks. I guess they figure that they have won in a way in that the US is going to now start moving soldiers out of the cities and back to the big bases and finally out of Iraq. I guess we will find out if the overall attacks decline.

I think that is enough of the historical background. The weather has certainly changed here. It is now only in the mid 80’s during the day and gets in to low 60’s high 50’s at night. We also had a torrential rain storm and it flooded our living area. The water was so deep it was above our ankles.

This is a view from my door looking down into all our bunkers. I tried to put out a wooden pallet down at the base of my stairs so I could hop to the area on the right between the bunkers and then try to walk through the bunker to get to the clinic. The problem was that the water was so deep the pallet kept floating away. Here is another view with me standing just past the bunker in front of you at the bottom of the stairs looking left.

I think I saw a Venetian gondola go by. Each of the openings in the bunker goes to a housing unit like mine. There really was no way around the water to get to the clinic so most of us just put on chemical boots and waded through the water, trying not to cause any waves as it was almost to the top of the boots.

I took a trip to our perimeter to see what it looked like. Here is a picture of what it looks like through our perimeter fence.

It is true then that Army = plant death. Outside our perimeter is pretty lush. This is a palm tree grove. It is really pretty…it is a lot different from my experiences in Afghanistan. Here is another picture that I found interesting.

This picture is of a home just outside our perimeter. Look at all the satellite dishes. Just to the right of this picture is a herd of cattle.

One of the traditions that have developed for military is the painting of a bunker wall when a unit is leaving. Some of you have been aware that the headquarters of the 76th Brigade Combat Team, which is all Indiana National Guard, was here at this base. I am the commander of the medical company for this brigade. Anyway here is there wall; it really is an amazing piece of artwork. Understand that this was painted with crappy brushes, bad paint on a dirty bunker wall.

Each one of the crest on the right is one of the Battalions in the brigade. I am actually part of the 113th SPT BN which is the fourth one down (has the cross on it). They will almost all be home by the time you read this letter.

My last talking point is about the Air Force. They are a bit of a challenge to work with as they have different rules and protocols then all the other branches of service. They are a bit pompous. Let me give you an example…we were going to the chow hall. 1LT McFarland (Butler PA grad) just got back from the gym and did not have his weapon on him. He was not allowed to enter the chow hall because of this (we do not have to kill our foot first…just protocol), anyway right after him were three Air Force soldiers no weapons at all…they get to go in without problems. In fact the Air Force does not carry weapons on the base at all! Army, Marines always have to have ours with us. They also have areas where only Air Force go and Army is not really that welcome including gates. Additionally, getting them to assist the Army on the post for some task is like pulling teeth. Anyway, I think they are just mad that they were originally the Army Air Corps. Here is a comic strip that pretty much sums up the differences between Army and Air Force (thanks Matt):

Well, thank you for all the notes on Veterans Day. I am proud of my service, I am proud of our military, I am especially proud of all the support given to our soldiers. Given Veterans Day and the upcoming holidays:

Support our troops and their families. Every Thanksgiving and religious holiday that you enjoy with family and friends, please remember that there are literally thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen far from home wishing they could be with their families. Thank God for our military and the sacrifices they make every day.
'It's the Veteran, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.''It's the Veteran, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.''It's the Veteran, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate.''It's the Military who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.'

I think that pretty much sums up my views. Thank you everyone, NEVER FORGET. Thanks for the packages; I have shared most with the soldiers here. I am proud of my wife who is managing a house and essentially being a working single mother of four kids under the age of 12. YOU ROCK! She just recently accepted a new position at Butler University. She will be leaving Advancement and moving to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. It was really hard for her (and me) as Advancement has been so kind and generous to us. This move however should be better for her and our family. It is just so hard to make changes sometimes. I will close this letter, please continue to pray for my family, and all the soldiers, especially as we enter the Holiday season, which tends to be rough on everybody.


Love you all!

CPT Roscoe

Letter 5

Joint Base Balad, Iraq October 26, 2008

Everyone:

Well, I have finally made it into Iraq. The trip was a bit arduous in that it took awhile. In typical military fashion, we got up at 3am, drove an hour to Ali Al Salam (another base in Kuwait). We proceeded to sit in this “airport” for about 15+ hours. The reason for this long delay was the Air Force. We drove all the way out to our plane, only to find out that “their duty day was over”…meaning that the crew was done flying for the day…even though we had a scheduled flight. So we did not end up leaving Kuwait until after 2200 hours (10pm). The good news (sarcasm) is that we were able to fly in a C-130 (this is a 4 propeller cargo plane). This plane is not built for comfort as can be seen in the picture below:

What is hard to see is how tight it really is. You have to make a deal with the person sitting across from you on how to work your legs. Of course we have to be in full gear as we can take small arms fire while over Iraq. Notice the red straps on the left…these came down to form a very comfortable mesh seat for us…nice.

We finally arrived safely in Balad, Iraq with no problems. We slowly got settled into our new living quarters (I will discuss more below), met the soldiers that we are replacing and immediately got to work. The base that I am at used to be known as LSA (logistic support area) Anaconda, but is now more of an Air Force base so it is known as Joint Base Balad. It is one of the largest bases in Iraq, housing as many as 30,000 people! It is divided into East and West sections based on the runways. The base is affectionately known as “Mortaritaville” due to the high number of mortar and rocket attacks that it receives. In the past two weeks we have received numerous attacks, the sirens go off, and we get into bunkers…I think I have slept through a few…most of the time we never hear any impacts or detonations. I guess that they land on the other side of the base. Either way, we have lots of “things” here to keep us safe.

Let me show you how nice my room is…best accommodations I have had while in the Army. I have been a bit lucky as the Brigade that I am normally a part of and the soldiers that I deployed with to Afghanistan are all here on the same base…they have taken care of me and again “found” items for me to “set me up”.

Here is the inside of my room. Check out my desk and chair! I was told not to ask…so I do not ask. If I turn the camera just slightly to the left:

I have the Butler flag flying proudly in my room…thank you to everybody for signing it. When I find that I am having a hard time, all I have to do is read a few lines and it really “picks me up”. I appreciate it. Of course, I have my trusty new body armor close on its stand (another gift from the Brigade). The next picture I stepped up by my chair and essentially it is 180 degrees from the above picture.

I actually have a TV which has about 6-8 channels from the Armed Forces Network (AFN). These channels carry a variety of shows from ESPN to ABC etc. They switch and are varied. There are no commercials though…so the military makes its own commercials…I call them my daily download of brainwashing messages. I have a DVD player, a refrigerator and a microwave. I am living like a king now. The door to the room is just out of site to the right next to the big chair. I am good as long as a mortar does not come crashing through my ceiling.

If you walk out my door here is the view:

This is the back of our housing units. The concrete all makes a big bunker to protect us from indirect fire (mortars). If you go down my stairs there are more concrete bunkers inside the big housing bunker that we get into when the “Red Alert” sirens go off. This gives us some added protection. The reason that the picture is a bit grainy is that I took it during a huge sandstorm.

The first few days that we got here the temperature was Hot! There is a thermometer outside 1LT Welch’s room that read it as 120 degrees. Then we got a cold front that instead of bringing in thunderstorms it brought us a sandstorm. If you go down these stairs to the edge of the bunker and turn to your right about 120 degrees you get a view of our PX:

It may be hard to see in this picture, but the big white building is the PX (mini-Walmart type place). The white roof is actually a mortar protection structure build over it. The smaller brown building in front is actually a little food court. If you can see the three small signs on the building they are for “Cinnabon, Burger King, and Pizza Hut”

Here is the same picture during the dust storm:

The above picture was taken in the middle of the afternoon! It looks like fog, but it is literally sand and dirt. It gets in your hair, ears, mouth…pretty terrible.

I showed my room with the Butler flag, well I flew it over the base. Here is the Butler flag flying proudly over Balad:

On the bottom picture you can see all the signatures!

I wanted to take the remaining time with this letter to see if I can help make clear some of the geo-political issues here in Iraq. Below is a picture of Southwest Asia and the Middle East which includes the Arabian Peninsula between Africa and the Middle East (Persia).

First Balad is about 40-50 miles due north of Baghdad. There are two major factors at play in Iraq. The first is based on ancient geographic history. To the West (and including Iraq) the people are Arabs…being from the Arabian Peninsula. To the East is Iran, which is ancient Persia. These people are known as Persians (not Arabs). Iraq sits between these two populations and is the “crossroads” between them. The Arab influence is the red arrows coming in form Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and of course Saudi Arabia. The Persian influence comes from Iran. There are enough feelings over this Arab versus Persian that the Persian Gulf is often called the Arabian Gulf by some Arabs. Collectively this area is known as the Middle East (although technically Iraq and Iran are Southwest Asia). Afghanistan and Pakistan are actually part of Central Asia which has a large Asian influence and are thus not technically Arabs or Persians, but rather Asians. What makes this more complicated is the second feature which is Religion. The Arabs are traditionally Sunni. Most of the World’s Muslim population is Sunni ( ~90%), and the Persians are traditionally Shi’ite. In Iraq, the Sunni population is the majority and is mainly located in the central and western parts of the Country. The Shi’ites are found south of Baghdad. These two groups do not get along and essentially hate each other. The third group are the Kurds (tribal group), who are located to the North by Mosul.

What is the difference? Well, The Islam religion was founded by Mohammed in the seventh century. In 622 he founded the first Islamic state, a theocracy in Medina, a city in western Saudi Arabia located north of Mecca. The hatred between Sunnis and Muslims goes back to 632 CE and the death of Prophet Mohammad. The most critical issue following Mohammed’s death was his succession. The forbearers of the Sunnis followed the tribal tradition of having a council of elders select as the head of the Islamic community the individual most qualified to lead. The forbearers of the Shiites on the other hand believed that Mohammad’s heirs should rule the Islamic community. The conflict came to a head in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE when the Sunnis forbearers massacred the prophet’s grandson Husayn and his followers. Gleefully, the victors carried Husayn’s head to Damascus and paraded it there. This is why for the next thirteen hundred years, there has been hatred and recurring warfare between these two sects within Islam who differ radically in their religious practices.

One can begin to see that many of the foreign fighters here have alternate agendas rather than just “anti-US”. In the Shi’ite South is a city known as Najaf, it houses the Imam Ali mosque and is considered to be the third holiest Muslim site in the World especially to the Shi’ites. Muqtada al-sadr is a Shi’ite cleric in Najaf and was a source of one of the largest resistance forces in Iraq. There is obvious tension between his Army and the new Iraq Sunni Government. Iran obviously supports Al-sadr and wants to “be a good neighbor” and build a highway to Najaf for all the Persians (Iranians, Shi’ites) to be able to get to Najaf…of course this would flood the Iraq with the Shi’ite influence and help push its “beliefs” west. The Sunni’s do not want this for obvious reasons. This may just give you a hint at some of Iran’s motivations (remember that the some of the more extreme Shi’ites want a return of the Caliphate).

Many people want the US to just leave Iraq. If we just leave, there will be a huge power vacuum and all the “arrows” will flood into Iraq…there would be a civil war between the Sunni (Arabs) and Shi’ites (Persian) with the winner gaining control of Iraq and the influence at the “crossroads”. This is why Syria and Iran have both been very interested in getting the US out as each side thinks it will gain the upper hand. The other exit strategy is to carve the country into three pieces…Sunni, Shi’a, and Kurd….the problem is that you have two religious groups and one tribal group. Also the Sunni area is mostly desert. Not so sure the other two groups would go out of their way to help the Sunni state survive (Saddam was a Sunni). The bottom line is that there really is not a good solution. The US is trying to help Iraq become strong enough with all the groups to prevent the impending civil war.

I think that I have given enough of a liberal arts lecture here, please know that this is very simplified and how I best understand the situation. Finally, I wanted to include some nice emails that I have received recently for my “shout out section”. It is essentially a prayer that was shared with me by my friend Alex Ansara, which in turn, I wanted to share with you. It is essentially two prayers. The first is a prayer that he says daily…not a bad idea:

"Look at your life. You can walk. You can talk. You can hear, see, taste, and touch. You have your family, you have great friends, a good job, a place to live, food to eat, clothes, a car, TV, internet, and the joy of music. Most importantly, as if all that isn't enough, you're healthy and you have God in your life. What the heck are you upset about???"

The second prayer:

DEAR GOD: I want to thank you for what you have already done. I am not going to wait until I see results or receive rewards; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until I feel better or things look better; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they stop talking about me; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until my financial situation improves; I am going to thank you right now. I am not going to wait until the children are asleep and the house is quiet; I am going to thank you right now. I am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get the job; I am going to thank you right now. I am not going to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has caused me pain or grief; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until the journey gets easier or the challenges are removed; I am thanking you right now. I am thanking you because I am alive. I am thanking you because I made it through the day's difficulties. I am thanking you because I have walked around the obstacles. I am thanking you because I have the ability and the opportunity to do more and do better. I'm thanking you because; YOU haven't given up on me.

Thank you again to everybody who continues to support my family, and me. I miss all of you. I almost forgot to give you my address:

CPT Mike Roscoe
Phipps TMC / 215th ASMC
APO AE 09391

Finally, never forget our soldiers, their families, and all those who serve. Never forget that we live in the greatest country on Earth. Never forget all our blessings. Please remember to vote…does not matter which side of the fence you are on, just don’t sit on it! To my PA students…keep working hard!

CPT Mike Roscoe