Rusty Cannon

Mission Accomplished (mostly)

2005-03-04T14:21:00Z

I just arrived in Washington today via Kuwait. It was a whirlwind ride from leaving Iraq Monday night. I was still actively working right up to when i loaded my bags onto the truck for the airport. I have a pass for a few days to enjoy the beautiful greater Seattle area then back to Ft Lewis for outprocessing. More will follow later. Time for sleep.

Middle-aged G.I.s sent to Iraq

2005-02-12T03:55:00Z

I found this article called “Running Out of Troops” on AKO kind of funny--especially when you notice the mess hall is starting to look like a nursing home. Some of my troops have told me they lost 40-60 pounds on deployment. As we have a lot of new folks around here I believe them now. The National Guard is large and in-charge. I'm sure they'll get lean and mean in a few months. I, on the other hand, am bucking the trend. My muscle is atrophying at an astounding rate and I've gained ten pounds over the chocolate season (November through March). The summer heat has its advantages after all I guess.

On IBA

2005-02-09T04:26:00Z

While I’m talking about RFI gear I’ll give a plug to the Interceptor body armor, also called IBA. I’ve worn body armor for extended periods of time off and on for a few years. Of all the body armor types I’ve worn, the IBA is actually the most comfortable despite its bulk and weight. The IBA has webbing which matches the accessory pockets of the new Mollie system so you can choose to use the separate vest or place your ammo and other necessities right on your body armor. The best part though are the ceramic plates, called SAPI . One of our soldiers is alive today because his SAPI plate stopped cold an AK47 round that struck him in the chest. IBA is heavy but well worth the weight. It has proven itself in combat time and time again.

So, if you got an invitation to the party despite other plans at least you can be assured you’ll be dressed for success. The IBA and the new helmet are solid protective equipment actively saving soldier’s lives and will give you confidence knowing you have the best, most advanced protective equipment available on the battlefield today.

Boot Review

2005-02-09T04:11:00Z

The Rapid Fielding Initiative, RFI for short, is a program designed to get deploying or deployed soldiers the best gear ever issued to an army in the field. Of the many outstanding items you will get such as Interceptor body armor and the new Advanced Combat Helmet, several will probably have you wondering why you are being issued it and tempt you into sending it home rather than carrying it. Cold weather boots for example.

When I mobilized I received two pairs of Gore-Tex cold weather boots; one tan canvas, the other black leather Ft Lewis boots. I did send the black boots home but I kept the tan ones. Thank goodness. It’s not that it gets real cold or rains all the time during winter in Iraq but when it does rain, the water pools up and sits around for days. The soil has a high clay content and is poorly drained. The parking lot at my building has become Lake Anaconda with the accumulation of several rain showers over the past few days. That means I end up wading through a lot of standing water. I am happy to report that after two months of daily wear these boots have not leaked yet. They are warmer than the standard issue boots, have good impact absorption and break in without effort. The Gore-Tex is very breathable and the sweating/chilling pattern common to other boots is seldom a problem.

If you get to Ft Bliss or wherever you receive RFI and think about saving space in the duffle by skipping the boots, just remember it isn’t always hot and dry in the desert. Good boots make a major difference in comfort when the weather gets wet.

IRR Cops in Iraq

2005-02-07T03:31:00Z

I met some new IRR's arriving in town today and was surprised to learn that civilian law enforcement officers are curiously over-represented in the mix. The Army's reserve components require all soldiers to update their civilian employment information yearly. It’s the law. The stated intent is to ensure that individuals in certain critical skills specialties like law enforcement, paramedics and firefighters, are identified so as not to leave the communities that depend on these first responders without proper service. In fact, (got to love the internet) I just found the quote:

"One of the key intents of this program is to help employers and DoD better identify those Army Reserve Soldiers with civilian jobs which are essential to maintaining national health, safety and homeland defense," said Maj. David Limmer, project manager for the Civilian Skills database at HRC-St. Louis.

Examples include police officers, fire fighters and other "first responders," he said.

It also helps the military ensure that its assets are used to the fullest extent and to develop career paths in the military which are more consistent with civilian career momentum," he said. "Overall, the key is to improve communication between the military and civilian employers"

If your crap detection alarm hasn't sounded yet it's time to get it re-calibrated. Governors and legislators have been hammering the Defense Department for gutting police departments by mobilizing officers, troopers and deputies for multiple and/or extended deployments. If the spirit of this law was to protect those agencies and the citizens they serve, it backfired. Instead, civilian skills make persons in the categories listed above more selectable for deployment as individuals--especially from the IRR. Let’s face it, cops are a hot commodity in theater.

I admit it, this is my own personal opinion based on anecdotal rather than empirical evidence. But it is persuasive.

Earlier last year I was running a web search on IRR issues and ran across a document from a conference on IRR mobilizations. My first surprise was that there was a need for an IRR conference in the first place but my mobilization orders were a clue. One of the issues was whether or not emergency responders, like police or paramedics for example, would be exempted from mobilization due to being critical to homeland defense. The decision listed stated that no, there was no need for an exemption as the National Guard was available to each state to assist with managing crisis. I wonder if the level of National Guard and Army Reserve mobilizations were accounted for before reaching this conclusion. The Spirit of the law and the Letter of the law are clearly two distinct entities and a decision was made somewhere to go with the latter.

The buzz right now is that we are preparing to focus more on training and advising as the Iraqi security forces take on more of the direct combat role. I read reports recommending that the number of advisers be doubled or tripled. I have to admit, this would be a good step for many reasons but who will do the training? Will it be career Regular Army Officers and their units or National Guard units with a bunch of IRR’s thrown together for a few months before deployment? And who will advise the Iraqi Police? Military Police have an entirely different skill set and are over-tasked with other priorities right now. The reserve components have the only readily available source of trained civilian law enforcement officers that can be ordered anywhere, unlike civilian contractors or even the Justice Department. My guess is that the answer has already been determined.

A lot of IRR officers and NCO’s are finding themselves headed for AST’s in charge of training missions in Iraq. We really must be running out of troops when we ship out the IRR to play such a pivotal role in reshaping Iraq’s security.

Incidentally, a lot of soldiers I know are getting emails on AKO to update their civilian skill information right now.

A Calm Election

2005-01-31T03:43:00Z

The elections are over and all was quite in my very small corner of Iraq. Shutting down vehicle travel in the country apparently worked. I’ll find out later this week how all of the security measures effected people when I see our local national workers next. I doubt anyone complained too much. Vehicle travel within cities and villages was prohibited as was traveling between provinces in an attempt to disrupt possible attacks across the country. I read that a British C-130 crashed near Balad today which was a real surprise to me given the fact that I’m there for one. I have no idea how many people were on board at the time or what the circumstances of the crash are but I certainly hope the losses are minimal. It has been a bad week for aviation in Iraq.

In one of the more unusual occurrences I’ve seen here, a unit on patrol was given a live turkey today and decided it would be a great idea to release it and brought it to my location to set it free. It’s impolite to refuse gifts in Iraqi society so hey, now there’ve stuck with this turkey. The bird was in an MRE box with only its tail-feathers sticking out . The Iraqi soldiers working with us immediately saw an opportunity. In fact, the sergeant had just finished telling me how he had a farm with an orchard, 25 chickens, a mule and two turkeys, amongst other things. Of course he wanted it. The US soldiers who had the bird were set on freeing him despite the fact that its wings were clipped and it was completely domesticated. I guess everyone is getting caught up in the spirit of freedom with the elections and all.

I tried to avoid getting sucked into this mess but alas, I was unsuccessful. The bird was released and immediately ran towards the fence to get back inside. Not a bad idea as we think it’s safer inside the wire too. The Iraqi soldiers immediately requested council with me to debate the wisdom of letting a good male turkey get eaten by wild dogs rather than being paired with a couple of eager chicks back at the sergeant’s hen house. The argument was persuasive and I gave the go ahead for the sergeant to catch the turkey. After all, the other soldiers who brought him here were gone and the turkey appeared to want to be back inside the safety of a wire cage anyway.

So the sergeant and a couple of his cohorts started the process of catching the turkey. The chase is on. I can only imagine what this must have looked like to others who didn’t know what was happening; three Iraqi soldiers running around frantically chasing bird. At one point one of the soldiers thought it would be a good idea to order the bird to stop at gunpoint. I’ve seen this technique work on cartoons before. As expected, the rifle ended up being aimed at the other Iraqi soldiers. I thought for a minute how my report on this would look as I attempted to explain exactly why an Iraqi soldier shot his comrade by accident. Eventually the turkey was caught and all was good. It was entertaining for about ten minutes and we made several people very happy, including the turkey ultimately. He should be living the high life by the morning. This was a rare win-win scenario.

Road Trip

2005-01-17T06:18:00Z

I caught a ride on a convoy to Mosul last week and took my first real trip outside the wire. I was really nothing more than a tourist but seeing the country, even through a small armored window, is enlightening. All I have seen otherwise are the few square miles of Anaconda. Something that really surprised me was the long lines of cars at every gas station we passed. And nothing was moving at them. It looked like people were camped out for days waiting to get fuel. I haven’t read anything about the gas situation here but I expected that it would be more available. Driving through various villages and cities you could also see a striking unevenness in living standards. Tikrit, for instance, looked modern. Some of the small villages we passed appeared to be in the stone-age. I finally got a first hand look at how Sadaam took care of his favored people.

Starting out on a convoy you can sense the tension. Everyone is at least a little anxious wondering what may come, if anything. In my case I had no idea what to expect. While it dissipated a bit as the hours passed I still felt a bit nervous every time we passed stalled cars along the roadside or saw vehicles in the median waiting to make a u-turn. At one point, a vehicle that passed our convoy outside Mosul by driving the wrong way on a divided highway was suddenly stopped on the right side of the road. As we passed it, the vehicle pulled out and began following the convoy. We kept a careful eye and a large machine gun on it.

Iraqi’s have a habit of driving on the wrong side of the road at high speed from what I’ve been told and I saw several monuments to this behavior littering the roadside. The collisions are quite spectacular I’m sure. I would have suspected the wrecks were VBIED’s had I not seen what little remains after one of them go off.

Anaconda is a tropical oasis compared to most of Iraq. North of Tikrit the land is almost completely barren. The landscape has a surreal mystique with stark contrasts. I saw a few lonesome trees occasionally but very little groundcover of any sort. Nothing but gray dust. Close to Mosul the ground had a faint tint of green, like someone spray painted the dirt, but nothing substantial.

We made an overnight in Mosul and hit the road back the next day. The FOB in Mosul made Anaconda look like a paragon of order by comparison but it had a pulse I haven’t felt anywhere else. The war is happening there and you can feel the urgency, the excitement of a combat arms operation.

We were lucky and didn’t find any excitement ourselves that day but we passed a convoy that was hit by an IED. Two tractor-trailers had flat tires and a few small holes in body panels. I have no idea if there were any injures or not. It was one of the large supply convoys comprised mostly of civilian trucks. As we approached the entrance to Anaconda we passed throngs of kids anticipating candy that troops on convoys often toss out to them. One enterprising teen was trying to sell porn but didn’t get any takers. I’m glad I had the opportunity to go.

Awesome Blog!

2005-01-17T05:15:00Z

I checked out this site after coming upon it on Kevin's blog. It's great! Backdrafted. A wonderful perspective on IRR life in Iraq training ING troops.

Reserves at Breaking Point

2005-01-08T03:13:00Z

Michelle's post about LTG Helmly's memo prompted me to find the document. You can view it here. Unfortunately, it is in Acrobat 5.0 so I couldn't copy it into an article format directly. It amazes me that this document was publicly released.

I also found a report from the Washington Times regarding proposed changes in tour lengths/multiple connsecutive tours for reserve and National Guard troops. I heard some rumors of this back in October stating that the issue was being quitely guarded until after the election. Well, here it is. Read and evaluate it for yourself. From my perspective, this is not good news for reservists.

Due Respect for ING Troops

2005-01-07T04:55:00Z

There is a lot of news about the low level of confidence American troops have for Iraqi National Guard (ING) soldiers. Performance has been spotty. There are serious differences in culture, work ethic, education level, training, motivation and discipline amongst the ING which have hampered their performance. Many ING troops, if not most, see joining as little more than a job to put food on the table. On the other hand, some are quite dedicated to the prospect of a new future and look to us for guidance and support.

If you have read news reports on Iraq over the last week you probably noticed that the ING are getting hit hard around the country. VBIED attacks are taking their toll across Iraq as the election date draws near. One paid us a personal visit this week and took the life of an ING troop who works with me and several of his colleagues. He died doing his duty as a soldier to defend the base. As a result, no US troops or Iraqi local nationals (LN's) were injured.

I got a front row seat to the whole event. Working a bomb scene is not a pleasant experience. Many of the ING were distraught at the loss of comrades while others were just plain scared for themselves. Never the less, troops came back to work again the next morning. Not all, but the ones who were there were more determined.

I have made a point to speak with the ING leadership and let them know how we appreciate their work, have empathy for their losses, and to encourage them to press on. They will ultimately be called upon to keep this country together and need all of the help and support they can get right now.

Resignation Criteria for Reserve Officers

2005-01-03T02:11:00Z

I ran across this article/email on the SFTT website regarding new guidance from USARC G-1 on procedures for approving or disapproving Unqualified Resignations of Reserve Component Officers. For those not familiar with the term “unqualified resignation” in the Army sense, it is a resignation initiated by the individual officer for their own reasons, whatever they may be, like career, family, etc.... A qualified resignation is where the Army has a vested interest in removing you from the service. In addition to serving a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan you need to be free of stop loss and in a specialty currently above 50% authorized manning in your rank. That last little detail is bound to trip up a lot of captains trying to move on given how short the Army Reserve is on captains system wide (currently 59%) regardless of specialty. You have to wonder who's driving this train wreck. I may end up retiring yet.

Happy New Year's

2005-01-02T04:18:00Z

New Years has come and gone and most of us are busy with paperwork in an attempt to keep on top of things before we leave in a couple months or so. I'm trying to get a few last minute awards written and/or rewritten in addition to my OER Support Form. The Army has a proprietary software program called Formflow which I'm certain is directly responsible for numerous incidents of violence against computers. As for my OER, we hit a small snag in that we aren't really sure what my official “job” is in the standard Army sense. I was mobilized to be a Field Artillery platoon leader. Well, that didn't happen. In fact, I haven't seen a single howitzer since I got here. I got promoted somewhere in the process and the FA Battalion didn't need me anymore. I ended up in a Support Battalion instead. I proposed that I be the Assistant to the Assistant S-3 or the Battalion Coffee Officer. I'm waiting to see what we end up with.

The standard Army Table of Organization and Equipment which dictates how the Army is organized is not relevant to many of the missions we are doing now. We need to create some sort of new unit structure more appropriate for the occupation with a standard training format to ensure troops are cross trained to handle the missions, equipment and weapons that are used extensively in theater. What we have instead is a collection of various task forces and ad-hoc quazi-units like mine where I operationally control several different entities while having no administrative control or responsibility for the soldiers, with some exceptions. The problem is that I usually learn about the exceptions after the fact when a crisis occurs, like the deadline for awards or evaluations. I have soldiers for several different companies within the battalion and many get switched out frequently which makes keeping track of administrative things more challenging.

To celebrate New Years Eve the Battalion had a Casino Night party complete with entertainment provided by our talented troops and faux champagne. It was quite the event and a lot of fun. The Battalion was activated back in November of 2003. As such, they had a whole year to reflect back on. I'm quite content with my six months and feel lucky I got the call late. Since we run things 24/7 here I grabbed a couple of bottles of faux champagne and visited some of the troops out of their posts. I have always enjoyed sharing holidays in the field with fellow warriors. We drank the fauxpagne with a couple of ING troops. I think they really appreciated the inclusion but didn't have any particular like for the drink.

It feels like this New Year's Day is ushering in a real transition. Within the unit you can feel renewed energy and optimism as the end of the deployment appears well within grasp. Within the country, from my vantage point on this isolated island of a base anyways, you can feel the anxiety and optimism, angst and hope that the coming election will lead to a tangible future. It has been widely reported that violence is expected to worsen as the election approaches and the insurgency becomes more desperate to disrupt voting. I get a few glimpses to what's happening outside our walls from the locals who work on base. It is amazing to see and hear the hardships they live with. The region still has 70% unemployment but you can make a hundred bucks, close to a month's wages for those employed, by planting an IED or shooting a rocket at the base. There are few options available them right now.

Thomas Friedman wrote a good commentary at what is really at stake here over the next month as demonstrated by the photograph of two election workers being executed on a street in Baghdad. You really don't need to say more but he does so eloquently.

Wet Christmas

2004-12-26T02:08:00Z

It started drizzling this morning and the drizzle built into a steady rain. The soil here is a fine clay that forms choking dust when dry and heavy, slimy mud when wet. The ground is already saturated and the gravel spread out all over base to keep the dust down is now sinking into the quagmire. Once firm ground now feels like walking on a sponge. I think the rainy season has officially begun. If the temperature drops another ten degrees we could even have snow.

Despite the weather spirits are high and good cheer prevails. We had a party last night complete with stockings for everyone. They were stuff full of candy and a great new leatherman tool. But best of all, the matching sock came with it! I now have a second pair of white athletic socks that comply with regulations on PT Uniform wear. Cool. I can now enter the DFAC (Dining Facility) without fear of being challenged by the ruthless mess hall guards. Around midnight some of the battalion staff drove out to deliver hot drinks and sing Christmas Carols. From what I’ve heard, some were more appreciative than others but no carolers were shot or otherwise injured. I made my rounds before midnight so I personally missed the event.

As on other holidays, the DFAC put together a big spread for dinner to include turkey, shrimp, hen and the requisite pork product which was ham today. Oddly, pork and pork products are forbidden to be mailed into the country but we usually have at least three forms of pork offered every meal. Humm… Then again, before I boarded the plane to fly over here I was actually wanded with a metal detector to ensure I had no weapons on me while I held a handgun. Anyways, it was nice to gather with everyone for awhile before heading back out into the rain.

It was a very good day. We are still safe and amongst friends. In only three months Iraq will be a memory. We took a few pictures of our crew together before calling it a day.

Reserve Officer Crisis

2004-12-23T01:40:00Z

I posted an article from the Seattle Times that I learned about from an AKO forum topic by the same title. It is informative. Unfortunately, it doesn't include the chart showing resignations growing exponentially. The Army Reserve states that it is at 59% of target for captains and expects it to take five to seven years to correct the imbalance. Remember when the Army was showing captains the door enmasse in the 90’s? This “crisis” has been in the making for quite some time. I vividly remember the Army offering incentives for separated captains RIF’d out after Desert Storm to return to active duty due to shortages in 1998. I have read several posts from people, enlisted and officer both, who separated from service in the early 90’s under the VSI (Voluntary Separation Initiative) now being called back to duty 14 years later! There should really be a statue of limitations on that.

One of the key points I took out of the article is that the Army Reserve is denying officer resignation requests from those who have not yet served a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. Whether or not this statement is official policy I don’t know. HRC is more secretive about its personnel policy then the CIA it seems. The article is worth a read as are the comments in the AKO forum. Check it out.

R&R ROCKS!

2004-12-23T01:02:00Z

I returned from R&R last week refreshed and ready for another round. Well, maybe that was the wrong choice of words for around here but prepared for duty none the less. The R&R program is one of the outstanding successes of this war. It breaks up the deployment into manageable lengths and really lets you get your feet out of the fire for awhile. IRR's get to participate in the program just like anyone else and it does help. You can fly home on the Army's expense or jump off on Europe for a couple of weeks and get a guaranteed fifteen days boots on ground at your destination of choice. I took the home option and had wonderful time with my wife and managed to get some skiing and ice climbing in too. You can't possibly get farther from Iraq, both physically and mentally, than by playing in the Colorado mountains in the winter.

All of the troops in my battalion have had the opportunity to take R&R. This is a great achievement driven by determined support of the Battalion and Brigade chain of command. It is such a powerful morale booster that even watching someone else leave for their R&R lifts the spirits of both those who have yet to go and the ones who have already returned despite the personnel strains it creates. Several of my NCO's recently took R&R and I'm seeing renewed energy in everyone.

You are eligible for R&R after 90 days in theater and it can be taken up until 90 days prior to departure. Units have different methods of determining who goes when based on the number of slots that are available at any given month. I was quite surprised that I got the opportunity to go at all given I arrived here almost halfway through my unit's deployment. It is something to look forward to when you make that unexpected trip over here.