Cal Guard's year of living dangerously

Valley Press ^ | February 15, 2004. | DENNIS ANDERSON

[BenLurkin]

Often, on waking, my first thoughts roam to the desert, like a waking dream. Not the Mojave Desert of my Antelope Valley home, but the Iraqi desert where our local National Guard troops traverse the sand and pitted roads in convoys that sometimes fall under attack from the thugs who once served Saddam Hussein. Nothing exists out there as an attraction. As winter months end, the temperatures will climb from the daytime 90s past the 100-degree mark, then past 110, 120, 130, and finally past 140 degrees.

Troops live in shelters ranging from palaces of the former dictator to canvas tents that house 60 soldiers on cots like a great cloth Bowery flop house. More dwell in the tents than the palaces. Sometimes a palace like the one at Ironhorse outside Tikrit offer a temporary respite from roadside bombs, sniper attacks and ambushes. Pool tables, swimming pools and a driving range that once pleased the monster offer troops a little R&R.

Our Antelope Valley troops with their California counterparts hit Kuwait in mid-May of 2003, and at the earliest will be heading toward home in April. Such dates have been believed in before, and passed. So, no one from our Guard families really knows what to believe.

When the group of soldiers that left for active duty a year and a day ago return home, what was expected to be a six-month deployment will have been at least 16 months. For Guard families this represents an extreme disruption of normal life. Birthdays have come and gone. Bills have been difficult to meet. No one expected, as was announced by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, that Guard and Reserve troops would carry up to 40% of the load in our biggest overseas combat theater since Vietnam. Guard and Reserve soldiers of today, cannot, and will not be the soldiers of tomorrow. One reason is that many of them, right now, are just too damned old to be doing what is universally considered the domain of the young.

Many of the soldiers in the Lancaster-based unit that joined up with companies from Riverside and Sacramento were fortysomethings and a dozen or so, "the old men," were Vietnam-era soldiers in their 50s. The unit of truckers also had a number of grandmothers in it ranks. Younger or older, these people ought to be considered our nation's "Magnificent Fiftysomethings." Soldiering in the world's nastiest desert environment at that age is nothing short of magnificent.

Did they get a raw deal? It's a plausible argument. These were the troops from the "second line of defense" who were supposed to be the foot soldiers of homeland security, guarding bridges, airports, and nuke plants. Instead, they were [tasked] to be the draft horses of the invasion of Iraq. When Special Forces soldiers were drained from Afghanistan, the Pentagon activated Reserve "green beanies," mostly middle-aged street cops, to go lift the firewood in the mountains bordering Pakistan. Magnificent? You bet. Was it right? If the Army had enough regular soldiers, they certainly would have sent them instead. This spring, the Marine Corps is plugging all the leaks sprouted by a combat-weary, awesomely effective, overused and stretched thin Army.

My waking thoughts return to the desert. And to American women and men who made that trip for you and me. This country is divided in its opinions about whether President George W. Bush picked the right fight for the right reason in pursuing Iraq as the nest of weapons of mass destruction.

That question wasn't raised by our friends and neighbors. Many of those Guard and Reservists saw the towers fall in New York and the smoke from the Pentagon and re-enlisted.

As Thomas Friedman of the New York Times notes: Those soldiers have no doubt about what they are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They went there to prevent another 9-11, and they went to preserve to open society that was attacked on that terrible day. Regardless of the second-guessing, that is what your friends and neighbors did when they undertook their dangerous journey.

[BenLurkin]

God bless our NG and regular Army soldiers, our Marines, our Sailors and Airmen.

[SandRat]

PING!

[snopercod]

The "Year of Living Dangerously" was a classic movie starring Linda Hunt (playing a man).

[68skylark]

God bless our NG and regular Army soldiers, our Marines, our Sailors and Airmen.

Amen to that.

And tell these kids, when they get home, to save every scrap of paper from their service. If they ever try to run for office some day, their duty can be subject to a big-time anal exam from those who never liked the military in the first place.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

(You forgot the 'blurry screen alert'! Great post. Thank you.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My waking thoughts return to the desert. And to American women and men who made that trip for you and me. This country is divided in its opinions about whether President George W. Bush picked the right fight for the right reason in pursuing Iraq as the nest of weapons of mass destruction.

That question wasn't raised by our friends and neighbors. Many of those Guard and Reservists saw the towers fall in New York and the smoke from the Pentagon and re-enlisted.

...Those soldiers have no doubt about what they are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                  California Army National Guard , "Magnificent Fiftysomethings"  ~ CA Guard and Reserve warriors, liberating Iraq, thank you all,  ping!

[blackie]

California Army National Guard , "Magnificent Fiftysomethings" ~ CA Guard and Reserve warriors, liberating Iraq, thank you all ~ Big Bump!

[Inyo-Mono]

...the temperatures will climb from the daytime 90s past the 100-degree mark, then past 110, 120, 130, and finally past 140 degrees.

The hottest temperature ever recorded anywhere on earth was 136 degrees fahrenheit at Al' Aziziyah, Libya in September 1922.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[SandRat]

Be sure to thank BenLurkin for the original article post.

[blackie]

Thanks, BenLurkin ~ Good job!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for this great posting, BenLurkin!

[Inyo-Mono]

Thanks Ben!

[speekinout]

Many of the soldiers in the Lancaster-based unit that joined up with companies from Riverside and Sacramento were fortysomethings and a dozen or so, "the old men," were Vietnam-era soldiers in their 50s.

That's remarkable. And kudos to them for serving.
BTW, what's the maximum age for Nat'l Guard and Reserves?

[radu]

A big THANK YOU to the California Army National Guard , "Magnificent Fiftysomethings"!!!

[windchime]

Bump!