DIGIJOURNAL 018--2 JUNE 2007

DATELINE 2JUN07 PATROL BASE PALIWODA

The following is from a conversation between SSG B and myself that took place while visiting a wounded soldier at the Anaconda Hospital. While I was looking at the Purple Heart we would soon award to a Warhorse soldier, I began a light-hearted conversation with SSG B…

SSG B Sir, it is bad luck to touch a Purple Heart.
CH W Sergeant B, I don’t believe in luck.
SSG B Sir, it is still bad luck.
CH W SSG B, God is either in control or He is not.
SSG B That might be true, sir, but we can always minimize risk.

I laughed at how SSG B “got” me. Minimizing risk…that is the best definition for not tempting fate that I had heard in a long time.

I have been spending the last week, or the last seven months for that matter, minimizing risk. After a very relaxing, fun, and overall great two weeks of leave, I have made it back to Iraq. It was hard the first couple of days to get back into the practice of battlefield awareness, but the soldiers I went out with were a great help. I must say again what amazing people they are. One of the byproducts of a long wartime deployment is the sense of closeness and family that begins to develop between us. While I was gone, I did not miss the place, but I did miss the soldiers. It always makes my day when they ask how my leave went, meaning that not only do I care about them but they are also concerned about me. Despite all the rhetoric the flies back and forth, and all the unknowns of how this war will turn out, I still believe that I serve the finest group of Americans that this present generation has produced.

One of the things I did while at home was to reread some of my blog entries. Sometimes I felt like I should turn in my college English degree. My only excuse is that the lateness of hour and the sense of urgency involved combined to make for some interesting and not-well-thought-out or edited writing. I thank all of you who periodically check in to this blog for your patience, understanding, and endurance. As part of a solution, I am going to write shorter but more current entries.

In putting out this blog, my desire was never to draw attention to myself, which I pray you understood. I do have many reasons for taking the time to do this. I want to get the story out there about what our soldiers are doing and what good people they are. If you are looking for objective, riveting reporting on what is happening at the business end of the war on terror, this page is not the place to find it. All that goes on over here is not doom and gloom. In fact, much of what we do is often boring and unrewarding--and some of it is pretty funny. Humor has always been a part of a soldier’s coping skills. I also hope this blog helps family members stay in touch with some of what is going on, as well as providing all of you great Americans who have provided support to us with updates on your packages and their distribution.

As I close, I do want to relate with a sad heart another casualty we suffered while I was on leave. 1LT Andy Bacevich was killed near Samarra on Mother’s Day. I had the opportunity to have dinner with him while I visited our soldiers at his FOB. He was a very intelligent, charismatic guy who cared deeply about his soldiers and their families. My condolences go out to his family: his mother, father, and sisters. Any words I say will sound like a cliché. As soldiers, one of the iron truths of being a combat veteran is that our hearts will never cease to grieve for him or any of the other Warhorse soldiers who have given their lives so that their brothers in arms might live. Requiescat in Pace.

Warhorse Archangel