Day 4

I had a great time yesterday.

The shin-dig for Medic Platoon 2-6 started yesterday at about noon-ish. Pete and I rolled in at 1:30 or so. The event took place in a small banquet hall at the Baumholder Golf Course. Within moments of walking in, I had a beer in my hand and was making the rounds talking to everyone, shaking hands, giving hugs, laughing and catching up. I was all smiles upon seeing the guys that I had spent nearly eight months with in Iraq. No longer armed, sandy and tired-appearing in dirty uniforms, these guys were now bright eyed, upbeat, and often proudly holding their small children.

The cocktail portion of the day lasted for a few hours, and then there was a short award presentation for some of the medics and NCOs who were leaving for other units. There were some pretty moving speeches for some of these guys, and at times it definitely got pretty emotional in that room. I found myself clapping vigorously at each award presented, feeling immense pride for recognitions well deserved.

After the ceremony, a bunch of us went out to a bar for a few hours, and then we headed back to the barracks where there was a keg. Pete and I treated whenever possible for the evening and we just had a great time. My PA Jeff and several of the medics got pretty drunk, which was incredibly amusing. Being in the barracks for a party was interesting - like being back in college but without any women.

It was pretty damn cool to see all these guys again, now, in this state. At times during deployment, I had seen them at their lowest, trying to make sense of death and destruction, sometimes with shaking hands and dusty faces having just come back from a mission where someone had gotten hurt or killed. And last night I was seeing them smiling, telling stories, enjoying themselves. Pretty powerful stuff.

I harp on this a lot, but I'm going to say it again. I have a lot of respect for those guys. As medics, they are forced into an ugly situation in Iraq, doing daily patrols in horrible areas. They have no say in anything, because most of them have low rank. They are the victims of our continuing bad tactics (i.e. continuing to "patrol until you get blown up", as we called it down there), trying to function in a situation that is simply an utter mess. They get paid very little. They complain at times, but certainly not as much as they are entitled to. When someone goes down, they run instantaneously to help despite the fact that substantial danger may linger in the immediate area. Many of them saved several lives, and many of them had good friends die mere feet away. There is a lack of pretention in these guys that is rather inspiring. To me, they are an impressive lot, and as I told many of them last night, if and when I see any of them out and about in the future they won't be paying for any of their own drinks.

I realized that almost all of my gnarliest "war stories" come through their eyes and their experiences. And if there is any "Band of Brothers" sentimentality to my own war experiences, then it definitely comes through these guys.

I took some pics of some of the guys I knew best. Some of the guys have myspace pages, and I've linked where I could find them. Check em out if you have a free moment - its a fascinating glimpse of the mentalities of the individual soldiers who are really fighting this war.







SPC Diebold

This guy led the platoon in being on the most patrols hit by an IED. He was hit 25 times, and unfortunately has hearing damage that will last him a lifetime. He's applying to school, wants to go back to San Francisco, and I'll probably be writing him a letter of recommendation. He's not a fan of the war.




PFC Brock

Brock worked predominantly in the TMC with us because a bad shoulder kept him off "the line". One of the best video game players I've ever known. We had many epic battles of Mario Kart in the aid station. (He usually won.)






SPC Fulcher

The best story teller of the bunch, this guy is hilarious. Tended to think he was Rambo. He would come by the aid station and tell us all about his patrols - I learned a lot about what the war on the streets was like from this guy. Was one of the medics on the scene when Doug got killed. Between he and Taylor (below), and by virtue of their horrendous patrol area, saw more horrible war-shit than anybody else in the platoon. By the same token, saved more lives too.





SPC Taylor

The biggest war hero of them all. This guy was put to the test several times and has nerves of steel. Just a stud medic. Was put in for a bronze star with valor for a specific instance of providing life saving care under fire and a secondary blast, but, because of crappy army politics, he didn't get it - which makes me shake my head in disgust every time I think about it. He's being featured in an upcoming documentary.





"Mister" Bailes

He's getting out of the army tomorrow and would be offended if I put his (old) rank. This guy used to run a restaurant and is an amazing chef. He joined the Army out of "boredom" one day and two deployments later, says he's regretted it ever since. One of the most thoughtful and insightful guys I encountered down there. An absolute pleasure to be around.





SFC Harris

Sgt. Harris was our platoon seargent, the head NCO of the platoon. I can't say enough good stuff about this guy. Just a class act and the gold standard of good NCO leadership. I have the utmost respect for him and the way he handled himself and the platoon down there. He also kept me from looking like an ass (as best he could) in front of infantry guys.


More myspace links to some other medics:

SPC King

SPC Gorman

SPC Iga ("Bridges of Madison County..")

SPC Boyd (THEE Halo 2 legend)