The Mosque, the Youth Center, and the Car Bomb

In a city that lies in the heart of the Sunni Triangle is a mosque with a collapsed roof.

The roof collapsed because 100 to 200 pounds of high explosives that had been stored in the mosque blew up, pushing out all four walls, allowing the ceiling to meet the floor with high impact.

One might wonder which religious ceremony includes the use of high explosives, necessitating the storage all that C4. I’ve read parts of the Qu’ran, and can’t find any mention of such a religious rite. But then again, I don’t pretend to be a Muslim scholar of any kind. Just another infidel.

Of course, the Imam of the mosque came to the near by US base and complained that “someone” had blown up his mosque. I’m sure he was shocked, simply shocked, to hear that so much explosives were being stored in his mosque. Not sure if the Imam was detained or not. The rules of engagement and detention for US troops are very restrictive. The US commander would have to prove the Imam knew the explosives were being stored there. And, there’s plenty of political pressure on US commanders to “play nice” with religious leaders in Iraq, with all the delicate negotiations on the Iraq constitution and such. So, there’s a better than even chance that when the Imam was told of the explosives by the local US commander, he simply shrugged and walked away.

The next day, a US patrol was fired on from the building across the street from the mosque with the collapsed roof.

Big mistake.

Three M2 fighting vehicles, which look like tanks but also carry infantry inside, opened up on the building, which, by the way, was the Youth Center in town. Our rules of engagement do allow US troops to return fire, no matter what the sign on the building says.

And return fire they did. Using their 20mm chain guns, the M2s raked the building with a withering fire.

Then they called in the 8-229 Flying Tigers.


Two of our birds, flown by Captain Soup, Mr. South, Mr. Lunchlover, and Captain Coonskin, were up on patrol in the area and quickly arrived on station. They were guided in by the M2s on the scene, all of which, after the Apache attack helicopters were given clearance to fire, moved back a safe distance from the building.

You can imagine the Saddamists or Al Qa’ida inside the building, if they were still alive, got a real case of pucker factor when they heard two Apache helicopters droning overhead and watched the M2s back up and take positions far away from the Youth Center.

Bet they crapped their man-dresses, big time.

The Apaches each took a run at the building, preparing to fire one Hellfire missile each. I can tell you, after watching the gun tapes numerous times, our pilots take an amazing amount of care to make sure the missiles are launched in as safe a manner as possible. If you’re not actually in theater, this may be hard to believe. In previous wars, like WWII, the US used carpet bombing as preferred tactic, as in Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This is no longer the case. We don’t just go in and level whole cities anymore.

We had a reporter from the New York Times come to the 8-229 Flying Tigers operations center a little while back. She asked our executive officer, the XO, “How much actual shooting goes on?” When the XO responded not a whole lot, she seemed oh so disappointed. I guess her knowledge of the tactics of helicopters in war is based mostly on watching the door gunner in Apocalypse Now firing at folks on the ground, all the while yelling, “Get some! GET SOME!” US Apaches holding fire when ever there is any question whatsoever as to the target just isn’t sexy copy. She seemed absolutely deflated.

This Youth Center is pretty much in the center of town. The Hellifires are guided missiles. Nonetheless, the pilots lined up their shots so that even if they missed, the missiles would not land on any homes in the city.

Both landed dead-nuts on.

After the second Hellfire exploded, the Youth Center became deathly quiet. All gunfire from inside had by now ceased.


Minutes later, US ground forces found a car they suspect of being a suicide car bomb. Again, they called in the 8-229 Flying Tigers, who had just finished their run on the Youth Center. Again, the Apache pilots took care to avoid any damage to homes or the historical Mosque not 300 yards away. One burst of rounds from the 30mm chain gun from the Apache, and said “suspected” car bomb burst into flames. Smoke quickly filled the sky, obscuring the afternoon skyline in this unique city. Obviously, the car had been carrying more than eggs and a gallon of milk in the front seat.

The Warrior Within

This may sound a bit dated to some, but many people believe that a man cannot live his life as a man until he recognizes the warrior within.

This is supposed to be why guys watch football games, action movies, and talk at work like their casting for a part on “The Sopranos”. They may be wearing a tie and suit jacket, and they may only be making copies of last quarter’s sales. But, in their mind’s eye, they’re getting ready to fight some invisible enemy. Especially if the copy machine jams. Then the stock broker quickly becomes “The Terminator”, and that copy machine is going to need a serious tune-up. These guys aren't able to recognize the warrior within, and act screwy, lashing out at copy machines or traffic jams, in small random acts of violence.

According to this point of view, the tough guy thing is a deeply evolved response. Older than football, older than man himself as a species. Something that goes back over a hundred million years ago.

And, most of a guy’s early years are spent in which their mothers, their surrogate mothers at school, and later in marriage, try to train young men to not attack things they hate. Don’t punch other little boys. Don’t beat their mathbooks to pieces. Don’t throw their tools around the garage or their lawnmowers across the yard. One can understand why, of course.

Nonetheless, short of castration, either physically or chemically, repression of the inner warrior is futile. At least as long as testosterone is flowing through a man’s body, a guy is going to act like, well, testosterone is flowing through his body.

Men aren’t the only ones whose emotions are ruled by their hormone ebb and flow. Some woman, after menopause and their estrogen levels plummet, start to grow mustaches and get very, very grouchy. I don’t know if there is a correlation between menopause and becoming a serious football fan. But, the next time you see Grandma come swaggering out of her Lincoln Towncar like Tony Soprano, think about it. Don’t mention it to her, though.

She may just grumble, “Hey, show a little respect, okay?”

But in her mind’s eye, Grandma’s grabbing you by your crotch and throwing you across the hood of her car, ya’ freaking fat bastard punk.

In the book, and later the movie, “Fight Club”, the suppressed inner warrior is characterized as the lead character’s invisible friend who loves wild sex and fighting. In “Star Wars”, the man’s inner warrior is portrayed as The Dark Force.

I knew a guy up in Pennsylvania who was looking to join a week long retreat called something like, “The Spiritual Warrior”. For some number of thousands of dollars, he was looking forward to getting in touch with that inner warrior.

I told him, “I can help you become a warrior. Why don’t you join the Reserves or National Guard and become a door gunner on a Blackhawk helicopter, for example?”

His jaw dropped, his eyes widened, and he stared at me, and after a pause, he said, “You don’t have to actually fight anyone to be a warrior.”

“Uhm, yes you do. Otherwise, you’re just dressing up like cowboys and Indians, except it cost a lot more to do it as an adult. And, it looks kinda silly, everyone sitting around with their shirts off, sweating, while some guy sits in the middle and beats his drum and complains about his life. There are real enemies, you know. Like Al Qa’ida, the ones that killed three thousand of your countrymen on 9/11. It was in the all the papers and on the news a little ways back? If you want to get in touch with your inner warrior, why not fight them?”

No, he never signed up with the Reserves or National Guard. Don’t know whatever happened to him, to tell you the truth. And, with his serious drug and drinking problems, the Army is better off without him.

But, it’s sad, really. He’s like so many others. They just don’t get it.

Mr. President – Meet with Cindy Crawford

I know, CNN, Jane Fonda, and Michael Moore want you to meet with that other Cindy.

Trust me, the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq would much rather watch an interview with you talking to Cindy Crawford.

A survey of soldiers in the 8-229 Flying Tigers I conducted resulted in 100% of the respondents favoring the Cindy Crawford interview. Though, I'm not suggesting the poll should sway your decision, Sir.

The other Cindy is rather old, fat and frumpy. Not what your soldiers want to see at all.

We all love our Moms. But even we get tired of their endless nagging.

We certainly don’t think watching you interviewing another emotional Mom is going to do a damn thing for our morale. Heck, many of us are here to escape that kind of nagging.

Whereas, a photo-op of you talking with Cindy Crawford, maybe by the pool, or playing volley ball. Now, that’s the kind of interview we’d like to see more of.

Just a thought, Mr. President.

Citizen Soldiers

From what I’ve heard, originally the whole idea of democracy and the citizen soldier pretty much meant one in the same. At least, that’s the way it was in Athens, Greece, way, way back before there was a Untied States of America, or Thomas Jefferson, or the Bill of Rights.

Even before there were Christians and Muslims.

The idea, way back then, was that a citizen was a soldier, and a soldier was a citizen. Same same.

Any man willing to lift a shield, sword, and spear in the defense of Athens earned the right to vote on what the policies of Athens would be. Conversely, any man who wanted to vote on the policies of Athens would have to be willing, when the time came, to lift up his shield, sword, and spear in defense of Athens.

You might summarize this early form of democracy as: “You can talk the talk only if you can walk the walk.”

And, way back then, just as today, wives and children cried as the soldiers left. And Moms, Dads, sisters and brothers wept when some the soldiers didn’t return.

Didn’t mean, by the way, that a guy could pick and choose which wars he was going to fight in. If the democratic majority voted in favor of mobilizing the army, and a guy didn’t show armored-up, then he was quickly stripped of his citizenship and sent into exile, the punishment being worse than death for most of those citizens back then.

Yes, they loved their Athens that much. Not so much the buildings and the streets as the people who lived there, I’d guess.

Funny, eh?

Turned out to be an unexpectedly effective fighting unit.

We all have heard how the brave Spartans fought and died at Thermopolis, where the very undemocratic warriors of Sparta, home to a very strong professional warrior culture, were run over by the Persian army, some say a large as a million troops, in three quick days.

Whereas, the citizen soldiers of Athens totally routed the Persian army at Marathon. Kicked their sorry Persian asses, sent them packing back to Asia, never to return to Greece again. The same Marathon we honor today in foot races, retracing the steps of the one Athenian runner who brought back news to the cradle of democracy of the incredible victory.

Changed the whole of history on those plains of Marathon, they did. Tough as nails.

Not bad for a bunch of part-time, weekend warriors. The only reason Greek democracy survived was because of its citizen soldiers, and their willingness to back up their words with deeds, and, if need be, with their own blood.

You can see how the idea of the Athenian citizen-soldier influenced the original writers of the US Constitution. They didn’t want a large standing army, but instead envisioned a nation in which its citizens would, if the democratic majority voted to mobilize, pick up their muskets and show up at the town Commons as the local militia.


Which of course is why the 8-229th Aviation Flying Tigers are here in the middle of the Sunni Triangle. Here in the heat and the dust, with the cobra snakes, the camel spiders, Al Qa’ida, the Saddam Fedeyeen, Iranian and Syrian intelligence operatives, thousands of miles from our own country.

We got a long, long tradition to uphold, you see. Not so many shields, spears, swords or muskets. More automatic rifles, Hellfire missiles and Apache helicopters.

Doctors, lawyers, farmers, engineers, airline pilots, school teachers, animal veterinarians, truck drivers, college students, police officers, housewives, Mr. Moms, you name it.

We’re all here.


A bunch of part-time, weekend warriors, trying to change history.

Yes, we love our country that much.

Funny, eh?

Soldier Haters

One of the members of the 8-229th Aviation Flying Tigers went home on emergency leave a few weeks ago. I’ll call him Sergeant Tom.

The Army allows its soldiers, in cases of urgent need, to go home for a couple weeks. The airplane ticket is paid for by the Red Cross, I believe, though I’m not sure. Anyway, it doesn’t come out of the soldier’s pocket. Which is a good thing, airline tickets halfway around the world being fairly pricey these days.

A number of others in the unit have gone home on emergency leave as well. This, unfortunately, is pretty much normal. One soldier went home to help burry his Dad. Another went home to take care of the kids while his wife was in the hospital for heart surgery. Another soldier left for three weeks to face a judge and his wife’s divorce lawyer. All the family emergencies and tragedies that happen in peacetime keep happening in wartime as well. Death and misery definitely do not take a holiday just because America sends its troops abroad.

We all know that.

The soldiers going home on leave are, for the most part, treated like heroes, by most of the folks they meet, anyway. An old guy will spot you in the airport, stumble over on his walker, and shake your hand like his pumping an old time fire engine. A young woman you’ve never met before will walk up, give you a firm hug, and plant a kiss on your stubble covered cheek. Some couple you don’t know will insist on paying for your dinner.

Each time, the soldiers get embarrassed, treated like they just came back from the moon or something. Nobody has a speech prepared. There’s no “One small step for man,…” or, “Ich bin ein Dallaser!” One soldier coming back from leave told me it got to where he and his wife stopped going out, avoiding all the attention he wasn’t sure he deserved.

Well, he’s a bit shy, really.

Sergeant Tom went home on emergency leave to go to court. Not divorce court. Family court. He was being accused by the County of abandoning his children. His three kids had been living with his Mom and Dad since he’d been called up to serve in the Global War on Terror.

It seems that one of his children’s school teachers made the accusation.

The school teacher had been telling one of Sergeant Tom’s three children, a little boy, whom I’ll call Billy, that his Dad didn’t love him any more. That Sergeant Tom had abandoned Billy. That little Billy’s Dad joined the Army so that he could dump little Billy, and his sister and brother, and never come home again.

Then the school teacher called County Social Services and made the same accusation. That Sergeant Tom had dumped his kids on his parents, joined the Army, and took off for parts unknown. Social Services searched Sergeants Tom’s home, interviewed his children, and took temporary custody of his three children.

All to protect the children, you understand.

Certainly with no poorly hidden political agenda in mind. That would be pure evil on the part of the school teacher. Wouldn’t be “Against the War but Behind the Troops”, as today’s political slogan goes.

Me, I think this goes just a bit beyond political discussion on the pros or cons of a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not quite what most people would put under the category of Free Speech or even Thoreau’s civil disobedience. A bit beyond the pale. More like back stabbing viciousness against someone they truly hate.

We might speculate about the motivations of the school teacher. Perhaps the fact that there are those willing to risk their lives to protect family, home and country while he continues his everyday, comfortable life, somehow makes him feel less adequate. Less of a man. More like someone hiding behind those others. So, he strikes out. Demonizing those that make him feel bad about himself.

But, we don’t know, really. It may be that the school teacher himself doesn’t know why he hates soldiers so much.

And no, Sergeant Tom did not fly home, hunt the school teacher down, shoot off his legs, and throw a fire bomb into the Social Services front glass window. Although Hollywood likes to portray all veterans as psychotic killers and emotional misfits, unable to live in the REAL world after being emotionally destroyed by the war, Sergeant Tom went home on emergency leave and did the right thing.

He went to court and presented his case.

No surprise, Sergeant Tom won.

Send Home All the Lawyers

If we’re not damn careful, US history could well repeat itself in Iraq.

Some people equate the current war in Iraq with the war in Viet Nam and our current President Bush with former President Nixon.

They’ve got it all wrong.

A much better comparison is the current war in Iraq with the previous war in Iraq and our current President Bush with former President Bush.

When you think about it, the similarities are glaring.

In both cases, a President named George Bush led a mostly American military to a smashing victory over Saddam’s Iraq with the complete annihilation of the Iraqi Army in a matter of days.

Followed by the State Department rushing in to turn a complete victory into something quite a bit less.

In the earlier case, the State Department warned former President Bush that by removing the Sunnis completely from power and letting the Shia’ and Kurds take control in Iraq, the nation of Iraq would be split into three, with the mostly Shia’ South becoming a pro-Iranian State, and an independent Kurdistan enraging Turkey, one of our long-time allies.

Today, the State Department is twisting the arms of the Shia’/Kurdish government to allow Sunnis in, otherwise, they’ve warned President Bush, Iraq may split into three, with the mostly Shia’ South becoming a pro-Iranian State, and an independent Kurdistan enraging Turkey, one of our long-time allies.

Personally, I can’t believe those people in the State Department have any credibility whatsoever with the current President. How he can restrain himself from kicking them squarely in the seat of their well-pressed pants, I’ll never know. In the ‘90s, they turned a complete victory over Saddam in to a horrible disaster that ended in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Shia’ and Kurds who truly thought we came there to end the tyranny of Saddam. And, they helped the former President George Bush loose an election to good ol’ President Bill Clinton. Who knows what kind of slimy geek will replace the current George Bush if he continues to listen to the same kinds of folks his Dad did.

I am just a simple soldier, one of many fighting this war in Iraq. My hope is that while we are putting our lives on the line each and everyday here in Iraq, we don't get set up for failure by well meaning but unrealistic American officials back home.

Let us fight the war.

How about Turkey, after killing so many Kurds within their own borders and doing next to nothing to get rid of Saddam, has nothing to say about Kurdistan? They said the same thing about an independent Armenia, after killing over a million. Turkey is the last country to have a voice in any future Kurdistan, were that to occur.

How about the Sunnis, who make up only 20% of the population of Iraq, after supporting Saddam in his thirty-something years of murderous rule and boycotting the election, sit down and shut up and let the 80% that won the election run Iraq for a while?

How about we put Saddam in front of a firing squad, today?

How about instead of negotiating with Al Qa’ida and pro-Saddam thugs and terrorists, we kill or imprison each and everyone of them?

How about we re-write those Rules Of Engagement to allow our troops to fire warning shots?

To NOT allow every Iraq household their own Kalashnikov?

How about we throw the “detainees” found digging holes for IEDs on the side of the road, or with explosives in their homes and back yards, or anyone caught carrying a weapon not in a uniform we recognize as one belonging to an allied Army in a prison camp till the end of the war, instead of for 3 days?

How about we enforce the curfews in Iraqi cities and along Iraqi highways with a “violators will be shot on sight” rule?

How about we apply the same rule to smugglers coming across the Iraqi border?

How about we send the lawyers in the US military and State Department who are better at winning debates than winning wars home, now, without delay?

If this Global War on Terror is war worth fighting, then it’s a war worth winning.

How about we treat this war like a serious war, fight it, and win it?