Letter from Geoff

All,
I know you are all aware that I have been all together neglectful in my correspondence over the past six months. The only excuse I can offer is that I have been busy, though I know it hardly accounts for my silence. First and foremost, I would be remiss if I did not thankall of you who have been in contact with me and the Soldiers of Bandit Troop. To the students, faculty, staff, parents and families of Saint Jude Church and School I appreciate your letters, care packages and prayers I can't wait to visit in person to thank you for your generosity. To the Kloers, Kathy Davis, the St. Oliver's Knights of Columbus, Ms. Nation and the ladies, Ben, Valentine, Barry and Leisa, just to name a few (I know there are others, but I have been exceptionally bad at remembering or recording all those I owe thanksto, I am truly sorry for that and know that my carelessness should not dissuade you from giving to other Soldiers, your actions are truly heroic ) I send a heartfelt thank you, you have no idea how far the smallest token can go over here. To the family, I have been especially deficient in writing back to you, Helen and Emory thank you for the Christmas gift, it is sitting underneath my desk waiting for the big day, Bill, Dottie, Brian, Joan, Allyn, Missy, Kevin, Tommy, Terry, Katie, Jim, Chuck, Lisa, Mickey, Bonnie, Jim, Pat, John, MaryLynn, Ashley, Mary Kate all the little notes, e-mails, and cards go a long way and for a few seconds I don't feel half a world away. Mom, Dad, Grandma thanks for all the messages and packages love you all, Mom sorry I missed you on your birthday, you know the cell phones suck over here, and hopefully you at least got my message. Laura, Grant I love you both and miss you most of course.
I've been meaning to sit down and write for a while but haven't made the time. It took me a little while to figure out why but a couple of days ago I called Laura late night (my time) afternoon/early evening for you and heard Grant in the background. That's when it really hit me. I left a baby that couldn't walk or communicate. The little boy I heard on the phone was trying to tell his Mom something, he just doesn't have the words yet. The past six months in so many ways have flown by for me, but I've missed so much. When I ignore it and stay in my routine time keeps rolling, but as I slow down enough to write this letter the weight of everyday away from my son bears down on me. As many of you probably know my tenure as Bandit White 1, Bravo Troop's second platoon leader is over. I have replaced a senior Captain as the Squadron's Adjutant, or S-1. The work load is morementally demanding and gives me significantly more responsibility which is good, since I never truly adjusted back to being just aplatoon leader after I was also the acting Troop Executive Officer. Unfortunately though, the added work load means more than my fairshare of late nights and early mornings. I am no longer responsible for 30 Soldiers instead I have a staff of four to seven (depending on how Leave and Rear-D issues play out) and have my own desk with NIPRand SIPR drops (Government internet and Government Secret Internet). My Soldiers don't know how good they have it, something I find myself reminding them daily. Our job is relatively safe and not all that physically demanding.
I say relatively safe because we don't go on patrol. We don't have to face the daily threat of roadside bombs or small arms attacks (not that they are necessarily prevalent in our area, in fact I have notreceived a Combat Action Badge), but we do receive the occasional battery of indirect fire which I find increasingly to be a cowardly tactic by the "enemy". I will not delve too deeply into the ideology or virtues of insurgency, but they are guerilla fighters. Their tactics are extremely ill-conceived to me. The Iraqi people are very much in tune to American politics (they watch satellite news feed from America and in some cases even American news programs). They must undoubtedly know that American presence in Iraq is unpopular amongst the American people. They also know that our stated goals aresecurity gains, why not cease all attacks to give the appearance of security, at least long enough for us to leave. It makes you really wonder what all is at play here.
In many ways I miss going on patrol. I came to embrace my role as theplatoon leader. I enjoyed making the decisions that in very real ways shaped the Iraqi perceptions of Americans and Coalition Forces. I started growing into a role that was crucial in interacting with the Soviet military model of officers and enlists, devoid of the noncommissioned officer corps. I spoke with authority and to those Iraqis that had not met anyone who out ranked me I was the authority. Shortly before I turned over my platoon I sat in a town council meeting for a community that easily holds a few thousand people andtold the head councilman what his priorities were and that he would have to organize his meetings or I would not attend/help them in the future. I miss learning Arabic from my good interpreters. I'm glad I don't have to deal with the bad ones anymore. I became friends with two local national interpreters; both are about my age and fairly Americanized. There are numerous intricacies working with them, for instance, they have three names. They have their interpreter namethat we call them, they have their fake name that they give to locals when they ask for their real name and then they have their real names. It was incredibly confusing to me the first time someone asked me where Mohammed was when at the time I only had two interpreters, Ericand Jose. Eric became CPT Crofford's interpreter and came to Maysan Province with us because he liked living/working with Bandit Troop. Currently he's trying to moving over to HHT to be with CPT Crofford. The other interpreter friend I have is called Zohan. He came to us right after we had seen You Don't Mess With the Zohan and the other platoon's Platoon Sergeant said he looked like Zohan and the namestuck. Zohan is pretty intelligent and is a conscience worker it took him a few patrols to realize we were only joking when we said we'd send him to Guantanamo if he mistranslated what we said/were told. At one meeting, during a particularly long patrol the person we were meeting with had the TV on and we ended up watching a Nancy Arjan (a Lebanese singer) music video. To make a long story short Zohan brought us Nancy posters when he came back to the FOB after he went on vacation for a week. In return I gave him the Zohan poster Laura had sent me as a gift (sorry babe, I know you were being thoughtful, but I think it meant more to him than it could have possibly meant to me), it nearly brought a tear to his eye.
I miss butchering the Arabic language. I got pretty good (out ofnecessity) with basic commands and questions. When you have only afew "maturgums" being able to get by without one is crucial. I could get out of my truck and beat my terp to the entrance of wherever we were going and establish first contact. {note from Laura: Maturgums is translater}
My new duties cover the basic personnel spectrum: simple pay issues, leave, evaluations, etc. I also deal with some military specificactions, UCMJ, mail, flights in and out of the FOB, awards, etc. Like I said earlier in this letter my new Soldiers don't know how good they have it. They don't realize that they are 1) Soldiers and therefore should comport themselves accordingly (they [a corporal and a bucksergeant] talk to First Sergeants and Sergeants Major sitting/lounging in chairs, when I don't necessarily go to parade rest, but almost always stand up and address them by their rank) and 2) they are in a customer service business (they act like the line Soldier is here forthem, not the other way around). I've done a better job of doing verbal counseling's with them in my second leadership position than I did as a platoon leader, but I still have yet to put it on paper, which is coming in the next few days. That is the best advice I can give to junior military leaders that may read this (Ashley, Foley) it is cliché I know, but it is the God's honest truth. Counsel your subordinates, put it in writing, make your expectations perfectly clear and give them feedback, good and bad. They deserve to know where they stand and how to improve. Sorry, I don't mean to preach, but learn from my mistakes.
This letter has cost me a night's sleep, which is just as well since I wasn't done with work until close to 0300 my time anyway and the shower closes at 0100, but I suppose this is just as good a place asany to wrap up. I look forward to more letters and e-mails, even though I may not answer, know that they mean the world to me and they make each day a little easier to get through.
Sincerely,
Geoff