OT: The American Soldier ** As Seen by a Time Correspondent

May 9, 2003

Hi y'all,

Wanna pass this one along to you. And its flag-waving .. damn proud I

am to wave it too. I hope it makes you feel as proud as it does me ..

mayhaps it won't because the 101st Airborne Division " Screaming Eagles "

are the reason I spent 30 years in the Army. I joined at age 17 for the

privilege of serving with them .. and during my entire service its the

10st Airborne and the 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) that I like to

talk about the most .. because they were the most proud combat divisions

a soldier could ever hope to serve in.

I still proudly wear as a tattoo on my upper arm - the " Screaming Eagle "

mascot of the 101 Airborne .. which we affectionally called the " Puking

Buzzard " .. while knowing it was the proud bird that can fly through the

storms. :-) This tattoo was common back then. Why? Cause we were all

expecting to go to the 'Nam .. and rumor was that if you're captured by

the VC and have an American military tattoo ... they skin you. We were

young and brash for sure .. and it was a challenge none could pass up.

When I read accounts such as the below .. I think back on similar events

in the 'Nam .. and in Somalia .. and I still curse those who cursed us

because they couldn't know and didn't care enough to get off their high

and mighty righteous asses and get out where the rubber met the road to

see what this correspondent saw. And those civilian American neighbors

who booed us and called us " baby killers " and such. If you were one of

them .. and you still think like that .. kiss my grits. If you were not

one of them or was but are no longer .. then you will like this.

What you read below is a norm for American military personnel. You'll

not hear them brag on it .. they won't even discuss it with you unless

they think you can understand .. unless you speak the same language.

And while reading this .. remember that what this writer is describing

are the actions of those folks you know .. your neighbors and your kin.

And though this only covers actions of the 101st Airborne Division, you

should know that similar events could be related by reporters who were

with other Army outfits, the Marines, the Air Force, the Navy, and most

likely the allied forces who served alongside their American friends.

Y'all keep smiling, Butch

---

James Lacey, a Time magazine correspondent, was embedded with the 101st

Airborne Division in Iraq. He wrote:

" Since returning from Iraq a short time ago I have been answering a lot

of questions about the war from friends, family, and strangers. When

they ask me how it was over there I find myself glossing over the

fighting, the heat, the sandstorms, and the flies (these last could have

taught the Iraqi army a thing or two about staying power). Instead, I

talk about the soldiers I met, and how they reflected the best of

America.

A lot of people are going to tell the story of how this war was fought;

I would rather say something about the men who won the war.

War came early for the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne when an

otherwise quiet night in the Kuwaiti desert was shattered by thunderous

close-quarters grenade blasts. Sgt. Hasan Akbar, a U.S. soldier, had

thrown grenades into an officers' tent, killing two and wounding a dozen

others. Adding to the immediate confusion was the piercing scream of

SCUD alarms, which kicked in the second Akbar's grenade exploded. For a

moment, it was a scene of near panic and total chaos.

Just minutes after the explosions, a perimeter was established around

the area of the attack, medics were treating the wounded, and calls for

evacuation vehicles and helicopters were already being sent out.

Remarkably, the very people who should have been organizing all of this

were the ones lying on the stretchers, seriously wounded. It fell to

junior officers and untested sergeants to take charge and lead. Without

hesitation everyone stepped up and unfalteringly did just that. I stood

in amazement as two captains (Townlee Hendrick and Tony Jones) directed

the evacuation of the wounded, established a hasty defense, and helped

to organize a search for the culprit. They did all this despite bleeding

heavily from their wounds.

For over six hours, these two men ran things while refusing to be

evacuated until they were sure all of the men in their command were

safe.

Two days later Capt. Jones left the hospital and hitchhiked back to the

unit: He had heard a rumor that it was about to move into Iraq and he

wanted to be there. As Jones-dressed only in boots, a hospital gown, and

a flak vest-limped toward headquarters, Col. Hodges, the 1st Brigade's

commander, announced, " I see that Captain Jones has returned to us in

full martial splendor. " The colonel later said that he was tempted to

send Jones to the unit surgeon for further evaluation, but that he

didn't feel he had the right to tell another man not to fight: Hodges

himself had elected to leave two grenade fragments in his arm so that he

could return to his command as quickly as possible.

The war had not even begun and already I was aware that I had fallen in

with a special breed of men. Over the next four weeks, nothing I saw

would alter this impression. A military historian once told me that

soldiers could forgive their officers any fault save cowardice. After

the grenade attack I knew these men were not cowards, but I had yet to

learn that the brigade's leaders had made a cult of bravery. A few

examples will suffice.

While out on what he called " battlefield circulation, " Col. Hodges was

surveying suspected enemy positions with one of his battalion commanders

(Lt. Col. Chris Hughes) when a soldier yelled " Incoming " to alert

everyone that mortar shells were headed our way. A few soldiers moved

closer to a wall, but Hodges and Hughes never budged and only briefly

glanced up when the rounds hit a few hundred yards away. As Hodges

completed his review and prepared to leave, another young soldier asked

him when they would get to kill whoever was firing the mortar. Hodges

smiled and said, " Don't be in a hurry to kill him. They might replace

that guy with someone who can shoot. "

The next day, a convoy Col. Hodges was traveling in was ambushed by

several Iraqi paramilitary soldiers. A ferocious firefight ensued, but

Hodges never left the side of his vehicle. Puffing on a cigar as he

directed the action, Hodges remained constantly exposed to fire. When

two Kiowa helicopters swooped in to pulverize the enemy strongpoint with

rocket fire, he turned to some journalists watching the action and

quipped, " That's your tax dollars at work. "

Bravery inspires men, but brains and quick thinking win wars. In one

particularly tense moment a company of U.S. soldiers was preparing to

guard the Mosque of Ali-one of the most sacred Muslim sites-when

agitators in what had been a friendly crowd started shouting that they

were going to storm the mosque. In an instant, the Iraqis began to chant

and a riot seemed imminent.

A couple of nervous soldiers slid their weapons into fire mode, and I

thought we were only moments away from a slaughter. These soldiers had

just fought an all-night battle. They were exhausted, tense, and

prepared to crush any riot with violence of their own. But they were

also professionals, and so, when their battalion commander, Chris

Hughes, ordered them to take a knee, point their weapons to the ground,

and start smiling, that is exactly what they did. Calm returned. By

placing his men in the most non-threatening posture possible, Hughes

had sapped the crowd of its aggression. Quick thinking and iron

discipline had reversed an ugly situation and averted disaster.

Since then, I have often wondered how we created an army of men who

could fight with ruthless savagery all night and then respond so easily

to an order to " smile " while under impending threat. Historian Stephen

Ambrose said of the American soldier: " When soldiers from any other

army, even our allies, entered a town, the people hid in the cellars.

When Americans came in, even into German towns, it meant smiles,

chocolate bars and C-rations. "

Ours has always been an army like no other, because our soldiers reflect

a society unlike any other. They are pitiless when confronted by armed

enemy fighters and yet full of compassion for civilians and even

defeated enemies.

American soldiers immediately began saving Iraqi lives at the conclusion

of any fight. Medics later said that the Iraqi wounded they treated

were astounded by our compassion. They expected they would be left to

suffer or die. I witnessed Iraqi paramilitary troops using women and

children as human shields, turning grade schools into fortresses, and

defiling their own holy sites. Time and again, I saw Americans taking

unnecessary risks to clear buildings without firing or using grenades,

because it might injure civilians. I stood in awe as 19-year-olds

refused to return enemy fire because it was coming from a mosque.

It was American soldiers who handed over food to hungry Iraqis, who gave

their own medical supplies to Iraqi doctors, and who brought water to

the thirsty. It was American soldiers who went door-to-door in a slum

because a girl was rumored to have been injured in the fighting; when

they found her, they called in a helicopter to take her to an Army

hospital. It was American soldiers who wept when a three-year-old was

carried out of the rubble where she had been killed by Iraqi mortar

fire. It was American soldiers who cleaned up houses they had been

fighting over and later occupied-they wanted the places to look at least

somewhat tidy when the residents returned.

It was these same soldiers who stormed to Baghdad in only a couple of

weeks, accepted the surrender of three Iraqi Army divisions, massacred

any Republican Guard unit that stood and fought, and disposed of a

dictator and a regime with ruthless efficiency. There is no other

army-and there are no other soldiers-in the world capable of such

merciless fighting and possessed of such compassion for their fellow

man. No society except America could have produced them.

Before I end this I want to point out one other quality of the American

soldier: his sense of justice. After a grueling fight, a company of

infantrymen was resting and opening their first mail delivery of the

war.

One of the young soldiers had received a care package and was sharing

the home-baked cookies with his friends. A photographer with a heavy

French accent asked if he could have one. The soldier looked him over

and said there would be no cookies for Frenchmen. The photographer then

protested that he was half Italian. Without missing a beat, the soldier

broke a cookie in half and gave it to him. It was a perfect moment and

a perfect reflection of the American soldier.

May 10, 2003

Butch, It did make me feel proud of our military men and women. It attests to

the fact that we are a compassionate people. I think that is something that has

always set the American's apart from most of the world that even in the fact of

human adversity we can also see the suffering of others. God Bless our American

Military and all who serve in it.

MAKE A HAPPY MEMORY EVERY DAY:

Evelyn

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edandevMil

-

butch owen

Friday, May 09, 2003 5:34 PM

OT: The American Soldier ** As Seen by a Time

Correspondent