BLOG May 26, 2006
It is less than one week now and I will be headed to Kuwait and Iraq. The training here has been good. As a non-combatant I have had to sit out a good deal of training but what I have received has been good. In essence we have been entering into the Army’s point of view when it comes to functioning in a combat arena. After this training my fear of going to Iraq has been tempered by a confidence born of training.
The most revealing class for me was one held on how to work with translators. This is something that I did in Romania and expect to do even more of in Iraq. The class included three Iraqi’s who have been in America for a number of years. The essential greeting for Iraqi’s is “Peace be with you”, [A salam alaykem]the response being, “And also with you”. [Alaykem a salam] There is a liturgical sense to the Iraqi culture that I found deeply moving. I spoke at the break with one of the Iraqi’s about the distinction between Sunni and Shitte Islam. He was a Shitte so he was a bit biased. He said the Shittes are more flexible and the Sunni’s more traditional. The most meaningful part of this was at the end. One of the military members asked how the Iraqi’s felt about America being in Iraq. One of the three said he had just visited with a relative in Bagdad. He said that he would like to erect a statue for every American military member in Bagdad. In other words, the vast majority of Iraqi are grateful that we are there and that we are working to establish for them a country of peace.
Finally, today, comments on the Red Horse Squadron. “Red Horse” is a name for Air Force civil engineers who deploy to build. They deploy to build buildings, to build Airfields and to build communities. The is a “New Horizons” project that Red Horse gets involved with that is building up communities in Central and South America. Many of the Airmen I work with have been involved with this project. Unfortunately, there are too few Red Horse builders and as a result they spend much of their time deployed. The folk here are already planning to deploy again this time next year. This is of course true for most of our military, deploying to achieve the security interests of our nation. Their families suffer a great deal. Maj. Hanrahan who I share a room with has a year and a half old son who he will not see for 6 months. This is one of many family stories I could share. My hope is that our national priorities will evolve to spin up more and more Red Horse type of military organizations so we can build infrastructure for Iraq and many other nations across the world. Red Horse is American at its best, I feel privileged to serve with such fine Americans!
It is less than one week now and I will be headed to Kuwait and Iraq. The training here has been good. As a non-combatant I have had to sit out a good deal of training but what I have received has been good. In essence we have been entering into the Army’s point of view when it comes to functioning in a combat arena. After this training my fear of going to Iraq has been tempered by a confidence born of training.
The most revealing class for me was one held on how to work with translators. This is something that I did in Romania and expect to do even more of in Iraq. The class included three Iraqi’s who have been in America for a number of years. The essential greeting for Iraqi’s is “Peace be with you”, [A salam alaykem]the response being, “And also with you”. [Alaykem a salam] There is a liturgical sense to the Iraqi culture that I found deeply moving. I spoke at the break with one of the Iraqi’s about the distinction between Sunni and Shitte Islam. He was a Shitte so he was a bit biased. He said the Shittes are more flexible and the Sunni’s more traditional. The most meaningful part of this was at the end. One of the military members asked how the Iraqi’s felt about America being in Iraq. One of the three said he had just visited with a relative in Bagdad. He said that he would like to erect a statue for every American military member in Bagdad. In other words, the vast majority of Iraqi are grateful that we are there and that we are working to establish for them a country of peace.
Finally, today, comments on the Red Horse Squadron. “Red Horse” is a name for Air Force civil engineers who deploy to build. They deploy to build buildings, to build Airfields and to build communities. The is a “New Horizons” project that Red Horse gets involved with that is building up communities in Central and South America. Many of the Airmen I work with have been involved with this project. Unfortunately, there are too few Red Horse builders and as a result they spend much of their time deployed. The folk here are already planning to deploy again this time next year. This is of course true for most of our military, deploying to achieve the security interests of our nation. Their families suffer a great deal. Maj. Hanrahan who I share a room with has a year and a half old son who he will not see for 6 months. This is one of many family stories I could share. My hope is that our national priorities will evolve to spin up more and more Red Horse type of military organizations so we can build infrastructure for Iraq and many other nations across the world. Red Horse is American at its best, I feel privileged to serve with such fine Americans!
posted by David Fulton at 2:03 PM
2 Comments:
And we, as citizens of this great country, are privileged to have you represent us in your service to God and and the USA. May the Peace of the Lord be with you.
Super color scheme, I like it! Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing this wonderful site with us.
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