Leaving Iraq, holding onto honor

I’ve been told that many people have been asking when the next column would come. Thank you very much for your interest — that alone is validation enough for me.
I wanted to wait until ALL of my Bandits were safely back on U.S. soil before writing this, the final column.
Now they all are.
The journey out of Baghdad seems simple enough: Get on a helicopter, fly to the airport, get on a plane, fly to Kuwait, out-process the combat zone, get on another plane and fly to the states, you’re done. It’s not so simple in execution. Helicopters and planes are in constant use and require maintenance; sometimes they break, and this means everyone in that pipeline halts right where they are and has to wait until they’re fixed or a replacement arrives. There aren’t any “replacement” aircraft just sitting around waiting to be used, just as there isn’t some big warehouse with all the latest equipment just waiting for soldiers to go draw it prior to deploying. You go and you fight with what you have.
Just something that makes me laugh every time I here a senator blast the administration with, “Why don’t our troops have the best equipment available?” Answer: “Because you didn’t authorize money to buy it years ago.” Another favorite of mine is the presidential candidates who claim, “I’ll have everyone home in 60 days after taking office.” It’s ludicrous; it took nine months to get all five brigades of the “Surge” into Iraq. That’s 25,000 troops. There are currently over 150,000 troops in Iraq. To claim you would bring them all home in a matter of months is a blatant lie; it can’t be done with the assets that we now have.
But enough of that. Bandit’s journey home began on or about the 5th of April and the last soldier set foot on Fort Riley, Kan., on the 22nd. All and all, not bad when one considers the movement requirements. I can’t even begin to estimate how many people were involved in support of the movement, but it was a lot. There were the Army aviation units that made the first move, joint (inter-service) coordinators who manifested the movements aboard Air Force transport planes, civilian contractors who housed, fed, and manifested movement aboard chartered planes for the return to the states, Department of Defense civilians who received the unit here in Kansas and our own rear-detachment who had billeting ready and notified family members of who was arriving on what day. My personal favorites are the ones who are not being paid to assist with our return, the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Bangor, Maine.
Our chartered plane touched down in Bangor to refuel and restock the food stuffs; we had about two hours to stretch our legs and roam about the Bangor airport. As soon as we stepped through the security checkpoint there were veterans and veteran supporters from the Bangor VFW (I failed to check the post number and now wish I hadn’t) waiting for us. These men and women were not family members or federally-employed civilians; they were just great Americans proud of the military. Most of these men and women were wearing ball caps that said “Veteran: WWII” or “Korea.” Some of our flights came through Bangor at 2 and 3 a.m., and everyone said that these great Americans were there to greet them. It was truly awesome. They said, “Welcome home; we’re proud of you, and here is a cell phone, use it to call your family.” Can you believe that? They were giving us phones to make long distance calls! I can only imagine how much they have to work to raise the money to support that initiative — truly awesome!
For me, after availing myself of the generosity of the VFW to call my wife Terri and my parents, the next best thing about the Bangor visit was looking over green hills with a piping hot cup of — you guessed it — Green Mountain Coffee Roasters coffee! Yes, I had plenty of GMCR in Baghdad, too, so it must’ve been the view that made it somehow taste better in Maine.
After having been to more than half of the states to include Alaska and Hawaii, Central America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, I can now say I have been to Maine and, yes, the view was beautiful! Saying this in print should make my friend Tim Wright of the Black Lions happy.
Well, Waterbury, I’ve enjoyed the few minutes of respite I got from daily missions to write this column to you and I’m overjoyed that you were interested in what and how my Bandits were doing. I have labored to think of a way to end this, but it escapes me. I will simply reiterate what I told my Bandits the last time we all stood as a single unit in Baghdad and then this will be complete:
“Every leadership manual and pamphlet says that I’m supposed to say something profound and moving to summarize your sacrifice here. You all know that I am neither profound nor moving; I’m night schooled. I am, however, a student of history and I will tell you that whatever the outcome here is in a year or in 50 years you don’t need to worry what history says about this campaign. You saw the conditions here when you arrived and no one can say they are not infinitely better now. History called our grandfathers the greatest generation for their efforts in World War II. The European campaign from D-Day to V-E day lasted 11 months and two days. You have just spent every day of the last 15 months in combat. The last 10 of those months you have conducted at least an 8-hour combat patrol every day without exception. Our grandfather’s units came off the line for a month a time to rest and refit; you did not. No one can take away your honor. Hold your heads high for what you’ve done here, now and forever, regardless of what any of those (expletive deleted) back in the states say. You and I know that what you did here was honorable, it was just, and it was the right thing to do. Never forget it. It has been my life’s greatest honor to command you here. I’ll see you all back in the states.”
Thanks for caring. Bandit 6, OUT.