Dragon Soup-- A Blog of War
This is the author at the Crossed Sabers monument in downtown Baghdad. Just about every Soldier who comes here wants to have their picture taken at the site where Saddam Hussein used to watch his military forces conduct martial parades.
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My name is Major Kirk Luedeke, and I’m blogging with my fellow Granite Staters, from Forward Operating Base Falcon in Southern Baghdad.
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This is the first of what I hope will be a regular companion piece to Doug’s and Skip's terrific blog. The blogosphere continues to expand and explode, and it is a distinct honor that granitegrok.com has asked me to become a contributor to this forum. I hope that you will all come away with a better understanding of what is happening in our little slice of Iraqi paradise when all is said and done.
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As a U.S. Army brigade Public Affairs Officer, I will state up front and for the record that the content of this blog will consist of facts, observations and personal opinions based on firsthand experiences here. I am in no way speaking for the Army or the U.S. government. I welcome anyone who has questions or wants to engage in additional discourse to contact me via email at kirkaluedeke(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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Although not born in New Hampshire, I spent my formative years growing up in Hudson, where I graduated from high school in 1990. I can’t claim the state as my birthright, but I will always consider myself a son of the Granite State. I love New Hampshire and it is my dream to one day return and settle permanently when my military career is over.
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I’m currently assigned to the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, the “Dragon Brigade,” out of Fort Riley, Kansas. I’m on my second tour of duty at Riley, which is just west of Manhattan, Ks. or “the Little Apple” as the locals call it. I met my wife during my first stint at Riley in the mid-90’s, and thought that returning there would be good for my family should I be deployed to the Middle East again. It turned out to be the right call, and we’re fortunate that her mom is right there in Manhattan- it helps alleviate some of the stresses associated with long deployments.
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The 4th Brigade is one of the newest units in the army. We were activated and built from scratch at Riley in Jan. 2006 as a “modular” light infantry brigade. What that means is that we are essentially a mini-division, with all of the staff sections and resources available to the much larger divisional organizations that have been serving our nation since the First World War. As we learned from the first Gulf War in 1991, the military needed to be leaner and more flexible in responding to events around the world, so the modular brigades provide the army with the ability to put about 4,000 troops on the ground anywhere in the world in rapid fashion.
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Just to give you an example of what I’m talking about, my brigade was notified of our impending deployment to Iraq just a few days before Thanksgiving, 2006. By Valentine’s Day, we were all on the ground in Kuwait and operating in Iraq as part of President George W. Bush’s “surge” in early March, 2007. If you do the math, that’s a pretty rapid deployment, but the amazing thing is, we could have arrived a lot sooner had it been necessary to do so.
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This is the brigade insignia of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Fort Riley, Kansas... It is an off-shoot of the 1st Infantry Division patch, and features the fire-breathing dragon we’re named for. “Bellate Impavide” is Latin for “To wage war fearlessly.”
We have six Fort Riley-based battalions assigned to our brigade plus two more battalions who are permanently based elsewhere but attached to us during our operations here. As this blog progresses, I’ll share them with you in greater depth and detail, but for now, I’ll keep this entry relatively short.
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Finally, our operational area consists of the entire al-Rashid (or Rasheed) security district in southwest Baghdad. It is an area the size of Detroit, with an estimated population of 1.2 million Iraqis. Our area, which is divided into west and east Rashid based on the north-south running Highway 8, is one of the most diverse, as we have large percentages of Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Christians and Kurds all living in the various neighborhoods. Some of the most talked-about areas in Rashid are Dora (in the eastern part of our area), Amil (to the northwest of FOB Falcon) and Saydiya in the west. I’ve attached a map so you can see where we are in the capital city.
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The first part of our deployment was a real challenge. We came into a hive of insurgent activity and were regularly attacked by forces from both the Jaysh al-Mahdi in west Rashid and Al Qaeda Iraq thugs in the east. Our Soldiers performed exceptionally well and continue to do so, but not without cost.
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Yet, as the months have given way and we approach Christmas, there is an air of optimism and hope felt not only by our troops, but by the Iraqi people of Rashid as well.
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Our brigade has not lost a single Soldier killed to enemy fire since Oct. 18. Attacks and violence are down by 80 percent across the board in our area. Iraqis who fled their homes are returning en masse. Is everything positive? Absolutely not. There is still much to be done, especially in the areas of infrastructure and basic governance functions. But, our Iraqi counterparts in the security forces and government are making an honest effort to take charge of the situation.
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And that’s all we can ask for.
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As Christmas approaches, we have much to be thankful here in Baghdad. There are so many great stories to tell, along with sober reminders of the price of freedom. If you have time, I ask that you keep the men and women of the Big Red One’s Dragon Brigade in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season.
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A special thanks goes out to Blue Star Mom Sue Peterson, a close friend of my mother’s, whose own son, Alex recently returned from his own deployment to Baghdad. I know that as she and her family gather this Christmas, whole again after Alex’s safe return, the celebration will take on a whole new meaning.
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One final note- I’m writing this on Dec. 7th. 66 years ago, the Empire of Japan attacked the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and changed the course of our nation’s history. It is on this day, that I give thanks to those who served that day in Hawaii and those who lost their lives so that we may live free. To those Pearl Harbor veterans, and men and women who served in World War Two and all of our nation’s wars since, I say- Thank you.
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Until next time…
Major Kirk Luedeke
12-07-07
Major Kirk Luedeke
12-07-07
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[Read Major Kirk's bio in this post]
Comments
Posted by: Eric Shirle | December 10, 2007 9:15 AM
Posted by: judy paris | December 10, 2007 3:52 PM
Posted by: James Hackworth | January 26, 2008 3:37 PM
Posted by: 岡崎市 不動産 | March 15, 2008 5:48 AM
Posted by: 岡崎市 不動産 | March 15, 2008 5:50 AM