Major Kirk Luedeke
[Ed. note: It’s been a while, but we are pleased to welcome our milblogger, Major Kirk, back to the pages of GraniteGrok. See his prior dispatches from Iraq here…]
I just reached a small personal milestone- my 180th day home since the 4th Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division- Task Force Dragon- redeployed to Fort Riley from the Rashid District in Southern Baghdad. Life has been great for me, but hit me the other day that I really didn’t have a lot of visibility on what’s been going on in the old Iraqi neighborhoods since we departed in April.
It took a recent 60 Minutes segment by Lesley Stahl on CBS about the March and April battle for Sadr City- one that occurred out of our sector, but happened while we were still in Baghdad and in the process of handing over responsibility for Rashid to our counterparts- the 1st “Raider” Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division. The story is extremely well done and if you haven’t seen it, take a look (I’ve posted the link below).
The segment brought back a lot of memories for me. We saw some spillover in attacks directed at us by renegade Shia special groups criminals as a result of the fighting to our east across the Tigris. In fact, on the very night he arrived by Chinook helicopter my public affairs counterpart was standing next to my desk when a 107mm rocket screamed over the FOB Falcon wall and landed close to our brigade headquarters building. It exploded, violently spraying the structure with lethal shrapnel, shattering windows and shaking the foundation. Nobody was killed that night and there were only a few minor injuries, but the attack served as a wakeup call for all of us- we were short but our tour wasn’t over.
“Wasted away again in Mortaritaville,” I later deadpanned to my fellow PAO Dave (no, I wasn’t calm and collected enough to do it in the heat of the moment), and unfortunately for us, there would be other attacks to come at Falcon. A few days later, we would even get trapped in the Green Zone for several hours, compliments of some of the mortar and rocket attacks from Sadr City which forced the U.S. to take the action depicted on 60 Minutes.
When we left Iraq in late April, the battle had already started to move away from our collective consciousness, so seeing that story some six months later reminded me about how disconnected I’ve become from the events and life that I spent 430 days experiencing in 2007-08.
Being there, I was immersed in a never-ending news cycle. Even if my focus was on monitoring the various events and stories coming out of our area or Iraq/Afghanistan, I had a steady pulse on news from around the world as well. Never in my life have I felt more connected than I did in my job while deployed to Iraq.
So, fast forward to October 2008;
Six months later, I’ve moved on to a new post, new assignment and have lost a great deal of the situational awareness I had. Because I’m in the information and news business, it’s been fairly easy for me to reconnect with the goings on in Iraq- I still have the many contacts I made in the media, and am familiar with the various websites you can go to find the news stories and releases brought to you by the military professionals covering them.
But, I now finally understand the challenges the average American faced in trying to find news about the war in Iraq. With the post-surge success and focus having shifted away from Iraq and to Afghanistan, our economic challenges and the upcoming presidential election, news is even tougher to come by.
It’s kind of like the early 90’s song “Connected” by the Stereo MC’s- an obscure British electronic band whose one U.S. hit contained the catchy hook: “If you make sure you’re connected- The writing’s on the wall- But if you feel neglected, stumble you might fall”
Getting connected is easier than you think, and I’ve posted some helpful tips and links if you want to keep track of what our brave troops are doing overseas.
We must never forget that while our lives go on at home, thousands of them are walking the line in faraway places, and while the numbers of attacks may have significantly decreased as Iraq appears to be well on the road to a stable, functioning country, the element of danger is still there.
Major Kirk Luedeke
ILE 32-C
Fort Lee, Va
3 helpful tips and hints for keeping connected and your perspective fresh
1. The “mainstream media” is shifting focus away from Iraq and going more towards Afghanistan, but the operations in Iraq are still happening. These websites take news releases done by our very own soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors and re-publish them so you can have access:
http://www.militaryspot.com/news/
http://newsblaze.com/iraq.html
2. You can set up a “Google Alert” to keep track of specific individuals, units, places or what have you. Go to Google and click on “News” at the top of the main page. Then when the Google News page opens, look over to the left and click on the “News Alerts” tab. You will open to a new page with a box on the right that says ‘Enter the topic you wish to monitor’ Just type in the name of a loved one or friend or unit they might be assigned to. For example: Sgt. John Doe or 1st Bde, 4th Inf. Div. (written in the AP style, which is how the unit will be referenced in any articles or releases). Then, set the frequency and type in your email and hit the ‘create alert’ button. You’ll get a confirmation link in your email inbox, just click on it and you’re all set! Each time the Google search engine comes across anything close to the topic you’ve submitted, it will compile the list and send you the links. You can cancel it easily and anytime you want. It was an invaluable tool for me and takes about a minute to set up.
3. Do internet searches on military blogs or “milblogs” like Blackfive.net, which is one of the best of a multitude of great sites out there. These guys are connected and just about all of them are maintained by people who have “been there and done that.” They’ll give you up to date stories coming out of theater, and they also have good links to other similar sites.
Soup Bones
Here’s the link to the above-referenced 60 Minutes piece by Lesley Stahl. This is a great look into the lethality of that Sadr City operation and how our troops have effectively integrated technology as unmatched combat multipliers in that counterinsurgency fight. My takeaway though, was the soldier braving sniper fire to unhook the chain hoists on the concrete barrier. Even the greatest technological advances do not replace sheer courage and bravery and a dedication to getting the mission accomplished as that trooper showed.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/09/60minutes/main4511800.shtml
She also does an informative interview with Gen. Petraeus’ successor, Gen. Raymond Odierno part of which shows our old neighborhood of Dora. There’s some negativity, but don’t focus on that- it’s pretty truthful to what I saw. The onus is on the Iraqi government to make the substantial fixes- our military has done it’s job well and continues to do so.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/09/60minutes/main4511800.shtml
And CBS correspondent Lara Logan filed this excellent segment on a company of heroes with the 101st Airborne in Afghanistan. It’s graphic at times, but will bring you face-to-face with combat and what it is like.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/16/60minutes/main4526472.shtml