What My Son Has Taught Me

I had a wonderful experience that a lot of times parents don’t often get to see of their children. I visited Mike and saw in action as a responsible, mature adult. Yes, I am talking about my son who was often wild and living on the edge as a child. Now he is responsible for the lives of men underneath him. He is a corporal in the Marines. He is a NCO (Non Commissioned Officer), so basically in charge of a lot of things. He still has a sergeant above him as well as other officers like colonels and generals. So when he is on a convoy, he has a commander, but when they dismount, he directs the troops on the ground. It was quite amazing to me, to see all the other troops come up to him to ask for permission or directions. On the ground he would direct their formations and give them orders to carry out. He would train them and drill them with other corporals. He is responsible for their lives outside the wire. I was truly proud as a father to watch him in action. The funny part is when we were back at the sleeping quarters or cans as they call them, he was like his old self, just joking or playing around. His men respected him or at least feared him enough that he only had to give the orders once and they carried it out.

This is a picture of Mike and myself after we arrived at an outlying FOB for target practice.We came in the MRAP behind us.
These are some of the vehicles than formed our convoy. As big as they are there is not a lot of room in them

I had an interesting time getting to visit him. I had some difficulty arranging a flight to his place. We had no direct flights from Mosul to Al Asad. So I had to travel to Balad, another air force base, and there try to get a flight to Al Asad. It was almost like me just hitch hiking a ride on the airplanes. I got to know the medic for the SF guys, so I was able to hitch a ride with them as they were flying to Balad. We take off and about an hour later we land but we don’t get off the plane. After about 20 minutes on the runway (remember, this is a military plane where we get on and off at the back of the plane with all the cargo), I talk to one of the SF guys who told me once in a while, they stop at Tikrit or Al Asad and pick up things. Al Asad!! Wait a minute. That is where I am ultimately trying to go to. So I talk to the flight crew and sure enough, we were at Al Asad. Here I was sitting on their runway for 20 minutes not knowing that this is the place I ultimately wanted to go to. So I asked the pilot and they let me get off just before they close the door. Fortunately, Al Asad has a bus system that goes 24 hrs a day. It was about 12:30 AM, I was able to catch a bus with all my gear and go to his camp. I knock on his door at 1 AM which was quite a surprise to him. I was able to spend about 3 days with him.

The guys in his MRAP, includes a gunner, dismount, driver, VC (Vehicle Commmander,ie Mike) and medic (not pictured)

I had a exciting time with him and learned a hell of a lot of how the other side lives. It is a world of differences between being an officer and an enlisted man in the military. He was able to give me a sampling of what his everyday in Iraq is like. One day I went shooting with him. We had to travel outside the wire. I rode in his MRAP which replaces most of the humvees now. We did about an hour drive on the roads of Iraq. Outside the wire you travel with your weapon loaded including a bullet in the chamber, but with the safety on. You are given a briefing before we leave in case we have to dismount and return fire. For the most part I was pretty safe. We will just ignore the fact that an IED blast occurred on the same road we traveled just the day before. The thing that made me the proudest of our troops is that this was one day in my life, with my adrenalin flowing pretty hard while outside the wire. These Marines do this almost everyday, day in and day out, without batting an eye. They are fully aware of the danger. They do this for us so we can live in peace at home. I was honored to be in their presence. That is why is hurts me deeply whenever I see any of them injured. Those guys are truly heroes to me.
).Mike doing tricks with the grenade launcher portion of his M4.Mike and a fellow corporal kicking the pigskin during some of their down time.


Oh by the way, I had a great time shooting with them. I shot the pistol (M9) and the M4 (similar to the M16 just a slightly shorter barrel and stock). We also did a night shoot using the night vision goggles. Those are so neat. You can see quite a bit at night with those. (Nancy, they would make a great Christmas present). Mike by the way got range high on the combine pistol and rifle shoot.
.This is the practice target range where we spent the day. It was a long day. We were up at 0430 and didn't return until 2300. It was a fun day however.

Well, I am on my way to Kuwait. I hope to be home in about a week.

Tom