Jordan Independent - Questions for a Jordan soldier - Comments

It appears akhenn99 that, to

bigbobbob — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:14:59 -0500

It appears akhenn99 that, to quote a Willie Nelson song - 'you have your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail'. You have been given, at the very best, an enormasly difficult task and you - and thousands of others - have earned our everlasting gratitude seeing it thru. The resolve and dedication of military forces (and the contractors) have proven to be an insperation to all.

Contractor's in Iraq. Yes,

akhenn99 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 02:24:33 -0500

Contractor's in Iraq.

Yes, there are plenty of contractors here in Iraq as well as the rest of any deployed area that that US is involved in.

These contractors have a variety of different jobs and services much like the military.

Many of them are simply truck or vehicle drivers that haul items from one location to another.

KBR (Kellogg, Brown, & Root) is the largest company that I can think of that works over here (including being contractors and drivers).

Other than that, KBR is also in charge of providing individuals to work in the dining facilities, laundry mats, and other services.

For the most part, the American and European contract workers live amongst us out here. (We all live mainly in trailers and such or established buildings).

You can always tell who is a soldier and who is not. Because the contractors don't have to wear any uniforms and you see them around in their cilivian clothing.

Over the years, the contractor population is growing. So who knows how long until they will want to do all of the missions. I don't think that that will ever happen, but sometimes it almost feels that way.

Anyway, there are plenty of cilivian contractors out here. And for the most part they do normal jobs like they would have back home (drive truck, trash, food, laundry, ect.).

It is no secret that the

bigbobbob — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:58:19 -0500

It is no secret that the 'Military' are standing out in front and making things 'go' in Iraq. They bear the brunt of the aggressors and carry the load of protecting the civilian population. But, we hear of the thousands and thousands of 'contractors' in Iraq. Do you see them and what do they do?

Budget Cuts and Guard Units

akhenn99 — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 04:33:50 -0600

Budget Cuts and Guard Units not ready?

I've recently have been reading on the Democrats plan to cut President Bush's $142 billion budget request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by $20 billion.

Also, nearly 90% of all guard and reserve units are rated "Not Ready" for deployment mainly due to a lack of billions of dollars worth in equipment.

I can understand how the senate would want to control funding. But I can not understand with how much we have spent on this war that there are so many units that don't have what is needed of them to complete their own missions if deployed.

Instead, funding has gone to many other miscellaneous items such as American vehicles, plasma TV’s and other personal items.

I just hope that with this next budget plan that it is utilize more efficiently across the board. Because it’s great that a soldier can get a Pizza Hut pizza but not be able to get something more critical; like a scope for his weapon, that is not great.

Flexibility is one

akhenn99 — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:23:21 -0600

Flexibility is one characteristic you learn fast while in the military. Sometimes it feels as if the only thing that is consistant... is change itself. The term, "Frago" is widely used to describe such sudden or hasty change in orders.

Technicaly, Frago is short for "Fragmentary Order".

Now, I am not saying that there is no complaining. For there is always a fair share of that. But we also have become accustomed to the fact that change will occur at times and when it does, we deal with it the best that we can.

The BSTB stands for the

akhenn99 — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 09:59:00 -0600

The BSTB stands for the "Brigade Special Troops Battalion". The BSTB, the 15TH Support Brigade was activated in 2005 from Fort Hood, TX as part of the Army's Modularity Program. Their main missions consist of security and support to units assigned within its area of operation. The company that I belong to the 1157TH Transportation Company is one of those "units" that belong under the BSTB.

They arrived over here in theater a month prior to my company.

(Now the BSTB kind of came here in two parts but as one overall entity. They consist of the Brigade and the Battalion).

For those who may be wondering what I am talking about, here is a little cheat in understanding.

I technically belong to a National Guard Unit. A set number of units combined make up a Company of which I am deployed with. A number of Companies fall under a Battalion and the Battalion falls under the Brigade.

All of which, the leadership reports up to the next higher accordingly.

I'm impressed by the

Mathias Baden — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:41:35 -0600

I'm impressed by the flexibility and versatility of the military personnel I know. It's interesting to hear how often they have to learn a large number of new things before and while they are deployed. I've heard no complaining about it --they really step up to the challenges.

(Mathias Baden is the editor of the Jordan Independent. He can be reached at editor@jordannews.com.)

What is the BSTB? What does

Mathias Baden — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:34:48 -0600

What is the BSTB? What does that stand for? Are they more security-focused company? Have they just arrived?

(Mathias Baden is the editor of the Jordan Independent. He can be reached at editor@jordannews.com.)

Things are starting to shake

akhenn99 — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:08:10 -0600

Things are starting to shake up around here.

There are some new changes going on around here in my part of the world. First of all, the weather is an ever changing situation. It's nice and sunny one day and then it's a down and cloudy day full of rain; which accumulates to our "mud city". I have heard that last year beginning around this time that they once had a span of 15 - 20 some odd days of complete rain. I hope that is not the case this year.

Also, the company that I belong to is in process of handing over one of their main occupations to their higher; the BSTB. The BSTB will soon be taking over on monitoring of towers and gates as the 1157TH have been doing for some time now. Reason for this, is because now the 1157TH will be more transformed into their main official job of dealing with the transportation of fuel.

This was the main reason why the 1157 came over here in the first place, however with the ever-changing army comes with the change in missions. That led to a large portion of us in working in the security factor here on our base. But now we have a new group coming in and to replace us after we get them trained in on their specific duties.

The 1157TH new missions will be in dealing with the internal and external fuel missions for this base. What that means is that the internal fuel is similar to a gas station of means. Where vehicles can come to a fuel location and fill up their when needed. The external portion will deal with trips outside this base to another one in means of hauling back fuel to our base.

The 1157TH is consisted of mainly "truck drivers" so I hope that this brings about some good moral. Change is always a difficult factor, even if it may seem to be for the better. For with this change in mission, people had to move living locations and of course they will be changing their job duties as well. But overall, their past living styles and day to day functions will change until they are accustomed to their new ones. I can understand how that is a bit frustrating at times (for I too have moved and changed jobs several times already).

Anyway, we are expecting change here soon. We all still are looking forward to the fall for when our "time" is to be called back home. I don’t know how long overall the “US” is going to be involved “over here” but I do know that with every major conflict that the United States has been involved in, that we eventually establish ourselves there in one shape or another permanently. Who knows what the future has in store for us. Time can only tell.

You're correct, suicides

litafan01 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:25:51 -0600

You're correct, suicides occurs not just with those in the military. My point about bringing it up, was to inform others that this does occur overseas as well.

From how I understand it, there will be an investigation into the VA to see if they did their job or not. From what I read, he did tell his parents he was going to get help for what he was going through. That's all I know.

All I know is that a fair amount of people don't realize that soldiers are going through a hard time not just when they come back, but overseas as well. I can't even imagine not being able to have a loved one commit suicide while overseas and not be able to help them, and not be able to tell them to get help either. Especially if they didn't get help for whatever reason, maybe they didn't want it, but maybe they didn't trust anyone either.

When a soldier does go

akhenn99 — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 08:44:23 -0600

When a soldier does go through that level of conflict in their life (either they themselves or somebody who confronts them) will check them into the first stage of help. Now at least over here where I am at, the Mental Health clinic is not the first place to go to when things like this occur.

The first place any one soldier would go to would be the Combat Stress clinic. There they are administered in and check and processed through by a trained individual who looks for signs of suicide or other stress related issues.

If the soldier is indeed showing positive signs of such related issues, they are then sent to the Mental Health clinic where they would undergo more treatment by the staff accordingly. For there, the soldier would then find out what further action would or should occur to them. In both places, confidentiality is always utilized.

Now stress comes in all forms, and it is easy for one to determine that a soldier might be experiencing stress from his or her deployment. But what is overlooked sometimes is the stress that one may be experience from home or issues that had built up before the deployment. Not just stress from the deployment itself is always the main cause for any such suicides. That is why it is hard to determine correct factors at times. I am sure that in all cases, the stress that occurs with the deployment is never a helping factor.

Also a note, not everyone who goes to Combat Stress goes for signs of suicide. Combat Stress is a place that functions many different varieties of stress. They cater to those who are trying to quit smoking, those with relationship problems, and if your just having a bad day.

In the case with that recent soldier from New Prague who committed suicide, I am not sure if he checked himself in properly (according to what I have read and heard). It is sad that things like that had to happen, but only if someone else knew what he was truly going through that maybe something could have happened to prevent him from doing such action. But if someone did know, why didn’t they do something more about it?

Now suicide occurs whether the person is in the military or not. It is an issue that many don’t want to discuss, but like many issues, there is not much attention to it, until it happens to someone “we” know or it occurs “close to home”.

Since we're talking about

litafan01 — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:28:20 -0600

Since we're talking about the importance of informing the public of what really goes on, I would like to know more about your experience in Iraq as it relates to mental health. In all honesty, I don't have a question, but I have heard people that have commited suicide and then there was that terrible incident with a soldier that took his own life just a little while ago here. The Star Tribune when they talked about this soldier used the word, "mentally ill" many times throughout the article. That turned me off, because if any soldier were to read that, it would turn him/her off from getting the help they need; they may think that only "crazy" people are mentally ill, and they aren't crazy, so that's not for them. What kind of message does that send our soldiers who want the help and need it, and now feel that they can't trust anyone. I guess I'm encouraging everyone to be aware of the fact that suicides because of war do happen, both here and overseas, and that if they know someone that needs help, to encourage and normalize what they are going through, they are not weak and they are not crazy, they have been through a horrible situation that has added a great deal of stress to their lives.

This is a good topic,

akhenn99 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:02:39 -0600

This is a good topic, especially with this war being a main stream topic as of late. The country is torn with what to do with it and how it should be resolved. But for the soldiers who are engaged in it, (for the most of them) all they can do is just fulfill their orders and hopefully return home safe and probably with a story or two.

Depending on what any one person does over "here" their experience will differ than that of another. The level of danger also plays a critical role as well.

I am not sure what your friend does but by the sounds of it, it sounds as if he is close with enemy contact more than needed or wished upon.

As for me, I have never been in that situation. Instead I have been more involved with another situation. With my company working on some of the security gates here on base, we have had a number of emergency personnel who come through when needed to get to the nearby medic station. I do not work there currently, but at the time that I did, there have been a number of vehicles roaming through with injured personnel. For the most part, it is not a sight I wish anyone to witness.

Also with the more recent mortar attack on our tower that injured Spc Schroeder, "we" do see suspicious people or activity at times but there are procedures that must be followed before any action occurs. Also, with these procedures, a higher group that monitors us normally always gives us that final direction with what to do.

I can understand with what your friend might be going through. In fact it is kind of common even if the soldier is not in a heavy danger area. A lot of times, the soldier wants to have that conversation with their loved ones back home but also don't want to have them worry more about them than what “they” might feel is needed.

I know it's not everyone, for some soldiers do tell their loved ones back home everything that is going on and try to keep them up to date with every little detail.

But with that, as soldiers we also have been taught not to speak of too much in fear that we might educate the wrong person and have it used against us some how. With that famous line, "Loose Lips Sink Ships" is still utilized today. With the ever increasing usage of computers, phones, and mail, the "enemy" has been using our own information against us by hacking into our phone conversations and emails.

I hope that I am not saying too much here, for I am keeping many things in that "neutral" state for above stated reasons. Anyway, as for if I tell everything. I try my best to keep those inform with what is needed. But I know that I do keep some things to myself for my own reasons. I like it when conversations are kept positive than negative. But in the same light, I also try not to exclude important information either. For they too have that right to know with what’s going on.

I have a friend who

Brandon — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:03:41 -0600

I have a friend who doesn’t tell his family and loved ones everything he goes through in Iraq, because he doesn’t want to scare them with the details of his experiences. Do you tell your loved ones everything, or do you keep some things to yourself?

As far as the difficult

akhenn99 — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:25:13 -0600

As far as the difficult questions arising, I am beginning to enjoy responding to them. Yes, they are at times even difficult for me to come up with appropriate answers, but I do think that people should be aware of certain issues or concerns that they might have. So for any of you with such questions, I will do my best at giving you an honest answer.

Questions for a Jordan soldier

Brandon — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 11:37:45 -0600

In this week’s print edition of the Jordan Independent, you can read about how Connie Hennen sent boxes of holiday cookies to her son Adam, who is stationed with the U.S. Army National Guard in Iraq. You can read the story and see pictures of the cookie decorating here: http://www.jordannews.com/node/892.