Letters to the Editor for Friday, June 3, 2005

European and Mideast editions

(EDITOR’S NOTE: These are the letters that appeared in each edition of Stripes on this publication date. Click here to jump ahead to the Pacific edition letters)

Follow uniform regs at chow

As a food operation sergeant, I know there are many instances where soldiers are allowed to visit their dining facility to eat in whatever attire they choose (“Dressing for dinner,” letter, May 19). But how many soldiers know the requirements prescribed by Army Regulation 30-22 and Department of the Army Pamphlet 30-22 regarding the appropriate attire when eating in the dining facility?

In a field environment, soldiers are not allowed to visit the dining facility in a conglomeration of uniforms that many of them come up with. All soldiers should be familiar with AR 670-1, which sets guidelines for every type of uniform soldiers wear while performing their duties.

Commanders set the policies for suitable attire within the dining facility. The ability to get by with inappropriate attire falls into the hands of the noncommissioned officers. It is the NCO’s job to enforce the standards, whether we be in garrison or in a field environment. Soldiers only get away with what we allow them to get away with. When NCOs enforce the standards set forth in AR 670-1, food service specialists won’t have to worry about seeing soldiers not in uniform.

I was in Iraq for 11 months and think back to my first sergeant always stressing the standards. No one was allowed to set his own policy when it came to a uniform. As he always told us, “The Army set the policy in AR 670-1. Your job is to follow it, and NCOs, enforce it.”

To the letter writer: Just keep doing your job to standard, and when those soldiers you are referring to decide to adhere to the standards, your job will be that much easier.

Sgt. Mike Rodcay
Food operations sergeant
Babenhausen, Germany

Gold Star moms’ rules wrong

I read “Mother of soldier killed in war denied Gold Star membership” (article, The Associated Press, May 28, Mideast print edition), about the mother of a U.S. servicemember killed in Afghanistan being denied membership by American Gold Star Mothers Inc. because she was not a U.S. citizen. The mother has lived in the Yonkers, N.Y., area for years and is a taxpayer.

Does anyone else find it sickening that her son gave his life for this country, and she is denied the honor of being a part of an organization dedicated to mothers who have lost sons or daughters in the military during time of war? How many other mothers have been denied? If this organization has rules that deny access because of non-U.S. citizenship, it’s time for a change, for the better.

If these sons and daughters are American enough to serve their country and die for their country, the rule is just plain wrong!

I call on U.S. servicemembers serving their country proudly to demand a change of this rule and immediate membership be granted to Lagaya Lagmon and any other mothers who have been wronged in this way. Their sons and daughters died for America and for freedom.

Allen Russell
Baghdad

DFACs not for religion

There are many chapels on Camp Anaconda, Iraq, for religious services. When one wants to participate or hear religious jaw-jacking, that is where one goes.

There are also many dining facilities. When one is hungry and wants to get something to eat, this is where one goes. When religious services, Bible quoting and gospel singing are held during meal times in the DFACs, this amounts to disrespect for those of other religions and those of no religion.

In the wake of the recent Air Force Academy scandal concerning religious intolerance, one would think those who run the religious departments on Anaconda would reconsider pushing their religion on a captive audience, not only on those who are there just to get something to eat but also on those who work in the DFACS who are of a different faith or no faith at all.

Is it really too much to ask that the preaching and pushing of Christianity be held within the chapels, where those who wish it can seek it there and those who do not wish to hear it will not be held captive and forcibly subjected to Christian ritualism?

I don’t go into the chapels to eat my breakfast, so the religiously inclined should show the same respect and not come into a dining facility to preach their religion.

Frederick Geraci
Camp Anaconda, Iraq

Bell didn’t visit motor pool

I have two things I would like to talk about.

First, [U.S. Army Europe Commander] Gen. B.B. Bell showed up here for a couple of days. He went around and visited with the troops from Europe. That is what his visit was for. Yeah, right.

He visited everyone in Company F, 159th Aviation Regiment “Big Windy” besides the motor pool. We had to clean and make the motor pool all nice for him because he was supposed to show up. But I guess in his busy schedule he forgot about our motor pool.

Second is about the Quran in Cuba and how it was mistreated, or whatever. I think it will be out of line to punish our troops for that. These people burn our flag outside of base, yet it’s OK. Do you see anyone apologizing for that? Do you see anyone in trouble for that? If they burned our Bible or mishandled it, do you think anything would happen to them?

We are suppose to have freedom of religion and speech. It’s just a book and people need to get over it.

We televise it every time Americans do something wrong. I keep my family informed about what is really happening, or else most of the people in the United States would think we are bad people what with this and the Abu Ghraib scandal.

If we are going to report all the bad we do, we need to report the good also.

Spc. Tom Merchant
Bagram, Afghanistan

‘Forgotten soldier disease’

I am a sergeant in the Texas Army National Guard, and I am writing this for all soldiers who have been mobilized into a combat zone, soldiers who have been separated from their families and who have been forgotten by soldiers who have never been deployed.

The Department of Defense is nervous about the number of soldiers who will not be in the military 90 days after they return to their units from deployments. I feel it is because the military leadership and those who have not been deployed have forgotten many of their soldiers who have been mobilized abroad.

For example, I re-enlisted for an additional six years for a $15,000 tax-free bonus in January. I had to go through the chain of command back home and file an inspector general complaint and it took me almost six months before I received my bonus.

For those who have been deployed, promotions will never happen because leadership back home did not allow soldiers to complete their 2005 promotion packets prior to deploying overseas.

I can only speculate how many forgotten soldiers will not extend their re-enlistment due to the “forgotten soldier disease,” a disease where rear echelons just do not care about those in a combat zone, a disease that will not give the support that is needed to allow soldiers to focus on their mission.

As a leader, I would ensure that all soldiers would be supported and had everything they needed to complete their mission and come home safe.

For those soldiers who can relate, we have just been forgotten.

Sgt. Forsyth Waymon
Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan

Pacific edition

Religion, politics do mix

The writer of “Americans shoulder blame” (letter, May 25), boldly states “Our current president claims God told him to attack Iraq.” That’s quite a news item and one that I seem to have missed.

The writer also made the unequivocal statement that “by far the most dangerous action by a nation is to allow or encourage the intermingling of religion and politics.”

I think we can all agree that a lot of bad things have happened throughout history in the name of religion. Yet, Great Britain mixed religion and politics in the 19th century and ended the slave trade in the Western world and almost eliminated the Hindu practice of suttee (the burning of wives on the funeral pyres of their husbands) among other laudable activities. The American Founding Fathers mixed religion and politics when creating the United States. Many Americans also mixed religion and politics 50 years ago to help fight racial discrimination.

On the other hand, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and communist China all separated religion and politics very effectively with some pretty ugly results (how many tens of millions dead?)

Politics and government necessarily involve choices — where to spend tax dollars, how aggressively to defend the nation, what laws best protect the public, etc. — that have a moral component. Religion helps shape the moral view of many, if not most, Americans. If the letter writer is saying that America doesn’t need an official church, I would agree with that, as would all the “religious” people I know. However, a blanket statement that we need to avoid mixing religion and politics is simply over the top. They intermingle, whether he likes it or not.

Col. Randy James
Brussels, Belgium

Prioritize important things

“There’s no crying in baseball” should be “There’s no crying in America!”

I get tired every day reading the paper, the news, the editorials and seeing so much crying and whimpering from people, from religion and evolution in school to who deserves to go into a combat zone.

It’s one thing to have an opinion, but totally different to claim your view speaks for thousands more. Hundreds die each day and hundreds more are wounded in this world. Some are scarred for life.

Whether from violence or accidents … by the end of the day, it’s all about me. I’m one of those people – at the end of a hard day, I ask myself, “Where the hell’s my beer!”

Who cares about what you do in life if, in the end, you’ve made this world better. If you didn’t and caused further grief and suffering … well, I hope you get what’s coming to you thousandfold.

It’s true that a person is intelligent, but a group of people can be a bunch of fools. Let’s prioritize what’s important in life — like family and my beer — and use some common sense. Grow up, people!

Capt. James Woods
Camp Liberty, Baghdad

‘Forgotten soldier disease’

I am a sergeant in the Texas Army National Guard, and I am writing this for all soldiers who have been mobilized into a combat zone, soldiers who have been separated from their families and who have been forgotten by soldiers who have never been deployed.

The Department of Defense is nervous about the number of soldiers who will not be in the military 90 days after they return to their units from deployments. I feel it is because the military leadership and those who have not been deployed have forgotten many of their soldiers who have been mobilized abroad.

For example, I re-enlisted for an additional six years for a $15,000 tax-free bonus in January. I had to go through the chain of command back home and file an inspector general complaint and it took me almost six months before I received my bonus.

For those who have been deployed, promotions will never happen because leadership back home did not allow soldiers to complete their 2005 promotion packets prior to deploying overseas.

I can only speculate how many forgotten soldiers will not extend their re-enlistment due to the “forgotten soldier disease,” a disease where rear echelons just do not care about those in a combat zone, a disease that will not give the support that is needed to allow soldiers to focus on their mission.

As a leader, I would ensure that all soldiers would be supported and had everything they needed to complete their mission and come home safe.

For those soldiers who can relate, we have just been forgotten.

Sgt. Forsyth Waymon
Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan

Many go ‘outside the wire’

The young sergeant and writer of “Combat arms troops are distinct” (letter, May 22) is entitled to his opinion and should be proud of the job that he does for the Army, but he is greatly uninformed about what goes on in the theater.

I’m the platoon sergeant for the automotive platoon in 183rd Maintenance Company. Our unit is running daily escort missions and has been doing so since our arrival here in January. Our escort team is made up of mechanics, cooks and supply specialists. This team of “support warriors” has run a hundred-plus missions on the same roads that the young sergeant has and has seen the highs and the lows that come with the job. I can’t even tell you the thousands of miles that my people have run, and the thousands of trucks of supplies they have successfully delivered.

This team that this sergeant claims needs his help to run our escort missions has received numerous accolades and awards by not only our battalion, our group and 1st Corps Support Command, but other officials and units have requested to ride along and train with us because we run our combat logistic patrols so well.

With no distinct line to be drawn as a front where would we all be without each other’s support? Can the combat arms side of the Army handle all of these missions and CLPs by themselves? I would wager to say no!

At no time have any of the soldiers who run the CLPs asked for or about the Combat Action Badge. If we are worried about the rewards and the awards, then who is worried about the real mission?

I think there are a few soldiers who need to rethink why they are on the road — not only for their own safety but the safety of their buddies.

I think the letter writer may want to go back and ask his chain of command for more information about who is doing what and who is supporting whom here in Iraq, because yes, there are more than just combat-arms military occupational specialties fighting this fight on the roads every day.

Remember that intelligence is a dangerous thing and information is a vital thing. This is not about what I think is going on. It is about what I know is going on, because my people are living it every day. My hat is tipped to anyone who goes outside of the wire and puts his or her life on the line in support of the mission.

Sgt. 1st Class Albert Mecillas Jr.
Logistics Support Area Anaconda, Iraq