Funny thing about Europe...

...they have a problem with guns but just love playing with small explosive devices.

Pallets of fireworks appear in every supermarket, tobacco shop, and convenience store in the days leading up to New Years. And I'm not talking sparklers here. I'm talking 2-ft rockets in cannisters that shoot 75 feet up into the air.

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry goes for it... you start hearing them the day before but in the hours leading up to midnight on the 31st things really heat up.

Now, shortly after midnight, in my normally quiet suburban Munich neighborhood the air is thick with smoke and flashing colors, and the sound of explosions echoes for miles around.

The only people I've seen who are crazier than the Germans when it comes to fireworks are the Icelanders. The average Icelander spends something like $300 for New Years fireworks and I sh#t you not, I have seen rocket cannisters with a 2-inch diameter in Reykjavik.

It's insane.

Happy New Year

Raise a glass tonight, but tomorrow it's on to the Next Order of Business:

From Tripoli to Syria to Teheran to Beirut to Pyongyang, how many of Saddam Hussein’s fellow travelers involuntarily rubbed their own necks as the world was treated to this spectacle of justice for once achieved and not cynically subverted?

Heads up, Khaddafy, Assad and Ahmadinejad. Heads up, the entire rotten, stunted leadership of the People’s Republic of China. Heads up, Kim Jong Il.

The New Year is upon us. With the trash taken out, we end 2006 on an up note and it's time to turn to the serious business of 2007.

Make sure to read the rest of Jules Crittenden's post.

Justice

May the souls of Saddam's victims now rest in peace.

God bless the men and women of the US military for the sacrifices they make to defend the values of freedom and democracy around the world.

I believe I shall open that bottle of fine Vintage Port wine I've been saving for a special occasion.

Merry Christmas from Landstuhl

Christmas cards from home line the 3-story stairwell at Kleber outpatient barracks. The Christmas Eve "card squad" from left: Dan, SA volunteer Amanda, Doug, me, and the Chief. The project took 2 days to complete, with Dan and Randy (not pictured here) participating on the 23rd. Thanks to all who sent or brought cards... and to the rest of the outpatients and staff for their free advice ;-)

On behalf of the patients at Kleber I'd also like to thank the many Angels who sent decorations and baked goods from the States as well as the many, many groups and individuals of the KMC area who've brought decorations, cards, food, and baked goods to the barracks... among them the members of the Holy Family Catholic Church for the complete turkey dinner on the 23rd, the Marines Liaisons for the complete ham dinner (cooked by a local volunteer) on the 24th, and the Air Force group who came in today. More thanks to the local military families who invited patients into their homes for Christmas Eve celebrations. Your thoughtfulness means so much to the guys.

A Christmas Eve Story

A Soldier calls home on Christmas Eve from Germany.

His kid brother cries because they aren't together for Christmas.

The Soldier explains they are together, unlike the families of the two friends he just lost in Ramadi.

"By the end of our conversation, I really think he got it."


Story told by a patient during an informal Christmas Eve service at which the Chaplain asked participants to share what Christmas means to them.

Soldiers' Angels Mourns SPC Kenneth W. Haines

From Renee of the Soldiers' Angels Living Legends Team:

We have a fallen hero from Soldiers' Angels, Spc. Kenneth W. Haines.

Ken, 25, of Fulton, N.Y., died Dec. 3 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle while on patrol in Abu Hishma, Iraq.

Haines was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Ken is survived by his foster parent, Kirk McMillan of Fulton, three brothers and one sister.

Renee

SPC Haines was serving his second tour of duty and a recipient of the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, two National Defense Service Medals, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon and a Weapons Qualification Badge as a sharpshooter.

Pending medals, which will be honored to SPC Haines posthumously, include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Combat Action Badge.

Please take a moment to read the Army Specialist Kenneth W. Haines tribute at the Soldiers' Angels Fallen Heroes blog.

Remember our Heroes.

Soldiers’ Angels – Holiday Mission Accomplished

For Immediate Release


Soldiers’ Angels – Holiday Mission Accomplished

"Holidays for Heroes" Project Provides 90,000 Holiday Gift Bags to Deployed Troops

Pasadena, California – December 20, 2006 – This holiday season most of us will celebrate here at home with our loved ones. However, this will not be the case for tens of thousands of Americas’ bravest men and women who are protecting our freedom overseas. Many of those who guard our freedom will be doing so from across the world and will not be able to share the holiday season with their families and friends.

Fellow service members of many of these same deployed soldiers will be spending the holidays in hospital rooms recuperating from injuries earned in defense of our nation. While the warmth of the holiday season may remind many soldiers of the reasons they serve, it is also the time in which the absence from their families and friends is felt the most.

In an effort to let the soldiers know their sacrifices are appreciated and to lift them into the holiday spirit, many organizations support holiday projects aimed at giving gifts to the deployed and wounded soldiers. Soldiers’ Angels is at the very top of this list. Our mission is to provide aid and comfort to the thousands of American service members stationed wherever the United States raises its flag.

“No project could be better suited to our goal of letting our soldiers know that they are loved and appreciated,” said Patti Patton-Bader, founder of Soldiers’ Angels. “Our ‘Holidays for Heroes’ project strives to make sure that every soldier deployed in a combat area receives a gift of small but welcome items and a card with holiday greetings and encouragement.”

These gifts are mailed to soldiers in combat areas and delivered personally by individual Soldiers’ Angels in our hospitals. While most soldiers receive tremendous support from home, Soldiers’ Angels strives to ensure that those who need the most attention receive it. To succeed in our mission, Soldiers’ Angels works closely with military clergy and non-commissioned officers who are in the best position to know the personal needs of each soldier.

In November and December the Soldiers’ Angels “Holidays for Heroes” teams from around the nation packaged up 90,000 holiday gift bags, that included 35,000 bags with a stainless steel coffee mug bearing the Soldiers’ Angel logo on it, along with packets of hot chocolate, cider, socks, calling cards and candy.

These numbers do not reflect the holiday support that the servicemembers have received through the adoption program with angels from around the globe sending support all year long.

Since its inception in 2003 Soldiers’ Angels has processed more then 100,000 soldier adoptions and has more then 100,000 angels globally supporting projects from letter writing teams to Project Valour IT, which is a laptop program for wounded soldiers.

For those not familiar with Soldiers’ Angels, it is an all volunteer, non-profit 501 (C)(3) organization dedicated to the support of all our brave men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces in the “War on Terror”. We support Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen deployed throughout the world defending and protecting the freedoms we cherish.

We are able to provide our services to our troops thanks to the generosity of people like you. Donations are accepted all year long on PayPal at the Soldiers' Angels website.

Prayers Needed

For my Dad, who suffered a stroke this morning. And for my Mom.
Two members of The Greatest Generation.

I'll be flying to New Jersey tomorrow and will post updates when I can.

Thank you.


Update: Friday 15Dec2006 2230 EST

Thank you for your prayers and the many well wishes I've received.

My Dad was moved out of the Intensive Care Unit yesterday. It has been determined he suffered two strokes almost simultaneously, one affecting the speech part of the brain and the other affecting balance/coordination. There is no paralysis.

He was able to eat for the first time Wednesday evening after tests determined his swallowing reflexes were functioning. When we went to visit him before he was transferred to the regular ward, we found him sitting in a chair eating his lunch.

Since the meal included meatloaf and vanilla ice cream we knew he must have selected it himself ;-)

He's experiencing a certain amount of confusion and mixing up some of his words, but doing his best to communicate. He was grilling my Mom yesterday about when he can come home, and kept saying a word she couldn't understand. Then he started talking about a birthday.

"Whose birthday?", asked my Mom. She gave him a piece of paper to try and write it down, although his writing the day before consisted of nothing but squiggly lines.

In clear block letters he wrote, "GOD".

God's birthday. He wants to come home by Christmas.

Update: Wednesday 20Dec2006 1105 CET

My thanks again to all of you. Your prayers and kind words have meant a lot to us during this very difficult time.

My Dad is making very good progress and should be released from the hospital today. We had a bit of a scare over the weekend when he ran a temperature for a day and an x-ray showed possible fluid in the lungs, but that cleared up quickly.

He'll be going to rehab for about 3 weeks before coming home, so we've been busy selecting a facility that best meets his needs. Continuing the therapy started in the hospital is crucial for continued improvement.

Numbers are a bit of a problem, as is writing, but he's able to speak in complete sentences now and is much less confused. In fact, the other night he explained to my sister where he hid the Christmas presents he had bought for my Mom. He wants my sister to wrap them for him.

We are very encouraged and incredibly thankful for his recovery so far. The change over the past week is nothing short of amazing.

One of the most important factors for my Dad's positive development to date was the administration of a drug called tPA, which must be done within 3 hours of the CVA (cerebrovascular accident). For this reason it is critical to get immediate treatment for the patient, preferably at a hospital with a dedicated "stroke attack team". I encourage everyone to know which hospital(s) in their area specialize in this treatment and make sure patients are brought to that facility regardless of where the patient's physicians practice. You can sort out the doctors later.

tPA is not appropriate for all patients or for all types of strokes. It is also considered controversial by some and is not without risk. But when appropriate, can make a huge difference in the patient's neurological outcome.

We still have a long way to go. But as I said before, things look very encouraging and for that we're extremely thankful.

Accepting the Idea of Victory

"A country that often blamed itself more in victory than defeat was showing manifestations of a terminal illness, conducting postbellum hearings to assess blame in the midst of a war for its survival."


Friday's featured article on the Wall Street Journal's editorial page is called Our Unceasing Ambivalence, by Shelby Steele.

He discusses America's reluctance to take on the responsibility of a superpower, our fear of being seen as colonialists, and how that makes us ambivalent toward the idea of victory in Iraq.

He continues by reminding us of the nature of the enemy we face,

Islamic extremism is an ideology of menace. It empowers those who, but for menace, would languish in the world's disregard. The dark achievement of bin Laden, Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad, names we know only because of their association to menace, is that they have used menace to make their people visible in the world, to bring them back into the scheme of history. And they are greatly loved for this. If their achievements follow from evil rather than from good, this is a small thing. Worse than evil is invisibility.

And then concludes with another reminder - of our responsibility to victory in Iraq.

For every reason, from the humanitarian to the geopolitical to the military, Iraq is a war that America must win in the hegemonic, even colonial, sense. It is a test of our civilization's commitment to the good against the alluring notion of menace-as-power that has gripped so much of the Muslim world.

Today America is a danger to the world in its own right, not because we are a powerful bully but because we don't fully accept who we are. We rush to war as a superpower protecting the world from menace, then leave the battle before winning as a show of what, humility? We confuse our enemies, discouraging them one minute and encouraging them the next.

Could it be that our enemies are really paper tigers made formidable by our unceasing ambivalence? And could it be that the greater good is in both the idea and the reality of American victory?

"In the real monster battles of the war, they had won every time. But they now somehow felt more demoralized than the enemy, which had suffered many more losses...

That the assembly exiled, executed, or fined almost every notable leader did not make them more accountable as much as timid and prone to second-guessing.

So the country did not often learn from its mistakes but almost always scared leaders into being too cautious or reckless, their decisions based on anticipating what the voters might approve on any particular day."

- Both paraphrased from Victor David Hanson's "A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War."

Morale and our Mission

This piece was contributed by reader Robert Connolly, whom I'm also proud to call a friend.

Most of the emails that I get from Marines in the field are wonderful: efficient, friendly, sincere thank-yous from senior NCOs and more senior officers. Until the last year, I didn’t personally know anyone deployed in Iraq fitting that description, but in the past year I have met a few. To a man (yes, they are all in combat arms), they are what any civilized society would hope to have leading their sons and daughters in the terrible business of conducting a war. I have come to look forward to getting three sentences from these men, mostly confirmation that another care package arrived and their Marines were ‘feeling the love’ from back home.

Yesterday, I responded to one of those emails from a very senior Marine NCO by explaining a little of what we have been doing (i.e., how did it happen that you got this care package from me). I always try to make a couple of points with these men: 1) the professionalism displayed by our Marines is a source of great pride, and 2) we are aware that much of what they do which is good is not being reported (i.e., we know the news is slanted). Most of the time, I don’t get an email back. That’s generally because these men have another job which occupies their time and energy (and I stress that their families are more important than strangers trying to help with morale).

This time was different. This senior Marine wrote back to say: ”Glad to hear that you care. So many people don't.” I was quite taken aback by this message. Its directness wasn’t surprising, but the tone was disturbing to me. It was completely out of step with what I usually hear.

I pondered this for most of the day, wondering what could lie behind this. The obvious explanations did not fit: there were no fatalities in this unit and there was no other public bad news. True, it could be that I was seeing the consequences of fatigue, the cumulative effects of a raft of minor problems, or other issues that probably won’t matter in the long run. Still, after dozens and dozens and dozens of these emails, all from Marines in roughly comparable settings, this one stood apart.

It occurred to me later that I may have been seeing something that has been noted by many others who interact with Marines and soldiers in the field: what happens back home affects Marines and soldiers in the field. So, what’s happened lately? A casual tour of the blogs which cover such matters shows a litany of serious negativity:

Distortions of a Marine colonel’s report on Anbar province

Leaks of additional classified documents

Mounting evidence of derelict performance by a major news service

Speculation about the Iraq Study Group report and its recommendations.

Then, a plausible explanation jumped out: this email came 24 hours after this Marine’s likely new civilian boss, Robert Gates, said that the military wasn’t winning the war in Iraq. Now, the truth is that the headlines trumpeted this, but the Secretary-designate’s views are a bit more nuanced than that. From an MSNBC report,

At the outset of an afternoon session of questions about Iraq and other subjects, Gates began by telling the committee he wanted to amplify on his remark about not winning in Iraq. He did not withdraw the remark but said, "I want to make clear that that pertains to the situation in Iraq as a whole."

He said he did not want U.S. troops to think he believes they are being unsuccessful in their assigned missions.

"Our military wins the battles that we fight," Gates said. "Where we're having our challenges, frankly, are in the areas of stabilization and political developments and so on."

Perhaps this Marine only caught the headlines, or perhaps he was too busy ‘winning the battles’ in his area to have time to scour the testimony. Either way, it doesn’t seem far-fetched that our Marines and soldiers might have come to the point where they are wondering what the hell is going on back home.

I am not near smart enough to know how to answer that question with authority. I don’t think I have run across anyone who is that smart.

I do think there is something we can do about it, however. If you know a Marine, soldier, airman, or sailor in harm’s way, take the 10-15 minutes it will require to put a pen to paper (or type an email) and assure them of your personal support. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to happen. (These folks are good, but they cannot read your mind from 8,000 miles away.) Your note will do more good than you can imagine, and it has, I believe, a much more powerful impact on morale than reports in the MSM.

If you don’t know who to write to, go to Marty Horn’s AnySoldier.com website, pick a PFC or SGT, and send them a note. Alternatively, go to Soldiers' Angels and adopt a soldier. If you don’t know what to say, then the nice people at Xerox have created a way for you to do this without having to use your own words. It isn’t hard, and you won’t get back a critique of your efforts from a soldier or Marine.

In January 1951, Gen. Matthew Ridgway took over the 8th Army in Korea, and noting the morale problems there, he wrote and had distributed to the entire force a document entitled, “Why We Are Here.” It addressed the difficulties that soldiers and Marines in the field might have had in understanding the purpose of their terrible exertions.

I don’t think we need that now. This Marine’s closing sentence in his email to me speaks to the differences between morale in Korea at that time and in our force in Iraq: “My boys are doing a great job though and we will continue the best way we know how.”

I have to go work on something to say to this Marine and his boys. Will you do the same?

Bob can be reached via email or you may leave him a comment below.