Troop Weblog

The Friday Five

Last week’s questions were too hard so I’m taking a step back with some easier questions.

1. Name five things in your refrigerator.
Not really having a refrigerator of my own, I’ll tell you what we keep in the one at work, Soda, Milk boxes, Orange Juice Boxes, Ketchup Packets, some fruit.

2. Name five things in your freezer.
We do have a freezer as well but the only thing we keep in it, are frozen cookies that we defrost and put out for meetings, and a box of freezy pops that Michelle sent me.

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.
There is nothing under the kitchen sink except water and dust.

4. Name five things around your computer.
A stuffed animal Turkey that really gobbles when you smack him on his tail feathers (it was a gift in the mail), a picture of Michelle and I taken at Pat O’Brian’s Pub in San Antonio (Ah the memories), A First Hope Bank calendar on which I mark off the previous day each morning, two post cards from Michelle, and my “Get Fuzzy” cartoon-a-day calendar.

5. Plans for the coming week?
June 1st marks our wedding anniversary, 4 years! Seems like yesterday.
The 1st is also Margaret’s Birthday, so there are plenty of reasons to celebrate.

Honors to a Fallen Soldier

O God, Thou art my God, earnestly will I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and weary land, where no water is.
So have I looked for Thee in the sanctuary, to see Thy power and Thy glory.
For Thy loving kindness is better than life; my lips shall praise Thee.
So will I bless Thee as long as I live; in Thy name will I lift up my hands.
My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth doth praise Thee with joyful lips;
When I remember Thee upon my couch, and meditate on Thee in the night-watches.
For Thou hast been my help, and in the shadow of Thy wings do I rejoice.
My soul cleaveth unto Thee; Thy right hand holdeth me fast.
But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the nethermost parts of the earth.
They shall be hurled to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by Him shall glory; for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
~Psalm 63

Those were the words spoken over the top of a coffin, draped with the National Colors, and surrounded by fellow soldiers in the back of a C-130.

Yesterday afternoon I was at Baghdad International Airport dropping off some Distinguished Visitors when we were told that the aircraft currently on the flight line was preparing to receive the remains of a fallen U.S. soldier and carry him home. They offered for us to join the Honor Guard and we humbly accepted.

I have never been so moved.

Even the Taps ceremonies at West Point, the Corps of Cadets silently arriving on the Plain, shrouded in fog, to witness the final taps for a fallen cadet and then the haunting notes of Amazing Grace played on the bagpipes, did not affect me as deeply as this simple ceremony. Perhaps, because the Cadets who died while I was at West Point were all taken from us by accidents and sickness; whereas, the Sergeant whom we honored yesterday gave the last full measure of his life to protect his friends, his unit and his country.

The Friday Five

Quick note: If you’ve missed a week you can always go back and answer older questions. Now for this week’s questions, as a bonus you’re getting 6 questions-I still feel guilty for being late last week:

There's a movie being made about your life! Which celebrity will play...

1. you? Why?
I love Johnny Depp, he’s an excellent character actor and I’ve been called a “character” more than once. I also think Hugh Grant, Billy Crystal, or John Cusack would be good choices for their mastery of self-deprecating humor. I don’t care much what strangers think of me so I’m always up for acting silly or doing things which others might find embarrassing.

2. your love interest? Why?
I think Meg Ryan would do a good job as Michelle. She’s beautiful and I love her in all the romantic comedies she’s done. Sometimes I think that’s what our life is like. So, I’d want a movie about me to be a romantic comedy, showing our love and our ability to make each other laugh and see the world in a funny way even when it seems the chips are down.

3. your best friend? Why?
Val Kilmer for his portrayal of Doc Holliday in the movie Tombstone. In this role he captures the most important quality of real friendship, loyalty.

4. your enemy? Why?
My enemy would have to be played by Christopher Walken because there is no one who plays the villain better. Plus, he’s a great dancer-just in case my movie is a musical!

5. any family member? Why?
I’m going to give you two family members in honor of Father’s Day.
First my grandfather, Lewis C. Beatty, would be played by Jimmy Stewart for his portrayal of George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I’ve always associated my grandfather with this character. Maybe in my young mind it made sense because of the banking connection, but I think a bigger piece of it is how their respective communities respected these two men, one on cellophane and in rural New Jersey. To this day when I’m in Hope I still have folks in town stop me and tell me what a great man he was and how he possessed an uncanny ability to judge a man by meeting his family and looking the man in the eye, often making a loan based on his impression and the honor of a handshake.
My own father would be played by Gregory Peck for his portrayal of Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The pinnacle of an honest, courageous and compassionate man who teaches his children these traits the only way anyone can, by setting an example that leaves no room for doubt.

6. Plans for the coming week?
Mike’s birthday is on the 22nd so hopefully we’ll get together this weekend or next week to celebrate with some “near-beer” and cigars.

The Friday Five

I’m slacking this week, I didn’t get the list up on Friday and I didn’t even make the list myself. Jesse offered up the following questions and I’d have to say he did a better job answering them then I did. His answers are the first ones posted in the comments.

1. If you could do anything for a living what occupation would you choose?

Without any obligations to anyone, I think I would like to travel all over the world and live within all the many different cultures outside the safe confines of our American Borders. I would love to be photojournalist writing and photographing my adventures a sort of William Safire cross with Indiana Jones.

2. If you could be a rock star, a star athlete, a politician, or an actor for a week, which would it be and why?

I’m with Jesse on this one. As a star athlete I think there would be more to savor in one week than any on the other options. Of course if I could keep the skills beyond the initial week I’d go with Country or Rock music star. Even if I wasn’t famous It’d be nice to play a guitar that well.

3. If you could play one sport professionally, what sport would it be and why?

Football. And when I say football I mean soccer to you Americans. You have no idea how huge this sport is in the rest of the world until you travel a little bit. It’s nearly a religion in the rest of the world. We need a miracle team like the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team to energize the nation and make it popular here. The football athletes are in better shape than most sports, the sport is fast, the scoring isn’t outrageous, the rules are not complicated, its just the best sport.

4. What books have you read lately and would you suggest them to others?

I have not read anything I would recommend recently. I’ve been reading some pretty boring stuff. Right now though I am reading “Demian” by Herman Hesse. I read three of his other books in high school and enjoyed them so I figured I would read some more. When I finish this one I’ll start “Steppenwolf,” when that’s done I’ll check out some of your suggestions.

5. What are your plans for the weekend and next week?

Just another week in Iraq. My goal for the week is to get caught up on some email correspondence.

Country Stars visit Iraq

I never really cared much for country music before I went to West Point. The one radio station that played country in Blairstown never played any good country and I thought it was all bad. But living with Joe Stanyer, Army Football #99, my Yearling year at West Point opened my eyes to good country music. Moving to Texas after graduation sealed the deal. Now a lot of my favorite music is country.

Given my new respect for country music I joined in the excitement and anticipation that was all over the Camp last week. We were all excited because Toby Keith and Ted Nugent were doing a U.S.O. tour in Iraq and Camp Victory was a scheduled stop on Saturday morning. Toby Keith had just swept up all the top honors at the Country Music Awards.

They arrived in the morning and met our Commanding General, Lieutenant General Metz. I got this picture in the hallway:

Margaret had already gotten her own photo with them when they were waiting outside the CG’s office:

I didn’t get my picture with either of them, but I did get to shake Ted Nugent’s hand when we took them into the Joint Operations Center. After sitting in on part of a Battle Update Brief they went out in front of the palace and played a set, about six songs each, to a huge crowd of fans. I watched from right behind the stage so I don’t have any good pictures of them performing, but it was awesome to be that close.

Regardless of what you think of their music, I think they deserve a great deal of respect and thanks for doing these types of tours. The soldiers love it and it means a lot to them, especially when they now that the performers are already famous and don’t need to do this.

New Jersey Reunion

They say it’s a small world, and it’s an even smaller Army.
They are, of course, correct

The big project for the past week has been the promotion of our Chief of Staff, Colonel William J. Troy, to Brigadier General. As you can imagine this promotion is very significant. General Troy is a great man and very well respected by his superior officers, peers and subordinates alike. As a result a lot of folks flew in from across Iraq to be here for his promotion, 18 General Officer came. One of them was Brigadier General Mundt the Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Infantry Division. His aide is none other than Captain Ted Wenner.

Ted is from Blairstown, New Jersey and we know each other from grade school and middle school. His mother teaches at Blair Academy where my dad went to high school and swims everyday. I got a letter from my dad on Wednesday telling me that he ran into Ted’s mom at the Blair Graduation Ceremony. Two days later and I’m having dinner with Ted in Baghdad!

Just like they say, “It’s a small Army.”

The Friday Five

Check out June's Trooper of the Month below this post!

1. What do you look forward to most in the next Week?
There’s normally not a lot to look forward to here. If you’ve seen the movie “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray you’d understand (if you’ve not seen the movie you should). But, this week the Camp has been buzzing with excitement because Toby Keith and Ted Nugent are going to be here Saturday Night. I don’t think they are singing at this stop on their USO tour, but if the line isn’t too long I’ll try to get a picture with Toby.

2. What do you look forward to most in the next month?
There are some interesting things coming in the next month as well: D-Day Anniversary on the 6th, the Army’s Birthday is on the 14th, Bunker Hill Day on the 17th, and of course July 4th barely makes the cut-off. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the 13th is marked on the calendar as well… Mary-Kate and Ashley turn 18. Doesn’t that make you feel old; remember when they were the ugly baby on “Full House”?

3. What do you look forward to most in the next year?
No surprises here… Returning home from Iraq. We’re already planning some vacations with friends after some overdue time alone with Michelle.

4. What do you look forward to most in the next 5 years?
I’m looking forward to Michelle’s graduating from Law School so we can finally take our long anticipated backpack-across-Europe vacation. We’ve got to do it before we have kids and what better way to celebrate her graduation?

5. What are your plans for the weekend and next week?
Tomorrow night I’ll be standing in line to shake hands and get a picture with Toby Keith. Then it’s back to crossing days off my calendar so I don’t forget what day of the week it is.

June Trooper of the Month-Michelle

Michelle has been selected as June’s Trooper of the Month. There were lots of nominations, but Michelle’s accomplishments were so great no one else really had a chance. In a private ceremony this evening Toby (May-Trooper of the Month) will pass on the award.

The long road of applying to Law Schools has come to a very happy ending.

Michelle started down this road when she took the LSAT a few years ago and did extremely well. Not wanting to go to school until I was out of the Army, so that we would not be separated, she decided to wait to apply. After selecting a list of schools from the west to east coast, collecting transcripts and letters of recommendation, and writing personal statements she sent out applications this past fall. The hardest part of the process turned out to be the long, long wait.

Finally, when we had all the results (not before I left though) we were very pleased to have a great list of schools from all over the country to choose from. This was my favorite part, because while Michelle loves to make lists, I live for Microsoft Excel. I created spreadsheets to compare the attributes, formulas to weight different factors, and I even made bar graphs! In the end we narrowed it down to 4 Schools in NYC, Virginia, and California.

We put a great deal of thought into which school to choose. Location was a big factor-California is even further away from home than Texas! But, I had promised Michelle years ago that when we got out of the Army we would go wherever she wanted to for Law School. So we focused on the programs the schools had to offer and the teaching environment. We were very excited when one of the schools seemed to be a perfect fit; the scholastic environment, the program, the location, the reputation, everything at Washington and Lee seemed to call to us.

Washington and Lee University is in Lexington, Virginia. The University was founded in 1749 as Augusta Academy. In 1776 they changed the name to Liberty hall. It was renamed to Washington College after President George Washington endowed it with what was then the largest gift to a private educational institution in America. The Lexington Law School became affiliated with the college in 1866 while Robert E. Lee was the college’s president. After Lee’s death the school was again renamed Washington and Lee University. The School of Law is the smallest of the nationally recognized law schools, and its faculty-student ratio is one of the richest in the nation. The School of Law has always chosen to remain small. Michelle’s entering class will be around 120 students.

The town of Lexington is a picturesque college town nestled in Shenandoah Valley, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lexington's entire downtown is listed on the State and National register of Historic Places. Nature lovers and history buffs are warned that if you come and visit, you may never want to leave. We’re both very excited to be leaving Texas for such a different, more familiar, part of the country. I’m sure absence will make the heart grow fond, but I likewise suspect trips back to Texas will be enough to satisfy our longings for all things western.

What a relief it was to have made a decision. Michelle would defer for one year and start in the fall of 2005 after I got out of the Army and we’d spent two months backpacking in Europe. The reasoning behind deferring was that it looked as though I might only be in Iraq for a couple of months, four at the most. What were we thinking?

From the moment I landed at Baghdad International Airport it became increasingly evident that I was not going home any time soon. With the realization that we would be apart for the next nine to twelve months it no longer made sense for Michelle to defer law school. Sadly, Europe will have to wait a few years.

So now Michelle is franticly tying up all her cases at work, fixing up the house, arranging for the movers to come and pack up all our household goods, interviewing realtors in Killeen to sell our house, looking for rentals in Lexington, preparing for law school and dealing with two emotionally unstable dogs all on her own.

That’s not true at all though—she’s certainly not all alone. I would like to publicly thank Lisa and Matt who adopted Michelle and I into their family even before I left. You guys have been great, and we couldn’t be more thankful for your friendship. Both Michelle and I would have suffered from massive nervous breakdowns if it were not for you and Tyler and your folks. We thought we were going to have a whole year until we had to say farewell (we never say goodbye in the Army) to our Killeen and Army friends. This change of plans has taken us all by surprise. You’ll have to come to Lexington and visit. Wherever we live you’ll always be welcome in our home, at our table, and around the chiminea.

I’d also like to thank everyone who has offered to help Michelle with the packing, moving, and setting up the new house. The good news is it looks as though the Army is going to move all our household goods for us. There was some doubt as to whether they would do so six months before I had orders to separate from the Army. So all the big pieces will be taken care of. Michelle will just have to move some of her stuff and the pups on her own. When she gets to Lexington she could sure use some help on that end though.

So, for all the years of hard work in school, months of waiting, and taking the plunge into Law School, not to mention all the work she has to keep her busy this month, Michelle is the June Trooper of the Month.

I’m so proud of you babe!
Daniel