If there was one word that would best describe the situation of Operation New Dawn, it would be "helpless." It sums up everything about the goings-on of this deployment for a vast majority of everyone here (Iraq).

The lower enlisted are at the mercy of the brass. Although this has been true for every conflict the US has found (or forced) itself in, in this scenario it is entirely different. As I put in an analogy to my fellow lieutenants not too long ago, we are playing for practice while the bad guys are playing for keeps. What do we have at stake in the country? Nothing. Every death brings no tactical or strategic gain towards our endstate.

It is unnecessary to beat a dead horse, as it can be followed in the news, but inevitably I believe we will leave "combat" troops here past the 31 DEC deadline. We are too forgiving, a nation of sympathizers that is all too willing to place our sons and daughters in harm's way to train the forces of another nation, one that we have ravaged for eight years and some change.

Then we have those who ride the coattails of the end of the war, the ones seeking glory in the waning days of a dying campaign. What do they have to prove, they helped ship some stuff off to a foreign seaport to return to some other country, or assisted in the transferring of aged, weather-beaten equipment to the Iraqi Security Forces? Woo-hoo, full steam ahead! I, and I am not ashamed to admit it in the least, have no interest or gain in attaining anything in this conflict that we call New Dawn. I could care less about awards or medals, or even attaining the sought-after Combat Action Badge (CAB). My preferred award for this would be making it home alive.

After reading these comments, you may ask why I joined the military. I joined in the interest of protecting and serving MY country, not taking a gamble to be engaged by a radical enemy who hides in cowardice behind and among innocent civilians. We face not an enemy who will meet us on a linear battlefield, but one who maximizes guerrilla tactics in combination with low-tech devices that can defeat the systems we pour millions of dollars and countless manhours of research into, and with great efficiency.

To quote Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." If only Tom knew why we were refreshing the tree of liberty with the blood of America's young patriots today...

No guts, no glory

A commander should never lie to his subordinates and always do what is in the best interest of his (or her) men. Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of being under such a commander. The other day I found out some disturbing news.

My unit, which deployed to Iraq earlier this year for a twelve month tour, is slated to leave in early 2012. We have been doing nothing in Iraq of great importance and we were actually detached from our parent brigade to serve under another for the first part of deployment (then they got rid of us and sent us to another brigade that still wasn't our parent unit.) Anywho, I found out we were on schedule to redeploy an astonishing FIVE months early, in August of this year, after leaving Iraq to sit in Kuwait for a few weeks right about...now.

However, my commander, in all his great wisdom (and yes we did volunteer, there was no order forming for months for this, because the unit we replaced was surprised as we all were, not to mention the fact that the whole deal from receipt of the mission to end of movement took 8 days), volunteered us for a shitty mission in a crappy part of the country, and got two guys killed within five days of being here.

If I had the option of chasing glory in Iraq or going home five months early from a pointless deployment in a pointless war, I would go home. Glory isn't worth the cost of another American.

-RT

In hope, these are the last

Why are we still fighting this war? What have we to gain at this point? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

My unit suffered its first casualties the other day. Their lives were not worth giving, as we gained nothing from their deaths. They didn't die heroically, by jumping on a hand grenade or something of the sort, but by an EFP that could have hit anyone. They were set up by some crooked Iraqis. It's a crying shame that people can take such cold, calculated acts of aggression out on people they don't know. 

We had the memorial service a few days later. It was one of the most heart-wrenching experiences I have ever had. The only way I knew the two guys was by name; they weren't in my company.  When "Taps" was played at the service I lost it. Had it been soldiers under my command or even in my company I don't know how I would have handled it. It would have been a much more difficult experience.

Well I am almost five months into this deployment. Things have become a lot more routine and it's just day in, day out now. Come later in the year when we start to lose all of our facilities it will probably suck a little more though. I can't wait.

-RT

What are we fighting for?

I used to believe in this war. Wholeheartedly I did. Ever since being deployed here though, the question surfaces from the depths of my mind: "What are we still doing here?"

The reason I ask myself that is simple. We have surpassed the combat operations phase of Iraq. We are now in the portion where we train and assist the Iraqis. However most of them don't even want our help or to be bothered by us. Coupled with the fact that the amount of time we have left is very scant, there really doesn't seem to be a point to still be here, trying to assist people that could give a shit less and are probably trying to figure out a way to kill you while you drink chai with them.

Every time I hear of another soldier being killed I grow a little more disillusioned with being here. What makes the situation even more dismal is the fact that units are still deploying here for short deployments just to put guys at risk. Iraq is not as dangerous as Afghanistan but there is still the likely threat everywhere.

I can see why these people want us out of their country. We force ourselves upon them too quickly. We just can't seem to find the way out without any more needless deaths.

-RT

Mentorship?

First off, today is the 67th anniversary of D-Day. The men who fought and died on the beaches of Normandy are for the most part those of a legendary generation the likes of which will never be seen again.

During my time in ROTC, my instructors always told me I would be mentored by my NCOs and superior officers. When I was at OBC after commissioning, that held true. My two primary instructors there were more than willing to help myself and other lieutenants out with anything. However, after finally escaping the clutches of TRADOC and joining the "Big Army", I find that the mentor-ship attitude is not present in a vast majority of the guys who I was supposed to look up to for guidance.

Numerous retired officers and NCOs have told me that once upon a time, soldiers, particularly and mostly officers, were required to read books and prepare essays or presentations on them, or at the very least be prepared to discuss sections of them with their superiors. That is known as professional development. Maybe it still goes on in some units, but I can tell you that it does not in mine. When I first arrived to my unit, I expected my CO to slap down a list of a few books, tell me to read one and the next week present something on it. What I really got was "What's your name again? I'm not really good with names. And I'm kinda new at this commander thing." First impressions... are indeed your last.

One thing that I have noticed is that it seems to be part of a trickle-down effect. Obviously my commander, who from this point on I will refer to as "Wild Eyes", does not receive any form of professional development from his higher-ups either. And it shows.

Thus I have been forced to go internal on my quest to better myself with military knowledge and ethics. The "Lieutenant Mafia" of my unit gets together once a week to discuss articles that we find. Of course, we are only lieutenants, but we are taking the initiative to show that we don't want to be shitbag officers later on in our careers. Personally, I don't want to be one of those officers who just skates by because he can due to an almost guaranteed promotion system the Army has picked up for officers, therefore I seek betterment through development.

Maybe it's due to the high-tempo operating environment, but if I have time to complain about it on this blog, then I should have time to read a book and write something about it, correct?

-RT

Good day to you!

Greetings! Welcome to my blog, which will eventually contain less thoughtful information and more ramblings and ravings than I intend to start out with. I do not expect this to become a massive internet hit or gain some odd cult following. Merely I wish to let people gain a perspective of a junior officer deployed in support of Operation New Dawn in Iraq.

Allow me to outline a few things before I begin posting things though. Due to some rules imposed by the man way up, I can't use specific names (even my own, for obvious reasons), places, or units, so at instances there may be some ambiguity but I will attempt to keep things as clear as possible.

For those out there following this that are not deployed, I hope this allows you to see some of the idiotic things that occur during deployments and form your own opinions based off of on-the-ground accounts other than the Communist News Network or Fox News.

-RT