Memoirs written in prose of Sergeant Robertson, Damon M. USMC while in Iraq | ...with frequent appearances of King Hammurabi.
If you are new to this journal, make sure to start reading in chronological order by scrolling down to the bottom of the oldest post in October 2004. Damon's letters from August 20th, 2004 - October 23rd, 2004 were all added to this blog on Oct. 23rd, 2004. All subsequent letters are posted in real time.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Hammurabi steps aside, Donald Rumsfeld takes the stage Howdy: Now I know you all probably think I'm a bit lunatic for all the conversations and references I make to Hammurabi. Sure, I'm insane. A little. It's my way of mitigating the stupidity, lack of sleep, overwork, and danger (cue music) so it doesn't make me completely insane. But what I'm about to tell you is completely true, to the best of my ability to recall what was said, that is. ... I spoke with Donald Rumsfeld yesterday. Our Secretary of Defense, my "3rd from the top" boss (yes, please take this time to be reminded that the US military follows the orders of elected/appointed *civilians*. That's democracy, baby). He stopped by yesterday and addressed us. He was very pleasant. He made jokes about the media (whom he consistently locks horns with on CNN, as I'm sure you've seen). He introduced the new Iraqi Secretary of Defense, a man so short as to be invisible from where I was standing about half way back in the crowd. Even with my height I could barely see glimpses of the man's mustache. And lemme tell ya, that's one heck of a mustache that man has. Rumsfeld (am I spelling that right?) said some interesting things. Now, we'd all figured he'd just go with the canned and traditional "you're all doing a very important job and the people at home love you even if the media can't pull themselves away from your wounded/dead friends long enough to tell the world all the good things you do here." We would have accepted that. But what he said made more sense. I guess he's now serving as the 21st SecDef. He was also the 13th, under some other president I don't remember. Ford? Who knows. But back then there was another "generational war" going on, the Cold War. He described the difference between the history books that are being written now and what it was actually like to live in that time. There was no certain, constant hill to climb towards victory. That victory was not assured, and many times the free world found itself lagging behind the machine of the soviet empire. He told us that there were many members of the "free" nations of the world that wanted to quit, to stop having to choose sides, to ease the tension (yeah, because appeasement has always worked, FRANCE, SPAIN...). He reminded us that the war on terror is another generational war that will take many years and will come with a great cost, and that it will not always seem like we're kicking out enemy's rears, 'cause some days he kicks ours. Not bad (that's a summary with my own diction, mind you). At the end of the conversation, he gave us a chance to ask questions. Some moron near the front actually asked what medal we were going to get for serving in Iraq, and if it would be different from the medal awarded to men and women who've served in Afghanistan. The answer was that there would be two medals. Oh. Now I can sleep at night (funny thing is, the commanding general of the base, some dude with lots of stars on his shoulder, told us before Donnie arrived that we weren't allowed to ask any sensational political questions. "Ask about medals and stuff, and don't ask about when you get to go home.") Oh well. So someone asked about medals. Another guy near the front asked about how long our rotations would be (i.e. "when do I get to go home") and Donnie laid it out just like we'd been told it would work (whaddya know, maybe our staff and officers actually do get information from the top sometimes without screwing it up!) Another hand was raised near the front and a Marine asked Don what his opinion of John Kerry was. Rumsfeld smiled. "I'm going to tell you what my boss told me. He said "Donald, Colin: listen up. The job you do is too important to get messed up in politics. I want you to keep your mouths shut." We cheered. The whole time there was this tall guy near the middle of the crowd raising his hand. All of his friends around him looked slantwise at him every time he had, sort of incredulously like they couldn't believe he was serious about asking a question. Even the staff, standing nearby, looked nervous the way men should when approaching a moving train. Don: "Now, there's a hand way back there." The Tall Guy: "Good morning, sir. Corporal Robertson, San Francisco, CA. Sir, you made reference in your address to the path to victory, illustrating that it is not short nor certain. My question to you specifically is this: what is the current administration doing to enable future administrations to continue in the fight?" He squinted a bit. "That's an important question." [?!?!?!] I'll take that as a compliment. It was funny how, just before he asked us if we had any questions, he told us that "I"ll do my best to answer... pardon me, *respond* to any of your questions." And we all laughed. God at least some politicians know how they talk. So he responded to my question. Referenced the drastic re-organization of law enforcement depts into one Homeland Sec. Dept. Also that it is the job of our leaders to understand that the way our military is currently organized, and has traditionally been organized, is such that we fight big air battles, big land battles, big sea battles... and that's just not the way things work anymore. Furthermore, he said it was crucial that men like him understand the difficulties we encounter in a country where most of the people want us here, but there's a small and very hateful minority that does everything it can to kill as many of us as possible. So, basically, I guess "adapt and pay attention" was his answer. Not bad. Technically, they filmed the address and you might be able to dig it up somewhere online. Not so sure about who was there, probably just some dept of defense stiffs who'll hand over the tape to CNN or someone else. Little snip in the news about "Rumsfeld visists the troops, etc." Anyway. I'm boring myself by now. God bless you all, :D
# posted by chevas @ 7:41 PM 