CH Goldstein

COL (CH) Goldstein spoke in our shul (B'nai Avraham) in Brooklyn Heights last Succos. He had some great Iraq stories.  He is the only person in the US Army with a full beard. It _was_ weird seeing that. Article about him here.

Canada's Jewish Chaplain

Though Canada has a pretty small armed forces, the fact that they now have their first Jewish chaplain since WWII is still surprising.

Jewish military cemetery

Oldest Jewish military cemetery. Story here about confederate cemetery.

Life on FOBs - getting around on FOBs

In case you are wondering how we get around in FOBs, we don't all drive tanks, Humvees, and MRAPS. 

 

When we are on a FOB, and some of them can be very big, it is often hard to get around.  When you are on a base in Iraq you have a few options.  Personally I bicycle when I can.  I bought a used bicycle from the Arab market on JBB pretty cheaply when I was there and have been using it ever since.  Each unit has a very limited number of vehicles that everyone must use and it is pretty tough to get access to it all the time and I hate always bothering the people with the keys.  When I take the keys it often means that the soldiers have to wait to do something that it often more important.  So unless you want to walk a lot, bicycling is a good option.  It is a bit annoying when you have to bicycle in the rain or dust storms though.  But it has not been too much of a problem for me yet.  It is sometimes really unpleasant in the summer heat when you are wearing a uniform.  My unit is kind of resourceful and we got a few "gators", so our guys get to drive in those. 

 

Lager FOBs have buses, or vans, that travel on specific routes.  JBB has quite a few, Speicher has one or two.  Some more remote smaller FOBs have none.  On Speicher there is a very nice culture of people stopping their vehicles on the side of the road when someone is walking and offering them rides.  It happens to me quite often.  Almost no one minds going out of their way to drop someone off.  The heat is oppressive and lots of people are pretty good about it.  I made an interesting friend or two that way. 

Once, on a smaller FOB I have quite literally walked up to a complete stranger in civilian clothing at the airport (what we call a PAX terminal) and asked where some place was.  Turns out it was a local interpreter who just gave me a ride straight to where I was going.  

Flying from FOB to FOB is a whole different story. There are whole procedures you go through for getting flights, and many can be quite adventurous.  I have ended up in the wrong city or wrong country through no fault of my own.  It happens.  Then you just stay where you are until they can get you to where you have to go.  Obviously I have to be sketchy on details about this and about what follows.  If you go from the FOB to the nearby city, that is if you "go outside the wire" you would almost definitely take an uparmored vehicle.  Obviously I can't give details, but it is safer than it sounds.  Same for convoys.

Burglary in monticello

Who knew that there was a JWV post in Monticello?  Too bad they are plagued with problems like this?

Qatar

I am now in vacation in Qatar.  I have a few days to relax here.  So far, so good.  It is however the hottest place I have ever been to in my life.  It took me about 3 days to get here.  I took a helicopter to Baghdad, then flew to Kuwait, and then another plan to Doha.  I slept in 4 cities (in 3 countries) on four consecutive nights. 

Rumor has it that the temperature was in the high 130's yesterday, and this morning it was over 100 in the morning.  I will try to report on what we do here. I only have 4 days before I have to get back. 

Marine funny man

Jewish comedian in the Marines. (Hat tip: NY)

Kadish at Arlington

A tour of Jewish Arlington.  Story here.

Shavout in VBC

I spent this past Shavous in Victory Base Compound in Baghdad.  There was a Jewish retreat of sorts there.  I got a FRAGO that provided all the information for that.  We had 12 soldiers altogether and thus a minyan the whole time.  I missed the first night but was there for the two whole days.  I met up with some of the guys in my unit that are stationed there so that was fun too.  I brought one of the guys who are attached to my unit with me, and we were the only two Jews who came from Speicher.  The people who came were from all over Iraq.  We were mostly in Camp Victory and Camp Liberty.  We goofed around a lot in the palace and spent a bit of time chatting on the balcony.  It was nice and relaxing and I am glad I was able to go. 

Future officers

Jewish in ROTC? Marty Nosenchuck, Matthew Golub, Josh Jacobs, William Adelson, Rachael Ruben, Dylan Neidorff, Jack Morris, Scott Friedland, Nick Lawson, and Neil Bloch explain.

in a war zone

CPT Brewster's thoughts as a Jewish serviceman in Iraq.

Iraq demands. . . .

 . . .the return of Jewish artifacts.  Looks like this story will keep coming back.  I am convinced that they are not very good at taking care of what they have now, and there is no reason to let them hold on to the artifacts the community that they forced out.

Food

Since I know how worried many of you are about my eating, I thought I would include a photo of a portion of my current kosher food stash here in COB Speicher - so you need not worry. Just keep it coming regularly and I'll be fine. (Thanks - to everyone who sends stuff!) I also put a picture of the box that kosher MREs come in. They are pretty hard to get though from the Army. You have to know someone. The food that I find most edible is the Meal Mart meals. I heat them in my microwave and viola, a hot meat meal. (The LaBriute and My Own Meals are OK, but not as good. But they mave the advantage of not needing a microwave.) I also have the soup often. They don't ship as well, but almost all of them make it OK. Anything that can be microwaved and eaten, or have boiled water poured in is great. I also have become a fan of the various kosher beef jerkeys on the market (I have seen three so far).

Although there are many cereals here, we do not have alphabits, so I love getting those too. (My favorite cereal.) It is a rare treat to be able to enjoy that. I get bored of eating Total and Special K and Coca Krispies and stuff like that.

What's a nice Jewish girl doing in a place like this?

LTJG Laurie Zimmet's thoughts.  

Rain

One minute it just looks ominous, then I snap a photo, then my CHU is flooded. A little work later I am no longer underwater. No damage. Now lets hope this doesn't happen again tonight.