Warrior Dad Dies in Baghdad

I heard from one of my new correspondents in Baghdad, Lt. Matt Belfi (see my post on Matt - "Lieutenant Matt Belfi: Philly Cop & Warrior Pilot", a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard and a helicopter pilot. From his vantage point in Baghdad’s Green Zone at the U.S. Embassy, he wrote me about the tragic loss of a comrade on March 27th. Here is part of his email:

“The embassy has been getting attacked via IDF (indirect fire – mortars or rockets) lately and, unfortunately, last week’s attack resulted in a friend of mine getting killed. Sergeant First Class Sean Thomas (pictured above with his wife and child) was walking along when suddenly an enemy rocket exploded near him. A (civilian) contractor on location was also killed. Several were wounded also.

I was nearby and rendered medical aid to the wounded. Although I am not a medic, I was a civilian EMT for years (and Matt is a Philadelphia police officer now), so the basics are still with me. It’s interesting how quickly things change. It really reminds you that this is, in fact, a war zone - not that I needed that kind of reminder.

I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for soldiers such as you who experienced events such as this with regularity during the Vietnam War. I have thought about that a lot lately. It must have really been rough.

I know Sean’s death has taken a toll on me. It has taken a bigger toll on a friend of mine who was there rendering medical aid to Sean with me. Being a civilian “first responder” has helped me, but I think Jerry, my friend who was with me, is having a harder time dealing with the tragedy. He is also the type of person who keeps things bottled up as opposed to me, who is much more outward about my feelings (for better or worse)…”

I sent an email back to Matt:

“Matt: It never gets easier. When I first stood in front of the Vietnam Memorial and looked at the names of men I knew who had been killed, it was a sobering experience. Having been in Baghdad, I know firsthand about the IDF hazards there as well…

As a cop who has been in the first aid mode as both soldier and civilian, I am glad you were there. If your friend was aware of your presence, it surely comforted him.

Some day you will also stand before a memorial in Washington to the men and women who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. You will stare at your friend’s name and you will remember all of it. Then you will take your loved ones in your arms and be grateful once again for all of the simple blessings of life.”

Matt’s friend was posthumously promoted to the rank of master sergeant and awarded the Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge. Sean Michael Thomas was from Walker Township in Pennsylvania and he is survived by his wife, Carrie, and daughter Alexa. The couple would have celebrated their anniversary on Easter Sunday. Master Sergeant Thomas previously served in Afghanistan where he was awarded a Bronze Star.

A memorial fund has been established in his daughter’s name. Anyone who would like to contribute to the Alexa Thomas Fund can make donations to the fund in care of Omega Bank, 2 South Main Street, Hughesville, Pennsylvania 17737.

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

When the War Began

Now that we have passed the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, I decided to pull out the journal I started in December, 2002. When the war began in 2003, I was assigned to a team that was mobilizing military police units at Fort Stewart, Georgia. As that mission came to an end, I asked to be released to go to Iraq. My unit wouldn’t release me until the following November.

I made this entry on March 21, 2003, and it reflects what I had seen on the news or heard through “rumor control” as the war began:

“On March 19, at about 2130 hours (9:30 p.m.), the United States acted on intelligence information and dropped bombs on a location in Baghdad where Saddam Hussein and his sons were believed to be hiding. Thus began Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Since then, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, the 3rd Infantry Division, the 7th Cavalry and other units have invaded Iraq. As of this writing, it is uncertain if Hussein was killed or injured, but intelligence sources said he was carried out of the building on a gurney with oxygen. It may or may not be true.

The Iraqi port of Umm Qasr has been captured, some 75 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired and fighting has taken place near Nasiriya at the Euphrates River. The capture of airfields H2 and H3 in the western portion of Iraq probably involved the Rangers and the Marines have seen intense fighting in southern Iraq which resulted in the first U.S. combat casualty, a Marine officer.

B52s have left Britain for parts unknown. This could be part of the ‘Shock and Awe’ strategy developed to shock the Iraqi military into surrendering. Large numbers of Iraqi soldiers have surrendered, but many are either resisting or withdrawing. In Safwan, a southern Iraqi town, civilians have cheered the arrival of liberating American troops.

Communications seem to have broken down within the Iraqi military leadership and some negotiations may be underway between American commanders and Iraqis with regard to surrender of some units.

During the fight for the main highway near Basrah, U.S. Marines were shelled by Iraqi mortars, but there were no casualties. Saddam Hussein (if he is still alive) has supposedly offered a bounty for the capture or death of an American.

A couple of military helicopters have crashed, killing numerous American and British soldiers. Some of the oil fields in southern Iraq are reportedly in flames. U.S. forces have gone to suspected sites of weapons of mass destruction, but the results are unclear. American and British naval forces have captured Iraqi ships carrying mines off southern Iraq.

Thousands of protesters around the world are active today with many violent protests occurring. Once protester fell off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and was killed. Tens of thousands protested in Cairo, there was violence in Yemen and over 1000 people were arrested in San Francisco as other protests continued.

CNN journalists were just ordered out of Baghdad. They were about the last ones there. Most journalists left when they were advised to do so.

As I continue to work with the soldiers at Ft. Stewart, I am impressed with the dedication of the troops going overseas. They know they will face danger and, quite possibly, death. They know they might have to endure chemical or biological weapons, but they continue to prepare themselves and their units for war. It is an honor to work with them…."

Reading this now is a reminder of how we all felt at the time. The nation was standing together, we had a common purpose and we were resolute in our determination to achieve victory. We would face whatever the future held for us, but we would face it together with courage and fortitude.

Some of us still feel that way…

SFC Chuck Grist
www.AmericanRanger.blogspot.com

Mortars Along the Tigris

I am still involved in training activities at Fort Bragg and I will soon tell you about some of the extraordinary individuals I have met. Until I can do so, I’ll reflect once more on my tour in Iraq in 2004. The above photo shows the Tigris River and downtown Baghdad.

* * * *

I was fortunate to lead the men of the “C.O.B.R.A. Team” (Staff Sergeant Aaron Self, Sergeant Chad Higginbotham and Sergeant John “Doc” Actis, II). Our job as a protective service detail, or personal security detachment, was to protect the life of Brigadier General Charles “Sandy” Davidson, the commander of the 350th Civil Affairs Command. Davidson is now a major general assigned to Centcom. Our team’s website is http://www.thecobrateam.com/.

When we lived in Baghdad’s Green Zone, our little house was directly on the Tigris River across from the Sheraton Hotel, a frequent target of insurgent rockets or mortars. We called our residence the “cobra pit”.

The following excerpt from my in-progress book tells about an incident during which we were the target of other incoming rounds:

“I was sitting alone in the cobra pit on the evening of August 7th when I heard two loud explosions. Running outside to see what was happening, I stepped into the courtyard just as a mortar or small rocket flew directly over my head and exploded about a hundred meters away. I muttered an expletive to myself, but another round flew into the Green Zone and landed even closer.

Looking for some reasonable cover, I ran to the concrete stairway leading up to the street. There was a small space next to the wall of the cobra pit and it provided good protection for the moment. Another round landed on the other side of the wall and the explosion sent pieces of steel shrapnel flying over my head. I could hear chunks of metal landing on the roof of our house. It was the closest these weapons had ever come to me.

After seven or eight rounds, it appeared the attack was over. I walked up to the street and headed toward the general’s house where I knew Higginbotham was guarding the boss. Several Iraqi civilians came outside and pointed to the end of the street where one of the rounds might have landed on a house. We all began to walk in that direction to make sure there were no casualties.

As we passed the house next to the cobra pit, another round came over our heads and exploded nearby. I told the Iraqis to go back and take cover and they started running to their house. Other rounds continued to impact near us and the last Iraqi in the group acted like he didn’t know where to go. I directed him to our stairwell and he joined me in the small area next to the stairs. The attack ended shortly thereafter.

Everyone was fine at the general’s house and Higginbotham made sure General Davidson was under sufficient cover. Fortunately, there were no casualties in our compound.”

SFC Chuck Grist
http://www.americanranger.blogspot.com/

Standing Tall in Duty, Deed

I’d like to tell you about another friend of mine, Sergeant First Class Michael Harrington. The previous piece about the Purple Heart medal and Sal Cernigilia relates to this incident because both took place during the same battle. The following op-ed piece tells Harrington’s story. At the time he was a Staff Sergeant:

STANDING TALL IN DUTY, DEED
Daring rescue embodies the U.S. citizen soldier
Special to the Sentinel
April 16, 2005

Staff Sgt. Michael Harrington heard the strained voice of his wounded commander over the radio. It was late in the morning of Aug. 8, 2004, and at least a hundred Iraqi insurgents were laying siege to the only government building in Baghdad’s Sadr City – the DAC, or District Advisory Council. Small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars were taking a toll on the defenders. Several American advisers were wounded and at least two of the Iraqi soldiers defending the walled-in compound were dead. As the injured officer asked for a re-supply of ammunition, he warned that the compound was in danger of being over-run.

Harrington, a resident of Orlando, and Sgt. 1st Class Charles Welsh of Dunedin were advisers at the DAC. They had just started a three-day R & R a few kilometers away, but when they knew their comrades were in trouble, the R & R was over. The two sergeants quickly organized a convoy of five vehicles filled with ammunition, food and water. Harrington was the only American permitted to accompany the 17 Iraqi soldiers as the convoy headed toward the Sadr City battle.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Militia were then, and still are, the force to be reckoned with in Sadr City. The area is named for al Sadr’s father and is home to some 2 million Iraqis. On this day, the intent of the Mahdi Militia was to destroy the DAC and its defenders. During the first hours of the relentless assault, the American and Iraqi soldiers had expended 40,000 rounds of ammunition. The desperate situation was clear as the men resorted to scraping loose bullets off the ground to fill the magazines of their weapons.

The convoy left Baghdad’s Camp Cuervo but was ambushed a short distance away. The soldiers pushed the vehicles through the enemy attack with only minor damage and two wounds to Iraqi soldiers. They arrived at Forward Operating Base Ironhorse and Harrington asked for an armed escort to the DAC. Unfortunately, with other units also engaged in operations, no escort was available. Time was also an enemy now, so Harrington and the convoy moved out.

Just before entering Sadr City, they were ambushed again. Rocket-propelled grenades skidded across the pavement in front of them, small-arms fire shattered windows in some of the vehicles and more Iraqi soldiers were wounded. During this attack, Harrington credited one of the Iraqis with saving his life when the man drove his vehicle between the enemy and the American.

With even more damage and additional casualties, Harrington pressed the convoy on, reaching the gate of the DAC compound under a withering fusillade of small-arms fire. After the vehicles were safely inside, Harrington and the Iraqis ran to the only building in the compound. Debris and small rocks bounced off their backs as bullets and mortars hit the ground nearby. Ammunition was quickly distributed and the battle continued.

The siege of the DAC continued for several days, but the American and Iraqi defenders ensured that the 6-foot walls of the compound were never breached. Sgt. Welsh returned the day after Harrington and, although both men had to kill some of the insurgents during the battle, they echoed the sentiments of warriors throughout history. “It was them or us,” they said.

The American defenders of the DAC were all awarded Bronze Stars for their service as advisers to the Iraqi Army. Harrington and Welsh are experienced Army infantrymen who also earned the coveted Combat Infantryman’s Badge on that August day. They and others from their Orlando Army Reserve unit, the 3rd Battalion, 347th Regiment, have trained and fought with many of the new Iraqi soldiers. Like other Reservists and National Guardsmen, they are proud of their part in the war on terror.

As the Army Reserve celebrates its 97th birthday in April, it is important to remember that this war could not be fought, and will not be won, without the citizen soldier.

SFC Chuck Grist

Call to Duty

After I was back in the good old USA for a few months, I still remembered those with whom I served in Iraq. Only those who have been to war would understand the feelings I wrote about in the following op-ed piece:

CALL TO DUTY
Where the soldier’s heart dwells
Special to the Orlando Sentinel
June 26, 2005

After spending most of last year on active duty with the Army Reserve, I am having a difficult time relating to a civilian world that is far away, physically and emotionally, from the turbulent life of Baghdad. This life is the illusion – the war is the reality.

Last year was my turn in the swirling sandstorm of the war on terror. I spent most of my time running hundreds of convoys in and around Baghdad, including the infamous airport road, Route Irish, the most dangerous stretch of road in the world.

I may be home, but many of my comrades are not. Some remained in Iraq and some have returned voluntarily for subsequent tours. A few were killed. My former lieutenant now works for the State Department at the U.S. Embassy in the Green Zone.

Doc, my medic, is now a private security contractor, doing the same protective service job we did, but for a bigger paycheck. He was almost killed recently when a car bomb exploded as his team passed a checkpoint.

When I try to explain to someone that I miss Baghdad, they look at me as if I just escaped from a mental hospital. What they don’t understand, and will never understand, is that there is an exciting, electric feeling when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death – and live. A soldier is never more alive, and his senses are never more in tune, than when his universe is immersed in war.

I must admit that I have thought about going back. What keeps me here is an important job that I must prepare to retire from in a few short years, a wife who went through hell once, and does not deserve to go through it again, and the reality that I am not a youngster any more and will, in fact, probably retire from the Army Reserve next year.

It is still hard to sit in a restaurant, walk through a mall or drive down the road without thinking that most of the people around me are clueless about what their fellow Americans are doing on their behalf.

They could not understand what it feels like to walk out of your granddaughter’s recital and hear the thump of mortars in the distance. Turning to the sound, the realization hits that the explosion is a fireworks display at nearby Disney World, and not incoming rounds.

It is said that soldiers will naturally feel the urge to march toward the sound of the guns. After all, that is where their comrades are. It does not feel natural to stay behind, in safety, when your brothers and sisters are still on the battlefield. I cannot deny that I feel that sense of urgency and call to arms, even now.

It took a long time for me to “return home” after my tour in Vietnam more than 30 years ago. That is why I understand the reason I feel the way I do about Iraq. I am home, and it feels good to be safely in the arms of my beloved America. Still, something is missing.

I know I left a part of me in the jungles of Vietnam, and now I have left another piece of my soul in the deserts of Iraq. My wife understands, and sometimes, when she is about to enter the room, she will stop.

Somehow she knows that I am not at home at that moment. I am an American warrior in a Humvee, traveling hell-bent down the most dangerous road in the world, and may God have mercy on the terrorist who takes me on.

SFC Chuck Grist

NOTE: Obviously, I did not retire in 2006. I have discussed my upcoming mobilization with my wife and, as always, she is supportive because she is the wife of an American soldier and she understands. Whether I serve here or abroad, she will stand by me as she always has. I am indeed a lucky man.

October, 2004: Farewell to Baghdad

My 2004 tour finally came to an end. This op-ed piece was in the Orlando Sentinel on October 5, 2004.



FAREWELL TO BAGHDAD
Baghdad – October, 2004

Standing on the roof of our headquarters building on the Tigris River in Baghdad, I looked across the river at the Sheraton Hotel and thought about how many times it had been the target of rockets. I saw the blue dome of the nearby mosque and heard the evening call to prayer. Hearing this several times a day became a memorable experience in this exotic, though dangerous, part of the world. With my tour in Iraq about to end, I was smoking a farewell cigar. It was time to go home.

I had taken my last look at Assassin’s Gate, Iraq’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the gigantic monument of Swords and the presidential palace that is now the U.S. Embassy. I ate one more at the Chinese restaurant and the Green Zone Café. I experienced for the last time the intrigue of the al-Rasheed Hotel, where the reporters, the embassy staffers, the mercenaries and the spies hang out. I said my goodbyes to my Iraqi friends.

There would be one last convoy as we drove to the Baghdad airport. It would be a strange feeling to know that, once the wheels of the aircraft lifted off the ground, many of us would probably never again face the prospect of death by rockets, mortars, improvised explosive devices, ambushes or assassination. A few of us will surely return, but the job goes on for the thousands who remain behind.

Our four-man Protective Service Detail, the COBRA Team, was formed for one purpose. That mission was to ensure the safety of Gen. Charles Davidson, commander of the 350th Civil Affairs Command, during his tour of duty. To accomplish this, our movements in the air and on the ground had to be planned well enough that the enemy could not predict where we would be and would never see us as a “soft” target. True success would mean that we were never the victims of an IED, an ambush or an assassination attempt. The possibility of “bad luck” was always there, but it always is.

On Sept. 28, Davidson departed Iraq after completing his own important job. When he left, our primary mission had been successful and was at an end. My own last mission would be to get the members of my team out of Iraq and safely home.

During our missions in Iraq, we have been shot at but never wounded. We have been on the receiving end of rockets and mortars, but the shrapnel did not hit us. We have never been the victims of an improvised explosive device, a vehicle bomb or an ambush, but we have missed them all by only minutes. We have seen mysterious men in masks with AK-47s lurking in alleys along our routes but, with the general in our convoy, our job was to avoid contact. We are all combat veterans of other wars and did not need to “face the elephant” again, but we were ready, willing and able to do so.

For their overwhelming support, our families, friends, churches, employers and average Americans will have our gratitude forever. They kept our spirits up with letters, cards, e-mails and generous packages. Saying “thank you” could never be enough.

We are looking forward to reuniting with our families and resuming our civilian careers. Staff Sgt. Aaron Self will return to Texas to complete the police academy. He had only two weeks to go when he was activated. Sgt. Chad Higginbotham will return to his family and his law enforcement career in Mississippi. Newly promoted Sgt. John “Doc” Actis II, another Mississippi cop, has joined the ranks of the private security contractors making the big bucks. After taking a short break, he will return to Iraq as one of the “new” mercenary soldiers of his generation.

As for me, with Vietnam and Iraq on opposite ends of my career, it is time to return to the States and to my job as a police officer with the Altamonte Springs Police Department. At least the bad guys back there don’t use rockets and mortars.

To Debbie, my dear wife of 30 years who is the girl I left behind, I must simply say how blessed I will be to walk with you through every day of the rest of our lives.

SFC Chuck Grist
Baghdad, Iraq

August, 2004: Close Calls Getting Closer

The photo at left shows a damaged steel fence in front of a rocket crater. This impact was only about 100 meters from where I lived with my team in the Green Zone in 2004. With only a couple of months left in our tour, I wrote this for the Orlando Sentinel and it was published on August 19, 2004:





IN BAGHDAD, CLOSE CALLS ARE GETTING CLOSER

The enemy rocket tore through the sky over my head and exploded nearby, shaking the ground under my feet and sending me rushing for cover. I had heard two other loud explosions before running out of my residence on the west bank of the Tigris River. This third explosion sounded even closer. It was dark this night of Aug. 7 and I could not see the rockets, but there was no mistaking the air-piercing sounds of the projectiles above me or the explosions that followed their impact.

Soldiers like me who live in Baghdad’s Green Zone, now known as the “International Zone”, have become accustomed to frequent mortar or rocket attacks. Most are aimed at the U.S. Embassy, which is south of us around the bend in the river. Other attacks target nearby coalition installations or Iraqi government buildings. The resulting explosions are heard, but are rarely this close.

Kneeling in a fairly secure walled-in area, I tried to count the rockets that seemed to come from the area of Sadr City to the east, the home of Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. They continued to fly over my head, and one rocket exploded only about 75 meters away, hurling debris and razor-sharp steel shrapnel onto the roof of our house.

A total of 10 rockets landed perilously close to us and to our neighbors. This was the closest brush with these weapons that I have had here in Iraq. We do our best on convoys to avoid ambushes or IEDs (improvised explosive devices), but with these rockets, it is like living near the bull’s-eye of a target. If the insurgents had aimed only a little lower and to the right, that one rocket would have landed on top of me.

Within the last week or 10 days, there have been a lot of close calls for people I know. In addition to having their house peppered with shrapnel from the same rocket that impacted near me, the civil affairs team living next door has had other near misses. In the most recent incident, a mortar landed in front of one of their Humvees in downtown Baghdad but, miraculously, most of the blast went away from them.

Staff Sgt. Aaron Self, one of the soldiers I supervise on the Protective Service Detail, had two bullets whiz by his head as he stood in the gun turret during one of our convoys.

A friend from my former Army Reserve unit in Orlando was seriously wounded in Sadr City. Another soldier from the same unit was lightly wounded.

The other day, we passed a group of Iraqi soldiers surrounding a rocket that only minutes before had buried itself in the middle of our route, failing to detonate. Also that day, our convoy returned along the airport road to the International Zone, passing the remains of an IED that had just exploded. On a recent night, a rocket-propelled grenade narrowly missed a Marine colonel we have worked with.

When I was in Vietnam, it seemed that the last 60 to 90 days of a soldier’s tour were the most dangerous. A lot of guys were killed on their last helicopter ride, their last convoy or their last patrol. In Iraq, this same phenomenon has happened again, as it did to the Apopka soldier killed just before he was to return home.

With around 140,000 of us in Iraq, the odds are small that we will be the ones wounded or killed. Still, as the end of our own tour approaches in a couple of months, those odds can slowly begin to work against us. After hundreds of convoys and dozens of rocket or mortar attacks, the chances begin to increase that we will also be ambushed, hit by an IED or found by one of those poorly aimed rockets or mortars. Fortunately, these potential threats only heighten our senses and strengthen our resolve to survive.

I keep telling my wife, Debbie, not to worry. If the whole North Vietnamese Army couldn’t kill me, I won’t let these guys get me either.

SFC Chuck Grist
Baghdad, Iraq