Communications training

The paper shuffling at our home base is over, and my National Guard unit is gearing up for several phases of training prior to our physical arrival in Iraq. My posts will likely be infrequent in the near future for an indeterminate time. For the time being, however, I continue to have reliable high speed Internet access. As I transition from being mostly a civilian to being a full time soldier, I will likely limit personal opinions in this blog, as they are not appropriate and would, in many cases, be highly unappreciated by my command. This is a normal part of being a soldier. I am voluntarily surrendering some of my freedom of speech and freedom of expression to be a part of something much bigger than myself.

This week I’m learning how to operate a portable satellite uplink/downlink system that allows the U.S. military to beam information from Iraq back to the United States and vice versa. The system makes it easier to provide information about troops on the ground to the people back home when and where appropriate. We are being taught by Canadians. I mention this since I’m an emigrant Canadian and immigrant American.

The training is fairly straightforward and involves assembling, pointing and deassembling the dish, controlling the software and the basics of what might go wrong in a combat environment and how to fix it when it inevitably does. In the interests of operational security (hereinafter referred to as OpSec), I won’t go into great detail, but I think it’s safe to mention the most important part – not standing in front of the dish while the unit is live. It’s microwave technology, and will cook a person from inside out. That’s not how I want to go.

Three members of my unit are receiving the training with me, along with a plethora of other Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Air Force personnel. The room we’re in is hot, and it has been hard for many to stay awake, but our classes will be mostly outside from tomorrow on. Luckily, the weather calls for rain all week (editor’s note: sarcasm).

We went to lunch at a local fast food joint today, and two Vietnam veterans – both with the look of lifetime blue collar workers – paid for our lunch. Gentlemen, I realize you will never read this, but thank you. Thank you for your moral support and for recognizing our willingness to expose ourselves to danger to fight forces that, if left unchecked, might someday kill a million Americans, or a million British, or a million human beings from anywhere who disagree with fundamentalist extremism backed by indiscriminate torture and murder. Thank you for reminding us that those of us in uniform do have support from the public. In the midst of much shrill dissent proferred up by those who claim Iraq is nothing more than a distraction it is nice to have an honest dialogue with random strangers who offer good deeds and a kind word or two to us as we prepare to leave our daily jobs, our families and everything famialiar for an uncertain future. I hope my unit and I make some small contribution that increases the freedom of Iraqis.

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