Memorial Day 2014

Its the eve of Memorial Day , 2014,  so i am writing a "special edition" of sorts

OF late,  we hear a lot about the heroic exploits surrounding current operations and operations of the recent past in Afghanistan and Iraq  --- 

     The Crossfitters perform Hero Workouts regularly ---  (look 'em up if interested --they are fine tributes, but the sad part about them , - is the sheer number of them that exist)

We've been at war now for 12 years.     A lot of young men and women have paid the ultimate price 

I asked a friend for permission to use one of his pics yesterday, - and we both remarked that 20 years ago, a younger guy with a right shoulder patch was a rare thing (right shoulder patch being a combat patch, and i believe there used to be a time component to it - 180 days i think in a combat zone) --- now if you encounter someone in uniform ,  it is rare that they don't  have the patch, unless they are folks fresh out of training

             We certainly have some exceptional stories of bravery --  but the story i am going to share is going to turn back the clock 23 years , from the war that seemingly started all this  --- Operation Desert Shield/Storm

This is not my story -    but rather , this is a brief introduction to the "Bravo Two Zero" incident

Bravo Two Zero was the call sign a British SAS (Special Air Service) observation squad was using when they were dropped by helicopter into northern Iraq,  with a mission to disrupt the fiber optic network used for SCUD missile guidance

       After being compromised when a young shepherd discovered their position -- the 8 man team engaged in a firefight with a vastly superior force for several hours before being able to escape the area under cover of darkness  -- with no communications equipment, it was decided that they would try to make it to the Syrian border--- roughly 100 miles away   -- their combat load out bags were a mere 209 lbs , so they decided to ditch them -- instead , only carrying their weapons, ammo and one med kit ----  lest you think this is insignificant,  an FN Minimi and enough ammo to keep it happy still weighs 50 lbs or so,  plus rounds for each individuals M-203;s are fairly heavy, ----

    -- so , with the weight pared down from over 200 pounds to between 30 and 50 pounds,  they took off running --- making it over 50 miles on foot in one night ----  after laying low the next day, they resumed travel again -- only to become separated in a sand storm   --- and lest anybody think the desert is warm and tropical , -- 1 member of the team succumbed to hypothermia during the course of this adventure

So now down to 4 ,   the main group , of which Sgt Steven Billy Mitchell (pseudonym Andy McNab) was part of  managed to hijack a taxi cab and make it another  30 miles until being forced out at a vehicle checkpoint 

     almost within eyesight of the Syrian border -- McNab/Mitchell was captured taking refuge in a drainage ditch.  

   Another member of the team also succumbed to hypothermia trying to swim the Euphrates river (in January) -- and 3 more were captured , including troops from the  splintered off group who separated during the sandstorm

    Not captured was Colin Armstrong/ (pseudonym Chris Ryan)  -- Cpl Armstrong/Ryan made it to Syria --190 miles -  this is the longest escape and evasion by anybody in SAS history, and reportedly by any soldier.    He lost 36 lbs en-route and suffered internal injuries caused from drinking water contaminated with nuclear waste

        Now, except for Chris Ryan's escape, this whole thing sounds like a colossal  cluster-foul up.    

McNab and company spent 6 weeks in an Iraqi prison being tortured  -- McNab had nerve damage to both hands, a dislocated shoulder and hepatitis B when he was liberated

Whats the point or the tie in to my fitness  blog ?

How about saying ----   "Screw it guys, we're running to Syria !"      ---  Then running the equivalent of 2 marathons in one evening .    In BDU's. boots and carrying  machine guns, belted ammo and M-203's with spare grenade launcher ammo (also heavy) 

There is no training in the world that can adequately prepare you for this   

   --- There is no unit in the world that I am aware of that  says one Saturday --  "OK guys -- today for PT we're running a marathon !"  much less two

     And then Chris Ryan soloing an E&E  for over 130 miles himself ?  Jeesh 

You have to have some basic fitness to do this, even under periods of extreme duress --- but these guys' were big 200 pound guys,  .   Every soldier runs, to be sure --- but its typically more along the lines of 5 miles or perhaps 8 miles- maybe 10

That performance really  re-defined the term "pushing the limit"

           My hat is off to anyone who completes a marathon , or even a half marathon -- its a great accomplishment .   But the next time your obnoxious  in-law with his little pot belly and toothpick skinny legs   is prattling on about being in "survival mode" for the last couple of miles of his 5 hour marathon attempt,   remember the guys who did back to back marathons wearing boots in the desert while carrying guns    ---  

    --- he'll ask you what your smiling and shaking your head about and you can just say -- "Oh,  nothing"

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            My involvement in Desert Storm does not involve clandestine missions 50 miles behind enemy lines, and  group photos with little black boxes over our faces

  

I only have contact with a few people from my brief time in the service  -- I guess its a bit like college buddies --- plenty of them when your at college, but after 10 years that number has shrunk quite a bit -- then after 20 years , the number of people you actively keep up with may be as little as 5 or 6 , or less

        

   I also have precious few photos scanned into a digital format , so i enlisted the help of 2 friends in getting some pics together

Since i have not contacted everyone pictured - i'm not going to name all the names , as that would be impolite without their permission 

 but i'll go with these

I

1)    Kevin MacClary provided this pic and he is on the far left ,  -- taken at a  Wolf Burger -- its a weird little middle Eastern interpretation of a hamburger place using almost unidentifiable meat ---  but after months of MRE's, i dont really see any frowns in this pic

2)   Bill Childers is on the far left -- this is really early in the deployment as we were sporting pretty rag tag combinations of chocolate chip day deserts and woodland camo clothing as i dont believe we all got our clothes at the same time  --- 

3) I'm on the right in this one and we are re-conning some abandoned and burned out village   --winning hearts and minds, no doubt -   

I still conversate with Kevin and Bill, plus i see my first company commander from time to time, but other than that  --- the rest of us have drifted out of contact

But what do you do for PT when your in the middle of the desert?     Thats easy --- you run.   Then when your done,  you can run some more  ---- you can add variety and spice by running in your chemical warfare suit, - your flak vest or both !  --- and when that gets to be old hat, going for a mid to late afternoon run on a 120 degree day may give a new challenge or two !

Then there is pushups and situps - staples of the military routine,  and pull up apparatus's can be rigged up in any number of ways--- or rigging up makeshift weights using truck axles and concrete !
    Fun stuff


This  Memorial Day,  i will be remembering my old unit and i hope everyone is doing as well as possible

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One of my more sobering memories from Desert Storm occurred on Feb 25 1991--- the ground war was winding down but our unit still had equipment at the Dhahran port in Saudi Arabia

      Myself and several other members of our unit were guarding our equipment that night ----  by that time, we were all familiar with what SCUD missiles looked like, but this one was coming our way

         I remember thinking to myself   "This is really happening"   as the missile closed in  ----  we  were masked up and halfway through putting on our chemical warfare suits when it whooshed overhead  and impacted something a quarter mile away  ----  which is still way way too close in the event of a gas attack

    I'll  never forget the look on another gent's face from another unit when he staggered around the corner yelling       "What was ........................"      Then he stopped mid stream when he saw 5 guys in chemical warfare suits   ---- comically he started frantically grabbing for his own gas mask even though he was 30 seconds too late  ---

----  After ensuring our position was stable,   Mikey Carter and i   (at least i think it was Mikey, could've been Thad Workman)  humped it to the blast site,   but by then triage had already mobilized  --- we went back to our equipment site to finish out a very long night . The next day we went back to the front and it was seemingly safer there than being in the"rear with the gear"            And then on Feb 28, 1991  -- it was over---

------   I have listed the official details of that SCUD attack below   -----Tomorrow , on Memorial Day, i will probably grill a steak or a burger (or both) -- maybe work in the yard,   get in a bike ride, drink a beer, -- or some combination of any or all of those things

              My day - and week - is dedicated to the men and women that perished that night

I will do these things because they can't    --- the average age of the soldier who was killed looks to be about 22 or 23, with a few exceptions --- that means most would be either firmly entrenched in middle age or well on their way to it

          They would have the same triumphs and problems that i have ----   same gripes about the weather, or taxes, or politics, or the economy --you name it

    

      Please join me in taking a brief moment to read this list, and think about these young men and women ---- along with everybody else who has died in wars past and present so we can live the lives of spoiled Americans 

As for me, all veterans have my respect and prayers --- i dont need a designated day for this --- my appreciation is shown with everything their sacrifices allow me to do and i will not forget that --- but tomorrow i grieve for those folks from Pennsylvania and dedicate the day to them

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Godspeed

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Casualty management: scud missile attack, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

On the evening of February 25, 1991, an Iraqi scud missile plunged into a "barracks/warehouse" used to house U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 475th Quartermaster Group in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. As a consequence of this scud attack, 28 soldiers died, 110 were hospitalized, and 150 experienced minor physical injuries and/or subsequent mental health problems. This one scud's impact accounted for more than one-third of all U.S. soldiers killed during the war. Fortunately, there were very few "models" of mass casualty experiences during the Persian Gulf War to evaluate the critical clinical outcomes to the soldiers. An analysis of this event has important implications for future military operations that feature a multinational medical force structure. This article summarizes the medical preparations before the war, the key, chronological events, and the medical outcomes of the mass casualty event. Lessons learned in casualty management for future Army contingency medical planners are identified.

14th Quarter Master Detachment, which is an Army Reserve unit out of Greensburg. Pennsylvania. Here is the list of Soldiers killed that day in Saudi Arabia:

14th Quartermaster Detachment

• Specialist Steven E. Atherton, age 26,NurMine,Pennsylvania
• Specialist John A. Boliver, Jr., age 27,Monongahela,Pennsylvania
• Sergeant Joseph P. Bongiorni III, age 20,Hickory,Pennsylvania
• Sergeant John T. Boxler, age 44,Johnstown,Pennsylvania
• Specialist Beverly S. Clark, age 23,Armagh,Pennsylvania
• Sergeant Alan B. Craver, age 32,Penn Hills,Pennsylvania
• Specialist Frank S. Keough, age 22,North Huntington,Pennsylvania
• Specialist Anthony E. Madison, age 27,Monessen,Pennsylvania
• Specialist Christine L. Mayes, age 22, Rochester Mills,Pennsylvania
• Specialist Steven J. Siko, age 24, Unity,Pennsylvania
• Specialist Thomas G. Stone, age 20, Falconer,New York
• Sergeant Frank J. Walls, age 20,Hawthorne,Pennsylvania
• Specialist Richard V. Wolverton, 22,Latrobe,Pennsylvania

Other Units

• Corporal Stanley Bartusiak, age 34, 475th QM Group, USAR
• Corporal Rolando A. Delagneau, 30, 477th Trans Co.,USAR
• Specialist Steven P. Farnen, age 22, 477th Trans Co.,USAR
• Specialist Glen D. Jones, age 21,Grand Rapids,Minn., 477th Trans Co.,USAR
• Specialist Duane W. Hollen, Jr., age 24, 477th Trans Co.,USAR
• Specialist Steven G. Mason, 23, 477th Trans Co.,USAR
• Specialist Michael W. Mills, age 23, Jefferson, 477th Trans Co.,USAR
• Specialist Adrienne L. Mitchell, age 20,Moreno Valley,Calif., 475th QM Group, USAR
• Specialist Ronald D. Rennison, age 21,Dubuque,Iowa, 477th Trans Co.,USAR
• Private First Class Timothy A. Shaw, age 21,Suitland,Md., 475th QM Group, USAR
• Corporal Brian K. Simpson, age 22, HHC, 475th QM Group, 475th QM Group, USAR
• Specialist James D. Tatum, age 22, 23rd Repl Det, 475th QM Group, USAR
• Private First Class Robert C. Wade, age 31, 23rd Repl Det, 475th QM Group, USAR
• Corporal Jonathan M. Williams, age 23, 23rd Repl Det, 475th QM Group, USAR
• Specialist James E. Worthy, age 22, 477th Trans Co.,USAR

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---- Doug

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disclaimer:    The information contained here is not intended to replace the medical advice of your physician and is not intended as medical advice.  This newsletter/blog is a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of the staff of Fitclaimspro.com and professional colleagues unless otherwise noted