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Monday, August 22, 2005
When you have hot lemons, make lemonade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bita Honarvar/AJC
1st Sgt. Bryan Tyler enjoys one of his fresh-cut lemons.
Forward Operating Base Michael, Iraq— What to do for refreshment in the middle of a military base when you are up against blowing dust and blazing sun?
What to do when you are a first sergeant in a field artillery regiment of the 48th Brigade Combat Team when the Army’s big guns are standing silent?
Open a box of fresh lemons, of course.
Bita Honarvar/AJC
Comrades say lemons suit Tyler’s personality.
And bite down hard on the tart, juicy fruit. Save the rest for lemonade later.
First Sgt. Bryan Tyler, otherwise known as “Top,” went through several lemons out at the gun line where soldiers from Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment out of Springfield, wait to fire at the enemy.
“I love these,” said Tyler, a burly, teddy-bear of a man who gets teased sometimes for fitting the Army stereotype of a tough, stern first sergeant.
“It goes with his personality,” joked Capt. Jeff Schneider, Alpha Battery commander about his sergeant’s rather strange love of the sour stuff. “He’s a crusty old man.”
Chambliss assures soldiers of support
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Liberty, Iraq â€â€? On a one-day visit to Iraq on Saturday, Georgia’s senior senator assured the state’s citizen soldiers that America was behind them all the way and that Congress would do “whatever it takes” to safeguard them here.
“We don’t know where we are going,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said about the future of U.S. expenditures in Iraq, already at more than $200 billion in the last two fiscal years.
Bita Honarvar/AJC
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), right, speaks with Col. Jim Brooks, left, commander of the 36th Engineer Group out of Fort Benning, and Brig. Gen. Stewart Rodeheaver, center, commander of the 48th Brigade Combat Team, during a visit to Camp Liberty on Saturday. More photos
“But the thing we do know is whatever it costs to save and protect American lives in this conflict, we’re going to spend.”
At Camp Liberty, near the Baghdad airport, Chambliss got a first-hand demonstration of the “Buffalo,” a massive armored vehicle with a claw arm used to detect hidden roadside bombs.
Chambliss said he supports every effort the military makes to combat a “very smart and very adaptive enemy” in Iraq.
“We’ve got to keep developing this,” said Chambliss, referring to the Buffalo and other new technology designed to seek out deadly improvised explosive devices that have become the leading killer of American soldiers in Iraq. “We’ve got to continue to outsmart them.”
The Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team has lost 16 soldiers since it arrived in Iraq in early June, 12 of them in bomb attacks.
“I know my 48th Brigade has been through some difficult times,” Chambliss said. “It’s a tough job. It’s a dangerous job. On behalf of all Americans I want to thank you.”
Chambliss stopped for dinner with a few soldiers from the 48th. Earlier in the day, he met with U.S. military officials and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al Ja’afari for briefings.
Chambliss said he is convinced of the progress being made in Iraq, first with the transfer of authority, then elections and now the drafting of a constitution, which stalled again Saturday over the role of Islam and distribution of the nation’s oil wealth.
“Americans took 13 years to draft their constitution and here, we’re asking the Iraqis to do it in a short period of time,” Chambliss said.
Soldiers from the 48th Brigade said they were pleased their senator had taken the time to fly to Iraq, although many said they wished Chambliss had met them at their bases instead of shuttling in and out of Liberty, one of the more comfortable facilities here.
A majority of the 48th Brigade is stationed at Camp Striker, a large, dusty, tent city on the southwestern side of the airport. Chambliss, traveling with three other GOP lawmakers � Sen. Richard Burks of North Carolina, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Rep. Tom Latham of Iowa � took a brief car tour of Striker but did not stop.
Brigade officials handpicked about 10 soldiers to meet Chambliss at the “Cafe de Fleury,” a dining facility at Liberty, which is decidedly more upscale than the chow hall at Striker.
A few 48th soldiers stationed at Liberty said they were disappointed they did not know about Chambliss’ visit.
“It’s understandable but disappointing my voice in Congress is here and I didn’t know about it,” said Sgt. Charles Simpson, who owns a small construction firm in Dahlonega and is with the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment.
Other soldiers said they wished the senator could have gone out on patrols with them or toured the more austere forward operating bases in treacherous areas south of Baghdad such as Mahmudiyah and Yusufiyah. They were concerned that lawmakers would leave thinking soldiers were leading the good life in Iraq.
“They don’t need to have him thinking all chow halls look like this,” said Sgt. Carlisle Davis, a supervisor at Tyson Foods in Oglethorpe who serves as a heavy equipment operator in the 648th Engineer Battalion.
But Davis, who voted for Chambliss, said he was thankful the senator made the effort.
“They don’t need to put the man in danger,” he said. “That’s not his job. That’s our job.
“The biggest thing with me is that I’m homesick,” Davis added. “And there ain’t nothing Saxby Chambliss can do about that unless he puts me in the plane with him.”
