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Friday, January 20, 2006
Q&A with flag donor Sgt. Mark Kuenzi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sgt. Mark Kuenzi’s job was patrolling a war zone halfway around the world when he read about little Rachel Renbarger. The 38-year-old Griffin man decided to send Rachel a symbol of his appreciation: a regulation-size American flag he flew daily in Iraq. • Full story
Kuenzi contacted the AJC Gwinnett News for help in relaying his offer. In e-mails, he also answered some questions about his life in Iraq and his gesture.
Here is an edited transcript:
Q: Did you fly the flag on missions in Iraq?
Kuenzi: The flag went on 62 combat patrols on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, call sign Comanche 32.
Q: Has your flag ever come under fire?
A: We heard rounds hitting the sandbags above our heads the first time outside the wire after about a week in country and yes, the flag was with me. My LT [lieutenant] was showing me the defense of a small base (raider base). We have since found a few IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) and ran over a few.
Q: Is this a flag that was assigned to your unit or one you brought from Georgia?
A: I brought it with me.
Q: Why did you bring the flag with you?
A: I always take the flag with me, the reason being to be buried with it if that happened or displayed after retirement in six years, which ever comes first. We were in Bosnia for a six-month NATO peacekeeping mission. I did not take this one to Bosnia. That flag is at home.
Q: Why did you want to mail Rachel and her family this flag? Do you feel she has been mistreated, or do you view her as a stalwart girl who took responsibility? (Many readers thought the adults and politicians had ducked responsibility in handling the flag affair.)
A: I thought Rachel was denied her flag so why not give her one that truly was there for independence? I know that sounds corny, but there you go.
Q: The flag on the street was a non-city-sanctioned Fourth of July neighborhood project that prompted a couple of complaints from neighbors. Rachel and her father have researched flag rules and concluded they should not have painted it on the street because it could be walked on. With that in mind, how do you view painting the flag on the ground? Where do you fit in on the debate?
A: What about a huge flag held by high school kids or college students at halftime in the middle of the football field and then dragged across the ground? There is no harm intended. Should I be denied the right to have a flag on my truck just because it’s dirty?
What if Rachel had painted a flag on a bedsheet instead and hung it on the side of the house and then threw it away? No harm intended.
People wearing the flag on their clothes, that is their way of displaying the flag. I was in Bosnia when 9/11 happened and when we came back the flag or the representation of the flag was EVERYWHERE. Was that a bad thing? HELL, NO!
Q: What do you think of Mr. Ogden’s objection to the flag being painted on the ground or about Richard Hutchinson, Vietnam War vet, organizing the painting?
A: Everybody’s views about being a patriot is different. The one thing that both of them will agree on is that the other is a patriot.
Q: Spokesmen for national veterans organizations say there is a generational split regarding the handling of the flag or its image between more current veterans and Ogden’s generation. What is your view?
A: I have a lot of friends who are veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and now here and when it comes down to it, we all gather at the flagpole.
Q: What does the flag mean to you?
A: The flag means safety to me. I have been in a few countries in my life and I have always gone by if not into the U.S. Embassy. I don’t know what it is. I just feel safe with that flag nearby. I am with friends.
Q: Describe your experience in Iraq.
A: Ask either Mr. Ogden or Mr. Hutchinson, it’s the same. I wish that I never had seen some of the things that I have: an insurgent threw a satchel explosive in the cab of a dump truck because the driver hauled gravel for the Americans. Meeting an informant one night and then seeing his executed body. Coming across a 15-year-old with his hands tied behind his back and a bullet in his head.
Q: What do you miss most about home?
A: The smell of grass — but I would be happy to smell the jet fumes at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.
Karaoke great way to meet a fellow GI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Liberty, Iraq — They had heard about a soldier named Chuck who wore bright orange tennis shoes with his Army-issued gym clothes and stood on stage every Thursday night at one of Camp Liberty’s recreation facilities. With microphone in hand, he was a transformed soldier, singing his heart out to the crowd.
Soldiers of a Gainesville-based infantry unit decided to “check out Chuck” on karaoke night.
Diversion is a vital necessity for soldiers who go on exhausting patrols all day and night. The officers of the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment’s Charlie Company grabbed a table and played rounds of cards while soldiers queued up for their chance to shine.
“It’s fun. I love to sing,” said Staff Sgt. Renee Newfrock, 47, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade, after belting out a rendition of Melissa Etheridge’s “Come Through My Window.”
“This is a great way to meet people,” said Newfrock, from Ft. Drum, N.Y., where the 10th Mountain is based.
Next up: Sgt. Tikoi Mangual, 30, from the same unit. He sang “Lady in Red.”
“It’s my ice-breaker song,” said Mangual, originally from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. “I get up there with butterflies. But this is great. It breaks up the monotony here.”
None of the Georgia soldiers dared to show off their vocal skills. But they offered plenty of moral support, even holding up lighters for encore performances.
At times, it was almost as though they were home. At a bar in Buckhead or Roswell — minus the civilian clothes and alcohol, of course.
“This is actually enjoyable,” said 1st Lt. Will Phillips, 35, a fulltime Guard soldier from Roswell.
After a litany of songs and endless rounds of cards, the Georgia crowd was ready to call it a night. They would, apparently, have to come back another time to catch Chuck, though his very existence was by then in question.
