Former Army Medic Writes of His Time in Iraq

Michael Anthony recently completed six years in the U.S. Army Reserves, during which time he spent a year in Iraq. He is the author of MASS CASUALTIES: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq (Adams Media, October 2009). The book is drawn from his personal journals during the year he spent serving in Iraq. It is a non-partisan look at what really goes on within the military.

Below is a guest post:

President Obama recently stated that sending more troops into harm’s way in Afghanistan is a solemn decision -— one that he would not rush. As a veteran, I find the decision to send troops into harm’s way without an effective military mental health program in place beyond solemn. It’s deeply disturbing. Keeping soldiers mentally fit should be as important as keeping them physically fit.

Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq started, nearly 2,000 active-service soldiers have killed themselves, according to a report by the San Antonio Express-News earlier this year. Even more alarming is the fact that every day, five active-duty service members attempt suicide. In the past eight years, that means up to 14,000 have felt their life is not worth living.

The government doesn’t want you to know this. In spring of 2008, CBS news journalist Armen Keteyian exposed a Veterans Administration cover-up of suicide stats. The reporting revealed that every day 18 veterans kill themselves and roughly 1,000 attempt suicide each month. The VA’s head of Mental Health had claimed there were only 790 attempts in all of 2007, a far cry from the reality.

Among all veterans, over the eight years we’ve been at war in the Middle East, the statistics point that roughly 50,000 have committed suicide, with upwards of 44,000 attempting suicide. These figures only represent data gathered since 2001; this has been an ongoing and persistent problem since Vietnam -— and the numbers go up each day.

Recently, the Army made a big deal about giving $50 million to fund a five-year research project on military suicide. In their book The Three Trillion Dollar War Linda J. Bilmes and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz figured the cost of the Iraq war at $12 billion a month. That means we spend more than $16 million an hour. If you do the math, the $50 million that went to suicide research is what we spend every three hours in Iraq.

The day after Christmas this year will mark our 3,000th day at war. At this point, we’ve heard a lot about suicide bombers, but what about suicide? Regardless of anyone’s feelings about our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, these soldiers deserve much more than three hours of our time.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. Her newest project is www.FilmsThatSupportOurTroops.com.

Phyllis' company MillerMosaicLLC.com does power marketing that combines traditional marketing principles and Internet marketing strategies to put power in your hands.

THE HURT LOCKER Is a Compelling New Movie About a Bomb Defusing Squad in Iraq

Kathryn Bigelow directed the 2002 movie K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER, which was a heartbreaking story of a Russian nuclear sub whose sailors don't have the proper protective gear to deal with the sub's nuclear malfunction.

In her new movie THE HURT LOCKER, the U.S. bomb squad unit in Iraq has the proper protective gear, but that doesn't necessarily mean these men will survive their bomb-defusing missions.

Written by Mark Boal, the film is as compelling as a documentary, and I wish all Americans could see this movie in order to understand what American troops are up against in Iraq as well as Afghanistan.

Check out the website now of THE HURT LOCKER -- and then see the film at your local movie theater.

P.S. If anyone from this film's marketing team reads this blog post, please take my advice: Lose all the Flash that takes so long to load that I almost didn't stick around to enter the website. The film is so compelling that the site doesn't need the slow-loading Flash.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also writes articles as a National Internet Business Examiner and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life.

Phyllis' company has launched the monthly program WeTeachWebMarketing.com to help people promote their brand, book or business online. Her company also does Twitter tutoring -- see TeachMetoTweetNow.com

CBS News Reports on Wounded Marine Fighting to Get Medical Care

Read this article by CBS News national security correspondent David Martin on Marine Casey Owens, who lost both his legs in Iraq in 2004 and suffered brain injury.

Be sure to also read the comments on the article.

Read this now!

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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also writes articles as a National Internet Business Examiner and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life.

Phyllis' company has launched the monthly program WeTeachWebMarketing.com to help people promote their brand, book or business online. Her company also does Twitter tutoring -- see TeachMetoTweetNow.com

Army in Iraq Uses Preventive Medicine

Thanks to a tweet from @armywellbeing I learned about this effort:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (July 23, 2009) — A small preventive medicine team does big things to protect servicemembers from disease-borne foods, water, bugs and animals.

“We do a lot of different things here and other locations,” said Army Spc. Matthew B. Hintermaier, a preventive medicine technician with Company C, 172nd Support Battalion. The team conducts a variety of tests and studies, including monitoring insect populations and water sampling, to detect pathogens.

Read the rest of the article now.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs as a National Internet Business Examiner and at Operation Support Jews in the Military and Fiction Marketing, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her newest military-related project is the book/website project In Support of Our Troops.

Phyllis' company Miller Mosaic LLC provides internet marketing information to help people promote their brand, book or business. On July 1st the company launched the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program.

Psychiatric-Service Dogs Are Trained to Help Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans

Nancy Brown of YourMilitary.com and I often interview people on our BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com on the subject of PTSD -- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Nancy and I are committed to helping get the word out about resources to help people suffering from PTSD.

So I was very excited to read the front-page article in the July 11th Wall Street Journal by Yochi J. Dreazen titled "Sit! Stay! Snuggle!: An Iraq Vet Finds His Dog Tuesday." And the article's subtitle: "Trained for 2 Years, Retriever Helps Mr. Montalvan Get Back on His Feet."

It's an amazing story. Here's just one paragraph:

Tuesday is with Mr. Montalvan at all hours. Taught to recognize changes in a person's breathing, perspiration or scent that can indicate an imminent panic attack, Tuesday can keep Mr. Montalvan buffered from crowds or deliver a calming nuzzle. Other dogs, typically golden retrievers, Labradors or Labrador retriever blends, are trained to wake masters from debilitating nightmares and to help patients differentiate between hallucinations and reality by barking if a real person is nearby.

Read the whole story now.

And if you want information on how to recognize the symptoms of PTSD, check out the free article at InSupportofOurTroops.com
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs as a National Internet Business Examiner and at Operation Support Jews in the Military and Fiction Marketing, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her newest military-related project is the book/website project In Support of Our Troops.

Phyllis' company Miller Mosaic LLC provides internet marketing information to help people promote their brand, book or business. On July 1st the company launched the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program.

Flashback to the Early 1970s

I'm a big fan of small world stories -- the connections that are made between people and events.

This morning my husband asked me if I remembered the first name of the lieutenant colonel who had headed the 18th Military Intelligence Battalion in Munich when my husband was stationed there from September 1970 to May 1972. I recalled his first name started with "Ro."

My husband had just read an article about seven soldiers being inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. We agreed that the retired Brig. Gen. Roy Strom below was who we knew.

• Retired Brig. Gen. Roy “Bud” Strom, who served for 31 years. He entered the Army in 1954 and ended his career as the deputy chief of staff for intelligence at Forces Command at Fort McPherson Ga.

Not a big coincidence. Then later today I started reading an article in the July 6th and 13th New Yorker that had just arrived in the mail. The article is about Colonel Michael Dane Steele and Operation Iron Triangle in Iraq in May of 2006.

I got to this paragraph:

At the Army's Command and General Staff College, Steele has been compared to William Calley, the lieutenant who, during the Vietnam War, led the massacre of villagers in My Lai.

This is the small world connection: While my husband worked under LTC Strom, I worked as a civilian for the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade.

With free time between typing secret reports on a manual typewriter, I read my issues of the New Yorker shipped through our APO address. And I clearly remember reading the article in the New Yorker about Calley and the massacre at My Lai.

In this 2009 New Yorker article the reporter, Raffi Khatchadourian, says:

As General Oates told me, "The story of Colonel Steele and Operation Iron Triangle is about a fundamental difference of opinion about how to prosecute the war in Iraq."

I'm not a U.S. war historian so I can't write an erudite opinion as to whether the story of Lieutenant Calley and My Lai was "about a fundamental difference in opinion about how to prosecute the war in" Vietnam.

I just know that today feels like a day anchored in the early '70s.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs as a National Internet Business Examiner and at Operation Support Jews in the Military and Fiction Marketing, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her newest military-related project is the book/website project In Support of Our Troops.

Phyllis' company Miller Mosaic LLC provides internet marketing information to help people promote their brand, book or business. On July 1st the company launched the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program.

Legends of the FOB: Life and Death in Iraq

Major Mason S. Weiss will graduate from the 57th Officer Graduate Course at The Army Judge Advocate Legal Center and School this May and will then be assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as the Chief of Military Justice. I "met" Major Weiss on Facebook and asked him to share some experiences that he wrote about while in Iraq last year:

In Iraq, a lot can happen in the span of just a few days.

On Thursday, April 3, 2008, during the taping of her show, I told Oprah Winfrey — the absolute last person I imagined I’d end up talking to during my deployment here — about the current events happening in my section of Baghdad. I told Oprah that although I didn’t want to sound melodramatic, the recent fighting in nearby Sadr City made me realize I could become casualty number 4000 something at any moment.

Beyond those mortar and rocket attacks, you can always count on the constant danger of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) on the road, including the very road I traveled on just to get to the International Zone (IZ) to appear on Oprah.

Members of my unit frequently drive on this road and insurgents have placed IEDs on it before. These lethal weapons kill indiscriminately, and it doesn’t matter what rank you hold or what job you do in Iraq as to whether you get hit by one of them.

What’s even more disturbing is that one cannot go more than 50 meters between here and the IZ (or seemingly anywhere else) without passing a multitude of Iraq Army and Iraqi Police. I think one could reasonably assume this means those people emplace the IEDs on the road themselves, or sit there, watch, and do nothing to stop them if others put them there. Anecdotally, it seems like every IED I hear about usually goes off right near one of these checkpoints, including one right outside our gate a few months ago.

On Sunday, April 6, just a few days after the taping of the show, yet another volley of rockets flew into the IZ. I can’t remember now if I heard that one because these sounds have become so common recently that I’ve just about come to ignore them.

Unfortunately, however, these rockets land places, and they don’t always land in empty fields or outside blast walls. This particular attack killed two people and wounded many others. It killed Army Colonel Steven Scott and Army Major Stuart Wolfer. Both were exercising at a gym at the time.

Colonel Scott was due to retire from the Army at the end of his tour in Iraq. He had two adult children. A lieutenant colonel here at my FOB knew Colonel Scott. In fact, she happened to have seen him that morning at the IZ.

The two were in a meeting together and had to run out to the duck and cover bunker because of incoming mortar rounds. She told me that he joked with her, sitting in the bunker, that the last time he was in Iraq in 2003 they were only getting shot at. She found out later that day that he got killed just a few hours afterwards.

Next Sunday (April 20th), I get promoted to mjor. I don’t know how many other Jewish army majors we have in Iraq, but unfortunately after Major Wolfer’s death, and an IED incident a few days later I will describe in just a moment, you can now subtract two from that number.

Major Wolfer, also an attorney in civilian life, served in the Army Reserve. He had arrived to Baghdad in December 2007 to work in the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I). Major Wolfer had already completed a deployment to Kuwait just a few years ago.

The lay religious leader for the Jewish community in the IZ sent out an email to all the Jewish community in Iraq that said: “We remember him in part as a religious man who wrapped tefillin every morning, as a friend who questioned everything in an intellectual search for the truth, as a patriot and proud family man, and as an optimist with a wry sense of humor. Stu was a devoted husband and father of three beautiful daughters ages 5, 3, and 1.”

The afternoon Stu got killed, six members of the Jewish community learned about his death by word-of-mouth and convened at the combat support hospital. Keeping with Jewish tradition, they stayed with him to pray and read Psalms until the time came to accompany him to the “angel flight” which flew him out of Baghdad that same night.

I can’t help but think that for Colonel Scott and Major Wolfer, the difference between life and death came down to something as arbitrary as picking what time they wanted to exercise that day.

And although they came here to try and improve this country after a brutal dictator ruled it, unfortunately for them and their families, someone in Sadr City — who probably cheered when the statues of Saddam came down and who himself Saddam had probably oppressed — decided to show his appreciation for their efforts by firing rockets at the IZ and killing them.

Thanks, asshole. You have quite a way of showing your gratitude. And thanks to all of you in Sadr City who probably stood by, watched it happen, and maybe even cheered.

On Tuesday, April 8, Major Mark Rosenberg, another Jewish Army officer originally from Florida, got killed. Serving his second tour in Iraq, Major Rosenberg, who led a Military Transition Team (MITT), died of wounds after an IED struck his vehicle. He left behind a wife and two sons.

In keeping with the Jewish custom of giving tzedakah (charity) in memory of deceased people, consider donating to an organization that helps military personnel and their families. If you need recommendations for such an organization, see my Mrs. Lieutenant military support list.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at LA Internet Business Examiner, Operation Support Jews in the Military, and Fiction Marketing, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

BROTHERS AT WAR Documentary Shows What It's Like for Americans Fighting in Iraq

The new BROTHERS AT WAR documentary is an amazing up-close-and-personal look at Americans fighting in Iraq. Jake Rademacher follows his brothers to Iraq to film what it's like to be in the thick of an insurgency.

After screening the documentary, I wrote a review of it on my PZ the Do-Gooder blog knowing that a few days later Nancy Brown and I would be doing a BlogTalkRadio YourMilitaryLife.com show about the documentary.

Yesterday we interviewed David Scantling, one of two exec producers on the documentary. (Gary Sinise is the other exec producer.) I told Scantling that what I really liked about the documentary is that it had a narrative throughline -- there was a beginning, middle and end of the story rather than the frequent all-over-the-map of most documentaries.

What struck me most about our interview is that Scantling came on board after the raw footage had been shot by director Jake Rademacher because Scantling had been working for the U.S. government in Iraq. When he and his wife got to see some early footage, his wife asked him, "Is this what it's really like in Iraq?"

It was at that moment that Scantling realized the importance of having this film get as wide an audience as possible to bring home to the American people what it is like in Iraq.

Listen to Scantling describe the journey to the screen of this must-see documentary.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

Wall Street Journal Front-Page Article Discusses Outpost Strategy in Afghanistan

The March 4th Wall Street Journal front-page article "U.S. Strategy in Afghan War Hinges on Far-Flung Outposts" by Yochi J. Dreazen goes into extensive detail about setting up remote outposts in order to fight insurgents and build relationships with local villagers.

The question is whether this strategy, which is credited with working in Iraq, can work in Afghanistan? Or, as the article says, "Will these soldiers and Marines merely be easy targets?"

David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgency expert who has long advised Gen. Petraeus on Iraq and Afghanistan, supported the outpost strategy in Iraq. But he says the U.S. is making a mistake by deploying so many troops to remote bases in Afghanistan.

Mr. Kilcullen, a retired Australian military officer, notes that 80% of the population of southern Afghanistan lives in two cities, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. The U.S. doesn't have many troops in either one of them.

"The population in major towns and villages is vulnerable because we are off elsewhere chasing the enemy," he said.

On February 10th this blog had a guest post from Andrew Lubin on "Falling Afghan Support for U.S. Forces". How does the information in this guest post impact the probability of the success of the outpost strategy?

Read the entire Wall Street Journal article to form your own opinion.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

Senior Airman Natalie Lopez: Growing Up a Daddy’s Girl

The previous guest post was by Emma Lopez, who is the mother of Natalie Lopez, a senior airman in the U.S. Air Force’s security forces. The photo above is of Natalie atop a Humvee in Afghanistan. Now here’s Natalie’s story:

Growing up a daddy’s girl, I was intrigued with my dad’s stories as a Marine in Vietnam. I wanted to be like him, but I respected his wishes and did not join the Marine Corps. Then in 2006 I joined the Air Force.

Graduating from high school with three years of Air Force ROTC under my belt, I knew a little about the military. I have always felt that God placed me here to help him change the world, and I felt that by joining the military I could do just that.

I, like many other women in the military, have faced challenges in my career, and one of these was that of others doubting my work. I’ve had a chain of command that trusted in me and as a result I was very successful.

On the other side, I’ve had a chain of command that seemed to doubt me, and it is very frustrating trying to stay consistently motivated. These are the times I have to stop and remind myself that I must focus and prove that I am capable of being the best at what I do.

Although the hardest part of my job is being away from my loved ones, having to make split-second decisions is crucial. The level of responsibility that the Air Force places on me as a young military member in this career field is important, whether it be in a deployed environment, where it’s life or death, or in stateside security forces where the wrong choice also results in consequences.

Other than just learning how to face challenges, I have learned to keep things in perspective and committed. I’ve always been taught that, once I commit myself, I must follow through. I don’t think I really got it until I joined the military.

As part of my job, I’m constantly thinking about the benefits of the Air Force for young females and Latinas, and I think the most important message to get across is the one that I have repeatedly told myself. I can get skills that I didn’t know I had, and then make use of those back in civilian work. I can go back to the community and be a teacher, go to law school, become a policeman or fireman. I don’t have to decide on the rest of my life; I have joined the United States Air Force.

One thing I am certain to have acquired from military life is leadership. There is a lot of focus on leadership development. I’m trained to be a leader through leadership study and getting “hands-on” training on a daily basis due to the nature of the military rank structure, which allows an opportunity to lead. As you move up in rank, you continue to refine and develop your leadership style.

Being a veteran of both Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, I believe that there is nothing that can hold individuals back except themselves. The harder you work, the more you will get. Don’t wait for praise. Work until you are satisfied with yourself.

Ultimately, I believe that God has given me the strength to overcome the challenges in not only my career but in my personal life. He has also placed great people in my path that have helped me along my journey.

For the females and Latinas who are entering the workforce, my advice is to “surround yourself with friends and mentors that will provide help and guidance along the way.”

Emma Lopez Shares About Being the Mother of a Soldier: A Mother’s Life Changes

Emma Lopez, who has her own blog A Mom of a Daughter Soldier, talks about being the mother of a soldier – Natalie Lopez, who is shown above at sniper school. Natalie’s guest post will appear here next.

I have never been to war, but I have sent a child. Twice.

My husband is a Marine, a Vietnam veteran. My son is in the Army. My daughter is in the Air Force Security.

I received many encouraging words from moms when I mention that watching a child go to war is the most heartbreaking event a parent can endure. I spent my child’s growing up years making sure she knew right from wrong and, hopefully, I have taught her life’s values.

I guess the feelings are the same for those left behind when it is a wife or a husband that leaves. Yet, I can assure you that the intensity is different. It’s a feeling that only mothers can identify with.

We, as parents, smile bravely as our own soldiers leave, and we tell ourselves, “Be strong, we’ll find the strength.” The truth is we find only distractions from our pain. We go through our daily routines, and we attempt to maintain some serenity, but life has changed for us.

I think about my daughter all day in everything I do. When I eat, I wonder what she is eating. Is she eating a hot meal or a cold meal? I shop to send items my daughter needs.

I put together a care package, and I stand in long lines at the post office to mail it. As I wait my turn, I talk about her to anyone who listens. The pictures are pulled out, and everyone wants a glimpse of one of our heroes. I pray for her safety, and all those soldiers overseas.

I learn to use computers, cell phones, webcams, and other available technology in order to stay in touch with her. I listen for my computer to make that distinct sound (a ring, ring) which announces that my daughter is online. I hear my phone make that special sound my daughter programmed into the cell phone so I would know it is she on the other end.

Standing in line, people around me smile when I explain, “It’s my daughter. She’s calling from Iraq.” Many times, people tell me, “Thank your daughter for me.”

Let the soldiers know you care. Don’t hesitate to shake the hand of soldiers when you see them walking down the street, taking a subway, or riding a bus. They will feel grateful for that one small gesture -- their sacrifices noticed, their efforts rewarded.

I thank you!! ALL U.S. MILITARY SOLDIERS!!!

“God Bless America.”

PTSD Featured on Upcoming BlogTalkRadio Shows of YourMilitaryLife.com

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a subject that I take very seriously. While at a conference this weekend I met a professional who uses music therapy to help people with PTSD. I’m planning for Nancy Brown of YourMilitary.com and I to interview the music therapist on our BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com.

On March 10th Nancy and I will be interviewing Heather Hummert from Familyofavet.com -- “dedicated to helping our heroes and their loved ones survive and thrive after combat.”

And on April 28th Nancy and I will be interviewing Bob Page, Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy Reserve. His presentation “Iraq Never Leaves Us” is on the website of the National Center for PTSD with a viewer discretion warning. Here’s the into to the presentation:

In this presentation, Bob Page shares his story to provide the viewer with an “up-close and personal” view of “What’s it like over there?” in the combat theater of Iraq via his personal photos. NOTE: This special feature is not a course, but instead a story of one veteran's experiences.

Bob Page is a husband, father, veteran, and, in his civilian career in the television and broadcasting industry, an Emmy Award (4) and AP award winner. During his numerous Active Duty and Marine Reserve periods, Bob has served in several theaters including Beirut, Lebanon; Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield; and in the battles of An Nasiriya, Al Kut, and the liberation of Baghdad, Iraq.

Like many combatants, Bob must manage his PTSD and associated symptoms. Since 2004, Bob has been receiving counseling at a Vet Center and states, “I continue to work hard to heal so I can be the best husband, father and Sailor I can be.”

Tonight my daughter Yael showed me the parts from the newest episode of television show GREY’S ANATOMY that deal with former army major Dr. Owen Hunt and his PTSD from being an army doctor in Iraq. Dr. Hunt explains why he can’t tell his mother that he’s back from Iraq because of his PTSD – she would be upset that the son she saw off to war is no longer the same person.

If you missed Yael’s guest blog post ”PTSD: Achilles in Vietnam and the TV Show Grey’s Anatomy,” read it now.

Documentary BROTHERS AT WAR Tells It Like It Is

Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, BROTHERS AT WAR follows one brother who has to understand why his two brothers go to Iraq ... and why they go back. Gen. Petraeus’ public affairs team screened this film in Baghdad, and at the 2008 GI Film Festival in D.C., BROTHERS AT WAR won best feature documentary.

Filmmaker Jake Rademacher’s brothers are Captain Isaac Rademacher, US Army Commander and West Point Grad, and Joseph Rademacher, Army Ranger and Sniper.

BROTHERS AT WAR opens March 13 in five cities near Ft. Bragg, Camp Lejune, and Ft. Benning.

Now here's filmmaker/brother Jake Rademacher talking about why he made the film and the response it’s getting:

Each time my brothers board the plane with rucksacks and rifles slung over their shoulders, I know it may be the last time I ever see them. After they came home from war the first time, I could see and feel the change — the new distance between us. When they told me what I was watching in 30-second blips on the news was not the same war they were fighting, I knew them well enough to know we were all missing something.

I know that journeying into a war zone may not seem like the most rational thing to do, but I felt the need to bridge the gap was that crucial.

That’s the genesis for BROTHERS AT WAR.

I have had a curiosity about war dating back to childhood. As a young boy, I read books about generals and the great battles of history. As an adolescent, I walked the field at Gettysburg and heard the words of MacArthur’s last speech echoing in my mind as I stood looking out at West Point, dreaming of being an officer one day. Later, I saw another side of war as I walked through the gates of Dachau and through Serbia during a ceasefire.

Now I have been shot at and IED’d. I have watched men’s blood wet the dirt and seen battle-hardened warriors break down in tears as they relate an experience or talk about those they love. I have come to know war in a more intimate and deep way.

BROTHERS AT WAR has been the most terrifying, soul searching, and gratifying thing I have ever done. Through it all, I have tried to hold the mirror up to nature, or rather put the frame around it as it happened in front of me.

I started this film for my brother Isaac. I finished it for the guys I met along the way. Now, I am invigorated by the positive impact I’ve seen it have on audiences — especially other military families who also need to reconnect.

We set out to make a film without stock footage, political pundits or anyone talking about an experience they weren’t currently living. I knew it would require me to risk everything—my life — to succeed. I imagined but had no idea the transformation making this film would have on me.

While the laughter, the tears, and the standing ovations with which the film has been greeted are deeply gratifying, the real reward is the thank you from a Gold Star mother, the tears that come from a battle-hardened warrior trying to relate what the film means to him — feedback I’ve received from warriors and their families about the impact the film has had on their healing process.

Now people can see why I think the best part of my generation is currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their deeds inspire me. I hope that we can all admire those who pull from deep within and strive mightily for something greater than themselves. I am humbled by what I have witnessed.

Time to Win or Lose in Afghanistan

Some in the Pentagon want to repeat the Iraq strategy of securing the towns while others want to focus on the border. This war didn’t start yesterday. Why are these questions still being asked?

Next week Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States. His immediate focus will be on the economy, Guantanamo Bay, and Afghanistan – he’s going to have a busy first few days.

It’s good news that he wants to make the Afghanistan War the main part of his foreign policy. And it’s better news that VP-elect Joe Biden was in Afghanistan last week with Senator Lindsay Graham, and Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman were there also. When one adds new National Security Council head General James Jones (USMC, ret) and Secretary of Defense Gates to the group, one can say that finally America has an administration that equals its Marines and soldiers in competence.

But within the Pentagon, there is still no clear idea of either the strategy or tactics the Pentagon brass might recommend to their new Commander-in-Chief. So let’s assist these desk-bound bureaucrats and do their job for them.

The debate is as follows:

1 - Some argue that the majority of the build-up should be arrayed along the border with Pakistan, focusing on fighting with militants as they move easily across the rugged terrain.

2 - Others, including General David H. Petraeus, the new Centcom commander, want to see the U.S. copy Petraeus’s Iraq strategy and make Afghanistan’s cities and towns the top priority in protecting civilians from the Taliban and other militants.

3 – There is a Marine strategy known as “Muscular Mentoring” that entails working closely with both the Afghan Army and the local citizenry to bring security, jobs, and confidence in local government. This is is successful but low-key and “non big-picture” – which makes it a non-starter to those back-office Army and Pentagon officers who do their best to avoid real field experience.

President Obama has only a finite time to implement a clear and coherent strategy. The Afghan people are increasingly frustrated in the face of rising violence (and American Air Force killings of civilians). And increasing numbers of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan has been mismanaged and is going badly.

Most everyone agrees that the new strategy needs to focus on controlling the border, security for the locals, and increased training for the totally corrupt Afghan police. But will this work?

The biggest issue is that, unlike the Marine strategy, the Army proposals have no role for local, provincial or the central government in Kabul. Yet this is the Afghans’ country and things need to be done their way. If they don’t stand-up and begin to take control of their own destiny, then for how many generations will American troops stay?

There are about 32,000 U.S. troops today in Afghanistan, with an additional 20,000 -30,000 expected to deploy this year. The current idea is to use the majority of the new troops to safeguard villages and cities, and to send some of the additional forces to the border.

"There is a primacy on securing the population," Army Maj. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, director of operations for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, told the New York Times today. "The approach is to reach out to the population, get into the villages, and separate them from the insurgency."

That’s fine in theory, but will it work? Afghanistan has a bigger population than Iraq, a larger land mass, and is being invaded daily by the Taliban Pakistani’s. The "surge" in Iraq boosted American troop levels to approx 150,000 – this surge will boost the troops in Afghanistan to only 50,000- 60,000.

Additionally, as opposed to Iraq’s Sunni/Shia/Kurd issue, Afghanistan has literally hundreds of isolated tribes who have no allegiance or loyalty to anyone outside of their tribe.

While General Petraeus is loathe to admit it, the Marines and Sheik Sattar were working together months before he announced his ‘surge’ campaign – and there is surely no Afghan equivalent of the charismatic Sheik Sattar.

Iraq was “won” because Sheik Sattar realized that Al Qada in Iraq was a worse threat to them than the Marines – and that by allying with the Marines the Iraqis could mutually rid themselves of AQI. Once Al Qada in Iraq was rooted out of Ramadi, the other Sunni tribes saw the economic boom that resulted and wanted their share of it – and Anbar turned pro-Marine very, very quickly.

This won’t happen in Afghanistan. And to build a strategy based on non-existent leaders and tribes who don’t trust each other is a losing strategy from the onset.

Assuming that American troop levels will stay at the 60,000 level, then the Marine plan to engage the population and the Afghan Army and to empower local government is the only plan that bears a modicum of success.

When local Afghan citizens see that their army and their local government can successfully protect their families, provide some basic services – and, perhaps, a job, then we’ve given them a stake in making their country viable again.

But until then, Afghanistan will continue to burn as the Army and Air Force hunkers down on their huge bases like Bagram and refuse to engage with the locals.

Guest post from weekly contributor Andrew Lubin. For more of his boots-on-the-ground commentary on Afghanistan, listen to today's YourMilitaryLife.com BlogTalkRadio interview of Andrew Lubin.

Vote for THE WAR ON BIG TOBACCO in 2008 Weblog Awards

I've often stated that my blog is not political and therefore I don't discuss Presidential candidates or the U.S. energy policy.

That said, I'm comfortable promoting my candidate who is a finalist for the "Best Military Blog" category in the 2008 Weblog Awards -- "The War on Big Tobacco." I've been following Big Tobacco's blog written from an FOB (Forward Operating Base) somewhere in Iraq since my husband discovered the blog a few months ago.

While I admit that some of Big Tobacco's blog posts are R-rated, I love his ability to bring us up close and personal with his world.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have had Big Tobacco do a guest post for my blog, and he has granted me permission to use a blog post of his on a military-related website I'm about to launch. And I still think you should vote for him.

Voting started today and ends January 13th. And in what seems strange to me, you can vote again every 24 hours. This means you can vote early and often for "The War on Big Tobacco."

Please vote now.

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch Suggests a Novel Form of Veteran Aid

In the January 3rd Wall Street Journal Edward I. Koch, former mayor of New York City, had a letter to the editor published under the headline "Let's Help Our Veterans While Helping the Economy." Koch bemoaned the amount of money spent to date on the economic crisis without any apparent success. And he then offered his suggestions "that will at least give us something more tangible for that ongoing generosity with taxpayers' money."

Why don't we authorize the secretary of the Treasury to buy up to 1.5 million automobiles at a price on average of $30,000 each, which comes to $45 billion. Also, provide the authorization to buy up to 300,000 houses in foreclosure that were part of the subprime mortgage fiasco, at an average cost of $300,000, in aggregate less than $500 billion. Then give a car and a house as a bonus to every veteran of our current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will leave to Hank Paulson and his successor the job of working out the details of distribution, e.g., lottery, fairness, region, etc. The veteran should be required to live in the house, unable to sell for five years, and demonstrate an income that can support his/her maintaining the now mortgage-free home.

The total cost of this package is approximately $500 billion, depending on the number of veterans, while President-elect Obama's projected stimulus package is a reputed $800 billion. Most important, our veterans get something tangible for our money, as opposed to the bailouts to date, which are sweetheart giveaways.

This is truly a novel suggestion -- one that would be interesting to see seriously considered by the new administration.

Help This One Soldier Provide Blankets to People in Afghanistan

I first learned about this one deployed soldier’s project from a tweet on Twitter. The person tweeting said his wife had checked out the announcement on Craigslist and it was legit:

Hello, I'm a U.S. Army soldier in Afghanistan. Winter is here and the cold is getting worse. Each year hundreds of children die because of the extreme cold in Afghanistan. Most people in Afghanistan are poor and cannot afford to buy blankets for the family.

I'm trying to collect blankets so we can help the people of this country in hard times. If you would like to help the troops bring prosperity and a brighter future to Afghanistan by donating a blanket please contact me. Thank you for your support to the troops.

I then emailed the soldier and got the following reply:

Thank you for your interest in helping us help the people of Afghanistan. My name is Gerardo Llamas; I am a Specialist in the U.S. Army currently in Afghanistan. If you are interested you can send your donations to me so I can go and donate them. My address here is:

Gerardo Llamas
HQ ISAF
US NSE
APO AE 09356

My husband told me that Spirit of America is an organization that helps “Americans serving abroad assist people in need.” But I wanted to support Gerardo Llama, who all on his own is doing this humanitarian project.

I asked Specialist Llamas how he came to do this. Here is his reply (the boldface is mine):

First I would like to thank you for your interest in helping me make this effort a possibility. The idea came when I got here and realized how poor the people were in Afghanistan. I was suddenly interested in learning more about them, how they lived, their customs, and their way of life.

As I started learning from other people here, including the local nationals that worked on the base, I was amazed by their needs and lack of simple things, such as a blanket. Things that we usually take for granted back home.

I knew winter here tends to be rough and severe. So I wanted to do something else besides my military duty to help the people of Afghanistan and make a difference in someone's life. I first thought about buying a few blankets myself and donating them, but for some reason it didn't seem fair. There are hundreds of families out there suffering from the cold. I wanted to do more but of course I did not have the money to help everybody.

That's when I thought about collecting blankets from back home. I first wanted to get in touch with family members so they could help me by getting blankets from around the neighborhood or church. After talking to them I decided I wanted more; I wanted to help the most people I could.

All of a sudden I found myself browsing through Craigslist.com for some item for my entertainment here and that's when I realized the huge number of people that browse through Craigslist.com.

I decided that if I put a post on Craigslist asking for donations at least 50 people would see it and might help. I posted in different places -- San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Chicago and a few more places -- the more people I could get to read these posts the better.

So far I have received about 50 replies from different places, but nothing has arrived yet. Some people said they would donate their old blankets, some said they'd buy some, some others even offered to collect blankets at their workplace or church.

I'm currently assigned to HQ ISAF in Kabul. I'm an individual augmentee, therefore my unit is back in San Antonio, Texas. I came here as a volunteer.

The people I'd be donating to are locals -- from villages around the city to the local orphanage and children's hospital. I plan to distribute the blankets to the most people I can around the area.

Thank you for your interest and support to the troops, God bless!

I just bought four twin-size blankets on the Kmart website and had them shipped directly to Specialist Llama’s APO address. (See APO address above –- the Kmart online charge system puts the AE of this APO address in the space for state info and then recognizes this address as an APO address.) If you have used blankets to send, these are also good.

In the spirit of this holiday season and the new year, I hope you’ll support the efforts of one soldier to make a difference. And his single-handed effort is offering us the opportunity to make a difference. As Judaism teaches, to save one life is as if you have saved an entire world.

Here Are the Items Needed for Wounded Veterans and Their Families

Here’s the second part of the guest post from Shelly Vail of Troop Support Alliance in Tampa, FL. Above is a photo of Troop Support Alliance's Friday flag waving day. And below Shelly is going to give us a wish list of needed items for wounded military personnel at the Haley VA Hospital and their families who have come to stay at Haley House in order to be near the hospital.

I was just over at the hospital last Friday to do a pre-Christmas drop off of a donated used desktop PC and some PC and video games. Those will be shared in several areas of the hospital. Mary Ellen Harlan was getting the PC set up to be given to a spinal injury patient. He is having a hard time socially with most of his family and friends not able to visit with him while he is here. This will allow him to be closer to them even if it is only through the internet, but that should help.

The video games are something I started using as support almost six years ago. The guys in the poly-trauma wing (blast unit) and the ones in the nursing home who play on the games systems and PCs seem to require less pain meds. Our goal is to have each patient room in the blast unit have an XBox360. The older guys over in the nursing home area play the PC coffee break type of games and they have a Wii system but only two games at this time.

I hope we can attract some new awareness of what the families go through and the cracks the system has out there, yet what can be done to help them through it all.

This is the wish list I got in from a recreational therapy person in the spinal cord injury area:

• ethernet cables for bedside connection (patients bring their own laptops but not the cables so we need some to loan out)
• Wii remotes and games
• headphones (again for bedside use, primarily in 4-bed rooms (but the cheap kind because we cannot share them among patients due to hygiene concerns so the headphones must be “disposable”)
• puzzle books (word searches, crosswords, Sudoku, misc.)
• laptop stands
• countertop convection oven (deep enough for 12-inch pizza to cook)
• griddle
• rectangular electric skillet

Many of the older guys might not have any family to help them with extra personal needs so we try to get items for whoever needs them.

Nursing home list:

• Wii games
• PC games ( puzzle, solitaire, casino style)
• New patient items such as pajamas, socks, underwear, etc.
• hygiene items such as shaving items, deodorant, shampoo, soap, etc.

Haley House list:

• small amount gift cards ($10) to places like Wal-mart or Target for when a family has needed items they forgot.
• phone cards for patients and families to use to stay in contact with home
• VISA or MasterCard gift cards that can be used to buy groceries to stock the kitchen area for families staying at Haley House
• Wounded Warrior van -- trying to find a new van and new sponsor to replace the van we had to return this summer

Anything I can get donated Mary Ellen Harlan finds a way to use. Any used PCs (XP operating system level) I can get are used either by patients or military families who really need a PC. Any video games, game systems or PC games are used at the VA as well with the recreational therapy crews helping patients use them with wonderful results.

Send all items to Haley House Fund Inc., P.O. Box 701, Brandon, FL 33509-0701. Email questions can be addressed to me at mshores@ij.net . And anything you can send or donateto Haley House will be so very much appreciated.

An Embedded Reporter Tells How He Got to That Point in His Life

Last week author Andrew Lubin wrote a guest post about sending holiday joy to our troops. This week his guest post is in a more personal vein:

I always liked to write, but ended up in business school with a Masters in International Management instead. It was a great career, and I did some writing and speaking, but not on a professional basis. And to be honest, I never found a topic that really grabbed me – until five years ago.

I was driving home from Camp Lejeune, N.C., with my son Phil after he returned from Iraq in June 2003. He's a proud Marine, and fought in the initial invasion in March 2003.

He’s an artilleryman, and was an active participant in the big fight at An-Nasiriyah where so many Marines were killed (and in fact he was instrumental in rescuing Army private Jessica Lynch). So I was anxious to hear all about it.

My first questions to my 19-year-old combat veteran Marine were "What'd you do? What was it like?"

He proceeded to tell me the most hair-raising stories about the fight. And I realized that the press coverage, although well done, didn’t begin to do the story justice.

I was totally impressed by his stories as well as by his remarkably calm demeanor in relating them, and I thought I’d make a few pages of notes. Both my mom and dad were Marines (S/F!) in WWII, and I've still got a lot of their uniforms and memorabilia.

So I figured I'd write 10-15 pages about the battle and Phil's part in it, throw in some photos, and in 30 years some grandkid would say "Grandpa did all that ??"

Well, 50 pages and three calls to publishers later, I had a book ... my first: "Charlie Battery; A Marine Artillery Unit in Iraq."

Suddenly I had a topic that grabbed me.

The book did well and I was invited to do a lot of TV and radio spots. I wrote some articles for various newspapers and I received a grant from the Marine Corps to write another book.

And then I went to Beirut with the 24th MEU and then to Iraq. And all that went well, so I went to Afghanistan. And suddenly I'm an embedded journalist with an audience who follows my work.

I've taken a boots-on-the-ground approach to my writing. I let the armchair gasbags and officious pundits talk about the war from the safety of their Washington offices. I’ll go out in the field and talk with the Marines and soldiers who are doing the fighting and dying.

I think that these young men and women are America's best, and therefore I need to do as good a job writing about their efforts as they do in fighting. And to do that I need to be up on the front lines with them.

So that’s one way to start a writing career. Perhaps not the safest, but certainly the most rewarding. I’ll be returning (for the fourth time) to Afghanistan in late March 2009 to cover these men and women.

They’re your sons and daughters over there, folks, or your neighbors' sons and daughters, and you need to know what they’re doing in your name. I’ll be covering them on The Military Observer, and I hope you’ll join us.

The photo for this post is of Andrew and his son Phil on deployment day in December 2005. Andrew's book "Charlie Battery" won the 2007 Gold Medal for Best Military Non-Fiction from the Military Writers Society of America. His newest book “Keep Moving or Die; Task Force Tarawa at An-Nasiriyah” will be published by Naval Institute Press in the second half of 2009. He has been on ABC, CNN, FOX, and Patriot Media and does a regular spot on Joey Reynolds WOR Radio (710 AM). He also writes on our troops on The Military Observer.

Soldier Wishes: Iraq Veteran Tonight on Your Military Life BlogTalkRadio Show Will Talk About This New Project

Join Nancy Brown of YourMilitary.com and me tonight on our BlogTalkRadio Show Your Military Life as we interview Iraq veteran Jared Still. He's the director of the Soldier Wish Campaign and the senior vice president of special projects with Wishy Inc.

BlogTalkRadio thought our show today so worthwhile that it is one of the featured shows on the home page.

Tune in to hear about this new project to give back to America's military personnel. If you can't tune in live at 6:30 p.m. Eastern today, the recording of the show will be available to listen to about an hour after the show ends.