kris blogs

The Real Meaning of 4,000 Dead
Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008
By LIEUT. SEAN WALSH

The passing of the 4,000th service member in Iraq is a tragic milestone and a testament to the cost of this war, but for those of us who live and fight in Iraq, we measure that cost in smaller, but much more personal numbers. For me those numbers are 8, the number of friends and classmates killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 3, the number of soldiers from my unit killed in this deployment. I’m 25, yet I’ve received more notifications for funerals than invitations to weddings.

The number 4,000 is too great to grasp even for us that are here in Iraq. When we soldiers read the newspaper, the latest AP casualty figures are glanced over with the same casual interest as a box score for a sport you don’t follow. I am certain that I am not alone when I open up the Stars and Stripes, the military’s daily paper, and immediately search for the section with the names of the fallen to see if they include anyone I know. While in a combat outpost in southwest Baghdad, it was in that distinctive bold Arial print in a two-week-old copy of the Stars and Stripes that I read that my best friend had been killed in Afghanistan. No phone call from a mutual friend or a visit to his family. All that had come and gone by the time I had learned about his death. I sometimes wonder, if I hadn’t picked up that paper, how much longer I would have gone by without knowing — perhaps another day, perhaps a week or longer until I could find the time and the means to check my e-mail to find my messages unanswered and a death notification from a West Point distro list in my inbox. The dead in Afghanistan don’t seem to inspire the keeping of lists the same way that those in Iraq do, but even if they did it wouldn’t matter; he could only be number 7 to me.

I’m not asking for pity, only understanding for the cost of this war. We did, after all, volunteer for the Army and that is the key distinction between this army and the army of the Vietnam War. But even as I ask for that understanding I’m almost certain that you won’t be able to obtain it. Even Shakespeare, with his now overused notion of soldiers as a “band of brothers,” fails to capture the bonds, the sense of responsibility to each other, among soldiers. In many ways, Iraq has become my home (by the time my deployment ends I will have spent more time here than anywhere else in the army) and the soldiers I share that home with have become my family. Between working, eating and sleeping within a few feet of the same soldiers every single day, I doubt I am away from them for more than two hours a day. I’m engaged to the love of my life, but it will take several years of marriage before I’ve spent as much time with her as I have with the men I serve with today.

For the vast majority of Americans who don’t have a loved one overseas, the only number they have to attempt to grasp the Iraq War is 4,000. I would ask that when you see that number, try to remember that it is made up of over 1 million smaller numbers; that every one of the 1 million service members who have fought in Iraq has his or her own personal numbers. Over 1 million 8’s and 3’s. When you are evaluating the price of the war, weighing potential rewards versus cost in blood and treasure, I would ask you to consider what is worth the lives of three of your loved ones? Or eight? Or more? It would be a tragedy for my 8 and 3 to have died without us being able to complete our mission, but it maybe even more tragic for 8 and 3 to become anything higher.

I stayed at Ricketts Glen State Park this past weekend. I had said I’d drive, so of course it snowed again. I love snowy rush hours on Friday nights when driving far. Most of the ride was okay, although I did about half the speed limit after Hickory Run again, especially after leaving the turnpike. The last 5 miles were the worst though. My car couldn’t make it up the steep hill. The two people with me had to get out and push, I was pretty much not getting any traction with tires spinning constantly as I fish tailed across the road. A couple of pickup trucks blew by but otherwise the road was empty. Finally a plow came and cleared a path that I was able to roll into backwards and try to make it up the hill some more. There was still an icy coat on the road so I didn’t make much more progress than I had been without the plow. It came by again going down the hill and dropped salt this time. The driver told us to give it a few minutes for the salt to start working and then try again. This time I was able to get some traction, although I still managed to lose it every ten feet or so. We did make it to the park entrance and although the park roads were covered in snow and hadn’t been plowed, my car was able to get through the powdery, non-icy stuff there to the one cabin where we were meeting people. It was late but we were only the second car there so we still had to wait for everyone else to arrive before turning in. The original plan was to split between cabins and tents but it was so late that no one felt like driving over to the tent sites to see how they looked since they’d probably not be in good shape any way. There was room in the cabins due to people backing out last minute though so all the tent campers just stayed there. Ricketts Glen has modern cabins and they were very nice inside - two bedrooms, living room, bathroom with shower, full kitchen (including microwave), and, most importantly, heat.

Saturday we did about a 4.5 mile hike through most of the Falls Trail. It was gorgeous, although I’d like to see what the trail actually looks like some time when it’s not covered by a foot of snow. We were guided by Quest, who also provided crampons and ice axes in case we would need them. We actually didn’t need the crampons for most of the trail, although the axes came in handy on the really steep parts where we either had to climb up or basically do a controlled slide down. The only part we did need the crampons for was at the last waterfall we saw, where there was a spiral staircase built into the rock, but without any support on the outside edge and with a straight drop down from there. The guides managed to chop away some of the ice before we climbed up but some people had trouble with crampons coming off halfway there. It was a great hike though, lots of fun to get through the tough parts. I realized I should invest in some waterproof pants, or at least gaiters, if I’m going to plan on doing any more really snowy winter hikes.

Sunday we did another hike to see the falls we had missed the previous day, this time with snowshoes. I’ve heard that some people don’t like snowshoes but I thought they were a blast. Maybe they were a little tricky going over difficult / narrow spots, but they made walking over the rest of the snow so much easier that it was worth it. We did a shorter hike this day, probably a little less than 4 miles, but we still had to drive home so I’m glad we finished early.

The whole weekend was a great time. Quest seems like a great program. They offer outdoor courses and trips, specific outings for groups, and also provide outdoor leadership training through Bloomsburg University. I would have loved to do a program like that in school.

I went up to the Poconos last weekend for a “ski” trip. I don’t ski though so I spent it tubing and hiking and managed to persuade a few other non-skiers to join me. We were right near Tobyhanna State Park so decided to check out the trails there. There were about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and it was absolutely beautiful. We saw a few other people in the park - cross country skiing and snowshoeing - but for the most part were alone. We did part of the Lakeside Trail in order to get to the Yellow Trail, although we didn’t make it to the end of the Yellow Trail. The snow slowed us down so much and we hadn’t started until a little while after lunch so we decided to turn back rather than risk getting caught still on the trail at dark. I would say we did about 5 miles total, which isn’t bad I guess. I just hate turning back before the end of a trail. It’s definitely a great spot though and worth checking out again. It’s not too far, probably only 2 hours when the roads are clear, which they definitely weren’t Friday night, at least not once we got closer. As soon as we passed Hickory Run, it was a like a line was drawn between just wet road and snow-covered road. Granted my car’s not the best for getting around in bad weather but it usually makes it through just fine. My normally black car looked completely gray though by the time I got home again. I had to take it to a car wash right away to get rid of all the snow crud and salt.

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We did the Mill Creek Trail at French Creek State Park last weekend. There are 30 miles of trails in the park but only the trail we did was rated difficult. I was interested in seeing how the ratings worked since I had done a trail in NJ that was rated difficult but had no elevation or terrain change. Maybe that one was difficult because it was long? So I wanted to see how a difficult trail in PA would look. This trail is 6 miles long, so that could account for the rating, although I don’t see that length should have anything to do with it since you can always go part of the way and turn back if you feel like it. We actually turned off on an unmarked trail about half way through, which added an extra 1-2 miles. The trail itself was pretty rocky for the most part so you had to watch where you were stepping. There also were some places where the grade was relatively steep - not so steep that you had to use your hands to climb up, but steep enough that I breathing hard on the way up. Then again, I’m out of shape since I haven’t done much this winter. The way I see it, anyone could have done this trail, although they might have wanted to slow down at parts. We ran into a few other people on the trail, all with dogs, and one family with smallish children. I really still couldn’t say how the trail rating system works at this point. I guess it’s relative to the other trails in the area.

I also used this hike as a way of testing out my cold weather layers since I had never hiked in such low temperatures before. I’ve done winter hikes, but always on a warmer day (above 40F). The day we did this hike it was in the 20s. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough on, but I didn’t want to bring too much either. I ended up wearing midweight socks with liners, midweight long underwear bottoms under regular convertible pants, a silkweight turtleneck underneath a heavyweight long underwear hoodie underneath a midweight fleece vest, glove liners, and a fleece hat. I started out with a midweight fleece jacket too, and had a weatherproof shell and fleece gloves in my pack, but they weren’t needed. I even took off my glove liners and hat occasionally, and I was perfectly warm the whole time, despite being one of those people who are always cold. Nothing I was wearing was bulky either so I was very comfortable.

My dad and I went to the REI garage sale yesterday. It’s a big sale of used and returned items for co-op members. We didn’t make it right when the store opened but apparently there was a huge line and mad rush in as soon as the doors opened. Like Black Friday. I’m sure we missed some really great deals that way but I have no desire to get stampeded for camping stuff. We still managed to get a couple of great deals though. I got the REI Base Camp 4 tent ($300) for $43. The only thing wrong with it is that it’s missing stakes and guylines. Which I can easily buy for under $20. Otherwise though, it was brand new and never used. I set it up yesterday to make sure it was okay and it looked to be in perfect condition. It’s much better quality than my current Coleman tent so I can’t wait to use it.

My dad got a Sierra Designs Moken 4 tent ($500) for $15. There was no reason listed on its tag for being in the sale so we opened it up and found out that someone must have put it away wet because it was a little smelly. That’s easily fixed though, just needs to be aired out. We set it up and found nothing else wrong with it. He also got the footprint for that tent for $1.83. He got another tent, a $205 Armadillo one, for $1.83. The reason that was listed for that tent being in the sale was that it “leaks live a siv”. At less than $2 though, it was hard to turn down so we took it home and set it up and found out that the previous owners must have just set it up wrong because there are actually 3 layers of tent wall. Hard to leak into that. We did see that they had tried to seal the seams over a mesh vestibule area, which makes absolutely no sense since rain would go through the mesh 1 inch away. The tent looked like it had been used many times and I looked up Armadillo tents and saw that they went out of business in 2001, so these people must have just not wanted it any more and returned it after using it for years. REI does have a great return policy. When I bought my hiking boots there I was told that if I went on a couple of hikes with them and they weren’t comfortable or didn’t fit, I could bring them right back. Any other store wouldn’t even think of taking back used boots.

There were a couple of other really good deals, like some Swiss Army knives for a few dollars each, and $80 climbing shoes for $1.83. I wanted to get them so bad but they just fit my feet, which means they’re too big for climbing. It took me a while to accept that and put them back though since it was such a great deal. I might go earlier next year after all.

I finally got the DVDs for Long Way Round, Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman’s 2004 round the world motorcycle trip. They had filmed it and turned it into a show, which apparently aired on Bravo but I never saw it. I had to order the DVDs from amazon.ca because I wasn’t finding them still available in the US for some reason (at least not the special edition with 10 episodes, as opposed to the original 7). The whole series was fantastic. I would recommend watching it even if you’re not particularly interested in motorcycles. Just the whole traveling into remote parts of the world and meeting the people there angle is really interesting. They had a cameraman, Claudio von Planta, on a third motorcycle with them, and two support vehicles traveling a few days behind them to meet up at borders and help with the documentation needed there for crossings. The roads for probably 2/3 of their trip were pretty much non-existent so you get to see some pretty rough off-roading as well.

They actually ran into Ted Simon in Mongolia - he’s the author of Jupiter’s Travels, about his riding round the world for 4 years on a Triumph back in the 1970s. They worked with UNICEF for the trip and met up with children in different cities to spread awareness of UNICEF’s cause. My favorite parts were when they stayed with Igor in Ukraine (episode 3) and when they traveled the Road of Bones in Siberia (episode 7).

Last year they did another trip, Long Way Down, where they traveled from the tip of Scotland to the tip of South Africa. I’ll probably pick up that DVD set soon to check out.

My favorite band will be up in the northeast quite a bit this year. I recommend checking them out at one of these shows if you’ve never seen them before.

The best part is that I go to these places any way, and they’ll just happen to be there.

February 28 - World Cafe Live
May 16-17 - Camp Jam in the Pines
July 17-20 - Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival
August 29-31 - Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival

And of course I’m sure I’ll still go down to Louisiana for the Blackpot Festival in November. It was a fantastic time and I loved just about every band that played last year.

We did a 9 mile hike in Wharton State Forest today. The original plan was to do Mt. Tammany or Sunfish Pond so I was disappointed when no one wanted to drive that far and it was decided that we’d stay in flat South Jersey. It ended up not being as bad as I thought it would though. It was actually pretty in the pines. We started out at Batsto Village and did a loop up past some of the wilderness campsites. It wasn’t too cold out either, as long as we kept moving. Might be good for a backpacking or kayak/canoe trip later (several little rivers and lakes back there).

I love the look on the husband’s face.