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West Point Class of 1969

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Suzanne Rice

Mar 10 2024

Adventures in Spain – 1976

    Choosing the Air Force on Branch Night would take me to places different than my classmates, doing different things. I joined twenty-five of our classmates who went into the Air Force at graduation. When the Air Force assignment officer visited West Point, I asked him what does the Air Force do? This was because I was not aviation-qualified, and the engineering intern program was no longer. He said I could go to graduate school and get a master’s in electrical engineering (MSEE). My first duty assignment was to the University of Illinois, living on John Street in Champaign, Illinois. After graduation with my MSEE degree, I was assigned to Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts as a test engineer for Tactical Weather Systems. It was not an AF requirement that I knew Spanish before going to Spain, so I learned it on the job with the Spanish Officers especially at their Officer’s Club. My next assignment was to Torrejon Air Base in Madrid, Spain.

John in Benidorm, Spain

My last assignment before resigning, and entering civilian life, was in Air Force Security Service at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

     As part of my Air Force career, I was assigned to a joint Spanish Air Force project at Torrejon Air Base in Madrid, Spain. The U.S. had an agreement with Spain for use of Air Force and Navy bases in Spain. At the time, Spain was not a part of NATO. As a part of this U.S. agreement with Spain, we were upgrading Spain’s Air Control & Warning System (AC&W). This project included upgrading radars to the seven radar sites in Spain to more modern systems.

Radar Site in Spain

As part of the upgrade, we were installing a new Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system to identify friendly military aircraft. This IFF system included new modes to accurately identify a friendly aircraft. A snag came up as to how to evaluate the new IFF system, as Spain did not have any aircraft equipped with the advanced IFF system. Fortunately, there was a U.S. Strategic Air Command (SAC) tanker wing based at Torrejon that was equipped with the modern IFF system. I went with a Spanish Air Force Major to request a mission off the south coast of Spain with one of the US SAC KC135 tankers. SAC agreed and we scheduled a mission for an evening two weeks later for the KC135 to fly away from the radar site and then return on a reciprocal course using the advanced IFF system. The mission went off without a hitch and the Spanish accepted the new IFF equipment. However, the next morning the Spanish officers burst into my office to tell me that Libya had launched fighters to intercept the KC135 and see what was going on. The Libyan fighters just flew around the KC135 while it was in international airspace. SAC was concerned about this report. [JAC1] It was an actual launch by Libya to see what an Air Force plane was doing near their borders, albeit still in international space.

     Another interesting thing was the testing of the new Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) Anti-Chaff receiver. Chaff is small pieces of aluminum that confuse radar systems. Military aircraft carry the chaff in pods on their wings that are internal to the aircraft.  When a threat is identified, the chaff is dispensed to confuse the radar on incoming missiles. Again, neither the Spanish nor United States Air Force had the proper chaff in Europe. Their chaff was designed for Russian radars. Belgium had the chaff, but would not fly in Spain, as Spain was not part of NATO at the time. I did locate an ECM testing aircraft at Griffiss Air Force Base in New York. I arranged for them to come over and test the Spanish system. When we did tests at Griffiss AFB, we did it in the late-night hours in order not to disrupt civilian air traffic. The Spanish wanted to test in the daytime. The test was planned for the radar site near Madrid in the afternoon. Spain put out a notice their radar coverage would be out for the Madrid region for the afternoon of the test. Again, the test went well, and the Spanish accepted the system. We never heard of any disruption.

Hard at Work

I really enjoyed working with the Spanish Air Force on this international project. The Spanish Air Force awarded me and the Program Manager, Colonel. Rufus D. Hutcheson (USMA 1954) the Spanish Cross for Aeronautical Merit. This is the highest Spanish military award given to a non-Spanish citizen.

John with Spanish Air Force Officers

     Even seven years after graduation, I was still the youngest graduate on Founders Day at Torrejon AB, Spain. As we all know, the youngest graduate must give a speech on the state of the Academy. There were few West Pointers at my assignments.  I gave the youngest graduate speeches at the University of Illinois, a couple of times at Hanscom Air Force Base (commanded by Major General Albert R. Shiely Jr, class of 1943), and a couple of times at Torrejon AB. Finally, I attended Founders Day at Fort Sam Houston where there were plenty of younger graduates.


 [JAC1]It was an actual launch by Libya to see what a AF plane was doing near there borders, albeit still in international air space.

Written by Suzanne Rice · Categorized: By John Champagne

Mar 10 2024

Country – The War – 2023

From Jim McDonough, THE WAR – 2023

Jim McDonough Vietnam

Speech given at the Army-Navy Club, July 2023, in remembrance of 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War

     How do you talk about a war that ran from the early 1960s to 1973 – or from a larger perspective from the defeat of the French at Dien Bin Phu 1954 to the fall of Saigon in 1975 — and do so in only a matter of minutes?

The answer is you can’t. 

map of Vietnam war

     I can only summarize that it was both a long and hard war — one that not only cost the lives of 58,281 Americans but when we include military and civilian deaths throughout Indochina most tallies regardless of national source put the total for all at over 3 million dead.

     For America, it also cost us more than 300,000 wounded, 75,000 of whom were severely disabled and 23,000 of whom were 100 % disabled, a result of vastly improved medical care along with evacuation of the severely wounded by helicopter saving many who in past wars almost surely would have died.  Nonetheless, the broken bodies of those that did survive caused them to pay a price for the rest of their lives.

medevac helicopter vietnam
MEDEVAC Helicopter Evacuating the Wounded

     At home, the consequences of the war tore the country apart.  Not at first, but from 1965 on as the months became years, the ever-continuing casualties at ever higher numbers led to political and social acrimony and left a divide among our citizenry that may yet take time to heal. 

     Over 9 million Americans served in uniform over the time officially defined as the Vietnam War.  Not quite 3 million of them served in Vietnam.  At its peak, more than a half million American troops were in country.  All were faced with a hostile environment: Anti-aircraft weapons, missiles, rockets, mortars, automatic weapons fire, mines, and so on. Added to the plate of dangers were ambushes, sappers, tunnels, jungles, mountains, rice-paddies, monsoons, heat, leeches, insects, jungle rot and for many the hell holes reserved for prisoners of war.    There were many ways to suffer and die.

2 battalion 9th marines
2 Battalion 9th Marines on the Move in 1967

      It was both a conventional war and an insurgency of the most violent proportions.  Hardened terrorists and assassins infiltrated the populated areas; Viet Cong treachery slew tens of thousands of their own countrymen and – when the opportunity arose – many of us as well.  Booby traps were everywhere, designed to kill and to maim.  Wherever you walked you knew your next step could be your last.  They caused over 17% of US casualties and 11% of our killed in action.  And the North Vietnamese Army was ever-present throughout, reinforcing the local Viet Cong in mass at regiment and division levels, ready to strike at isolated American and allied units whenever the opportunity presented itself.

       By 1967, as casualties climbed to several hundred killed a week with no end in sight, the support of the American public waned.  Domestic hostility toward the war — often fanned by both a sensationalized and critical press — rose to the breaking point.  Defeatism followed, punctuated by Tet of 1968 — a massive country-wide battle which we won in the field but was portrayed differently in the press at home.  The now open hostility against the war at home turned bit by bit toward America’s fighting forces as well.

THE SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN, AND MARINES

     They were young, younger than any of our previous wars.  Sixty-one percent were less than 21 years old.  11,500 were less than 19.  The average age of those killed was 22.

     And contrary to myth, the majority – two-thirds in fact – were volunteers, not draftees.  Not surprising when you think about it.  These were the sons of the ‘greatest generation’ come of age.  Their fathers fought for the country in WW II; they would do the same in Vietnam.

     After the initial deployment of units at the outset of the war, America’s warriors arrived as individuals, without the benefit of familiar faces alongside them.  And they arrived suddenly, departing the United States one day and arriving the next.  The crucible – and the shock — of battle came quickly.

     They would serve for one year (13 months if you were a Marine, a virtual eternity if you were a prisoner of war).  But in that one year, they were likely to see a great deal of combat.  It has been estimated that the average infantryman in Vietnam would experience 240 days of combat; the average for the Pacific Theater in WWII was 40 days, over a stretch of four years. 

     Many in this room no doubt experienced one or more of the big battles:  Ia Drang, Dak To, Khe Sahn, Tet, Hue, Hamburger Hill, the Easter Offensive, Rolling Thunder, Lam Son 719 (the greatest helicopter meatgrinder of the entire war), Ripcord and many, many more.  But for most it was the grueling routine of patrols, ambushes, search and destroy missions, convoy runs, landing zone insertions, firebase defenses (such as the disaster at Mary Ann) and supporting our Vietnamese allies that took their toll of misery and death.  What were the chances of surviving unscathed in a line unit?  In my own opinion, very low.  Consider our NCO corps, particularly the line sergeants who served multiple tours.  By the end of the war, we had to rebuild it, so many were gone.

     But all who served, no matter the rank, did their job: stoically, endlessly, and with surprisingly good humor.  They loved their country, our country, but they fought to stay alive, and they fought for each other.  The objective was to make it home, for home was America, family, safety, and a future.

THE FAMILIES

    As in all wars, the families suffered along with their loved ones as they went off to serve in the combat zone.  The pain of separation, the fear of what might happen, and far too often the notification that something bad had happened – all of this was a difficult cross to bear. 

     The Army at first had neglected to prepare itself for mass casualties.  The costly 1965 Battle of the Ia Drang revealed a greatly lacking method of notifying the next of kin.  In the Columbus, Georgia area where most of the troops in that battle had departed from, the notifications of those killed in action came in to Western Union in the middle of the night.  Under a time deadline to deliver the sad news to family members, Western Union used the local taxi company to go to individual houses and notify the families.  Many of the latter lived in the same neighborhoods as doorbells were rung by cab drivers burdened with carrying the fateful message.  The shock of the delivery soon reverberated throughout the area and the sight of a yellow cab coming up the street evoked sheer terror.

     This was eventually fixed, but nothing could stop the continual drumbeat of bad news.  At its peak, the war in Vietnam took over 500 hundred American lives in a single week.  In the week I graduated from West Point in 1969, in a war that I assumed in 1965 would be over by then, over 250 were killed.  Long since, servicemen’s families no longer resided in one place; each had become an individual island of worry awaiting the return of a son, a father, or a husband.  Family structured support systems to carry the wives, children, and parents through the ordeal hardly existed and where they did were only shallowly structured.

     Families could and did follow the nightly news on Vietnam with grave anticipation.  And they could see the growing unrest at home, the demonstrations and then the riots in the streets, the rebellion of our young, their chants, their mocking, and their hateful commentary, amplified by the press and sometimes reinforced by the same. 

     Worst of all, they began to see shows of support for our enemies and with it the purposeful and hateful denigration of those Americans who were engaged in direct combat and even those held in brutal captivity.  All of this made for great theater, except for the families already gripped with concerns who now not only felt abandoned but even betrayed by many of their countrymen.

      It was a crushing, and bitter time.  Yes, most of our warriors did come home, thank God.  But the ordeal for both veteran and family was not over.  

THE ROAD BACK

     The early years were difficult.  Vietnam was hard but in some ways the rejections and the slights received from fellow citizens were harder.  Many myths developed about the instability of the Vietnam veteran:  He drank too much, had become addicted to drugs, secretly harbored memories of war crimes, was a maddened time bomb ready to explode.   He was now a crazed killer who never should have gone off to fight in the first place.  A general characterization was that he must either have been driven by a lust for war or an outright fool for not finding one of the many ways to beat the system and avoid serving in “that” war.  In short, he was not to be trusted as a worthy member of civilized society.

     Most of this was balderdash.  97% of Vietnam veterans were honorably discharged from the military.  85% successfully transitioned to civilian life.  They were less likely to be incarcerated and more likely to be employed than their counterparts who had not served; over time their mean income was 20% higher.  In virtually every area they showed their merit.

     Not that the road back wasn’t bumpy.  During the first five years after discharge, suicide rates among veterans were almost twice that of those that did not serve, perhaps due in part to the sense of isolation from society.  I am reminded of the poem by Rudyard Kipling about the British soldier, represented universally as Tommy Atkins, at the turn of the 19th century:

For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool — you bet that Tommy sees!

     Our veterans saw and felt the pain as well.  But they, and their families, fought through it all and made a proud place for themselves.  Over time their suicide rate overall has fallen significantly below that of their contemporaries.  Today, 91% of Vietnam vets report they are glad that they served.  American society has changed its opinion as well, appearing, most remarkably, in the guise of ‘stolen valor’.  I said earlier that about 3 million of us served in Vietnam.           

     Yet according to the census taken in 2000, by which time many Vietnam vets had passed from this earth, approximately 13 million Americans claimed to be Vietnam veterans.  What was once looked down upon had now become a sought-after status symbol.  Imitation, however false, remains the greatest source of flattery.

      The Vietnam veteran and his family sought no special status.  If they sought anything, it was the simple recognition that they had served their country, each as valiantly as the other.  For the years that recognition did not come their way, they yet found quiet solace in one another and in their own knowledge that they had done their duty.  Today, their sacrifice is fully noted.  So, I say to them and to all of you, “Thank you for your Service.”

Vietnam Vets Saluting Their Fallen Comrades at the Vietnam Wall

Written by Suzanne Rice · Categorized: By James McDonough

Feb 27 2024

The Other Side of the Wall – 1990

Berlin Wall West Point

Preface

     Following the second World War, the former German borders were reduced and divided into four zones of occupying forces: Great Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union. The former capital, Berlin, was also divided into four sectors.

     It did not take the Soviets long before they attempted to take all of Berlin through a blockade. (They also tried to take all of occupied Vienna.) Fortunately, the other Allies were able to defeat the Soviet aggression through the most miraculous airlift in history. (But that is a story for another time.)

     It also did not take the citizens of what became East Germany and East Berlin to realize their brothers in the West were much better off.  The resultant exodus of East Germans (estimated at 2.5 million) led to a closing of the borders and eventually to building a wall around West Berlin (155km) and along the “inter-German border” (1400km), which became known as the “Iron Curtain” to us and the” Death Strip” to all Germans. Hundreds of East Germans were killed or died in other ways directly connected to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) border regime between 1961 and 1989.

     In the years following graduation, many of us 1969’ers served on “Freedom’s Frontier” in both West Germany and West Berlin, facing down the East German Border Guards (Grenztruppen der DDR or Grenzer, as they were called).  I was one of the officers defending the West and consider myself fortunate to have spent 15 years doing so on both borders.

     Between 1961 and 1988, it is estimated that well over 100,000 citizens of the GDR escaped or tried to escape across the inner-German border and the Berlin Wall. More than 600 of them were shot and killed by GDR border guards or died in other ways during their escape attempt, some drowning while trying to swim to the West, others setting off anti-personnel mines. 262 of those died at the Berlin Wall.

     I, like many others often wondered how the Grenztruppen could have been so callous and brutal, killing their fellow countrymen and women.  That so many East Germans were killed at the border is alarming and tragic and causes one to question how such a thing could happen. It is alarming and tragic because such atrocities can and still do occur.  All it takes is a system of government that makes it lawful and possible to control, imprison and even kill its citizens. When the GDR realized they were bleeding their critical populace, they created an infrastructure to control and imprison them. One of the first steps was to create the “Iron Curtain” and the Berlin Wall, both enclosing what became known as the “Death Strip,” seen below.

drawing of Berlin Wall
The Border

     Those of us serving in Germany knew about the border and “Death Strip” but not much about the Border Guards.  I certainly did not, and it was not until after the “Wall” came down in 1990, that I had the opportunity to learn firsthand about the Grenztruppen and the other side of the border. When the III (GE) Corps Engineer organized a guided tour of the border by former Grenztruppen officers and non-commissioned officers for the V (US) Corps Engineer and staff, I was included, as the embedded liaison officer to the German Corps.

     Our “tour guides” were now civilians disliked by East and West Germans alike, and unable to find jobs. Consequently, they were somewhat glad to be hired by the government to clear the old Death Strip of obstacles and unchartered minefields.  They were in the process of doing so when we visited.

     Their unenviable status in the new Germany was one of the things we learned during our 3-day tour on the border and 3 nights of staying with our guides in their former barracks. Of course, beer was served with our dinners and for several hours afterwards, which led to many stories and the realization that these “soldiers” were men doing what they were told and required by the laws of their land. More on that later, but first some background history.

     After the war, the Soviet sector borders were manned by the Border Police (Grenzpolizei). In 1961, they  were reorganized as the Border Troops of the GDR (Grenztruppen der DDR) and were moved from the Ministry of the Interior, which oversaw policing, to the Ministry of National Defense (MfNV) which oversaw the military. The Grenztruppen became the fourth service branch of the National People’s Army (NVA), the armed forces of the GDR. This is when the border was closed, first with barbed wire, which hindered but did not stop the exodus. Then cinder blocks were added and later the 13-foot-high concrete wall. One famous breach of the wire was on 15 August, 1961, when Konrad Schumann leapt across the closed border.

Cinder Blocks Added to the Berlin Wall (Note original bobbed wire barrier)
East German Border Guard Konrad Schumann Leaps to Freedom over the Berlin Wall Just Two Days After It Began to be Erected
Wall Remembrance Memorial built in 2014
East Germans Add Broken Glass to the Top of the Wall Ten Days After Construction of the Wall Began

     In 1973 the Grenztruppen were separated from the military and became directly subordinate to the MfNV, with their own patch. They remained in this status until

Grenztruppen Patch

1 July 1990, when the GDR’s border control regime along the borders with West Germany and West Berlin was ended.   At its peak, the Border Troops numbered approximately 47,000 personnel.  In September 1990, shortly before the reunification of Germany, the Grenztruppen were disbanded; its border patrol duties along united Germany’s eastern frontiers were assumed by the Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guard – later the Bundespolizei or Federal Police). The Grenztruppen numbers were rapidly reduced. Over half (mostly leadership) were dismissed within 5 months. The “Death Strip” was abandoned, and the Bundeswehr gave the remaining border guards and other ex-East German soldiers the task of clearing the border fortifications, which was not completed until 1994. The scale of the task was immense, as not only the fortifications and uncharted minefields, which had shifted over 30 years, had to be cleared, but hundreds of roads and railway lines had to be rebuilt.

     Over the 3 days of our tour, we gained the impression that many of the Grenztruppen were not particularly mean or brutal. It was the dictatorial government ordering them to use all means available to stop any attempt to leave the communist paradise, including shooting the traitors.  While some soldiers probably did believe they were “defending against Western aggression,” not all did, and the GDR regime did not trust them.

     We learned from our trip that individual guards were never sent out alone and were not told in advance what sector they were going to “defend.” No permanent teams were built; the individual border guard did not know his “comrade” well enough to allow collusion to plan or allow escapes, or to avoid shooting “to kill.” The “comrade” could even be a STASI spy (state security service, patterned after the Soviet KGB) checking on him.

     Additionally, Border Guards were instructed daily that under no circumstances were fugitives to be allowed to escape across the border line, shooting them if necessary. Also, the incidents had to be kept secret as far as possible, even at the cost of the fugitives’ lives. (Some injured escapees were left in the “Death Strip” for hours while they bled out.) Border guards, successful in keeping fugitives from leaving GDR territory received commendations.

     Fortunately, on 9 November 1989 at the Bornholmer crossing in Berlin, the officer in charge, LTC Jaeger received no guidance other than the impossible task to control the several thousand East Germans demanding to open the gates. More importantly, he did not receive the Schießbefehl (order to shoot) given by the communist leadership. According to one of our “guides,” a former colonel in the Grenztruppen, the general in charge refused to pass the order down. LTC Jaeger opened the gates and the rest is history.

     Given all the precautions taken by the Grenztruppen leadership, the years of indoctrination and education (“brainwashing”) and the laws of the land that ordered guards to shoot traitors and suffer consequences for not doing so, it becomes somewhat clearer how countrymen could shoot each other … and still do today. That does not make it right, but the legalities involved tied up convictions for years.

Written by Suzanne Rice · Categorized: By Bruce McBane

Oct 31 2023

Rice, Chris: Afghanistan – Part 1 – Going Home – 2016

5 a.m. November 12, 2016, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan

So, there I was.

My rifle was locked in a shipping container.

My pistol ammo was turned in.

My body armor was packed in a duffle.

My building had a shower.  Inside.

It was 0500 in the morning.  

I was going home.

And since I was going home, I was awake at 0500 on the first morning that I had nowhere to be in almost 9 months.  Why not start the countdown 14 hours early?

Boom.

Huh.  Seems a little early for a controlled det[onation].

And then the magical stream of radio frequencies that had just delivered the first half of an episode of Justified to my trusty (usually) new Kindle went out.

Oh.

Oh,  No.


It was day two-hundred-and-something at that inexplicable live-fire annex to the National Training Center that was Bagram Airfield in 2016.  And most of Task Force Red Warrior had already left.

We showed up ready. We were the Theater Reserve Force.  If something went down, we would go.

But why would you send a bunch of standard light infantry bubbas from Bagram, when the Special Operations boys are bored, and they are right there, anyway? 

So, for nine months, we sat.  In a Tactical Operations Center.  Waiting.

The line companies did some exploring.  Every now and again a Special Forces team wanted some little buddies to follow them around.  Or someone needed to babysit the US Forces-Afghanistan commander’s airplane when he flew to make sure the Germans were still at least nominally in charge in Mazar-e-Sharif.

One time we thought we were going to be sent to Kunduz. Almost 200 miles.  By ground.  In 2016.  It didn’t pan out.  (author’s note:  that may have something to do with the number of potential ambush sites along the route.  At this point in the war, we knew exactly how many there were.  As did the Taliban.)

Possible “Trip” to Kunduz

One time, an F-16 crashed.  

It was on take-off.

The pilot walked home and knocked on the gate.  (author’s note:  good news story?  Yes, certainly.  But would it have been generous of him to wait long enough for our ready platoon to rescue him, instead of rescuing himself like some sort of hero?  Also, yes.)

We trained.

We trained as individuals.

We trained as Fire Support Teams.

We trained with Our Air Force Tactical Controllers.

We ran.

We lifted.

We carried a radio the 100 yards between the TOC and the Task Force gym, just in case someone, somewhere in Afghanistan found an urgent need for an enterprising Task Force Fire Support Officer / Battle Captain between sets.

After a certain point, we studied for the GRE (this one was mostly me).

Mostly, we waited.

Spring came and went.  Summer turned to fall.

We waited.

The first flights of Red Warriors headed home.  We TOC humans waited for our replacements.

Crest of 1-12 Infantry – Task Force Red Warriors

We waited.

We–me, again–got grief from the Incoming First Cavalry Division Chief of Staff for wearing a Marne patch on my right shoulder at the relief-in-place outbrief.  (author’s note:  Turns out he didn’t like replacing the mighty Third Infantry Division in Iraq back in the day.  For his good and for mine, he didn’t ask my opinion of First Cav; although, I was tempted to give it, regardless.)

We waited.

And, eventually, the day came.

Due to the hard work of one diligent Taliban sympathizer, something finally happened. 

A few hours later, I got to go home.  Back to Fort Carson, the mountains were calling, and I did go.

Five others did not.


On November 12, 2016, four Americans were killed by an insurgent while preparing for a Veteran’s Day 5k run on the “Disney Side” of Bagram Airfield.[1]  Sixteen additional Americans and one Pole were injured.  One of the injured Americans eventually died of his wounds.  Their killer, an ostensibly reformed Taliban fighter, had slowly constructed a bomb on the base while working as a contractor on the base’s non-tactical vehicle yard. 

Bagram Airfield

For hours, we on the opposite side of the airfield had few details of what had happened.  But one thing was clear from the moment the internet cut out:  whatever had happened, there were casualties.

My remaining hours in Afghanistan were surreal.  Waiting to find out what was going on.  Knowing that whatever happened was bad.    Lacking even the comfort of a little bit of force protection ammunition.  Unable to let anyone at home know we were okay.

We still flew home, though, unharmed and more or less on schedule.  Back in the safety of the non-IED lands, the good people of Kuwait were kind enough to leave the Wifi on for us.

Not everyone was so lucky.

[1] The Disney Side was the side of the airbase with the main headquarters.  Perhaps not coincidentally, it also featured the surreal accretion of morale, welfare, and recreation facilities that graced freedom’s frontier in happier times.  While the author was not privileged to experience Bagram Disney at its peak, he can certify that its counterpart at Kandahar Airfield was truly a sight to behold.

Read part 2 here.


 

Written by Suzanne Rice · Categorized: By Chris Rice

Oct 29 2023

Rice, Suzanne: Afghanistan – part 2 – On Pins and Needles – 2016

To read part 1, go here first.

November 12, 2016 Near Atlanta, GA

      A friend’s husband was going to be out of town, and she asked me to spend the weekend with her. We had been friends for several decades and it was a chance for us to have some quality time together. I was delighted to have the opportunity.  I was at her house when I woke up on Saturday, 12 November 2016. Our son, Christopher, had been stationed at Bagram Air Force Base but was leaving Afghanistan with his unit on that day after his second tour to that war zone. The whole family was delighted that he would soon be back at Ft. Carson. It would be several days before he would land in the US after leaving Afghanistan.

     When I woke up, I reached for my phone to check the time (oh, too early!). It was 4 a.m. in Atlanta. Since it was so early, I took a look at the newsfeed on my phone. Oh, my gosh! Oh, no! The title of the first article was “Terrorist Attack at Bagram Air Force Base”. What? How could that be? Bagram was thought of as the safest post in the war zone. I was horrified, worried and immediately fully awake. What do I do next? It was too early to wake up my friend to tell her. Instead, full of worry, I got up, dressed, repacked my overnight bag and got ready for the day, still pondering what I ought to do.

      Having been around the military for several decades by this time as an Army wife and later, an Army mom, I knew that when there was some sort of tragedy in the military, all personal communication would stop and only a military spokesman would be giving out information. The theory was that the next of kin of those injured or killed would need to be contacted before the full story would go out to the public. That also gave the military time to investigate the situation. This also kept rumors from flying around. It might take a day or so to contact the next of kin. Oh…that is me.

     At six o’clock, I decided that I needed to get home as fast as possible. How could any Army representative get in touch with me if I wasn’t home? I woke up my friend and told her the situation. She was shocked, horrified and concerned. Our church has overnight Adoration on Fridays and into Saturday morning; since it was the six a.m. hour, I decided I would have time for a few minutes of prayer before anyone would come to my house to tell me the fate of our son. I was a little shaky, but since my friend lives close to church, it didn’t take me long to drive over where I found another friend there praying. I asked her to keep Christopher in her prayers. She knew him from a child and was happy to be in prayer for him, but shocked and concerned about his fate.

      Then, I rushed home where I tried to get my mind off the situation in Afghanistan, though I did check the news, but found nothing; it was all I could think of – why wasn’t there news? Where was Christopher? What had happened? Was there any additional news?  Flip on the television, again. No additional info just the Alert that there was a terrorist attack at Bagram. How can I keep my mind occupied? Should I call other family members – or will they just worry like me? I tried to keep the worry to myself, when I realized I needed to get people praying for the victims. I called Christopher’s sisters in MD and then, went back to my personal worrying.

      At about noon, out of the blue, came a call from one of my husband’s West Point classmates. I don’t believe he had ever called me before and I don’t remember now what he had planned to talk about, but in the midst of whatever it was, he asked about Christopher. “Thank you for asking…you’ll never believe what is going on.” He hadn’t heard about the attack. He reassured me that he would keep Christopher, his men and the soldiers/airmen at Bagram AFB in his prayers. I believe God inspired his call to me to reassure me.

     I was well aware that I would not hear from Christopher for some time, if ever again. What I didn’t know was where he might be. Would he still leave Afghanistan? Was he injured? Was he alive? It was hard to think of those things, but I needed to be prepared. I had to think how I would handle each of those possibilities. Among all those thoughts, I kept looking out the window to see if I would see the dreaded Army vehicle on my street.

      It was a very long Saturday – no matter that it started at 4 a.m. It was the uncertainty of the situation. Should I pack a bag to get to Ramstein, Germany where badly injured soldiers would be taken? There wasn’t much information from news outlets. All I could do was wonder and try to figure out how I would handle the situations that might confront me and my daughters. All I knew for sure was that I needed to stay home until more information came my way, so that is what I did. Eventually, since the day had gone by without any personal news, I had to give up and try to sleep. It was hard to put the difficult thoughts to bed even when I was in bed myself.

      Sunday morning came and there still was no communication from Christopher or anyone. Eventually, I learned from the media what had happened. At 5:30 a.m. that Saturday morning in Afghanistan, a group of more than 100 soldiers and American contractors had gathered for a Veterans’ Day run. At about 5:38 a.m., a man approached the group and detonated a suicide vest killing two soldiers and two contractors, injuring 16 Americans and 1 Polish national. How in the world did a terrorist get into Bagram? Later investigation revealed that the terrorist had worked for an American contractor and had been making a suicide vest for some time. What a terrible tragedy. At this point, however, I still had no idea whether Christopher and his soldiers might have been a part of the group celebrating Veterans’ Day 2016.

      I tried to compose myself that morning, still trying to figure out what I ought to be doing besides continuing to pray. Should I leave home to go to Sunday Church or must I stay home? Later, that morning, the phone rang. “Mom? I’m OK. We’re in Kuwait. I can’t talk now, but I’ll tell you more when I get back home.” He told me later what a strange, chaotic day it was as his unit tried to understand what had happened and what they ought to do. At the sound of the blast, those assigned to Bagram Airfield immediately donned their full battle gear not knowing what terrorist activity had caused the blast across the flight line. In the transient quarters, the remaining members of Task Force Red Warrior realized they had no battle gear – no means of personal protection. In the hubbub of trying to figure out what was going on, they discovered their only immediate defense – one soldier still had his firearm; their unit’s defense was, oddly enough, the chaplain’s assistant.

Beginning the Long Trip Home

     Now, I could breathe again, but immediately, my mind went to the other mothers and families who didn’t get the good news I received. My prayers went out to them; I had suffered right along with them, but their news was devastating. Gold Star families suffer each day with the loss of their brave service members.

Gold Star Award

We must keep them in our prayers.  

Written by Suzanne Rice · Categorized: By Suzanne Rice

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