Ups and downs of liberty in Beaver Dam

From Nick Druecke in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, roughly 6,339 miles from his post at Camp Taji, Iraq. Nick is in the regular Army. He just happens to be home on leave just as 3,200 state Guard soldiers have returned to their homes at the end of a yearlong deployment. He offers a little advice.

What is it like being on leave? Well honestly there is a certain amount of duality to it; because everything is different now, but nothing has really changed. It's been over a year since I was last home, and Beaver Dam has changed very little in that time. Yet my friends and family are all scattered to the four winds. I will give you a little run down of my life on leave.

My father picked me up from the Milwaukee airport and we started driving home, when it occurred to me that I didn't have any civilian clothes at home, so we stopped at a WalMart so I could pick up some cheap jeans and t shirts. After taking a few steps into the stop I was honestly a little disoriented, the enormity of the store combined with all the sales and advertisements seriously left me a little daunted. I told my dad to stop for a second so I could get my bearings. That might seem a little cheesy, but I swear it happened. Next time you walk into a WalMart just take a moment to look at the shear size of them, you might be a little amazed.

So after that I go home, shower, and begin to relax. Over the course of the next few days I hang out with the few friends who are still in town, have a few drinks, and share mutual boredom with them. Of course you have to see your family, and it's a little funny how that works. Everybody knows that your time home is limited in the service, yet they are always unable to come and see you, you have to go see them. It's a little frustrating at times. As you might imagine most people have the same questions, so you begin to develop a sales pitch of what Iraq is like. While I do understand that people are curious, it can be a bit annoying to answer the same questions every time you meet someone. Not much you can do about it though, just take it in stride with a grain of salt.

So while my friends are all off doing different things with their lives, in different parts of the world (mostly Wisconsin) I am at home. I no longer have a car, and I have been away from everything so long that I no longer know what peoples work schedules are.

"Is school in?", "Do you work today?", "Do you have any free time on Tuesday?", "Where can I meet up with you?" All these questions have frequently left my mouth, and are usually left unanswered.

I think I am painting this picture a little black, which I didn't intend to do. Leave has been awesome, I was just expressing some of the complications I run into. The only really huge difference between life over there and here, is the time schedule. Even when we have days off over there we still have things to do, you work every day of the week, weekends don't exist in a combat zone. I go from working literally 24/7, to having nothing to do. Stress levels at 99% go down to zero. You get so used to being busy in Iraq that you feel like you should be doing something on leave. I go to the gym mostly everyday, yet I still feel uneasy about just sitting around. In the 8 or 9 days I have been home I have slept in my own bed twice, I can't help but run around until I find something to do with someone. Usually that runs long into the night, and I end up crashing there.

I don't want anyone to get the wrong message here, leave has been a blast for me, and I don't want it to end. It's just very difficult to readjust to a lifestyle that is so calm. So if anybody out there has a soldier back from "over there" please be patient with them, it just takes some time.

Live from Wisconsin,
Nick

(Large photo: From left, Nick Druecke, Raj Renfro, Tyler Schreiner, Matthew Odum)

Vaulting the Wisconsin-Iraq language barrier

From Nick Druecke at Camp Taji, Iraq, roughly 6,339 miles from home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Nick recently spent some time on the Iraqi side of the installation. Here are some more of his observations about working with Iraqi soldiers.

They love to talk, and they don't seem to mind that we can't understand them. You pick up key phrases pretty quickly this way. We have a few translators here working with us, other wise progress would be kept to a minimum. Most of them grew up and lived most of their lives in Iraq, their reasons for helping the americans are varied. I do know however that they have the ability to become american citizens after certain prequisites are met.
There are only a few words you hear here often, the ones you can pick out and understand at least. For the record I don't claim to know how these are spelled, I'm purely going off of phonetics.

"Ha-bi-bi" (Ha B B) means love, or loved one. They use it quite frequently when describing their feeling towards something or someone. If they place their right hand on their heart when doing so, it means they are very adamant about their feelings.

"Shu-kran" (roll the r) simply means thank you. They will often combine this with the above word and hand gesture.

"Am-re-ki" (as far as I know you always roll the r) means American.

"Jun-di" (June D) means soldier, or lower enlisted soldier, E4 and below.

"Se-di-ki" (Sa D Key) means friend.

"Chai" means tea. It could be 140 degrees outside and they would still make hot tea, it is very good however, in a little six ounce glass they put about 3 ounces of sugar to sweeten it.

"Shaku-Maku" means What's Up? You only want to say this to younger people though, as I mentioned before they are a proud people, and some of the older folk could take offense.

There are obviously more, but I can't remember them without my cheat sheet. They usually don't refer to us as Jundi, however. Usually they just address us all with a quick "Sir", or "Mista." All of the little kids here speak about as much english as we do arabic, and they all know how to say, "Mista...give me money." I'll touch on the civilians in another note as this one is already getting long. I'll make sure to throw more Arabic words with every note from now on, for those of us eager to learn.

Until then it's still Nick, Still Live from Iraq.

Sights and smells on the Iraqi side of Camp Taji

From Nick Druecke at Camp Taji, Iraq, roughly 6,339 miles from home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Sorry about not posting in a while, we have been just busy enough to keep me from doing anything for long periods of time. Camp Taji is divided in two. The american side is by far the smaller portion, but even so its roughly the size of juneau. The Iraqi side is huge, but its also pretty spread out.

On the American side there is an order to things, we established the camp in a matter of years, so things were all pretty much laid out in a sense able manner. Entrance and exit is strictly controlled by armed guards. There are concrete barriers almost everywhere, there to protect us from mortar rounds and the like. Also there is gravel everywhere to help cut down on the dust during the summer, and the trash is kept to a minimum.

The Iraqi side is the complete opposite. After passing an entry control point filled with armed guards, a series speed bumps, stop signs, detainee areas and more concrete, you enter what I call 'the dark side.' The roads are a nightmare, filled with pot holes and small fissures. Also road signs are a rarity, there is one speed limit sign to be seen (50 k.p.h.) which nobody obeys. You could be flying down those roads and somebody will always be trying to pass you, as there are no traffic lanes. More often than not you will see a truck with an obscene amount of Iraqi's going down the road. In an average pick-up there will be upwards of 12 crammed in there. Also all of the road signs are in arabic, so unless you know where your going your in trouble.

Trash is everywhere, as the only waste disposal system is the american's. So you will see holes, and trenches dug and filled to the brim with trash and stagnant water, the smell is almost unbearable. Although I haven't seen it yet, I am quite sure from the smell of it that these trenches are also used as makeshift bathrooms. Just about everything is falling apart or just about broken, yet somehow they make it work. The Iraqi army unit we help out here is friendly towards us, always offering us food or chai.

There is no doubt that they have a long ways to go, we are helping them as much as we can without doing things for them. Our role is disappearing however, as more and more troops are reduced. While I have surely gotten an experience out of my time in the army, I do not wish to return to this place ever again.

Live from Iraq,
Nick

I'll take my Iraq trailer over my Kuwait cot

From Nick Druecke at Camp Taji, Iraq, roughly 6,339 miles from home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

The best time here would have to be when you get down time. It's always a happy day when you're told just to stay in your room and wait for further instructions, but the instructions never come. That's usually a pretty rare occurrence.

Since we don't get days off, and we're here all year long (minus two weeks of mid-tour leave), stress levels can get pretty high. People you see every day begin to wear on you, tempers get short, and things begin to get murky all around. So days off are awesome.

The worst for me was Kuwait. It's like going on a long vacation, driving all day, and getting a flat tire ten miles away from Disneyland. The flight from Ft. Hood to Kuwait took just under 22 hours of flying, and when you get off the jet after a day of traveling the stress starts to hit. People are cranky, sweaty, and smelly from the jet, and we still have to in-process, and find out where our cots are located. You will be sleeping here for the remainder of your stay, which for us was a month long. It's only supposed to take a week or so.

You're exposed to a whole other world of weather and germs, so everybody gets sick at the same time. The entire company stays in a large tent, and your'e literally sleeping a foot away from a buddy on both sides (which is great for spreading germs). You have a shower trailer outside, and some Porta-Johns, and let me tell you that sitting in a Porta-John when it's 130 degrees isn't a pleasant experience. The chow hall is about half a mile walk away, and its hotter than hell outside.

Oh and don't forget the dust storms, if you've never been in one consider yourself lucky. It's like hurricane force winds, but instead of rain getting blown around it's sand, and it goes everywhere. EVERYWHERE! You literally can't see three feet in front of you, and I think there were four or five of them in the time we were there. Iraq isn't nearly that bad, at least once you get settled into your rooms. We were in surge housing for a while, which is pretty much the same thing as the tent in Kuwait. But hey, they don't pay soldiers to stay in hotels, they pay us to fight, and that's what we're doing here.
Live from Iraq, Nick

Suffer the children in the cribs of Camp Taji

From Nick Druecke at Camp Taji, Iraq, roughly 6,339 miles from home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Our living quarters are glorified trailers. I think I already bought this up on a note once, so I'll be brief on this subject. They literally are trailers, three rooms to a trailer, and two men to a room. Unless you're an officer - go figure - the college boys are pampered. They live in larger trailers, only two rooms to a trailer, and one man per room. Suffer the children I suppose.

I would say the rooms I live in are roughly 10' X 10' but you also have to put in two beds (twin), two nightstands (broken), and two closets. So really you only have about three feet of walking room between the two of us. If your roommate is messy, your area is messy. That is unfortunately the case for me, no chance of a change in that department either.
Live from Iraq, Nick

The insanely massive burgers of Camp Taji

Nick Druecke is stationed at Camp Taji, Iraq, 6,339 miles from home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

I was born in Waupun hospital, and lived in Beaver Dam for all of my life. My family was split as a result of a divorce I am too young to remember, both of my parents remarried. My mother, Heidi, first to a man named Eric Schoenberger who was in the Army for ten years. My father Lorne Druecke remarried after several years to a woman named Jenni Hart. They are still married today. My mother however passed away not too long ago, I honestly don’t remember the date. Not one of those things you wish to remember, I do remember however that it was shortly before I graduated high school (BD HIGH). I had trouble with that, I began to drink very heavily and only with the help of my friends did I recover. At the time I was working for a small gas station (CENEX) just on the outskirts of town.

After an unsatisfactory month of employment with a satellite TV company, I joined the military on 20 August 2007. My reasoning was the paycheck was steady, and that is about the only thing true to this day about the military. I enlisted as an infantryman and after basic went to Ft. Hood, Tx where I would report to Bravo Co 2/8 CAV and trained with them for the next year in preparation for their next deployment. Shortly before we deployed our platoon was selected to become part of a new unit called 'blues platoon', which is a big deal in Cav history. The last time this unit was around was in Vietnam. If you've ever seen 'We Were Soldiers,' it’s the same basic principle. I'll let you do your own research on that one, but to the big brass this was pretty huge.

So we moved units and became part of Fox Troop (FELONS) 3/227 Attack Helicopter Battalion. We had a train up and deployed to Iraq in late April.

To be continued.

- Nick

Worst kept secret revealed

The above photo, provided by the U.S. military, was not taken at today's press conference with Wisconsin National Guard Col. Steven Bensend.

At today's press conference, Col. Steven Bensend did manage to commit some news, confirming that Wisconsin troops have been transporting detainees from Bucca, and then resuming their detainee ops mission at Taji.
The colonel also said that Wisconsin National Guard troops are well protected for their jouneys outside the wire, and he said officers including himself also venture out into the countryside.
Read the State Journal story.

It's hard to find the news conference clips on the DVIDS site. The clips get a little lost in all the photos of Angelina Jolie.
Here is perhaps a better link if you want to watch the press conference.

Click here for coverage of Angelina Jolie.

-Steve