thedrifter
12-26-05, 06:36 AM
Some soldiers gloss over war dangers
Calling home: Their news from Iraq is often tempered with half-truths and fibs
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Luis Ortiz's children speak to their father every week. He is engaged in their lives - their schoolwork, friends and behavior at home are all part of his daily worries.
The children don't, however, worry about him - not, at least, as much as they would if they knew he was fighting in Iraq.
"My kids think I'm in Washington," said Ortiz, who left his children, ages 5 and 7, in Puerto Rico with his spouse.
"I told my wife not to let them see the news. Until I get home, they will not know."
As service members went to the phones this Christmas - the busiest time at military phone centers in Iraq - there was much to say.
And much left unsaid.
Although troops now enjoy unprecedented access to their families back home, many opt to share only the less frightening details of their lives at war.
Service members want and need to share their personal experiences with their families - and now have the ability to do that better than ever, said Andrew Carroll, a researcher and author who studies how troops communicate.
"But there is this paradox," said Carroll. "They also want to protect the people on the home front from the realities of war, and so you have people now who call their families and literally say 'There's nothing going on today,' just 15 minutes after getting done with one of the worst firefights they could ever experience."
Communication has improved drastically since days when handwritten letters - which sometimes took months to arrive - were the only means of correspondence. Many of today's troops have access to e-mail, instant messaging, phone banks, cell phones, voice mail and satellite phones.
But Carroll, editor of two compilations of letters from American and foreign conflicts, says such technologies have not necessarily resulted in more honest communication.
"Don't tell Mom" is still one of the most common phrases he reads when reviewing military correspondence.
Carroll says he's as guilty as the troops he studies. He didn't tell his mother before traveling to Iraq to research his latest book, Behind the Lines.
"I completely lied to my mom," Carroll said. "I told her I was going to Dubai to take a couple days off. And not only was I going to Baghdad, but my next stop was Kabul."
Morale booster? Though military officials, in predeployment briefs, encourage service members to take advantage of communications technology, it's not always a benefit to morale.
John Pickett, who mans a phone center primarily used by Utah National Guard members in Ramadi, sees fellow soldiers at their best and worst times.
"I hear everything," said Pickett, a resident of Cedar City. "You know, married soldiers, they don't get along sometimes with their spouses."
If things aren't resolved before the soldiers reach the end of their allotted time on the phones, Pickett has the uncomfortable duty of cutting them off - sometimes mid-argument.
"They get mad," he said. "They say, 'I need to get back on with my wife.' "
But troops busied by their duties don't always have time to get back in line to phone again. Sometimes - especially for troops regularly sent on missions off base - arguments that end with the click of a phone aren't resolved for days.
Officers say family concerns can keep a service member's attention from the duties at hand - and in a place where attention to detail is paramount, that can be very dangerous.
Knowing this, Pat Hansen said she routinely limits what she tells her sons, Cody and Gray, who are serving in Ramadi with the Utah-based 222nd Field Artillery.
Hansen says she didn't tell her sons that their grandmother suffered a heart attack until the family matriarch recovered a week later. And when issues arise involving Cody's children, she said, "we don't bother him with those things - we don't want him stressed out about it."
In turn, Gray Hansen, a resident of Beaver, says he tries to limit what he tells his mother - but doesn't bother to hold anything back from his dad, a career National Guardsman.
"He'll find out anyway, and so I'd rather him find out from us than from the rumor mill," he said.
Troops say the threat of rumors actually fosters communication. When Justin Johns took a small piece of shrapnel in his leg in a roadside bomb attack, one of the first things he knew he had to do was contact his wife.
"She needed to hear it from me," he said.
Even with his efforts to provide details early on, friends and neighbors soon had the wrong idea about what happened.
"Back home right now," Johns said, "people think I lost my leg. I don't know how they got that idea."
Carroll, the war letters editor, said troops are also prompted to communicate bad news knowing that their families, tuned in to media outlets focused on the war, are better informed than they once were about what is going on there.
"Wars are being covered in real time, through the Internet, 24-hour news channels and blogs," he said.
"In the past, it was much easier to keep the public from hearing certain things. . . . Now, there is less troops can hide from their loved ones."
A big place: Iraq's most dangerous places are also very large places. And family members who learn an attack has occurred in a specific city or region don't always realize that, troops say.
Though he serves in Mosul - a hot spot in the Iraq war - James Manchego spends little time concerned about his safety, knowing the odds that he will return are on his side.
"We all over here wish there would be more talk on the good things - like a thousand service members coming home without a scratch," said Manchego, a Taylorsville resident serving with the 872nd Maintenance Company. "My wife is a strong person so I tell her most everything that will not be a security risk."
But even those with intentions to share as much as they can - within the rules set forth by the military - sometimes find it difficult to do so.
"When we first got into the country my girlfriend made me promise to tell her everything," recalled Trent Gibson, a Montana native who serves with the Utah-based 115th Maintenance Company in Iraq's Najaf Province.
"Well, that first day on the ground we got a mortar attack. I told her and she started crying. The mortars were not close, but back at home, Iraq seems so much more dangerous."
---
Reporter Matthew D. LaPlante and photographer Rick Egan recently returned from assignment in Iraq. Their Iraq coverage is available at www.sltrib.com/iraq. They may be reached at iraq@sltrib.com
Ellie
Calling home: Their news from Iraq is often tempered with half-truths and fibs
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Luis Ortiz's children speak to their father every week. He is engaged in their lives - their schoolwork, friends and behavior at home are all part of his daily worries.
The children don't, however, worry about him - not, at least, as much as they would if they knew he was fighting in Iraq.
"My kids think I'm in Washington," said Ortiz, who left his children, ages 5 and 7, in Puerto Rico with his spouse.
"I told my wife not to let them see the news. Until I get home, they will not know."
As service members went to the phones this Christmas - the busiest time at military phone centers in Iraq - there was much to say.
And much left unsaid.
Although troops now enjoy unprecedented access to their families back home, many opt to share only the less frightening details of their lives at war.
Service members want and need to share their personal experiences with their families - and now have the ability to do that better than ever, said Andrew Carroll, a researcher and author who studies how troops communicate.
"But there is this paradox," said Carroll. "They also want to protect the people on the home front from the realities of war, and so you have people now who call their families and literally say 'There's nothing going on today,' just 15 minutes after getting done with one of the worst firefights they could ever experience."
Communication has improved drastically since days when handwritten letters - which sometimes took months to arrive - were the only means of correspondence. Many of today's troops have access to e-mail, instant messaging, phone banks, cell phones, voice mail and satellite phones.
But Carroll, editor of two compilations of letters from American and foreign conflicts, says such technologies have not necessarily resulted in more honest communication.
"Don't tell Mom" is still one of the most common phrases he reads when reviewing military correspondence.
Carroll says he's as guilty as the troops he studies. He didn't tell his mother before traveling to Iraq to research his latest book, Behind the Lines.
"I completely lied to my mom," Carroll said. "I told her I was going to Dubai to take a couple days off. And not only was I going to Baghdad, but my next stop was Kabul."
Morale booster? Though military officials, in predeployment briefs, encourage service members to take advantage of communications technology, it's not always a benefit to morale.
John Pickett, who mans a phone center primarily used by Utah National Guard members in Ramadi, sees fellow soldiers at their best and worst times.
"I hear everything," said Pickett, a resident of Cedar City. "You know, married soldiers, they don't get along sometimes with their spouses."
If things aren't resolved before the soldiers reach the end of their allotted time on the phones, Pickett has the uncomfortable duty of cutting them off - sometimes mid-argument.
"They get mad," he said. "They say, 'I need to get back on with my wife.' "
But troops busied by their duties don't always have time to get back in line to phone again. Sometimes - especially for troops regularly sent on missions off base - arguments that end with the click of a phone aren't resolved for days.
Officers say family concerns can keep a service member's attention from the duties at hand - and in a place where attention to detail is paramount, that can be very dangerous.
Knowing this, Pat Hansen said she routinely limits what she tells her sons, Cody and Gray, who are serving in Ramadi with the Utah-based 222nd Field Artillery.
Hansen says she didn't tell her sons that their grandmother suffered a heart attack until the family matriarch recovered a week later. And when issues arise involving Cody's children, she said, "we don't bother him with those things - we don't want him stressed out about it."
In turn, Gray Hansen, a resident of Beaver, says he tries to limit what he tells his mother - but doesn't bother to hold anything back from his dad, a career National Guardsman.
"He'll find out anyway, and so I'd rather him find out from us than from the rumor mill," he said.
Troops say the threat of rumors actually fosters communication. When Justin Johns took a small piece of shrapnel in his leg in a roadside bomb attack, one of the first things he knew he had to do was contact his wife.
"She needed to hear it from me," he said.
Even with his efforts to provide details early on, friends and neighbors soon had the wrong idea about what happened.
"Back home right now," Johns said, "people think I lost my leg. I don't know how they got that idea."
Carroll, the war letters editor, said troops are also prompted to communicate bad news knowing that their families, tuned in to media outlets focused on the war, are better informed than they once were about what is going on there.
"Wars are being covered in real time, through the Internet, 24-hour news channels and blogs," he said.
"In the past, it was much easier to keep the public from hearing certain things. . . . Now, there is less troops can hide from their loved ones."
A big place: Iraq's most dangerous places are also very large places. And family members who learn an attack has occurred in a specific city or region don't always realize that, troops say.
Though he serves in Mosul - a hot spot in the Iraq war - James Manchego spends little time concerned about his safety, knowing the odds that he will return are on his side.
"We all over here wish there would be more talk on the good things - like a thousand service members coming home without a scratch," said Manchego, a Taylorsville resident serving with the 872nd Maintenance Company. "My wife is a strong person so I tell her most everything that will not be a security risk."
But even those with intentions to share as much as they can - within the rules set forth by the military - sometimes find it difficult to do so.
"When we first got into the country my girlfriend made me promise to tell her everything," recalled Trent Gibson, a Montana native who serves with the Utah-based 115th Maintenance Company in Iraq's Najaf Province.
"Well, that first day on the ground we got a mortar attack. I told her and she started crying. The mortars were not close, but back at home, Iraq seems so much more dangerous."
---
Reporter Matthew D. LaPlante and photographer Rick Egan recently returned from assignment in Iraq. Their Iraq coverage is available at www.sltrib.com/iraq. They may be reached at iraq@sltrib.com
Ellie