Deployment Update

This is the band that has our "Carlisle" march. They are stationed at Victory Base.

Baghdad Bulletin
9-11-2009
Issue 12

Waking up in downtown Baghdad on 9-11 had a surreal feel to it. Our September weather has been BEAUTIFUL – cooler with a little breeze. Today's bright blue sky and clear day is not unlike that unforgettable Tuesday morning. I didn't expect to have the steep wave of sadness that broke over me at my desk around 10:30 this morning. So many things have happened to all of us in the last 8 years, some as a direct result of the War on Terror. However, I'm grateful to have met people that I would not have otherwise met, were it not for that horrible day. I've also had experiences I wouldn't have dreamed of. I learned for example that I enjoy riding in a Blackhawk Helicopter!

This was a refueling stop along the way.

Yes, I'm strapped in. The side doors are open and it's a wonderful ride!

I heard from Chief Fraser, the Bandmaster of the 56th Army Band, at Victory Base. He emailed me yesterday that he programmed "Carlisle" during a 9-11 Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Al Faw Palace Rotunda. This is the march that I was first involved with 5 years ago (!) It will be the first official performance of this wonderful music by Dr. Gordon Bowie in Iraq. (You can Google him!) This afternoon at 2:30 pm, I was thinking of 9-11, the musicians that have performed "Carlisle," Gordon, the CD, the many people I met at Carlisle and graduation in 2005, and so on. You can hear some of the march conducted by the composer on my distributor's website. You can get to it from the WYWH homepage.

Carlisle - sample track

(By the way, if you like the CD "Remembering Carlisle Barracks: A Musical and Pictorial Journal" you can write a short review on the www.militarymusic.com website. It's listed under compilations on the left hand column.)

Tuesday the 8th was the birthday of one of my favorite Civil War generals, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. I always have part of his "In great deeds" speech taped next to my desk (home or here). He delivered it when the Maine monument was dedicated on Little Round Top, Gettysburg, in 1889. I'd like to include it here because it applies to battlefields and war-torn cities around the globe:

"In great deeds, something abides.
 
On great fields, something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo!  The shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls.”   Joshua L. Chamberlain, Oct 3, 1889

I recently came across two quotes by WWII leaders that I had not seen before.  This seems a good place to include them:
 
The Soldier's Spirit
 
"The soldier's heart, the soldier's spirit, the soldier's soul, is everything. Unless the soldier's soul sustains him, he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his country in the end. National strength lies only in the hearts and spirits of men."
General George C. Marshall
 
"Those who pray do more for the world than those who fight; and if the world goes from bad to worse, it is because there are more battles than prayers."
From Training Letter No. 5, issued by General Patton on December 14, 1944
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Last weekend, my mother-in-law, celebrated her 89th birthday with family and friends in Montgomery, AL, over two days. I told her I'll be there for her 90th next year. While many McAuleys and Mathews were there, I was attending a conference in Balad, Iraq, north of Baghdad, at a huge Air Force base.

The ACOR team worked hard Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday strategizing the way ahead for our roles during the drawdown of units and linguists, planning for new ACORs who are joining in October, and did some of our daily work from there. On Sunday morning, I took a chance that there might be a keyboard at the chapel and took a special arrangement of "America the Beautiful" with me. Some of you have heard me play it over the last several years at one time or another. It's a beautiful setting by Mark Hayes, a Christian composer and classical pianist and very appropriate this week.
 
As it turned out, there were guitarists and no keyboardist. I played the prelude and communion music and the final hymn happened to be "Great is Thy Faithfulness." It was fun to contribute to the service.

My boss surprised me by taking this photo at Provider Chapel in Balad, on Labor Day weekend.

I'll include the same Prelude here at Prosperity this Sunday for the 0800 Protestant service. The Catholic Priest, Father Tim, recently asked me if I would do the prelude and first hymn for his 0915 service. Then he gave me a beautiful Knights of Columbus coin with Saint Michael the Archangel on it. Fr. Tim was formerly stationed in Tallil, not far from the Ziggurat and Abraham's house. I will enjoy helping the congregational singing at that service. He told me there are Brits and Aussies who sing the word "infinite" as "in FY nite" in one of the hymns he likes to use. I must remember that when I'm singing along!
 
Other important events in September include our 24th wedding anniversary on the 13th. We got married on a Friday the 13th in 1985. Every time there is a Friday the 13th regardless of the month, we celebrate again.
 
Happy Anniversary my Love! On Sep 15th, I'll be 6 months into the tour….If I were Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps, I'd be headed home!
 
That leads us up to our trip in October. Drum roll please from the 56th Army Band, here…….John surprised me with a wonderful river cruise he selected from Prague to Budapest. I will fly from here to Prague, meet John, and we'll get on the "Poetry" sister ship to the "Artistry" we sailed on in April 2008 to see the tulips in Holland. (You can see a photo of that ship on "Past Trips" on this website.) Our itinerary takes us to Nuremburg, Regensburg, Passau, Linz, Melk, VIENNA, and Budapest. We'll take the train back to Prague with another stop in VIENNA on the way back. I'm required to fly in and out of the same airport. This is a GREAT solution. Vienna twice. I've always wanted to go there with John. That was where I went on my first overseas trip alone in 1979 – to attend a seminar on classical music.
 
I'm grateful to John and to Adventure Travel for their help getting this arranged. I'm so glad that John will get a rest too. He's worked hard keeping everything together at home on many levels. I'm very proud of him. He deserves a big break.
 
I'm looking forward to leaving the daily challenges behind, the boots off my feet, and the weapon off my shoulder, the cooler temperatures, the rolling terrain of Europe, cathedrals and castles, hugs of course, and a much safer and secure feeling! The poor Iraqis had one of the toughest summers in recent memory between sandstorms, water shortages, continuing challenges with electricity, and increased violence.

Please note the different mailing address that Diane posted for us. It will not change again before I leave next spring. The new unit that is managing the mailroom now will not be leaving before me.
 
The next issue will be written just before we cruise and I want to write about FUNNY things I've observed. I've also wanted to give you a compare/contrast of this deployment with my last one in 2004.

Full Moon on Labor Day 2009. Only 6 more full moons to go!

With fond regards to you all,
Cheryl