Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

On Loyalty Day - May 1, 2003 President Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq have ended. Since that day exactly four years ago, over 3300 American soldiers have died in Iraq. That’s 9 dead American Heroes every four days, or 1 every 11 hours or so.

Starting with Lance Corporal Brian Rory Buesing of Cedar Key and Lance Corporal David Keith Fribley of Ft. Myers who died on March 23, 2003 and including Sgt. Peter Woodall, 25, of Sarasota who died Friday, April 27, 2007, 135 of our dead American soldiers have been from Florida, 31 have been from Tampa Bay, and 11 of those claimed Tampa as their home.

We’re going to name each of the soldiers from Florida, and will post one every 11 hours or so. If we start today, we should finish around the 4th of July. Unfortunately, by that time, another 136 US soldiers will likely die - five of them Floridians, and one of them your nearby neighbor…

Check back in 11 hours or so…

Watching recent news reports about the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center made me wonder about the state of local resources for veterans.

From what I could find, we have the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, with various outpatient clinics in several counties; the Dunedin VA Primary Care Clinic; the St. Petersburg VA Primary Care Clinic; counseling centers the St. Petersburg Vet Center and the Tampa Vet Center; and the Baldomero Lopez State Veterans’ Nursing Home in Land O’Lakes, which is run by the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

I’ve never been to any of these facilities and don’t know anything about them. My sister, who has been classified by the Navy as 10% disabled due to injuries sustained during her military service, drives to a VA hospital over an hour away (not in the Tampa Bay area) from her Georgia home for regular pain-block treatments. She has found the hospital staff to be pleasant, the price (free) affordable, and the wait for an appointment — usually several months — difficult and frustrating. I wonder what local vets are experiencing?

Senator Bill Nelson brought up the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital at a recent Senate Armed Services Center hearing, citing delays in veterans with brain injuries receiving rehabilitation. In an interesting coincidence, the Commission on the Future for America’s Veterans is hosting its national town hall meeting regarding the future of veterans’ programs in Tampa on March 14. The meeting, scheduled from 7-9 p.m., is free and open to the public and will be webcast. The commission, which is not affiliated with or responsible to Congress, the President or the VA, will visit veterans’ health administration facilities in Tampa March 12-14. The commission will inspect various facilities over the next year and expects to issue its report and recommendations in May 2008.

I hope this story has a happy ending.

I was in the Circle K getting a few things. Ahead of me walked in three men. One was in US Army ACUs and the others looked like teenagers. The Army guy checked out ahead of me with three items; he had a Red Bull and two quarts of malt liquor. They all three got into a car with government plates. My thought at first was he was a recruiting sergeant. And the two kids with him were potential recruits.

Does anyone else find this picture a little disturbing? Were those guys underage? Was that recruiter buying them beer? Kinda makes me wonder just a little what sort of recruiting tactics the military is stooping to these days.

66 years ago…

January 14, 1941 — Brig. Gen. Clarence L. Tinker lands the first plane on MacDill Field, changing the field from a construction project to an operating air base. Tinker Elementary School, located on the base grounds, is named for him.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

You knew that the United States Central Command (also known as CENTCOM) was based in Tampa at MacDill Air Force Base. But did you know that there was a CENTCOM podcast? Neither did I.

41 years ago…

January 5, 1966 – A twin-engine Army plane assigned to U.S. Strike Command Headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base crash lands into Old Tampa Bay a mile south of the Howard Frankland Bridge. The pilots were slightly injured when an engine failure caused the plane to touch down in the water near Stoney Point.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

110 years ago…

December 29, 1896 – The Tampa Morning Tribune reports that the Three Friends, a filibustering ship which had just left Tampa with arms, ammunition and soldiers bound for Cuba, fired on and sank a Spanish Navy patrol boat off the coast of Cuba. The Jacksonville-based boat’s activities were illegal and jeopardized U. S. neutrality in the war of independence between Cuba and Spain. The U. S. eventually abandoned its neutral position and fought Spain in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines during the 1898 Spanish – American War.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

65 years ago…

December 15, 1941 – Two hundred and fifty Tampa women enroll in Air Raid Training today. The women will eventually serve in the army air raid filter center, where they will spot and then plot the course of potential enemy aircraft.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

So what’s it like to come home from deployment?

For one thing, your favorite restaurant sometimes closes while you are gone. I was over at Ciccio & Tony’s on South Howard for lunch today and it looked as though their sushi restaurant, Water, has left us. This is dreadful, awful news, because no matter what you think of Samurai Blue—and it is good—Water had the best sushi in Tampa.

Then, of course, there is always tension with family and friends: you and your family have changed, and you don’t know how yet. It takes time to get that straightened out, and some couples struggle with it a great deal, especially after longer deployments. Imagine coming home after 18 months in the war zone: you may think you’ve changed because of what you’ve seen, but your spouse has survived suddenly being single again for over a year and has changed just as profoundly and permanently. Now you’re supposed to just jump right back in to a relationship? It’s amazing military marriages last as well as they do; military spouses (and girlfriends!) deserve your credit and support as much as the troops themselves.

But there are little things, too, less serious things. I for one am fascinated by the notion of drinking the water that comes out of my tap. In most deployed locations you even have to use bottled water to brush your teeth. And I do a little tap dance in the shower every morning because I don’t have to turn the water off to lather up.

Unfortunately, I’m also having to get used to doing dishes again; four months of letting KBR contractors cook and clean up for you will wreck all your good habits in the kitchen. Last night I tried to cook rice and ended up with something the texture of pebbles.

And then there’s traffic. In Djibouti you drive on the right side of the road, or the middle, or the sidewalk, or the left if you need to. Or anywhere else. Road signs are suggestions not actually backed up by law enforcement. And there are ten times as many pedestrians as there are cars. Back in Tampa… well, let’s just say if anybody’s seen a white Subaru drifting idly across the lanes on 275 or Bayshore this week, I’m very sorry about that and I promise I’ll get better soon.

It’s good to be home anyway.