Shadow on the Sun

[davidbfpo]

Mike,

Glad to know you can assemble the memories and commit them to paper. Maybe it's therapy as 'shrinks" often say write it down. Long journey back upwards well on it's way IMHO - very humble.

davidbfpo

[Stan]

Mike,
Thanks for sharing !

There's no other military in the world with NCOs like ours

Awaiting chapter two !

[MikeF]

Yes, I'm back. I will probably post all of Chapter One in this thread. After that, I'm going to attempt to write a book and see if I can get it published. I was attempting to write a technical paper on how my company cleared the DRV during the Surge, but I kept getting stuck. There are just to many stories to tell. Small Wars deal with people so I decided the only way to actually describe what we did was to tell the story through my vantage point.

More to Follow.

v/r

Mike

[MikeF]

Within the command group, I received the nickname of "The Professor" because I constantly read books about small wars or forwarded emails about Iraq to my fellow commanders and battalion leadership. In truth, I was simply trying to understand this war and prepare my boys for the upcoming fight. Prior to command, I conducted three deployments to the Middle East in various capacities: two to Kuwait and Iraq as a tank platoon leader and one to Iraq as a liason officer to Special Forces. With each deployment, I gathered a better appreciation of the rich culture and history, and I started to understand the competing and various tribal, ethnic, and religious factions.

During the initial invasion into Iraq, I learned to fight. Leading one battalion with the 3rd Infantry Division, we stormed from Kuwait to Baghdad quickly dismantling Saddam's military. As an advanced guard platoon, we received engineers, scouts, and infantrymen to compliment our tanks. I learned how to maneuver both mounted and dismounted forces, coordinate both artillery fire and close air support, and close with and destroy the enemy; however, after the Thunder Runs, I watched as we struggled to transition to security and stablization operations. Somehow, we had not planned for this phase of war. On the ground, we assumed that someone else would follow on past us with the answers. In our minds, we had completed our mission.

During my second deployment to Iraq in the spring of 2005, I learned to think critically. I served as a liason officer to Special Forces. This tour was probably the most influential for me. Iraq was deteriorating after the January elections. The Sunnis refused to vote, and Abu Musad Al-Zarqawi escalated his campaign of terror trying to incite a full-out civil war. On the coalition side, American popular support was wanning, or maybe it was just disinterest as the stock market and home values soared.

My official title was the Multi-National Corps Iraq (MNC-I) liason officer to Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Arabian Pennisula (CJSOTF-AP). My unique access to the highest command stretched about as far as my title. As a young captain, I got to "peek behind the curtain," as my boss put it, and see what was going on. When General Casey, LTG Vines, or other generals would meet with the SF command, I would sit in the back and listen to the conversation trying to comprehend the meaning. From the coalition perspective, we were trying to transition the effort towards the Iraqi Security Forces in order to divorce ourselves from this conflict. Special Forces took a different approach.

Working within the Special Forces (SF) community, I received an education into the realm of small wars. Sergeant Major Howie Massengale took me under his wing. A seasoned SF non-commisioned officer (NCO), Howie spent a lifetime as a snake eater. He was nearing retirement near Colorado Springs, and his son was in his junior year of University ROTC dreaming of becoming a paratrooper. Howie introduced me to the hardened community of Officers, Warrant Officers, and NCO's. I learned about the indirect approach.

As I assisted in my free time as a planner in their operations and intelligence staffs, they imparted their knowledge on irregular and unconventional warfare. I learned strange and new terms such as Foreign Internal Defense (FID), denied areas, and shadow governments. I was taught how to successfully conduct reconnaissance in a denied area. I spent my nights absorbing the manuals. Most importantly, I learned how to develop a tactical construct to destroy the enemy threat using Find, Fix, Finish, and Exploit. These lessons would pay dividends as I redeployed to Bragg.

************************************************** ********

Back at Bragg, I was part of the squadron's brain trust. In organizational design, Henry Mintzberg explains that one must focus on establishing the right construct and structure and finding the proper fit for personnel in order to maximize the probabilities of an organization's success. I prefer to view organizational design as analogous to the human anatomy. Everyone selected into the organization must serve a function, a decisive role in the overall system. The designer is served well by complimenting comparative advantages. In our squadron, we had four brains in the think tank: Major Brett Slyvia, 1SG Mike Clemmons, CPT Jonathan Grassbaugh, and myself.

Brett Sylvia, the squadron's operations officer and USMA graduate, is just wicked smart. His thinking resembles that of an Intel processer working in a Microsoft-based platform. An engineer by trade, Brett streamlined tasks, coordinated lines of operations, developed intricate campaign plans, and monitored execution from a command post or a blackhawk. A devout Catholic and father of four, Brett's morals and values directly correlate with his sense of duty and self-less sacrifice. Brett was selected for LTC, and I have no doubt that he will continue to command on higher levels.

Michael Clemmons, a career airborne qualified scout, could easily command a company and could probably just as easily command a batallion or brigade. Instead, he chose to remain in the enlisted ranks. A walking encyclopedia of scout doctrine, regulations, and history, Mike's presence demands respect. I pitied the soldier or young officer that attempted to cross his path. During this tour, LTC Poppas placed Mike as the 1SGT of Bravo Troop. Mike is currently the command sergeant major of an airborne reconnaissance squadron in Afghanistan.

Jonathan Grassbaugh, a New Hampshire native and graduate of John Hopkins, served as the Squadron's S4, or Supply officer. His job was to ensure the acquisition, procurement, and distribution of every need and want for the squadron. Jon captured the best of us- boy scout, humble, All-American. In civilian life, he would have been a successful lawyer, accountant, or businessman. John did not make it out of the valley.

As for me, I was the Apple version of Sylvia's Microsoft software akin to the right brain interacting with the left. I looked at problem sets from a different perspective to offer new ideas and creative prospects. All in all, this brain trust served the squadron well. As ideas clashed, thoughts merged, contraints overwhelmed goals, we molded together well. As a whole, we functioned seamlessly.

Next, the squadron had to define the muscle, the strengh and power behind the brain. Major Townley Hedrick, Captain Phillip Kiniery, Captain Stephen Dobbins, and Captain Johnny Carson served this function.

[John T. Fishel]

Mike--

Thanks.

JohnT

[MikeF]

Next, the squadron had to define the muscle, the strengh and power behind the brain. Major Townley Hedrick, Captain Phillip Kiniery, Captain Stephen Dobbins, and Captain Johnny Carson served this function.

Townley Hedrick remains a one-man force multiplier. A ROTC product of the 101st Air Assualt Division, Townley set a a work ethic unmatched in our squadron. Awkward in his role as a major, he needed to command. A former college wrestler and candidate for the Army's most elite Delta Force, Townley focused on the basics. As a commited father and husband, Townley dreams of retiring to coach high school wrestling. He brought his love of the game into our squadron focusing on combatives, room clearing, and basic infantry skills. As our squadron executive officer, he taught me much about life. Along with Major Sylvia, he was picked up below-the-zone to lieutenant colonel. He will be leading troops soon.

Phil Kiniery grew up as an army brat. As I understand it, his father was command sergeant major of the universe or at least the eighty-deuce. Phil pursued a degree at the Citadel and served his platoon time in the Strykers at Lewis before heading home to Bragg. He married Elizabeth, a high school sweetheart, and assumed command of our Headquarters company after serving a two years as a line company commander. Stocky and short, Phil stormed across the squadron enforcing standards and mentoring us new company commanders. When the squadron was spread thin, Phil served as a conduit to the Brigade Commander as our boss was forward with the troops. Phil taught me how to command troops.

Stephen Dobbins is South Carolina born and bred. Another product of the Citadel, he would assume command of Bravo Troop. The only son in his family, Stephen and I would aggresively disagree in any tactical situation. If I went right, then he would go left, but we would end up in the same place. He has a heart of gold or maybe better stated as platinum. Later, he would be awarded the Silver Star for his valor under contact. He left the squadron to command in the Ranger Regiment. When the #### hit the fan, nothing could seperate us. We remain brothers today.

Johnny Carson is a product of Texas. That should be explaination enough within itself, but Johnny is one of those guys that you just want to know and share a beer. Johnny assumed command of Charlie troop. His wife, Annie, and him continue to bring joy to my days. Johnny would command our detachment or LRS-D infantrymen (long-range reconnaissance and surveillance detachment).

As with the healthy egoes, there was a healthy competition within every man that I've mentioned. Each would perform dutifully. Each would receive promotion and awards for valor under fire. I hope to serve with them again, and one could only pray to have them as a battalion or brigade commander.

The next vital element of the organizational structure lies with the backbone. In the beginning, in traditional fashion, it is filled by the non-commissioned officer corps. Outside those already mentioned, we had our faults on the senior level. One was simply crazy. The other two were reformed "Born Again" Christians that would preach relentlessly despite their own faults and hypocracies. We had a bad back that would plague us throughout the tour.

After defining the brain, muscle, and backbone, one must define the legs and feet. In military terms, these roles are defined by one's support company. CPT Jake St. Laurent and Delta Company filled this gap.

Finally, one must determine the role of the heart. In ancient Greek mythology, the heart served as the center or the body. A towering figure, LTC Andrew Poppas fit the role. A USMA grad from Wisconson, Poppas commanded in epic proportions. True to his Greek heritage, Poppas defined our squadron in Spartan mantra based on those that filled the gap in Thermoplyae.

The design was complete as constucted by COL Bryan Owens and MG William Caldwell. Now, we needed to determine our core compentencies.

[Dr. C]

Hi Mike: I just had a chance to read through your story, and I would encourage you to keep writing it and try to publish it.

You might do a search for your local area to find a writer's group on MeetUp.com. Getting feedback from civilians would be helpful. Even though I'm a civilian, when I wrote my dissertation on S3-XO Net, just spelling out the acronyms once wasn't really enough for my readers. I'd been working on S3-XO Net for about three years, and didn't realize it may be more difficult for those outside of an Army audience to read the acronyms, understand the hierarchy, ranks, setting, etc.

I found a writer's group on MeetUp.com in the Kansas City area. I just started going last week. We meet twice a month in the same small group of six people, for about two hours. We share our writing with the small group on a restricted Google site, prior to meeting and discussing. When we meet at a coffee shop, we provide each other with constructive feedback. Just knowing that there is a deadline for when I need to have something written and submitted to the group provides me with some structure and accountability. You can do a search on MeetUp.com for your zip code to find a writer's group.

Maybe you already do a lot of reading, but I would also encourage you to read books from the same genre to get an idea of how they're written, without compromising your own writing style. You can probably even contact the authors yourself and ask them about their publication process.