The club’s guest speaker this morning was U.S. Army Captain Christopher Trombetta, who recently returned from a tour of duty on the front lines of Iraq.
Captain Trombetta is an honor graduate of the U.S. military college at West Point, an Army ranger, expert marksman, and paratrooper…to name a few of his qualifications in the Army.
He commanded an eight man platoon with the motto…”Get Tough or Die”. And that was not just a motto, but a philosophy he and his men had to live by each and everyday they were on the battlefield. His “Task Force Wolf Hound” survived 221 indirect rounds received and 74 direct fire engagements.
His platoon was an intrical part of larger Army contingent assigned to protect the local population and patrol a 600 square mile border in heavily armored humvees with 60 caliber machine guns dressed in heavy body armor in 150 degree heat with sand blowing everywhere.
Their duties ranged from training Iraqi police, manning checkpoints to check for bombs, carrying out ambushes, going to Iraqi government meetings, and giving humanitarian assistance to the local residents. They also had to clean and maintain their weapons and vehicles and stand guard duty for enemy detainees.
Think of performing these tasks in 150+degree heat with blowing sand while smelling the open water/sewer canals in their assigned zone. Talk about adding insult to misery.
Then there’s the task of separating ‘friend from foe’. The ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ all dress alike. How do you differentiate the thousands of unemployed Iraqis [90% unemployed] from the opposition forces from Iran, Jordan, and other countries. Next to impossible!
The ‘turf war’ fighting, according to Captain Trombetta, seems to be more important than race, county, religion, sect, or tribe. How do we stop that?
We thank Captain Trombetta for his service to his country. We know his mother and father are extremely proud of him.
Club President Antje Wortman quoted Robert E. Lee this morning…”Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.”
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