Another Submarine Force Hero

Head on over to WillyShake's place to check out the story of a submariner who was just awarded the Bronze Star for his work in Iraq. Another bubblehead does good! There are actually quite a few submariners on the ground in Iraq, working for various staffs and such. When I was TAD to USCENTCOM in Tampa in late 2003, I was really pushing to get sent forward; a buddy of mine from college was over there redoing the electrical work on one of Uday's palaces, and it sounded like fun. Alas, I was "too important" to be sent away. At the end of my six month stint, they said that if I extended, I could possibly be sent to Qatar, with the possibility of making it to Iraq eventually. At that point, though, I had heard enough stories from people in my office who had arrived in the Green Zone to a mortar barrage, and it probably would have interfered with my retirement date, so I decided that the younger guys could probably handle it. (Plus, I did have an actual job at my home command.) For those who do volunteer, though, you have my heartiest "thanks" -- job well done.