Baghdad journal: Punch is served at promotion rite
01:00 AM EDT on Monday, October 20, 2003
Sgt. Dennis Pimental, a Johnston police officer, was honored to promote Lawrence Ouellete to sergeant yesterday.
Pimental was so honored to pin the sergeant stripes on Oulette's collar that he punched him in the shoulder to initiate him.,
Oulette gritted his teeth and then smiled. And the 119th Military Police Company, standing in formation, erupted in applause.
Ouellette, 21, became the company's newest noncommissioned officer yesterday. Sgt. Jeff Diggle, of Warwick, read from the "NCO Creed."
"As a noncommissioned officer, I realize that I am part of a time-honored corps, which is known as the backbone of the Army," he said.
Mark Harrington, of Providence, was promoted from private first class to specialist yesterday.
"The adjutant general of Rhode Island has reposed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity and professional excellence of PFC Mark Harrington," a proclamation read.
1st Sgt. Glen DeCecco addressed the troops as the sun sank and the mosquitoes buzzed.
"We are too far into this to lose one," said DeCecco, of Cranston. "Tragedy can be just around the corner . . . Everything you do increases your chances for survival. We are going to keep driving on. We are going to get through this and reunite with the 115th and be back in Rhode Island real soon."
The companies fell out of line and walked to dinner.
Oulette pulled back his shirt to assess the damage from the shove. It made a small mark, he said proudly.
British contractor praises R.I. morale It's not easy occupying a foreign country. Just ask the British, says Michael Page.
A former soldier in the British Special Forces, Page says the Rhode Island National Guard has a great resolve working to stabilize Iraq. "Rhode Island should be bloody proud," he says.
Page, who works for the Qatar-based QIT, a military contractor, says that out of all the U.S. Army units he has visited, from Baghdad to Nasiriyah, the Rhode Island military police have some of the highest morale.
"There's a different atmosphere here," says Page. "They are a very together outfit."
Page likens the Guard to the British regimental system, where the soldiers come from the same area of the country. "This is a state regiment," he says. "These are civilians."
Page said a short time later, "Winning the peace, as the British know from bitter experience, is more difficult. These guys are on the front lines and it requires more resolution."
"I don't think anyone foresaw the MPs guarding convoys, out day and night, taking casualties."
Camp's video feed closes gap at home In Iraq, one soldier received his master's degree from Bryant College via satellite. The chief warrant officer talked virtuallly face-to-face with his wife. And soon, the National Guard will be able to address high schools, live from Baghdad.
The 118th Military Police Battalion's chief warrant officer, Tom Desillier, is rigging up a video feed from the guard's camp in Baghdad back to Rhode Island.
Desillier has also created a phone network that allows soldiers to talk for free, beamed over a military satellite line back to the United States. There are 15 computers at Camp Cavalaro with Internet access.
Desillier, of West Warwick, said he was motivated to create this free "morale call" system from his tour in Desert Storm in 1991.
"I rang up a $500 bill," he said. "It was collect calls back home. I said 'we are not going to do that again'."
MICHAEL CORKERY
