Aid Station Acupuncture… Revisited

Recently one of my Soldiers went to the Aid Station to help him alleviate his lower back pain. He’s had lower back pain for the past few months. He’s seen several doctors and physical therapists, been on plenty of medications: Nothing.

One of our Medical Officers offered to treat his back pain with acupuncture. I did not express much skepticism for a few reasons. 1) He is an Officer, I am lower enlisted and 2) I was afraid that any doubt on my behalf may negate any positive effect from the treatment, placebo or otherwise.

So here they are, fresh off my camera:

Beginning of the treatment. The pain was on either side of the spine in the lower back.

Inserting more needles.

The needles were proper sterile acupuncture needles and inserted about 5/8ths to 3/4ths of an inch into the affected muscles.

The provider had a small electrical device to stimulate the acupuncture needles electrically. The device had several knobs and switches to adjust the current which I believe pulsed.

Applying the eletrical stimulation to the needles.

Adjusting the current to the needles. When a current was applied through the needles the muscles with the needles spasmed.

The treatment only took about 3-5 minutes to apply and the patient was instructed to lay and relax for about 20 minutes while the electrical device applied current to the needles.The provider and I kicked back and talked about acupuncture and the theory on it’s mechanisms and medicinal properties. Like I said, I did a good job of hiding my skepticism. I managed to squeeze out little nuggets of information from the provider. He mentioned several times that he himself was not sure how it worked. He also mentioned that he was quiet skeptical about acupuncture until he took classes on Reflexology (!).

I don’t know what to make of it but again, I see very little harm. Hopefully, even if it is placebo, this procedure can help this Soldier with his pain.

Happy Armistice Day everyone!

IED’s – Improvised Evangelical Devices

Improvised Evangelical Device

Bold new threat to the Solder’s, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed in support of OIF/OEF: IED’s. Improvised Evangelical Devices.

Yes, these are against regs. No, nothing was done about this or the several other identical flyers posted around our FOB.

Are we now trying to piss off the Islamic nutters?

SPC Brickey, Paul 68W Combat Medic

Dowsing… Does Divination Have A Military Application?

Dowsing, in case you don’t know, is an age old method of finding hidden things. What things? Well, Dowsers have claimed that dowsing can “find” everything form diamonds to disease. Big money is paid to folks to dowse for oil and water resources.

Dowsing... as old and them thar hills.

Could this phenomenon have military applications? Could dowsing be used in warfare?

Well it has actually. In the Vietnam War a man named Louis Matacia taught dowsing techniques to the US Marines to find tunnels, mines, booby traps, or wires in the jungle thick of ‘Nam. Video exists of Marines dowsing and Mr. Matacia training Marines how to use dowsing equipment and it pretty interesting to watch.

You can take his “Master Dowser Exam” at http://www.matacialouis.opm.bz/.

Dowsing equipment, contrary to every other piece of equipment that the military uses, is rather cheap and lightweight and can be easily improvised. I’d like to see our ballistic body armor manufacturers claim that. The equipment can be as simple as a bent stick and a pendulum. You can go ahead and drop a few bucks on some simple dowsing supplies; 8.00$ will get you the “Ball” pendulum which, as I read is “The perfect pendulum for beginners. Its round shape makes it extremely easy to move and to allow a not very experienced dowser to work with it successfully in asking life questions, in the decision-making process etc.” Or you can upgrade to the “Gold Hue” pendulum which it is claimed, “Golden Hue pendulumis one of the most advanced pendulums with therapeutic abilities … It can be successfully used for basic work such as: asking questions, searching better solutions, checking food, cosmetics etc. for allergy, checking compatibility between people and much more. Self-clearing.” The Golden Hue, in case you are wondering, retails for 80.00$. I guess it must be 10 times better than that “Ball” pendulum. Check it out at http://www.intuitivedowsing.com/Shop.html and pick up an Atlantis Ring while you’re at it.

Dowsing has been used in warfare in the past

But every empirical and scientific test has shown dowsing to be, unlike our bullets or SAPI plates, ineffective and unable to perform with an above random chance rate of success.

Master Debunker, Former Illusionist and one of my personal heroes, James “The Amazing” Randi, has had a standing offer of 1 Million dollars for proof of any supernatural claim for many years now. Dowsing is actually the most frequently tested claim and no one yet has been able to demonstrate that something other than chance, guess work, and the idomotor effect.

So… going against the scientific consensus I decided to perform a little dowsing test of my own in our old motor pool at FOB Hammer, near the Iranian border.

I used a simple coat hanger which I melted and bent to look more or less like the dowsing “Y sticks” that I commonly see used. If I can find a source of underground water or UXO (Unexploded Ordaniance) out here then dowsing, to me at least, would have some military merit as a tool for finding IED’s in Iraq.

Funny thing is, as I was doing this several of the guys in my platoon knew exactly what I was doing and gave me such sage advice as “You’ll feel a tug” and “If you get a signal becareful where you dig”. Not bad advice, this was an old Iraqi Army mortor range and if the technique worked I could face serious injury.

I was pretty confident that I would come out unscathed.

Attempting to summon the spirits to assist me in locating resources.

Oh... hold the phones... It's looks like we have a little something!

Looks like we have something!!

Well... looks like we found a vien of softcore pornography DVDs. If ever there was a useful resource for deployed troops this was it. Obviously dowsing works!

All kidding aside, the bottom line is that dowsing or divination has not stood up to any rigorous scientific tests despite test after test and claimant after claimant shot down in a puff of Atlantis Energy. As such, it has no place being used by front line troops.

SPC Paul K. Brickey

68W Combat Medic

So are you an Evolutionist?

So… are you?

Off topic but gorgeous

I was once ask if I was an “evolutionist” during a live fire back at Hood. I was caught off guard and it may have taken me a minute to respond. I didn’t know there was any such thing to be honest. I merely stated “yes” but I wish I had thought up this:

“Well I am. I also happen to be a Gavityist, a Heliocentrist, Skyisblueist, Flo-that-chick-from-the-Progressive-insurance-ads-is-really-hotist.”

Since when has the massive scientific consensus been a partisan issue?

Oh yeah, if you want seriously hot check out Emily Rosa. Smart is VERY sexy.

I stick with science because it’s the best tool we have and the best available science… survey says… Evolution has occurred, if occurring and will continue to occur as long as there is life.

I root for the underdog but in this case I gotta go with the best horse. And in this case, as all others, it is science. And until something better comes along I’m sticking with it.

Who would have thought that reality would be so hard for some to swallow?

SPC Paul K. Brickey 68W Combat Medic
Charlie Mike, Out

So Why Are YOU An Atheist?

Dubious... At best

Why is it that whenever anyone asks me about my religion it seems that I always must explain myself?

“Oh, you’re an atheist? Why is that?” They ask.
“It’s just the conclusion I have come to regarding the nature of our universe” Is usually the first thing I say.
“How… Why… When…” You get the picture.

I seldom see this sentiment directed towards other religions but usually my lack of religion.

Why is this? Why is it that the secular need to explain themselves? What if I asked people why they are Catholic? That would widely be considered rude. So why this double standard?

Again, religion has granted itself a “no fly zone” around it. It has somehow been deemed that it is impolite to inquire about a person’s belief system but somehow a lack of belief system is fully within the public sphere to question.

I believe it is because some religious belief is embarrassing. Sure it is. It’s like telling someone you believe in Santa or that you still believe in monsters under your bed. When someone says “I believe the Bible to be the Word of God” then they are telling me, among MANY other things that they believe and 500-odd year old man built a boat and put 2 (or 7!) of EVERY animal aboard that boat and then took care of them… nonsense! I would be quite ashamed myself if I believed in the literal truth of that statement.

So to say that it’s rude or improper or impolite to point out the sheer implausibility in most Bible stories is a wonderful dodge. The fact that it has reached such a deep seeded level of social understanding baffles me. How/when did this all happen and were the Atheists all out to lunch when it did?

I do not take any such offense when someone asks me about my Atheism. Maybe because religion’s “no fly zone” does not seem to apply to Atheism to the degree that it does to Theism. Maybe if it did then I would automatically take any inquiry on my faith… rather… lack of faith… as a personal attack.

I am not in the least embarrassed by my Atheism. Maybe if I was running for public office I might be but currently I am not embarrassed by it at all. Given sufficient time I can explain how I came to this conclusion many times before. Sure, I will admit, I have had my “lack of faith” shaken a few times in the past but each time I have still drawn the null hypothesis on the “God?” question.

I have no reason to take it as a personal attack. I actually believe that most people in fact ARE Atheists and they happen to be curious about someone that actually “comes out” to say that they are an Atheist.

My Dog Tags state “Atheist” and I am proud of it. Well… 2 sets do, another says “Jedi”.

SPC Paul K. Brickey 68W Combat Medic
Charlie Mike, Out

Aid Station Acupuncture

Recently I traveled from my small FOB to a larger FOB in order to take the Commander to a meeting. I stopped in the Battalion Aid Station to pick up some meds and cholera pamphlets for the Iraqi Army.

Laying on a litter face down was a soldier and standing over him was our PA. I walked over to see what was up and saw little more than our PA practicing acupuncture on the soldier.

“Hey Sir, isn’t that a little bit hokey?” I asked while looking over his shoulder trying to get a better look. Me being a private (actually as of today Specialist so, yay for me) I had to use a little caution.

“Yeah, I used to think so too.” He said not even looking up from his patient.

I let it rest at that. For now.

I tried to think of something to say while keeping the conversation light. I was a lower enlisted dealing with a medical officer (my boss) and this was truly risky.

I joked around with the other medics about what we’ve been dealing with at our little FOB, where everyone in the unit was being stationed and our plans once we got back home. Meanwhile I was poking around and taking as much in as I could about the patient.

It seems he was being treated for back pain. The needles were sterile and true acupuncture needles. I thought it was time for me to crack a joke.

“You know, even though I am Asian I don’t know anything about acupuncture. How’s this supposed to work?” trying best as I could to hide my incredulity.

“Well…” he said again not meeting my eyes “The Chinese believed there to be path ways of energy coursing though the body. The needles act as adjuncts for this energy.”

My skeptical circuits and fuses were blowing. I couldn’t think of a non-offensive tactful way to put it. I blurted it out.

“So what’s the current real medical view on acupuncture?”

Looking back I should have known better. I should have held my questions until after his patient had left. It’s never good to question a medical treatment in the presence of the patient.

I think he panicked a little at my question, it was clear. I could also tell that he didn’t want this lowly private asking too many questions. He mumbled something along the lines of his training in alternative therapy and reflexology (!) and how he has practiced acupuncture for years. I left it at that and before I left he had hooked up the acupuncture needles to some alligator clips attached to an electronic device (I was instantly reminded of an E-Meter) which sent the skin around the needles twitching.

I have several huge problems with acupuncture. First of all basic research has not been sufficiently been carried out to determine it’s effectiveness as a treatment.  Second of all the standards for licensing vary state by state and some states require no license at all. Over 20 states allow chiropractors to perform acupuncture with less than 200 hours training.

So…

Acupuncture is at best controversial. Because of acupuncture’s very nature it is almost impossible to perform a double blind placebo study on it’s efficacy. The best study that I have read about got around this by performing sham acupuncture.

From Wikipedia:

In a Mayo Clinic study, they recruited 103 women between the ages of 45 and 59, which had menopause, who reported that they had at least five hot flashes per day and were not using any other treatments for them. Half were randomly assigned to receive a series of standardized acupuncture treatments. For those receiving real acupuncture, the needles were placed at the same spots in the arms, legs and lower belly and the other half received sham treatments in which needles were placed superficially near the same locations but away from so-called pressure points. The researchers knew who was receiving sham treatment, but the women did not. By the end of the six weeks, there was no difference between the groups. 61 percent of the sham group were still experiencing hot flashes, while 62 percent of the women who got actual acupuncture still reported having hot flashes as well.

That is a single study but to me it speaks volumes.

Let’s talk a little about the placebo effect. I am a health care professional and I can speak from experience that placebos can be extremely effective if used correctly. Typically the more invasive the procedure is the stronger the placebo effect. It’s not 100% but what is? I have given injections of normal saline and told patients that I have given them a strong sedative. The invasiveness of an injection and my assertion is all that it takes sometimes for them to be dozing off right before my eyes. I have seen patients claim drug effects to occur long before they should be taking place.

Acupuncture is invasive. Any placebo effect would be huge with such a well known and invasive procedure. That does not make it bad medical practice. The notion of energy flowing though the body thing may be hokum but if it works it works.

The first rule is do no harm.

So does acupuncture cause any harm? All the information I have read says no. With sterile needles and clean procedure there is actually very little risk.

Again, from Wikipedia:

In a Japanese survey of 55,291 acupuncture treatments given over five years by 73 acupuncturists, 99.8% of them were performed with no significant minor adverse effects and zero major adverse incidents (Hitoshi Yamashita, Bac, Hiroshi Tsukayama, BA, Yasuo Tanno, MD, PhD. Kazushi Nishijo, PhD, JAMA). Two combined studies in the UK of 66,229 acupuncture treatments yielded only 134 minor adverse events. (British Medical Journal 2001 Sep 1). The total of 121,520 treatments with acupuncture therapy were given with no major adverse incidents (for comparison, a single such event would have indicated a 0.0008% incidence).

So if this treatment is safe and in some cases effective who am I to say that it shouldn’t be practiced in our aid station? After all I myself have used the placebo effect and have seen, a majority of the time, great results. Even if acupuncture is only a placebo and has no other medical benefit but it relieves a soldier of pain I have no problem with that.

I don’t know if it’s an approved medical treatment in the US Army but in any case the placebo is a valuable tool that intentionally or not, medical professionals have used to treat every imaginable affliction with a decent rate of efficacy.

In the Army and especially during a deployment soldiers are asked to do the impossible. My gear, armor, weapon and ammunition weights in close to 80 pounds of extra weight I am carrying. Back pain, shoulder pain, muscle cramps, foot problems are all daily problems for soldiers. Relief comes in the form of simple OTC medications such as mortin and naxproxin.

I am open to the possibility that acupuncture may help some patients full in the knowledge that it may be less than scientific. Until more clinical tests and studies are done I remain dubious and skeptical but open minded.

It Seems Sheik Sikhs Seek to Serve

I am at an isolated COB so I don’t get a hold of a paper regularly. The April 15th issue of the Stars and Stripes (which I received on the 30th) had an interesting story on the front page:

“Asking to Serve; Sikhs want US Army to waive dress and appearance regulations”

Seems that members of the Sikh Coalition held a press conference at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington VA. They would like to serve in the US Army along with their long hair, beards and turbans.

Dress right dress and uniformity is key right? Well it appears that the US Army has in the past allowed Sikhs to serve, beard and turbans included.

“The Pentagon has informed two Sikh personnel in the Army Reserves, a doctor and a dentist that they must remove their turbans and cut their hair when called into regular Army service later this year”

The story goes on:

“Capt. Kamaaljeet S. Kalsi said the Army recruiters who approached him during his first year of medical school in 2001 said they wanted him, and his beard and his turban and long hair to serve in the medical corps.”

The Army banned turbans in 1980 but grandfathered those already serving and have made few exceptions.

“”The Army does not accommodate the exceptions for personal grooming standards for religious reasons” said Army spokesman Lt. Col Nathan Banks”

Just like they do not accommodate a Rastafarian the right to smoke the wisdom weed either. The Sikhs are not being picked on, this is a long standing policy.

OK… let’s think about this a little… There’s a reason you cannot have a beard in the regular US Army. If you have a beard your protective mask will not be airtight. Not matter how bitching your beard is you are done for in the admittedly unlikely event of a Nuclear, Radiological, Biological or Chemical attack. Again, this has not been a serious threat in some years but if anyone can remember back to the summer of 2007 the Iraqi insurgents toyed around with chlorine laden IEDs against coalition personnel. Unlikely but still, a possibility.

Would they be taking off their turbans when they roll outside the wire in order to don the latest in tactical fashion, the Advanced Combat Helmet? Or could they just try to shove the whole turban under the helmet? I guess if you still wanted an indirect attachment to your turban you could glue another turban on the top of the helmet but this may hinder any use of their Night Vision Goggles and make you a fantastic sniper target. I don’t get it, the turban would at some point have to come off and whatever magical protective powers granted to the wearer be damned.

Also something else that crossed my mind: Could you imagine going to Basic with a turban? I shutter to think what that would be like.

It is true that a “Shaving Profile” can be issued if you have medical problems with regular shaving but facial hair must be trimmed to about 1/8th of an inch. As a medic I have written dozens of these for various reasons.

“I am willing to lay down my life for America. In return I ask only that my country respect my faith. My turban and beard are not an option – they are an intrinsic part of me” Said Rattan

So… you are quite ready and willing to die for your country, the supreme sacrifice… but not cut your hair like every other Army recruit does? What the hell makes you so special? I had a fabulous rockabilly pompadour when I joined and I almost wept when I saw it limply fall to my feet on an ever growing pile of grease and hair. I could argue that was a part of my culture so was that wrong? No, it wasn’t. No matter how greasy and cool it may have been it does not meet the standard ask of you by the Army.

This again is where religion has granted itself a thoroughly undeserved “No Fly Zone” around it and demands that you automatically respect and accommodate it. Asking you to cut your hair and to observe the same standards as the rest of the Army is not disrespecting your belief system, whatever your that may be. The Army already breaks it’s shins trying to be as religiously accommodating as possible with the exception of the secular belief systems. Kosher MRE’s are available and any religious head gear that does not interfere with the proper wear of the uniform is authorized. So where do we draw the line?

One of the Army Values is Selfless Service. I gave up the majority of my civil liberties to protect the civil liberties of others. One of those civil liberties was my personal hair style. If these Sikhs truly wish to serve it’s very easy: Shave and a haircut. If they are not willing to make that compromise then maybe they are not ready to become soldiers. I would welcome anyone that wants to join the Army to serve so long as they meet the standards. The standards may not be completely perfect (I could go on for hours about the PT test) but they remain standards none the less.

Private First Class Paul K. Brickey 68W Combat Medic

Charlie Mike, Roger Out

Edit: The whole article can be found here:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62026

Religious Ceremony in the Military… again crossing the line from harmless to recklessly leathal

Religious ceremony and function is a huge part of American life and the Military certainly no exception. From the moment of enlistment you are required to either participate in various religious ceremonies or functions. Some are daily and sometimes they are not and some of them can even endanger the lives of an entire unit.

Being in the Army I can only give my personal experiences in the United States Army as an enlisted man but I am confident that my experiences have their equal across all ranks, officer or enlisted and all branches of service.

When you first join the Military you are required to swear in. When I joined I did not swear in on a Bible but the phrase that ruffles so many non-theistic feathers “…so help me God” is the cap on the oath taken at enlistment and reenlistment. I am not sure if recruits are typically sworn in on the Bible (or holy text of their choice) but I was not, possibly for the sake of brevity as my enlistment was somewhat hasty. Upon re-enlistment you are also required to swear in.

I asked a Staff Sergeant in my unit that was a former recruiter if they always swore in on a Bible or some other tome and he said that they did were he was recruiting in Northern California. I asked if recruits had the option to affirm rather than swear and he did not know what I was talking about. The non-religious don’t join the Army with the same verve and in the same numbers as the enlisted.

Then you ship off to Basic Training, also known as BCT (Basic Combat Training) in the US Army. This is a 9 week test of your physical and mental toughness and a course in all the very basic soldiering skills (how to shoot, move and communicate). BCT is designed to be extremely stressful and it is. To be plain it was living hell. I think very few experiences in the civilian world can compare to the stress of Basic Training. I can think back to times when myself and other recruits would literally get in fist fights over pitiful privileges such as 5 minutes on the phone or a slice of cake or a can of soda.

It’s all very silly to think of it now but if you were there you would have put em up for it too.

The only reprieve that you could hope to get in BCT is Sunday. Typically no required training (ruck marches, rifle ranges, navigation, etc) is planned on Sunday. My Drill Sergeants always said that Sunday was for the 3 C’s: Church, Cleaning, and Corrective Training.

By the way, Corrective Training is a euphemism for Smoking which is yet another euphemism for exercise. Exercise that has you on the brink of sanity sliding around in puddles of your own sweat or maybe the vomit of the guy next to you. The Army loves euphemisms.

So all training ceases and church services start. Most of the time it was a good chance to get away form the unit and the Drills. It was required that everyone have a “Battle Buddy”, another euphemism for someone else to go with you everywhere. I was a good sport. We had a Jewish recruit and I went to the Jewish services a couple times with him. Actually him and I got along great.

After a few weeks in BCT I had what was called the “Free Day Away” run by a church in a small town near the Post. Free Day Away was voluntary but we were told just to go, if we stayed at our training unit the Drill Sergeants would find something for us to do and it made clear that it would involve corrective training and something call “Fatty Cake Hill”.

This was my personal first hand experience of Free Day Away.

We knew that Free Day Away was run by a church but I had no idea how much the church would be involved. We boarded busses run by the church from our unit to the small town about 45 miles away. The driver and I talked about fishing and made other small talk. As we got off the bus he said that the preacher would “Challenge you”… whatever that meant.

The atmosphere was great. We got to play basketball, use phones, Internet, eat candy, pizza, cake, all the goodies. But there was a catch. We were required to attend a service right before we left.

The service dealt mainly with Hell and how we could all be saved. The preacher told a story about a recruit that did not come up and accept Jesus and how on the way back to the Post the bus careened off a cliff. The recruit was said to be trapped inside and the bus was on fire and the recruit stating “I am in Hell! Save me!”. It was all bilge and can be easily imitated by someone with only a fleeting knowledge of the nature of Hell or southern fire and brimstone type sermons.

Looking around me though I couldn’t help noticing that this old time fire and brimstone sermon was affecting the recruits. The man next to me was in tears as was about a third of the congregation. At the conclusion of the sermon the preacher invited us up to the stage to accept Jesus and be saved from eternal torment and torture. I saw people that I knew to be Jewish go and accept. The only other atheist in my unit went up to accept. I, almost exclusively, didn’t budge.

Surprisingly this was never mentioned by anyone and I am very happy about that. They would not have wanted to hear my viewpoint on the matter. Not only that, those that had so solemnly went up to accept Jesus also performed sex acts on each other on the way back to Basic.

By the way, MAAF is taking action on a religious nature of Free Day Away. I would be very eager to see the outcome of that. And I would also be very eager to see Gillian Anderson naked but that’s a hair off topic.

After Basic you enter AIT which is Advanced Individual Training. It’s a school for your MOS or your job in the Army. I am a Combat Medic so after Basic I spent 16 weeks of AIT at beautiful Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

Funny… I have noticed that once you got more and more away form the Drill Sergeants’ Olive Drab Grip church attendance plummets. Actually I can not recall a single instance of anyone I know going to church while I was in AIT for 16 whole weeks even though you had more time and the chapel was closer. I can’t remember one person going. Swear to God.

After graduation you are a soldier. Now it’s the real Army. And the religious ceremony and function continues sometimes at grave risk.

We prayed before deployment. We have prayed before especially dangerous missions or dangerously filthy latrines. Here in Iraq the very limited reading material is primarily composed of trashy contemporary fiction and religious literature.

It’s how we deal with the deployment. Just like how church attendance shoot up in Basic under that stressful environment now we are in the most stressful environment known: Combat. Mistakes cost lives. So much of it seems to be the will of the universe or just pure dumb luck. IED’s don’t care what rank you are or if you’re single or married. Single soldiers and married soldiers and officers and enlisted alike get blown up.

The risks are very real. To you watching at home it’s another soldier getting blown up but to the grunt on the ground it’s his buddy. Paris Hilton gets the headlines and Private Joe Snuffy’s premature violent death gets buried in what is charitably called journalism.

Most soldiers utilize a social networking web site to keep in touch with family members back home. They keep them up to date on what their Hero is doing, how he’s doing and when we’ll be coming home. It’s a great way to distract yourself from the job but it has a major problem. And that problem is not jailbait. At least in this case it’s not. Usually. Usually not.

Prayer requests. Man they bug me. This is when religion crosses that line from harmless delusion to grave consequence for the sake of a comfort blanket.

When a soldier dies or is injured they send out prayer requests for their soul or a speedy recovery. This is information. Information that has been, is being, and will be used against us. This is being shown to those that would do us harm (again, in the name of God) the outcome of their missions.

You may be thinking “So what, so they know if some got hurt or killed, that’s not very valuable information is it?” It’s tactical feedback. It lets them know what methods work and what methods don’t. The rank or unit of soldier hurt or killed gives and indication of how we operate and how we move. Also it is an indication of how effective our counter measures are.

Also prayer requests are sent out before an especially dangerous mission. Example:

“My husband is with the 1-44th Infantry and they are going to be conducting a raid tonight. This is in a very dangerous mission and I am asking you to pray for the safety of his unit while they conduct this operation.”

OK, so what have you just given the enemy?

1. The unit and what kind of unit. Also it’s fairly easy to find out where such and such unit is stationed and thus an approximate area where the raid is going to take place. All this information is readily available on the Internet.

2. What kind of mission it is. A “raid” which is typically targeting a HVT (High Value Target), someone that is wanted for whatever reason.

3. The time “tonight”.. I’ll grant, a little ambiguous but if caught at the correct stage extremely valuable information.

The entire unit is at grave risk. The best possible outcome if the enemy was watching is that they won’t find anything and end up wasting time while the bad guys slip away, that happens about 90% of the time. The worst possible scenario? The enemy is ready for us. Our boys die.

All because someone wanted a prayer request.

I got an e-mail recently from an old friend of mine from high school. It said:

When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say the following prayer for our troops around the world –

‘Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in time of need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.’

There is nothing attached. This can be very powerful. Just send this to all the people in your address book. Do not stop the wheel, please…

Of all the gifts you could give a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, Chaplain & others deployed in harm’s way, prayer is the very best one.

I typically just delete this trite crap but I had to answer this one. I had this on my mind for a while. I said “If you really want to give the soldier’s what they want figure out a way to send a giant care package of pussy and then a sandwich to eat afterwards. Offensive? Well I find it slightly offensive to think of you praying for me”

OK, so I might have come on a bit strong and a little crude. Well… if you think that’s crude you should hear the conversations that (male) soldiers have when idle. They pass belief for coarseness liberally sprinkled with profanity. That also may have seemed a little sexist which I do not intend it to be. I am in a combat arms unit and there are no females in combat arms units. Perhaps a box of pussys and dicks?

Back on track, what do I do when the company holds a prayer? Do I storm out of the circle in a huff for my ignorant brothers in arms? Do I demand that a secular service also be held? Nope. I close my eyes and hang my head. OK, I also picture naked women but I am polite about my atheism. I see no reason to rock the boat. I see no need to ruin their solemn ceremony because of my intolerance.

It’s an age old conflict between good manners and principals in the interest of civility. I don’t think I am compromising my principals. My principal, before atheism, is tolerance.

Private First Class Paul K. Brickey 68W Combat Medic

Charlie Mike, Roger Out

From the Foxhole…

There are few things I need to get off my chest.

First of all there is nothing I will say that hasn’t’ already been stated by greater minds and more nimble tongues than I. This notion is not shared by many other people as evidenced by millions of other blogs by people more interesting than myself millions of times over. I have only a vague idea what a Twitter is… I just don’t have anything interesting to say. So many have already said it much better than I could ever hope.

Second of all I am uneducated. I remember watching “Bill Nye the Science Guy” as a kid and one thing he said a lot that I remember is he would say “Scientist, like you and me, scientists believe…” I am not a scientist. I am a fan of science standing on the sidelines.

And finally I am an atheist and a skeptic who happens to be in that most conservative of circles, the military, more specifically the Army. I am currently stationed at a small Combat Operating Base near Sadr City Iraq. I am a Combat Medic serving in a Tanker company in a combat arms unit.

So if The Foxhole Atheist is rarely updated that is why.

That being said I do believe I may have something to offer the world: My perspective as a young uneducated atheist serving his county’s military in time of war.

Being an atheist in the military has its own set of challenges and its own set of hardships. When I first joined the Army we were asked what religion we were. This information is stamped on your dog tags in the event of your death. I wrote “None” instead of “Atheist”. It is not wise to freely advertise your personal beliefs for that my hinder advancement. As the first President George Bush stated “An atheist cannot be a true patriot” and many in the military take this to heart.

In case you are wondering, now I have several sets of dog tags which read everything from “Jedi” to “No Religious Preference” to “Atheist”.

Those of us in the military and specially those of us deployed to a combat zone have to deal with the random chance of an early grave and a hasty death. If you’ll forgive the phrase, that is the cross that we bear. That is our profession and it’s what we do. Day in and day out you risk your neck. Our wives and sweethearts back home also understand the risk of that dreaded phone call. It’s common for those not typically religious to turn to religion as a safety net or to hedge their bets in case of premature demise. That is what the phrase “There are not atheists in foxholes” is implied to mean.

When the lead is flying there are not politics. I may not agree with the judgments of the Men in Suits that sent me here but I need to get out alive and make sure the other men in my unit do likewise. Democrat or Republican don’t mean a thing to an IED and the suicide bomber does not distinguish nor does he/she have any prejudices against either. They are both Infidels to him/her. To the enemies that which we fight be it whatever name we choose for them, be it Haji (slightly offensive) or Sand Nigger (grossly offensive) or insurgent (misleading to say the least, boldfaced lie to some), this is a religious war. That is the chief difference between this enemy and most others my country has faced. He is not following orders from a legitimate military authority. He is following orders from what he believes is the most supreme authority in the universe. Some of the Christians I serve with also hold this same belief, names of the deities changed. To some on both sides, it’s a modern day Crusade.

And here I am, the Foxhole Atheist caught in the middle of it all.

Private First Class Paul K. Brickey 68W Combat Medic

Charlie Mike, Roger Out.