Vol. II, Issue 53 July 14, 2008Telling the Multi-National Corps - Iraq story

Victory Times

Patriotic pizza, Page 3 Knee safety, Page 6 Peachtree 10k, Page 8

Military police,See Pages 4-5

Photo by Pfc. Eric J. Glassey, 13th Public Affairs Detachment

Military police perform radar checks throughout Victory Base Complex July 1 to ensure and remind personnel to obey traffic laws.

Commentary

MNC-I Commanding General: Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III MNC-I Public Affairs Officer: Col. Billy J. Buckner

MNC-I PA Sergeant Major: Sgt. Maj. Sharon OpekaMNC-I Command Info Chief: Staff Sgt. Joy Pariante

Editor: Spc. Samuel J. PhillipsStaff: Staff Sgt. Jeremy D. Crisp, Cpl. Frances L. Goch, Pfc. Eric

J. Martinez and Pfc. Eric J. Glassey

The Victory Times welcomes columns, commentaries, articles and letters from our readers. Send submissions or comments to joy.pariante@iraq.centcom.mil. The edito-rial staff reserves the right to edit for security, accuracy, propriety, policy, clarity and space.

The Victory Times is an authorized publication for members of the Department

of Defense. Contents of this electronic publication are not necessarily the official views of or endorsed by the U.S. Govern-ment or the Department of Defense. The editorial content of this publication is the

responsibility of the Public Affairs Office of Multi-National Corps-Iraq.

Page 2 Victory Times July 14, 2008

Chaplain’s CornerMarriages thrive with committment

By Chaplain Kenneth HancockDeputy Division Chaplain

Multi-National Division CenterOne of my favorite authors is Rob-

ert Fulghum. You may remember him from the book, “All I Ever Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kinder-garten.” He shares a great story about relationships in another book, “Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts From a Secret Life.”

Fulghum tells about his experience in meeting Alexander Papaderos, Di-rector of the Orthodox Academy on the island of Crete. This is one of his most meaningful experiences since,

in his opinion, Papaderos, is one of the wisest men he has ever met. One evening, their conversation turned to-wards marriage. Following is his ac-count of the event.

In Crete, the custom of arranged marriage continues. Even when a marriage is not initiated by a family, the wisdom of family experience is brought to bear in a way Americans would find difficult to understand.

The Cretans think romance is nice enough when it happens, but it is not a particularly good basis for mar-riage. Papaderos had stumbled over the concept “making love,” which he had found in Western literature. It

confused him. “What is this making love?” he asked.

Fulghum explained that it was a popular euphemism for having sex – going to bed. Papaderos replied that for Cretans, “making love” is a serious notion summarizing the process of marriage and family. When two fami-lies agree that a son and a daughter would suit one another, it is expected that over time the man and woman will work at becoming compatible partners - in the same spirit one might work at achieving competence in a life’s vocation. This is making love.

Time and experience – mistakes and

See CHAPLAIN, Page 8

When I was six-years-old I got in trouble for clogging a drainage ditch. I always played with my Tonka trucks in the ditch and every time my dad would tell me to stop, saying “one of your toys is going to float down the ditch and get stuck in the pipe.” Well of course, dad was right and one day a toy floated into the pipe and didn’t come out the other side. Mud and sticks then preceded to jam around the toy creating a block in the pipe. Water started backing up and flooding the driveway, my dad was mad and yelled at me to get in the house.

I went into the house. I felt so bad about clogging the pipe that I decid-ed I was going to kill myself, which would make everything better. I went into my room got my pellet gun. I put the pellet gun in my mouth and pulled the trigger.

The pellet hit a baby tooth, bounced off and I started to choke on it. My little brother came in and slapped me on the back and I coughed it up. He looked at me and said “dad got the clog out of the pipe. Want to go ride bikes?” I said sure and life went on even though my tooth hurt and my little brother now thought I chewed on pellets.

The point of this ridiculous story is that we all do stupid things in mo-

ments when we think we are at our lowest. Who knows what would have happen if my brother wouldn’t have been there to help me. I would have choked on a pellet over a problem that took less than five minutes to solve.

In every suicide brief, they tell us suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Nothing is more true. Almost everyone has had the thought for a moment, “what if I just ended it all? Problem solved.” If you’re lucky, that moment passes and you don’t have an aching tooth. But, what if in that moment, that moment when you feel your lowest and think there is no way out, you turn and see a

By Staff Sgt. Jason R. KrawczykMNC-I Command Group

See COMMENTARY, Page 3

Weapons control can save servicemembers’ lives

Page 3Victory TimesJuly 14, 2008

news

New reenlistees enjoy home-made pizza from the states af-ter their swearing in ceremo-ny at the Al Faw Palace July 4. The Lou Malnatis pizza chain in Chicago donated 2,000 Chi-cago-style deep dish pizzas to the Pizza for Patriots program to be served at Victory Base Complex. The idea to send pies to the troops serving over-seas was created by retired Air Force Master Sgt. Mark Evans and his 16-year-old son Kent, both from Illinois. Evans and Lou Malnatis Pizza handled all the arrangements and costs necessary to bring a taste of home to servicemembers. The pizzas were served in din-ing facilities all across VBC on Independence Day and at the reception following the July 4 reenlistment ceremony, which was the largest reenlistment ceremony on record.

Pizza from home

Photo by Staff Sgt. Joy Pariante, 13th Public Affairs Detachment

weapon with ammo. One moment and one split second decision and you‘re just another statistic in some brief.

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that if we did not carry our weapons and ammo with us every-where the suicide rate in deployed areas would drop. The suicide rate among cops is higher than most jobs, and it’s easy to see why. They always have a weapon with ammo close to them and they have a high stress job like ours.

So here is the bigger question. Why do we need our weapons and ammo with us all the times? Since I have been at Victory Base Complex we have not conducted one drill in case a battalion of insurgents mounts a ground attack on the complex nor have I been trained to shoot indirect fire out of the sky. So why do I carry a weapon and ammo on VBC?

My idea is to place arms rooms in

specific location around VBC. When you have a mission, hand your weap-ons card to the armorer secure your weapon and drive on. There is no doubt in my mind that this would cut the suicide rate in Iraq in half. In your moment of weakness, that quick fix option would not be there.

My hope with this is that in the time it takes to swallow pills, find rope or track down your weapon, you start to think and realize that there is hope out there. Maybe on your way to the arms room to sign out your weapon, you run into a friend, talk it through and come to the realization that suicide is not the answer.

This will be a bit of an inconve-nience for people. It will mean getting up 15 minutes earlier for your mis-sion, but is 15 minutes of sleep worth someone’s life? We will need mobile arms rooms transported in and amor-ers to man them 24/7, but if this saves

one life is it not a success?Now I have not done the price

analysis on this; the price of the pro-posed plan versus the price of a loved one. That seems like a waste of time. No one can calculate the price of someone to their family. We can say it will take “x” amount to replace that servicemember and “x” amount for the arrangements, but those amounts mean nothing to the family and the friends the servicemember has here and back home.

When I arrived at my desk this morning a suicide prevention/inter-vention help card with the MNC-I logo in the background was sitting on my desk. We have a real problem here and this card is like putting a Band-Aid on a severed leg. We need real solutions for a real problem: let’s get these arms rooms here and save lives. Get rid of that Band-Aid and put on a tourniquet.

COMMENTARY from, Page 2

Page 4 Victory Times

Day in the life of Camp Victory military police

Military policemen do their part to ensure safety of servicemembersStory and photos by Pfc. Eric J. Glassey

13th Public Affairs Detachment

The 583rd Military Police Detachment, Ohio National Guard, are the sheriffs on Victory Base Complex.

The National Guard unit works as a mobile provost of-fice for Iraq’s larger American compounds.

“Our job is important because we are not only law en-forcement, but also ensure the safety of everyone on Victory Base Complex,” said Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Murray, non-commissioned officer in charge of traffic, 583rd MP Det.

One of their main priorities is traffic safety, including all tactical and non-tactical coalition forces, third country na-tional and local national vehicles.

“We don’t just stop Soldiers,” Murray said. “We stop ev-eryone including local nationals, third country nationals and the Iraqi army.” The military police can stop anyone on the streets and roadways of Victory Base Complex.

“We mainly watch for moving violations, such as speed-ing, and safety violations,” said Sgt. Timothy Pfeiffer, traf-fic accident investigator, 583rd MP Det.

Overfilled trucks with Iraqi soldiers has been a continu-ous problem the MPs have had to deal with said Murray.

“For the most part everyone here on base obeys the traf-fic laws,” Murray said. “People know the right thing to do we just ensure that they do it.”

Spc. Todd Farnsworth, patrolman, 583rd MP Det. looks in from another angle watching for any hostile intent while Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Murray, noncommis-sioned officer in charge of traffic, 583rd MP Det. checks the driver’s information July 1.

Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Murray, noncommissioned officer in charge of traffic, 583rd MP Det., watches the radar as cars pass him on Victory Base Complex July 1.

Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Murray, noncommis-sioned officer in charge of traffic, 583rd MP Det. along with another pa-trol unit pulls over two overfilled pickups carry-ing Iraqi army soldiers along the road near Baghdad International Airport July 1. Overfilled trucks with Iraqi soldiers have been a continuous problem military police are cracking down on.

Victory Times Page 5

Day in the life of Camp Victory military police

July 14, 2008

Military policemen do their part to ensure safety of servicemembers

Spc. Todd Farnsworth, patrolman, 583rd MP Det. looks in from another angle watching for any hostile intent while Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Murray, noncommis-sioned officer in charge of traffic, 583rd MP Det. checks the driver’s information July 1.

Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Murray, noncommissioned officer in charge of traffic, 583rd MP Det., watches the radar as cars pass him on Victory Base Complex July 1.

Sgt. Nathan Simpson, military police patrolman, 583rd MP Det., provides back-up as Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Murray, noncommis-sioned officer in charge of traffic, 583rd MP Det. and Spc. Todd Farnsworth, patrolman, 583rd MP Det. perform a routine traffic stop July 1.

Page 6 Victory Times July 14, 2008

features

Interview and photo by Staff Sgt.

Jason R. KrawczykMNC-I

Command Group

Spc. Nelson Montalvo

Unit: MNC-IJob title: Human resources specialist.Age: 34Time in Service: 2 yearsHobbies: “Working out and running.”Person you

most admire: “Bruce Willis.”Why you joined: “Personal reasons.”If you weren’t in the military you would be: “Working my two jobs back in New York City.” One thing you’d change about the Army: “Nothing.”One thing you’d never change about the Army: “Traditions.” Describe your job in one sentence: “Awesome.”

Unusual fact about you: “I like to run and do PT (physical training).”Goals: “To become an officer and earn my doctorate’s degree.”Something you wish everyone would do: “See the world.” Words of wisdom: “Motivate yourself and others to accomplish the mission.”The best thing about being deployed: “Extra pay.”Most exciting thing

you’ve ever done: “Jumped out of an airplane - Airborne.”Best Basic Combat Training memory: “Toe to line.”

By Jesse MartinCorps Safety Office

Take care of your knees, they will take care of you

SAFETY SECTOR SAFETY SECTOR SAFETY SECTOR SAFETY SECTOR

Get to know a Soldier...

If you do not take care of your knees you will eventually need supportive or assistive devices such as an elastic bandage wrap, splints, braces, a cane, crutches, walker or artificial knee re-placement surgery. No one really wants that to happen.

Regardless of your age, highly active people may develop long term problems even if their knees never suffered a sig-nificant injury. The risk of injury to your knees can be minimized with proper pre-cautions and care. Remember you only get one set of knees. And artificial knee

replacement surgery is not the end all be all. The goal should be to prevent injuries before they occur.

The majority of knee injuries occur from overtraining, being overweight, hav-ing poor physical conditioning or having poor training techniques. Here are some helpful knee injury prevention strategies:

Always remember the “terrible toos”: too much, too soon, too often, too fast and too hard, combined with too little rest and recovery time. The key is to avoid doing too much too soon. Your progress in mile-age, speed and intensity should be gradu-al. It is helpful to maintain a running diary. This should contain your mileage, course and brief notes on how you felt. It may help trace the origin of problems related

to overtraining. An unrelenting increase in mileage from one week to the next will ultimately result in a break down.

Replace your running shoes as needed. Shock absorbing capability will diminish gradually and may be inadequate after 350 to 500 miles. So if you run 8-12 miles a week, you should replace your running shoes at least annually. It is always easier to replace your shoes than to make a visit to the doctor’s office.

Also, make sure that you eat a healthy diet. Stretch regularly before any physi-cal activity.

We need you to be healthy and phys-ically fit to maintain combat readiness. Take of your knees and they will take care of you.

Page 7Victory TimesJuly 14, 2008

community

Coalition CafeBreakfast 5:30 - 8:30 a.m.Lunch 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Dinner 5 - 8 p.m.Midnight Dining 11 p.m. - 1 a.m.

Sports OasisBreakfast 5:30 - 8:30 a.m.Lunch 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Dinner 5 - 9 p.m.Education Center8 a.m.-midnight

Camp Liberty Post Exchange8 a.m. - 10 p.m.Fitness CenterOpen 24 Hours

Victory Main Post OfficeMonday-Friday 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.Sunday 9 a.m.-3 p.m.MNC-I STB Mailroom

9 a.m. - noon5 - 7 p.m.

Al Faw Palace Post OfficeWednesday and Sunday

1-6 p.m.Golby Troop Medical Clinic

Sick CallMonday - Friday 7:30 a.m. - noonSaturday & Sunday 9 a.m. - noon

Dental Sick CallMonday - Friday 7:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Saturday 9 - 10:30 a.m.Mental Health Clinic

Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.Saturday 9 a.m. - noon

Post-Deployment Health BriefingsMonday, Wednesday and Friday 1 p.m.

PharmacyMonday - Friday 7:30 a.m. - noon;

1 - 4:30 p.m.Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. - noon

Legal Assistance/ClaimsSaturday-Monday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Operating Hours

Victory Chapel (Bldg. 31)Thursday7:30 p.m......... Latter Day Saints SeminarySaturday11 a.m...Seventh Day Adventist Service8 p.m. Catholic MassSunday7 a.m............. Liturgical Protestant Service2 p.m................. Latter Day Saints Service4 p.m............... Epicopal/Lutheran ServiceMini Chapel (Bldg. 24F)Tuesday7:30 p.m............ Latter Day Saints ServiceWednesday7 p.m...............................Men’s FellowshipTuesday, Thursday, Friday11:30 p.m............... Roman Catholic MassFriday1 p.m..................... Muslim Prayer Service6:30 p.m.............................Jewish Service8 p.m......................... Women’s FellowshipSunday8 a.m................ Eastern Orthodox Service10 a.m.............. Protestant Sunday School3 p.m...................Church of Christ Service7:30 p.m............ Latter Day Saints ServiceHope Chapel (Bldg 24B)Monday12 p.m........... Charismatic Prayer MeetingSunday8:30 a.m...... Collective Protestant Service10 a.m.................... Roman Catholic Mass12 p.m............................... Gospel Service6:30 p.m............. Contemporary Protestant ServiceWarrior Chapel (Camp Liberty)Friday6:30 p.m.............Victory Base Open Circle

Worship Hours

AFN Freedom Radio

All stations are FM

Do you have an announcement about an event of interest to the Camp Victory community? Contact Spc. Samuel J. Phillips at samuel.phillips1@iraq.centcom.mil with the information. Information for community announcements needs to submitted at least two weeks prior to the event to allow for timely publication.

Announcements

Camp Victory Bible Studies

Mon. Thurs.Wed. Sat. Sun.Fri.Tues.Women’s Bible Study 7 p.m.

Bldg 24F;Gospel Protestant

Bible Study 7 p.m. Hope

Chapel

Women’s Bible Study

7 p.m. Bldg 24F

Young AdultBible Study5:30 p.m.

HopeChapel

Men’s Bible Study7 p.m. Victory

Chapel;Spanish Bible Study 7 p.m.

Bldg 24F

Foundations Bible Study, Mini Chapel 6:30 p.m.

SeventhDayAdventist10 a.m.VictoryChapel

Men of theBible Study

5 p.m.MLB Room,Oasis DFAC

Navy Advancement ProgramThe Navy’s Combat Meritorious Ad-

vancement Program has been created to advance sailors in paygrades E1-E5 in rec-ognition of uncommon valor and extraordi-nary deeds demonstrated while engaged in, or in direct support of combat operations. The Combat Meritorious Advancement Program is effective immediately. Recom-mendations for advancement under this program are submitted based on actual ac-tion/performance in combat.

CISSP Exams offeredPosting of Certified Information System

Security Professional (CISSP) Examination for interested military of civilian personnel. POC is Capt. Richard Y. Kofie, 822-5108.

Story ideas for Victory TimesDo you know of a good story on Camp

Victory that you think should be covered for the Victory Times? Please submit your ideas to Staff. Sgt. Joy Pariante at joy.pari-ante@iraq.centcom.mil. Please include any interesting facts about the topic and point of contact information.

R&R BriefingsReunion and Suicide Intervention

Briefings are at the Victory Chapel, Monday at 3 p.m., Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. All service-members who are going on leave or re-deploying must attend this briefing.

The Corps ReportThe Corps Report has been scheduled

to its new regular time slots of Monday at 4:15 a.m. eastern, 11:15 a.m. Bagh-dad and Sunday at 1:15 p.m. eastern, 8:15 p.m. Baghdad.

Gospel ChoirTuesday, 6 p.m., Hope Chapel (Bldg. 24B)Saturday, 4:30 p.m., Hope Chapel (Bldg. 24B)

Collective Protestant Choir RehearsalThursday, 7 p.m., Hope Chapel (Bldg. 24B)

Collective Protestant Music RehearsalThursday, 12 p.m., Victory Chapel (Bldg. 31)

Music practices & rehearsalsCatholic Choir RehearsalThursday, 7 p.m., Hope Chapel (Bldg. 24B)

Contemporary Choir RehearsalFriday, 5 p.m., Hope Chapel (Bldg 24B)

Bluegrass Music ‘Baghdad Badboys’Friday, 9 p.m., Mini Chapel (Bldg. 24F)

Al Asad ...... 107.3Ali Base ..... 107.3Ar Ramadi.. 107.3Baghdad .... 107.3Balad ......... 107.3

Fallujah ...... 105.1Kirkuk......... 107.3Kirkush....... 107.3Mosul ......... 105.1Q-West ........ 93.3

Taji ............. 107.3Tal Afar....... 107.3Taqqadum .. 107.3Tikrit ........... 100.1

Page 8 Victory Times July 14, 2008

SportsFrom Atlanta to Baghdad, Peachtree 10k takes off

Story and photo by Pfc. Eric J. Martinez

13th Public Affairs Detachment

difficulties – are all part of the equa-tion whose sum is a lasting relation-ship. Love is not something you fall into. Love and marriage are “made.”

Thus in Cretan terms, when a mar-ried couple have been overhead ar-guing or fighting, the Cretans smile knowingly and say, “Ah, they are making love.”

Do you see the connection? There is wisdom in considering the real-ity that marital relationships thrive when both parties are committed to working at becoming compatible partners. How many marriages can testify to having misunderstandings where strong words are spoken, even to the point where relationships may

feel strained? Such occasions can lead to better

times if people will just hang in there rather than surrender to a passing mo-ment. We can gain comfort in seeing the struggles we encounter as another opportunity to deepen our love and commitments, and to work at “learn-ing to make love.”

CHAPLAIN from, Page 2

Victory Base Complex personnel participated in Peachtree 10k July 6.

Georgia’s Peachtree 10k is in its 39th year with 55,000 participants. The run takes partici-pants down main street Atlanta.

“We’ve had tremendous support from the Peachtree race in Atlanta,” said Lt. Col. Sean

Clark, Camp Victory mayor, 2145th Garrison Sup-port Unit. “We had more people who wanted to participate than we could support,”

The top male winner of Camp Victory’s 10k was Lt. Col. Marty Muchow, commander, 63rd Explo-sive Ordinance and Disposal, with a time of 32:31 and the top female was Capt. Hillary Mann, adju-tant, 716th Military Police Battalion, with a time of 42:59.

“I’ve been able to compete in about 19 races since I’ve been here,” Mann said “This was a re-ally nice run.”

Victory Base Complex personnel blast away from the starting line during a shadow run of Atlanta’s Peachtree 10k July 6.