Monday, February 11, 2008

The Crew

Over the past several months SGT Tremain and I have facilitated our ministry to Soldiers by joining our Command Sergeant Major in his battlefield circulation. We're usually on the road Mondays through Saturdays. SGT Tremain and I have come to know the crew members on our respective trucks quite well. It's not uncommon for us to be on the road traveling for four hours a day. Not even the ever present threat of IEDs (roadside bombs) is enough to keep these trips through the bland desert from becoming boring.

Our crew consists of the sergeant major; he commands the vehicle. SPC Crerend is our driver and radio operator. PFC Testa is our gunner, and I am the passenger. (During my previous deployment I drove thousands of miles. Now that trucks have turrets and .50 caliber machine guns mounted to them, driving them is viewed as a violation of my strict role as a non-combatant.) Each morning we begin our trip listening over our headsets to the sergeant major reading the daily intelligence summary of threats in the battle space. Each of us wears a Bose headset that allows us to speak to one another within the truck, with the other two gun trucks, and with companies' and higher headquarters. Some of our more interesting conversations of late have concerned NASCAR (I am learning more than I ever wanted to know from the sergeant major), foods and restaurants we're looking forward to when we return to the States, and our favorite TV shows growing up. Because CSM Sumner and I are in our late thirties and SPC Crerend and PFC Testa are in their early twenties, many of our conversations are made even more interesting with the generation gap.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update!! Cay

Anonymous said...

hey sir, it's CPL Crerend(your former driver in iraq). how are you doing? how is your family? how are you liking germany? please stay in touch, my email in rcrerend@yahoo.com