Koka Sexton dot Com » Letters from Iraq

Concordian Interview

Koka Sexton — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:39:07 +0000

Last month I met with a writer for a local Concord Ca. paper called the Concordian. The Concordian has been around a really long time. I should have asked the date they started. I couldn’t find it on the website.The paper was mailed to everyone in the city. It was a free monthly newspaper that talked just about our not-so-little city. Not to be confused with the local blogs like Mayor of Concord or Claycord that fill the internets with news. Recently the paper has had to stop the mailings but still prints thousands of copies and places them in Concord, Pleasant Hill and surrounding area.

The writer André Gensburger who is also the co-publisher for the paper first entertained the idea of talking with me a few months ago. He said my background would be something interesting that the community may want to read about. The topic of the article was to talk about how I have adjusted post Iraq. I agreed and thought this would be a nice thing to talk about. The last time I was interviewed by the media for Iraq was after coming home and talking to reporters that had read my Last Letter From Iraq.

The email letter was written about 30 minutes after being extended again and was sent to my family as a way to vent. It was forwarded around and I started getting email responses from complete strangers showing their support. It made its way onto a reporters desk and then the requests to talk started. Only so much could be explained while I was still deployed, but once I got home I got my 5 minutes of fame. I was on the news and written about in the SF Chronicle. It was nice to see my name in the paper and my face on the TV. My family got a kick out of it also.

I met André at the local Starbucks, sat down with my iced venti quad mocha and waited for him to pull out a pad of paper. I figured he was going to take notes because any other interview I have ever given that’s what the reporter did. Even when I was being video taped for the CBS News, the reporter had a note pad. André pulled out a tape recorder and asked if that would be cool. Sure. I thought “what could it harm?”. Other than the fact that I may run off on a tangent or say something I shouldn’t, there was nothing to fear. Sorry André, I was a bit intimidated by the recorder but I thought I was a good sport about it.

Instead of taking notes, trying to catch quotes or other information. Why not just have a conversation, see where it goes and then pull from it for the piece. It actually makes a whole lot more sense that way. Again I was concerned I was about to foot my foot in my mouth. As my wife can attest, I have a tendency to do this often. André made it clear that if there was something I didn’t want in the article after I say it, just ask for it to be removed. I have seen this play out on TV more than once. “oh…Ya…off the record…”. Then only the stuff you wanted stricken from the interview is published. Thankfully there were only a couple episodes of ‘foot in mouth‘ and nothing all that bad, just not something I wanted printed for complete strangers to read.

We spoke for about an hour and the entire process was almost too easy. We started talking about Iraq then moved into some background about me and my family. We covered a lot of ground in an hour and at the end he turned off the tape recorder. By the end I had completely forgot he put the recorder on the table. I really started wondering if I had commented on something I should have redacted. Too late now.

Andre sent me a copy of the article that was sent for print. I was more than a little excited to see how the entire piece turned out. He had asked for some pictures for the article and I pointed him to my online photo Flickr account and told him to use what he wanted and pointed him to some of my favorites. He got a picture of me and Grayson in the article. That made me smile. I read through the entire document a couple times. Sure, it’s all about me but considering Andre and I spoke for about an hour, he pulled pieces from the conversation that were scattered through the time line and wrote them all out as if in a chronological order. He did a great job. Andre mentioned he would get me a nice copy not on newsprint that I can put away for safekeeping. I still plan on getting copies of the Concordian around Concord just for family. The print version isnt released for a few more days so I’ll wait to post the entire article.

If you happen to get a copy and read the article, leave me a comment. I’m excited to hear what anyone thinks.

Additional Posts you may like:

News coverage of my time in Iraq.

Koka Sexton — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 02:39:00 +0000

I pulled together a bunch of news clips from my time in Iraq and put them all together. It’s only a few minutes long.

…I told you I got bored today. Maybe I can add “video editor” to my resume now?

Additional Posts you may like:

What I would do for a cold drink of water.

Koka Sexton — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:28:00 +0000

After our initial drive into Iraq and setting up camp at Tallil. The heat was already beginning to rise. The locals were saying that August was “white mans death” since that seemed to be when the heat was at its peak. It was only June and it was already well above 100 degrees before noon. The entire Army was in short supply. We ate MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) 2-3 times a day depending on how much you could stomach, and for the time being, we seemed to have an endless supply of bottled water at our disposal for drinking. There was some comfort that we wouldn’t die from dehydration, but people in the unit were still dropping like flies during the day because they were not getting enough fluids. The communications sergeant was stuck with about seven IV’s in just as many days, because he couldn’t grasp the fact that drinking a bottle of water an hour was a requirement and not a suggestion.

Keeping the bottles cool was always a task. We had two choices, warm water or hot. We would use wet socks as insulators around the bottles and that would bring the temperature down a little. (GHETTO!) There was nothing cold. But when drinking water is necessary for survival, you’ll drink it any way you can get it. (that’s probably why I drink most things at room temp. now days.) One of the sergeants for a MP unit that got into Iraq during the invasion told us about an ice factory that they would use outside the base in the city of Nasiriya>. They knew the directions mostly from memory, but they were able to show us on a map how to get to the building by making our way through the city streets. He stated that we would end up at a large building with bright blue diamonds on the building and the gates, and that was the ice factory. He even made a point to show us that we would be crossing the same intersection where the infamous ambush took place that thrusted Jessica Lynch into the spotlight. He said that if the unit was paying attention to basic land navigation, they wouldn’t have missed the turn and may have avoided the deadly attack all together. But mistakes like getting lost in the maze of city streets was more common than not since the basics like land navigation, using a map and compass seemed to get forgotten by Army units that never had to use them during their annual training. Those mistakes led to many injuries and deaths during my tour. Sad but very true!

To make sure we didn’t repeat their units mistakes, the Squad Leaders went over the route 3-4 times with the Team Leaders to make sure that everyone knew the way. Special emphasis was placed on security and what to do if we were ambushed during our trip. The next morning, we grabbed our weapons, did a pre-combat inspection of our men, loaded up the trucks and went on a mission for some ice.

We took four humvees on the mission, each truck with one team consisting of a driver (obviously) a gunner in the turret manning the machine gun and last but not least a team leader. Once we drove into the city, I was instantly on edge. Hundreds of people walking down the road, driving in their cars, going about their everyday lives. Everything looked very normal, but rule #3 is ‘complacency kills’ and the fact was that all it took was on person in the crowd to pull a gun or an explosive and at trip to get some ice could turn into a major catastrophe in a matter of seconds.

We weaved our way through the streets, maintaining our four vehicle convoy intact. Most of the civilian cars got out of our way when they saw us approaching in their rear view mirrors, the ones that didn’t move, were nudged until they got the point that we had the right of way. The fact is we ALWAYS had the right of way. The building was exactly where we had it plotted on the map and the team leaders made a point to plug the coordinates into their GPS’s for future reference. As we approached the building, the Squad leader called out over the radio that we would have a three vehicle security element in front of the building and one truck will enter the gate to get the ice. He said that there were a lot of civilians around the building and to keep them back while we got what we needed so we could get out quickly if necessary.

Our vehicles set up a perimeter and the rear humvee went into the gates and backed up to the open cargo doors. The Iraqi that owned the factory came out to meet us, greeting us and shaking hands to all of the soldiers. There was a major language barrier but we understood that it would cost $5.00 for a 10 pound block of ice. We bought 10 blocks and the factory owner’s workers loaded blocks of ice into the back of the humvee.

Outside the gate, the security element was keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. There was nothing overtly suspicious, but it was chaotic. As soon as the trucks set up there positions and the gunners took their sectors of fire, kids started coming out of the woodwork to come see the American soldiers. There must have been about 50 kids surrounding the humvee asking for money or water or food. The people were all around us, coming up to the windows of the humvees with their hands out looking for anything we would give them. The Team Leaders did what they could to keep the people back. We got out of the trucks, but short of physically pushing the people back, not much worked. Yelling at them did the job for a few seconds, but they would come right back. Some of the soldiers handed out candy or what they had available to the kids, but there wasn’t enough for everyone.

Then the call came out over the radio that the ice was loaded and the truck was going to be heading out the gate. All of the team leaders got in their trucks and filed in behind the truck loaded with ice as it drove out the gates and onto the city street.

The drive back to the base was filled with conversations about how surreal that experience was. The Squad Leader was in the humvee that was carrying the ice and he started talking about how the ice was melting in the back of the truck and he had a pool of dirty water swishing around the inside. When we made it back to base and drove to our compound, a few other people from the unit were out side the tents. some were washing there uniforms in plastic buckets, and a small detail was bringing boxes of MRE’s and water into the supply tent. We parked our trucks and walked over to the humvee that was carrying the ice. Small streams of water were trickling from the back. I opened the trunk and for the first time I saw what the ice blocks looked like. Nothing special, just long blocks of ice and alot of them. It took two people to carry each block into the tent. We set the ice on a couple of unused cots to keep them off the ground. People started bringing in small ice chests or laundry buckets and cut off chucks of the ice to put inside. Once they had enough ice, the whisked off to there tents to bury bottles of water under the ice for the luxury of a cold drink. A warning was put out by our company medic that we had to be careful that we did not eat or consume the ice. Hygiene is not exactly the priority of the ice factory and other units had said that they had found bugs and other foreign matter in the ice when they had made the same trips in the past. I didn’t care too much, I was about to have my first cold drink in about a month. I would have to wait about 45 minutes before that could happen though.

Additional Posts you may like:

Soldiers life – Oscar Munguia’s story

Koka Sexton — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 20:55:00 +0000

After serving America he’s serving youth

Oscar Munguia knows the difference a mentor can make in a young person’s life.

The 2001 East Union High graduate served America in Iraq and is now serving its future — the youth accessing Give Every Child a Chance’s free tutoring programs — as program director.

“Everybody needs a mentor in life,” Munguia, 22, said.

He learned that lesson in Iraq serving with the military police. He credits his sergeant — Koka Sexton — for showing him how to stay alive and to understand life has purpose.

“He got me to save my money over there,” said Munguia who married Irene shortly after serving his stint with the Army Reserve. “A lot of guys didn’t. I know he (the sergeant) made a big difference in my life.”

Munguia said that is what he wants to do — make a big difference in the lives of others.

And what better way than to work in a program that brings hundreds of volunteers together each year to help over 1,000 kids improve their academic performance.

“It also shows that someone cares about them,” said Munguia.

Munguia said he has a young cousin involved in the French Camp GECAC tutoring program who is benefiting immensely from the program both in terms of academics as well as self-esteem.

Munguia recalls when he first started working part-time for GECAC with the group after school tutoring effort at August Knodt School.

There were kids whose parents both worked and not only appreciated having someone to help them comprehend their homework but knowing that someone else cared.

“It makes a big difference,” Munguia said.

The program also made a big difference in Munguia’s life. Up until starting to work as a tutor, he wanted to land a job as a police officer. Now he’s pursuing a degree in early childhood education doing what he wants to do with his life — helping kids achieve success.

“I enjoy what I’m doing,” Munguia said. “I get up in the morning excited about coming to work.”

Among the key components of Munguia’s job as program director is securing volunteer tutors and matching them with students needing help.

There are 255 currently involved in one-on-one tutoring programs and 497 in group student programs after school.

There is also a waiting list hovering around 150 kids.

“People willing to volunteer their time is our biggest need,” Munguia said.

Volunteers are asked to donate an hour twice a week on a time schedule that works for them. They are also able to pick the grade level of students they want to help as well as the subject matter they are most comfortable with. There is a short orientation session.

There have been 85 graduates from various GECAC programs since July 1. That means students are performing at grade level after lagging significantly. The tutoring isn’t continued to accelerate students above grade level as there is a waiting list of other students performing below grade level that need to be matched with tutors.

The 27th tutoring site opened this week at Woodward School in south Manteca. Work has also started on opening a 28th location at Ripona School in Ripon. It will be the second Ripon location. The other is currently at Heartland Community Church.

Give Every Child a Chance’s community-based tutoring program is considered the best in California by a school administrators group.

The Manteca-based organization is being honored this Friday in Sacramento for the Best School Partnership in the Golden State by the Association of California School Administrators.

The non-profit was nominated by Manteca Unified director of secondary education Bob Lee who has seen first hand the impact that the six-year-old program has had on students.

To reach Dennis Wyatt, e-mail dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com

By DENNIS WYATT

Managing editor of the

Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin

Archives: Story

Additional Posts you may like:

Soldiers life: Now I know where sand comes from!

Koka Sexton — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:55:00 +0000

Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 10:32 AM

Hello from Kuwait!

Yes I finally made it here. From Washington we were issued out weapons and boarded the commercial airline wearing our desert camouflage uniforms. Our plane made a 2 hour layover in Ireland once we taxied to the gate from my window I saw airport security setting up a chain link fence around the plane and guards started walking the fence line. The unit was allowed to exit the plane and enter another lobby in the airport that was also guarded. People hit the gift store and some got a bite to eat. I made a call and played some cards until we were allowed to board again. Another plane came into the gate next to ours and a similar fence line was setup around it a group of people in normal clothes walked into the same lobby. They appeared to be military by the way they carried themselves and the haircuts. I talked to one guy and he said that they were Airforce on there way back home from the Middle East. He didn’t mention exactly from where or what they did but it was nice to talk about the region and what I had to look forward to. Our commander yelled out from the other side of the lobby announcing that we were able to board the plane. The remaining leg of the flight took a few hours and looking out the window it was obvious…we were here.

I have never seen so much sand and dust! As soon as I walked of the plane the wall of heat was almost unbearable. The pilot said that it was about 125 degrees. No way! I carried my gear to a small bus and crammed in like sardines with more soldiers and sat on the runway for several minutes. When the bus finally did leave we were driven to a small base camp and moved into a tent and given more briefings. Evidently the camp we were at was attacked just a couple of days prior and as MPs we may be asked to help guard if they needed it. I thought that we were supposed to go to our base that day but I guess things change. Information was scarce and no one really knew what to expect next. Our entire company was placed in a tent the size of a one bedroom apartment. Between the heat and having to walk over people to move around no one was comfortable. We were told that we would stay at this camp overnight and move out. I didn’t sleep all night. Part nerves and the fact I was able to swim in my own sweat if I did lie down. The camp never seemed to sleep. Soldiers were walking around all over. I talked to a couple of British troops and they told me a story about the first days of the war and how in one day they had received 7 warnings alarms of a scud attack and each one was false. They got a bit complacent and then came an eighth that turned out to be false too. On the ninth alarm they said they really didn’t care until someone screamed that the scud missile was flying overhead and they heard the sound of our patriot battery launching off and intercepted the scud over the base. The next day we loaded more busses and moved out to the base I am at now. There are ALOT of soldiers here. We sleep in warehouses that are filled with bunk beds that hold about 400+ people. It can get to 140 degrees here. I drink more than a gallon of water a day just to stay hydrated. There is a large canopy of cammo net set up in the middle of the camp that is like the town square. The store, gym and food are all around it. At night they show movies on a large white screen under the netting.

Talking to some other Army units that are here the stories coming out of Iraq are scary and exciting. I know for a fact that the news isn’t touching or hearing for that matter half of the issues and enemy contacts happening up north. I am sure there is a reason for it. I don’t want any of you to worry, the US is doing a wonderful job. I have run into buddies from Basic Training and caught up on all of our stories. This is all of there first deployments and they were surprised to hear that I had been to Hungary, Bosnia and Sarajevo. One of them was running a enemy prisoner of war (EPW) camp in Iraq and talked about rocket attacks and riots in the short time they were there. The other was in a town south of Baghdad attached to the 82nd Airborne. I really don’t know what to expect for our unit. I know what missions our company is trained in and I can only think of a couple places that we could be used. Until the generals decide what to do with us we are sitting here and waiting. We watch movies in one of the tents to get out of the heat of the day. (I did get a DVD copy of Matrix 2) They are showing “Tears of the sun” with Bruce Willis tonight. As I mentioned before, internet access is scarce. I had to do some sneaking around just to find out about this one. Ill try to keep in touch as best I can until we move north and then all communication will be broken. These bases are very security conscious for obvious reasons. No pictures can be taken outside and no undeveloped film or CDs can be mailed with out being confiscated by the intel people.
<br>We will be moving from this base soon up North. We have a couple of options were we will be stationed. The final word will come only a couple of day before we leave.

I don’t have much else to say. I miss all of you and every deployment has taught me a little bit more about my self and how the little things in life DO matter and I should be thankful for everything I have and stop taking for granted all of the love and luxuries I have. Take care of each other and we will be in touch.

Koka

Additional Posts you may like:

Soldiers life: Sandbox bound

Koka Sexton — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:55:00 +0000

Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 7:31 AM

Hey there. I didn’t forget about you.

I have been pretty busy lately. No.. I have not left the states yet, I am still in rainy Washington. The last month my unit has been getting trained in more mission specific duties that we will be doing over in Iraq. There have been some days of complete boredom but over all we have gotten a lot accomplished. Everyone had to get cross qualified on other weapon systems. For example I am a team leader that primarily uses an M-16 rifle with a 40mm grenade launcher attached under the barrel and I also had to get qualified on my gunners weapon which is an automatic grenade launcher that mounts on the turret of the hummve as well as his squad automatic weapon or SAW for short. The saw is a beefed up version of the M-16 rifle that can spit out 800 rounds a minute. My driver and gunner in turn had to learn about the other weapons as well. Usually a normal size company can move through one weapons range a day but we would usually spend or more days at the range because there are so many units here deploying that soldiers were just being mixed and matched as time allowed.

We were shuttled in cattle cars (no really!) from place to place. We would be packed in like sardines and shuttled to ranges or warehouses where we would pick up more gear that would be needed when we got in theatre. The warehouses were empty except for some scattered boxes labeled with the contents. With the war all of the supplies were hard to come across ad I had to take three different trips to the issuing facilities to get everything I would need. Uniforms were so scarce that our unit just got them last week.

Our unit spent three days in the field learning more infantry tactics and other cools stuff that guaranteed we get very dirty. Needless to say it rained the entire time. Everyone joked that Washington was the BEST place to train troops for desert war. We had security patrols that would walk into the woods and search for enemy ad booby traps, had to deal with riots and other scenarios that were meant to test our ability to control an area of operations on a company level. The training company gave our unit very high marks on our reactions and made the comment that out of seven thousand troops that have already moved through the base we were definitely in the top 5 percent. Anyway, after those three days we were tested on military police tasks like convoy escorts and reacting to sniper fire. We drove to some area of the base that was thousands of acres of woods and set up a base camp. Each platoon was given an area to secure and the training company gave out operation orders every few hours for missions that needed to be completed. We spent five days doing this and did very well. There were multiple attempts to breach our perimeter or ambush our patrols but the unit was able to dodge all of the attacks. On the final day our company was tasked to safely escort a company of quartermasters that contained 15 trucks through our area of operations. We were told that there would be mock enemy forces that would be ambushing us along the six mile supply route. There were road blocks setup and several attacks on our convoy. We lost a couple people along the way, but we completed the mission. At the end of the week we broke camp and drove back to the main post where we were happy to get into beds and take showers.

There have been many rumors of where we are headed and what are mission was going to be but none of them panned out. I get to watch the news a bit every few days and get to see how the war has played out. I had just gotten my first anthrax shot and was sitting in the medical clinic when the first bombs were dropped that may have gotten Saddam. Since then the war had moved very quickly. Faster than I think most would have thought. There are going to be groups in Iraq that are still loyal and will take the risk of dying to attack US troops moving through the country and that’s what the military police are planning to take care of. The city of Baghdad is three times the size of L.A. and the military force that occupies that is going to need to be large as well, not to mention the size of the force that is going to be needed to watch the entire country. As of today we are all completed with our training and all of our stuff is packed and being shipped off. What we are waiting for is the green light from the commanding general in Iraq and that will come any day. From there we have 48 hours to get on a plane and land in country. We have lost three soldiers during the initial training for reasons ranging injuries to criminal offenses. The crew we have now is the one to get sent into places unknown. We do know that there is still fighting between Iraqi’s and soldiers and as M.P.’s we are going to be extremely busy. Its difficult to imagine a more strenuous amount of missions than what we had in Bosnia but the word is that we are going to be working up to 15 hour days moving people and equipment from one area to another.

Now that we are all done and just waiting for a call to leave, I spend my nights watching movies in the barracks!

I wanted to send another update to all of you letting you know what I am up to and say thank you for your prayers and support. I hope to be home soon and see all of you again. Take care and God bless.

Koka

Additional Posts you may like:

Soldiers life: Were not done yet April 15th

Koka Sexton — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:54:00 +0000

Five days before I was supposed to get on a plane and return home from the Sunni Triangle, an order came down from General Sanchez himself that the 341st MP Co. from San Jose Ca. was going to be extended yet again after their 365 days had been fulfilled. Most of our equipment had been handed over to our replacements leaving us with our individual weapons and our belief that our year long tour had finally come to an end.

Fortunately the unit had only had to send home a few soldiers to minor combat related injuries and with the constant fear of the next roadside bomb or ambush tarnishing that accomplishment, almost being done and getting off the dangerous roads made us all take a deep breath of relief. With the footlockers closed and put away and the final preparations being done, our unit was ready to send our advanced party back to the US to get things ready for our homecoming.

Just hours before that happened the phone rang in our day room as I watched the morning news about the war that was taking place outside our gates. The commander took the phone and his tone immediately changed from pleasantries to swearing at an imaginary person standing over him. He hung up the phone and told everyone in the dayroom to get the troops together because we had to have a company formation.

People were woken up and some were interrupted as they sat outside their dusty tents talking about what big trips they were planning in the coming weeks. We are now being sent to a prison facility and our unit is being re-classed to prison guards at the countries central holding facility for prisoners of war. The extension will be anywhere from three to four months on top of the 13 months we have already been on active orders. People took the news like they were hit by a truck. But most of us were not surprised, we haven’t caught a break in this country since we drove our humvees across the border. From weeks at isolated relay stations in 130 plus degree heat filled with sand storms to finding out the news of our second extension orders throwing us in the middle of the Sunni Triangle driving daily convoys and patrols down the most dangerous routes in and around Baghdad and now to this.

The emotional rollercoaster these soldiers have gone on is a ride nobody should have to take. The families of the soldiers have almost been brought to the breaking point as we were given tentative dates to redeploy in September 2003 then to January of 2004 and again when the final extensions were handed down to keep us in Iraq a total of 365 days. Marriages have ended and babies have been born that wont see their fathers until they are over a year old. Its difficult for a soldier to understand how so much bad fortune can fall on one group so consistently and its intensified when a person needs to tell their families and children that they need to cancel the welcome home festivities because they were handed a piece of paper saying their services are needed for another few months over and over again.

Our company First Sergeant had a white board hanging from his door that had a count down to the day we would be done. The day we hit double digits was a night of celebration and watching the numbers get below thirty made the light at the end of the tunnel seem surreal. Soldiers that had accepted the high tempo of working fifteen to twenty days in a row before a day off had finally allowed themselves to relax. The infantry unit that took over our mission showed up early and eagerly took over the job and the redeployment numbers dropped from 25 days to 15 overnight. We couldn’t believe that we had made it. We had achieved the status of being the most senior Military Police company in theatre as well as becoming the second most senior unit to still be on ground. Now as I’m told it seems that in a week we will become first in both categories. Soldiers need to call home yet again and tell their loved ones that even with five days to go that the Army has changed its mind. I don’t know how I’m going to do it and by the look on people’s faces after the news, I would guess no one else does either.

The 341st Military Police Co. has some of the most resilient troops I know. I alone have been hit by numerous explosives along the convoy routes and had to react to ambushes by men armed with AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades shooting from rooftops and crowded markets. I’ve had to tend to the serious injuries of civilian contractors that had their vehicles ripped apart by roadside bombs and other attacks and collect the personal effects of the men that were not so fortunate to live through them. My heart goes out to the families of these brave souls that wanted to help the war effort in whatever way they could, relying on us to protect them. Watching the morning news as a couple of contract truck drivers from our base talk about the brutal attack on their convoy that we had been escorting that day made me realize how fortunate they truly were.

Every soldier in the 341st has collected stories like this in the time we have been in country. Most of us have become numb to the carnage we experience on an almost daily basis and until the news this morning I had been sitting around some of my closest friends trying to discuss how we would ever be able to put this place and its events behind us. It will be more difficult for some than others. No other modern war has kept troops in a combat zone longer than a year because of the instability it can cause.

The memories of the chaos and bloodshed will stick with us forever no matter what we do about it. We are now going beyond our duty to fill gaps in the military that should not have been made. Its like a draft has been enacted on the Reserve and National Guard troops and there is no escape. People’s entire military contracts have been served and yet the Army can still hold them and then we watch as active duty soldiers get on planes because the same obligation applies differently to them. There is no feeling of “The Army of One” in Iraq.

I feel sorry for the Army and the military as a whole if this trend continues as it seems likely for the next few years. Retention in the armed services will plummet and our national security will suffer. There will be no reason for budget cuts to close down bases and downsize the military when the citizen soldiers just stop going to drill after being disgusted with the accepted disregard of their status in the Army.

Reserve and National Guard troops make up over half of the military and we get treated like unwanted stepchildren while we perform the same dangerous missions as our active counterparts. I and the troops of the 341st will persevere. We are now going to serve in a prison, guarding inmates that are being held for placing the same bombs along the roads, ambushing convoys and firing rockets or mortars into the bases that have taken the lives of our over 600 brothers and sisters. This is going to be one of the most difficult transitions we will have to make but we will make it. I don’t expect this letter to change anything for my unit. We are upset from our situation but we are prepared to answer the call.

Additional Posts you may like:

Soldiers life: Hello from Iraq

Koka Sexton — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:54:00 +0000

Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2003 9:28 PM

Hello everyone.

Not much to say about Iraq. Its still hot here even thought the heat has dropped to 102 degrees. The missions have not changed very much. The main difference is that we are doing more convoy security missions. I sleep in a different base every other day and I have had the opportunity to see a lot of this country.

I’ve had the opportunity to see many ancient ruins as well as many of the war torn areas of this land as a result of the last hundred decades of fighting. I saw the ancient city of Babylon and had a chance to tour some of the ruins. Its amazing that this region is the supposed birthplace of civilization and its strange to see it in such shocking conditions.

The unit found out a couple of weeks ago that we will be deployed for 365 days in country and that would mean that I would be here until late May. A week after that I found out that the Army is thinking of keeping Military Police deployed for up to 24 months. OUCH! Like everything else in the Army nothing is set in stone. The idea of staying for 365 days doesn’t rest well and the idea of being active for 2 years just isn’t cool. But I understood the risk when I took the oath. The idea of combating terrorism on a world scale is exciting and I am proud of my involvement. People are taking leave now. Most are going home for the 2 weeks they’re allowed and some are going to Germany for a vacation. Our company is trying to work out the details for us, but it looks like we will be able to leave between October through March.

Being a team leader has had its many obstacles. Both of my guys have only been in the reserve system for a little more than two years a piece. I’ve had to play mentor, dictator and parental figure to both of them. Both have totally different personalities and I’ve had to adjust my behavior to each of them. Deployments are not easy on anyone but I think that for the younger guys, it’s a little more difficult. Between the military lifestyle and the long stressful days this is more than most thought it would be. Being that this is my second deployment overseas, I pretty much new what to expect. Not to say that being a team leader hasn’t had its upsides. We have become pretty close. There isn’t any other choice since we eat, sleep and work within 10 feet of each other. Its interesting to share my experiences with them and hear about theirs. They have pretty large goals for themselves and the Army has made them modify there plans. That’s the way the ball bounces sometimes. At least we know that this IS temporary and eventually we all be back home and this will be a memory.

I guess that most of this has been in the local news but recently there have been assassinations on counsel members that are helping rebuild the government. There are still explosives placed in the roads. I had to shut down both lanes of traffic on the main freeway the Army uses in our area because some outstanding citizen decided to place 7 rockets across the roadway. We called in the report and EOD was too busy at the store or something that they couldn’t come out. I was given explicit instructions not to move the ordinance or let any vehicles pass. Sometimes the Iraqis will booby trap the explosives but usually they aren’t that smart and they just hope that a truck will run them over and explode them. For three hours convoys backed up along the road and our HQ said that EOD hadn’t left the base yet. After that splendid piece of information another MP and I started picking up the rockets and moving them off the road. HQ wasn’t too pleased with that but there was a greater security risk with 2 hundred trucks at a complete stand still after nightfall than attempting to move the rockets. Then just the other day I saw a tanker truck filled with fuel explode 200 feet ahead of the convoy I was leading north. The tanker was part of another convoy that I was passing. The MPs had to do some quick traffic control to make sure a chain reaction didn’t start with the rest of the tankers in the convoy. Traffic was diverted to the south bound lane to bypass the enormous fire. I’ve learned to trust instincts I never knew I had to avert many dangerous conditions that I’ve come across. I guess the Army has taught me a few things!

I’m still living in a tent. Its working out fine. Most of us have used blankets to section off makeshift rooms for ourselves. I’m worried about the rainy season to start. (Yes there is a rainy season) I guess that we should expect flash floods and our tents to leak. YEAH!!! There are 10 squad members in the tent and we all get along for the most part. Whenever you put a group of people together under these circumstances you should expect some friction. The Army has a three year plan to get barracks built on the base. That doesn’t do our unit any good but some soldiers will enjoy them.

I will continue to keep all of you updated on my daily adventures. Thanks for all of the letters and care packages. I’ll write again soon. Take care.

Koka Sexton.

Additional Posts you may like:

Soldiers life: CBS interview

Koka Sexton — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:52:00 +0000

http://cbs5.com/news/local/2004/07/07/Are_Troops_Streched_Too_Thin_in_Iraq%3F.html

Some Democrats are raising concerns about the troops in service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wednesday, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-MO, said he fears service members are being pushed to the breaking point.

It’s a concern that was echoed by one Bay Area soldier who recently returned from Iraq. Army Reserve Sgt. Koka Sexton of the San Jose-based 341st Military Police returned to a joyous homecoming at Moffet Field last month. But he had believed he was to return to the U.S. three months prior. Five days before he was supposed to come home, he got new orders to stay.

“The unit was heartbroken,” Sexton said.

Sexton’s emotional and articulate emails were copied and forwarded throughout the world — especially the one in which he told his family his military unit was being kept in Iraq beyond their expected one year duty. It meant another three months of combat patrols, dodging hidden roadside bombs, and almost hopelessly trying to keep Iraqi drivers from getting killed in the explosions meant for him.

“The best way I can explain it, if you were driving down 680 and there is north and southbound lanes, if northbound was closed, they’d just continue north in the southbound lanes and just really screw everything up,” Sexton said.

Sexton says the U.S. military is spread so thin in Iraq that he and his fellow soldiers found it hard to believe they were going home, even as they prepared to board the plane to leave.

“I remember standing on the tarmac and looking at our plane… and thinking, ‘They can still tell us we’re staying,’” Sexton said.

And there’s no guarantee they won’t be ordered back.

“It could happen. I do think about it,” Sexton said. “I try not to talk about it with my fiancee, my family. But I know it’s in the back of everybody’s minds.”

Sexton says he hopes it was all worth it — that ten years from now, he can look back and say he had a part in something that turned out well. But he also says that right now there’s no way to tell which way it will go.

Additional Posts you may like:

Soldiers life: SF Chronicle article

Koka Sexton — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:52:00 +0000

They survived blinding sandstorms, suffocating heat, deadly ambushes and roadside bombs.

But five days before they were scheduled to leave Iraq and put the year’s heartache and hardship behind them, a company of Bay Area soldiers was defeated by an unlikely source: a phone call.

It came on a Thursday in late April. Unit members had turned in their weapons. Bags were packed. Jobs, families and vacations awaited them. Homecomings were planned, posters made, food ordered.

The Army reservists of the 341st Military Police Company out of San Jose were told to unpack. The Pentagon had extended their stay in Iraq by 120 days, the company’s second extension.

Now the resentment — and sense of betrayal — is building.

Sgt. Catrina Hernandez, 22, of South San Francisco, a member of the 341st, said in an e-mail from a military base in the heart of Iraq’s hot spot, the Sunni triangle, that the homecoming reversal was like “having your heart torn out, stomped on and then given back to you.”

“I am proud of my service in Iraq,” Hernandez wrote. “I’m proud to be a soldier and an American. I just wish that we were treated with fairness. We fight to keep America safe, yet when our service is done, we get stepped on.”

Interviews with soldiers in Iraq and their families back home also reveal rising anger and fear. There is a belief the soldiers are on a treacherous journey with no clear ending. And there are questions about the Pentagon’s increased reliance on “citizen soldiers” or “weekend warriors” such as those of the 341st.

Of the 20,000 troops who received orders to remain in Iraq for at least 90 days, about a quarter of them are in the National Guard or Army Reserve. These soldiers are serving in the largest and longest mobilization of reservists since World War II. Of the 764 total fatalities in Iraq as of Saturday, about 100 were citizen soldiers.

In the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom, reservists and National Guardsmen made up about 25 percent of troops in Iraq. Their number is expected to reach 40 percent by 2005. More than 7,800 Guardsmen and reservists from California are in Iraq.

The men and women of the 341st, whose stories have been told in The Chronicle since the unit’s activation in March 2003, say they will follow orders. But, unlike the active-duty troops in the regular Army, who also pay a heavy price during war, these citizen soldiers gave up their jobs and personal lives believing they’d be home after a traditional six-month mobilization.

The unit arrived in Iraq last May with 163 members and now has 145. Attrition came from illnesses, medical conditions and battlefield injuries. The unit has not had a fatality. The reservists originally were told they would be in Iraq for six months. Then they were told their service would be complete on April 10. Families had planned a grand homecoming in San Jose for April 26.

In an e-mail, Sgt. Joshua Clark, a 22-year-old from Sacramento, wrote that “all of us timed it just right, saying we will make it to this date.” Clark and others now wonder how long the luck and pluck that kept them alive can last. The unit faces its second summer in Iraq, a reality that makes Clark feel listless, like a spectator watching heat rise in the desert.

“We know that we could have been home this summer,” Clark wrote. “This meant heading back to school, returning to work and spending time with kids who are out of school for the summer.”

Clark added: “I know I cannot compare my time to others who have served in Vietnam and the world wars, so please don’t get me wrong. I will do my duty to the best of my ability. It is just hard in this day and age to be a reservist. We are frustrated because we served our time and did not complain. But there has to be an end to all the madness.”

The date for returning home was everything to the soldiers of the 341st. It was the face of a baby known only from photos; the joyful tears of a parent who jumped each time there was a knock on the door; the arms of a wife who smiled to the public but cried herself to sleep. It was a job, school, sigh of relief.

The date was the reason for working weeks at a time without a day off, navigating roadside bombs, and coping with civilian casualties. It was a finish line that was yanked just as the troops neared. In a way, it was the adrenaline that kept them alert, the amulet that kept them alive.

The reservists from the 341st are high school teachers, real estate agents, mechanics, computer technicians, students, firefighters, police officers, adventurers. They were stationed in Iraq at Camp Anaconda, between Baghdad and Tikrit, where unit members provided military and convoy escorts along supply routes.

“Most of us have become numb to the carnage we experience on an almost daily basis,” wrote Sgt. Koka Sexton, a 28-year-old from Concord who worked in software sales before deployment.

“I have been hit by numerous explosives along convoy routes and had to react to ambushes by men armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades,” Sexton wrote from Iraq. “I’ve had to tend to civilian contractors who had their vehicles ripped apart by roadside bombs and to collect the personal effects of the men that were not so fortunate.”

He said the unit that trained, lived and fought together for a year is now being split into four units. One is on patrol in Fallujah, he said.

Standing on the nail-biting sidelines are family members.

A town hall meeting was held recently in San Jose to bring military leaders and family members together. During two meetings lasting several hours each, relatives of soldiers in the 341st and the 211 Transportation Company —

whose duty also was extended — vented frustrations and sought answers.

The 341st and 211 are part of the 63rd Regional Support Command, which has control of 14,000 soldiers serving in 140 units in California, Arizona and Nevada. Maj. Gen. Robert Ostenberg, the top commander of the 63rd, listened patiently, smiled often, answered at length and didn’t break a sweat — despite the stifling heat and his starched military uniform.

The questions ranged from how to extend powers of attorney that have now expired to what to tell children about the mom or dad who was supposed to be home by now. There were questions about how the soldiers will vote if they are still in Iraq during elections and how to keep family businesses alive. There were military attorneys, chaplains and psychologists on hand.

“If the military can pull the plug on their departure five days before they’re supposed to come home, I don’t know what to tell my kids,” said Lori Fishburn, whose husband is Capt. Jay Fishburn, head of the 341st in Iraq. “My 10-year-old son says, ‘They got us all ready and then they didn’t let it happen. It was one big fat lie.’ ”

There was one question asked repeatedly and plaintively. It hung over the room long after the snacks and drinks were carted away.

“When is my son coming home?” asked a teary-eyed Myrna Wolfe, whose son Spc. William Wolfe, 20, is a member of the 341st. He is now on patrol around Fallujah. She views the homecoming reversal as a “slap in the face” and says the extensions have put the family’s lives on hold.

“I couldn’t have made it through this without my husband,” said Wolfe, wiping under her eyes.

“Originally, they were told they’d be gone six to seven months, then it was extended to one year,” Bill Wolfe said of the 341st. “His year was up. He was planning to go back to college. We had paid for a trip to Hawaii. Now our son says, ‘Don’t plan on seeing me until Christmas.’ ”

Maj. Gen. Ostenberg said he understands the families’ and soldiers’ frustrations. He explained that federal law allows the military to keep soldiers on involuntary active duty for up to
two years. But, he said, he will “keep the pressure” on his higher-ups to get his soldiers home.

“I was in the Vietnam War, and my duty was extended,” he said. “I empathize with the soldiers. I know the challenge they face, of keeping their mind focused.”

Ostenberg said his own mother coped in part by accepting the unpredictability of war. “My mother said, ‘We’ll see you when we see you.’ ”

Such stoicism has eluded Marjorie Carino, whose husband, Paulo, is serving with the 341st. She gave birth to their first child last May. Since then, her husband has spent 10 days at home.

“He’s missed almost everything with the baby,” Carino said from her home in San Jose. “She knows her daddy from his picture.”

Carino’s mother and father moved from Hawaii to help with their granddaughter. They know their daughter is suffering.

Carino tries to hide her tears. She wants to be strong. She knows her husband is doing the same.

“Whenever Paulo calls, he tells me the only thing keeping him sane is talking to me,” said Carino, who is 28 and working on a nursing degree. “We’ve been married for five years in December and we’re still in the love phase. I just want him around all the time.

“Every night I go to sleep holding the phone, praying he will call. My husband is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

E-mail Julian Guthrie at jguthrie@sfchronicle.com.