Mementos, Diversions, Extra Gear:

[thedrifter]

Mementos, Diversions, Extra Gear:
What Soldiers Carry to War
By U.S. Army Spc. M. William Petersen

MUTLAA RIDGE, Kuwait ? Ask any soldier what his or her most important piece of gear is, and most will reply, ?my rifle,? or ?my protective mask.?

But when asked what non-issued item is most important, each soldier in 11th Signal Brigade has other answers, and sometimes stories behind it.

Some soldiers have utilitarian items they can?t live without. While many soldiers carry multitools, such as those made by Leatherman or Swiss Army, and Camel Backs?, portable water carriers, that they refuse to part with, others have more unusual items they brought to the desert.

?I don?t like to walk a lot, and with my job, this makes moving around from job site to job site a lot faster,? Sgt. Jeffrey Kilgo, an air conditioner repairman with 19th Signal Company, about the mountain bike he brought to Camp Udairi. Kilgo commutes to and from his work sites on the bike. ?It?s a lot easier to park than a HMMWV, and it?s good exercise. So instead of using a truck, I use a bike.?

One item today?s soldiers are bringing to the field that their predecessors didn?t have is a laptop computer.

?I use my laptop for everything,? said Spc. Robert Topchi, a ?cable dog? with 69th Signal Company. ?It?s good for games, pictures and keeping a diary. It?s all of that in one package.?

The free time he has is often easily occupied with his favorite game on the laptop, Diablo. Other soldiers have also found a pleasant diversions in video games while deployed, some bringing handheld games and others toting full-size systems along. Sgt. Robert George of 11th Signal Brigade brought his PlayStation game system with him and considers it indispensable.

Many soldiers have found a temporary escape from their surroundings in music.

?My CD player is the most important thing to me because I?ve got to have my music to get me out of here,? said Sgt. Ramiro Padilla of 385th Signal Company.

Unfortunately, the sand and rough handling his CDs endured at Mutlaa Ridge, Kuwait, left many of Padilla?s collection of Spanish music -- Azul Azul, Mana and Molotov -- discs beaten beyond repair.

For Pfc. Chris Van Horn of 19th Signal Company, his music helps him drown-out the sounds of his tentmates. ?There are more than 50 guys in the tent, so it gets loud,? Van Horn said. ?I can go to sleep with my CD player on.?

Soldiers looking for a quieter diversion have turned to books. Sgt. Eric Greenwood of 385th Signal Company brought a large stack of books when he deployed to Kuwait nearly a year ago. Now stationed at Mutlaa Ridge, Greenwood has already read more than 50 books and is in the process of ordering more.

? I read whatever I can get my hands on,? Greenwood said. ?It eats up time. We also do correspondence courses, CLEP tests and college courses while we?re here.?

Staff Sgt. Lin MacCollum, noncommissioned officer-in-charge for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Signal Brigade, has a different memento that he carried overseas with him. Perched on a shelf in his wall locker at Camp Doha, Kuwait, is a small stuffed dog with a leprechaun pinned to its collar.

?When my wife and I got married in Tombstone, Ariz., it was given to me to carry over the border to Iraq if I go,? MacCollum said. ?I see it as a reminder of my wedding day as well as a good luck charm.?

Spc. Carl Manzano, a light-wheel vehicle mechanic with HHC, 11th Sig. Bde., is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. His good-luck charm, a baseball cap, has been deployed to the Persian Gulf before.

? This hat?s been here before,? he said. ?It?s pretty beat-up now, so I don?t wear it all the time, but it?s my lucky hat.?

The hat acts as a reminder of Manzano?s hobby: he is an avid outrigger canoeist, which is a hobby not readily available in the desert.

Other soldiers carry reminders of their loved ones. Many have pictures hanging by their bunks, like Cpl. Raymond Hookfin, another mechanic with HHC 11th Sig. Bde.

?The pictures are important to me because I know I still have something to go home to,? said Hookfin, pointing at photos of his girlfriend. ?She?s going to be the next Mrs. Hookfin.?

Pfc. Robert Speed, microwave systems analyst with 11th Sig. Bde., wears his reminder everywhere he goes. ?We got engaged 20 days before I joined up,? said Speed, raising his engagement ring up. ?It helps me think about my fianc? and remember some of the good things in life.?

Another ring-carrying soldier, Spc. Kenneth Dabney, a signal support systems specialist with 11th Sig. Bde., wears his wife?s wedding band and his newborn son?s first ring on a chain around his neck.

When Sgt. David Lee Miller, a signal support systems NCO, was asked what he values most, he pulled out a small laminated news article. ?One year after my grandfather died, my dad wrote a [memoriam] into the newspapers,? Miller said. ?It became my good luck charm.

?We were very close,? Miller said about his grandfather. ?He was a father figure when I was growing up. This is a way to always keep him there. He?s gone, but not forgotten.?



Sempers,

Roger