Pennsylvania is currently mobilizing its largest contingent of National Guard since World War II.  My unit, the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is currently at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, getting it in gear for deployment to Iraq.

A few weeks prior to mobilization, I worked feverishly to have a lay program put together.  The Aleph Institute was particularly helpful with materials, especially those for the High Holidays.  I had a long-running conversation with some chaplains about getting a program going for M-Day Soldiers at Fort Indiantown Gap, but lack of time and resources, as well as a steady flow of personnel that would make it worth the while.

I had a running checklist for mobilization:
Materials.  Check.
Command support.  Check.
Facilities.  Check

Interested personnel.  Notsomuch.  I met a lieutenant while in the midst of some training.  He was born in Israel, called himself “lapsed,” but indicated some interest in services.

It has turned more into an exercise in ecumenism, as I draw a mostly non-Jewish crowd.  2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry’s chaplain and his assistant have been enormously helpful in meeting the needs of one fellow and his aspirations for a dynamic program during our unit’s mobilization.  They, however, cannot control two factors that seem to detract:

1.  Our particular Guard unit, both with training schedules and command climate, does not place an emphasis on *any* religious observance.  This may be a result of trying to capitalize on the available weekend training days in the normal Guard schedule.  Troops subsequently have no expectation of observance, and thus do not even ask.  Chaplains are going to great lengths to make services available, too, so it is a shame that spirituality seems on the decline in the Guard.  I would be interested if other Guard/Reserve members note similar circumstances.
2.  The need for private time/personel space.  For many of our soldiers, living literally right on top of one another inclines troops not to want to walk a mile to the brigade chapel.  At the end of their duty day, they want to retreat to their hole and forget about things that are green for a little while.  I can’t fault them.

Many of our guys coming from Benning are familiar with the lay program, even the non-Jews.  In a Guard mobilization, one would hope that a regular cast of characters would develop for a program.  We are less transient than a training/indoctrination post, and in cantonement, we are conveniently all together as a brigade.

If anyone has time, success or notsomuch success stories on lay-run programs would be fascinating.

From Mississippi, l’Shanah Tovah and G’mar tov,
Sergeant K

Editor’s note:  I mobilized with Aleph Institute’s nice Chumash and Tehillim, which have military covers and are of convenient size for deployment, and I imagine were printed some time between 1941 and today.  Jews in the uniform should know of all their available resources.

As young Jewish troops went off to serve in World War I, they received Tanachs from the Jewish Publication Society to take with them overseas. As World War II loomed, once again Jews in the military were supplied not only with their gear, but also the 1941 JPS translation of the Hebrew Bible.

Now, for the first time since the early 1940s, and just in time for the High Holidays, the Philadelphia-based publishing company, in partnership with the Jewish Welfare Board Chaplains Council, has printed 10,000 copies of the JPS Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures for Jewish Personnel in the Armed Forces of the United States.

More here.

US: Jewish Army trainee says he was beaten

Pvt. Michael Handman says knocked unconscious by fellow soldier days after he complained of religious discrimination. Army officials at Fort Benning investigating claims

Associated Press Published:  10.03.08, 20:28 / Israel News

Army officials at Fort Benning are investigating the claims of a Jewish soldier in basic training who says he was beaten days after complaining of religious discrimination.

Pvt. Michael Handman of Atlanta says another soldier punched him in the head and knocked him unconscious in an unprovoked attack Sept. 24. He was treated for a concussion.

Handman wrote to his parents before the attack that he was being discriminated against. He said one sergeant used an anti-Semitic slur and another ordered him to remove his yarmulke in a dining hall.

Fort Benning spokeswoman Monica Manganaro says an Army private is being held on suspicion of attacking Handman, but he has not been charged.

She said investigators do not believe the attack was linked to religious prejudice. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3604958,00.html

Click here for the article body, or here for the audio.  You can also read NPR’s interview with General Schwartz here.

I’m not sure about the comparison to Mr. Spock — what is NPR trying to say, that all Semites look alike? — but General Schwartz’s biography is extremely exciting, and we are accordingly very proud of his achievement, and what he will do for the Air Force.  The Navy always boasts about how much of the world is covered in water, but 100% of the earth is covered in air.  The possibilities are positively endless.

Schwartz will hang a framed copy of a Time magazine essay — titled “The Essence of Courage"— on his office wall. It’s a moving piece by the late Hugh Sidey about that failed Iran hostage rescue and the mettle of the men who took part.

“I recommend you Google it,” Schwartz says quietly. “Because it will tell you a lot about what I believe in.”

What he believes in is the ethos of the special operator, the term for the military’s elite commandos on the ground and in the air. It’s stayed with him as he moved on to staff jobs, then took over the U.S. Transportation Command — a somewhat mundane job of making sure troops and equipment make it overseas.

From Aish.com, Chaplain Shulman writes about his experiences and his homecoming.

This was moving:

Once at the morgue, I asked one of the young soldiers who worked there if I could sit for awhile with the body, in accordance with ancient Jewish tradition.

A young private walked me down the hall to a small room, where four large gurneys seemed to fill every bit of space, save for a giant ice machine that took up the entire back wall.

On three of the gurneys lay black plastic body bags. A lifeless arm lay on the fourth, still in its camouflage sleeve. The Army doesn’t risk the chance of error in the awful task of match-up, so detached limbs and body parts are sent along separately for conclusive DNA testing.

The soldier showed me to my Jewish casualty—the body bag hadn’t been zipped up yet. I sat in a chair next to him and recited Psalms while they filled plastic bags of ice, and steam-cleaned the creases out of the American flag that would drape over the transfer case for the plane ride.

I looked at the body bags and thought about the three women back home, who’d probably just received news right about then that they were now young widows, single mothers of fatherless children. The three little girls in Idaho and the two little boys in Colorado who’d have to stop crossing off dates on the calendar, waiting for Daddy to come home.

I thought of the parents who were soon to get the phone call letting them know the baby they’d carried home from the hospital, taught to ride a bike, watched graduate from high school, get married and start a family of his own, was coming home on an Air Force plane in a metal box, packed in ice, paperwork fitted neatly in a large manila envelope, his last name written across it with a black, felt-tipped marker, taped to the inside of the lid to avoid any chance of mistaken identity.

At that moment, sitting in the makeshift mortuary, so noticeably quiet, with three bulging body bags and an arm for company, I realized that it’s time to go home.

Enjoy your homecoming, sir.  You’ve earned it!

This article includes the oratory that was done to Honor my grand-daughter A1C Elizabeth N. Jacobson at the ALS Graduation at Patrick Air Force Base. They had dedicated the graduation to Elizabeth and presented a flag to me. Two ALS graduates of the 45th Security Forces Squadron, SrA Christopher Ward who put this all together to honor Elizabeth and SSgt Hollie Null did the Flag Folding. I am printing exactly what was written, as they did all their own research to make this presentation. Much of this was obtained from the web site http://www.airmanjacobson.com.

It started like this: “Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. This afternoon, Class 08-5 would like to Honor A1C Elizabeth Jacobson. Throughout this Nation’s proud history, it is the love of Country, Freedom, and fellowman that brought so many before us to make the ultimate sacrifice, and, it is with great Honor that we stand before you this afternoon, and proudly continue to defend this Freedom and our very way of Life.

FIRST FOLD: A1C Elizabeth Nicole Jacobson, a 21 year old from Riviera Beach, FL, joined our great Air Force after the September 11th terrorist attacks knowing we were at war fighting
global terrorism. This great warrior joined with one of our more direct combatant career fields, Security Forces, as a Defender - a Defender of Freedom.

SECOND FOLD: on December 9th, 2003, Airman Jacobson arrived at Goodfellow AFB. From the very first day, she was complimented on her positive attitude and her never ending smile. Airman Jacobson found herself on the gate more than she would really admit she wanted to be. She was always smiling, happy and full of energy, no matter the time of day or night, no matter what the weather.

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By ANNIE TASKER
Bucks County Courier Times

For Rabbi Jon Cutler, working life is markedly different these days than it was at Warrington synagogue Congregation Tiferes B’nai Israel.

Cutler, 52, now commutes by helicopter, hefting a few more pounds of equipment than his back can comfortably handle. His new synagogue was established, in part, with the help of civilian contractors. There is no Wegmans down the street for buying the Passover matzah; holiday supplies come from the care packages of doting congregants thousands of miles away.

Such is the new life of Cutler, the head chaplain of Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq’s Anbar province. In January, the Flourtown resident and U.S. Navy reservist began a 13-month deployment and was charged with overseeing 23 other chaplains. He’s back home in Pennsylvania on leave for the next few weeks.

Though the military’s Jewish population is relatively small, and Cutler’s duties involve counseling people of all religions, he said he has found people of his faith everywhere.

“Even in the far corners of Iraq, there are Jewish personnel,” Cutler said.

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UPDATE: In regards to a request, in the near future I’ll break out this list for Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Other/Unknown, with each list ordered alphabetically.  “Other/Unknown” could encapsulate garrison and Horn of Africa casualties, may there be none, so as not to diminish the sacrifice of any Jewish service member during the Global War on Terror.

I think it’s appropriate to remember our Jewish service members who have given all in the Global War on Terror.  If I missed any names, I do apologize.

For families of the deceased:  Ha’makom yenahem etkhem betokh she’ar avelei Tziyon vi’Yerushalayim.

Lieutenant JG Darin Pontell, USN Intel - Perished in the Pentagon attack on 9/11.
1st Lt. Daniel Farkas, NY National Guard, New York
Senior Airman Jonathan Yelner, USAF, California
Sergeant Steven M. Budeysky, Army, Chicago
Captain Robert Michael Secher, Marine, Tennessee
Specialist Daniel Agami, US Army, Florida
Sergeant Howard Paul Allen, Arizona Army National Guard
Airman 1st Class Elizabeth N. Jacobson, Air Force, Florida
Corporal Albert Bitton, US Army, Chicago
Private First Class Colin J. Wolfe, Marines, Virginia
Specialist Benyahmin Ben Yahudah, Army, Georgia
Specialist Daniel J. Freeman, US Army, Cincinatti
Sergeant Michael Shackelford, US Army, Denver
Sergeant Alan D. Sherman, Marines, New Jersey
Captain Michael Tarlavsky, 5th Special Forces Group, US Army
Corporal Dustin Schrage, Marine, Florida
Lieutenant Seth Dvorin, New Jersey
Petty Officer Nathan Bruckenthal, Coast Guard, New York
1st Lieutenant David Bernstein, Army, Pennsylvania
Sergeant Foster Harrington, Marine, Texas
1stLt Andrew K. Stern, Marines, Tennessee
Cpl Mark A. Evnin, Marines,Vermont
Cpl Michael R. Cohen, Marines, Penn
LCpl Mark E. Engel, Marines, Colorado
Sgt Elijah Wong, Army, Arizona (Nat. Guard)
Sgt Aron C. Blum, Marines, Arizona
PFC Jacob S. Fletcher, Army, New York
SPC Jeffery Wershow, Army, Florida (Nat. Guard)
Major Mark Rosenberg, Army, Florida
Major Stuart A. Wolfer, Army, Idaho
1stLt Nathan M. Krissoff, Marines, Nevada
SPC Marc S. Seiden, Army, New Jersey

From the Post-Gazette.

Jewish war veterans to meet, visit and give back to the city
Monday, August 11, 2008
By Abra Metz-Dworkin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Clarence “Code” Gomberg, a World War II veteran and Pittsburgh native, is Allegheny commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, a group he has been involved with since he returned from active duty in 1948.

Mr. Gomberg was stationed with the 343rd Medical Battalion in Europe during the war, where he served as a quartermaster on a hospital train that covered France, the Netherlands and Belgium.

“It was like a MASH unit,” he said. “Every time we ran a trip we picked up 450 patients—from first-aid stations, field hospitals, off the roads or in fields—and escorted them back to a port.”

This week, Mr. Gomberg will gather with more than 700 members of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America expected to attend the 113th annual national convention at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown. The organization predates the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said Edwin Goldwasser, convention chairman and former commander of the group.

The oldest continually active veterans organization in the nation, founded in 1896 as the Hebrew Union Veterans Organization to combat anti-Semitism, the group adopted its current name after World War II.

The organization has roughly 100,000 members nationally, said its current commander, Larry Schulman.

With more than 25 million veterans living in America today, and 800,000 returned soldiers from the war in Iraq, “there is a lot to catch up with,” said U.S. Rep. Robert Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

A native of Pittsburgh, Mr. Filner is the son of a Jewish war veteran who owned the former Filner’s Bakery in Squirrel Hill. Now a resident of San Diego, he has served 16 years on the veterans’ affairs committee. He said his Thursday morning speech to the convention will address funding for a new GI Bill, mental health care for newly returned veterans and attention to previously overlooked veterans.

A full-day tour of the city will start the convention today, with a reception honoring the 50th anniversary of the National Museum of American Jewish Military History to follow.

From a Pirates game tomorrow night to a dinner cruise along the three rivers, convention delegates will enjoy local attractions amid presentations from speakers including Dr. Michael Kussman, undersecretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs; Maj. Gen. Jessica L. Wright, the state adjutant general; and Maj. Gen. Baruch Levy, chairman of the Israeli Defense Forces Veterans of War Association.

Funded by private contributions, fund-raising efforts and dues collected from active members, the organization contributes to its host cities. Local branches also fund housing projects for veterans.

In 1980, local Post 318 constructed a veterans home and senior high-rise in Monroeville, East Borough Apartments, which still is in use today. In 1992, Post 318 and the Department of Veterans Affairs collaborated on a second housing development, Veterans Place on Washington Boulevard, which grew into a row of houses designated for homeless veterans.

The veterans will be giving back to Pittsburgh—charitable projects include teddy bear fund-raisers for Children’s Hospital, fire and police departments; cell phone drives for victims of violence; and Make-A-Wish gifts to VA Hospital or Ronald McDonald House patients.

“When we come to a city,” said Mr. Goldwasser, “we bring to the city.”

By Lt. Col. Jackie Brill Crothers, USAFR (retired)

In December of 2006 I retired from the Air Force Reserve after almost 30 years of service, both active duty and Reserves, enlisted and officer.  The last 15 years or so of my service was served at or from Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts as a squadron commander of four different squadrons; Services, Maintenance, Maintenance Operations and Logistics Readiness.  During that time I also spent six weeks as Deputy Commander of Moron AB in Spain.  While I am proud of the things I have done in my Air Force career, and grateful for having my life enriched so from all of these experiences, I am most proud of my family.

My husband served in the active duty Air Force for 24 years, as a Supply Superintendent and an In-flight re-fueler (boom operator) on a KC-135.

My Daughter, Beth, is a Tech Sgt with the Command Post at Westover.  This assignment follows six years of active duty during which she was stationed at Travis Air Force Base.  During that time, she did tours in Korea and Russia and was deployed three times to rather exciting destinations in the Mid-East, the last of which was in Iraq.

But we come from a long line of military service.  My mother, Frances Abrams (Brill) wanted desperately to serve after Pearl Harbor, but she was too young.  At that time, women were not allowed in the military until they were 21.  So, while she awaited her 21st birthday, she volunteered as a spotter in Boston.  From there she and her friend went to Connecticut to work at a Sekorsky aircraft manufacturing plant.  My Mom was actually “Rosie the Riveter!” She did finally enlist and was stationed in Tallahassee, Florida until the war ended.

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