The Underground Onus

    Military bases in Iraq generally have one of four types of names: a name honoring a fallen soldier, a name glorifying the fighting spirit (Warrior, Warhorse, Danger), a name expounding American values (Liberty, Freedom) or the name of the city in which its in (Taji, Ramadi).   One base I was on, FOB Brassfield-Mora is a combination of two names, Spc Artimus D. Brassfield and Jose L. Mora (5 different Moras have died in Iraq) who both died in during  mortar attacks in October 2003.  Its happens to be only name which I can associate with an eye witness’ account.  My old sergeant major was the eye witness.  He told our entire Brigade what happened that day to get us mentally prepared for our second tour.  Hearing him speak humanized the names.  I might have known that it represent fallen soldiers but a memorial doesn’t embed the story into your head like a real life survivor’s tale.  Now, every time I hear the name “Brassfield-Mora” I recall my sergeant major’s story.  Before, I just thought of an Army-run chow hall and giant mounds of rotting corn.  People who’ve been there know what I’m talking about.

    During the same tour of duty that I lived on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Brassfield-Mora, I also lived on FOB Speicher. But I never knew the story behind the name.  It sounded more like something involving a Spike than someone’s name.  No one every explained it to me.  And I never encountered a memorial.  

    A week and a half ago, I learned about the man behind the name.  The informant was the Foreign Policy Magazine blog post.  Turns out, Michael “Scott” Speicher was the first official casualty of the gulf war.  He was a F/A-18 Hornet pilot who was shot down over Iraqi airspace.  The FP post explains, along with accompanying news articles (here, here) that Speicher was declared killed in action by the DoD but the decision was recently reversed by a Naval Review board.   The articles mention Dick Cheney, then Secretary of Defense, as the decider of for the classification.  

    The story bothers me because I was indoctrinated as a soldier to believe that you “never leave a fallen comrade.”  Its embedded into the Soldiers Creed.   I don’t understand why the DOD didn’t spent more time looking for the downed aircraft.  I don’t believe that our United States Air Force and Navy would have failed to find it, if it were given the proper priority in the immediate aftermath.  And if the real reason is due to lack of any type of search as the articles suggest then the story of Michael “Scott” Speicher represents a regretful failure of our military leaders.  Read the story, tell me what you think.  

    Its spooky to think about the possibility of Michael Speicher, the man to which the base owes its name, surviving this long in a hostile Iraq.  Its enough to keep Naval Commanders up at night.