An Iraq Veteran’s View On Scheisshaus Luck

Over the weekend I received an e-mail from an Iraq veteran.  I was so moved by his words that I asked him to expand on his thoughts because I wanted to share them with all my friends here. 

During the struggle to find a publisher I heard over and over again that my memoir wasn’t topical.  Yes, it happen a long time ago, but the Holocaust just like the killing fields of Cambodia and the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia will always be relevant to whatever current wars and genocides that are taking place.

Justin Mays just came back from Iraq.  Here is his explanation of his job in the military:

“My job title in the navy is “Operations Specialist”. Normally I would be onboard a ship operating radar systems and providing navigation information, or providing targeting information to the weapons systems. I’ve taken some different assignments that put me on the ground quite a bit. I spent 7 months in Djibouti (one of the hottest places on earth, often over 120F). I got out of the navy in July 2005 after serving nealry 5 years. I got my associates degree, met my wife, and was in the process of buying our first home when the Navy called me back to duty for a tour in Iraq. “Mrs. Mays” and I got married, canceled the purchase of our home, and I deployed 9 days later. The nature of my work was often times classified, but the parts I can discuss were equally interesting as those I cannot. I provided a relay between troops on the ground and aircraft in order to give the ground guys a birds-eye view of the mission. Often times the terrorists would be on rooftops and the aircraft would be able to direct troops to them in order to avoid sniper fire. Other times I would be aiding in hostage rescue, or special operations missions. My time in Africa was a humanitarian mission (win hearts and minds so as to prevent fertile ground for the terrorists ever-expanding recruitment). We were building churches, schools, helping orphanages, and immunizing the farm animals of the locals.”

 Here is the e-mail he sent me after reading my memoir:

 “Dear Pierre,

 I just finished your book, it made for a long night, but I couldn’t put it down.  Scheisshaus Luck would have really surprised me about 10 years ago, but after the things I saw in Iraq and Africa… well it’s like you said in your book, we just seem doomed to repeat history. With most of the planet wanting so badly to pretend that the Holocaust never happened, it’s sure to be repeated again. The amazing thing is, the events you personalized in Scheisshaus Luck are not some piece of a history from long, long ago; equally shocking events happen every day in the world around us.

 I was stationed in Djibouti (Horn of Africa) and saw the bodies of the child armies. They were often missing limbs from the land mines, and most of these children are well acquainted with the AK-47 (it’s not a rarity to see a child holding one). It’s common for feuding tribes to landmine border territory and not bother to remove the mines when the fight is over. These mines often look like toys, so the children are the ones who discover them.

 Poverty breeds derangement of the human mind. Police rape women, the entire Djiboutian population seems to enjoy the one leisure activity they have, the drug khat (which is a stimulant that can result in hallucinations and emotional instability). When you add to this a food shortage and the ever-abundant AK-47, it is no wonder that tragedy is the largest African export.

 While in Africa, I also studied the Rwanda genocide and it just seems that the rest of the world wants to pretend these things don’t happen. During the mid 1990’s almost a million (or more depending on who you believe) souls were destroyed in the most barbaric ways. Families and neighbors were pitted against one another, and the fighting was often carried out with machetes. This happened and is a testament to the dangers of apathy. This same apathy is what propagates an alarming number of our population to simply wish away atrocity. We seem to think that if we wish hard enough these events will “unhappen”.

 While I was stationed in Baghdad I saw first hand some of the amazingly horrific things Saddam and his sons had brought on their people. I was especially disturbed by the lion’s cages where they are rumored to have fed people to ravaged lions. I read about the execution of failed Olympians, raped-women, and men who were murdered based on some threat that Saddam could think up. These events are mind numbing, but it’s not the events that cause me such alarm, but rather our reaction to them.

 The way the human body can be nothing to someone else is troubling. Dehumanization is one of the best-kept secrets in military history. Most people have a build in resistance to killing other people. It was discovered long ago that in order to have an effective military, you must dehumanize the enemy (i.e. “Japs” “Charlie” “Commi-bastards”). How many times have we seen Iraqi bodies on TV and not batted an eye? Yet we scream and cry foul when the body of a dead American service member makes the airwaves on Al Jazeera.

 As I read your book it seems like your goal was to make sure the story is told, to make sure people remember these were human beings we’re talking about, not numbers. That is the impression it made upon me. It brought me to reflect a moment on the monumental number of families that were torn apart. Friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and the innocence of an entire planet were just gone… all done in the name of power. These people left shadows. These people had favorite restaurants, they told funny stories, they gave great hugs, they took first steps, they had bad hair days, they held grandchildren high, they kissed lovers, they had picnics on summer days, and they were murdered. Do we close your book and pause a minute before lying down to sleep? Do we turn the page in our mind and pretend this was “once upon a time”? We will see. As you surmised, history indicates that we will show the social memory of a goldfish.

Powerful book you wrote my friend, powerful indeed. You put a face to the shadows. I’ve traveled the world. I’ve been to some of the places you mentioned. You put a taste on the pages in the history books. We could tell stories for 20 years and never do justice to the events you recalled with such honest clarity. When I think about what we lost in those days I feel the emptiness in my chest expand a bit more. We will never know the true cost we as a society have, and continue to pay. I’ll recommend Scheisshaus Luck to everyone I know. Yours is a powerful story. I hope you’ve found some peace.

 Your Friend,

Justin Mays”

Justin, one of the things that gives me peace these days is finding so many young people like yourself who do care, who really want to make this a better place for everyone on this planet.  And sometimes it is as simple as making sure you’ve educated yourself before choosing the leader of your country.

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