UL coverage of 197th Fires Brigade, March 2011

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March 13, 2011

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Death toll up; nuke concerns spreading

MEETING THE TROOPS IN KUWAIT

Reminders of home on a far-away mission

Japan earthquake: Experts estimate

.

This is the first in a series of articles by awardwinning reporter-photographer Shawne K. Wickham. The series will continue Monday through Friday this week in the New Hampshire Union Leader, followed by more coverage next Sunday and a special section March 27.

up to 160 people may have been exposed to radiation.

By CHRIS MEYERS and KIM KYUNGHOON Reuters

By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM New Hampshire Sunday News

SENDAI, Japan — Japan faced a fresh radiation threat at an earthquake-crippled nuclear plant on Sunday after the cooling system failed at a second reactor in what could be the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

The previous day, thousands were evacuated after an explosion and leak from the facility’s No. 1 reactor in Fukushima, 150 miles north of Tokyo.

Strong aftershocks continued to shake Japan’s main island as the desperate search pressed on for survivors from Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami, and the REUTERS death toll was A woman carries belongings expected to rise. from her tsunami-stricken Media reports say home in Rikuzentakata, it is likely to ex- Japan, on Saturday. ceed 1,800.

Nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said radiation levels around the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen above the safety limit, but it did not mean an “immediate threat” to human health.

It said earlier it was preparing to vent steam to

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait

A

GRENADE-TOTING GNOME, an unlikely patch of grass and the New Hampshire flag flying proudly: Members of the New Hampshire National Guard serving here in the desert are surrounded by small but cherished reminders of home.

Lt. Col. Daniel Wilson is the executive officer of the Guard’s 197th FAB, the third in command here. He’s from Concord, and he didn’t come to Kuwait alone.

At a mission NEW HAMPSHIRE briefing for a reporter, Wilson IN manages to hold onto the dignity befitting his rank as he sets a green gnome holding a grenade in the center of the conference table. It’s a gift from his family, he explains, and he promised his younger daughter, Anna Beth, who’s 10, that he’d bring it wherever he travels in Kuwait.

She even gave it a name: “Stinky pants,” the colonel says, and the battle for dignity is lost.

Such moments of levity don’t disguise the seriousness of the mission here. Wilson, a 30-yearold veteran of the Guard (he joined when he was a junior at Dover High School), was in Iraq in 2004 with the 197th Field Artillery; that unit became part of the 197th Fires Brigade when the Guard was restructured a few years back.

Now, as combat operations in Iraq wind down

Above, Lt. Col. Daniel Wilson of Concord, executive officer of the 197th Fires Brigade, promised his daughter Anna Beth that he would bring “Stinky Pants” the Army Gnome with him to Kuwait. At left, Private 1st Class Derek McMahon, 25, of Plaistow, thought the compound where he works needed a touch of home, so he suggested planting grass. Some scoffed, but his sergeant ordered the “high heat high sun” variety of seed from Amazon and some potting soil, and it did the trick. McMahon waters the 4-by-12-foot patch daily and expects it will need even more attention when summer comes to Kuwait.

GUARD

VSee Kuwait, Page A12

VSee Earthquake, Page A10

Inside

SHAWNE K. WICKHAM PHOTOS/SUNDAY NEWS

VIn NH: Seabrook Station is built to withstand natural

disasters, its owner says — Page A10

Suit raps Lynch, AG in bid to divert $110m

These guys have a lot of time in their hands Clock changers: The big hands don’t just move

.

themselves when daylight saving time comes around.

Sunday News Correspondent

DERRY — Springing ahead is simple, in theory.

But ask Phil D’Avanza about daylight saving time and he will enumerate the clock towers he painstakingly maintains. He will offer to take you to see how it’s done, up the rickety old wooden

stairwells that lead to even more rickety ladders with impossibly narrow footholds that lead to three different levels of guts and gears in need of bi-annual adjusting and oiling, just to make sure that time goes on, and chiming persists.

“Between birds and bats

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New Hampshire Sunday News ©2011 Union Leader Corp., Manchester, N.H.

By NANCY WEST New Hampshire Sunday News

CAROL ROBIDOUX

Philip D’Avanza is “Father Time” in New Hampshire — keeper of many of the state’s clock towers. Here, he prepares to oil the arms of the Central Congregational tower clock in Derry on Saturday VSee Clocks, Page A4 after setting the clock an hour ahead for daylight saving time.

A lawsuit against the state claims Gov. John Lynch and Attorney General Michael Delaney deliberately misled the court, lawmakers and the public as they tried unsuccess-

Today IN NEW HAMPSHIRE’S NEWSPAPER NEW HAMPSHIRE

Hospital tax bill in the balance The city of Portsmouth has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes from the local hospital, but that revenue stream could dry up if it changes hands and assumes nonprofit status. A court decision is key. VPage A9

Thoughtful competition Destination ImagiNation events draw enthusiastic young people and their supporters to Nashua and Sanborn Regional high schools. VPage A6

OUTDOORS

Enjoying warmer slopes Don’t let the weather fool you. There’s still plenty of

snow on the slopes, and Paula Tracy continues to keep you updated about ski conditions and outdoor activities as spring approaches. VPage C7

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NCHEST A

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to use JUA reserves for the budget an “abuse of power.”

M

By CAROL ROBIDOUX

fully to divert $110 million in reserves from a medical malpractice insurance plan to the state’s general fund.

Lynch and Delaney strongly denied the allegations. But ongoing litigation makes it clear Lynch’s two-year battle to take excess reserves from the New Hampshire Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association to help balance the state budget is not over.

JUA policyholders allege

Alleges court was misled: Lawyer says effort

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NH

03108

U S A

Today’s Letters: Page B2

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Life on new knees Cutting-edge surgeries and materials are helping people beat osteoarthritis. Read about how two new knees have enabled Sandy Evans to continue her ballroom dance pursuits. VPage F6

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Classic fun in Florida The Sunshine State wasn’t always home to Disney’s attractions, and some of what drew tourists before Disney’s arrival still has allure. VPage F1

Actor John Krasinski of “The Office” graces this week’s cover.

Our weekly magazine insert offers its annual look at how much money a wide variety of people earn in a year.

VInside

From Page One

Page A12 • NEW HAMPSHIRE SUNDAY NEWS • March 13, 2011

Kuwait

Continued From Page A1

over the next nine months, the 197th Fires Brigade is playing a key role in this new mission.

Its focus is on command and control operations, force protection and providing convoy security for troops and equipment going in and out of Iraq. There are New Hampshire soldiers at five bases in Kuwait, including a port on the Persian Gulf.

“The brigade has a huge geographic span,” Wilson said.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

GUARD IN

SHAWNE K. WICKHAM PHOTOS/SUNDAY NEWS

Kuwaitis camping outside the perimeter of Camp Arifjan care for a prize camel the family recently purchased for 50,000 Kuwaiti dinar.

That’s $150,000 in American dollars. As summer looms, coming to a close is the camping season, when even affluent Kuwaitis return to the desert to show respect for their Bedouin heritage.

“It’s not just the 700 soldiers from the little state of New Hampshire. The sphere of influence we have right now is really significant.”

Many brigade members would prefer to be doing what they’re trained to do as field artillerymen, their leaders acknowledge. Instead, they’re doing what Wilson called a “non-standard” mission here in Kuwait. “We obviously don’t shoot any rockets or launch artillery rounds.”

But Wilson said the current mission may prove to be even more important historically when U.S. forces finally leave Iraq to pursue its own destiny.

“That’s a big mark on the wall, and to be able to say we had a big part in doing that and setting up the nation of Iraq to be a completely independent democracy, is a big deal,” Wilson said.

There are nearly 2,500 members in the Brigade here; Guard units from Rhode Island, West Virginia and Michigan joined the New Hampshire folks during their training at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin last fall.

March is the rainy season here, and it’s rained at least part of the past four days.

It’s a warm rain, like the kind New Hampshire gets in May.

The sign outside 197th Fires Brigade’s Tactical Operations Center displays the New Hampshire motto and the brigade’s nickname, Granite Thunder, as the New Hampshire flag flies inside the Camp Arifjan compound in Kuwait. locally as the “Mayor’s Cell.”

The cell’s commander, Lt. Col. Nicholas Adler of Portland, Maine, said there can be as many as 6,000 people living at Arifjan at a given time.

Adler’s team is in charge of keeping the camp running smoothly; that means dealing with contractors, generators, toilets, water, food, uniforms and other supplies that keep the Army at peak operation.

Someday, Adler said, he’ll tell his 3-year-old daughter, Nicole, “I was the mayor of a small city.”

You can buy a Nathan’s hotdog, a Taco Bell taco or a Starbucks mocha grande here.

There’s a store where soldiers can find anything they need or want, from Wii and Xbox game systems to clothing and souvenirs. A recreation facility has pool tables, a movie theater and big TVs where soldiers

At times, there’s a hint of the sea in the air from the nearby Persian Gulf.

The soldiers don’t mind the rain; it keeps down the dust that otherwise seems to get everywhere.

“It’s in your ears, on your uniform, in your boots,” said Maj. Greg Heilshorn of Barrington. He’s the longtime public affairs officer for the National Guard. That’s the job he’s doing over here as well, with a staff of three soldiers who are recording this historic mission in words, photos and videos.

The brigade headquarters is here at Camp Arifjan. The New Hampshire state flag flies proudly inside the compound, and office signs bear the New Hampshire motto: Live Free or Die. Other guardsmen run the Camp Command Cell, known

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The Big Voice proceeded to tell everyone to secure their weapons, find overhead cover and check in with superiors.

One soldier takes cover under a pizza shop’s awning, another under an air conditioner.

There’s never been a missile attack on an Army base in Kuwait, according to Sgt. 1st Class Neal Mitchell of Enfield, the non-commissioned officer in charge of public affairs. But he said these drills are important reminders to soldiers not to let down their guard.

Mitchell is a former Marine who joined the Army National Guard after 9/11. “I had to do something,” he said. He ran a gun truck team in Iraq in 2004 and now works full time for the Guard as its retention officer.

When the 197th was de-

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lined up Friday to watch news of the earthquake in Japan. The food in the mess halls is hearty and plentiful, and the coffee is good and strong.

There are two gyms that get lots of use early mornings and evenings. Outside, there are tennis courts, a new track, even a swimming pool, although no one seemed to be using it.

But surrounding all those creature comforts is an awful lot of concrete: Thick blast walls and jersey barriers make it impossible to forget this is a military installation and the nation is at war.

Another reminder came at 7 a.m. Friday, when the loudspeakers — what the soldiers call “the Big Voice” — announced, “Exercise! Exercise!

Exercise!” It’s not some strange Army ritual to encourage

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New Hampshire is never far from the soldiers’ minds, as the state’s motto also is displayed throughout the offices of the 197th Fires Brigade at Camp Arifjan.

ployed, Mitchell volunteered.

“How can I sit back in Manchester while everyone is over here on deployment? You can’t do it,” he said.

There are many New Hampshire soldiers who made the same decision.

The Mayor’s Cell can claim one of the few patches of grass in the whole camp.

Private 1st Class Derek McMahon of Plaistow, a technician in the emergency operations center, decided the place needed some fixing up.

He used sandbags to landscape around the entrance to each tent and trailer. Then he suggested to the NCO in charge, Sgt. 1st Class Clyde Lewis, “We should have some grass somewhere.”

Lewis didn’t laugh. Instead, he got on amazon.com and ordered some “high heat, high sun” grass seed and two 50pound bags of potting soil. “It just makes it distinctive around here,” McMahon said.

He dutifully waters the 12by-4-foot patch twice a day and put up a canvas awning to try to protect the tender shoots from the 110-degree heat that’s coming soon.

“I think it’s a touch of home for the rest of us,” said Maj. Jeff Walz of Derry.

“It’s leaving your mark,” McMahon said.

March 11 marked the halfway point of the brigade’s one-year deployment. Some soldiers have been taking their two-week leaves to go home.

And an advance team from the Minnesota Guard brigade that will replace the New Hampshire soldiers arrived last week to begin learning the ropes.

As of now, the transfer of authority is planned for late summer, and the 197th FAB expects to come home in September.

Wilson said that kind of transition is a lot like a relay race. “My picture of success is successfully handing off that baton without them dropping it.”

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