Our Memorial Day message this year is brought to you by Profile in Service Michael Baumgartner, whose monthly messages from Afghanistan I re-post here at The Bisbee Project. Instead of his usual commentary on the state of counternarcotics in Afghanistan, Michael offers a Memorial Day tribute to two of our fallen colleagues. Steve Farley was killed in Baghdad last year, and Terry Barnich died in an attack in Baghdad on Monday. We offer our condolences to those touched by these losses, and our solemn remembrances to the many, many Americans who have fallen in the line of duty in service to their nation.
May Greetings from Helmand,
I hope this message finds you having a blessed and reflective Memorial week. As with last year in Iraq, I’ve found that being in the proximity of our brave men and women in uniform helps add a greater level of appreciation for this special day, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifices to make our country so exceptional.
In particular, I’ve dedicated my Memorial week reflections to two special Americans I knew from Iraq. The first is Steve Farley -- a Great American who was killed last year in Sadr City. I met Steve a almost a year ago and although I only spent a few hours with him, was amazed and heartened by his enthusiasm and dedication to helping America make Iraq a better place. The day I met him I had a bit of a rough morning as I had watched an MRAP truck in front of me take a roadside bomb and then burn down as we went through Baghdad, and I was honestly a bit depressed when I met Steve a while later. He quickly picked up my spirits and it was impossible not to be motivated by his sunny demeanor as we hung out in that crappy Sadr City JSS for the afternoon. He took me on a short walk ‘outside the wire’ and then had me watch how Iraqis who had property destroyed by the US military during the heavy fighting going on against JAM insurgents during that time had their claims processed by some young Army officers. It was really neat to watch, and I thought demonstrated the benevolence of America in a very difficult situation. After that, we talked about how to better get the central Iraqi government to coordinate and provide services to Sadr City as part of the Baghdad Security Plan.
The most amazing thing about Steve was that he was so dedicated to helping Iraq that after already serving a year in uniform in Baghdad, he stayed home in Oklahoma for all of a week or so before he came back as a civilian with the State Department. I remember that evening I met him telling some of my friends on Baghdad PRT about this amazing guy I had met – he really was.
About two weeks after I met him, Steve was killed by a suicide bomb while trying to help out at a Sadr City district council meeting. I’m sure he was at that meeting in part to try and get the bombed up sewer and water systems fixed (literally rivers of sewage were flowing in the streets after the fighting) and the people there some clean drinking water.
The other Great American I’ve been thinking about is Terry Barnich, a guy who used to work down the hall from me at the Embassy in Baghdad. I’ve just learned that Terry was killed in Baghdad yesterday (25 May). Terry worked in the State Department office that tried to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure and apparently was in a convoy that took an IED. Details of the attack are beginning to emerge. [Here is a Chicago Tribune story. DB]
Terry and I weren’t close friends, but we’d get a coffee occasionally and I always thought he did great work and was a good guy – the kind guy you definitely would have made an effort to get a drink with if you happened to both be passing through the same town.
Terry once saw me trying to take pictures around the Embassy with my small camera and offered to let me use his pretty high tech camera. His camera was a lot better and I thought it would be fun to try it out for the day. When I put the pic on my computer, I found that his camera’s memory chip still had a bunch of his pictures on it, and so when I downloaded the pictures I took, I ended up with a bunch of his too.
This evening I’ve been looking at a hundred or so random pics I have of Terry on my computer. He and his family in Glacier national park, in Rome, whitewater rafting, making funny faces and poses, etc. – the kind of stuff one does on holiday, lots of smiles and hugs. I always meant to delete those picture before, but never got around to it. Obviously very sad and surreal to see them today. I had never really paid attention to those photos; hard not to today.
The insurgents and terrorists who want to try to keep America from helping Iraq be a better place hit their marks with Steve and Terry. These two patriots were dedicated to helping the Iraqi people and did so much to help them. Please celebrate their sacrifice and include them in your Memorial week thoughts as we honor those who’ve made our nation so wonderful.
Pray for Peace in Afghanistan and Iraq,
-Michael J. Baumgartner
