Princeton Union-Eagle May 27, 2010
Brigadier general who was in Iraq looks at that country's future
By Joel Stottrup
Brigadier General Gerald Lang, who, for many years, was part of the National Guard unit that was once in Princeton, shared some of his experiences that he had during a tour of duty in Iraq. He was in that country’s desert heat from April 17, 2009, to Feb. 8, 2010, serving as deputy commander of the 34th Infantry, or Red Bull Division.
The current Iraq War is still going, though American troops are scheduled to leave. The U.S.-led invasion of the country in March 2003, was controversial since Iraq had not attacked the U.S. and then Pres. George W. Bush used the reasoning that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons were not found when the U.S. invaded.
Lang during his interview, commented on the invasion of Iraq, since it is forever part of the history of America’s involvement there.
“Different people have used the argument that they didn’t attack us,” Lang, 58, said about Iraq. But there are many other cases, Lang continued, where the U.S. has entered a country to fight it and the U.S. had not been attacked first. His point was that those other wars did not have the controversy that the present war in Iraq has had.
According to the web site GlobalSecurity.org, there have been 4,282 named U.S. personnel deaths in Iraq as of May 24, plus five more reported U.S. dead. The number of U.S. wounded is listed at 30,182.
“Bosnia never attacked us,” Lang continued. “Germany never attacked us. [North] Korea never attacked us.”
He also alluded to the U.S. having gone into Kuwait and Iraq nearly 20 years ago to push Iraq back out of Kuwait as a case where Iraq hadn’t attacked the U.S. “The only time we ever got attacked was Japan,” Lang said, referring to the event that brought the U.S. into the Pacific to fight during World War II.
Joined at 19
Lang joined the U.S. military as a National Guardsman in 1971 at age 19 when the Vietnam War was going strong. Today, he is still part of the Guard, and part of the Red Bull Division.
Iraq once had as many as 120,000 American troops during the war and it is supposed to be down to 50,000 by this coming Sept. 30, Lang noted. He said the U.S. has an agreement that it is to have all of its troops out of the country by the end of 2011, Lang said.
Lang was not in combat because of his rank but he got around Iraq to meet with tribal sheiks and provincial leaders in nine provinces during his tour.
He learned early on, he said, to take a certain medication prior to going out on visits to Iraqi locations where he knew he would be expected to eat. He didn’t want to come down with a gastrointestinal illness, he explained.
It was not uncommon for his Iraqi hosts to serve him the heads of sheep or lambs, but some of the meat was “half cooked,” and “greasy,” he said. The heads of those animals had meat that the Iraqis considered the better part of the animal, Lang noted.
In fact, learning to negotiate with Iraqi leaders required knowing the local culture and their sensibilities, Lang noted, and not eating their food would be an affront to them.
It is customary too, Lang said, for the Iraqi hosts to keep heaping more meat on the guests’ plates after they have eaten it clean.
Politics in Iraq, besides involving tribal sheiks and provincial governors, has not been clear cut, Lang noted. He talked about how neither Malaki, who has been the country’s prime minister, nor his main opponent, Allawi, have received enough votes in the most recent election, to gain a clear victory. Allawi came out slightly ahead in the recount.
Sectarian violence has never completely ended in Iraq either. Recent reports point to May 10 as having been the bloodiest day yet this year in Iraq, when 100 died during bombings across the country. Shiite leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, has reappeared in Iraq, apparently vowing to meet violence with violence, reports state.
Elections a good sign
But the fact that Iraq has had more than one democratic election since the U.S. came on the scene is evidence for optimism, Lang indicated. “I think Iraq showed the world in a short amount of time that it could hold elections,” Lang said, “which speaks volumes to the democratic process and is a credit to the Iraqi armed forces for keeping them relatively peaceful.”
The voters, he added, “risked their lives” to vote, and now “know that their vote can work.”
Many times tribal sheiks have thanked the U.S. military for having given them their freedom after having lived under a dictatorship, Lang said. They still haven’t fully experienced freedom because of the continuing influence of the U.S. government and U.S. military, Lang said.
Lang has been on two other major military deployments. One was the Guard’s humanitarian mission in Guatemala in 1995. The other was his 2003-04 tour in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Lang clearly likes history, discussing what it was like for him to stand in Iraq, where so much of civilization began. He said it was fascinating to look at the history.
He recalled standing with WCCO-TV newsman Don Shelby in late 2009 at Ur, one of Iraq’s most imposing ancient sites. Ur was the capital of the ancient civilization of Sumeria, and the birthplace of the prophet Abraham, a major figure in the Old Testament. Lang discussed how he and division chaplain John Morris and Shelby were taken on a tour of what was said to be the House of Abraham. It was “incredible” to be at the site where Abraham, “the patriarch of the world’s three great religions,” had been, Lang said, referring to Christianity, Islam and Judaism. They and the curator were reading things there that were “right out of the book of Genesis,” Lang said.
Lang was ready this past week, however, to talk about Iraq’s future, which he said is “pretty promising.” The Iraqi security forces, he added, “have proven themselves to be very competent.”
Besides that, the Iraqi government has become stronger, Lang continued. Right now, he said, many are watching how the final election results will turn out for the Iraqi prime minister position.
As Lang talked about the transition from being on active duty in Iraq to coming back to work as a civilian working for Knife River (formerly Bauerly Brothers), he said he misses being in the know in Iraq. “You’re right there in the middle of everything,” he said. “You know everything. You come back here and you try to keep up with the election and democratic processes [in Iraq].”
While on duty he was privy to classified information and now back at his civilian job he doesn’t have the access, he said.
Lang, who gives military-related speeches, had a message for this year’s Memorial Day.
“One of the things that impressed me in the last several years,” he said, “is the continued support from the American public to the military. Our soldiers, I can’t tell you how many care packages our soldiers receive from various organizations, schools and companies.
“I’ve been impressed and thankful for that. The whole process of support for our soldiers nowadays is wonderful. We’re doing it right.”
A lot of times, Lang said, it is the military veterans, including from the Vietnam War, who are giving that support to those on active duty now. Vietnam vets generally did not get welcomed home, Lang added.
He also said he is impressed with the professionalism he has seen in today’s U.S. military personnel.
Lang’s future
Lang has been a general for 4.5 years, noting that a person usually stays a one-star general for no more than five years before advancing or leaving the military. He says he is undecided on what route to take.
The downside of choosing to advance is that it would require another tour of duty and that makes it hard on the civilian employer, he said. Lang is general manager of the concrete division at Knife River Corp.
If Lang does retire instead of going for a higher rank, he said, he will miss having the experiences like he has had traveling to foreign places and taking on military challenges.
© Copyright 2010, Princeton Union-Eagle
