Sgt. Steve Webb writes from Germany
By Ruth Luse, Managing Editor
We first heard from Sgt. Steve Webb, of Hopewell, in an e-mail, dated Nov. 2.
He reminded us that he is a member of the Hopewell Fire Department.
He also, as part of the New Jersey Army National Guard, is deployed to Iraq. Officially, he is Team Leader, B Troop, 1st/102nd Cavalry, New Jersey National Guard, Iraq.
He was writing from the Joint Base Balad, where he was being treated after being injured.
”Due to Operational Security, I cannot go into how and where I was injured, but I can say that I am at what is called the CASF, which stands for Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, which is where you go when you are waiting to be airlifted out of the country.”
He said he was to be flown to Germany on Oct. 30 for further tests and possible surgery, either there or back in the States.
”At the CASF,” he said, “there is a place called the ‘Hero’s Lounge,’ where we can watch TV, read, call home or use the Internet, and in this lounge, the staff encourages the soldiers who are here to write their names on the walls, and there are many names. Some of the names were placed there by guys who were wounded, and have had friends die. They added their buddies’ names, so they are not forgotten. We cannot take any pictures in here, so most people will never see these tributes to fallen comrades, just those of us who have been hurt, and the Air Force staff here, have that honor.
”As I write this, I can hear the sounds of the Medivac helicopters bringing more wounded Americans here for treatment. I cannot take credit for writing (the poem) that follows. That goes to another wounded soldier, who passed through this place before me.”
Sgt. Webb hoped the poem would be printed in the Veterans Day week edition. It follows:
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He’d stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers’ tears?
How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t free.
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant “Amen,”
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn’t free.
— Cdr. Kelly Strong, USCG (Ret).
In his next e-mail message, dated Nov. 6, he said: “I was air lifted to Landstul Regional Medical Center in Germany very early in the morning on Nov. 3 and was evaluated here. I will be here until at least Nov. 15, when the docs will decide my status. The good news is that I don’t have to have surgery, just yet. In about six weeks, they will decide if I am healing properly, or will have surgery. Time will tell. I have a brace on my right hand/wrist, a brace on my right elbow and my right arm is in a sling. I have limited movement in my arm. Hopefully that will increase with time.
”On Nov. 12 (Wednesday), they will evaluate my condition and decide what to do with me. I am split because I have two responsibilities — one is to my guys and gun truck crew back in Iraq. I have trained them and am responsible to and for them, and would feel real bad if something happened to my guys if I wasn’t there. I also have a responsibility to my wife and kids, to make sure that I heal and can go back to my jobs when I come home.
” That is the rub being a Citizen-Soldier. I have been lobbying with the docs to let me return so I can finish my tour and do the jobs that I was sent to Iraq to do, but being right-handed, I can’t use my weapons and just opening the door to my up-armored humvee would be difficult, if not impossible, since the door alone weighs 486 pounds. Could I protect my guys if it came down to it? Maybe, but I don’t want to put anyone at risk.”
Of returning to Hopewell, he said: “My community needs me, as a firefighter/EMT, and if I further injure myself, I could not serve the people of Hopewell Valley when I get back.
”The doctors have given me a lot to think about, and this situation is painful — both physically and emotionally.”

