De Anza College lifeguard training graduates in the military

November, 2006, in an email from FC3 Kernen J. Dibble (Fall 2001 De Anza College lifeguard training):

Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

Then he sighed and he said

"Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"

Then he sighed,

"That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,

"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son.

"Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN

30th Naval Construction Regiment OIC, Logistics Cell One Al Taqqadum, Iraq

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August 2006, Kernan Dibble emailed with a picture from time off at the desert dome in Bahrain:

"Most days it's well over 130 with a slight chance of spontaneous combustion by noon."

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As of April 29, 2005

Ms. Andrea Anello (spring 2003 lg training), Air Force reserves, can be addressed as

STAFF SERGEANT ANELLO.

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Seaman Apprentice Kernan Dibble (Fall 2001 lifeguard training and a Red Cross CPR/First Aid instructor) wrote in February, 2005:

Greetings from VA! I just thought I'd take a second to send you an email seeing as how I haven't spoken to you in quite some time. As of right now I am still stateside, but I leave for Iraq in June of 06. I just recently got my EMT and a position on the USS BULKELEY VBSS team as their medic & security team leader. Basically we board other ships in the Gulf to check them for guns, drugs, and personnel. I'm not sure that there is much else to tell you about for now but feel free to give my email address to those who want it.

dibbleke@bulkeley.navy.mil

In an April 12, 2003 phone conversation he said "Your lifeguard training class was harder than boot camp" and "if you didn't jump from the 5 meter they just pushed you." (He jumped.)

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Sean Downey (Spring 2003 lifeguard training) wrote in July, 2004 from Cape May, NJ:

"The second night of bootcamp is almost over and it feels like it's been three or four days. I remember the first day of lifeguard training and how I thought you acted like a drill instructor. I was so wrong! :) All in all, the structure of boot camp is not that different. They teach once, the right way, and expect you to remember and not mess up. If you do mess up you get to hear 'What is your major malfunction?' I think this should be a phrase you should be using regularly."

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Petty Officer First Class Tim Alston (fall 1997 lifeguard training) was with a naval special warfare team in the Middle East as of May, 2004.

An email from him in July said that it's 125 degrees during the day and 90+ at night.

I occasionally email links to articles in newspapers. After I emailed one in September:

How the occupation looks to an American soldier

at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/26/MNGGP8VC8V1.DTL

which said, in part,

"the U.S. military has brought America to Iraq.

Inside the concertina wire and perimeter lights of the forward operating bases -- FOBs -- everything is air-conditioned. The electricity is always on, powered by roaring diesel generators. There are chow halls with American food -- spaghetti and pork cutlets are popular. Camp Victory, the huge base north of the Baghdad airport, has a short-order grill, where burgers and Philly cheesesteaks are made to order, a salad bar, a pizza bar, a sandwich bar and an ice cream bar.

Camp Victory also has what the troops call "the mother of all PXes." You can buy DVDs and DVD players, CDs, candy, gum and protein powder. There are TVs, gas grills, air conditioners, microwave ovens and even picnic benches. There are women's thong underwear and condoms.

The bases have Internet cafes, weight rooms, basketball courts, phone centers and snack bars. Burger King has a stand outside the Camp Victory PX."

I got an email back that said:

"Hey Mary, Camp Victory is where I go to everyday to go to that PX. And that is a picture of where the Army sleeps. They are in their own 'boxes'. Two to a unit. We are in open bay so to speak."

I emailed the author/photographer, John Koopman (San Francisco Chronicle) for permission to use the photo here. I got a quick response and the same day, from another person at the newspaper, the photo in question, which is below, with part of the sandbagged accommodations in Baghdad in a closeup.

photo by John Koopman (San Francisco Chronicle)

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