Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 58, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 18, 2004 Page: 3 of 32
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March 18,2004
In Our 58th Year
Texas Jewish Post
Local Focus
Message from the Iraqi theater
Major Jerrold M. Grodin, a Dallas interventional cardiol-
ogist, joined the U.S. Army on Sept. 12,2001. Serving in the
reserves, he was deployed in early lanuary of
Editor's Note
this year and shipped out later that month to
the Iraqi theater. Here, he shares his thoughts, exclusively
with T/P readers.
Dallas cardiologist shares
his first impressions
*
fit
W*
The “Eyes of Texas” keeping watch over Or. Grodin, Major U S
Army Medical Corp. at Camp Doha
■w“ h°Pe my letter finds our wonderful Jewish Community doing well.
I I have now been in theater one month. As I am sure you know, it
.A. is very, very busy over here as we are in the midst of the largest
troop rotation since WWII! Two hundred fifty thousand American
troops are entering and leaving Iraq. One hundred forty thousand are
rotating “out” heading for home, while 110,000 fresh soldiers are
replacing them and they are all coming through Kuwait. As a result
our military camps are burgeoning. Of course, these troops get sick
and injured, requiring medical care. Hence, the US Army Medical
Corps is extremely busy.
As a Jewish physician in the United States Armed Forces, I am hon-
ored and humbled to care for the great, wonderful American heroes.
They are decent, brave, and self-sacrificing. I am proud of them, and
to be counted as one of them. While we sleep soundly at night, they
guard the ramparts to keep us safe, free, and strong.
For us, here in the combat zone, presidential politics, intellectual-
izing about the war, discussion about whether or not there are weapons
of mass destruction...these are not even on the radar screen. Rather,
we are focused on the mission to secure and build a democratic Iraq.
For us, in this place, at this time, we can see that we have liberated mil-
lions from a brutal tyrant. And we can see that the majority of Iraqis
want us to stay, at least until we can get them up on their feet.
I have been able to attend Shabbat services on a regular basis. We
even have a rabbi in theater, Colonel Ackerson from Baltimore. He is
a reserve, orthodox rabbi, who has been here for 14 months. J le would
like to go home and is overdue. I lowever, he is the only rabbi here, and
there have been no replacements. Hence, he stays out of his strong
sense of duty and “yiddishkite." I have had no problem obtaining
kosher food while here; the Army has been great about this. We will
be celebrating both seders here in Kuwait, with Rabbi Ackerson in
attendance. It will be hard being away from home on Pesach.
Major Jerrold M. Grodin
801st Combat Support Hospital
Camp Doha
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Wisch, Rene & Wisch-Ray, Sharon. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 58, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 18, 2004, newspaper, March 18, 2004; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754717/m1/3/: accessed May 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .