Christmas Reflections From Two Wisconsin Lawmakers

By Joan Sanstadt News Editor
Thursday, December 11, 2008 8:30 AM CST

There’s a Christmas song about there being “no place like home for the holidays.” This year two members of the Wisconsin Legislature are especially aware of just what those words mean.

Just one year ago Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin) was at Fort Bragg training for his upcoming mission overseas. While he’d be back with his family in New Berlin for a few days at Christmas, it was with the realization he’d soon be deployed to Iraq.

Rep. Roger Roth, Jr. (R-Appleton), a member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard since 2003, was anticipating his third tour of duty in Iraq.

“It became clear with the length of time the wars were continuing, that eventually I’d end up going,” Gundrum told Agri-View. Following a Christmas leave, Gundrum returned to his unit. The first two weeks of February 2007 Gundrum spent in Kuwait; by Feb. 16, he was in Iraq.

Asked what his title “Army Officer Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps” meant, Gundrum explained, “A judge advocate in the Army Reserves, serves as an attorney in the Army.”

In Iraq, “there were no typical days. There really weren’t n it could be anything from going out on a mission to jails or prisons to evaluate conditions there n to meeting with Iraq police chiefs to working with judges, with law schools, to the head of the state bar or with members of the Iraq Parliament. The broad rule of the law mission ranged from offering encouragement to guided mentoring of what school of law means,” Gundrum explained.

“There were other days where you had to sit down as a lawyer, do research on the law, the constitution or prepare memos for the ambassador,” he added.

As a Wisconsin legislator, it was a natural fit for Gundrum to work directly on training members of Iraq’s Parliament. “Good governance strategies and techniques, effective use of committees, how to serve the people of Iraq and remain in touch with them, as well as how to draft good legislation,” were some of his training responsibilities.

“The emphasis was on good open government and the rule of law. The people I worked with there were definitely on the upper end of higher education n they were doctors, professors and judges,” he said.

“For the most part, the folks I dealt with gave out a clear sense they understood and appreciated that we took out Sadam and that they would like democracy to take hold in their country,” Gundrum said, adding “they were willing to work with us to accomplish that goal.

“By the same token, like anyone would, they want to have a peaceful, stable and secure Iraq and not have us control large portions of it any longer than is necessary. They recognized a good relationship with America was helpful in many ways n but especially in terms of trade, commerce, education and technology.

Asked if, back home, he’d encountered any skepticism about his year of service in Iraq, Gundrum had this to say: “My sense is that people in this country understand the surge was working. I think the public understands we’re on the downward slope of finishing this up and that it is in America’s best interest to see this through another one, two or three years and that there is a good transition of control to the Iraq security forces, which is an ultimate benefit to the U.S.”

Gundrum said his experience in Iraq “reinforced my firm commitment to the rule of law and to how critical that is to a free society. For me personally, I’ve gained a little more patience and improved my sense of priorities.”

Did Rep. Gundrum have any special words on Homeland Security for farmers or members of the agricultural community?

“Remain vigilant n terrorism is still very real and very serious. Based on what I’ve read and generally, there is no doubt in my mind there are terrorists within our borders as we speak who are plotting and planning. It is real and we need to be careful about becoming too complacent,” Gundrum responded, emphasizing he was not aware of any specific plot and he was not referring to anything he’d learned militarily.

Rather, his words reflect “our level of technology and that Americans tend to have short memories. There are evil intentions out there focused on the U.S. and we all need to be vigilant.”

Gundrum is especially thankful his entire unit made it home before Thanksgiving.”

He’s also grateful for the assistance his wife and family received, while he was away, “from friends, family and community members n that help ranged from snow removal to meals n which showed how people contribute to our efforts for our country.”

For Rep. Roth, going to Iraq was not a new experience n he’d been there twice before.

“I’m very familiar with what is involved in getting deployed,” he told Agri-View,

“It means putting your life on hold. If my unit is activated, I have to be prepared to get up and go.”

An aircraft mechanic in the National Guard, Roth served in Iraq as an egress technician working with the ejection system on the F-16. “Although the bulk of our work is done stateside, there has to be routine maintenance at the bases to be sure those systems are operating perfectly,” he explained.

Roth has been in Iraq when the temperature was 115 to 120 degrees n that was in the summer of 2006. He worked 12-hour shifts from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m., but even at night the temperature would only go down to 98 degrees. On the other hand, he’s also been there when Baghdad experienced its first snowfall in 50 years and he had to get some thermal underwear.

During 2008, Roth’s tour of duty began in January and ended in March.

Night shift work entailed “a handful of inspections. Injection systems are inspected every 30 days, but there is always that unscheduled maintenance, caused by all the dust.

“If someone in the plane accidentally dropped something, it was a labor-intensive effort to find because of all the explosives involved in an ejection system n a system designed to safely extract the pilot. No one is allowed to touch that system, except an egress technician,” Roth explained.

“The F-16 is not stealth,” he continued, “but there is a lot of air to ground support. We worked closely with Army and Marine units on the ground. A lot of reconnaissance is involved such as videotaping convoy routes to be sure they are as safe as possible.”

Roth said he’s often asked what he thinks of the Iraq War. “That’s always a loaded question,” he acknowledged. “Going in, we made a commitment to stay until the Iraq security forces are trained to take over or until they ask us to leave. Both are real possibilities. But the violence has dropped considerably and obviously we’re having an impact. But in the final analysis it will be up to the Iraqi people and if they are willing to do what is necessary to support and sustain a free nation n and I think they are.”

The lawmaker recalled being in Iraq at Christmas in 2006 and hearing, over the radio, the song, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.”

“When I heard that song my thought was ‘this is the farthest I’ve ever been from home on Christmas. There’s not a Christmas when I don’t think about our military overseas,” he said, “and how much they and their families give up to serve our country.”

Roth is the nephew of long time Wisconsin Congressman Toby Roth.

Both Gundrum and Roth were re-elected on Nov. 4.

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