CLUB DESTROYED - The destruction by fire of the historic "Club 50" at Camp Roberts has been one of a series of blows to morale for Antelope Valley soldiers on deck to be shipped to the Middle East as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The fire also burned the camp's only Laundromat. DENNIS ANDERSON/Valley Press

'Battle of Camp Bob': Fight to keep spirits up

By DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor

The outcome is uncertain.

The unit's victory will be departure on a mysteriously delayed flight so they can perform what has been described by higher command as a vital humanitarian relief mission in Iraq.

The morale battle at Camp Roberts, the National Guard training center, is being waged in the cook halls, on the barracks green and in the headquarters orderly room.

The struggle is to not lose heart or patience before the unit, which has trained since Feb. 11, gets its place in line to join forces gathered under the Operation Iraqi Freedom banner.

Sometimes, leaders and soldiers of this band of citizen soldier brothers and sisters are winning the fight, and sometimes there are nasty skirmishes, losses and reversals.

For the past week, the big company of 300 or so soldiers have dwelt in a military purgatory somewhere between "The Twilight Zone," the horse latitudes, and the French absurdist play "Waiting for Godot."

In the Samuel Beckett play, two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, are caught on a bleak plain, "waiting for Godot." Godot was always about to arrive, but never quite did, whoever or whatever he or she was. In the "horse latitudes," Conquistadors pushed their horses overboard so their wind-idled ships could catch any slight breeze and sail on.

"There is nothing that ails this company that wouldn't be cured by giving it a flight number and a mission to perform," said Staff Sgt. Linda Ruth Freeman, the assistant sergeant of 3rd Platoon. "Thank God in our platoon we get along like family."

Antelope Valley troops, along with their statewide counterparts, left homes and families on Valentine's Day for Fort Lewis, Wash.

In the months since, with hot war waged and won in Iraq, the Guard troops trained as infantry, lived in the wet woods, got sick in droves, recovered, returned from Washington state and occupied the World War II-period wood barracks of Camp Roberts like squatters settled in for the duration.

"I wanted to go, but now I'd just like to go home and return to normal life," said Sgt. Joe Berlin, a former Antelope Valley school teacher. "I'm the average 'Joe,' and I'm ready to go and do my duty, but I want to go and do our job or get cut loose."

The citizen soldiers have not lost heart, but they are searching daily for ways to keep their spirits up in the face of their leaders' promises that there is indeed an important mission ahead to perform.

Those casting for morale solutions include everyone from 1st Sgt. James R. Norris to the company's half-dozen cooks.

Morale took a punch on the chin over the weekend when the base's only off-duty recreation center burned to the ground. In decades since World War II the historic "Club 50" building, built before the Pearl Harbor attack, offered cold beer and hot snacks to hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Arson is not suspected, but one platoon modified their group yell from "We can do it!" to "We didn't do it!"

Cooks for the unit have pitched in to boost morale, using limited budget and food variety to provide fresh dining choices for troops jaded by the same scrambled eggs on different days. Eggs to order, omelettes, pancakes and better bacon have spiced up the breakfast menu.

"You can't please everyone, but we are trying our best," said Spc. Kairinabil Lewis, who cooks at the House of Blues/Downtown Disney in his civilian job.

"What we are trying to do is bring up the morale with a range of menu choices," said Sgt. James Nichols of Palmdale, who leads the cook squad along with Sgt. Cornelious Stefan.

"Since the club burned down, we'd like to offer some cheeseburgers and French fries, but we can't plan ahead because we don't know how long we're going to be here."

Cooks like Sgt. Charles Phillips, Tom Walvatne and Terry Stewart get good reviews.

"They're stand-up comedians," said Spc. Jeremy Deckard. "Sit near the chow line and you get a floor show."

To break some monotony of training, maintaining and waiting, 1st Sgt. Norris and public affairs specialist Lisa Cooksey arranged a company date to see "X2: X-Men United," with troops bused in from the base to the nearby community of Paso Robles for cost of refreshments.

"This is a morale, welfare and recreation opportunity to go to a movie, and you soldiers will enjoy it," he said with mock seriousness. "It will also be an operational opportunity to show we can move as a unit, show good manners and not lollygag."

Anticipating a move to an airbase for deployment, the unit's officers cut off alcohol in the barracks. With the club gone, barracks drinking fueled a few scraps. The command said cutting off beer and liquor "was not punishment" for disorderly conduct.

Discipline infractions have been few, and the booze cut-off was part of the plan, said the company commander, Capt. Matthew R. Hook.

"We had decided to do this when we got our warning order," Hook said.

"All this fussing and edginess would disappear if we got out of Camp Roberts and got on our way," said Spc. Charnessa Tidwell, a former Navy chaplain's assistant. "I didn't ask for this assignment, and I'm not a complainer. But come on, it's time to go."

Norris, leader and cheerleader, urged company leadership to keep the soldiers' spirits up.

"This is the time you have to show that you're taking care of your troops," Norris said. "It might be a laundry run. It might be a Wal-Mart run. Use initiative. Make it happen."