Members far from home at holidays

Emily Smith
ASME NEWS

This month, Brian Van De Wal will be dreaming of a White Christmas from his Army base in the northern part of Iraq, near Kirkuk.

A doctoral student in Engineering Physics at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute who works at the U.S. Army Benet Weapons Lab in Watervliet, N.Y., Van De Wal, had passed his oral candidacy exam in April and was mobilized for service in Iraq a week later. An Army reservist for 14 years, he volunteered.

Van De Wal is one of an unknown number of ASME members living in the United States who are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Brian Van De Wal in front of a mural painted by a young Iraqui on the airbase in Kirkuk. He and another officer paid $300 for the painting, which Van De Wal thought of doing while returning from a construction mission. The painter had learned English from another division stationed there before Van De Wal's unit.

Tracking the whereabouts of these members is difficult. Many ASME members work in a variety of capacities at the different branches of the U.S. military. Unless a family member calls with information, ASME's database offers only two ways of identifying those who are serving: by listing, "Dues Suspension for Military Service" on the member's file following a request to ASME's Membership Department, or a mailing address incorporating the letters FPO or APO, both of which represent a military forwarding address.

Those letters turned up in the addresses of 48 members when a check of ASME's membership database was done last month. Dues suspension for military service had been requested for only three members.

Christopher McDonald, who has been a member for nine years, was one of the names on the dues-suspended list. He served in Afghanistan and is now back at work at Hayward Tyler, Inc. in Chester, Vt.

Francis Murphy, a recent gradate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. who was also on the list, was stationed in Germany before being sent to Iraq in the spring. According to his mother, he is based in Tikrit, in one of Saddam Husseim's unfinished palaces, which has air conditioning but no bathroom facilities.

Terrans Purcell, a student member at Virginia Tech who is active in ASME's First Lego League, became a reservist because he had to fund college himself if he wanted to attend. He was activated in July, soon after he returned from a semester studying in Japan. He is in Iraq doing maintaining equipment and servicing helicopters.

"My job is an airframe metalsmith" Purcell said in an email from Iraq. "Basically we work on composite and metal structures from the aircraft that have been damaged or need some kind of maintenance. There's a lot of reading diagrams, pubs, and using shop tools and the like. Once in awhile, we'll receive a job to create something from scratch, but I don't really use theoretical mechanical engineering, like calculations, at all."

He was not on the list, but was discovered while ASME News was researching a story on FLL. In Iraq, Purcell tries to make it over to the internet tent to check his email a few times a week. He has been activated for two years "so I'll probably only be there for a month or two before I get sent back over here again. Hopefully I can make it back to Tech in time to catch my friends before they graduate and move on. My entire deployment should be over around June/July of 2006."

Van De Wal is the third name on the list. He is serving in Detachment 2 of Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 854th Engineering Battalion, a heavy combat unit. He is the only engineer officer in his unit doing combat construction, which is "like a civilian construction company, but under direct fire of a combat zone."

His unit is a combat provisional only unit. "This means it is assembled for war, and then dismantled after our time is up in Iraq," he wrote, adding "We built force protection barriers, add berms, guard posts, interrogation detention centers, bunkers, roads, helicopter landing pads, drainage headwalls, electrical work, welding, carpenters, plumbing. Think of us as a tactical general contractor."

For anyone who is thinking of sending care packages to send to any of the troops, these members had a few general items on their holiday wish list for themselves and those with whom they serve: black boot socks, breakfast cereal, bars, oatmeal, etc.; raisins; granola, instant oatmeal; coffee, Campbells Chunky Soups; DVDs; lightweight fleece type blankets; old magazines.

Van De Wal specifically requested old sets of Christmas lights and decorations for the "small Christmas tree we scrounged up from the local nationals."

While in Iraq, he wrote, "I have convinced a few of my Sergeants that we need to study for the fundamentals of engineering exam. These Sergeants would enhance their civilian careers if they had their P.E. Can anyone donate about three sets of the newest Lindeburg review manual and the NCEES reference books? A good stress relief and diversion from everyday life here."

For security reasons, all care packages must be addressed to an individual. Anyone wishing to support the troops serving with these ASME members, should address packages to:

Capt. Jon Kuniholm, JF
1/23 HQ Co (CEB)
Unit 41900
FPO AP 96426-1900
KuniholmJF@1DIV7MARDM.1MARDIVDM.USMC.MIL

Lcpl Terrans Purcell
MALS 16
UIC 41061
FPO AP 96426-1061
tpurcell@vt.edu

Cpt. Brian J. Van De Wal
DET 2, HHC, 854th EN BN (FOB Warrior)
APO AE 09347
brian.vandewal@us.army.mil

Related story: Real-world design challenge has applications for ASME members in Iraq

 

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