USO in the UAE

One of the more interesting things I do in Dubai is volunteer for the USO. Since I still remember the USO shows from the Vietnam war era, I am surprised that many Americans seem to know nothing about this great organization. USO stands for United Service Organizations, and its purpose as a nonpolitical, nonprofit organization is to support America's troops with various programs and services to provide a home away from home and means to keep connected with families. In Dubai the USO center sets up camp at the port where the US ships come to dock, providing computers, cell phones, internet, money exchange, food, entertainment (including movies and video games), laundry facilities, shopping and tours. When a ship comes in, a call goes out to all the volunteers to man the facilities during the days when the ship is in port. We usually get only a couple of days notice.

The hardest part for us volunteers is navigating by car to the ship's location, which requires clearing multiple levels of security, a very serious business, with armed guards conducting a thorough inspection of all vehicles. Seeing the servicemen and women, most of whom are very young--about the age of my two barely grown children--gives me a renewed sense of appreciation for the job they are doing. There is never a word of complaint, even when a tour operator fails to show up or some equipment is not working properly. Serious, polite, respectful, appreciative, a credit to our country, are all these young people. What we do as volunteers seems so small in comparison, and the least we can do.

If you'd like to help our troops, a donation to the USO would be a great place to start.

Walking the Woods of the Great War

Being in Dubai without a job holding me down, I am free to jump at opportunities near and far. I got a chance to join my sister and her husband for a trip to France to visit the battlefields where American soldiers joined the Allies to fight the Germans and bring an end to World War I. I said yes not knowing much about the itinerary and before I even checked the flight time from Dubai to Paris--not exactly a short hop at 7 hours. Nor did I realize we were flying into a potential nationwide strike in France in protest of changes to the pension system.

The battlefield tour, organized by the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia, focused on the important battles from the American offensive that took place in the Argonne woods near the Meuse River. The American soldiers (nicknamed the "Doughboys”, perhaps due to their inexperience) were called on the scene after four years of brutal trench warfare between the French and the Germans. Under the leadership of General Pershing, the Americans launched the Meuse-Argonne offensive on September 26, 1918, leading finally to the armistice on November 11, 1918. Unbeknownst to most people, the Meuse-Argonne battle was the bloodiest America has ever known, with more than 120,000 casualties and over 26,000 dead. The Doughboys were ordered to go over the trenches, often without protection, and many were slaughtered by German machine guns and artillery before they were able to break through and push the Germans to surrender.

We spent much of a week walking in the woods of the Meuse-Argonne countryside, including near the towns of Varennes, Verdun, Chaumont, Malancourt, Cunel, Romagne, and Blanc Mont, before heading to Rheims, Versailles and Paris. At first all we could see in the woods were the fallen leaves, but once inside we saw the remains of the war everywhere, including bunkers, trenches, and bomb craters. The huge holes left by artillery shells, winding trenches and stone fortifications were all around us. We found shells (a few unexploded), metal fragments such as a shovel and stove parts, and even a human femur bone. Seeing these remnants still in place after more than 90 years is a poignant reminder that war seems to be an unceasing human activity, always with us. There were also many beautiful memorials and cemeteries along the way, many looking forgotten and unvisited, but even so a more suitable way to honor those who fought there.

The green grass and undulating curves of the trenches and craters along the hillsides reminded me of Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial, where I've seen many visitors leave fragments to remember their loved ones, and especially her Storm King Wavefield in upstate New York. The remains of war can become beautiful with time once the natural world takes over.

In Rheims we visited the school building, now a museum, where the German surrender was signed to end the war in Europe during World War II. Gen. Eisenhower gets the credit but strangely didn't attend the signing ceremony as he would have outranked the German commanders who attended. On the way to Paris we visited Versailles, which was massively crowded, partly due to the strikes, but we got our tour in along with thousands of others. The room where the Versailles treaty was signed to end World War I was only noted in passing with no attendant display. The over-the-top splendor of the palace was in contrast with an exhibition of surreal scene-stealing popart works by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, almost too much to take in during such a brief visit. Imagination has no bounds, but we still cannot seem to imagine the end of war.

In Paris we visited Napolean's tomb at Les Invalides and the National War Museum, putting an appropriate coda on our tour. We managed to exit the country just as the worst of the strikes were taking place, with long lines forming for taxis and at the gas stations due to gas shortages. I soon returned to America in time to vote in the midterm elections, a brouhaha seeming not that different from the one taking place in France. If nations like the USA and France can't even figure out how to govern themselves, how can the nations of the world ever achieve a lasting peace?