THE KWAJALEIN HOURGLASS Volume 41, Number 69 Friday, August 31, 2001 U.S
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Kwajalein Hourglass THE KWAJALEIN HOURGLASS Volume 41, Number 69 Friday, August 31, 2001 U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands Review board investigates bends case By Jim Bennett Editor A USAKA dive review board is looking into the case of a man who suffered from the bends Saturday. Aaron Yessick The man, whose name has not been re- drives a metal leased, returned from diving Saturday com- rod through a plaining of bends-related symptoms. He was pier Wednes- immediately taken to the recompression cham- day afternoon. ber at the USAKA Marine Department. A welder The case sparked an investigation and the originally from Texas, formation of the dive review board, a group by Yessick has regulation made up of a USAKA safety officer, worked in the Kwajalein Scuba Club president, a divemaster heat before or instructor and a dive medicine expert of the and drinks chief medical officer. plenty of We want to find out what happened, said water while on Lt. Col. Steve Morris, USAKA chief of Opera- the job. tions and acting commander. Then well see if theres anything we can learn from this. More details from the report will be re- (See DIVERS, page 4) Ambassadors tip off big Labor Day entertainment (Photo by Jim Bennett) By Jim Bennett Editor Show basketball team, the Harlem Ambas- Putting heat illness on front burner sadors, will jump start a weeks worth of local By Jim Bennett recorded only a few heat-related illnesses. entertainment Saturday. Editor Most of our community is well aware of This is something special weve never had The heat-related death of Pro Bowl of- our close equatorial location and heat-re- before, said Simone Smead, Community fensive lineman Korey Stringer on Aug. 1, lated problems, said Dr. John Janikowski. Activities manager. This is a great way to kick and subsequent heat-related incidents on In general most people know to use sun- off the new Kwaj year. football fields at the high school and college screen, limit exertional activities and replace Tip-off is at 7 p.m. at the outdoor basketball level, raised an issue in the states with which fluids. Occasionally, someone forgets or court, across from Café Pacific, but food and Kwajalein residents deal successfully every gets caught off-guard, or isnt aggressive festitivities begin at 6 p.m. Sodexho USA will day. enough with prevention. offer pizza-by-the-slice and grilled burgers and Living 8 1/2 degrees north of the equator, And thats when they run into trouble. hot dogs, along with beverages. temperatures range from 78 to 88 degrees Janikowski said the hospital sees some The Ambassadors are a show basketball Fahrenheit on any given day. But during heat rashes, cramps and exhaustion. team made up of professional players, led by peak hours, 1 to 3 p.m., the temperature Most often the more severe problems Ladè Majic, the queen of show basketball. combined with relative humidity makes it are associated with a combination of pro- Majic is the only woman coach/player on an all- feel like 105, according to Aeromet. longed heat exposure and exertional activi- mens professional team, and has played more And yet, in the last 10 years, the island has (See WORKERS, page 4) (See ENTERTAINMENT, page 5) www.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/Hourglass/hourglass.html Friday Page 2 Kwajalein Hourglass August 31, 2001 Opinion/Editorial Hallowed ground makes for meaningful reflection A recent trip took me to Virginia, and as the South lost the war with the death of it was my first time in the area, I decided Jackson. to visit some Civil War battlefields. I went to Petersburg. I saw the place It is one thing to read about these where, after nine months of terrible siege, places and quite another to walk the the Union Army broke through the Con- ground where thousands of men died. federate lines and started Lees final re- My first visit was to Cold Harbor. If there treat. were no signs I would have driven right by I visited Appomattox, where four years it. The gently rolling green hills and wooded of bitter, bloody battle finally ended when forest at first hide any trace of war. was killed today. Lee surrendered to Grant. I saw the place It was when I took a walking tour of the Afterwards wounded men lay in the where Lee offered his sword to Grant and battlefield that I could plainly see what woods and fields for three days while Lee Grant waved it aside in embarassment. was left of Confederate earthworks and and Grant haggled over terms for a truce I stood on the road that was lined with fortifications that ran through the woods which would allow collecting the dead and Union soldiers when the remnants of the and along what are now modern-day wounded. Confederate Army of Northern Virginia roads. I then visited Gaines Mill, where a des- marched to surrender their weapons. Both As I looked down the hill I was on, my perate battle was fought as a Union rear armies came to attention and saluted minds eye saw the masses of Union guard struggled to hold a ridge overlook- each other. infantry coming across the clearing in the ing the Chickahominy River while the rest I stood where battle-hardened men woods and trying to come up the hills that of the Union Army retreated. cried when they had to give up their the Confederate Army was defending. It During the battle, a Confederate color flags. was no contest. The Confederates were bearer was shot in both arms and both As one Confederate soldier said,We entrenched behind stout fortifications. legs. He had his fellow soldiers tie the flag didnt mind giving up our weapons and Their position was almost impregnable. to his body so he could continue with the such because we knew that the war was The Union soldiers knew it amounted to attack. over and wed be going home. But giving suicide. But they obeyed their orders and I stood at the bottom of the ridge the up our flags, well, that was something attacked anyway. Confederates had to climb and wondered else again. Because there were days The attack lasted some eight to 10 how on earth they did it. I saw the spot when we went into battle for no other minutes. In that time, the Union Army where charging men tried to cross what reason than we followed that flag. suffered approximately 7,000 casualties. they thought was a shallow swamp, only In all these places I learned more than A diary belonging to a Union soldier to become waist-deep in mud and muck I had known. It was an emotional experi- was found, and on the day of the attack as Union defenders poured shot and shell ence. What on earth or in heaven could the author had written a single entry: I into them. make men do what these men did? I saw where Union cavalry made a last- As I walked the hallowed ground of The Kwajalein Hourglass ditch, gallant charge when the Confeder- these battlefields, I realized that either I Commanding Officer...Col. Curtis L. Wrenn Jr. ates had broken through the Union infantry. was alone or perhaps four or five other Public Affairs Officer..............Preston Lockridge Its all so hard to imagine. Gaines Mill people were there at the same time. It Editor..........................................Jim Bennett Associate Editor...............................Peter Rejcek is a beautiful place. saddened me that so few people would Feature Writers....................Barbara Johnson I traveled to Chancellorsville where Rob- visit places where so many important KW Hillis ert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson devised events occurred. Graphics Designer ...........................Dan Adler a daring and risky plan which enabled I guess these out-of-the-way places Sports Writer ............................Bruce Sinkula them to defeat a Union Army that outnum- dont hold the same attraction as Disney bered them more than two-to-one. World, Six Flags or other theme parks The Hourglass is named for the insignia that dot the landscape. of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division, which I viewed the spot where Jackson was liberated the island from the forces of Impe- accidentally shot by his own men. It was But I would hope that the theme of rial Japan on Feb 4, 1944. a very costly victory indeed. Some say courage and gallantry that the men on The Kwajalein Hourglass is an authorized both sides who fought in these places publication for military personnel, federal em- Care to voice an opinion? displayed will be passed on to new gen- ployees, contractor workers and their families erations of Americans. assigned to USAKA/KMR. Contents of the Keep letters to less than 300 words. On your way to amusement parks, the Hourglass are not necessarily official views We will edit for AP Style and, if you beach or other places youre going on of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, De- exceed the word limit, space. vacation, maybe you could turn off the partment of Defense, Department of the Army Limit yourself to one letter every 30 main roads and take time to visit some of or USAKA/KMR. It is published Tuesdays days to give other readers a chance these places where history happened and and Fridays using a network printer by to write. tell your children what occurred there. Raytheon Range Systems Engineering edito- Send your letter to: rial staff, P.O. Box 23, APO AP 96555. For it is in these woods and fields that The Hourglass, P.O.