Troops deserve America's support, says speaker

Intermountain Catholic

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Vickie McCall serves as an advisor to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. McCall started a 501c3 program ?Sweats for Vets? for those soldiers in Landstuhl Hospital recovering from surgery and in therapy. IC photo by Christine Young

SALT LAKE CITY — "Whether you agree with the war in Southwest Asia or disagree with the war, I do not really care," said Vickie McCall, a guest speaker at the 80th Annual Diocesan Council of Catholic Women Convention at the Sheraton City Centre April 26-27. "What I do care about is while we have troops serving over seas, they deserve the support of the American public."

Vickie McCall spoke of her journey to the war zones of Southwest Asia (Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia). McCall currently serves as an advisor to General Michael T. Moseley, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. She was honored with the 2007 First Annual Wingman Award from Hill Air Force Base. In her professional career, she has been a member and past chairwoman of the Air Combat Command’s Civic Leader group, and past president and board member of the Utah Defense Alliance, an honorary 388th Fighter Wing Commander/Falcon from 2001 to 2007.

"For the last two years, we have traveled throughout locations visiting bases and commands trying to understand what it is these troops are training for, how the missions are going, and ultimately if we are providing the troops with what they need," said McCall.

"By no means do I want you to think that my comments today offer some kind of political statement," said McCall. "My comments will reflect an Air Force perspective, although we did encounter Army, Navy, Marine, and even Coast Guard personnel deployed on joint assignments."

McCall said although her experience involved a lot of paperwork it was a moving experience. When she was with the Air Force, she realized that every single day, every person in the Air Force from the most junior to the most senior leader takes an oath.

"The caliber of these people is exceptional," said McCall. "They are dedicated and committed, they understand why they are there, and they are true patriots. They are the best America has to offer. You cannot imagine the responsibility, especially that these 19 year olds have to do."

McCall said they went into the war zone to see with what we are fighting these battles. She said we have planes that are more than 40 years old and they will be 80 to 100 years old before we retire them. Russia and China are developing aircraft that are rivaling ours now. The Chinese have a new fighter jet out that is less than 6.5 years old. The technology Russia and China are producing is getting younger, whereas ours is getting older and we have fewer.

When McCall was in a command center in Southwest Asia, she said in a very large room there were two huge movie screens. One side represented Afghanistan and the other side represented Iraq. They were covered with little red pock marks or tics (troops in combat).

"You watch live where the battle fields are and fighting is taking place," said McCall. "It was just the second day I was there and all of our F-16s were grounded. One of the F-16s literally broke in half from stress because it was so old. The pilots were pacing, saying get me up in the air, because they know somebody is depending on them, and that really hurts.

"Did we stop the war because of this? Absolutely not," said McCall. "We had to arrange for planes from other parts of the world, and had to send back people who had just come home so we could cover for these pilots.

"It is a real stickler where we are and the amount we are spending on defense," said McCall. "Never have we had a perfect war, and never will we ever have a perfect war. We have made mistakes and we will make more mistakes. But do we pack up and call it quits. My personal belief is no."

McCall said do not believe everything you read in the newspaper and do not watch the news and think you are getting a full report.

"I would never stand up here and say what you read and hear is not true, but I will tell you it is not the whole story. We are doing some incredible things that never get recorded such as building schools, supplying water and power, making sure the people have safe havens in which to live, and that they have food.

"When I came home, it was a difficult transition for me because I could not shake the last day of my trip," said McCall. "We had been to several sites, and I have always been excited about my trips in the past, and I am really excited about where we are going in the future, but I spent the day at Landstuhl Medical Hospital in Ramstein, Germany. If you want to see what war is all about, visit every single patient in that hospital, hold their hand, touch their legs, stroke their hair, and listen to their stories. It was a life changing experience for me.

"During the cold war, I crossed into East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie," said McCall. "My children were separated from me at the time. We were reunited only after machine guns had been pointed at them and they had been intimidated. I have been to the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, and both times I had machine guns pointed at me from the North Koreans. I have been to Kosovo, and I have seen what genocide can do. I have seen families and homes uprooted and the travesties of war. On 9/11, I was in the Pentagon when we got hit. As I left the Pentagon, there were Americans on the ground bloodied, burned, and I will never ever forget that.

"But my experience at Landstuhl does not surpass any of those experiences," said McCall. "I am here to tell you we have the best care in the world in our American hospitals. Even though these men have been wounded, they say they are going back because they have seen the enemy, they know what they can do, and they will not let them get the best of America while they are here. I heard that sentiment from every single person I talked to. We should be so proud of our troops and the sacrifices they are making serving our country.

"I will storm the halls of Congress telling my story because we cannot take the troops for granted. We have to give them exactly what they need and support them," said McCall. "I asked them what they need and they said nothing they are doing fine.

"So I realized when these injured soldiers are picked up on the battle field and cannot be immediately taken to an air base station, they are transported by military helicopter or aircraft to one of two hospitals, typically Landstuhl. On the battlefield, their uniforms are cut off because they need help. Following surgery, they are there for recovery and therapy, and they need sweat pants.

"I started Sweats for Vets, a 501c3 program, and have collected 120 pairs of sweat pants from the Council of Catholic Women in Ogden. Things have calmed down, but we need more," said McCall. "These could be given away in a day. We also need white cotton socks, black shorts, black and white T-shirts, pajama bottoms, and money to buy supplies for the soldiers."

For more information, McCall’s e-mail is Vickiel@webpike.net.