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March 2^an, 2006

muse@bikerenews.com

When I started writing for The Biker eNews, Phil (El Jefe) told me that I could write about anything that I wanted as long as it related to motorcycles. This article is going to push the limits of that qualification.

In the attached picture, you will see my younger brother riding a mini-bike back in the 70's. That is the first of two connections this article will make with motorcycles. Fast forwarding to the present, that little boy in the picture is now LT Danny Houglan, Supply Corps, United States Navy. After spending 9 ½ years as a Machinist Mate, he got out of the Navy to complete his Bachelor's degree before returning to the Navy as a Supply Officer.

The reason he is being featured in this article is that he has just completed a six-month deployment to Iraq. He was stationed at the Joint Contracting Command in Baghdad. Like many sailors, he was serving a shore tour when he got a call asking if he would like to volunteer (before he was ordered) to go be a "Sandbox Sailor".

He was lucky that he was able to delay his departure until his oldest daughter, Brandy, got married last August. Shortly after the wedding, he left his wife, Kelley, and youngest daughter, Rhiannon in Charleston (a year into a new tour in a new location) and headed for Iraq.

During his time in Iraq, he was involved in reporting on and monitoring many of the contracts that the United States has processed in the military's efforts to rebuild Iraq. You can check out the following website if you would like to see some of the contracting efforts going on in Iraq (www.rebuilding-iraq.net).

He departed Iraq a couple of days ago and is currently headed home to his family and a little sense of normality before heading to Monterey, CA this summer.

The second connection this article has with motorcycles is an old friend, Al Stewart. Al is a High School friend (Classes of '69). It had been 20 or so years since we had last talked. Al is ex-Army Ranger who served honorably in Vietnam. After discharge from the Army, he returned to North Carolina to pursue a career with the Greensboro Police Department. A couple of years ago he retired from the Police Department and went to work for the local District Attorney's Office.

Around January 2005 Al took a leave of absence from the DA's Office, got permission from his saint of a wife, Cathy, and accepted a position with the Civilian Police Assistance Training Team (part of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (www.mnstci.iraq.centcom.mil/sections/cpatt/index.htm). His assignment was to train police recruits in Iraq. When my brother, Danny, got to Iraq, he somehow found out that Al was in Iraq and amazingly was able to exchange emails with him. That led to Al and I exchanging emails and reconnecting after all of these years.

Al spend 2005 in Iraq getting a look at Iraq that few of us back in the states get to see or understand. He was kind enough to share a few of his SITREPs (situation reports). Al was able to highlight the importance of US efforts, while underlining the cultural and social forces that make winning the peace a heck of a lot harder than winning the war. The importance of this work can be seen almost any night on the evening news.

Al departed Iraq back in December, and was able to be home for the holidays. I'm sure that his parents (who treated me like one of their own for a few years), and his wife, daughter and grandkids (who are 14, 12, and 8) were thrilled to have him home.

Life is funny sometimes. Danny who was four years old when Al graduated from High School was able to stumble across him 35 years later halfway across the world. Through this connection, I found out that Al and I shared one of the same joys of life, motorcycles. Al has had a series of Harleys since the 80s and was headed home to take delivery on a new Road King when he left Iraq. Before he left Iraq, Al sent Biker eNews some photos of local motorcycles.

This article is about two guys who traveled different roads, but still ended up in the same place at the same time. From my perspective, what got them to that place was a common bond. That bond is a sense of honor and commitment to something beyond themselves and a sense of responsibility for making a difference in our world. Danny and Al are like a lot of other men and women who have been called upon to serve over the last few years. Their willingness to serve a greater good, their family's willing to endure the separation, and their desire to "make a difference" is what defines honor and commitment.

What makes them different is I've been lucky enough to know them. So, as both of you settle back into stateside living, I wish you "FAIR WINDS AND FOLLOWING SEAS" wherever your journeys take you.

From: An Old Bike Riding Swabby
To: A Mini-Bike Riding Kid and An Old Warrior on a Road King

Thank You

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