Jewish World Review May 12, 2003 / 10 Iyar, 5763

Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly
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Dispatches from the Desert: Cavalry scout's skills include coffee-making


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | IRAQI DESERT, West of Baghdad Starbucks won't be serving Cafe Cinanchetti anytime soon, but out in the desert, it tastes pretty good.

There are things soldiers in Apache Troop miss more than coffee - showers, hot food, cold beer. But they miss coffee a lot.

Sgt. Philip Cinanchetti, 32, arrived "in-theater," as they say, with coffee grounds. But he had no way to brew them.

Being a cavalry scout, he did what scouts do. He improvised. Half an empty Pepsi can, punched with pinholes, hung by a string from a Meals-Ready-to-Eat packet served as his percolator. And he discovered plenty of sources of heat on a Bradley fighting vehicle, especially one that's been sitting in the desert sun.

Cinanchetti's coffee-making skills were displayed not so much in the selection of his materials, but in making the holes in the can just the right size so water would trickle through without having the grounds escape, and so the mixture would brew for the proper length of time.

The result is pretty tasty.

Making coffee is among the easier tasks for a cavalry scout.

Scouts roam in front of the main body of troops, checking out available routes ahead and trying to locate the enemy without being located themselves. Sometimes, they are called upon to blow up bridges to block enemy movements. Or to call in fire on an enemy position, like an artillery forward observer.

All told, seven different military specialties were compressed to create the one position, No. 19D, the cavalry scout. Because the job requires so much skill and quick-thinking, scouts tend to be smart.

An Akron native, Cinanchetti was a cop in Cleveland and an agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration between hitches in the Army. As commander of a Bradley, he is a character leading a bunch of characters.

The No. 2 man on Cinanchetti's team, the gunner, is Sgt. Travus Brandon, 26, a Milwaukee native and former sailor. A religious agnostic more of the "I don't care" than the "I don't know" variety, Brandon referees theological discussions between Cinanchetti, a Christian, and the loader in the crew, Pfc. Mark Hennion, 19, a Satanist with a pentagram tattooed on the back of his neck.

A native of Harrisburg, Pa., Hennion - who has the vocabulary of a college professor - dropped out of high school as a sophomore because of "religious persecution," he said. "[School authorities] were blaming me for things even when I was home sick."

Hennion joined the Army to get his GED, which he got a year before his high school class graduated. When last tested, his IQ was 150. He was bored in school.

So was Pfc. Joshua Smith, 18, who dropped out of high school in Summerville, S.C., and got his GED a year before his class graduated, too. Smith had intended to join the Marines, but the Corps is only taking high school graduates. He joined the cavalry scouts as the next toughest thing he could do.

The driver of Cinanchetti's Bradley, Pfc. Richard Taylor, 19, from Albany, Ga., did get a high school diploma, but was constantly in trouble. "I'm trying to do something with my life instead of spending it on the streets," he said. "I'm going to be a lifer."

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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

05/08/03: Dispatches from the Desert: Ammo boxes in trucks get attention of soldiers
05/06/03: Syrian border diarist: Only trouble in Iraq seems to be news
04/28/03: Loser generals : They shot (off their mouths) and missed
04/25/03: A war we could lose
04/21/03: The "Collaborators' News Network"
04/14/03: Axis of Weasels is coming to its senses?
04/11/03: Peace will be a mess
04/08/03: It's a mad, mad (Arab) world
04/03/03: Ah, the life of a war correspondent this time around
04/02/03: The difference between hopes and expectations
03/31/03: Iraq is a steppingstone, not a final stop
03/24/03: European media and former 'human shields' are beginning to get it
03/20/03: Was getting the UN involved worth it?
03/18/03: South Koreans no longer behaving as if they were the French of Northeast Asia --- why?
03/11/03: Ultimatum's moment of truth
03/11/03: Thank you, Turkey, we needed that
03/07/03: The fight against Saddam isn't a distraction from the war on terror --- it's is the main event
03/04/03: Bioterror nightmare approaching --- how it could likely happen
02/27/03: Iranian student: Can America hurry up with Iraq already, so they can get on with attacking us?
02/25/03: Yahoos on both the Left and the Right are trying to prevent government from maximizing technology in protecting us
02/20/03: Anti-war group gets it right about great humanitarian tragedy in last Gulf War
02/18/03: Iraqis: Why are these people marching for tyranny?
02/07/03: French kiss(ed)-off
02/05/03: Does the FBI have the ability to protect us from terrorists already here?
02/03/03: The "Axis of Weasels"
01/29/03: A bit of the jitters
01/27/03: The world's mediocre intelligence agency
01/21/03: By reaffirming GOP opposition to racism, president demonstrates willingness to confront liars
01/16/03: Why the United States should withdraw all of its military forces from South Korea as rapidly as we reasonably can
01/14/03: Federal incompetence driven by political correctness, not trampling of civil liberties, is what we should fear
01/09/03: Bag this boondoggle: The V-22 Osprey would hurt our national defense
01/07/03: Another Korean war?
01/02/03: Ostriches
12/26/02: Learning from Canada's economic suicide
12/24/02: A moral dilemma: Support a vicious fascist dictator or the poor and downtrodden?
12/20/02: Time to tell the truth: The great movement of blacks to the Democratic Party took place for economic reasons, not because of civil rights
12/18/02: Nothing better illustrates Trent Lott's unfitness for the post of Senate Majority Leader than his desperate efforts to cling to it
12/16/02: Debunker mentality: It's hard work not seeing ties between Iraq and al-Qaida
12/12/02: GOP ideologues turning on Lott --- better sacrifice the leader than the party
12/06/02: Curing our democracy of afflictions
12/02/02: Conscription, like the horse cavalry, is an artifact of a bygone time
11/27/02: What Saddam faces
11/25/02: Why war with Iraq can be averted
11/19/02: A draft would harm the military
11/12/02: The 2002 elections and Nixon
11/07/02: Democratic overreaction to our recent "cosmically important" election
10/30/02: Show North Korea we're serious: Polish off Saddam
10/22/02: The squealing in the Pentagon is a proof of Rummy's effectiveness
10/16/02: The tactical challenge we face
10/10/02: Silence more despicable than seditious noise
10/08/02: Bu$h and the bu$ine$$ of war
10/01/02: Gore's calculated risk may well get him the Dems' nomination
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09/25/02: Making Saddam change his spots
09/19/02: Bush's resolve already has paid dividends
09/17/02: Courageous Iranians
09/13/02: If you never served in the military, you have no right to an opinion
09/10/02: Why the 'air marshals' will fail
09/05/02: Resurrecting the "Happy Darky"
08/31/02: Are Bush's inactions against Iraq calculated?
08/23/02: Dems can't take the minority vote for granted any longer
08/20/02: No proof of Saddam's wrongdoing? Yeah, right
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08/08/02: Picking a tree for Cheney's hanging
08/06/02: Fears about the Department of Homeland Security are misplaced
08/01/02: The greatest strategic deception since Eisenhower convinced Hitler the Allies were going to land at the Pas de Calais?
07/30/02: State Dept.'s anti-American actions
07/26/02: Journalists are making sure Americans can't differentiate between the stock market and the economy
07/23/02: Iran's is on the verge of a social and political explosion. So why is media ignoring it?
07/17/02: FBI isn't supposed to stand for Foolish, Blind and Incompetent
07/12/02: The ICC tramples on rights Americans take for granted
07/09/02: Was LA International Airport shooting, in fact, good news?
07/02/02: What the "intelligence community" can learn from Alexander the Great
06/28/02: Muslim link in Oklahoma City bombing revisited
06/25/02: A good environmental scare needs two ingredients - an impending catastrophe, and someone to blame for it
06/21/02: Stirring the security pot
06/18/02: Why the military is so messed up
06/14/02: Vast majority $68.7 billion proposed for weapons will be spent on systems of little use in the war on terror
06/12/02: Bush saw them and raised them, and he's holding the aces
06/10/02: Some heads need to roll
06/04/02: A new draft for the 'war on terror'?
05/31/02: So the FBI has finally caught up to our priorities?
05/29/02: Taking on common sense
05/23/02: Political terrorists
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05/15/02: If there is a way for America to lose the war, Gen. Tommy Franks can find it
05/13/02: Impartial justice against Americans by the UN?
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04/23/02: Why peace in the Mideast is closer than ever
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04/17/02: Logical Muslim allies
04/10/02: How to guarantee an infinite Mideast war
04/08/02: Saddam's American friends
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04/01/02: Why is the commander of U.S. Central Command not coming clean to the American people?
03/31/02: Dubya under attack … by conservatives
03/26/02: Saddam watch coming to an end?
03/21/02: Get the Jews!
03/19/02: It's time pols and gov bureaucrats be held to the same standard of accountability we insist for corporate execs
03/15/02: Khaki Throat
03/12/02: Making foreign cheaters pay
03/08/02: Timidity and indecision by senior American commanders
03/04/02: Why 9-11? Ex-CIA officials come clean
02/25/02: Don't rule out a quick victory --- even if prez says otherwise
02/21/02: Saving our military from itself
02/19/02: Front Page fiction
02/15/02: Our European allies are like the fat kid who wants to play quarterback
02/13/02: Is the Army in danger of becoming "irrelevant"?
02/11/02: So, I "propagate hatred" …
02/06/02: Bush whacking the media
02/04/02: Why serious folks disregard the European Union --- and why Bush must, too
01/30/02: Give economy pneumonia in order to protect it from a cold
01/28/02: Media is its own worst enemy
01/25/02: Journalists making road to peace a bumpy ride, or: A case study in stupidity
01/23/02: Toward a stronger defense at a lower cost
01/21/02: How Bush could be Generations X and Y's Kennedy ... and guarantee a GOP victory in the midterm elections

© 2002, Jack Kelly