GPS units aid troops stationed in Iraq

[SomethingFishy*]

GPS units aid troops stationed in Iraq

(an article in the St.Cloud Times 11/10/2006)

Buildings on both sides of the road north of Baghdad were damaged, shot up.

It was April and members of the Minnesota National Guard were on a training mission with soldiers they were to replace in Iraq.

Through the darkness, they could see silhouettes of people walking through the broken buildings.

They were not on the right route.

"We ended up missing a turn and ended up in a pretty nasty area of Baghdad," Sgt. Gaylen Heacock Jr. said. "... It was a scary, scary deal."

Heacock took out a personal GPS unit he had with him, locating where they were and where they needed to be.

"We never once stopped," he said. "... All 24 vehicles did a U-turn, and we got out of there."

The military has GPS units in each vehicle, he said. But for whatever reason they were either not there or not working properly that night.

"I was able to find the area that we were at," he said. "That's when I decided it was a worthwhile thing to have around."

An e-mail beginning

A local effort is beginning to ensure each member of the military serving in the war has a personal GPS unit. And Heacock's own experience is helping catapult it.

It began quite simply, with an e-mail Heacock sent last winter to one of his high school teachers.

While training in Mississippi, Heacock e-mailed Ed Meyer, a former shop teacher and retired St. Cloud State University professor. The topic turned to Meyer's part-time work at Gander Mountain conducting GPS training sessions, and then to the type of GPS Heacock should take with him to Iraq.

During Heacock's leave over Christmas, Meyer arranged for GPS training and three GPS units for Meyer and three other soldiers to take along.

"It's helping them a lot, there's no doubt about it," Meyer said.

Expanding effort

Since then, Meyer has expanded his vision.

"What I want to do is make sure that everybody in the country, if they get deployed, has access to one of these to go with them," he said.

The units cost about $170 and can be passed along as deployments begin and end, he said.

He received permission from the company, Lowrance Electronics, to copy its Middle East GPS chip, allowing deploying troops to have detailed information for Iraq and Afghanistan for the price of a blank chip.

"It's in the blooming stages," he said.

A personal GPS unit and chip allows troops to document convoy routes and where insurgents have set off IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, Meyer said.

Often, insurgents will place IEDs where one has previously exploded successfully.

New direction

Heacock's service in Iraq was cut short this year after an IED hit his truck in May.

A gun truck driver on a convoy, Heacock was responsible for the safety of 20 semi-trucks traveling through Iraq.

The explosion damaged his inner ear. But despite the dizzy spells and an occasional blackout, he pushed on — until he came home for leave in August. The pressure change on the airplane caused him to pass out, and he stayed at Fort Knox for medical treatment.

"I had been pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing to get back to Iraq," he said. "I've been stuck in the States while the rest of my guys are in Iraq."

His injury is preventing him from going back. But his GPS unit, which was damaged by the makeshift bomb, was repaired and shipped back to his unit.

The people he served with asked for it because of the information Heacock had stored on it, he said. It's an added level of security.

"If we had got hit and separated from my guys, I could have fired that thing up. All my routes were tracked out, so I knew where I was going," he said.

"The stuff the military has — excellent equipment. But not everybody gets it. ... It's mounted on the inside of the truck."

A 'lofty' goal

Heacock arrived home this week and hopes to work with Meyer so more troops can benefit from personal GPS units.

"Anything anyone can do to aid a soldier getting out of a situation alive is a much-needed thing," Heacock said.

The St. Augusta American Legion Post 621, of which Meyer is a member, is also taking on the effort, commander Rick Taufen said.

"We're trying to be the charter member to start this," Taufen said. "We're trying to get the units out."

The St. Augusta American Legion Women's Auxiliary recently purchased two GPS units and hopes others will follow.

"If other Legions come out, even if it's (for troops) not in their area, it's a couple more GPSes to help," Taufen said.

If it becomes a statewide or national effort, Meyer plans to train members of veterans groups to then train their local troops.

"That's my goal. It's a lofty one, but I think it could be reached," Meyer said. "There's enough people who are starting to believe that this is what should happen."

And Meyer does not want to limit which troops may benefit from GPS units. It could help troops deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, as well as National Guard members serving along the Mexican border or on other missions.

"I can take you down to the Rio Grand Valley and get you lost, real easy — where you're facing north but looking into Mexico," Meyer said. "If that won't screw you up, nothing will."

For more information or to get involved in the effort to bring personal GPS units to troops, contact Ed Meyer at [email protected].

[iland99]

The same thing happened to my brother-in-law when he was in Iraq. They were on patrol and got a little turned around. Just like this story, one of his buddies had a GPS with, and he says it probably saved their lives. He said it was the scariest part about both tours, and his convoy drew enemy fire a few times.