Courtesy Photo | Lt. Col. Charles Dalcourt, deputy brigade commander for the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade,...... read more read more
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By Sgt. 1st Class Rick Emert
1st ACB, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs
TAJI, Iraq – He looks at the battle in Iraq through a warrior's eyes, but this Apache pilot and deputy brigade commander feels the strife of its people with the heart of a poet.
Although he spends nearly every moment of his days involved in the planning of decisive missions against the insurgency, Lt. Col. Charles Dalcourt, deputy commander for the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st ACB said that for him, this is more than a mission.
His heart is in the investment American Soldiers make toward the future of Iraq.
"The Soldier that's here is not just here in word and deed," Dalcourt said. "You really have some of us with our heart in this nation. Most, I would say, that are over here serving have a heart for this nation to do well."
The sectarian violence and lack of unity among the people of Iraq has inspired a poem that Dalcourt began a couple of years ago and finished on this deployment. It calls for a leader to come forward to help Iraqis find the way ahead.
In the poem, called 'Terror or Peace,' Dalcourt says it will take "one born and bred in Baghdad's bosom to create a path – terror or peace."
He continues in the poem that the task ahead will not be an easy one.
"Peace defined by a man in the sand will
Be seen through indigenous sweat, a homeboy's pain
The genius of one born in the land of sand"
Although his poetry covers a wide range of topics like Black History and Women's History months, it is his poem Terror or Peace that has inspired other Soldiers here who have read it.
"He was able to capture the complexity and differences that will challenge the Iraqis as they move forward," said Capt. Wallace Lindsey, 1st ACB battle captain, a native of Kempner, Texas. Lindsey added that the poem gave him a "view of the world through a new lens, one previously unseen."
Another Soldier, Capt. DaSean Jones, fire support officer for 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, called Dalcourt's poem "very thought provoking" and said it "promotes a lot of thought and is very encouraging, although it engages in the low and high points" of Iraq.
Dalcourt said his wish is not for Iraq to become a carbon copy of the United States.
"It doesn't have to look like the United States," he said. "It doesn't have to be our law of democracy, but that's where freedom comes from, from some form of democracy. I think it's someone born and bred, like I said [in the poem], in the bosom of this place. Someone that rises out of the sand here has to take charge and own it. Grab the legacy and bring it forward, use that as a catapult to just do great things."
Dalcourt began writing poetry long before he was inspired to write Terror or Peace.
"It was really because of some of the things in my family [as a child]," Dalcourt said. "I couldn't release or talk a whole lot to people about what was going on, so I wrote to express."
Now, wearing the Army Combat Uniform and carrying an M-9 pistol, people may be surprised at the soft center beneath the armor.
"I think Americans would be surprised that we are a cross section of society with all the different interests and so forth," Dalcourt said. "There's a little bit of everything sprinkled in the military. It's an absolutely awesome place; you see so much, you learn so much, you glean so much.
"As you really study this profession, I think there are plenty of others out there that just write essays and stories, even though you don't walk into the motor pool looking for authors. I enjoy absolutely the business – especially being an operator, the warfighting aspect of it, leading Soldiers and doing those things. As you study it ... the passion comes. It's just natural that I write."
| Date Taken: | 01.30.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 01.30.2007 13:48 |
| Story ID: | 9002 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 594 |
| Downloads: | 186 |
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