Story by: Spc. Matthew McLaughlin
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - It is 1 a.m. and the Humvee is dead silent from an exhausting day of patrolling. Soldiers scan the roads in routine fashion, waiting for something to break the monotony. Suddenly, a booming sound echoed through the vehicle, startling everyone.
"Oklahoma! Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain," a noncommissioned officer in the vehicle sang out.
To some, Staff Sgt. James Smotherman's unprompted desire to sing show tunes may seem strange. But for the "Roughneck" platoon of C Battery, 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, it is another humorous way to combat the danger and repetitiveness of every day life in Baghdad.
The Roughnecks pride themselves on professionalism as well as absurdity, Smotherman said.
"The Army has all sorts of regulations saying how professional you have to be on the job," the section chief from Las Cruces, N.M. said. "They don't say anything about how much fun you can have. You have to have fun in this job or you'll go crazy."
Few understand the use of humor to combat stress on the job more than Smotherman. Before enlisting, he worked as a mortician. He learned that taking work too seriously made daily activities difficult.
Laughing at something like an improvised explosive device is an important coping mechanism many Soldiers use, he said.
"An IED is always stressful because we never know when it will go off," he said. "Then someone will say "can we hurry this up because I have to get my nails done?" You can't walk around with a frown all the time."
The humor many Roughnecks share is exemplified in their taste of movies, said Spc. William Lowe, a driver from Ogdensburg, N.Y.
Many of their jokes relate back to group favorites like "Team America: World Police" and "Napoleon Dynamite." The jokes and catch lines from a favorite flick are infectious and many Soldiers feel compelled to see the movie just to understand the joke, Lowe said.
"When one of us sees a good movie, we don't rest until everyone in the platoon sees it," he said.
The movies also include musicals provoked by Smotherman's after-hours rendition of American classics. Smotherman said he feels right at home with the Roughnecks.
They are a collection of wise guys whose unity lies in jabs and cracks on anything, especially each other.
They mock each other from things as small as tripping over rubble.
"If we're on patrol and you stumble, you'll hear about it for a week," Lowe said.
Every Soldier has a nickname as unflattering and uncensored as the daily ribbings they give each other.
Nothing is sacred and no one is safe, especially Spc. Jeffrey Sharpe, a gunner from Statesville, N.C. If other Soldiers go too far, he said he has to put them in line.
"Sometimes they go too far. Then I have to take care of them," he said as he cracked his knuckles and smiled nervously.
Smotherman immediately attacked him and Sharpe went limp like a possum to his prey.
When the group gets going, nothing is off limits, said Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Shepherd, chief of firing battery.
"In this platoon I don't think there is such a thing as too far," said Shepherd, and Ocla, Fla. native who was the brunt of jokes after he recovered from a head injury earlier in the deployment.
Shepherd is quick to note that his Soldiers are always respectful to superior and subordinate alike. The fact that everyone is a target is a sign of their comradeship, he said.
"They are a well disciplined platoon," he said. "They never cross the line of disrespect."
"The proper definition of a senior/subordinate relationship is mutual respect and confidence without undue familiarity," Smotherman said. "We have that."
Although the very personal jokes and critiques may seem offensive and disrespectful to an outsider, many Roughnecks said their humor is what makes them so close.
"We're a real tight knit group," Smotherman said. "The cohesion in this group is more than anywhere else I've been."
"This is my family," Shepherd said. "I have 18 Soldiers as my family."
Their unity was put to the ultimate test when they lost one of their own, Pfc. Jeff Lebrun, on New Year's Day. The lighthearted spirit of the group was replaced with deep mourning for a close friend.
"It was pretty somber," Smotherman said. "It made us aware that we're not invulnerable."
The platoon went through a period where no one felt like joking, Smotherman said. The moral was low, but the Soldier's upbeat spirits eventually prevailed.
"It was definitely subdued," Smotherman said. "No one wanted to say anything because it's almost disrespectful to laugh in a situation like that. But over a period of time people started joking with each other. I knew the platoon was going to be okay when people started to laugh again."
Another day has past in Baghdad. Another patrol finished and another laugh shared. While others may gripe and gloom, the Roughnecks will continue living by their simple belief: Soldiers just want to have fun.
| Date Taken: | 04.05.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 04.05.2005 10:43 |
| Story ID: | 1491 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 127 |
| Downloads: | 14 |
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