Tommy Maness, Generator One at Camp Warhorse

Tommy Maness was was known as Generator One at Camp Warhorse at Baqubah, Iraq.

There was not a generator on base he could not fix when called upon to do so. He was very gifted with engines.

There was no power grid in Iraq so everyone had to use generators for electrical power.

He was always covered in grease and smiles, and was recognizable by his blue hard hat he wore around.

Tommy Maness could also play the piano and would play at our Sunday night worship services that we held at Camp Warhorse. Tommy was a good story teller. We would sit and listen to him tell some of his stories during our prayer meetings or during one of the BBQ's we would throw together from time to time at Camp Warhorse.

Meat was hard to come by so we usually had to strike up some deal with the Army--they were really good to us. We would say, "How about a case of T-bones?" They would hesitate... We would continue--"You know, I think your generator is going to have problems tonight..." They would respond, "You want those frozen or ready for the grill?" It is amazing what people would do to keep their generator running at Camp Warhorse.

No matter what the weather, cold or hot, rain or sunshine, no matter what time of the day or night, Tommy could be counted on to be there to fix those generators.

Tommy Maness would preach from time to time in the services at Camp Warhorse. I enjoyed his testimony because it was real and not phony and fake.

In the early days I arrived at Baqubah and my room was dirty and messy. It was not a good experience that first night. I was tired and all I wanted to do was go to bed--but the room, even though it had never been used, was never cleaned.

I sort of appointed myself as the billeting guy. I made sure the rooms were clean and stocked with a few snacks for people coming in to Camp Warhorse.

One day we were told to expect two VIPs to be coming to our site from main HQ. So we prepared the rooms, stocked them with lots of good stuff. Things a weary traveler might enjoy from a long trip on the open road--back then we used regular vehicles and caught a ride with a convoy. (Later, the only way we were allowed to travel was by helicopter.)

The two VIP's never arrived but Tommy Maness and one other person did. We were not expecting them. I put them in the rooms for the VIP's since these were the only ones I had clean.

I could have stuck them in a couple of the dirty rooms, but I did not think this was the right thing to do. The next morning, Tommy Maness stood outside munching on a bag of chips I had put in the room and with crumbs on his face and hands said, "You know, I felt like I was in the Holiday Inn last night."

He really appreciated the extra effort we had taken.

All the effort I had put into cleaning and stocking the rooms was made worthwhile with his comment. That is the atmosphere I wanted people to feel when they arrived after being herded like sheep and cattle from place to place since their arrival in country.

A few days later, Tommy Maness came into the place I had cleaned up and claimed as my office at Camp Warhorse. He put a fuel pump on my desk and said he needed one. Then he stood there waiting. Like we had these laying around and all I had to do was go to the back room and get one like in the States.

I wanted to laugh but I did not and I told him to check back in a month. It actually turned out to take 12 months to get that fuel pump. The one he put on my desk was rebuilt many times but somehow Tommy kept it going until a new one came in.

Tommy Maness had a hillybilly type manner about him. He grew up in Arkansas on a farm. So when he was talking about a generator he would make reference to it and the farm animals.

For instance, he would say, "this generator is sprouting oil like a stuck pig." He had a lot of quaint sayings but I do not remember them. Just that he had us all at Camp Warhorse rolling in laughter a lot.

When his year was up, Tommy Maness decided it was time to go home. He had gotten married on one of his R and R's from Camp Warhorse and he was ready to go home and be a husband.

I cried the day he left. One more of our original group was leaving. There was Josh, and Donovan, and Tom (who is now battling cancer)((Tom lost his battle to cancer a year after we wrote this)) and Carol and Roger and Eddie. One by one our group left for home or different assignments until there were only six of us originals left at Camp Warhorse.

I would shake their hands or give them a hug as they boarded the truck to go to the helo pad. Then I would sit on a sand berm and watch them leave when their helicopter took off.

I shed a lot of tears for these friends. I have only seen Eddie since we left Camp Warhorse. I actually worked for Eddie, for awhile at Al Asad Air Base, until he re-joined the Army. He is now a Colonel serving in Afghanistan.

THE FOLLOWING WAS SUBMITTED BY TOMMY'S FAMILY

Tommy had problems logging his trips, so his family constantly teased him about “creative logging.” Tommy just wanted to deliver a load, retrieve another, and come home to his family. The time he spent with his wife, boys, and family were very important to him.

In mid-October of 2006, Tommy began complaining of pain in his chest and both arms. He went in for a treadmill exam, flunked the exam, and was given a nitroglycerin pill. He was admitted to the hospital for an arteriorgram on Saturday morning.

After being told by the doctor he was not going to leave the hospital and a fair amount of coercion from his wife and the nurse, Tommy grumbled, “So, you want me to lie around the hospital all weekend instead of going home.” Saturday morning we found out how critical Tommy’s heart problems were; he had a heart valve leakage, an aneurysm at 5 cm, and three to four blockages. Tommy was devastated by the news.

He required open-heart surgery and would be recuperating for three months. The decision had already been made. Tommy was in the Lord’s hands. His wife tells the story below:

"Tommy came through the surgery successfully, but the doctor told us the next 48 hours would be critical and, hopefully, uneventful. While family and friends went home, I spent the night at the hospital and periodically went into the ICU unit to check on him. Tommy’s color was good after everything he had gone through, but they were having trouble stabilizing his blood pressure. About 10:15 p.m. ICU called a code blue on Tommy. They opened up Tommy in ICU, massaged his heart, and took him back to surgery for a second time. Tommy’s heart had swollen, a condition that happens in about 2% of trauma patients."

"Thursday morning the doctors were concerned about his neurological state, and the family was told to prepare themselves for the worst. Tommy was put on life support at 12:45 a.m., Friday, November 10th. As it became obvious that Tommy was not going to make it, the hospital, citing Tommy’s relatively healthy state, approached me and asked if I would be willing to donate his organs. Tommy was a very loving and giving person, so I agreed. On Saturday, between 9 and 10 a.m., Tommy’s organs were harvested, and he was pronounced. At Tommy’s request, he is buried next to his father."

"It never entered our minds we would lose Tommy, but as I said earlier he was in the Lord’s hands. At times, we still can’t believe it. The testimony of Tommy’s life is to make sure you know the Lord as your personal Savior, read your Bible, and apply these Biblical principles to your daily life as you serve the Lord. This will help you to grow as a Christian. The Lord is the one in control, and one day he will call you home. We all love and miss you “Generator One.” "

November 2010

As of this date, five people form our KBR group, that I am aware, from Camp Warhorse, have passed away.

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