Mustache March!

3/31/2007 09:21:00 PM UTC +0300

It's now no longer March, and the mustache will be gone shortly. Here's the best I was able to muster in a month's time:

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My Bus Stop

3/26/2007 12:49:00 AM UTC +0300

Here is where I wait for the bus every morning. I think this is a very fine place to stand.

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The Cost Of The War

3/25/2007 11:37:00 PM UTC +0300

We often hear about "the cost of the war", whether it be measured in dollars or in lives. Maybe we hear about how President Bush wants to spend another 10 billion dollars in Iraq, or maybe about how we just lost 50 more troops in some particular month, and it doesn't really matter what these numbers are because most Americans have little perspective on what it really means to spend 20 billion dollars or to be killed.

There is a great deal going on over here that I know nothing about. In particular, there has been an increase in bombings around Baghdad the last day or two. I can hear them off in the distance and I'm not overly concerned, since this is all taking place a couple kilometers away and my particular location isn't a very interesting target.

I do know about how some of these "costs" are incurred though. I've discussed how my office is spending money to equip Iraqi Security Forces. There are lives lost in this process as well, and it's worthwhile to understand how these casualties are occurring.

Everything we purchase must be moved. While we try to purchase as much as we can through local vendors, many items must be brought in through sea or air ports, or driven across the border from neighboring countries. How is this done? You can't simply drive a BREM down the highway. Vehicles of this sort must be loaded onto a heavy trailer and driven in as large a group as can be safely protected by an armed escort. The problem here is that this sort of movement is an obvious target, especially when there's nothing but sand as far as you can see.

People are killed on these missions. At first, it seemed lamentably frivolous to die while trying to move a water tanker from Iraq's central depot to one of the regionally-distributed units. But upon further consideration, this mission bears military necessity just like any other. The Iraqi military cannot operate without the ability to move large volumes of water; therefore any lives lost in moving water tankers may as well be lives lost in the military operations that are made possible by these water tankers. That's how I look at it anyway.

There's no doubt that we have troops breaking down doors and engaging enemies in populated areas. People are killed doing this as well. Depending on your general opinions about the war, you may see this as an inappropriate way to risk the lives of our loved ones. But this is not necessarily the norm, as I suspect many observers presume. Perhaps being killed trying to bring water to a poverty-stricken community is a more noble act?

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Thank You!

3/20/2007 09:57:00 PM UTC +0300

Yes, here we all are, the coffee drinkers of J-4 upstairs. Most of us, anyway. I know a lot of you have sent care packages, but I wanted to post a special note of appreciation to JP and his co-workers (none of whom know me) who were kind enough to pool some money for all the goods you see pictured here. We all appreciate it--thank you!Oh, and yes, I am sporting a ridiculous mustache lately. It would not be March without a mustache.

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Yikes!

3/19/2007 11:40:00 PM UTC +0300

Sheesh, I didn't mean to freak everyone out. Yes, that last post was maybe a bit depressing, but I was just feeling exhausted and I'm really fine! I appreciate your concern.

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It's The Little Things

3/17/2007 10:01:00 PM UTC +0300

I go to work at 0800 every day (Fridays and Sundays at 1000). I leave work at 2000 every day (sometimes even later). I run four miles every day, lift some weights, eat three square meals, and spend the rest of my waking hours fighting my abhorrent internet connection to take care of random personal matters. Saturdays and Sundays are unique only in that I can't telephone my contracting partners back in the United States.

Without memories, we don't have any sense of the passage of time--there is no vector, only a location. My memory for today will be that the dining facility switched their jalapeño poppers from cream cheese to cheddar. Cheddar cheese is truly far superior in this medium. Without that memory, I would wake up tomorrow and it would still be today. Even the little things give us something to hold on to. Sometimes that is all we need.

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Route Irish

3/13/2007 10:35:00 PM UTC +0300

Mention of this ill-renowned road stirs countless painful memories among a good portion of the military population. This is the primary thoroughfare for transportation between BIAP and the International Zone. You've probably seen footage of it on the television.

I'd like to think that Route Irish is a bit safer now, but I also credit seeing nothing of concern along the way to having only been on it three times. Still, it's hard for me to imagine anyone launching a serious attack against one of our convoys on this road. One would need a great deal of firepower to pose a serious threat to one of our armored HMMWV's, and IED's are much less a threat on well-traveled routes now that we have warlocks and route-clearing teams. We also have walls around a good portion of it, making it difficult for people to fire on vehicles from the outside.

Every car on the road is considered a potential threat. Most Iraqis know by now to pull over when they see a convoy, but those that don't quickly seize the full attention of the convoy drivers and gunners. Precise guidelines are exercised for the escalation of force against other vehicles. Understand that you simply can't allow another vehicle to break into the middle of the convoy. If this vehicle blocks the latter half of the convoy, your ability to defend yourself is severely reduced. Or that vehicle may carry explosives. The convoy never stops. Jumping curbs and "swimming upstream" are common solutions to traffic jams.

I was very impressed by how professional the convoy personnel were. We all had headsets and microphones so we could easily communicate to others in our vehicle, and could hear what was going on across the whole network of vehicles. The team that travels in and out of the IZ is probably fairly experienced, since I imagine they often work with some of the more political personnel in Baghdad, but I'm sure that their training and execution of the mission is not terribly different from convoy units elsewhere. They truly made a daunting task far more bearable, and even enjoyable to some degree.

This experience also made me consider what it's like to be a police officer. In a way, that's what we're doing over here anyway. I've often found the police to be intrusive and unfeeling, but I understand this behavior now--imagine how different you would behave if you had to consider every person as a potential assailant. Police really do get shot at, even if you haven't seen it yourself.

I'm learning an incredible amount about things that I never considered before. The government and military are like a huge black box for many people, and it's no wonder that they are treated with a degree of skepticism. As complex as it may seem from the outside, it's utterly mind-blowing working on the inside. It's like when you look at the moon and truly consider just how big those craters really are. The fact that we as a country have accomplished so much really speaks for the character and ideals of most Americans.

That's what this deployment is really about for me. I could never understand how it could take so long for a military power such as ours to secure and organize a society like we are doing here. There are so many things I never considered. My piece of the puzzle is just a small one and yet is every bit as critical as the other thousand things that need to fall into place. If the Iraqi military and police forces are to be successful, they're going to need armored vehicles, cargo trucks, tow trucks, fuel tankers, forklifts, cranes, and of course it takes a couple years to get tens of thousands of these vehicles negotiated, purchased, manufactured, shipped, accounted for, and distributed. Duh.

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Culture Can Indeed Be Palletized

3/08/2007 11:36:00 PM UTC +0300

I'm still in the United States. I came to this realization while discussing the Army Post Office with a friend of mine. Examining the structure of this postal system, it is implied that there are three additional states serving deployed locations. Phone services have similar connections to the homeland. When I dial a United States phone number from my office phone, the area code that is shown on the recipient's phone is a that of Virginia (the Pentagon).

If one were to imagine the geographical shape of these states, they would have to be three-dimensional. Just like islands are spots of land that occasionally poke up above the water, I like to think of the United States as a large body that extends deep below the surface of the Earth and pokes up in various places all around the globe. I wonder how much of the Earth's core we control.

I'm culturally still in the United States as well. The dining facility serves all manner of fried American classics, onion rings, fries, wings, jalapeño poppers, mozzarella sticks, etc., plus has a second line that serves a narrow variety of entrées like meatloaf, pot pies, lasagna. The cooks and servers are all local workers, and they don't have the slightest idea how to prepare these things, thus we ship mountains of semi-prepared food that can be easily warmed and served, and remain true to their original American inception. Or occasionally they'll serve Chinese food, something neither Iraqis nor Americans know how to make.

The dining facility itself borrows from the more dolorous aspects of America. The tablecloths are all floral print, only in the most un-offensive pastels, upon which sits a doily and a bouqet of plastic flowers. The chairs are all stackable with bronze-colored metal frames, just like you might see at a convention center or cheap hotel. I feel like I'm in a decidedly American church where everyone gets dressed up in their suit and tie or floral-print lace-trimmed dresses and sits around on the flimsiest folding chairs and tables. Either that or I'm in a retirement home.

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Things I Miss

3/03/2007 10:49:00 PM UTC +0300

Things I miss about the United States:

1. Beer
2. Free time
3. Grass
4. Dating
5. Pillow-top mattresses
6. Having keys to my front door (That one's a long story for another day.)
7. Not having to carry a firearm everywhere I go (even breakfast)

Things I don't miss about the United States:

1. Spending money
2. Possessions that I don't use or serve no purpose
3. Driving
4. Chronic dissatisfaction with my wardrobe

The list of things I miss is longer. :(

That's all I have for tonight, folks. Rest assured, I have other more pensive and consequential thoughts brewing.

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Crossed Swords

3/02/2007 10:32:00 PM UTC +0300

These photos are a couple weeks old now (Gads, have I been here two weeks already? Almost.), but they're worth talking about. One of the few remaining tributes to the Saddam Hussein era is the "Crossed Swords" Parade Ground. Named such for the enormous archways at each entrance, it also consists of an 80-or-so meter wide asphalt path that passes by an amphitheater where Saddam and various dignitaries might sit in review. Perhaps you recall footage of him standing before a crowd, firing a shotgun into the air... This is where that footage was taken, or so I've been told.

Iraqi authorities are eager to rid the country of Saddam's legacy, thus they have recently proposed destroying the Crossed Swords arches. Notice the crane in the background of my profile photo. Word of their scheduled destruction got out and flocks of military personnel came to have a look around and take photos while they still could. Perhaps this prompted the notion among Iraqis that the site may some day be valuable as a tourist trap--destruction has since been postponed.

A great deal of work will need to be done if they choose to keep the place around though. Notice that the amphitheater has been looted, windows smashed, even some of the building materials have been scavenged (open the image in a new window to enlarge). We may be doing a great deal to get the Iraqi Government on its feet, but they'll have far more to overcome when they assume full financial responsibility for the country, and have the renovation of a battered city to manage.

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