Tag: foreign service

Above is sunrise at our can city at Camp Ripper.  I am getting used to living in the cans. It is not so bad.

They don’t give metals for what Colonel Malay did, but his decision will save American lives and improve RCT’s performance.  The Colonel decreed that every Marine everywhere in Western Al Anbar have access to icy water and instructed that we buy and deploy enough coolers and freezers to make it so.  (They already have plenty of water, BTW.  The difference is the temperature.) 

He calls the program “Joe Cool”.  The name is clever and has given the program a boost.  He had to face some skepticism.  Marines are tough and proud of it.  The idea that they need this sort of “luxury” grates just a little.  Having ice in the desert seems a bit of a luxury, but they also understand that having cold water to drink means that Marines at isolated posts will be more refreshed and ready to take on anything.

The relentless harsh dryness of this vast desert has desiccated whole armies.  Bringing ice here is really an astonishing achievement.  We all know the stories about the Roman legions carrying chests full of ice into the desert or Saladin bringing ice and snow down from the mountains, but these were novelties that only the few enjoyed.  In this case every Marine has access everywhere. 

Even far away from camp.  Colonel Malay wants to put freezers and generators on seven-tons to bring the ice and cold water to the most isolated Marine units.  The Colonel emphasizes heat related problems will cost a lot more than the price of the cooling units and that a life lost to the scorching heat is beyond price.

Napoleon famously said that an army travels on its stomach.   Even more urgent than food is water, especially in a place like this.  Cool water can make the difference between life and death and certainly between comfort and misery.  Yes, Colonel Malay deserves a metal for doing what he did.  He has saved some lives and made many others a lot better.

From my own point of view, I am happy to have the coolers on every MRAP & Humvee because I can put my cans of Coca-Cola in them and keep them cool.  I am not a big fan of water.   I drink it if I am really thirsty or if there is nothing else available, but ice cold Cola-Light is the way to go if you have a choice.

I am not sure why I felt this so personally.  I didn’t know him. I knew the places he knew and I knew his comrades faces – all those faces full of grief.  The service and the eulogy were short.  He was only a few days past his 19th birthday and had not been in Iraq very long, too young to be gone.  They said that he liked to play football, wrestle and ride dirt bikes.  The pictures showed a young man who liked to lift weights.

He could have been my son.  In fact, his age falls almost exactly between Alex & Espen.  I thought about the decision he had made.  He joined the Army during a time of war, virtually certain to be sent where war was being waged.  It was a brave and honorable decision.  His parents were proud of him but their pride was tempered  by anxiety about the dangers.  I am sure that he told them that his chances of coming safely home were very good, and he was right, but no matter the odds, sometimes things go wrong.

And sometimes it just hits you.  As I sat there I felt a deep sadness for the young man I never met and the heartbroken family I will never see.  It was one of those everyman moments.   “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”  His best friend gave a tribute with all the eloquence of a 19-year-old speaking from the heart.  His friend was looking after him and he was looking after his friend, but sometimes things go wrong.    I watched his colleagues, Americans and Iraqis he worked with, pay their respects.   They felt the loss.  I offered condolences to his friend, but I don’t think he heard me.  His thoughts were far away.

Back at the cans, a dust storm blew in stinging the eyes and throats. 

Above is the city of Hit looking over the Euphrates.

The town is pronounced HEAT with a little more emphasis on the ee.   I don’t really have much to say about this trip that I can share on the blog, but I wanted to include some pictures from our foot patrol.

Above is the river scene.  Very nice.  The water is not 100% clean, so you are a little better off looking at the picture than experiencing the entire scene.

Hit was one of the last places in our AO where the insurgency was defeated, so the people are still adjusting to relative peace.  People here just want to hold onto what they have and it looks like they will get to do that.  We got a good reception as we walked through town.  People were friendly.  Little kids came to ask for candy.  Bigger kids tried to speak to us in English.  They could often say things like “What’s happening?” in a good English accent, but they usually could not actually understand responses.

I learned a little about local media.  There really isn’t much of any except a few newsletters.  Many people have satellite dishes.  They are a status symbol and I was told that a lot of those satellite dishes do not have working televisions attached.  People buy the dish first in hopes of getting a TV later and as a status symbol now.   I don’t know if that is true.  It sounds more like a joke. People like to tell us stories like that.

There were late model cars on the road and a fair amount of traffic even thorough we were well past the usual rush hours.  Iraqis do most of their business in the morning and most of their recreation after dark.  This makes a lot of sense given the hot climate.  Mornings and evenings are pleasant.

Below – still not a nice place, but getting better.

Anyway, yesterday was a long day, but the walk through town made it worthwhile.     

Below – Hit is an irregated agricultural area and the town is full of shops fixing pumps and engines. It looks like a junk heap, but a lot of guys were hard at work.  They proudly showed us their tools and they seemed to be real craftsmen.

I got a good impression from the visit to Hit.  It was good to see so many people actually at work.  We often pass lots of young men just standing around, smoking.  Today, it seemed every adult was doing something useful.   Maybe I just hit Hit at the right time.

Cigar Circle

This is a tradition US Grant would have recognized.   Cigars have long been a part of military life.  I don’t know if George Washington smoked cigars, probably a hazard to a man with wooden teeth, but he did grow tobacco and make cigars on his estates.

The weather this time of the year in Iraq is good.  Mornings are cool; afternoons are hot and evenings are pleasant, so the Marines take the opportunity to talk in the warmth of the evening and smoke cigars.  

Some of them have a cigar club.  They get the cigars and all the accessories from a place call Thompson Cigars of Florida.  Sometimes I understand that firms and individuals sent cigars free.  That is a gift many Marines really appreciate.

I do not smoke cigars, or anything else for that matter, but I can well understand the attraction of the shared interest.  I never disliked cigars as I dislike cigarettes and there is something very comforting, secure and primal about sitting in circle in the evening, exchanging stories and just being the company of other men.  It probably goes back to our ancient hunter-gatherer ancestors sitting around the fire, telling stories about the mammoth that got away.  The fire kept dangerous animals out of the circle and the smoke from a campfire kept the bugs at bay.  I don’t know how well the cigars work for these things.

Tandoori Tuesday

Most of the people who work for KBR at the chow hall come from South Asia.  I think it started as a way to make them feel more at home.   Every Tuesday they serve Indian style food.   This is spiced to the taste of those who appreciate it.  I had some today.  It was a bit to hot for me and now I am paying the delayed price.  When I was in college and had a roommate from Pakistan, I used to eat a lot of kima mutter and with time I tolerated more and more curry.  I have lost that immunity.

Fortunately I have some “Pink Bismuth” (the PX usually carries generic brands). 

Dust Everywhere We had some big dust storms while I was gone, but my can was tightly closed so I thought I might avoid some.  I was wrong.  I write the word on the book to show the dust.  This deposited since I was gone.  Note the color.  It is not the kind of dust you find around the house.  All my clothes were dusty. My toothbrush was dusty.  My bed was dusty.   It just didn’t show up well in the pictures, so the best way I can show is with the dusty books above.  They were relatively clean when I left.

Usually, I sweep up or dust a little every day.  It is always dusty, but usually not this bad as a result.  You really don’t appreciate how much dust there is until you go away for a while. 

When I first took over my office & this can where I live, I was a little annoyed with my predecessor.  I though he left the place a bit gritty.  Now I understand that he just moved out a couple days before I moved in and that is all it takes to make the place as dusty as the Addams Family mansion.

It makes me much better appreciate places like the chow hall.  They always keep that place really clean and continually are winning the dust wars. 

Office transition

My staff members are still in tents.  I am in an office can.  It is not unpleasant and my colleagues were very good to me.  They dusted it, so I can home to a relatively clean environment there.  Good to have a little help from your friends.   They are suffering mightily, however, with the heat and the dust in the tents.

Office space geography is a challenge.  I like to do MBWA – management by walking around.  Lots of little problem can be solved before they become big problems and lots of opportunities can be generated before the sparks are lost if the boss is just there to nudge.  Good management is not really rocket science and just being there is much of the secret to success.  That is how I can add value to my already great team.  This office/tent arrangement makes it much harder.  I have to make a special point to walk out to the tent.  I see that I could easily get stuck and isolated in my office can.   There are certainly many things to do in the office, but usually when you are sitting at the desk you appear busier with important things than you actually are.  As I said above, I believe in peripatetic management.  It helps build the team and empowers every good worker. 

Fortunately, this construction period won’t last too long.   I talked to the guys actually doing the work and even the pessimistic scenario says end of May.  They are putting the wiring behind the walls (instead of hanging in front), repainting, giving us a real ceiling and generally improving the area.  My team members will also get two Plexiglas windows, like I have.  I think natural light is important and this will take away from the cave atmosphere.  It looks like we might get something that looks like a real office. 

The guy doing the construction told me that it will still be dusty, however.  Even if they seal the windows and make the doors tight, we cannot avoid the dust.

A Cola Free Environment

The chow hall has a serious problem – no diet cola of any kind.  We have no diet Coke AND no diet Pepsi.  This is a serious problem with the hot weather setting in.  I don’t know how long the crisis situation will persist.  The guys I talked to did not seem to know.  They are waiting for a shipment.

I have a supply in my refrigerator.  A dozen cans, which is good for a couple of days.  I fear I may be forced to drink diet Sprite (which they still have) or even … water.

UPDATE:  Since I wrote this, diet Coke has returned, hallelujah.

Hair Today; Gone Tomorrow

Speaking of water, on the way up I met a woman who was going to Baghdad.  She asked me if I thought the water here made your hair thin or fall out.   I don’t know what made her think I would know anything about hair matters.  Of course, maybe she just thought that I understood bald.   

My speculation is that it is not the water, but the dust.  This dust is alkaline and it always covers everything, including people.   I no longer really have a hair problem, but I do notice that my skin gets dry and flaky.  When I was in the U.S. I noticed it was not so much a problem, but it starting in again now.  Living in this desert is like daily exfoliation using 20-Mule-Team Borax.Maybe hair is related.  Or maybe the hair thing is just perception.  I didn’t have much hair when I arrived.  I don’thave less now.  Long, pretty hair is not much of a concern to me or to most of the guys I work with.

Working in Iraq

Maybe I complain too much.  I really like my colleagues here & the job we are doing together.  When I am done with Iraq, I don’t think I will miss anything about the place, but I will miss the people I work with, both Americans and Iraqis.   Why can’t I get a job like this in a nicer place?

Below – I had limited success with sunflowers.  My colleagues kept them alive while I was gone, but only three came up.  Maybe that is emblematic of all our work in Iraq. The construction workers have been very good and careful in avoiding them.

The big base at Ali Al Salem has a reasonably good chow hall, a nice MWR and a decent, if not great place to sleep.  But the whole installation is like a giant waiting room in a giant bus terminal in the Twilight Zone.

First you have to get all your papers stamped.  This is a fairly efficient, if confusing process.  Suffice to say, go to one tent to mill around until you figure out what to do, but do not leave until there is some kind of stamp on your travel orders.  That stamp is what lets you fly or take the bus.  W/o that stamp you will become a resident of the place.

Below C17 loading.  People get on first and wait for the gear to be loaded.

Another tent is where you catch the flights to Iraq.  You have to sign up for the place you want to go.  It might take a long time or not to get out.  In my case this time, I was very luck and got out the same night I came in.  This is uncommon. 

After sign up, you have to attend a general roll call twice a day.   If you fail to show up, you lose your place.   You also have to attend a specific role call for the flights going where you want to be.  You are not guaranteed a space.  They read off the names of people for whom they have space.  If they read your name and you say “here”, you get manifested for a specific flight.  That does not guarantee you will go or that the flight will fly, but it is a necessary step.

Each flight has a show time.   You show up will all your gear and get ready to wait.   In my recent case, we had a 2315 roll call where they told us we had a midnight show time.  We got on buses at 0145; the plane took off at around 0315 and we were in Al Asad a little more than an hour later.

After show time, you go on “lockdown”, which means you cannot leave the terminal expect to go to the bathroom.  Even that is risky, since they may call your flight at any time … or not.   You want to be around when announcements are made.  That is why you need a buddy system.  Make sure that you ask someone to listen for you if you need to make a head call.   In my above example, we were locked down for an hour and 45 minutes and this was three hours and fifteen minutes before the flight.   Makes you appreciate air travel in the U.S., bad as that can be.   For me, this was a great trip. Sometimes people get stuck for days or weeks.

C17 above – you can see the moving plates.

Our flight was a C17, which is an enormous, cavernous aircraft, like a flying warehouse.  The floor has rollers and modules that make it easy to switch out cargo or seats.  They just lock them into place and that is it.

I like the C17 because it is faster and marginally more comfortable than a C130.  Beyond that, there are lots of seats on the C17, so you usually don’t have to worry so much about getting bumped off it.  Despite my exalted civilian protocol rank, I get no priority, so I am liable to get bumped if someone or something important comes along.

An experienced traveler more than 5′ tall tries to get a seat on the side or in the very front.  It is a tight fit.

Above – reading lights are not so good in flight.

Back to Al Asad

We arrived in the early morning and it was comfortably cool.  I was happy to feel that weather.  As soon as the sun came up, however, it started to get hot.  Within about a half hour you could feel the difference.  It still is nothing like it will be, but we have the harbingers of heat all over the place.

Above – the road to Camp Ripper.  It reminds me of the closing scene of the old “Hulk” TV show, when David Banner has to hit the lonely road.

I decided to walk down.  It is only a 25 minute walk and it was pleasant in the early morning calm.  I am really glad I did that.  It gave me a better impression of Al Asad as I returned and took a little of the edge off the dread I was feeling on coming back.   This is an unpleasant place, but it is not that terrible.  I also looked forward to getting back to the job and back to my friends and colleagues working here.

Below – a new dawn in Al Asad.

Our HQ building is being rewired and repainted, so our PRT and our RCT colleagues are out in tents.  It is not good.  When the wind blows, the sides of the tents blow in and out.  There is a generator outside that make lots of noise. It gets hot in the tents when it gets hot outside. Fortunately, it is not as hot yet as it will get.

This affects me not as much as it could.   I am out on R&R.  With any luck, I will miss most of the camping.   I have to give a lot of credit to my PRT colleagues and the Marines.   Conditions are not good, but they are doing very well.

I am delighted with the growing cooperation between my team and the associated Marines.  We have really become one team for the one fight.