To move or not to move...

Since my last post we have been incredibly busy. Our progress has left us trying to avoid the temporary move to Aztec, which wouldn't bother me in the least. The last thing I want is to be an unwelcome guest, which is the way 7-10 Cav has made some of us feel already. They don't seem sure what their future has in store for them and seem reluctant to help us much.

A lot of the past few days has been involved with laying out our perimeter at Mustang. We've had to escort cranes from a few of the other camps and some heavy equipment from Stryker. Moving the massive slabs of concrete, called T-walls, from Aztec to Mustang has been one of the two major events of the past two days. Each T-wall is about 12 feet high, weighing 6-7 tons. The Rakasaan unit out of Fort Campbell did an outstanding job in assisting us.

Lucky me, my job in placing the t-walls was to sit on top and unhook the chains. I enjoyed it though, remembering my years in the Seabees. There will be plenty of work in the future on Mustang for me to draw from my experience.

We all seem to be enjoying building our patrol base. Despite all the hard work and late nights we are all in good spirits and still getting along well. When we move out to Mustang we will likely get a PSD, personal security detachment, who will have a hard time putting up with us I'm sure. The PSD will probably consist of a squad size element who will help bulk up our security situation. While escorting the engineer unit to Mustang for the earth work we had to use their comm frequency. It was all we could do to not be our normal selves with our usual banter. Some might find us offensive, but what does anyone expect from 11 soldiers stuck together for a year?

We all made suggestions to name our patrol base. The obvious choice was "mustang," since that is what it has been known as until now. My suggestion was "Shelby" after my daughter. Thanks to SFC Montes and CPT Dresh, my suggestion got 3 votes. Patrol Base Mustang is the winner unfortunately. But it will save us a lot of grief since we all know it as "Mustang" already.

Lt Alaniz missed our first day out, and he wasn't happy about it. Lt had to go get his left thumb checked out because he nearly lost it raising one of our counter measure devices. He is fine, and will be back to normal in a few months. We had to pick him up in the "green zone," where he was supposed to get a wire put in his thumb. He lucked out, not needing the wire.

My last trip to the green zone was in 2003, and I must say, Baghdad is really a beautiful place. It would be a lot prettier if the t-walls, concertina wire, and sandbags that are everywhere were removed. But that is the price to pay for staying safe I suppose. We were all happy to see the markets up and running and construction everywhere.

My father asked me which province we are located in. This was a good question, kinda making me embarrassed that I don't really know. We don't refer to our AO by province, but many who watch the news might reference actions and events by province. The province we are in is the Baghdad province. Iraq is divided in provinces, much like counties or states. It is very unlikely that we will ever leave Baghdad.
Let me point something out. In the US, it may take some of you about 15 minutes to drive 15 miles. Whether you are going to the grocery store or work or whatever your destination may be. Here there are checkpoints everywhere. To travel 15 miles takes us an average of 45 minutes, depending on how long it takes us after prepping our trucks and preparing to "roll out." For the average civilian here, traveling 15 miles can often take hours. Nearly every overpass is now an IA checkpoint, many overpasses not open to civilian traffic. Nearly every intersection has an IA or SOI checkpoint. Many fuel stations that seem to have once had life are abandoned. Black market fuel is rampant due to the long lines at the pump, and vendors of black market fuel line many of the routes. But hey, good news is that gas here is about a dollar a gallon (so said one of interpreters). We've been here for almost six years now, and I'm not sure it's gotten better.

Oh yes, I forgot to introduce our interpreters who have become Jedi's themselves. All are Iraqis themselves except for Sammy who left us to go get his Visa to the US. Sammy is from Jordan or Qatar, we aren't really sure because interpreters are reluctant to disclose their true identity and origin. Many interpreters have bounties on them and apparently one of ours has even been kidnapped. We are authorized 5 interpreters and now have 3 since Sammy left. We have Michael, William, and Evan, all local nationals. They are all good guys, a welcome part of our team. We will soon pick up a fourth interpreter.

Having introduced our terps, I realize I never officially introduced the entire team. I will do so in my next post since I've already added way to many pictures here. Well, apparently I can only post 8 photos at a time. So please see the photos in my photo album of the team members.

Please feel free to ask about the photos. I don't have enough time in the day to label each photo unfortunately.

Well that's it for now, gotta make it to chow. Hold down the home front for us...

Care Packages

I would like to thank a few people for the care packages they have sent to cheer us up down here.

Kate and Tim Hutley from Sulphur Springs, Tx, whom I have never met . Thank you and thank your son for the books.

My doting mother, don't worry mom, we are all safe. Except maybe for Lt, he keeps hurting himself.

Mrs Wentworth, thanks for your support.

And of course my lovely wife, without you I am lost. I'm miserable being away from you.


We are all very busy these days, so any of the other guys making substantial posts need to get real jobs. JK. Anyway, I'm waiting for our next reset day or a decent return time to the FOB to post new photos and give an update. Tune in Thursday.

Again, thank you for your support and hold down the homefront.

View of the Tigris

We finally made the round trip to the south of our battle space and up along the Tigris. Major Brott had to give Jaba (55th BDE Cmdr) a push in the right direction. It is true that the 55th brigade has just stood up, and in its infancy has a lot of ground to cover before becoming efficient. But for the commander to never have visited one of his four battalions is ridiculous. Major Brott guided Jaba into visiting his own battalion, much to our chagrin, because one of Jaba's battalions was getting little or no support. The fact that the man didn't know how to get to one of his own battalions was evidence enough of his neglect. We drove for quite a long time at a snails pace, stopping several times for Jaba's convoy to ask directions. See one of the pictures above, the soldiers at a check point are sleeping out in the elements.

While we didn't get very close to the Tigris, thankfully since we were in an 18 ton truck and have to tread lightly, the view was spectacular. It is obvious why the place is "the birthplace of man," even now the Tigris is lush and thriving with life. The trip was long, traveling at a slow pace due to the rough terrain and poor road conditions, and of course Col Maraud, aka Jaba seeing for the first time his IA and SOI (Sons of Iraq) checkpoints. Hopefully in a few years, or in my retirement I will be able to come back under different circumstances and see Iraq not from a turret or the seat of an armored truck.

Towards the end of our trip we once again got to see one of the ancient fortifications left by Alexander. I'm still trying to find the time to do some research on the subject.

Tomorrow is a busy day. If there are any questions about the photos, please ask. Hold down the home front for us.

Plans to move, where did all the dust come from?

Hello from Iraq, aka, Southwest Asia (thanks KC).

Today we had to go pick up an engineer from the Rakasaan's hq at biap. Then we drove to Mustang to show off our new acre. Looks like we are going to load up like the Beverly hillbillies and move on out soon. New in the photo album are/will be photos of where we will build everything.

Today was also my first day in the turret manning the machine gun. It was luckily uneventful, even though Murphy was present most of the day.

The day started out fairly clear, but by the end of the day visibility was down to 100-200 meters. I'm quite proud of the light kits that our MRAP rep, Chris, and I installed on the trucks. (see new photos in the photo album) The new lights make us visible for miles. Tomorrow we are going to finish the installs for the sirens, then people will really make way for us.

Anyway, part of my mission today at Mustang was to take photos of all the vehicles the IA BDE have. Pulling a camera out in front of the troops there is hazardous. These guys really love having their photo taken. Twice I've been bombarded for photos and forgot a few printed photos for individuals. They are really upset when they are forgotten. So I had to take more photos which I'll also put on the picasa thing-a-ma-bobber.

It's amusing when some of these guys ask where my family comes from. Many people here judge by family lineage. I usually rattle off a few of the family origins I can think of then try to tell them I am a mutt. The problem with that is I'm then comparing myself to a dog, which Arabs think are the lowliest of animals. Even harder is trying to make the Heinz-57 comparison. Today the BDE XO asked me if my father was Mexican...

I've decided to retaliate. Since I lose at the whole "flipping" thing (see post 4th Visit to Mustang Ranch ), I went against one of our truck rules today. The rule is, gunner is not allowed to eat beans. For lunch today I ate a beef enchilada, loaded with refried beans. :)

VIP to Mustang Ranch

Yes, we are going to be moving, we'll let you know when it happens. Part of the move to Mustang involves the ramp-up and planning. The final decision was made in part by the Rakasan's commander, a full Colonel, who visited the ranch to get a first hand look at the vast amenities. Team Jedi secured the landing zone for the Rakasaan commanders VIP visit to Mustang Ranch, for the Colonel to meet with the IA BDE commander, Col Maraud (aka Jaba).

During the VIP meeting at Mustang Ranch, one of our senior NCO's was waiting outside the office in the area where the IA gather and eat meals with some of the Colonel's PSD (personal security detachment). While one of the PSD soldiers was spitting chewing tobacco on the ground where the IA soldiers eat, our NCO asked him to spit in a Gatorade bottle instead. An American SGM, a member of the VIP party, also waiting outside the meeting, informed our NCO that it is just a "dirty place," and "who cares, it's just a $*!#-hole." Our NCO informed the SGM that our job requires us to maintain a positive relationship with the IA. The SGM decided he wanted to assert his authority over our NCO, putting him at parade rest.

Yes, it seems trivial. But we work hard at maintaining our relationship with the IA. Months of hard work can be hurt by a few inconsiderate people. I can understand that many of the US soldiers deployed here would rather be somewhere else, but blatant disrespect by our own soldiers could make all the gains and losses that we have both achieved and suffered into nothing.

Much the same with the civilians here. We have the traffic trained to pull to the side of the road when we drive by, we "swim" in traffic, on the other side of the road to avoid traffic build up. We are reluctant to use the right on and off ramps, jumping across the highway. I'm sure we aren't making any friends from the population when we are pushing them out of the way. Our goal here afterall is to "win the hearts and minds of the population."

Don't get me wrong, there are reasons why we do these things, and I don't think we should change our TTP's. Our missions come first, but our safety is just as important. If we sit in traffic, we can become a target. I just hope I don't bring any of my bad traffic habits back with me to the states, much as I did returning from Germany (autobahn).
Well not much else going on here. We are all adjusting well, I'm working on getting our light kits and sirens installed on our trucks with the aid of our Max Pro representative. Look for us on cops. I thought I liked the Max Pro rep until he told me he is from Chicago... Cubs fan. Anyway the Rhinovirus is whooping my butt, so I'll post more later.

4th Visit to Mustang Ranch

Today we visited for the 4th time the Mustang Ranch, home of the 55th Iraqi Army Brigade. Our visit produced a much more receptive SSG Murrell. Finally I am beginning to warm up to the IA soldiers and their demanding nature. Our intention is to refrain from giving anything to them, but our trips are beginning to rival that of Santa Claus (mohamed claus?). When we pull into the gate we are greeted with smiling faces and excited waves, almost like visiting an orphanage of children looking for a home.

During the first few trips we all took many photos, with promises of bringing prints of our photos. Today I brought 7 photos that I had taken with the soldiers, making the mistake of handing them all to the first IA soldier I saw that I know. I should have known that he would take it upon himself to hand them out. But I did gain a friend there, improving his "wasta," or hook-up. I take a lot of photos, so I intend to bring some photos on every visit, but if you view my photo album, you can see that there are lots of soldiers who would like a picture.

It is astounding to see that these guys really do mimic much of what we do. So, we use all of our
military bearing around them, making sure we don't let them see any disrespect to our officers or theirs. When we arrived today we found that they had added canopies to their turrets, much like ours.

During my particular part of our visits to Mustang Ranch I head straight to the commo section, a ten foot by ten room where all 7 or so of the commo soldiers sleep and work. Today the commo SGM, a former radar operator during the Sadam era, greeted me with enthusiasm. But at the moment I opened their door, I knew immediately what it was that I had forgotten, antacid and pepto for the SGM. I instantly felt guilty for making a promise that I had failed to keep. Laying on the floor at the back of the room was the Jundee with the massive tooth ache. I had tried to figure out a way to assist him, but failed to find a solution (he is the short guy with green eyes in the middle of the photo with the surprisingly large smile). Fortunately the jundee with the bad tooth is going on leave tomorrow where he will get a chance to see a dentist, at his own expense of course.

The typical part of the visit today came from Jaba. Doc Montes had acquired many medical supplies for the IA, which were locked up by order of Jaba as soon as he saw them, included were some pepto tablets. Lets not forget the box of honey buns that DC, our supply NCO had acquired, those disappeared too.

We really do have to be careful about giving the IA stuff. The commo SGM also wants me to bring him some face cream because he says his commo officer (sa-id), Mulaazim Ashraf (lieutenant), makes him wake up all night to do communications checks, causing black bags under his eyes. He finally got me to tell him that stuff costs money when he asked me for some "beetamanz." Huh? This one took me a while. Finally he started showing me his muscles, much like a 5 year old would show off his biceps. I nearly hurt myself laughing when he started mimicking superman. I finally figured out what he wanted: vitamins.

The 'not-so-highlight' of my day came when I wandered into the IA's motorpool to get a glimpse of what they have going on there. I must have been mistaken for a doctor or a medic. I was immediately surrounded by a group of IA soldiers with some concern for one of their older Jundees. I didn't know what was going on, as soon as the older man started unbuckling his pants I started exclaiming "dude, what are you doing?" Then the poor man showed me his hernia; I never want to see that again. He had it for a few days apparently, with no notion from his unit to fix it. The best he got from them is to go on leave and pay for it, about 500 bucks, a month and a half salary for him... Something else that seriously needs to be fixed with the IA.

Despite his obvious misery, the hernia victim's friends still had time to make jokes at his expense, much like any group of soldiers. One of his comrades looked at me with a grin and said what was perhaps two of his twenty English words, "no sex!" I couldn't help myself, and decided to practice some of my Arabic, "Zowich, laa, laa!" (wife, no, no), as I held up my hands in a mimicking manner. I instantly felt bad when the hernia victim's laughs turned to pains.

Right before leaving, I witnessed the IA doc carrying the medical supplies back to his office, hopefully some progress there. As it turns out some of the Jundees got some honey buns, but I'm sure Jaba broke his fast from Ramadan with the honey buns, or has by now since the sun has gone down.

Okay, I know I'm in the mood to write tonight, must have been the shot of "shock coffee," which we have in ample supply. I want to finish with the 'ha ha' I got from my boss yesterday.

"So there we were", preparing to leave the wire when the order came to lower our Rhino's, a part of our crew systems. This requires us to unbuckle and climb down from the truck, something not so easy to do wearing all that protective gear.

I looked at Major Brott sitting next to me in the TC spot, and through our intercom system I asked him if he wanted to shoot "rock, paper, scissors" for it.

Looking at me with a grin, he covered his rank with his hand and said, "how bout we flip for it?"

I'm sure the expression on my face reflected that I already knew where this was going as I started opening my door.

Showing me what was under his hand with a smile Major Brott exclaimed, "oh hey, I guess I win, I'm a Major!"

Perhaps I should reconsider this OCS thing so I could one day win at "flipping" for it. Since I'm the lowest ranking on our team I won't be playing that game again.

Have a great week and hold down the home front for us...

Week 2 Update

Yes, I know we've been in country for over a month, including Kuwait time, but we have just recently taken over from the outgoing team. Things are hectic as any transitional period may be, but we are coming around.

The third trip to Mustang Ranch was far better than the first two. We are finally getting a grasp on what is what and have a better idea of what we have to do to help them. Things are slowly starting to turn around out there.

As far as their method of corrective punishment goes, the soldiers that they had on lock up were released. Why? Well, they have to put detainees, suspects from acts of violence somewhere. Having said that, it seems they are doing their job. Their methods are still far different than our own, but they can't be just like us.

The compound is in a constant state of repair, unfortunately it seems the repair revolves around Jaba's comfort. Yes, Jaba is the nickname we gave the IA Colonel. Which is also the main reason why we don't call our trucks "Jaba 1," etc.

We are still set on moving from the FOB here, to be located approximately 500 meters from the Mustang Ranch on an already established coalition compound. The boss and our supply guys are doing wonders with what we are going to have as far as amenities. So worry not, we won't be miserable beyond missing our loved ones.

Time is flying by here. Hopefully things will settle down enough for us to be more alert and do our jobs better.

Hold down the home front for us...

New IA BDE

Today we once again visited the new IA Brigade Headquarters. The impression we got today was far worse than our initial impression last week, made worse by the possibility of moving to live with them. Think of your worst living conditions ever, take away consistent electricity, AC, and running water. Then add smell the smell of rotting trash, feces and sweat. Personally I was only able to talk to a few of the soldiers and the overall problem confirms what we have been told already: the supply system is the thing that needs fixing the most. An old soldier told me things were better before, when Sadam was in charge.
The priority on the camp seems to be making the BDE commander more comfortable instead of making slight improvements for the soldiers. The one construction project on the facility was focused on the HQ and living quarters. There seems to be little value for the common soldier. The idea for corrective punishment of soldiers is to place them in a holding cell, basically a prison. It doesn't seem wise to me, since these guys carry around an AK-47; nothing scarier than an armed, disgruntled soldier.
Our goal is to advice and mentor these guys, but it seems to me the best thing we can do now is keep them patient, remind them it's a new brigade, and "inshallah," god willing, things will get better. Even though we aren't supposed to supply them with anything, we might need to show some good faith, or make something big happen soon or we will not have much respect for our job from them.
Yesterday we made the trip up to Biap, Camp Victory, or "mega FOB" to drop off half of the outgoing team. Where did all that money go? Anyway, when I was here in 2003-04 I thought Camp Victory had some class and a historical feel to it. This trip, 4 1/2 years later, left me feeling a little disgusted with what has become of the place. The place has become a hugemongous monster FOB, with t-walls everywhere and nothing nice about it. I was further disgusted when sitting outside the IAG (Iraqi Assistance Group) headquarters next to the gym. Time and again people would pull up to the gym parking lot in a large SUV, or a large size van, just to go to the gym instead of walking or running there. Yes, it was hot, but the abuse or misappropriation of funds and resources is astonishing.
Yes, not much good to talk about this post. I apologize for that. Hopefully, inshallah, I'll have some more positive news or entertaining stories on my next post.

Hold down the homefront for us...

All is well, Labor Day

Near the end of this trip, after we realized it wasn't Sunday, we found out that we were working on Labor Day... In this picture, I am as always, talking. There will likely be seemingly endless days where we eventually run out of things to talk about.

The good news is that we found a home, hopefully. Since we are advisers to a newly formed brigade we would be better off located in proximity to the brigade and it's commander. Originally we thought we were going to live at the "mustang ranch," what we call the meager beginnings of the brigade headquarters. We were reluctant to co-locate with them for many reasons, and are fortunate to have found a home about 800 meters from the "ranch." This will largely cut down on the time that we are required to travel.

As soon as I get my facts straight, I'll soon post the details of the "battle of live fire range," the beginnings of the "war" between Captain Connaroe and myself. Let it be known that I offered truce...

Hold down the home front for us...