Back in the High Life Again...

We truly live in a blessed country...


Got in to FT Bragg North Carolina this morning. The trip was the typical, military, round the world adventure. 32 Hours elaspsed time, 20 hours on the bird (a commerical contractor with EVERY seat filled), slept almost the entire way except when they woke me up for my 2-hourly feeding (now I know how cattle feel).

When we arrived in Pope AFB (at 0330 hours) we were greated by the CAPOC General and the same Lockheed Martin woman (LMW) who gave us our predeployment hug a year ago! I recognized her and told her I had been waiting the whole year to return it! We formed up, marched around, ordered arms, listened to the general, listend to the LMW, national anthem and finished with the Army song.... Then we had some cake and it was off to the buses to the MUIC...

The MUIC is the same place we left from last year and also where we had ROTC advanced camp in 1995. We stay in the WW II open bay barracks and they are pretty run down. But since we are on our way home we don't complain (don't plan on spending much time sleeping anyhow!).

We reintegrated this morning by having 3 meals (one with beer) by noon and hitting the mall for cell phones, clothing, rental cars... all the things that provide the freedom and reconnection we so desparately desire... We've been bumping into the guys we trained with for 3 months prior to heading to Iraq and swapping stories, catching up, finding out first names (everyone thought my first name was "Captain"), and reminising of those who will not be rejoining us. Fortunately these are few, but enough to be missed.

We have redeployment briefings, equipment turn-in, medical evaluations, financial appointments, and lots of beer ahead of us. Hopefully this will not be more than a couple of weeks, but since we never know what we are doing tomorrow it is hard to say when we will be finished...

At this point, we are stateside and could stand on our heads for 3 weeks as long as we know we will be with our families shortly!

/nn

Pleasing the man in the mirror

Going home... Satisfied

As my time comes to a close here I could think of no better summary than to have had the opportunity to brief the Commanding General on the economic development of our Area of Responsiblity in Northern Iraq for his Press Conference. I have not seen it yet, so my highlights may be limited to the dollars spent and that we continute to work the issues. If you have a connection faster than mine (assurdily likely) check it out on the Pentagon Channel for 05May2005 MG Thomas Turner "Iraq Brief" at www.pentagonchannel.mil.

***

By now it is almost a certainty that my time here is over, some of my brothers have already departed and the war, for them, is over. The new guys, a tri service unit of air force, navy and Army are being trained in their new roles and duties in preperation for a battle field handoff. My advice to them has been simple: "you will have the opportunity to 'move the needle' over here and you will have the opportunity to sit on your butts and do absolutely nothing. Leadership will not demand either from you, they will not provide guidance on where you are to deploy your resources, they will not help you if you strive and fail. Make every opportunity you can to make a difference, stay busy, and when your year is up, you will be able to go home satisfied with your contribution - and that may be all.

My tour here has been a learning experience for me. Few people have the opportunities to stretch themselves to the limit of their potential to determine their mettle. Few get the opportunity to work in an environment as demanding as this and still make an impact, few get as much maturity in their worldview on the military, politics, the middle east and economic development. To these, I will go home satisfied. To the branch of serivce I signed up for when I was 18, and emulated as a youngster, I know wonder what the future holds.

My one takeway from being an Army officer in a war zone is that "The Army is Not about
Progress, it is about control." Opprotunities squandered becuase they were in a different battle space, becuase yet another commander of some element needed 'read in' because the person with the answer is not in your food chain so you cannot contact them directly, becuase the project was not the idea (and hence the OER bullet) of the person whose help you need remains unfulfilled. The egaltarian culture surround military commanders does not lend itself toward a concerted effort and thus, when it is the whim of a BCT commander, he may make strategic adjustments at will regardless of how it affects the overall campaign.

I wonder at the future of our military. Many of the "big army" guys have been over here 2 and 3 times. They are tired and it shows. I for one could not imagine coming back here. I do not mind the mission: the convoy patrols to inspect/develop water projects; the living: tents, shower trailors, DFAC food; but I do mind the management. Leadership is failing and for the junior officers and enlisted, the disire to make a difference coupled with the hopelessness of command is maddening.

I have trained up my replacements. All 6 of them. The 3 of us were replaced with 6 folks: one each for economics, agriculture, Fire Effects (which has the daunting task of measureing non-kinetic effects of our actions), governance, education, and water infrastructure. The LTCs has moved on so I trained up their replacements for them. The issues of Iraq are now theirs. Mine will be to armchair quarterback from the states.

/nn

Get Shorty!

Sometimes the pressure is worth the amazing relief that follows...

Being short is an amazing thing. Unfortunately, it is also a major failing of the current unit replacement system.

The guys going out are typically burnt, some having been over here multiple times and hit the wall of their emotional limits… The new guys coming in are bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to tackle the new job with gusto and energy.

The outgoing guys have had it with the system and think only of home. The new guys think only of getting as comfortable as they can and learning the ropes. The new guys will know better and start on initiatives that are ground breaking and scoff that the old guys never thought of it, the old guys warn them of implementation issues and provide guidance on the “limited solution” that became a fallback to the groundbreaking strategy. The new guys tell the old guys to move over, throwing away that which took a year to gain momentum, the old guys acquiesce since the resources and thus the responsibility now lay with someone else.

An so. Year after year, rotation after rotation... . Each time there is a new unit the war is rebooted, started fresh from scratch. But that, after working to set them up for success is now the next guys’ problem. Imagine being tasked an initiative that you know to be ludicrous, but instead of killing it in place (sometimes a full time job in itself) you let it ride since you are short! The new guy comes in fresh and wonders who the heck let this craziness happen!

Grab me after I’ve gotten back, pour me a beer and we’ll talk about how this transpired when the Active Duty 101^st Airborne Air Assault Division and cool screaming eagle patch took over from the National Guard, 42^nd Infantry Division with the rainbow patch. I was proud to be here serving under the same guys who felt 9/11 and rebuilt New York City.

***

What makes this particularly discouraging is that the obvious answer, the one that seems to the right strategy over here may not be the best one. I read a recent article in Foreign Affairs (My buddy turned me on to this periodical – it’s excellent) on our current Iraqi Policy and compared with the policy in Vietnam: “Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon,”
Stephen Biddle (http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060301faessay85201/stephen-biddle/seeing-baghdad-thinking-saigon.html). It is worth the read if you are interested in the dilemma facing our policy makers.

Frankly, I’ve been here through a few strategic shifts, been reading the State Department Cables and Military Situational Reports, and after reading this article, I’m pretty confused myself! There just does not seem to be an easy way to go about this and the hard way will take decades!

***

A comparison that makes this look easy (it was not) is to our fledging formation of America. I’ve been reading through “Pocket History of the United States” by Commager (very good and fits [surprisingly] in my cargo pocket!). There the better part of 5 chapters dedicated to the formation of the US. Some tidbits that enabled our great country:

1. The US had crucial leadership George Washington Obviously, but not to forget the Adamses, Franklin and everyone else labeled on currently or a bottle of beer

2. The spirit of the typical Colonial was that of optimism, enterprise, land acquisition (think “Far and Away”). Settlers were typically of some means from Europe and sought to immediately become self-sufficient and seek out opportunities. Westward expansion and cultivation was a lifestyle. The American Ideal quickly became more than a mantra.

2.a. (ok anal bulleting but I have a caveat) When the colonies broke free from England (under the imperial model raw materials went to the mother ship who did the manufacturing and then beamed them back down to the colonies for purchase) they immediately started Small manufacturing.

2.b (last time I swear) when the small manufacturing took off it allowed for the development of a professional class (managers, newspapers, doctors, transporters…)

3. Education was paramount to living in the colonies (think “Little House On The Prairie”) especially in the New England and middle colonies.

4. The colonies had an exceptional level of tolerance for other religions and races – unless you were Anglican apparently. There were numerous races of folks from all over Europe with Catholic and Protestant views. This tolerance allowed different kinds of people with diverse skills to coexists peacefully.

5. Because of Englands’ influence they mostly spoke English and, organizationally, they were intent on making Federalism work, especially after the failed “Articles of Confederation” experiment. There seemed to be an implicit feeling that the colonies would unit together, the question was how strong of a central government should they have.

These are crucial insights by the Author and after having read a few articles on socialist countries turned democratic (Russia and Chile come to mind) I seem to feel that these are in the right order of priority. Where does Iraq stand on these?:

1. Still up for grabs, 22APR06 selection of Jawad al-Maliki, a Shia who seems to be accepted by the Kurds and the Sunnis (with an emphasis on ‘seems’) may be able to move the country forward. This is a tough one due to the strong ethic lines toed by the Iraqi people (might need to reread Biddle’s Article I’m still confused…)

2. Different culture. Entrepreneurism is a tougher sell here.

3. Still third world. Was emerging and the place to get an education in the middle east during the early 80’s but there has been a major regression. World bank puts illiteracy around 60% (I can’t read Arabic either!).

4. Ummmm, resources are way to scarce to just give it other folks who don’t think like you do… This needs work.

5. The Government of Iraq is having a lot of problems giving up strong central control to the provinces. Once power is held it is tough to be divulged. Seems to be a thought that a strong central power is the way to deal with the country. This makes Federalism impossible.

Sounds bleak, but the time frame the current transformations are taking place are extremely compressed. As I’ve written before we have asked a lot from a predominantly agrarian/socialist country in much less time than we took to do it.

***

But these are all issues for the newbies. The next few months, until we get back we will spend moving out of our Iraqi Crack House, training the new guys, moving into and out of (repeatedly) tents, out processing, dragging duffle bags all over the world and finally… making good on all the beers that were bet over the tour. I for one am up a couple of Yuenglings at Kellers’ lodge at good old Ft Bragg.

Oh, and we’ll be doing a lot of hanging out too (the Deuce brings that cooler with him everywhere he goes!):

/nn

Daisies in a sea of sand

Beauty is relative, but sometimes she invites her brother Decay

I was walking out to my truck the other day (I Drive a Hummer named “Tubbs”) and one of the female interpreters was walking to her hooch (the ladies live in a different building than the men). She is an Iraqi. Most of the “Local Nationals” here start English in grade school if you were privileged (education under Sadaam was heavily favored towards Sunnis – to the point where it was declared regardless of actual belief).

They understand written English fine, and know most of the words you throw at them however, I often wonder, after I have asked for something or had a discussion, whether my intent has made it through. There have been a number of times where I have asked for a translation (say, “Silver Filter, a point of use filter for the Iraqi people”), it has come back translated into the squiggly lines of Arabic – task complete. Right?!?!?!

Afterwards, in passing, they would ask what a couple of words mean. What’s “Point of use?” When you mean Silver, do you mean it is made of filter?? Or that it is Lovely (the word for silver is very close to the “love”)??? “When you mean for the Iraqi People, is this made by them? for their use?

Invariably, they would nod and relate full confidence of the translations accuracy; assured that the answers to all of the questions above were exactly as interpreted. The final Arabic would also be about 5 times longer than the English. Amazing. I was working on a slideshow video with about 35 slides with Arabic narration on each slide. I typed up the English narration – about a sentence or two per slide – in about 30 minutes. What I got back 2.5 days later (I made sure it was ‘Joshua’s highest priority). The final product was pretty long, and took a lot of flowery Arabic to get the point across. “You Americans are too direct – Joshua would protest.”

One reason for this increased translation time, is Joshua’s dedication to accuracy. I use him extensively because he has a Masters in Physics and the corresponding technical mind (rare in the other interpreters). Since my work, and thus my translation needs involve some water science and microbiology, Joshua’s works out well. He has a computer program which will translate the English into Arabic “word for word.” However he tells me this is not even close and chooses to write it all out manually. This makes me wonder about the “word for word” versus “thought for thought” translations of Middle Eastern languages of our ancient texts.

***

Arabs truly love their language and, in some cases, seem put off to use English. In “The Arab Mind” (Patai) the author discusses Arabic among Arabs (His comments below in italics). I think understanding the Arabic language is essential to understand Arabs and would condense this to three points:

1. The language-identity paradox. To the westerner: “I think therefore I am, then speak what I am.” Thinking influences speech – regardless of the language spoken. To the Arab: I speak therefore I am, my thoughts are an outpouring of my speech, and it is my filter how I conceptualize and verbalize my world view. For cultural linguists (a fun group I’m sure) call this the “Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis” more simply put as language functions, not simple as a device for reporting experience, but also and more significantly, as a way of defining experience for its speakers.”

This seems to be amplified when discussing technical details. Once when I was dating a Vietnamese girl I tried my hand at learning her native-born language (we can thank the French for introducing a roman alphabet – I’m not good with squiggly languages!). At that time I remember reading that technical experiences were very difficult to relate in Vietnamese due to their language being based largely on agrarian concepts. Contrast this with, say German, (It takes all the German I know to order 2 beers and a pretzel) which must be heavily technology based since they culturally excel in engineering. Appears these Sapir-Whorf guys may have been onto something.

Ok, to the Arabs, similarly to the Ents (Lord of the Rings) we English speakers are a shallow and hasty speaking folk. I think I am cool with that though cause we can build lots of stuff fast.

2. The use of exaggeration and flowery words. (I must note here that Patai titles this chapter “Exaggeration, Over-assertion, Repetition.”). It is always interesting to hear an Arabic speaker talk in English because the words are very respectful, typically indirect (especially if they are not familiar with Americans), and full of well-wishing and Allah praising. The easiest examples are usually the most common ones: The common greeting in Arabic is “Salaam al lay kum” meaning Peace be with you. Thank you is “Allah yukaththir khayraka,” meaning May Allah increase your well being. Another is “speedy recovery which, in English, is May there be upon you nothing but health, if Allah wills.”

One might think, this is not a huge deal this is just the way they talk – that it may be as perfunctory as an American saying “God Bless you” (which by the way the ‘God’ part is typically dropped), but in the casual discussion with an Iraqi eyes will roll upward, gestures will go skyward, pauses will be at the proper place of respect. I have edited a few emails for my Iraqi Interpreter friends and it always causes them pain when I take out all of the fluff – to validate point 1, their honor and respect is tied to their speech.

3. The use of rhetoric. This is one that is difficult for most Westerners and, having read and experienced it slightly, I am still not sure I understand it. However, the main jist is that, for an Arab, saying a thing is the same is doing the thing.

There it is. To have said something is to convey the intent, and the intent of a thing is more valuable and more respectable than the actual action. So, Mothers will scold and threaten their sons, but never harm, the men will belittle and bemoan their oppressor but never protest or take up action, Dictators will condemn and threaten the world but never take action (or so the goes the theory – Iranians are Persians not Arabs so all bets are off).

One thing that I found interesting was the rhetoric involved with the people to build up national identity. After almost a decade of war with Iraq in the 80’s and a decisive defeat by everybody and their brother in 1991, Sadaam still managed to find the gusto to build “The Victory over American and Iran Palace”. It is in Baghdad and was not completed. This same rhetoric occurred doing Desert Storm when “Baghdad Bob” the Iraqi Minister of Information repeated released false information to the Iraqi Press (this is worth the read if you google “Baghdad Bob quotes”).

***

Language difficulties aside, we somehow manage to get by. Relations with the interpreters are usually fun and jovial, we ask them questions on how a project will impact the populace while they ask us questions about the states. Almost all of them are looking to gain entrance to the USA – the women via marriage, the men via education.

I had a chat about this exodus of smart people at the sinks with my commander. It is an issue, because the interpreters are the more educated folks with some means and their departure drains human capital from Iraq. It makes it harder to reform a country without good people. But America (or the West) is the land they are heading for.

The impression seems to be one of amazing opportunities, freedoms, and lots of hot bodacious people running around on jet ski’s and living on beaches. We try to explain of course. But how do you explain a Wal-Mart to someone who considers a shopping plaza something like this:

Just to tell them that there is a building full of anything you would want to buy and you can use a credit card to swipe it and off you go… The streets are clean, there are common use parks, museums, subways, and restaurants where everyone is encouraged to use cooperatively (I stress cooperatively since here, the name of the game is making everything someone elses’ problem).

They claim they now all about it, that they have seen the pictures and read about life in the states. “How can their be culture shock,” Joshua asks, “when everything is better than it is here? The only shock I want is when I walk up to a pretty woman.” But what seeing malls, getting any food you could want from one place, getting fined for throwing trash on the ground….. I plead to no end…

But I know they will have some issues. Americans are direct and get impatient with long winded discourses, we are decadent and like to have our clothing and lives arranged ‘just so,’ and we are terribly accustomed to God’s wonderful creations of mountains and greenery that He has placed all around us and are used to expressing these ‘matter of factly.”

I know they will be shocked, cause we were on leave after being here six months. I am sure when “Amy” walks down a sidewalk in a big city and passes a florist full of roses, geraniums, tulips… she will not look at the stick flowers used for filler that she picks here….

But in a way, in all of this sand and gravel, mortar fire, and metal-armored machines. Stopping to pick a yellow weed and expressing it’s beauty given by God is not such a bad thing.

Welcome to Groundhog Day

Day 300 of captivity..… Or is 100? 250?

Every solider who gets tapped to come over to OIF/OEF instantly seeks out those who have “been there and done that” to glean as much information from it as they can. These war-crusted soldiers will readily tell you about the basics: Living on FOB, Convoying around, dealing with the Iraqis (if you can find a vet who shook hands instead of shook them down), the chow, and interaction with home… All of these are on soldiers’ minds as they deploy. One thing that seemed to resonate with me during these discussions was when they would say “it’s Groundhog day over there. Every day is the same and you lose track of time... You will experience boredom at a whole new level.”

Well, we’ve been in country now for what, 9-10 months or so… it feels like a lifetime. I think I’m beginning grasp this….

The mornings are my favorite, 0540 hours my vibrating (so I don’t wake up everybody in the hooch) wristwatch gently rocks my arm awake which begins slapping on my face until I ‘come-to.’ At 0545 I am dressed in my pathetically plastic and horribly smelly PT clothing to meet LTC B for a workout. We have done this to many times we don’t even say good morning.

After a work out it is back to the Iraqi Crack House to the rest of the unit waking and coffee pots slurping… The hot water has been better so showers are more common and after a quick run through the barracks sinks it if off to the chow hall.

At the chow hall is where all uncertainty leaves the war, you can set your watch by the hours, prerecord you conversations to the gate guards, the clicker-counter guy, the omelet maker guy… They try to have some variety in most of the meals, but breakfast is completely devoid of anything even remotely creative. That is fine, I order the same thing everyday anyhow: “Ham, Cheese, Tomato, Onion, omelet Please” I sing to the Indian grill cook. There are three of them: “Burn the omelet” guy, “runny” guy, and “not enough filling” guy. A good group and you can have yours anyway you want it unless you want it filled, firm, and fair…

The coffee is terribly predictable as well. The east side is too weak the west side too strong. I usually fill up on the strong and add some weak to it (just like adding strong acid to the water in chemistry class to avoid the aggressive reaction).

After chow it’s back to the Crack house. Coffee is done and the Colonels are in the hallway chatting about stocks, the war, economics, current events.. This is the best part of the morning and I love it! I usually join them for some macro economics discussions. Today we hashed out that a dollar spent on anything other than oil over here is a bad dollar. We usually wrap up with the reporting of The Number.

The Number representative of the estimate of the days left. We are short. And the Number is on everyone’s minds. We all track it in excel spreadsheets... I have a year calendar that is laminated and cross them off… LTC M “The Crazy Texan” writes the latest on the “Rant Board (probably more on this later).” It has replaced “Any hot water today” as the customary greeting of the day. Shaving at the sinks is now as easy is, “morning” [shave, shave], “92,” [shave, shave]. Other guy: [brush, brush] “yep” [brush, brush].

Of course, some poeple post things on the Rant board to make fun of other certain p

Some guys track the number of days until we are back with our families, some the number of days till we leave Kuwait, others track the days left in Iraq, the days until we start our training with our replacements, the days until our replacements come, the days until me move out of the Iraqi Crack house and into the tents, the days until we have to pack up all our extra stuff and live out of a duffle bag until we are back home….. From a planning point of view this is done on a plus/minus basis: move out to the tents on D-15, Replacements come D-Day, transition until D+15, consolidate baggage D+17, Leave for Kuwait D+20… and so on…(these numbers are made of course).

Me? I track the number of EFECCS meetings left. This is meeting that I goto for my section 2-3 times a week. It is supposed to gauge the efficacy of our division’s operations. But mostly it is a big “what-if” group to answer any questions that may come up over the week from higher ups. I am not sure if it is value added or not because I am not sure what the results are… If there was something we were delivering on I would be able to answer this more readily.

The EFECCS is one of those meetings no one really wants to go to.. It basically sucks the life right out of your body. We bounced it around the unit quite a bit, as a matter of fact, I we had 4 people assigned to it before me. Each time someone got tagged as the EFECCS-Boy everyone who was “not-it” sighed in relief. It tricked down the rank structure until it fell on lowest guy around who could not seem to get out of it. That’s me. OK, for my own sanity’s sake, that is all I will say about it. My command suckered me into it when I came back from leave and was unemployed (they delayed the DoS entity I was to join) by telling me I would only be doing it for a week… and then they left me there for dead. I then made the mistake of doing a good job and became dreadingly indispensable. There is just something inside some of us that won’t let us do anything halfway.

So I have “X” numbers of these meeting to go… I spend most of my day tracking down information from those who don’t want to give it to me. Occasionally I can put together an information paper or make changes to an operations order that changes how we do business. I have managed to make some key priorities changes in how we handle our water infrastructure or economic programs – just a couple of paragraphs but is division-wide. I slept well that night. Each crossing-off of a meeting on my calendar sends shivers down my spine as I giggle like a school-girl.

After ‘work’ it is back to the Chow hall (for the 3^rd time that day – lunch and dinner are the same except lunch involves going back to work). I will typically head back to the hooch (crack house) where I meet the guys for a smoke (cigars) and tea. It has become a custom we all have come to enjoy. Probably the only relaxing time to we have were we can slip away from everything, the five of us (The Two, Swani, MM, Steel, and I) hang and pretend we are relaxing at home. We drink non-alcoholic beer, blow smoke into the air and act like men and talk about men stuff (mostly women [Since I don’t know much I just nod a lot]).

I think it is these commonalities through out the day which both make the war tolerable, but also make each day indistinguishable form any other. We work every day so the day of the week is irrelevant. The common faces, at the common time, at the common place make it seem like we live from smoke break to smoke break, chow to chow…

In the movie “Groundhog Day”, Bill Murray had the task of an emotional change to win the heart of a woman in order to break him out of the mold of each days’ uniformity – here there is no such luck, but we do have missions. This could be anywhere from a training class, to a meeting with an official, a conference, inspecting water infrastructure or coordinating a project… Going out breaks the common-place into the purposeful. This trips last days or weeks.

The absence is noted at the smoke room and chow table – it is marked by the absence seat and a remark that “The Two’s in Baghdad” or they convoyed to FOB Wannamaker.” It is not long-lived however as upon returning it feels like you never left.

I think today is Saturday, coffee talk involved the increased spread of bird flu, discussions on how hot it is going to get before we roll, the asymmetry of sentences among reservists who go through UCMJ actions as opposed to active duty (I’d love to see a study on this), and how interest rate increases affect financial stocks….There are X days left till D-Day, meatloaf day at the chow hall, and 9 house and 30 minutes to smoke&tea break…

Maybe I’ll eat lunch left handed for giggles.

/nn

Gun Pot Pie and Apple Streusel

There's always a hiccup or two when you rush a meal...

I was talking with a buddy the other day who is out on a smallish FOB on the edge of city (much like Danger used to be). He lives and all his team live in one building, ringed with high concrete barriers we call “Tee-wall” (I would love to have the contract for these puppies). A river edges in one side of the FOB and the city is one the other. It is an Iraqi FOB so they help pull security.

This is a good thing as they have better situational awareness – have a better idea of how to interpret the images that they see over the wall. For instance, if there is a crowd standing around a mosque shooting guns most Americans (uninitiated ones anyhow) would take alarm and run for cover. The Iraqis on the wall however do not even flinch or disrupt their snacking on flat bread as they look at the ducking Americans who have never seen a wedding procession before.

What can be disconcerting and what my buddy has said the main threat is, however, is if the guns “turn inward.” For the most part, the Iraqi-secured FOBs I have been on look much the same as ours and I felt just as secure. This sentiment is more of a joke that is tossed around near the coffee pot than a strong word of caution. But this morning. LTC M passed on an article about ranking Iraqi Defense Ministry folks working to put 421 al-Qaida fighters into the Green Zone and I have to wonder what some of the Iraqis are thinking! (http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060315/D8GBP74G0.html).

Surely some folks in Iraq (I decline to say Iraqis here due to the foreigners who are here causing problems) seem bent on self destruction. Of course the media realizes the “sell out” potential of this in the market and are all heralding an Iraqi Civil War. A quick Google of this turns up the phrase on just about every major news site. I’ve even joked about it with our office pool...

The first thing anyone more realize when harbinger ring their bell at you proclaiming an impeding war is that it is absolutely impossible to tell anything with any certainty here! The Geographic, Demographic, Ethic, Religious Impacts are way too complicated to actually make a general statement. Once you have come to a conclusion regarding these factors, let’s Throw in the oil game, throw in the international scene with the Arab Sunnis Vs. Arab Shia Vs. Kurds Vs Persians Vs. The West Vs. DPRK, throw in the need to obtain value on already spent political capital and see if we can still hit the target! This will be like darts night at the local pub after quaffing a few too many!

Speaking of Oil, it is well know that it accounts for about 95% of Iraq’s GDP. No one argues this. What people will discuss is fluctuations and the need to get it back online. I hate it being all about the Oil, but since I have spent 90% of my tour trying to complete this GRE analytic (hereby noted the “Iraqi Bazaar Corollary”):

Iran: Persian Rugs; Iraq:?????

What you will find is that there is not much that is created here that is unique. Before 1991 you could say palm dates, might even have been able to say… well palm dates. But when 95% of your game is Oil you do not have a choice but to get it up and running. It is a sense of national dependency, it is a source of national INdependency it is a source of national pride. When the bad guys want to stir things up with the Locals they just have a local religious leader tell them The Americans are trying to steal their Oil! They hardly know what the stuff is or where it comes from, but it is deeply rooted in their psyche that it is there god given (and I use that intentionally) property right!

Here is how we are doing. You won’t see this on any Iraqi news source (all the information on this Blog, including this is Open Source Unclassified Information – the Oil stats are from BP).

You might think, wow, Iraq is not doing so hot. But, based on this graph alone, let me infer two things: 1) The oil game is a risky one, even if you country is stable. I choose to put Q in here with Iraq because, besides Iraq, it has the most volatile production over the past 10 years in the Middle East. Iraq’s standard deviation is about 44% of its 10 yr average while Qatar’s is about 20%. And Qatar has had a relative stable history, has a constitution, a reputable government and the ability to develop, plan, and execute large-scale projects (such as the $14B largest liquefied natural gas plant). I’ve been there on a diversion (good beer conversation and my CO is still bitter) and can tell you it is a clean metropolis with a great airport, restaurants, and shops (as seen here with in this picture that could have been taken in a similar environment drinking cokes with Renegade):

Iraq has somehow managed to keep their production relatively stable in the last few years considering they were coming off 8 years of war with Iran (‘80-88), getting trounced by everyone and their brother (including Qatar) in Kuwait (’91), economic sanctions (UNSC Resolution 661 ‘90-2003), and a major invasion in 2003 (hence the Oil ‘dip’ in the graph above).

OK, So Oil is Risky. Great noted.

The #2 thing from this graph, is that we are within prewar levels. OK within 1 standard deviation of prewar levels (statistics wimp talk for close). The steepness of the graph (slope) from ’03-04 shows great promise and a good increase. This makes everyone happy because, due to The solution to the “Iraqi Bazaar Corollary” being a big fat negative, you really need to have some cash flowing into your country – it just makes you feel good. When the oil is not flowing you feel like Idaho during a potato famine.

The international and US politics into the mix are not even well enough understood to discuss and I could not find any data on them in an excel spreadsheet on the web. Inferences in this case are In Fere some SensesJ

Their will continue to be a little gun chatter here, the word sectarian violence gets tossed around like it was on a word of the day on some AP editors desk calendar but a lot of this is due to how much was forced on these Long-historied people in so short of a time!

Here’s a comparison. In my constitution book (my Department of State Acquaintance turned me on to it) there is a chronology of the USAs formation.

• 1776, Declaration of Independence
• Then we hang out for a couple of years (might have been a war or something)
  
• 1778, We form basically a transitional government, and propose The Articles of Confederation (this would be the Iraqi’s Transitional Administrative Law)
  
• Then we hang out for THREE YEARS
  
• 1781, Someone finally gives up on the spelling of RI (hyphen or space?)… and we pass the Articles (BTW a buddy has a poster on his wall… “Transitional Governments: They take a lot less time to create and it will be years before any realizes the mistakes.)
  
• 1787, propose new constitution (after having more than a decade since Concord’s Shot Heard Round the World”)
  
• 1788, Ratified Constitution
  
• 1788, G. Washington becomes first president
  

Compare this with what was rushed through in Iraqi:

• 2003, Invasion
• 2004, TAL in affect under CPA
• 2005, JAN, First elections for Interim Government
• 2005, AUG Draft Constitution Due
• 2005, OCT, Ratification of Constitution
• 2005, DEC, Election of Permanent Government
• 2006, FEB, Gold Mosque bombed (Shia Mosques in Sunni Town)

I’ve talked to Iraqis whose lifestyle mirrored that of Abraham and think in generations and yet they have managed to do more in the last two years of democratic formation than we did in our first ten! When this much has been done in a very short amount of time there in bound to be a few hiccups - especially when the scenario is as compliacted as this one.

Time will tell what crucible this country will have in store. Most articles say it is in the wind, that the Iraqis will turn on each other, Shia against Sunnis, Kurd may hunker down and play a border war - But those are small potatos. Most Iraqis seem to want the process to proceed, to have peace, they want to get on with life (preferrably under their own power). This is the meat of the situation.

Too bad a few rotten apples spoils the whole pastry.
/nn

Homage to Iraqilonia

If things keep up I am going to lose my office pool...

I've been reading a lot...



Hanging in the day room recently I came across a book by one of my favorite Authors, George Orwell. I first came across George in high school when - in my lower level English HP (Hopefully he'll Place in something) were were to read some excerps of his work in Animal Farm. But since my teacher said her husband was an Engineer (what I hoped to be-) who did not have to use english for anything I told that as a justification for illiteracy never bothered reading it.

I next bumped into him while searching for an audio book for my long drives to Dell when I was doing my master's reseach there in Nashville. The Nashville public library is beautiful! And the have an huge Audiobook section. Fortunately, there are these people who work there to help you pick through them. "Gimmie a classic" to which they handed "1984." The narrator's british accent perfectly accented the stuggles of class, socialism, central goverment control with "Ministry of this, and Ministry of that..". I learned a about the dangers of a strong central state and the exploits of Winston Smith as he dodges "Big Brother."

I enjoyed "1984" so much I went on to "Animal Farm" (again a class struggle thesis - although the evolution into pigs was tasty), and also to "Homage to Catalonia." The current reading is "Road to Wigan Pier" a narrative (large essay actually) of the unemployment situation in Britian in 1930's. A book I had never heard of and would not have noticed save it stood out drastically against a backdrop of Mack Bolan:The Executioner series, Dragonlance Chronicles, and Maxim Magazines - although I am quite sure to be the only one to acutally consider this a "find."

It is these last two that I cannot help but compare to my current situation: a book of unemployment and class struggle, and and a book about civil war.

Wigan discusses unemployment like it is a disease - very western I think. The situation in the UK at the time was difficult with the coal mining industry booming and busting, and a few decades from a decent educational reform leaving a large number of uneducated unemploy folks living in slums. Couple that with late 1930's German growth and socialist politica sucess and poeple starting wondering if Britian's poltical model is working - good time to send the socialist Orwell on an unemployment book hunt through the underpinnings of British industry.

The unemployment situation (10 - 70% depending on how it is measured) here is bleak - by US standards. But it is not the US. The typical measure of unemployment is the number of those actively seeking work divided by those in the labor pool. Both of these numbers are in contention here. Sure there are those who are searching and not finding - my friend 'Slick' was educated in baghdad as a chemist and had looked for a year before he came here to be an interpretor. But mostly work is found for you by a family member who asks you if you want a job at the government building sitting around smoking and drinking chai all day long and the off you go. I have yet to find an operator at water treatment plant who is directly related to the Mayor.

This is reinformed by the wealth accumulation system in families. Banks are here, but their sucess is arguable. Most folks here are mattress stuffers - much like Americans were during our national formation. It is not uncomming for the head of the household or clan to hold the wealth for the group (he sleeps on a california king). The question is, if the wealth is for the family, then the job is for the family, then the looking will be done for/by the family. The head of the family also is incharge of getting the local food basket at the Public Distribution System (subsidized food basket), keeping up the estate, interacting with other clans, tribes, politicians, encouraging the development of the children...



Unemployment here has a different meaning here in a somewhat socialist, one national product (oil), strongly tribal country. Although the living conditions in Wigan are not that far off from what some communties here endure - subsistance is subsistance. What Orwell does describe also a propos in Iraq is that the 'have nots' do relize what they don't have until the'haves' tell them:

"Talking once with a miner I asked him when the housging shortag firsmt becmae acute in his ditrict; he answered; "When we were told about it." [Orwell, "Road to Wigan Pier"]

Saddam had his own stuggle with this apparently (I am now begging to think Iraq was Fascist). The old FOB I used to live on was the palacial grounds (where were really nice BTW) for his mother near Tikrit (turned over 22Nov). Next to this was a tall hospital that had all of the windows blacked out on the side that faced the palaces. When we asked the doctor what was up with that he said it was so people could not see the nice buildings.

Catalonia depicts a focus of socialist struggle against the fascists and the stalwart youths who converge on Spain to look fascism in the face. M-w.com lists fascism as:

a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition"

Although I like the definition of provided by one site that bascially said Fascism is a dicatorship where one class of people is favored over another. Interesting. This was also a site the offered for sale a "Disappearing Civil Liberties" Mug. You fill it with coffee and our rights disappear (Much faster than Congress!). If we had a mug like this for the Iraq's I woudl be quite the opposite... Their mug would brim over with freedoms that have been granted in past years.

I work with some Department of State folks, and have been working some Governance issues. So I have been boning up on my US Constitution, American History, Internation Economics... So I can say with confidence that the first ten amendments (those our Revolutionaries fought so hard for: Speech, Bear Arms, no Unlawful borders, search and seizure, immient domain, fair court proceedings.... All of these are bascially at their disposal. As soon as I read up on the 11th - 26 (or 27th my book keeps saying there are 26 or 27 ammendments - guess the author did not wanted to be bothered with specificis:-) I will know if they are here as well (although I know woman voted on Jan 15th, Oct 15th, and Dec 15th, 2005 so that is one down).

Yet in Catalonia, the struggle was against classes which invariably leads to economics. Yes, Yes, both are governmental political systems, but have some impact on how the economy is run. The higher inequality (I must unqualifyingly address) would be with Fascism so an economist woudl say the struggle was for an increase in GDP per capital that woud come with socialism. Less equality, more overall spending... more products, we are building our economy here.

In Iraqilonia, the struggle I find is with religio perspective - or is it? The Shia, the dominant (and dominated) population in Iraq, believe in the religious leadership transcends from the bloodlines of the Prophet Muhammad. The Sunnis, the lesser population but traditionally the upper/ruling class in Iraq, believe leadership to be elected. That is about as indepth as my understand of this split goes and it may seem like an unusual thing to fight over.. until you try to explain the differences and the antagonisms of the Catholic and Protestant Churches to a Muslim. BBC has some good stuff: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/subdivisions/sunni_shia.

Civil war had it's place in Anglo society as well. I am not a historian (but I am a great googler) and the UK's CW of the 1640's pitted Catholic centered monarchy against a protestant republic. They were not tracking GDP at this time but I cannot help to imagine that living conditions increased after the 'power to the peolple' was granted in this religio-politic transformation. This transformaton took the focus off of institutions and placed it instead, on the individual (an important distinction when comparing Eastern/Western Thought).

The bombing of The Golden Mosque in Sammarra (of which I have only seen from the highway it stands out for miles), one of the the top Shia Shrines, could be the shot heard round the world. (see open source info http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185640,00.html). Comments on the impact would be premature (and out of place), but it has potential to be symbolic.

The only conclusion I can find is that they are having our 1600's religous persecution struggle and we are trying to force on them 21st century economic and governance reforms! It is uncertain what the value the end state will have (I am not sure we are the ones to measure [course if we do it woudl be economically and I doubt that is the thrust or would be a significant increase]).

If they can hold off on the Civil War I've got $20 on May 2nd.

/nn

One Year Anniversary, WU-Day, February 18th, 2005

All of life’s major messages should be delivered as gingerly…

It was Friday. Nothing atypical about the morning thus far. The Routine had little interruption save for skipping the typical email check before I ventured out the door to work for Ortho-Clinical, the diagnostics company I worked for in the Johnson and Johnson portfolio (one of 200).

My laptop bag on my shoulder, I race out the door glancing sideways at a my desk as I reached for the door. My roommate had placed my mail on it from the previous day – I must have been out late or else I would have dealt with it that evening. No bills were getting my attention early on a Friday, however a letter with an unfamiliar logo in the top right hand corner did.

It struck me. I’ve never received a WU telegram, never even knew anyone who had (not surprisingly they discontinued the long standing business 1/27/2006). The only thing I had ever heard that actually came from the 145 year old telegram service were WWII death notices and Vietnam era Draft cards.

It seemed the novelty was not lost on the Military for the Global War on Terrorism. I grabbed the letter without opening it knowing about 90% what it was… I was an IRR guy. I’ve written of this a few times in passing. An Individual Ready Reservist. A modern-day minute man required to drop everything at a minutes notice to head back off to fulfill the needs of the Army once more. Another way to think of it however, I was an Army officer on the lamb. Running from US Army Reserve Human Resources Command – St Louis. Occasionaly screening calls, leering at recruiting centers, and looking over my shoulder for the "green machine."

Never one to do anything halfway, I wanted all the way out. I could have drilled – done the weekend a month thing. However that always seemed a little distracting from being 100% involved with my current projects whether they were school or J&J or church involvement…. A weekend a month (really 4 days a month for an officer) would require gear switching, uniform maintenance, putting on the Army cap and struggling to keep a foot in a world where I would never be allowed to be on top of the game… Reservists are anathema to the active duty soldier.

So, in May, 2001 when I Expired my Time of Service (ETS’d) I chose to fade to gray and go into the IRR knowing we had never been called up save a few select military occupational specialties during Desert Storm. I went to school. Got two degrees. Went on to a Fortune 30 company (right on the button at 30 actually) and settled in to all that New York City had to offer.

I always intended to do my duty as a past professional solider and proud of having had served: was a member of my school’s Military association, co-lead an Army Leadership course for the undergrads, interviewed prospective cadets... all that a responsible alumus would do. I even occasionally responded to the annoying letters sent on my HRC-St Louis requesting updated information and asking me to volunteer (for what they never tell you). But of all of these implicit Army requirements, the hardest thing I would do would be to open that letter.

I opened it on the car ride into work on the Pulaski Skyway that spans the Newark area shipping yard. One hand on the wheel one on the letter. Eyes scanning the document looking for some hint of a joke (my Army buddy Wes had called me with a muffled voice right after 9/11 and left a message that “CPT Phillip Nardo was to call HRC Immediately” – even screwed up my name which made me think it was 100% authentic!). It looked real. I took it into work and asked a few military reserve guys what I should do… My buddy Chris basically said: “I’m sorry bud, but your screwed!” And I was…

[orders deleted]

You will notice from this very official looking document (it has to be cause it is all CAPs – they were yelling at me already) a couple of things:

1. “Failure to report may subject me to UCMJ (uniform code of military justice) action.” I was not getting out of this. I was screwed.
2. At 545 days, I was potentially screwed for a very long time.
3. There is no indication of which unit I was assigned to know who I would be screwed with
4. I had to report in “No Earlier Than” Easter Sunday but “No Later Than” Easter Sunday (guess my family gets in on the screwing as well)
5. I had a lot of acronyms to relearn…

So on Easter, 2005 - after opening the box in my mom’s attic I wrote: “Break in Case of War” 4 years earlier - I flew in to FT Sill, OK. Got in around 2330 hours and a very tired sergeant was there to pick us up, give a few crusty “Welcome Back to the Army” speeches, and dropped us off at the big open bay barracks with our instructions (goto this building to sign in, that one to get bedding, that building to find a bunk… formation is at 0700 in the parking lot). I remember pinching myself thinking this could not be real. I fell asleep watching “full metal jacket” again… right?

After stumbling into a bunk in the dark I lay awake trying to figure out why I signed that paperwork to accept a 4 Year Army ROTC scholarship when I was 18 – oh yeah for tuition. Yea! And at Ohio State that came to about seventy-five dollars and fifteen cents (about $8K actually). I could have made that in my 4 OSU years pan-handling off of really bad Waite-staff at all night truckstops….

Somehow I fell asleep and awoke the next morning to find myself shaving at the barrack's sinks. This is where I bumped into Trevor whom I went to the Officer Basic Course with in '97. This is where we went to formation. This where they had roll call to check off their list of the names of folks called up.

Trev and I were standing next to each other in formation during rolls and I think I counted about 51 names that they called. I did not need to pull out a calculator to determine that our formation was about 18!!!! I look at Trevor and shriek: “Was this optional!!!!” Where the heck is everybody!!!!

Those other folks were those who did not open the WU telegram or answer the phone. Maybe they lost it, or the message did not get passed, quite possibly HRC really thought their address was 1060 West Addison…. We call this “taking the blue pill.”

These absentee numbers were fairly typical, because of this (and general out of shapeness, not to mention being out of practice with our military specialties [which was why the called us up]) the Army generally considered the IRR program and it’s subsequent first large-scale call up a disaster.

So much so that they changed their entire policy on IRRs. Now once you have reached your MSO (mandatory service obligation) you must actively volunteer to be IRR as opposed to actively DE-volunteer yourself off the list at HRC. They should be able to manage that list now with a couple of post-its and a sharp pencil.

I bought a 365 day calendar before we deployed – it is perfect cause it starts and ends in June! I keep this laminated piece of perfection outside my bunk pinned to my plywood cubicle wall in our Iraqi Crackhouse. Every night I check off the date. During the day I have my missions and schedule posted on it. It keeps pretty full.

In Spite of my IRR-ness I am able to make an impact... Today I briefed the Fire Effects commander on our Economic Development Plan. They came up this morning asking if I could put a plan together for the 1400 meeting. This short-sightness on what should take decades can be a little hard to deal with, but I consider my role to be one of eduction. We put 3 slides together quickly. The first was an assessment of the overall Econ situation in Iraq (poor housing/sanitation, high illiteracy [I can’t read it either!], high unemployment, poor agricultural practices, poor labor productivity…). We discussed this at length and had round table chat on how disparaging the situation was.

On the second slide we posted the cite for the first slide’s information: “The Economic Development of Iraq: Report of a Mission Organized by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the Request of the Government of Iraq” Book by World Bank; Johns Hopkins Press, 1952. Two things of note here, 1) Gov of Iraq has been thinking about this for 54 years, 2) the basic living conditions have been fairly poor for a very long time. A caveat to this on the economic transformations of Russia (soviet -> capitalistic), Chile (dictatorship -> democracy), and China (state run socialist to state run 'captialistic'?) taking decades brought the point home that we woudl not turn Iraq around by the end of their tour.

The third slide discussed our way ahead. Which I briefed - along with the previous two - in full “PowerPoint monkey boy” regalia. This type of briefing has occured all to frequently in my new position as a Staff monkeyboy. They want something reserached and a report out in the same day... I've done this for Unemployment, Empowering a people group, Empowering Provincial Governance an the economics issue of the day. I work these issues with LTC M (economics) and LTC B (governance). M was called out of retirement and B was a drilling reservist. We work in the 'Nerdery' the 3 of us in a small cube - helping where we can.

"Big Army" is not smart on these things. The reconstruction in Iraq involves publics works, political governance, and macro - economics on a grand scale. You can go your full career in the Army and never even need to put a budget together for your shop - The Army is a cost center not a profit and loss (we sometimes work very hard to spend all the money that is alloted). I think we are doing a valuable service and influencing leadership to drive impactful policies. Killing people only helps economics if they were previously unemployed.

Having reservists here is crucial. Even though they won't update my eyeglass perscription, take care of my tooth, take great pains to ensure we conform to their active duty standards, and sometimes sneer at us for not being ''committed to active duty' I don't think we would be a sucessful as we have been here without the lawyers, engineers, politicians, and businessmen who happen to wear green over here. Corporate teaches us to see the 'big picture' and look beyond the short timeframe of an officer evaluation report allowing us to pass on crucial insights on longer-term impactful programs.

It was a good day which has now turned into night. Time to cross off one more 18FEB2006.

/nn

Happy Valentines Day

Dating in a War Zone

Most of the guys over here are married. I can’t imagine how they get by. They have kids, car payments, loans, spouses, mouses, houses… I have none of these. My buddy renegade found out his wife was pregnant the first week of mobilization, he went to the state back after 9 months on leave to find a new kid around! Never saw his wife pregnant or anything. It was like, gone on deployment, come back and bam! There’s a new kid…

Most folks try to talk with their spouses on the phone regularly, they have Skype (Google just bought it). Some don’t because there is absolutely no privacy. When we were at Danger I was in the computer room and there was a crying solider on the phone with their spouse… Nothing like waiting in line for the phone only to have major life issues come up and you have to share it with 48 of your new best friends… Things can be rough for them. The married folks… But, I’m Single.

When I was home on leave I picked up a few things. Went shopping at AutoZone for UAZ 469B parts, stopped by Wal-Mart for smokes and razors, Bought a 1967 BMW R60 off my uncle (a huge vintage motorcycle enthusiast – he has bikes hanging upside down in restaurants)… I really like that bike. I rode in my uncles 1954 BMW with sidecar when I was 15 and told myself I would get one someday. Being in a War makes you act on impulses like this. Makes you go for things that you need in your life instead of waiting for them to come to you.



Now that I had a bike, I needed a biker chic to ride on it. So I talked to Nancy, a girl from church in NYC area and we entered into contract negotiations. It went well, I got almost everything I asked for (she has to wear flowery yellow sundresses on all our dates [that will go over well in NYC] and has to promise never to lean the opposite way of a turn on my bike). We had a great first date on the First of 2006 and decided romantic involvement would accompany leather riding pants and world travel.

So then I went back to Iraq and found myself wanting to interact... There are crazy things that go on a daily basis that needs shared. So we try to talk on the phone (crazy time zone switch, lines, unreliable service, no privacy…) but the best way is email, occasionally a chat session on IM. What a great way to get to know each other! It is sooooo….. Old school (although in a new tech internet kind of way). Man, writing letters? Who does that anymore? (I was even thinking of carrier pigeons…) And then returning them with answers? It is great, I have favorite stuff, she has favorite stuff. We chat about stuff. Stuff get talked about. Share books. Send pictures over email…

And, the best part, is that on Valentines Day, you actually have someone to send stuff to (although mine was certified mail that needs her signature so I got my Package today and Nancy will have to wait until Saturday – too bad, it sure is stellar). My sister gets less packages from me though (and her husband typically just spackles her a heart or something).

I got this big box about 5 days ago that someone wrote: “don’t open until the 14th.” What is up with dat? That is like putting a big bowl full of candy on the porch at Halloween with a note that says “take only one.” Yeah right. There were hearts all over it so I felt I had to honor it.

But I was good. I did not open Nancy’s box until today. Here is it prewrap (on that oh so familiar, camo poncho liner backdrop):

















Notice how nicely Nan wrapped everything! I felt bad tearing the stuff off like a 6 year old at a birthday party…

Here’s the goodies:



Isn’t she lovely! Everything has a purpose and is well thought out – girls are great! The picture is a print of some dude’s painting “The Nineth Wave” that I saw at the Guggenheim (Nancy was there a couple of days after me on a tea party she planned for the girls [I went before so I could go with the guys, drink beer, and make fun of stuff]). I mentioned this painting to her because I liked the big translucently greenish wave right above the guys who were hanging onto a capsized mast for dear life. These guys are in a bad way yet they have this beautiful wave to look at – I just liked the emotional balance of this piece. So Nancy repainted it exactly from memory (ok, she bought a print) and I dig it.

She also sent on some shampoo. And for a second, I was like, “what the heck is this?!?!” I have not bought shampoo for like 15 years and she is sending me shampoo. But then I smelled it and recognized it as what she uses. Cool! I remember mentioning that I liked the way her hair smells. Redolent of Nancy. I think I will start using it every dayJ

Some of the other guys got some package too. Renegades’ wife sent him fire chips, corn pops and heart shaped lollipops!!! I forgot to ask for that stuffJ Maybe next valentines I can get that box of cheerios I’ve always wantedJ Dating is great cause you get stuff.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

/nn

Riding the Pine

PowerPoint, Emailing, and Communicating - careful of splinters

When I got back from leave in January I had no idea what I would be coming back to. I did not know if I was staying at the same FOB, who I would be working for, or in which capacity… We have been trying to go through a complete change in direction for how we run reconstruction.. Mostly because what we are doing is working.. but it is inefficient…

A Major I was talking to in Mosul really summed up our inefficiency conversation with: “that’s why you don’t see the US Military running the government back in the US.” This stuck. We are making major progress. But could be doing better.

The plan was to move from DoD leadership to DoS leadership. However it is really hard to get promoted in the Army if you have “Did what the Department of State told me to do” as a major evaluation bullet… The change over did not happen. I am now thoroughly convinced in my previous assessment that it is not about progress over here it is about control.

This changeover did not affect the guys on the ground much. They kept on keeping on.. but for those of us who were to work intimately with the new structure, we were cut off and left to find a new position when the ‘new’ became ‘moot’.

The Functional Support Team (FST) I worked on was a group of professionals (we have an medical Doc who assesses Iraqi Health care, a Veterinarian who does agricultural and livestock, a politician who does Iraqi governance, a Lt Colonel from Texas – who just from being from texas knows how to make a profit from stuff, he does economics, and an Engineer who does infrastructure (water, public works mostly, oil, elec, in a pinch).

We used to be off by ourselves. Traveling around the country. Working with Iraqi officials, State and Military leaders, and civil affairs teams consulting within our specialty to help make our billions of dollars spent as effective as possible. I had developed a pretty good reputation as “The Waterboy up North.” Requests for information came frequently and I had more work on more FOBs than I could handle. I inspected Water Treatment Plants, talked to Sheiks about their villager’s water, brought my “Hach DR 2010 Portable Water Microbiology Lab” out to do water quality tests (I would bring some chlorine so I could add it to the DPD test [it turns the water pink if Chlorine is present {the kids dig it }]), looked over projects, consulted on design, worked on starting up factories, discussed economic developments at DoS meetings in Baghdad… it almost felt like I was called up for my skillsets!

When I was a kid, I read a book about a bulldog who did not know what his purpose was – what with overbite, stubby legs, pushed in nose and all. Then one day, when his girl was out in the field a bull started rushing her! The bulldog, instinctively, jumped up and bit that bull right on the nose. His overbite, angled teeth, and other “imperfections” him well suited for this. Finally, the bulldog has found his purpose and he saved the little girl.

For a while here, I felt like that bulldog. All of the Army environmental training, the work in my masters in economic development, leadership training, studying manufacturing operations – it was like an intersection of many of the skills I have picked up over the years!

But that’s gone… We’ve been disbanded. Now we are staff officers. Making PowerPoint Slides on the mistakes made by non-technical folks who spent lots of money on the wrong systems. I like to add recommendations to have them consult with the Functional Support Team.

***

I work at division. DMAIN. A big building where the general sits with all of his staff sections. Because we hate saying we are a staff officer in the Civil Military Operations Chief we just say we work for the “9.” More specifically the “G9.” Every staff section at has a number. My buddy, Dave, is in Plans, he works for the G5. I think 9 is the highest. If there is a G10, I’ve never seen his folks.

The US Army is one of the mightiest organizations on the planet. I especially liked John Keegan’s chapter in “The Iraq War” where the British Army was rolling with the US Army and stopped for a supply refill. The Supply Trains rolled up and did their thing – Men were fed, trucks gassed, ammo resupplied – like one amazing logistical pitstop.

The ability to coordinate information down to the most minute detail to different units in different parts of the country, with different equipment and is truly awesome. If some full bird colonel wants SGT Snuffy and his squad to meet, PVT Johnson no later than 0545 hours at location GRID EH12349876, to perform overwatch and tire change operations with a toolbox, a cup of coffee, and a fresh pair of underwear, well, he could and it would happen. The method we have to do this is via a piece of paper called a FRAGO – Fragmentation Order (basically it is an adjustment to a operations order (OPORD). We plan the big stuff for an operation with an OPORD and then put out specifics with a FRAGO).

FRAGOs are a bear – especially when you are at Division. When you see one you freeze to see what it’s about… They lay down the law. They have Claws & big teeth. And it is not uncommon for folks to run around about their business banging sticks and throwing rocks so as not to run into one. Sometimes they will run downhill in a zig-zag pattern to avoid them. Occasionally, the FRAGO rolls head over heels and the unit gets away. They sometimes get overlooked. But like a stop sign at a frequently rolled through intersection – when there is an accident, they clearly assign the blame!

Unit levels:
- ARMY
- CORPS
- DIVISION <--I now work here
- BRIGADES
- BATTALIONS <--My unit at this level (445 Civil Affairs BN)
- COMPANY <-- this is the first level where “value added work first occurs”
- PLATOONS
- SQUADS
- TEAMS
- BATTLE BUDDY <--This guy watches your gear while you’re in the can

You will be off working on something and need to coordinate with another group for something:

• ME: ‘Hey MAJ Snuffy. I need to get those coordinating instructions and necessary equipment for OPERATION PURPLE PENGUIN from you. We’ve got a Rest Over Night and we need security and billeting.”
• SNUFFY: I don’t have that!!!!
• ME: According to FRAGO 479 to OPORD 66 you were supposed to provide that information to G9 (my office Civil Military Operations) Not Later Than 1800 hours today!
• SNUFFY: Oh… ah, FRAGO 479 huh?
• ME: Roger, 479, yep [smugly, fully on the power side of the FRAGO. I usually have a laminated copy in my cargo pocket!]
• SNUFFY: OK, I’ll get right on it!

Not only is the FRAGO a sword to wield to get people to do their jobs. It is a fully powerful shield for others to parry any impending interruptions to their internet surfing. Had I not been on the service side of the FRAGO our little exchange could have had drastically different outcome:

• ME: ‘Hey MAJ Snuffy. I need to get those coordinating instructions and necessary equipment for OPERATION PURPLE PENGUIN from you. We’ve got a Rest Over Night and we need security and billeting.”
  
• SNUFFY: ‘Oh, we were supposed to get that to you and I have it right here in my hands, but according to the FRAGO 479 – to OPORD 66 you are supposed to get that from Purple Raider 6 (we have colorful names)”
• ME: ‘Crud! When did that come out??!?!?! I’m screwed it’d due to the G5 (the plans guys) at 1830!!!!!”
• SNUFFY: “Last night, 0037 hours. Where were you??”
• ME: “Doing eye maintenance!”

It takes a lot of people to work this kind of process fortunately, there are hundreds of people at DMAIN all doing a lot of nothing, so that if something does happen, there will be plenty of people who can point you through the maze to the one person who has been determined by the FRAGO to have the answer you are looking for.

I have often thought is ludicrous that the most DEOMCRATIC entity in the world, the USA - with the greatest freedoms of speech, job mobility, market access, and individual incentivazation is protected by the most SOCIALIST one, the US Army.

Sometimes they let me make the coffee.