A new face for a different world

The ballots have been cast. The polls are now closed in Tikrit. The current headline on the NYTimes homepage reads: Iraqi Voters Turn Out in High Numbers Despite Attacks Intended to Deter Them

As I read this article, a great mix of emotion starts to well up as a combination of relief, pride, hopefulness... To see things go off well enough that the New York Times couldn't even put together a generally negative article is really gratifying. The military has put so much effort into this event, not because the Iraqis wouldn't or couldn't, but because of a small threatening minority that would do harm to the now obvious majority of Iraqis who wish for a peaceful, stable country. To see so many have cast their vote, symbolically, not for any candidate in particular, but for themselves and what this nation could be, should be a great relief to the world. My hope is that as this nation sees itself as just that, a nation free to choose it's own path, as a people with the capacity to cast aside those who wish anarchy or would do them harm.

I've been out the past two nights, all night, preparing the physical security of our sites. I didn't go out during the day today or yesterday, they've been two of the quietest days here for some time, especially after a rough few days prior to the national curfew. That's not to say there won't be violence in the near future, but the people have spoken.

There wasn't an overwhelming turnout here, but a few thousand is enough to make a statement here in what used to be Saddam's stronghold. Someone related an interview they witnessed to me...asking about the elections, the reporter eventually asked whether the man would vote for Saddam Hussein if he was on today's ballot. "Of course" was the man's reply. The surprised reporter asked why he would do that. "Because he's my uncle."

Similarly, when Iraqis are asked how these elections will be different than ones in the past, the common response has been that there will be more than one name on the ballot. Silly reporters.

More Things You Didn't Know About Iraq

I thought I ought to post something to mark my continued existence here considering it's Friday and some may only have internet access at work (well, that's probably just my family) and the regular rate at which things have been exploding in Tikrit lately. I guess this is about what we had expected. A little extra noise from those who stand to lose...whatever it is they think they'll lose by letting old ladies vote...

After those last reporters I talked about rode through town with us, we have apparently become media darlings, as we've had three more media outings in the past four or five days, to include none other than Christiane Amanpour, as well as the man, the myth, the old hispanic with big hair and small jeans, Geraldo Rivera. They were all pretty cool, actually. Christiane Amanpour bought me a banana. She was raving about how good they were. It wasn't like the vendor was organically growing them out back, or something. The thing had an 'Ecuador' sticker on it...

Then she wanted to get ice cream. That wasn't going to happen.

Geraldo was cool too. All my guys had to get photos and tell him to get back into the talk show business. Repeatedly.

There is a small amusement park in town that I've never seen in operation until this past week during the pre-Hajj celebration known as 'The Fest.' As I told Christiane's news crew, I consider my job to be generally risky, but they couldn't pay me enough to get on the roller coaster at the park here. Makes me re-think the causes of low third-world life expectancies.

In case anyone was wondering (totally unrelated to all previous remarks in this post), the 'ten-second rule' DOES NOT APPLY HERE. Just let the candy bar go, man, it's not worth it. Not five seconds, or two seconds, either. I've been known to ingest a lot of questionable (not illicit) substances, too. And in Ranger School, it didn't matter where you dropped your cheese and crackers, you'd pick that up and try and clean off the cheese spread, which a determined ranger will actually manage to do. (I recall taking pieces of crackers back from opportunistic ants, greedy little bastards) But not here. I'd think twice about picking up still-packaged items.

I'll try to post updates throughout the weekend if I get the chance. As I said, stuff explodes, but it seems that we're no longer the ones being targeted. We'll still be on edge, though.

Things you didn't know about Iraq

or things you might have known but never bothered to think about.

Two words: 'Celebratory Gunfire'

Now I've been to a lot of weddings, witnessed sports championships, received joyous news of various sorts, but never have I been so overjoyed that I felt the desire to fire my rifle repeatedly into the air over the city in which I live. Even given the fun of tracer rounds, never.

But here, all of the occasions listed above, and more are reasons to fire your weapon randomly into the air. I don't get it. Sure, throw a party, have some drinks, even. Play a mean game of 500. But gunfire? Insta-fireworks, I guess. I've been told that following one of Iraq's victories in the Olympics, the gunfire was so heavy, all the US patrols were called in.

It's a whole new world over here.


Also, you may have guessed by some of my references, but this isn't the cleanest place in the world. In fact, coming from Germany where they can recycle anything, the trash around here is almost frustrating. There's no such thing as a sense of civic pride. I don't know what kind of public sanitation was in place before our arrival, but I kind of doubt it was much to speak of. The only thing keeping garbage from lining the streets is the guys we pay to clean up. The potentially nice little courtyard, field, playground areas in some of the neighborhoods? Garbage heaps. I wouldn't say the place stinks in general, but there is a certain funk.

It has rained a little bit recently, and as a consequence (I think) the Stink Wadi has been particularly pungent lately. ('Wadi' just means a stream bed that will often be dry or in this case marshy.) Have you ever held your breath to avoid a scent only to feel it in your eyes, throat, and sinuses? That's pretty bad. One of the many distinguishing features of lovely Tikrit.

If only every kid

...had such a father.

Happy Birthday Dad.

Not much new here. Getting ready for the (going) home stretch, but not before the elections, which will be the culminating even of the unit’s year here.

We stay busy every day, though our schedule is erratic and varied. As one of my soldiers pointed out, in one day we got to be policemen, firefighters, city administrators and construction workers, in addition to our regular duties. I guess those are our regular duties.

Gotta love it.

Peace.

OK, so it’s been a while. (Revised)

Looks like it’s been about three weeks since I last posted anything, and two weeks since I wrote the last one I didn’t post until now, which really shouldn’t count anyway, so shame on the LT…

I keep noting things that I want to write about, but I’m of the type that wants to do everything in a thorough manner, which is why I never get around to doing a lot of things like writing posts, thank you’s, letters home. I have gotten a couple of well-timed and greatly appreciated packages, and though I consider myself well-fed and try to conduct myself at all times in the dignified manner of the US Army Officer, it’s still tempting to do a celebration dance when I get something. Fortunately, they tend to be in my room when I get back, so I don’t have opportunity to embarrass myself.

Let’s see, what else…Most of you have likely seen the pictures I sent out. We really were out in the middle of nowhere, on what seemed to be the only significant terrain feature I’ve seen here besides the river and surrounding area. It looked like Mars, which was a nice change of pace. I did some climbing about, some spelunking, and some hitting random things with sledgehammers. Did you know a 9V battery is really just a metal casing around what appears to be three AAA batteries? No you didn’t. Sounds like some kind of Rayovac conspiracy if you ask me. That was a one day adventure. It was back to the grind after that.

A word about reporters: (ok, many words about reporters) We had a CBS news crew hand along with us a few days ago. All I ask of the reader of these blogs is to really understand that the media puts the angle they want or think is there. They turned Dr. Street into “RPG alley.” While the reality here is definitely slowly but surely, their emphasis was unfortunately on the slowly. Rebuilding a nation’s infrastructure is easy. Reconstructing a democracy, and society as a whole, there’s a whole different story. Give us a little time, you’ll see.

After the patrol, they wanted to ask some questions about our M16s. First they wanted to put us in one of our ‘bass boats’ (the completely stripped humvees that aren’t allowed to leave the FOB) be we saw through that one pretty easily: “These soldiers still don’t have the armor they need…government sucks…quagmire, etc.” So we stood in front of our truck while they asked about the differences between M16s and M4s (for the record, the M4 is a little smaller, lighter, cooler looking. That’s about it.) What they wanted, though was to show that we’re ill-equipped for the job, which isn’t the case. “Don’t you wish you had an M4, lieutenant?” What they fail to see is a group of highly motivated soldiers who are extremely proud of the work they have put in and all they have accomplished in the year they have been here. No, they want us to act like we’re afraid, like we think our equipment is going to disintegrate right there on camera, like we’re certain our mission is doomed to failure. Rest assured, the soldiers of the US Army Infantry will do no such thing. What was their response to the reporter’s prying? “Anything that puts lead down range, sir.”

Atta way, boys. Dammit, I’m going to need a tissue.

(Addendum)

They also had that great part in the story about the shop owner reluctant to be seen doing business with the Americans (though he had no problem when it was just me in there setting up a $1K contract) but there he was on video for the world to see. What sense does that make.

They also edited the bit about why being stuck in traffic was a bad thing: the reasons given were along the lines of can't pursue, react, maneuver on the enemy, get out of there...How was it cut? "Bad situation...because we can't get away." Thanks.