Now that R&R is well behind me and I’m once again settled into what passes for routine here, it seems appropriate to provide an update on what is going on in Iraq. Being as I’m now strapped for topics on a week-to-week basis, I’ll try to milk this for two separate blogs – one about what the United States is doing in Iraq and another about what Iraq is doing in Iraq.
It was very apparent to me while home on R&R that this is not the happening, news-magnet war venue. It was more than a bit strange to read the paper morning after morning and discover that the struggle consuming my days, weeks, and months abroad doesn’t typically rate even a sentence at home. In the big scheme of things, that is probably OK. It suggests that nothing truly horrific is going down, like a scandal involving the Prime Minister and the wife of a close rival. Or an Iraqi soccer star accused of steroid use.
Fortunately, we are spared all of that grief, at least at this point in time. It is the same old, same old. Zombies blowing up innocents, government factions pointing fingers, officials perfecting the art of graft, and, in spite of all of that, economic growth and diplomatic success. What, you are probably not at all wondering, does that mean in terms of U.S. involvement?
It means that the Security Agreement the U.S. and Iraqi government signed in Jan of 2009 will be fulfilled in just a shade over 11 months from now. The military will complete or transfer all tasks currently being undertaken, primarily advising and training Iraq security forces, and vacate the premises not later than 31 December of this year. It should be interesting. While U.S. Forces – Iraq ably demonstrated the ability to rapidly reduce numbers of troops back in August, it also displayed an annoying tendency to not rapidly reduce associated tasks. There are considerable efforts expended here to help the Iraqis in a broad array of security and governance tasks and it will be a challenge to find the right balance between maximum assistance and minimal time to pack and leave.
As Security Agreement compliance progresses, the U.S. and Iraq governments are working on ways and means to execute a different accord, also signed in 2009. The Strategic Framework Agreement spells out a large number of areas where the two countries will continue to cooperate, to include business, energy, water, education, agriculture, and everything else they could think of at the time it was written. The document does not specify that either country do anything at all, just that they agree to work together and do good things in those areas.
The biggest obstacle to these good intentions is the persistent low level of trust the Iraqi people have for the U.S. or any other foreign influence. They mostly just want us gone, which we are busily planning to do. If pressed, they would agree it would be nice if some quality of life improvements could occur as the result of continued cooperation, but it seems both sides are not yet sure how to manage the contradictions. Some balance will eventually be reached that will keep the diplomats engaged enough with the Iraq government to allow U.S. engagement to advance civil capacity.
That, in a nutshell, is where we stand right now. The U.S. military is pushing hard to bring the Iraq security forces to the highest possible levels of competence over the next ten months, after which the physics of logistics takes over and sufficient work must be applied to move the considerable mass of USF-I the 7,000 or so miles home. That, thankfully, will not be my tale to tell.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
R&R
I am returned from my brief foray to the real world. Christmas with family (which was a white Christmas before that day ended), New Year’s Eve with a rather raucous crowd of good friends, and plenty of quality moments spread throughout my 15 day stay. It was a wonderful break that passed all too quickly before I had to repack my bags and trundle eastward once again.
Much of my activity while home was blissfully unremarkable – the mundane rituals of daily living that most wish to escape from when practiced too long, but delighted in by those long absent from such routines. So, the only really interesting thing to relate of the whole experience is, unsurprisingly, the journey out of and back into theater.
I say unsurprisingly because anyone who recalls my early stories of the deployment experience will recall that getting there is half the fun. It was no different this time around. The whole thing is so militarily cliché: hurry up and wait.
My scheduled flight out of Baghdad was at 1650 on 21 Dec, but I had to make my way across the red zone to get to the airport. Normally this would require one of two ugly transportation plans: either utilize an embassy Rhino Run that gets me directly to the airport but a day ahead of time or find a ride across the street to Forward Operating Base Union III and catch an armored convoy to the Victory Base complex, then find some kind soul to take me to the airport. The latter process typically begins at 0700 and could take several hours to complete, but at least it is on the same day as the flight. I got lucky and was able to use a third option. My boss happened to also be flying out (inter-theater) that day and I hitched a ride with his security detachment.
I departed the embassy compound at 0800 on 21 December and arrived at the airport about an hour later. Things were going swimmingly. Sadly, it is still almost eight hours until the flight. Check in was quick and painless, the wait long and excruciating. In the end, it did at least leave on time.
Flight from Baghdad to Kuwait on a C-130 was about 1.5 hours, after which some RHIP kicks in and I (and a few other ranking dudes) am culled from the herd and escorted directly through the arrival processes. Not that they needed to be in any big hurry, since the contract flight from Kuwait to Atlanta wasn’t until the following evening. I sign for some linens, grab a cot and get a reasonably good night’s sleep.
Up early on 22 Dec, I shower, shave and breakfast the next morning and then go into long, long vegetation mode. They told me to stop by the liaison desk at 1300 to check departure times and my follow-on commercial flight itinerary from Atlanta to Norfolk. So I stopped by at 1300, only to be told to stop by again at 1500. At 1500, they told me to stop by at 1700 because that is when they would transport the distinguished visitors (colonels and above and sergeants major) to the airfield.
We departed at 1700. Did a quick customs check at the airfield and were directed to the DV lounge with a vague sense that the flight would leave around 2300. Somewhere near 2300 they told us there were some delays and we wouldn’t leave until the next morning. So there we were, about six colonels and another six sergeants major trying to sleep comfortably on the limited selection of chairs and single couch of the lounge. It was a very long night.
Fortunately, we did, in fact, depart around 0900 on 23 Dec. I say fortunately because my connecting flight from Atlanta to Norfolk was at 2140 that night and, accounting for time zone changes, any later departure would have made me very nervous. They allowed the DVs to board first, which again turned out to be a bust because it was all coach, all the way from tail to cockpit. Take whatever crappy seat you want before the rest of the gang crowds in. 350 seats, 350 passengers. But what the heck -- we're going home!
We flew first to Shannon Ireland to refuel, which was convenient because it enabled me to do a bit of shopping in their very nice airport store, sparing me some of the Christmas eve pain anticipated for my last-minute needs. There was a group of young Irish lads and lasses, maybe 6th graders, performing a Christmas concert in the terminal, which lent a nice holiday feel to the stop.
Stayed in Shannon for 1.5 hours and zoomed on into Atlanta, arriving at 1800. Once again got some RHIP treatment and was expedited through customs and take directly to a Delta counter, where they quickly moved me to an earlier flight that started boarding shortly after I hit the gate. All was good after that, arriving in Norfolk on time and to the reception of my family.
The return flight was less troublesome. Left Norfolk on time, arrived in Atlanta around 1100. Unfortunately, charter flight to Kuwait wasn't scehduled to depart until 1930. Another long day in an airport. When I eventually went to the gate, most of the military waiting there were scheduled for an earlier flight, which was sitting at the gate. They left way late, pushing our departure to almost 2200. Good news is that now I had a business class seat -- lots more room and a handy little reclining feature. I slept most of the leg to Ireland and again from there to Kuwait -- a consequence of too much fun and too little sleep the night before, thanks to an impromptu party with a few good friends.
Got into Kuwait around 2200 the next day, again grabbed a cot but this time only about 3.5 hours of sleep before having to make a 0430 roll call for my flight to Baghdad. That flight went out on time at 0730. Onboard was a sergeant major who works near where I was headed and whose work required the ability to move freely about the country, so I hitched a ride back to the embassy with his security detail.
And here I am. Again. But less than 100 days to redeployment, one more crappy ride halfway around the world before home for good!
Much of my activity while home was blissfully unremarkable – the mundane rituals of daily living that most wish to escape from when practiced too long, but delighted in by those long absent from such routines. So, the only really interesting thing to relate of the whole experience is, unsurprisingly, the journey out of and back into theater.
I say unsurprisingly because anyone who recalls my early stories of the deployment experience will recall that getting there is half the fun. It was no different this time around. The whole thing is so militarily cliché: hurry up and wait.
My scheduled flight out of Baghdad was at 1650 on 21 Dec, but I had to make my way across the red zone to get to the airport. Normally this would require one of two ugly transportation plans: either utilize an embassy Rhino Run that gets me directly to the airport but a day ahead of time or find a ride across the street to Forward Operating Base Union III and catch an armored convoy to the Victory Base complex, then find some kind soul to take me to the airport. The latter process typically begins at 0700 and could take several hours to complete, but at least it is on the same day as the flight. I got lucky and was able to use a third option. My boss happened to also be flying out (inter-theater) that day and I hitched a ride with his security detachment.
I departed the embassy compound at 0800 on 21 December and arrived at the airport about an hour later. Things were going swimmingly. Sadly, it is still almost eight hours until the flight. Check in was quick and painless, the wait long and excruciating. In the end, it did at least leave on time.
Flight from Baghdad to Kuwait on a C-130 was about 1.5 hours, after which some RHIP kicks in and I (and a few other ranking dudes) am culled from the herd and escorted directly through the arrival processes. Not that they needed to be in any big hurry, since the contract flight from Kuwait to Atlanta wasn’t until the following evening. I sign for some linens, grab a cot and get a reasonably good night’s sleep.
Up early on 22 Dec, I shower, shave and breakfast the next morning and then go into long, long vegetation mode. They told me to stop by the liaison desk at 1300 to check departure times and my follow-on commercial flight itinerary from Atlanta to Norfolk. So I stopped by at 1300, only to be told to stop by again at 1500. At 1500, they told me to stop by at 1700 because that is when they would transport the distinguished visitors (colonels and above and sergeants major) to the airfield.
We departed at 1700. Did a quick customs check at the airfield and were directed to the DV lounge with a vague sense that the flight would leave around 2300. Somewhere near 2300 they told us there were some delays and we wouldn’t leave until the next morning. So there we were, about six colonels and another six sergeants major trying to sleep comfortably on the limited selection of chairs and single couch of the lounge. It was a very long night.
Fortunately, we did, in fact, depart around 0900 on 23 Dec. I say fortunately because my connecting flight from Atlanta to Norfolk was at 2140 that night and, accounting for time zone changes, any later departure would have made me very nervous. They allowed the DVs to board first, which again turned out to be a bust because it was all coach, all the way from tail to cockpit. Take whatever crappy seat you want before the rest of the gang crowds in. 350 seats, 350 passengers. But what the heck -- we're going home!
We flew first to Shannon Ireland to refuel, which was convenient because it enabled me to do a bit of shopping in their very nice airport store, sparing me some of the Christmas eve pain anticipated for my last-minute needs. There was a group of young Irish lads and lasses, maybe 6th graders, performing a Christmas concert in the terminal, which lent a nice holiday feel to the stop.
Stayed in Shannon for 1.5 hours and zoomed on into Atlanta, arriving at 1800. Once again got some RHIP treatment and was expedited through customs and take directly to a Delta counter, where they quickly moved me to an earlier flight that started boarding shortly after I hit the gate. All was good after that, arriving in Norfolk on time and to the reception of my family.
The return flight was less troublesome. Left Norfolk on time, arrived in Atlanta around 1100. Unfortunately, charter flight to Kuwait wasn't scehduled to depart until 1930. Another long day in an airport. When I eventually went to the gate, most of the military waiting there were scheduled for an earlier flight, which was sitting at the gate. They left way late, pushing our departure to almost 2200. Good news is that now I had a business class seat -- lots more room and a handy little reclining feature. I slept most of the leg to Ireland and again from there to Kuwait -- a consequence of too much fun and too little sleep the night before, thanks to an impromptu party with a few good friends.
Got into Kuwait around 2200 the next day, again grabbed a cot but this time only about 3.5 hours of sleep before having to make a 0430 roll call for my flight to Baghdad. That flight went out on time at 0730. Onboard was a sergeant major who works near where I was headed and whose work required the ability to move freely about the country, so I hitched a ride back to the embassy with his security detail.
And here I am. Again. But less than 100 days to redeployment, one more crappy ride halfway around the world before home for good!
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