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17 February 2004
Today, a PFC in the Civil Affairs unit down the street died and a major was wounded when a roadside bomb went off as their humvee was driving on the road between Baqubah and Sulamaynia. I actually had lunch with both of those men today so even though I only meet them once it still feels like a personal lose. I mean one minute your shaking hands and eating lamb and then a few hours later one of you is dead. The worst part is the soldier who died was scheduled to go home in just two weeks.
You see the Civil Affairs Company has nearly finished their year long deployment and they will be returning to the US in two weeks. To celebrate the arrival of their replacements and their imminent return to their loved ones the CA Company decided to throw a small lunch party and to invite all of their neighbors. They ordered a ton of food from one of the best restaurants in town so everyone wanted to go plus we had a professional interest in attending because most of the civilian VIPs from Tikrit whom Civil Affairs had worked with over the last were going to be there. That meant the party was a good place for Psyop to meet many of the key movers and shakers in and around Tikrit.
The lunch party lasted two and a half hours and I only spoke to the PFC who died once. I said I had never had any Iraqi food before and she suggested I try the spiced lamb. Three hours later she was dead. Life can be unfair sometimes.
19 February 2004
The good news is that I can now say with certainty that the Armored Humvee made by AM General Corp does indeed safe lives. The bad news is one of my best friends here in Iraq (A Sergeant) on the team in Sulamaynia will be receiving a purple heart. The Tactical Psyop Team (TPT) was traveling on the exact same road where the female Civil Affairs corporal (CPL) was killed two days before when they were also hit by an IED. The IED was buried on the side of the road and exploded a mire six feet from their HUMVEE as they passed. The CPL driving (who is also a close friend of mine) would have been killed if not for the bullet proof doors while the SGT, who was the turret gunner) had his life spared by the steel blast shield the machine gun mounts in. As it is, the SGT had one of his eardrums ruptured, took a fragment in his left shoulder, and has a concussion. As of right now the doctors are saying they don’t know if he will ever be able to hear out of his left ear again.
I’m going to pray for my friend and I ask that everyone else does as well.
21 February 23, 2004
I went on a convoy with the company commander to the northern oil city of Kirkuk. Kirkuk used to be a predominantly Kurdish city before 1991 when Saddam began to ethnically cleans the Kurds from the area in order to insure the city remained in the hands of Arab loyalists. Most of the city’s Kurdish population was told to abandon their homes or they would be killed. After the Kurds left, the houses were sold to Arab families who repopulated the area. After Saddam was deposed the Kurdish refugees began to return to their homes and fighting erupted between the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs. Currently the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is attempting to buy the Arabs out of the homes so that the Kurds can be resettled into the areas in which they were ethnically cleansed. Naturally, the Sunnis oppose this.
During the two hour drive from Tikrit to Sulamaynia you could totally tell which villages were populated by Sunni Arabs and which belonged to the Kurds or Armenian Christians because the Kurdish and Armenian children would come running out of their homes to wave at the Army convoy while the Sunni Arabs would just give us icy stares. The convoy stopped at one Iraqi police check point in order to drop off posters and medical supplies which were to be distributed in the town; during that stop a young Arab boy (he appeared 6-8 years old) walked up and asked me for candy in English so I gave him a bag of M&Ms from my MRE. After I gave the child the candy his father walked up to him, slapped him in the face, and then throw the M&Ms on the ground. I guess he didn’t like us very much.
Anyway, Forward Operating Bases (FOB) Bayonet in Sulamaynia is located in a compound which used to house Saddam’s secret police, the Mahaborot. As such several of the buildings were destroyed by JDAMs during the war but the compound’s walls are still in place so the Coalition continues to use the facility. Since the old Iraqi police station in Kirkuk was destroyed by a car bomb last summer the Iraqi police have also moved onto the base and I had an opportunity to meet and talk, via a translator, with them. It seems the majority of the police force in Kirkuk is now Kurdish with a large minority of Sufi Arabs. The Sufis are a mystic order of Muslims who were persecuted as heretics by the former regime and who is known throughout the Middle East as great warriors. After meeting them I can tell why. They train in marksmanship and hand to hand combat from a very young age plus they take their role very seriously; so seriously that Sufis are known to commit suicide rather then accept the dishonor of losing in a fight. While at FOB Bayonet I saw two Sufis “practicing” at knife fighting where the object is to slash your opponent’s chest with your knife. The first one to draw blood wins but only if the cut comes from your opponent’s chest. Both of the combats sustained minor cuts to their arms before one of the Sufis won. They are experts with knives and rifles. The closest parallel I can think of is the Nepalese Gurkas the British use in their Army. I’m glade the Sufis are on our side.
While the CO was conducting the equipment inventory I took a tour of the Mahaborot’s old torture chambers. The cells were approximately four feet by eight feet and contained no windows. When locked the only light and fresh air comes from a small crack at the bottom of the cell door. I can only imagine how hot the cells must get during the scorching Arabian summer. I cannot fathom why anyone would support a regime which would torture its own people in such a manner.
Today, a PFC in the Civil Affairs unit down the street died and a major was wounded when a roadside bomb went off as their humvee was driving on the road between Baqubah and Sulamaynia. I actually had lunch with both of those men today so even though I only meet them once it still feels like a personal lose. I mean one minute your shaking hands and eating lamb and then a few hours later one of you is dead. The worst part is the soldier who died was scheduled to go home in just two weeks.
You see the Civil Affairs Company has nearly finished their year long deployment and they will be returning to the US in two weeks. To celebrate the arrival of their replacements and their imminent return to their loved ones the CA Company decided to throw a small lunch party and to invite all of their neighbors. They ordered a ton of food from one of the best restaurants in town so everyone wanted to go plus we had a professional interest in attending because most of the civilian VIPs from Tikrit whom Civil Affairs had worked with over the last were going to be there. That meant the party was a good place for Psyop to meet many of the key movers and shakers in and around Tikrit.
The lunch party lasted two and a half hours and I only spoke to the PFC who died once. I said I had never had any Iraqi food before and she suggested I try the spiced lamb. Three hours later she was dead. Life can be unfair sometimes.
19 February 2004
The good news is that I can now say with certainty that the Armored Humvee made by AM General Corp does indeed safe lives. The bad news is one of my best friends here in Iraq (A Sergeant) on the team in Sulamaynia will be receiving a purple heart. The Tactical Psyop Team (TPT) was traveling on the exact same road where the female Civil Affairs corporal (CPL) was killed two days before when they were also hit by an IED. The IED was buried on the side of the road and exploded a mire six feet from their HUMVEE as they passed. The CPL driving (who is also a close friend of mine) would have been killed if not for the bullet proof doors while the SGT, who was the turret gunner) had his life spared by the steel blast shield the machine gun mounts in. As it is, the SGT had one of his eardrums ruptured, took a fragment in his left shoulder, and has a concussion. As of right now the doctors are saying they don’t know if he will ever be able to hear out of his left ear again.
I’m going to pray for my friend and I ask that everyone else does as well.
21 February 23, 2004
I went on a convoy with the company commander to the northern oil city of Kirkuk. Kirkuk used to be a predominantly Kurdish city before 1991 when Saddam began to ethnically cleans the Kurds from the area in order to insure the city remained in the hands of Arab loyalists. Most of the city’s Kurdish population was told to abandon their homes or they would be killed. After the Kurds left, the houses were sold to Arab families who repopulated the area. After Saddam was deposed the Kurdish refugees began to return to their homes and fighting erupted between the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs. Currently the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) is attempting to buy the Arabs out of the homes so that the Kurds can be resettled into the areas in which they were ethnically cleansed. Naturally, the Sunnis oppose this.
During the two hour drive from Tikrit to Sulamaynia you could totally tell which villages were populated by Sunni Arabs and which belonged to the Kurds or Armenian Christians because the Kurdish and Armenian children would come running out of their homes to wave at the Army convoy while the Sunni Arabs would just give us icy stares. The convoy stopped at one Iraqi police check point in order to drop off posters and medical supplies which were to be distributed in the town; during that stop a young Arab boy (he appeared 6-8 years old) walked up and asked me for candy in English so I gave him a bag of M&Ms from my MRE. After I gave the child the candy his father walked up to him, slapped him in the face, and then throw the M&Ms on the ground. I guess he didn’t like us very much.
Anyway, Forward Operating Bases (FOB) Bayonet in Sulamaynia is located in a compound which used to house Saddam’s secret police, the Mahaborot. As such several of the buildings were destroyed by JDAMs during the war but the compound’s walls are still in place so the Coalition continues to use the facility. Since the old Iraqi police station in Kirkuk was destroyed by a car bomb last summer the Iraqi police have also moved onto the base and I had an opportunity to meet and talk, via a translator, with them. It seems the majority of the police force in Kirkuk is now Kurdish with a large minority of Sufi Arabs. The Sufis are a mystic order of Muslims who were persecuted as heretics by the former regime and who is known throughout the Middle East as great warriors. After meeting them I can tell why. They train in marksmanship and hand to hand combat from a very young age plus they take their role very seriously; so seriously that Sufis are known to commit suicide rather then accept the dishonor of losing in a fight. While at FOB Bayonet I saw two Sufis “practicing” at knife fighting where the object is to slash your opponent’s chest with your knife. The first one to draw blood wins but only if the cut comes from your opponent’s chest. Both of the combats sustained minor cuts to their arms before one of the Sufis won. They are experts with knives and rifles. The closest parallel I can think of is the Nepalese Gurkas the British use in their Army. I’m glade the Sufis are on our side.
While the CO was conducting the equipment inventory I took a tour of the Mahaborot’s old torture chambers. The cells were approximately four feet by eight feet and contained no windows. When locked the only light and fresh air comes from a small crack at the bottom of the cell door. I can only imagine how hot the cells must get during the scorching Arabian summer. I cannot fathom why anyone would support a regime which would torture its own people in such a manner.
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