Tour of the Area

I got to be part of the 9th Division Commander's personal security team as a couple of his advisers went out with him on an inspection of a few of the division's checkpoints. I was the gunner in one of the two Hummers that had Americans, but I was able to snap a few pictures along the way. It was a long trip, so long that the other gunner thought that we had passed the border into Syria! But it was a good break from the monotony of FOB life, so we were happy for it. We didn't get to do much talking with anybody, for a while I was sure that the only people awake in my vehicle were me and the driver, (I only knew the driver was awake because we didn't crash). Any way here are some pictures:

These are driving along the Tigris river, maybe someday I'll buy a house here!

This is one of the Iraqi Hummers, notice two weapons where there is normally only one.

41

41 days to go! We turned in the first of our equipment today, it actually went a lot easier than I thought it would. We've been busy planning, preparing, and conducting training for our counterparts, in addition to getting ready for redeployment. It's been fun training our guys but I have to wonder how much they are going to retain and use to train new soldiers that come in. To illustrate my point, we had training on the A/C system on the Hummer. The guy that did the training for us was pretty nice, we talked during the ride to the Iraqi side, and he was telling me that he was here about a year ago with a different unit and he provided training to some Iraqi's then as well. When we got to the unit to do the training, he looks at me and says, "this is the same spot I did training in a year ago!!" Imagine that...

It's good to be on the list. A few weeks ago our female Captains were both on leave, and I was tasked with picking up on their mission when they left. I encountered a problem when I tried to get into one of the Iraqi facilities to speak to some people there - I wasn't on the list. I couldn't access the building because I wasn't on the access roster. So I asked who controls the list, naturally the person that controls the list happens to be in the building I am trying to get into. This person happens to be an American, and the guards, God bless them, are Iraqis just trying to do their job. So through the use of my interpreter, I ask them how is it possible for me to get on the list if I cannot go see the man that puts people on the list? They still wouldn't budge, so I told them that the American was expecting me and that even though I was not on the list I had an appointment to see him. They let me in after that, but it turns out the guy wasn't even there, and I'm pretty sure that the guards wouldn't believe me if I kept showing up with "appointments" so I waited a couple of days to try again. This time the guy wasn't there again, but one of the other people in the building, the one who is responsible for typing the list assured me that she would add my name to the list so that I wouldn't have to be harassed by the guards any more. So my name gets added to the list, just in time for our Captains to come back from leave, and just as the guy that signs the list gets fired and moved to a new spot, rendering said list obselete...

Anyway, just over a month to go, we still have some training to do, this week we are training the mechanics on vehicle inspections, and how to use the 5 ton wrecker to recover vehicles. It should be fun!