12-07-2004 18:37									#271
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quote: The Army is now embarassed and has ordered that when ever someone is KIA that all means of outside communication be cut off from the soldiers in Iraq until the families can be notified. This seems so typically Army to me. I mean rather then fix the real problem, namely that it takes the Army forever and a day before they bother to pick up the phone and notify the next of kin, they instead try to gag all soldiers. Yes, the families should be notified through the proper channels but the Army owes these people notification much sooner then the 5-7 days they've been running.

Yet another example of why Robin Williams' line in "Good Morning Vietnam" worked so well:

"If it's being done right, anywhere in the world, it's NOT being done by the U.S. Army."[/from memory, probably not quite right]

Good luck in Tikrit, Oerdin.

-Arrian

	12-07-2004 22:46									#272
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We have a saying in the Navy.

"The right way, the wrong way, and the Navy way. It's just like the wrong way except it takes longer."

	14-07-2004 22:01									#273
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I'm now back in Tikrit though there are rumblings that we may have to go to Samarra in a couple of weeks. Apparently, they know one of the teams has to go but they haven't decided which one to send yet.

	16-07-2004 21:24									#274
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Where to start where to start. Well, one of my team mates had to get life flighted to an Army field hospital so he could have emergency surgery on his appendix. It seems he had appendicitus but didn't mention the pain to anyone for the better part of a week because he "didn't want to be a complainer". While I applaud the gusto I think its stupid to ignore pain which could indicate a serious medical condition.

In any event his surgery was successful but because our tour of duty is ending in less then three months he probably won't be returning to Iraq. That means the two teams in Tikrit have a total of four people instead of the six people we're supposed to have. Of those four two of them are not trained Psyopers but are soldiers from the 1st ID who we've borrowed and have been training on the job to be Psyopers. One of them was a scout and the other one was a cook and believe it or not the cook is the smarter of the two of them. Both of them scored well on the ASVAB though the cook made the bad choice of going for the job which paid him the biggest cash bonus instead of a job he really liked. Thus he was stuck being a cook.

Both of them are great people and good soldiers but they don't really know our job that well yet. That means we only really have two fully qualified people and two helpers but I'm sure we'll get by.

The other interesting thing is that one of the Civil Affairs guys I live with happens to be a die hard creationist. This wouldn't be so bad except he brings it up all the time and he is prone to making incessent comments claiming radioactive data is "a complete lie" and that the Grand Canyon could never have been carved by the Colorado river and instead simply must be proof of Noah's flood.

As some of you may know I'm a geologist in the civilian world so I have tried to explain how things like erosion and radioactive dating work but he wasn't to interesting in hearing about how science works. Instead he dragged copies of some fundimentalist DVD (which he just happened to have in his foot locker ) which he claimed "PROVED the Earth is only 6k year old and that Noah's flood really occured". Just to be a good sport I sat down with him and watched the first one but it really was rubbish with all sorts of logical inconsistencies and it desplayed an appaling lack of knowledge with even basic scientic theory.

He used lots of little true facts to reacxh totally wrong conclusions. The speaker claimed that comets could only survive 10k years but provided no supporting evidence (the reality is the life span of comets are highly variable depending upon their size, how close to the sun they are, and how long it takes to complete it's orbit.) then claimed this is proof the universe is young. He also claimed that because the Sahara desert began forming 6k years ago (his figure but on the internet I found a figure which claimed 10k) that it's proof Noah's flood occured 6k year's ago. As if his 6k date is even valid but even if it was then the drying out of north Africa would corrispond with the ending of the last ice age which doesn't require any biblical floods to explain. The speaker also totally screwed up the mechanics of carbon dating and he didn't even bother to deal with other more accurate dating methods such as K/Ar dating so why should I take this garbage seriously?

I hate to say it but fools who continue to spew this nonsensical garbage taint all religious people with their stupidity. This kind of nonsense makes me look at fundimentalists and shack my head with sadness. I know that fundimentalists don't represent the views of main stream people of faith and that many main stream religious people wish the fundimentalists would just keep their wackiness to themselves but I still can't help but feeling they should be disagreeing with the fundimentalists a little more loudly.

	16-07-2004 22:16									#275
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Isn't that really part of the conflict all over the world?? People who take things WAY too literally??? No seeing the other point of veiw is just plain close-minded, and dumb if you ask me... not that I want to see the point f view of a rapist or murderer, mind you....

	16-07-2004 22:47									#276
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"PROVED the Earth is only 6k year old and that Noah's flood really occured"


Must be particularly interesting having these discussions while living in the flood plain of the Tigris river, whose behavior (along with the Euphrates) is widely seen as the source of both Mesopotamian and Jewish (and by extension Christian) flood stories.

also for creation - in Mesopotamia land DID arise out of "the waters" as the rivers dropped sediment at the coast.

OTOH it should help to get along with some of your Iraqi "clients" (is the Flood mentioned in the Koran?), though I dont suppose the flood is uppermost on their minds these days.

	16-07-2004 23:41									#277
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That's bizarre, isn't it? Two American soldier's in Iraq arguing about the Deluge ...

	18-07-2004 00:12									#278
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You have to do something with your time.

	18-07-2004 00:21									#279
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The last couple of days we've been going out with CA and helping them organize several reconstruction projects here in Tikrit. It's not really our job but CA is really short handed so we're trying to help them out. Currently we're living in a large two story palace which everyone calls the whore house. Apparently, when Saddam was in power he kept several young ladies there so they could "entertain" his friends and visitors; now we share a large two bedroom apartment with three people from CA. The apartment is actually quite nice since it has a large balcony and unlike 90% of the infantry guys on post we have our own private bathroom complete with shower. The water pressure sucks but it does work.

	18-07-2004 01:19									#280
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin Apparently, when Saddam was in power he kept several young ladies there so they could "entertain" his friends and visitors; now we share a large two bedroom apartment with three people from CA.

Well atleast you can brag I use to live in a Whore House

	18-07-2004 02:43									#281
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I used to live next to an illegal brothel completed with whores and a pimp... along with fatherless kids running around.

Does that count?

I'll never forget how the pimp approached two of my female housemates about becoming his 'hos. It was hilarious. Some one suggested perhaps it's because we used to get high and watch hentai on full blast late at nights.

	18-07-2004 22:16									#282
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Bump.

	19-07-2004 00:45									#283
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my favourite part was the fact that he just happened to have that DVD with him WHY would he bring that with him?! I mean I'm assuming there are people who would buy these, and then there are people who believe them without questions asked. BUt then there are people who go to war and bring that DVD with them?

	20-07-2004 19:06									#284
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Pekka: True.

Everyone else: Well, it appears I won't be going to Samarra after all. Instead my team chief is going to go run the new radio station in Samarra and I'm going to take over as head of the team in Tikrit. That will mean more paper work for me but I don't mind. I like being in charge.

Things have been rather slow lately because the Commanding General of the 1st ID has started to directly take part in the town council and is releasing information directly to the local press. When we first arrived in Iraq we were kept busy organizing town coucils, establishing contacts with local leaders, doing town assessments, and arranging contracts with the local media. Now the intial phase is complete and everything is pretty much running fine without us. There is still work to be done distributing leaflets & newspapers but we've already gotten the regular infantry to do most of that for us. It appears that we've worked ourselves out of a job.

I'm not to worried about it though since we'll still be needed on most raids and cordon & search missions plus if the current system ever gets mucked up it will be up to us to fix it so our job is fairly secure. In the mean time I have more time to play Civ3 and catch up on my reading.

	20-07-2004 19:31									#285
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin I'm not to worried about it though since we'll still be needed on most raids and cordon & search missions plus if the current system ever gets mucked up it will be up to us to fix it so our job is fairly secure.

Do you really want job security IN IRAQ? The plan is to go home eventually, right?

	20-07-2004 20:05									#286
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It's not whither or not I will go home its whither or not they will find something more restrictive for me to do while here. Luckily, they shouldn't be an issue.

	21-07-2004 08:32									#287
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin Things have been rather slow lately because the Commanding General of the 1st ID has started to directly take part in the town council and is releasing information directly to the local press. When we first arrived in Iraq we were kept busy organizing town coucils, establishing contacts with local leaders, doing town assessments, and arranging contracts with the local media. Now the intial phase is complete and everything is pretty much running fine without us. There is still work to be done distributing leaflets & newspapers but we've already gotten the regular infantry to do most of that for us. It appears that we've worked ourselves out of a job.

Excellent work.

	21-07-2004 08:52									#288
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin In the mean time I have more time to play Civ3 and catch up on my reading.

Play as the Persians.

	21-07-2004 09:03									#289
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No, the Byzantines are way better.

Anyway, question. How close does a bullet half to be before you hear it? Bunnygrrl and I were sitting on the couch at her gandma's when I heard pop-zip-pop. Firecrackers are more echoy, so I'm pretty sure I heard a handgun. The zip was new though, and BG and I spent the rest of the eveneing hunched down on the couch.

	21-07-2004 21:15									#290
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Not really sure. The Iraqis normally fire AK-47s or a derivitive design of the AK-47 so you will certainly hear the initial firing of automatic weapons. You'd be more likely to hear a ricoshay (spelled wrong I know) but other then that it is hard to say. Things like temperature and humidity can greatly effect the way sound travels through the air.

	21-07-2004 21:46									#291
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Today I ended up being caught in what seemed like the never ending mission. Sure, it was only 8 hours but when it's 135 degrees outside eight hours can seem like a very long time. We were just supposed to go to an early lunch with one of the Sheiks from the local Shamar tribe and then come back; that it sounded pleasant was the only reason I agreed to go. The lunch was being held 20 miles north at an abandoned Iraqi Army barracks which has been turned over to the Iraqi National Guard and the Iraqi National Police to use as housing for their employees. Predictably the place had been thoroughly looted by the locals to the point that all of the doors & windows were missing and electrical wires had even been pulled out of the walls.

Naturally, the Iraqis were unhappy about the situation but they were even more unhappy that some one (most likely one of them) had run over the main water line onto the post thus destroying a 5 meter long segment. They had fixed the pipe but a technicion at the Iraqi national water company had refused to turn the water valse back on unless they paid a bribe. They called the technicion's boss who said it wasn't really a bribe just s "service charge" and oh, yeah by the way he wanted a service charge too.

So anyway the sheik of the Shamar tribe had his family make us a very nice lunch. When we arrived they killed a goat and four chickens in front of us then he had his female relatives go off to cook them. It took about 1.5 hours for the food to be prepared and during that time the sheik informed us of their difficulties with the water company and the Captain agreed to help them solve the situation. When the food arrived it was served in large trays which were shared by the whole table. The tray was filled with Saffron rice which was cooked with raisons & dates and then topped with chopped up pieces of goat and chicken. People in Arabia eat with their hands instead of silverware or if you are worried about getting dirty fingers then you use a piece of flat breed to scope up the food as you eat. It's a little weird to eat with your fingers from a community bowl where everyone else is also touching the food but I got over it fairly quickly.

Any way desert was water melon & fresh grapes followed by the manditory three cups of chai. After that the Captain of the infantry company asked the Shiek if he knew any bulldozer opporators (he did because his tribe has several thousand members) and when the men arrived they were hired as construction workers on the base. At $100 per five hour day they were getting several times the going rate but this helps pump money into the local economy and it is still cheaper then what would be charged in the west.

The Shamar tribe were big supporters of Saddam during his reign but as soon as Saddam was gone the opportunitic tribe quickly became one of the biggest pro-Coalition voices in Tikrit and tribal members became some of the first and most numerous employees at the new Iraqi National Guard and National Police force. The result is the Shamars have worked themselves into several key positions with the government of Tikrit. This is good though the tribe has a tendency to save the choicest public contracts for other members of their own tribe. The US has enforced oversight boards to make sure corruption is kept to a minimium but the Shamar tribe still seems to be doing very well for themselves. The certainly have the lowest unemployment rate in the Tikrit area.

In any event, after we ate we went to go check on getting the water valve turned back on. The water company, of course, had a totally different take on what happened plus they said the charge was a shut off charge because they had to send a technicion out to turn off the valve after the pipe was busted. Apparently, this is a common occurence since Iraqis don't bother to bury their pipes they just lay them out on the ground and then hope no one runs them over. We convinced the water company to turn the valve back on without paying any fee though when we got back to the ING base the water still wasn't running. We took a quick trip back to the pumping station but they said the valve was one. To make a long story short there was a rock which had some how gotten stuck in the pipe when the pipe got broken and the Iraqis who originally fixed it didn't catch it. Rather then just telling the Shamars what the problem was and letting them fix it the Captain volunteered all of us to help them fix it. That's where all the rest of my day went.

Still, the water works now and the Shamars have invited us back to another goat roast for helping them.

	21-07-2004 23:42									#292
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Good PR though. Keep up the work.

	22-07-2004 00:02									#294
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Your lunch sounds pretty cool.

	22-07-2004 00:49									#295
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The lunch was great though nearly every Iraqi meal seems to be just about the same stuff.

I'm pleased that things seem to be going in the right direction. We only get one mortar every 2-3 days instead of the 4-6 per night we used to get. IEDs have almost stopped occuring near Tikrit and everyone seems to either work for the ING/IP or know someone who does. This trend seems to be happening in most of the AOs I've worked in. True, areas like Samarra, Baqubah, Fallujah are still very hot and I don't expect any improvement there, but, those are former regime strongholds and most of the serious trouble seems to be confined to that area. No doubt we will all see more opporations in those areas.

In Balad they'd get 1-3 mortars per night but that is still significantly down from half a year ago when I first arrived in Iraq. Recruitment for government and security positions is way up and the transfer of authority seems to be playing well with the average Iraqi. Per capita income has nearly tripled since before the war and prices have fallen rapidly since the end of sanctions so the peoples' real buying power is way up. The visability of Coalition Forces has decreased slightly sence the transfer of authority and the visability of Iraqi security forces is way up. As an added benifet the Iraqis seem to be a bit more ruthless in dealing with insurgents then we foreigners were plus they have an easier time figuring out who is doing what. I expect this will lead to some trouble with the press but it is standard fair in the Arab world and the Coalition will remain so as to curb the worst abuses. Still, the Iraqi people want an end to violence more then anything else and the Interium Government will rise or fail depending upon if it is seen as being tough on criminals.

	22-07-2004 00:53									#296
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quote: Originally posted by Oerdin The lunch was great though nearly every Iraqi meal seems to be just about the same stuff. I'm pleased that things seem to be going in the right direction.

According to my extremely right-wing local paper, The Florida Times-Union the U.S. has been driven out of about 40% of Iraq, at least in that the U.S. is no longer bother to patrol the province of Anbar because they don't feel like being shot at.

	22-07-2004 00:55									#297
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Dare I actually hope things are improving? Interesting to note that as soon as it's no longer US (the outsider, the invader, the infidel) running things, there is a change in attitude and results. Perception is so powerful.

-Arrian

	22-07-2004 01:05									#298
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quote: According to my extremely right-wing local paper, The Florida Times-Union the U.S. has been driven out of about 40% of Iraq, at least in that the U.S. is no longer bother to patrol the province of Anbar because they don't feel like being shot at.

Al Anbar covers approximately 40% of the country. It is a very big provience and we actively patrol every part of it except Fallujah. The IGC brokered that deal claiming that Iraqi security services would be able to handle it. So far things are a very mixed bag; the Iraqi security services don't get involved in much fighting but they also don't bother to go look for the bad guys either.

The only other area I can think of that we don't actively patrol is the city of Najaf. Najaf has a population of around 200k-250k so I don't think the number is any where near 40% of Iraq.

	22-07-2004 01:08									#299
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I can't find a link to the story on the net, but the story said that the U.S. has left the patroling of Anbar to the Iraqis, and the Iraqis aren't doing the patroling.

	22-07-2004 01:12									#300
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We are trying to turn over progressively more responsibility to the Iraqis but the performence of the Iraqis has been uneven at best. There are pockets of serious soldiers but a whole lot of them are just useless shites. They stand around with there thumbs up their asses not really caring what's going on around them.