Stories You Don't Usually Hear About

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY!

Sorry that I haven't been posting much - some changes are in the air for this blog and I've just been too busy to put them into action yet! But, this morning I logged on to read all of your blogs and found a new post from my big brother. Just in case you didn't catch the post where I ranted told everyone that my big brother is over in Iraq, or if you haven't noticed the widget counting down the days until he returns home - he's about one month into his second tour. He's part of a civil affairs brigade - which to the best of my understanding means its his job to build relationships and provide resources to the people of Iraq. In my mind, that is just a fancy way of saying "Social Worker" - but don't tell him I said that! ;) Specifically, he's part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team, specifically he's part of a PRT in Wasit, Iraq.

Anyhow - I'm reposting his story for today because the work he's doing over there is completely awesome, especially things like this. Also, I think its only fitting that I let someone who is risking his life to protect our ability to eat lots of barbecue and get a day off work - tell us just how lucky we are. Enjoy!

Greetings from the land where “It’s only getting hotter!” Actually, I think I need to say something about the wind here as well. It’s not enough really that it’s averaging around 115 daily with really only about a 2 degree difference between a “cold front” or a “warm front”. But even 115 isn’t really too bad when you consider that it’s at least 10 times dryer than Steven Wright’s humor – you Arizonans and New Mexicans got nothing on this version of dry! At least you can grow cactus.

The problem is the wind. You see, for over a hundred miles in any direction there really is virtually nothing to slow the wind down. Therefore it has nothing to do but gain momentum until it gets to you. The past 3 days have seen sustained winds of around 15mph and gusts of around 30-40mph. That being said, it’s more “gusting” than it is “sustaining” outside. One of our Airmen put it best when we were in Kuwait; he said, “It’s like someone is chasing me all over base with a gigantic hair dryer set on full blast”. Natalie (wife) said that she and a friend were wondering “if we dumped sand out of our boots each day.” The answer to that question is “no”, but with the wind blowing like this I will say that cleaning out the ears is a revelation each time!!

Anyhow – while I’m sure that there are plenty of folks wondering about the living conditions here I’m afraid that I haven’t gotten around to taking too many pictures yet. It’s not because I don’t care about you folks back home, it’s just that it’s really nothing at all to write home about (no pun intended – OK, I lied there, it was intended). One of these days soon I’ll remember to drag the camera around base and post some photos of our fine facilities. Don’t you love how I keep stringing you all along here – isn’t this blog keeping you on the edge of your seat??!!

In the mean time – let me give you a little humor and a little “good story” you’ll never see on CNN.

This past weekend one of the units that had been working on civil-military projects in the province and was about to leave had their last big event. It was really their mission, but there was coordination as well with the PRT and that’s how we ended up being around to participate in our own little way. The unit had been working with a local orphanage in town and decided to rent out a local park for Operation “Hard Knock Life” where they basically had music, dancing, games, prizes, and other fun for the orphans and other local kids from the area. The event was a huge success and even with no real publicity (didn’t want to be broadcasting to the bad guys where they can come and blow up a bunch of Americans and children) the crowd was bigger than expected. The event was a huge success and it was often difficult to tell if it was the American Soldiers or the Iraqi children who were having the most fun.We have a job to do and usually it is quite serious and stressful and the definition of victory is vague and you might not even realize it till months or years down the road. We might not be kicking in doors and dragging away bad guys. But at least when you do that the target is simple, the objective straight-forward, and the tactics quite precise. In our line of work, “civil-military operations focused on capacity building”, there is no real script for one engagement to the next. Roughly 60-70% of the population needs a job and everyone wants more money. For Iraqis position means power and not necessarily competence or honesty – but we have to figure out how to help those in power help their people but without helping to promote and/or trying to prevent corruption. Therefore, events like this “party in the park” as we called it are a great reminder not only of who we are really working to win over – the People of Iraq – but that even here in this otherwise strange land the people are very much like us when it comes to the simpler things in life and the desire to be able, on the weekend, to just relax and have fun with their kids in the park.

This photo below is me passing buttons out to the kids. Some female soldier from the Division Band (who was a teacher back home) had her 5th grade class make buttons that all said "I'm Special" on them. And boy, can those kids make buttons. I think we had around 300, and were quite glad when they were finally all gone.

(YES! THAT'S MY BROTHER! It is SO good to actually "see" him.)

The photo below is a soldier from the unit that actually coordinated the party. I just happened to turn around in time to see him playing see-saw with these three Iraqi kids. I think we're just lucky it didn't break and no one got hurt and then we'd have to come back and pay 5 times too much to replace the thing.


I will say, during the first tour and even in the beginning stages of this tour, I would rather spend 5 minutes with a “common” Iraqi than all day with some alleged “big-wig”. First off, all of the key leaders are politicians – and they’re just as much fun as anywhere else in the world. Except here there are virtually no controls other than the Americans to try and curb corruption.

On the other hand, the common Iraqi has nothing to hide and nothing to fear. They know we won’t hurt them for anything that they say (unlike Saddam and his police and Army) and they are really an overall honest and otherwise “blunt” group of people. Talking to them you really get an idea of how the population feels about Americans, about their own government, about their prospects for the future, etc. Also, if this democracy thing really does work, and it really does have a chance, then the common folk are the ones who we need to have on our side. In that regard, any genuinely positive interaction with the Americans is a great thing, especially when it comes to the children. We need to be able to walk away with them remembering something good we did, or some fun they had with us around, and to know that we are just as human as they are and that our intentions really are good.

So long story short, this event was a great thing to see and take part in. Not sure how many more times I'll get to be a part of something like this. But who knows, things here seem to be a lot more stable than last time, so maybe by early 2010 we can put on many more of these types of events.

For now all - have a great day. Have a great weekend. And when you think about the celebration of the birth of our great nation, take a few minutes to realize that it's not just a day off work to party and shoot off fireworks (don't get me wrong - that's all fun and good and wish I was there for it), but to reflect on how our United States of America came into existence, and how great it truly is. I've been a handful of places...and nothing even comes close.

Blessings.
Out.

I love him so much. Please take a minute out of your day today to send up some prayers for all of those who aren't getting to "celebrate" our Independence because they are still out there fighting for us to keep it. THANK YOU!