As I mentioned, Wednesday evening we had dinner at the IA dining facility (DFAC). When the U.S. military transition team (MiTT) team invited us I was so excited and looking forward to it. As I understand it, the mission of the MiTTs is to train the IA in order to eventually transition Army operations to them. I am fascinated by their mission and their perspective and I think it's a very important mission. Back to the dinner invite....So often when I travel I stay just on the military installations so I don't have the opportunity to eat local food, with an even lesser chance of actually dining with locals. I eagerly accepted the invitation and told my team they didn't have to come, but I was glad that my team also wanted to take this rare opportunity.
We (a MAJ from the MiTT team, a translator, my team and I) drove just a couple of blocks and were met by the IA Colonel (COL) and a couple of his Soldiers. (The MiTT team and especially the MAJ work with the IA on a daily basis so it is commonplace for them to dine with the IA.) My team introduced itself, shook hands, and were then escorted into the DFAC. We were shown to the COL's VIP table and took a seat. The rest of the DFAC was about half full of IA soldiers getting their food (cafeteria style) and sitting at the tables. We definitely received a lot of attention when we walked in. Since I was the Team Leader, I was seated next to the COL so I could ask him questions. We were waited on by an older gentleman and a couple of younger Iraqis dressed (unusually) in soccer uniforms. I think maybe the IA rotates kitchen duty and maybe they had just had a soccer game or were going to have one after dinner. As the first server placed a tray in front of the COL he waved his hand and motioned to serve me first, then the other guests and him last. I appreciated that gesture and was a bit surprised knowing the traditional role of women there. I appreciated the respect. We were brought stainless steel trays shaped with various compartments. On the tray sat ceramic bowls embellished with flowers. Dinner was chicken soup filled with couscous, a big piece of boiled chicken and green salad. In the middle of the table there were two blue plastic baskets filled with flat bread as big as pizza pans. To drink we had strawberry juice in juice boxes and water.
We were hungry and started sipping the soup with our plastic spoons. There were no forks or knives so eating the chicken from the bone with a single spoon was a new eating challenge for me. The MAJ said that the soup was basically chicken broth with lard for flavor. Hmmm, I don't even buy the traditional refried beans with lard. I buy the vegetarian ones, instead, so that will tell you how used to eating lard I am. Oh well, it tasted fine. I took a couple of bites of salad and realized the "greens" were mostly green onions mixed with some kind of leafy green and radishes. All of us who ate the "salad" had potent breath for the rest of the evening. We tore off pieces of the flat bread and learned that you are supposed to eat it like bread and dip it into the chicken broth liquid, too. Just a few minutes after we started digging in, the servers brought plates of boiled chicken and placed them on the table. During the meal, I asked questions through the translator and the MAJ and the COL both had comments which led to some good conversation. After the meal, the trays were cleared and we were served this steaming hot dark brown liquid in small shot-glass-size plastic cups. I carefully took a sip and couldn't really place what it was other than it was very sweet. So, by being sweet it passed my criteria for liking it. After a couple of more sips I distinguished it to be very strong tea. Someone said the sweetener was honey...a whole lot of honey. Apparently the tea was chai tea, which is consumed a lot over here. We had more tea and then the COL took out his cigarrettes and lit one up. One of my team members who also smokes also lit one up, he said he had to take advantage of being able to smoke inside a building since he couldn't remember the last time he had done that. After about a 2-hour dinner, the DFAC was empty and the serving line was almost completely clean. We walked out to the car and thanked the COL.
During the meal, listening to the COL I couldn't help but get a bit teary-eyed at times, so when we walked out the translator quietly said that he noticed that I was teary and asked why. I said that I just wanted the Iraqi people to succeed. He replied and said that he appreciated me sympathizing with the sadness and struggle of the Iraqi people. I guess in many ways I do sympathize with those people who want a good future for their children, who want a better life, who want to better themselves and have a self-sustaining country. The Army Captain on my team and one of my other team members and I had a discussion about this in the car on the way back from dinner. They couldn't really see why or how I could sympathize. There is a difference between having sympathy for people and being a sympathizer to unproductive activities (harmful and terrorist activities to try to gain power or instill fear). I have mixed feelings hearing about all of the corruption in the IA and Iraqi government that the MiTT has experienced first hand. IA and Iraqi civilians sometimes do awful things in the name of their own survival and to feed their families; of course, they also do awful things in the name of power and intimidation. As I tried to explain to my team members, my sympathy, or my sadness, is that the situation is so bad that it leads to that survival instinct for so many people....that people feel they have no other choice. I think it's sad that children are growing up knowing that.
It was a pretty unforgettable experience; not because it was gourmet food or because it was an exceptionally good time, but because it was such a unique experience to have at this point in history. Civilian Americans and Iraqis at a dinner table, sharing a meal in Iraq. Not many people can say they've done that. I wonder if I'll tell this story to my grandkids.
Here's the only picture taken that night. The COL is on the right at the head of the table.
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