this is what tired looks like

hi all, sorry i've been invisible for so long. i got back two weeks ago and i think i've been just as busy as i was in iraq. crazy. i worked until 3 am today/tonight and it's a sunday morning! so, in that honor, i took a picture of me at the office with bags under my eyes. (I'm more vain than i admit, so i made this pic black and white so it wouldn't look quite as bad as in color. in color, my skin would've looked a bit green and pale at the same time.) So can you believe I'm still smiling? Well, I'm Latin and so that means I was born with a gene requiring me to ham it up in front of a camera. It's a proven fact....at least for my family.

i still have a couple of blogs saved that i wrote while in iraq, but i haven't had the chance to clean them up and post them yet. i'll see what i can do soon.

on another note, my mom just got back from nicaragua and she said my uncle sergio down there read the blog every day. i don't even know him. so, HOLA TIO SERGIO! I look forward to meeting you in July.

1LT Partamian

One of Michael’s and my greatest friends in life, 1LT James Partamian, is training in Kansas right now before he goes off to Afghanistan. If you’ve been keeping up with my blog you have read how intrigued I am with the MiTT (Military Tranisition Team) mission. Well, James is going to do something similar to that mission, but in Afghanistan. To be perfectly honest, I’m kind of jealous that he gets to do that, but I am concurrently so happy that he will be involved in such an important mission. I hope the following for him: first, that he will be safe so he can come home to his beautiful wife and baby girl; second, that he will have a really, really fulfilling experience; third, that he can maintain the level of energy and strength he will need to get through the next year. I would ask that you please keep this true patriot in your thoughts and prayers. He is keeping a blog that you can check out here: http://www.partamian.net/blog/

A big hug to James.

Fashion Statement

While in Iraq and Afghanistan I noticed that many Department of the Army (DA) Civilians, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Department of Defense (DOD) Civilians, or DOD Contractors wear the same uniforms as our service members. I’ll be the first to say I’m opinionated and quirky and not always politically correct, so in that vein.....

... Although this is pretty miniscule, last week in Kuwait I commented to my co-worker, Chris, that I didn’t think I would wear the uniform, I would, instead wear civilian clothes. Of course I would be honored to wear the uniform; I just feel the uniform should be reserved for our Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines. I personally don’t think I could bring the level of honor or respect to the uniform that it should command. I understand that a lot of civilians work with the military and are part of the team and contribute to the DOD mission, but...I’m just saying, no disrespect to anyone, just my opinion.

Outside the Wire

Thursday. We started off the day by taking a tour of a new Iraqi Army compound which is under construction. After lunch we had our Out-brief with the Base Commander, which went well. The folks who run the base, the Mayor's Cell, is made up of a really great group of folks. I think they are Army Reservists and National Guardsmen and they were so welcoming, helpful and great to talk to.




































Our Army escort traveling with us had the opportunity to go outside the wire Thursday morning. The previous evening (Wed) we went to the PX and bought some basketballs, teddy bears, pencils and notepads to have him give out to the children. He took about 185 pictures of the trip. Here are a couple. Most people who know me will probably understand how much I really, REALLY wanted to go along. After I saw the pictures I wish I had. Oh well, I didn't have a choice. I wasn't allowed, but my camera was borrowed and used to take these pictures.

Mixed Feelings

I have gotten a few messages about the lack of posts in the past week and I apologize...I've just been chopper and plane hopping for a while with meetings, briefings and work in between.

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.

Unexpected Celebrity Gets Cold Feet

Friday. We started off the day running around/driving around taking more pictures and tying up some loose ends and getting additional data before we left. We had some interesting experiences today. For lunch we met some of the folks from the U.S. MiTT (military transition team) and headed on over to eat with the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi COL (see pic at left). Once again we sat at his table and were served with about 7 different dishes: tomato soup with some kind of white bean, a chicken noodle soup derivative, white rice with rotisserie chicken, two kinds of fried doughnut-like things filled with ground meat, big white flatbread and cola. The green onion salad and tomatoes were in the middle of the table. I didn't take any this time...I had too many meetings ahead of me to risk dragon breath.

After lunch we were invited to take a tour of their existing facilities. The tour was quite an experience for me. The Iraqi Army functions out of buildings amongst the rest of the base population. Aside from being interesting to meet the COL and tour the facilities (motor pool, med clinic, jail, admin, DFAC), it was interesting to see how the IA responded to us as visitors. I think I actually got to see what it feels like to be a celebrity. Seriously.

As occurs many times in my travels, I, of course, was the only woman on the tour. My team and the MiTT were escorted by the COL and a couple of other IA folks. As we walked from facility to facility I asked the IA COL how many children he had and where his family lived (9 children). We went to the medical clinic that is being organized by 1 U.S. Army MiTT guy. He has done a fantastic job training the IA medics on proper procedures to run the clinic and keep track of inventory. We walked in and met the 2 IA medical sargeants. The MAJ from the MiTT took a picture and that opened the floodgates. After that one innocent picture to simply capture the interaction between the IA, the MiTT and between us, one of the MiTT guys asked if he could take a picture of me with the IA folks because "they love to have pictures taken." I was flattered and grinned at the camera. You can see this in the picture on the left. Notice the young translator, the IA COL, then the U.S. MAJ looking on and smiling. What this doesn't show is that my 4 team members were looking on along with 2 other US MiTT folks and about 6 IA folks in the doorway...what an audience. Geesh. Well, then the IA folks who had congregated in the doorway to see who the visitors were asked if they could have a picture with me. The MiTT guys said, "see, they love pictures!" So I grinned again with two other IA guys, then my team members started snapping shots, then an IA had a disposable camera in his pocket and he wanted his own picture. We finally got out of there with just under a dozen photos snapped. We walked outside and headed over to the jail, that was quick and okay because there was no one in there. Then we walked over to the motor pool and we noticed that there were people poking their heads out of the buildings and were standing in the doorway as our entourage was moving through. Apparently word had gotten out that the COL was taking visitors on a tour. At the motor pool there were about 6 folks who were pointing out their one room garage and their operations. I got asked for more pictures there and kind of went through a period of shyness at all the attention. I'm not camera shy, but I'm not used to so many photos. So, we continued on our tour, stopped for more pics and ended up at the Brigade HQ building where the IA COL works. We took a bunch of photos here with all of our cameras and the COL even picked up my camera and started snapping pics. (Those pics are crooked and some folks are out of the frame, but it was kind of humorous to see him working the camera.) At this point I hammed it up for the last couple of pics. My goodness, what an experience to feel like a celebrity, even if it was just for an afternoon. Crazy, and I'm not sure how i like it. I asked the MiTT MAJ about how they felt about Western women since their role is generally different than the role of typical Iraqi woman. I asked also because I didn't know how strange or possibly uncomfortable it was for them to have me introduce myself, shake hands, and ask them questions. The MAJ said so far he had heard (from the IA folks he had spoken to) that they are pretty fascinated by the role that Western women play and, in a way, he thought they would prefer women to be more independent. That was good to hear, however, I don't know how true that is. The picture on the left looks like a good start to my career with the Department of State or in politics.

After the tour, we had another highlight when Tom and I got to meet one of the military working dogs named Gabe. As you can see in the picture, he's a very photogenic yellow lab. We met up with the rest of our team and went exploring in some abandoned bunkers to see about the feasibility of re-using them.







After the bunker exploration, went and had some coffee before we split up and did our own thing (packing, napping, checking email). We reconvened at the passenger terminal at about 10:30 pm for our Blackhawk flight. When we got there, the terminal said the flight was early and we had to hurry up and load up our bags and get on the shuttle. We still had to drop off the vehicle we borrowed about a block away. Being the team leader, I volunteered to drive the car back, run inside and drop the key in the engineer building and sprint through the pitch black back to the terminal. I was so lucky I didn't twist my ankle and I'll explain why. The terrain at Q-West is either dirt or dirt covered in gravel. The soil is very impermeable so when it rains it just puddles up. When non-tactical vehicles, HMMWV's and the sort run through the soil it just creates deep grooves. Then when the rain evaporates, the soil turns so hard it almost seems like concrete. So, basically what I'm saying is that running through this terrain of deep-grooved, hard soil, could have been a pretty bad hazard. I sprinted into the terminal, threw on my flak jacket and kevlar and we all got on the shuttle to drive all of about 300 yards to the helo pad. Once there, we grabbed our stuff and waited for the Blackhawks to land. When you're waiting for the helos, you have to have all of your luggage and gear on and in your hands. Usually they'll offload the choppers and as soon as the last passenger gets off and they give the all clear you have to hustle onto the bird. It's pretty fast, you just throw your stuff in and shove it wherever you can and buckle in. This time I got a back seat so I had a pretty good window view, which actually wasn't so advantageous because it was at night time. It would have been cool to have seen some of the landscape during the day.

We arrived around midnight and found out that there was not another flight to Speicher until the next evening. We would be spending the night and the next day in an open-bay barrack (read: a big festival tent filled with cots). When we were at Speicher the week prior we were spoiled with a wet CHU, but now we had to rough it. We passed out and I was soooo cold even sleeping in my clothes. In the middle of the night I dug a pair of sweatpants and put them over my pants, put on a sweatshirt, gloves and a 2nd pair of socks. Oh my goodness, I was shivering so much that I didn't get much sleep.

Iraqi dinner menu

Oh yeah, Wednesday night my team and I were invited to have dinner at the Iraqi Army (IA) dining facility. We had dinner with an IA Colonel. (Don't worry, I didn't go off Post. The IA is on this Post.)

I'm exhausted now so I couldn't write very well if I tried so I'll describe that experience soon and post it.