Transition

This will be my last blog entry from Iraq. My Internet account will expire in a couple of days, and I will not be renewing it. Our replacements are here, and we're on the downhill slope of handing everything over to them; our equipment, records, experience, relationships, accomplishments, failures and hopes. I am in awe when I reflect upon the changes that we've witnessed (participated in) over the course of the year, and how incredibly lucky we were to have navigated the experience unscathed. A year ago we stepped off a Boeing C-17 Globemaster at Baghdad International Airport, with our hearts in our throats, and into a country that was ripped asunder with sectarian violence. Soon, landing gear will fold up into the belly of an airplane that will be carrying us away from a country that is healing and rebuilding itself. Violence has dropped 90% in Baghdad over the course of our tour. A year ago, Iraqi soldiers planted IED's for us, and fled when attacked by insurgents. Today, we live with them. They call us brothers. They find IED's and disarm them on their own. They plan and execute their own raids, and roll up terrorists on a daily basis. I recently read an academic white paper that reached the conclusion that the US Army has transformed itself into the greatest counterinsurgency force in history. If true, it is an accomplishment made all the more remarkable by the obstacles arrayed against us: language, culture, religion, and all in a country surrounded by hostile neighbors pumping weapons, money and men into the war against us; and us undermined by disunity and political opposition back home. It is still a very long way from over, but there is no denying the momentum driving the social and political transformation in Iraq today augurs well for the future of the cradle of civilization.

We're coming home.

Winter wonderland

I woke up this morning, opened the door, and my jaw hit the floor. HUGE white snowflakes were drifting down out of the gray Baghdad skies. All the Iraqis we're talking to are saying that this is the first time in living memory that it has snowed in Baghdad. Sleet in winter is not so uncommon, but never snow. I'll resist cracking-wise about global warming, but perhaps it is time to sit back, take stock, and mull over the profound implications of the fact that... Hell has indeed frozen over!

...and a news article relating to the snow.

For the children

A little project we'd been working on for two months has finally been hand-held through to completion. Two months ago while engaged in an email exchange with a radio station back home on an entirely different subject, the folks there asked if there was anything they could do to for us to express their support. It immediately brought to mind a school we had recently visited packed with 4-6 year olds with absolutely no toys to play with, and teachers with no supplies with which to occupy their charges. This is largely a function of dramatically uneven distribution of resources by Iraq's Ministry of Education. Some schools are well supplied, some are entirely neglected. This one was of the latter category. The school also happened to be located less than a block from one of our JSSs (Joint Security Station). To that end, I told the folks at the radio station that we, as soldiers, lacked for nothing. However, if they saw fit to coordinate a toy drive to support this school, well... I could think of nothing that would be appreciated more, both by the soldiers, and the Iraqi people. So began a journey that involved several businesses from back home, and hundreds of ordinary people who went out of their way to make a small gesture of support and affection. The cumulative effect of that effort was realized this week when we loaded up a convoy of humvees and delivered the toys to the school.

The radio station posted the photos from the drive on their website HERE.

Furthermore, HERE is a link to a recording of a call-in interview I did with the outstanding folks at the radio station in the days following.