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.