iraq news politics war terrorism terrorists insurgent cnn soldier sailor navy army marine mortar gun bomb attack iran middle east

Friday, February 02, 2007

It aint Peets or Starbuck but it'll work in a pinch…

Folks that know me even a little, know there's one vice I'm so partial to that I refuse to live without it… No Jason/Tiffany et.al.- despite all the pictures and stories to the contrary – it aint tequila!

I love coffee - been drinkin it since I was in the womb! Once upon a time I even aspired to open a coffee house. Still might. Hell - One cold day in Anchorage Alaska I drank a little over 10 large Lattes from the BAD ASS Coffee House. (Shameless plug: Best Kona coffee available) Yeah I was a bit wired but two weeks without Starbucks or any sorta espresso drink in the deep frozen Tundra… I was jonesin somethin awful. Before headin east – Middle East that is – I was constantly headin over to the Peets tryin to fill a deep dark void I was certain was in my future. Let's face it, I know Starbucks is tryin to open a store on ever corner of the world but I am fairly certain Baghdad isn't quite that high on the priorities list if you know what mean. Imagine my surprise when I rolled into the middle of the Kuwaiti desert and found this oasis of black gold: GreenBeans Coffee
Military contractors find a way to scratch every itch and some smart cookie figured out we're all hopped up on high-end caffeine and are willing to pay any price to get it. So someone might as well sell us some. I was even happier to see that we have one of these coffee shops here in Baghdad in the ballroom where I work; open 24hrs a day even. So when I get to spendin a non-stop 30hr shift strategizin with other sleepy "smart folks" on how to solve some silly security problem or socioeconomic policy, I take it upon myself to stroll down the hall and visit the ole bean!

Now that I'm thinkin about it… Perhaps if we really want to tame the ole locals, Starbucks oughta open a storefront or thirty out here. The sale of Triple Mocha Lattes to all the US contractors and military personnel alone would provide an economic aid package rivalin that of a US Govt contractor budget alone. And I tell you what, with all those young local Iraqis wearin trademark green aprons and caps, servin long lines of caffeine addicted Americans; maybe they'd feel a part of something bigger, they wouldn’t be so bored and most likely they'd all have a hell of a lot less time to throw rockets at us. I might not even mind payin $6.00 or $7.00 a cup for the privilege. How boutcha Starbucks?

Thursday, February 01, 2007

I miss Matt!

Hey Matt, how dare you depress me with your silly little stories in that fabulous vacationland of Iraq! Your blog is really interesting and, yes, depressing. Especially if you are hoping for solutions or logic. Please repress any notion of doing good or any heroism....HIDE! Our little department is moving to the Sony Building on Monday...just Michael, Monica, Judy Ross and me. No Joe or Lisa. That's going to be the hard part. What am I going to do without Joey? First you leave and now no Joe. So, I'm packing away so we can be ready to leave this building tomorrow. I'm going to make it short and sweet (maybe sweet isn't the right word), but I just wanted to let you know that we all think of you and miss you and love you. We can't wait for you to come home. My daughter, Wendy, works for a dental distribution company and she's getting a box together to send you some quality dental stuff to help wash the sand off your teeth. With much Love, Pam

The angst within : The challenges without

I recently find myself struggling with depression – sort of my own personal Jihad or Kampf if I may be as bold to borrow some often misunderstood words. I'm not prone to depression but this is definitely taking a toll. A good friend here, Kj, points out that I am falling in line with the typical emotional roller coaster of deployment in Iraq. She explained that somewhere between weeks 5 and 6 you get a real sinking feeling once you realize the brevity of the situation and understand that you are stuck here. She nailed it on the head. But that’s just the beginning of the story.

She went on to point out that I have a different set of motivating factors from a lot of "military" types and fit in like a square peg in a round hole. I'll explain… As I see it there are two very clear types of career minded people; those who want to execute a project, learn from practical mistakes and then rise in an organization based on merits of a job done well. Then there are those who want to work for the right people, learn from the mistakes of others and rise based on the strength of their aptitude for networking. To be clear, I'm not making a judgment call either way both have their place but my preference is to execute and let my work speak for itself. This attitude works well for entrepreneurs and personnel in smaller profit hungry organizations driven to succeed. It doesn’t work as well in large bureaucratic non-profit organizations – i.e. the military. Things here move slow. As I tell new friends I provide more deliverables and experience more change in 4 hours of civilian work than I do in two weeks worth of my service time. Moreover it’s a bit more socialist in nature. For instance, it's considered great fortune if you land a secretarial / aid type job working the organizational tasks of someone in a place of high visibility. This is great if you're making a career here, the networking opportunities are endless. It's miserable if you have a ton of ideas and capabilities to contribute and don’t necessarily care who you know because this is a part time job and your eager to jump into the fight. I find myself in just this position.

I volunteered to make a difference – and possibly bring a needed skill set to the theater. I wanted to contribute to a bigger cause, that with a bit of sweat and luck may help bring us all home. Now that I'm here I think it may have been a mistake. I believe my skills are wasted, as this large bureaucracy doesn’t quite know how to effectively engage my talents.

In an attempt to cheer me up Kj complimented me, making really flattering comments about the subtle changes she sees around here; some of which she attributes to me and my high energy... catalyst that I am. I responded to her nice note saying most of my close friends (Jason) wouldn’t put it so nicely. They're more apt to tell you, "He's just being the only thing he can be – a true pain in the ass."

At the end of our discussion I understand something even more significant. I realize I am not here for the big picture – Much like Kj's concern for me… I am here to support my battle buddies.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

If you label me you negate me…

Early on in this strange trip I was given a moniker. I call it a moniker rather than a call sign (I have a couple of those too) because it's not used to get my attention, rather it is used to describe me. I don’t like this brand because I figure in this environment it is a limiting factor. In "boot" camp I was labeled "one intellectual type - Hooah"

Intellectual?!? What the Hell? I realize the folks mean this as a compliment but for some reason it disturbs me. It feels like an insult… In this testosterone driven atmosphere it singles me out from the rest of the team and more to the point it doesn’t match the internal visualization I have of myself. I'm just a good ole cowboy from Texas; brought up on a ranch and taught to be a hell raiser. Where is this coming from? I tell my girlfriend this story and she laughs at me saying "It’s meant to be a flattering-positive remark silly… And honestly Breedlove you are really-really smart!" DAMN! I know this doesn’t bode well for what I intended to do in the military. I know if my personality conveys "intellectual" I'm not going forward with many of my shipmates. You see "intellectuals" don’t go tip of the spear… "Smart people" work in think tanks at HQ strategizing courses of action for those who go forward.

Cut to now: Baghdad Iraq - HQ. Today I sit at a round table in a meeting. A strategy meeting – A strategy meeting convened with other folks labeled as the "Smart people" – The "Smart people" whose only job is to solve problems – trying to solve problems to bureaucratic nightmares that have no clear answers. I day dream… I day dream back to a day when I thought I was going to be a media liaise action officer assigned to embed reporters in the field… back to a day in boot before I was labeled. I miss my M-16.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The first casualty of war is truth… (or how quickly moths fly into the flame)

In case you haven’t heard, over the past couple of days, media ran a constant stream of reports on a battle in Najaf between Iraqi police and a large massed force of insurgents. Early reports claimed Iraqi police discovered, surrounded, and engaged 600 Sunni Insurgents who were gathering in an attempt to violently disrupt Ashura festivities and attempt an assassination against Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani. This story fits nicely in medias long running argument that a sectarian rift between Shiite and Sunnis is tearing Iraq apart in an all out a civil war. I've mentioned before that the situation is so much more complicated than a simple black and white sectarian divide and trust me there is nothing "Civil" about any of this.
I cannot, nor do I, claim to be an expert on Islamic society, but I do know media, I do know the US military and I am getting smart real fast on Baghdad and Iraq. Moreover, fortunately (or unfortunately) I get a front row seat to sort through all the fog and access to tools most can only wish for.
From where I'm sitting I have to say that unfortunately for all of us, we Americans like simple two sided themes… good vs. evil, black vs. white, Republican vs. Democrat, spy vs. spy. Hell I'm guilty of this myself and even I wish it could be that easy but the simple fact is our bipolar bipartisan view of the world may in fact be our Achilles heel. Our difficulty reading and accepting the many shades of grey only serves to conceal the reality that in a state lacking the full ability to self enforce rules of law, lawlessness tends to happen. Local Iraqis I befriend validate this, informing me that most violence stems from long time vendettas, criminal activities, or folks just meddling where they don’t belong. They say that until the media began heavily advertising the idea, they didn’t really think about religious orientation nearly as much as they thought about their social, political, cultural and economic status. Any of those issues sound familiar to you? But now the genie is out of the jug and thanks to constant promotion, religion has become top of mind…

Last night (Baghdad time), media finally reported that the ensuing force was in fact not a band of ruthless Sunni warriors but actually a fringe Shiia cult that was seeking to further its own agenda by disrupting the celebrations and committing the assassination. (Shiite vs. Shiite!?!)

Further and what is more disappointing… while US forces were called in to support the effort, sadly losing an Apache Gun Ship and its crew in the process, what was not really highlighted is how the Iraqi police, although having a tough time of it, managed to slog this large scale battle out without running away to leave it all in the hands of the US military as they’ve done in most every engagement before. Small victories no?

So I ask … whose tail is wagging what dog?

Monday, January 29, 2007

Pooh's "Blustery Blustery Day" has nothing on this place…

The one thing I figured I experience in the desert of Baghdad is hot dry sandy days. Well this is by far the coldest wettest windiest desert I've ever seen. Hell, if the Mojave got this much weather, we could start a rose garden between LA and Las Vegas. From the moment we landed at BIAP I've been cold or wet or both. And the sludge produced by all the rain sticks to your boots turning them into wide heavy bricks of Muck. No matter how much you try to knock it off you end up tracking it into your hooch. The mud is so thick it reminds me of the wet winter days during my childhood growing up the farm. It rained for days and the mud got so deep I sank up to my waist. As I look around this place I'm sure I see holes developed by half sunk soldiers. Is that a helmet floating over there?
And the wind storms – Now that's something to write home about. The winds get downright violent. Reaching 60 miles an hour it damn near picks up the trees. It stirs up so much dirt and debris that even when the hooch is shut up tight, a thick sheen of sand still finds a way to accumulate on everything in the hooch. We had one of these storms last night. I thought the roof was going to blow off. It was so loud I couldn't hear the typical helo's fly-over or the shelling and VBIEDs around town. Not sure how but it affects me, makes me really agitated. Perhaps it's all the electrostatic in the air. As my Shipmate points out "3000 yrs of Mesopotamia floating around… surely you're gonna feel something." I secretly wonder if we can package this stuff - silly Marketing guy. This morning I walked out of the hooch and everything was a sick hazy and orange. For a minute I thought there was something wrong with my eyes. I spose this is what hell looks like.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The gastronomic war

One thing I heard from shipmates before heading out here was that I will either gain 30lbs or lose 30lbs. Why? Because the food is great and the Gym is open 24x7 and most people frequent one but not both. I'm seeking balance. Here on base we eat at the Dining Facility lovingly known as the DFAC. Think of it as a cafeteria that pretty much has anything you want; four or five entrees, side dishes a salad bar or fast food line or soup or… I know my sister will think of the TV show M.A.S.H. complete with Klinger slinging powered runny eggs on an ugly tray. I can assure you those days are gone. We get treated to everything including Lobster tail, T-Bone steaks and bountiful amounts of Ice Cream from Baskin Robbins. The portions are as copious as the diversity. One thing we don't lack is food. The reasoning? Well the Narmy marches… err swims… on its stomach. At first I ate everything. And yes, I've gained weight. But the funniest thing is starting to happen. Even with all the varieties I realize I am slowly growing tired of DFAC food. These days I only eat one or two things and usually pick at that for a while. Now I am fully aware I could be eating MREs but I just can't quite find my appetite any more. It may be sacrilege for a Texan but even the steak is no longer appealing and my once favorite Indian curry bar is becoming as appetizing as those powered runny eggs. All I need now is a crazy food server dressed in drag. I spose there's nothing left to do now but head on over to the gym.