Basrah cont.

The upleasantness of my adventure here in Basrah continues. I now know where my lost bags are located. They are close, but still inaccessible. Every convoy and every flight that could have carried them has been canceled so far.
I was able to move into better quarters a few days ago. I had been in a large tent for several days. I dont know if the new place is better or worse. It can at least be locked so I dont have to worry about anything being stolen. I share what is essentially a short container with one other American officer. It is under a shelter that is intended to cause indirect fire rounds to explode early. Inside, my bed is in a mini-bunker made of cinder blocks with a low roof made of a steel plate covered with sandbags. All this protection once had a purpose, because not long ago this camp used to record the number of attacks it received each day. Now, a couple of months after after the Iraqi Army, supported by the Marines, cleared Basrah of most of the bad actors, very little happens. I have heard one warning siren since I have been here, but the rockets were so badly aimed, apparantly, that they couldn't even be heard in camp.
More later.

Apologies And A Quick Update

I have been posting by email since I got to Baghdad. It worked fine until I tried posting pictures. I am sure that I followed BLogger's instructions, but it didn't work. Anyway, I will try to get the pictures corrected now that I an directly manage the blog again.
I am in Basrah now, in the Southernmost province of Al Basra. I will be living and working on the British contingent's Base that occupies the Basrah International Airport. The job I am taking over is, finally, a real Civil Affairs job. I will be the project officer for education, which mostly involves managing the refurbishment and repair of schools in the city of Basrah and the surrounding area. The Director General of Education and the general population is rather proud of the academic reputation that Al Basra has in Iraq. It consistantly leads the nation in the number of students that place in the very top of the matriculation exams, so they are very keen on getting schools up and running. They are even paying for most of the projects from Iraqi funds. Coalition funding is winding down and could disappear entirely before long.
This move gave me yet another travel story, too. The Air Force managed to send my ruck sack and duffle bag, which had all of my clothes and bedding and towels and quite a lot of gear that I hand receipted and have to turn in or pay for to Ali As Salem in Kuwait. I have been wearing the same socks, underwear and uniform since Thursday when I arrived. I dont know when my bags will get to Basrah, but it is getting unpleasant, especially my socks. I am not happy with the Air Force right now.
I work with seven Royal Army and Royal Navy officers in my office, and I am learning quite a bit already about the differences and similarities in our services. US Navy officers are generalists. We are moved around so we see and do everything on the theory that a well rounded officer is better able to command and fight, because he understands everything even if he isn't an expert at everything. Royal Navy officers stay with their branch for their whole carreers, becoming expert in their field, but not getting a broad knowledge of the RN as a whole. That means that operational officers, what they call the Seaman Branch, spend their entire careers at sea, where we, on average, spend only half of our careers at sea. RN Engineering officers, by contrast, may only go to sea for one tour and never again.
I have to say too, that it is much hotter here than in Baghdad. Up north, I could walk outside at mid-day for almost five minutes before I really started to sweat. Here, I start to sweat in less than one minute. It doesn't help at all that I have to wear my armor anytime that I am outside. Basrah has calmed down significantly since the Iraqi Army was sent to get rid of all of the trouble makers that moved in when the Brits pulled back to their bases, but there are still occasional indirect fire events a couple of times each month. Even though no one has been killed by hostile fire for months, no one is allowed out of doors without basic protection, which makes the weather feel that much hotter.
Enough for now. It's about time to knock off for the day. Tomorrow, i dont have to work until early afternoon. I dont know if I will get to Church. There doesn't seem to be an organized serviceman's group down here, although I know of one other member now. I am back online, so I hope that I will be posting more regularly again.

A View Of The Palace

  Here are a few shots of the palace that I promised. The most prominent feature is the giant chandelier in the rotunda. BTW, if you saw any pictures from the largest re-enlistment ceremony ever that took place on Independence Day, this is where it happened. You can actually fit more than 1200 people in there, if you aren't too worried about personal space.

 

The chandelier from the third floor balcony.

 

The chandelier and rotunda from the third floor.

 

The rotunda from the ground floor.

 

Looking up at the chandelier.

 

The blue stuff that looks out of place is. The Al Faw Palace is the headquarters of the Multi-National Force. Most of the space has been partitioned of into offices. Only the rotunda is still open. All of the stone your see is marble, but it isn’t really high grade stuff. You can get better for your counter tops, but if you are going to use this much, you would probably go for the cheaper stuff too.

 

Saddam liked to put gold plated odes to himself on the walls like this. I think this says something commemorating the recapture of the city of Al Faw from the Iranians, which was also why this palace was built, although he really didn’t ever need much of a reason to build one.

 

This last picture is the front door.

 

Another Sand-day in Baghdad

  I think I have already said something about the sand storms that blow in on occasion. I have pictures today. This is the difference between a normal clear day and a dust storm. BTW, its actually worse today. The dust storm picture was from the first one when I first arrived. Today, for a short while, the palace was just barely visible. Oh, and if you are wondering, this is the Al Faw Palace and the building that I work in is right behind me. I will get some pictures of the inside of the palace to post soon.

 

 

Moving Again ... Maybe

After a month, more or less, here in Baghdad, I might be getting a new
assignment. There is some reorganization going on with the various
staffs that run the war. A lot of people are moving to new offices. For
about 1200 of them it means moving to new living quarters in different
camps. For me, at least for a few months, it might mean moving to Basrah
in Southern Iraq. It is still up in the air of course. Organizing a
flight down there is a bit difficult, because there aren't many seats to
spare. There is also a little argument about command prerogatives that
needs to be settled. The guy I will replace down there doesn't really
belong to the commander down there, but he doesn't want to have to train
someone new to do the job. There are politics involved in every
organization of more than one person. I think that it will happen sooner
rather than later
It will also be interesting. Basrah is run by the Brits, and they do
things a bit differently. I will also be a little closer to the work,
than up here. All I get here are reports. Down there, I would be working
directly with one of the reconstruction teams, still in an office, but I
would get first hand reports instead of third hand reports. I would be
back up here again before the end of the year too, so it wouldn't be
long.
I don't think that it will be much longer before most coalition forces
withdraw from Iraq, two years, at most, and that is the end of the
drawdown, not the beginning. In a lot of places, the Iraqis are not even
bothering to talk to us anymore. They are just doing the work
themselves, both kinetic and civil. There are actually a lot of US
troops complaining about how boring Iraq is now. A lot of them are
hoping to go to Afghanistan soon to be where the action is. It may be
that when our staff reorganization is done a few of us may end up over
there as well. At least four already have orders to that effect. A few
might even go home early.
Hopefully, I will know on Sunday, if I am really transferring. Any
later, and I won't be able to get a seat on the transport for another
week.

Grade Inflation

All Navy just had a short briefing from the Big Navy LNOs who are here
to protect us from the Army. They just wanted to make sure that we know
a few of the ins and outs of getting through and getting out without
getting too caught up in Army nonsense.
One thing they talked about was the medals that we would be eligible
for at the end. One is the Iraq Campaign Medal, Oddly enough, with one
star. Usually a star means multiple awards, but in this case it means
multiple campaigns, and we will be here during two administrative
campaigns, so two awards for one deployment. Ask Congress, if it doesn't
make sense. Another is the Overseas Service Ribbon. That one is simple
enough. How about the Sea Service Ribbon? Usually you get that for being
at sea continuously for more than 75 days, which actually isn't all that
common. They couldn't explain why we are getting it for 285 days in the
desert. It probably has something to do with a poorly worded or vaguely
worded description of eligibility that neglected to specify that time
away from home had to actually be at sea.
They also said that we would be probably be eligible for either the
Meritorious Service Medal or the Bronze Star. Here is what's
interesting. For the Army, the Bronze Star has become the standard end
of tour award for duty in Iraq for officers and senior enlisted.
Everyone gets one, unless he was such a screwup that his chain of
command actually went to the trouble of documenting the incompetence or
misbehavior. Bronze Stars have been given out so prolifically (50000+
and that was last year's number) that it no longer really has any
meaning. A Bronze Star meant something once, but now, if it doesn't have
a "V" device, which means the guy was at least shot at and returned
fire, there is nothing about it that really distinguishes it from lesser
awards for achievement, except that the lesser awards are that much
less.
The Navy still holds to the old fashioned meaning the medal and does
not often approve Bronze Stars except where the nominee was actually in
combat --- as the award instruction clearly specifies. This counts as a
combat tour for me, but I am in no more danger here than I would be in
any major city in the US, with a very unlikely indirect mortar strike
substituting for a very rare mugging. The Navy has only approved about
1500 Bronze Stars to date, so if you see one on a sailor, it still means
something. In all likelihood, the last medal I will get is a MSM.
Even the military is subject to feel goodism. No one wants to feel
left out, especially after a senior officer decides that he wants a
medal without actually deserving one. Once the standards are lowered for
one, they are lowered for all. At least the Valor device is still given
a decent amount of respect, but medal inflation being what it is, in the
next war everyone will get the Silver Star just for showing up. I am
glad the Navy hasn't yet fallen into that pit. I will be happy with an
MSM. It will mean that I never got shot at and never had to try to kill
someone else. I can live with that.

Staff Work

I remember a Demotivational poster that whose caption said,
"Committees: because no one is as dumb as all of us." That really isn't
true unless everyone is either grossly dumb or very unserious. In the
beginning, it always seems that way. No one is really sure what to do or
where to go, but when everyone sincerely tries to solve the problem, you
reach a point where everything clicks into place.
Everyone hates staff work. It is usually without thanks. Someone else
always gets the credit when it works. Usually, the get the blamed for
the failure when it doesn't, but blame makes a big splash and praise is
pin point accurate. Nothing could happen without staff work in an
organization as big as the Army, at any level. Some problems are just
too big for one person to grasp all together, at least not without the
risk of being disasterously wrong far too often.
That is probably why presidencies, quorums and committees in the
Church. Since we are supposed to study things out in our minds and then
ask if it is right, before getting a confirmation or denial, it helps to
have a thouroughly discussed, sometimes well argued, plan to present.
Usually, it will come out right, and when it doesn't, the right answer
can probably be found somewhere in the previous discussion.
Today, I got roped into some "it has to be done yesterday" staff work.
It wasn't much fun until the very end, when a rough, but recognizably
good, product suddenly materialized. It will take a few more days to
polish enough to sell it the General, and then the real work will start,
because we will have to build the thing we are only planning now, but it
felt good.