Another Trip to the IZ

Hello everyone. I just got back from another trip to Baghdad and am finally able to rest my head a bit. Thought I better post something on the blog before everyone thinks I’ve abandoned it.

Following the end of our first class, I was summons to the IZ for meetings with my boss (a great guy) and other staff at the HQ. I was told to prepare a briefing on the “Way Ahead” for our school. So, for the past few weeks my team has been working hard to get everything in place and ready for our next group of students while I have been busy organizing my thoughts, crunching numbers and preparing recommendations for the development of the Iraqi Army Combat Arms School. And yesterday I went to Baghdad to brief our CG.

Since the boys had been so good and had worked so hard, I decided to take them with me. Actually, I asked them to come because I know the General is a lot nicer to me when all the guys are present. Anyway, they were glad to get away from Besmaya for a little while and eager to hit the Haji shops (Iraqi vendors).

Our choppers landed in the IZ around noon and after a quick bite of lunch we found a vehicle and headed out to Prosperity FOB, then cross town to Union FOB. Both camps are situated on the grounds of former palaces and are home (right now) to units of the 4th Infantry Division. Both camps have enclaves of Haji shops and the boys were like women in a shoe store. By the way, I HATE to shop. Captain K is the worst. This guy looked at every piece of junk in every store on both camps. I thought I was back home on a shopping trip with my girls. It was even more excruciating because there was no food court to relax in, everything was outside and the heat was around 110. Also, Baghdad stinks. You can’t get away from the smell. Even at 300 ft AGL (above ground level) in the Blackhawk, you can smell Baghdad before you see it.

Good Lord, they wore me out looking at every piece of Chinese junk the Iraqis sell. But, I endured and kept my mouth shut for about four hours of that torment. Finally, I was standing in a rug store waiting on these guys to make up their minds on the same rugs they could get at Wal Mart when I said, “Okay ladies, I’ve had enough, make your selection and lets go!” They didn’t speak to me for over an hour. It was just like home.

We went back to Phoenix Base and had some supper before I went in to brief the old man (who was late). By the time the General arrived, I only had about one hour to give him the pitch and get back to the LZ (landing zone) for my flight back to Besmaya. So, I told him to sit his ass down and listen up, “I’ve got a plane to catch”. (Do you think I really said that?) Actually, he’s so smart, he knows what I’m going to say before I say it. So, we usually just end up having a healthy philosophical debate on the least obvious and most important issues we face. I think that’s why he likes me to come to town, so he’ll have someone to argue with (or preach to).

So, I rushed through our meeting, cutting him off every chance I could in order to make our flight. The boys in the room kept pointing to their watch and rolling their eyes (payback for my cutting short their shopping spree and calling them ladies). But, we wrapped up and sprang out of the office and into an up-armored Suburban for the trip to the LZ. All I heard on the way to the LZ was how much I like to hear myself talk and why can’t you just let the General believe what he wants to believe, etc. etc. Thank God we didn’t miss our flight or I would have had to put up with that crap for a week.

Back to reality….And this morning we learned that some of the commotion we were hearing (as we shopped) was twenty civilians and one Iraqi policeman being killed less than 500 yards from where we were (at Prosperity). Baghdad stinks.