About time for an update

So I realized I haven't put an update on here lately. It wasn't all do to being busy, that's just not the case lately. I am...but not so much that I can't type out a little bit here and there to keep folks up to date.

So generally, things have been quiet here in Dora. Quiet is a relative thing of course. Since the last update, one of our platoons had a guy shot in the head (he's fine and in Germany right now), an Iraqi LT was shot in the leg, we've had a couple vehicles blown up to the point of being deadlined, a little girl was shot a by an insurgent down the street from us (the platoon out there at the time took her to the hospital, think she ended up losing a leg..but we're the bad guys?), my medic patched up a kid that had been shot in the chest in a dispute over propane (still...we're the bad guys?), we've had CBS reporter Lara Logan here doing a story on the market (it was a 3 part series...still trying to find it, but it is out there...I've seen the video), a guy blew himself up placing an IED in the market (he didn't die...but lost a hand among other things) and numerous spray and pray shots.

And my part in most of this? I'm rarely on the patrol that this stuff happens to (except for the Lara Logan one...). It's weird, really. No real complaints. Quiet's not necessarily a bad thing in this area...and compared to what it used to be, it's amazingly quiet.

I mentioned the Iraqi LT above. We're working with the Iraqi Army now. They're in the Market every day with us. Not 24hrs like us, but they're there. Mostly competent. Generally trying to do the right thing and definitely wanting a fight. The ones that are left anyway. When the unit heard they were coming here, 2/3 of them left. They can do that apparently. I guess they heard bad things about Dora and decided they've had enough of playing army.

That microcosm of an event shows why we're still here, though. The numbers shown on TV of how many Iraqis have been trained and are "on duty" are skewed to the say least. Not to mention the competence level. They'll never be to a competence level that we in the West would consider acceptable. It's not in their culture. But we're also not training them to fight another large army that's well trained and capable. So really they just need numbers, decent training and decent equipment. All of which they're getting. The IA's (Iraqi Army) rides around in the same humvees that we do, minus all the armor upgrades we have (but it's still a great ride and 100% better than what I had the first time I was here). They have good rifles, good clothes, and what seems to be an improving logistics line. Logistics is the hardest thing for them to learn. They never had it. The long logistics lines that we take for granted are a foreign concept to most armies in the world (even to an army like China...). These guys are still barely a step above foraging...and really most of what they do could be consider foraging.

I know "The Surge" is a big deal in the news. It'll be effecting us, apparently. Exactly how right now I'm not sure. But I have no doubt it'll be a huge benefit. Mainly because of the implementation strategy they have in mind is exactly what needs to happen to effectively fight the war that we're in. What seems to be on the drawing board is exactly what SFC Perez and I had talked about when we got here and saw what was happening. You can't fight from large fortresses like we are. You HAVE to spread out and be more flexible. That's what's going to happen with this "surge". Lots of little bases around Baghdad. Makes it easier to make quick hits and raids...to more effectively eliminate the insurgents.

But I digress. For those of you watching the Super Bowl...look for one of my team leaders, SGT Lehigh. He'll be in the Baghdad Bowl aired on CBS prior to the Super Bowl. Should be playing CB...not sure for Bears or Colts (they'll be wearing those jersies). Me...I'll be hanging out at one of our new duty stations here...the Iraqi "911" center. Part of the process of integrating 24hr operations to these guys. That's another foreign concept to them. But we're helping them get together quick responder areas to send Iraqi Police, National Police, and IA. Eventually it'll include ambulance and fire trucks. Baby steps for now. But at least in the right direction. Now all we need is time.

New Year

So we moved silently into the new year here. The bredth of our celebration was my "Happy New Year, guys" as the opening to our patrol brief for the night. A brief outcrying of "woos" followed. It's hard to get too excited about holidays here I suppose. The only family we have to share them with is ourselves. We spent most of Christmas driving around looking for bad guys in the Market. Our Christmas dinner wasn't very impressive. But we did have each other to drink egg nog and fake wine with.

Right now we're running the night shift. Not much happens at night. The drive to and from the market is probably the most harrowing thing we do. No real complaints there, mind you. The biggest threat in the market at night is really sleep. It's a constant battle. Have to yell at my driver every now and then...and he at me, too. It is a nice break, though.

It's been somewhat quiet in the Market. Quiet meaning generally less than one IED per day.

I'm still amazed how IED's get dropped in the market while we're driving up and down the street. It's good in the fact that there's enough people that we don't notice it I suppose, that means the locals are confident enough to come back to shopping without being afraid of being killed. Bad for us because it apparently gives lots of cover for the bad guys.

The situation in general is weird, though. The bad guys use women, children to drop IED materials. They'll spend days building up the spots slowly. Then we get a truck hit. Thankfully no injuries so far...just some trucks towed back home. These folks are innovative, though...that's all I can say to that.

And I'm still intrigued at battlespace sizes. It's almost like we drive to work every day to do battle at the local mall. Very similar in area covered. It has a lot to do with mission and just general concentrations here, but still seems odd to me.

Before I go, have to mention the Saddam hanging. I was asked about protests here about it. I've seen none. We expected a lot of different things. We got nothing. Apparently on the news there's video of protests. I equate it to the protests you see on tv that happen in DC. Something's always being protested there. But it rarely is televised. Here, it has to be. There's not enough "newsworthy" material otherwise. The news folks don't want to put on tv that we've increased power capacity in the country, that we're improving water works and sewage, that a new school opens nearly daily, that hospitals are being improved and built. That goes against their aims of making the public think that things are horrible here and that the US completely destroyed this country and need to leave. We're doing great things here that don't get reported. Yes, we lose troops almost daily. Our brigade's lost a few itself the last few weeks. But we're also getting rid of more and more Al Qaeda and mujahadeen. We're improving the living conditions of these people. We're slowly, but surely making this place capable of standing on its own. In this quick fix society...we forget how long we had to be in Germany and Japan after WWII to help those countries. That we still have troops sitting in Korea for a reason.

There's no quick fix...and failing here is too critical to the region to let happen.