Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas all!

It’s been a quiet couple of days since the election and that’s good. This could be Iraq’s present to our soldiers, and if so..its very welcome.

A lot of us listened to the President the other morning (night for you) and heard what he had to say. I thought he was very forthcoming, finally. And then his approval ratings went up, now what’s up with that?

If you read the reports of Dick Cheney coming to Iraq, you’ll also read that some of the hardest questions he fielded came from the soldiers on the ground. They’re the ones putting their lives on the line and I don’t blame them for asking what the plan is from our civilian managers. That’s unprecedented in “military’s” around the world, where we can challenge their authority and not worry about repercussions. Well, worrying about what you say would be an understatement, you certainly don’t want to open your mouth and ask a stupid or embarrassing question of the VEEP, like what style underwear he prefers.

Back at UpNorth, I remember interviewing a retired Navy Captain (equivalent to a full Colonel in the Army) who was looking for a job and we were talking about “speaking up” at briefings with our personal opinion or a differing opinion than the officer giving the briefing. He told me that the Army was unique to all the services, and that if a junior Navy or Air Force officer spoke up and corrected a senior officer during a briefing, in effect embarrassing him, his/her career would be over. He complimented the Army on their ability to listen to the junior ranks even at the expense of some personal ego. Then he went on to remind me that our food sucked and we slept on the ground and so I think we came out about even, with each service having their strengths, I guess.

I will eventually get around to telling you about the characters of my new “family” here in Balad. For the most part, they are all volunteers in one form or another. Most of them are just trying to get to 20 years active duty so they can retire or they’re Reservists/National Guard members who’s number came up. :) All of them have a story and some of them I know I’ll be in contact with for the rest of my life.

One of them is up in Mosul and his name is LTC John H. I got pictures from John showing how he spent the Election Day driving around in Stryker vehicles with a two star General. They were visiting the city and towns and observing the election process. He also has pictures of him with Condoleeza Rice when she visited Mosul earlier. He was very proud to be a silent observer of a historic event and he commented on how courageous the people were for exercising a process that we take for granted. Next time we vote, I think we should get our finger dyed like the Iraqi’s instead of some dumb sticker.

There are other people here who believe the same thing and as we listened to the President’s speech we all critically assessed his every word. These are the soldiers who will be carrying out his orders and when you have an election in a newly freed country with this many people showing up to vote, you know there’s something different going on. You hate to say that the ends justify the means, but sometimes you just have to take charge and do the right thing. I think we’re doing the right thing here.

So please forgive how un-PC it is to say Merry Christmas and God Bless America in the same sentence, but I believe the two are inseparable no matter your faith, as long as you believe in their spirit.

Best wishes from Iraq..