My brother

I was talking to Mo (Mohammad) last night; he’s one of our full time interpreters. We had gotten up around midnight to let the convoy in our IA gate. He’s invaluable to me; he’s the best of the group. He told me last night he still keeps in contact with the previous MiTT chief we replaced. Before they left, they had asked him if he was going to stay on for the new team (us) and he told them he’d see how well the new team treated him. He’s still here, so I guess we passed. Either that or he’s pulling my leg to get a raise. We’re still feeling each other out, but he’s worth his weight in whatever he’s getting paid.

I think we found the outer radius of our convoy operations for these MTR’s. We had two vehicles break down on our 3 day mission and both were towed back by recovery vehicles. It originally had been 4 days with multiple stops, then Baghdad got ugly and we decided on more stops in between which would have made it 6 days and it just got to be too much, I cut out an entire leg. As it happened, 3 days on the road for them showed a lot of the problems they’re going to encounter as they’re turned over to IA Division control, not even counting the vehicle breakdowns.

First of all, I cannot believe how terribly they’re treated by their own Army. We have a hard time taking IA convoys onto CF bases and usually can’t do it without a lot of prior planning. Showing up at a CF base at 2 in the morning with an IA convoy toting armed gun trucks is usually frowned upon and usually denied just because of how jittery everyone is around the Iraqi’s Some places make them stack arms and go without their weapons to get into DFac’s to eat or just to drive around the base. Everyone here still remembers the DFAC that was blown up in Mosul in December 2005 by a suicide bomber in an IA uniform and no commander wants to be the nice guy that could potentially bring disaster on his watch. It’s a valid concern but it’s tough on us. We look for IA bases situated next to CF bases and then split off, letting the Iraqi’s take care of Iraqi’s while we hunker down on the CF side.

We found one and called them up to alert them. It was late, but I spoke with the MiTT and we had a workable plan on the table to let the IA support them. As the convoy returned home, though, I found out they made our IA troops sleep outside on the ground and didn’t feed them or give them water. There are a number of problems here, first of all was my workable plan shot all to hell.

The host IA unit didn’t take these soldiers under their wing and support them. For whatever reason, they don’t or won’t. Second, our IA leaders need to be more forceful in taking care of the Jundee under their care and they need to get in the mode of demanding support if it’s not provided. They consider it a loss of face to ask for help, even for their own soldiers and won’t ask. These are junior officers but officers nonetheless and they need to understand how important it is to look out for the troops under their control.

Third, our Division needs to get involved and work this at the Army level so that everyone understands what to do when one unit travels into adjoining battlespace. The Commanders at all levels need to recognize them and support them. I haven’t comprehended yet how deep this secular division is, but even in the Army and the same religion, there’s this sense of turf. I see it a lot now and I’m perplexed how to get them over it. We’re bringing it up at our meeting with the MTR and Division next week, I don’t think anyone has a good plan to get over it.

Speaking of secret warehouses… A couple of days ago I visited with the Brigade Commander here on post. There are 3 brigades in the Division and we met the 2 star in charge of this one (U.S. Brigade Commanders are usually a Colonel). After about 15 minutes of pleasantries he asked if the MTR could go north to their warehouse and bring back materiel for the Brigade. I had no idea what warehouse he was talking about.

Working with COSCOM, MNSTC-I and MoD for all these months has helped me understand where all the warehouses are and all the equipment for their military. I’ve never heard MoD or anyone talk about these so now I’m curious what they are and what’s in them? I’m thinking I’ve found the lost WMD, but I could be mistaken. I’m probably not that curious to go look, but it’s interesting to speculate nonetheless. I’ve since been told they’re staging warehouses for when the Kurds break off from Iraq, but that’s speculation, too. They’re too far north for this unit to go visit; I’ll have to wait for the breaking news from MSN.

Best wishes from Iraq.