Pawns

Here's a picture of our last convoy heading out the door for a mission. The IA have purchased a lot of U.S. HMWWV's and definately a way for our economy to recoup some of the war costs. When they buy stuff, the mantra is 'Buy American'.

Our mission is to get this unit out on the road and trained to function as a transportation and support unit. It’s a dangerous mission but very necessary and the key piece to the logistics function of the IA. This piece allows the IA to function autonomously. The Iraqi Army can patrol the streets all they want, but if they can’t get fuel or food or water or clothes or ammunition to the Jundee in the field, they’ll never be independent, they’ll always rely on the coalition for support. If the MTR’s provide independence, we can go home. That’s the plan, anyways. This unit and the others like it across the country have a lot of visibility and each of the Divisions have one Motorized Transportation Regiment (MTR).

When I got here, I started calling around looking for missions and knew this guy (who knew a guy, who knew a guy) that handled medical supplies for the IA out of Baghdad. Talking to him, we organized a trip down to their warehouse to pick up a boatload of Med supplies. I didn’t go on this first trip but they returned successfully with great fanfare. The medical personnel divided up the supplies to the Division and because the 3 brigades of the division are in 3 different locations, we organized a follow-on mission to one of the brigades co-located at division headquarters. Long story short, I went on the second mission and found out how badly my IA soldiers had been treated on the first trip, being turned away by the very IA Division they support while trying to get fuel (CF provided it across the street), but how well they were received on this second trip when they showed up with cargo. I guess it has something to do with demonstrating your worth, but I wasn’t too happy about it and talked to the MiTT’s from the Division. Note - The CF has MiTT’s all over the place, at every level of the IA and we provide parallel planning to make sure that stuff like this doesn’t happen, or shouldn’t.

The Division gave us 16 motorcycles to bring back for the 2nd Brigade (I'm expecting the first casualty shortly) and 700 uniforms for us, one for everybody in the unit and apparently a gift from the Division. I have to write about the Kurds secret warehouses up north, don’t let me forget.

The Division was ecstatic to receive the supplies and the MTR was hailed. It was a great accomplishment for them and all returned safely. I wish I could take credit for their training but the MiTT we replaced did a fantastic job. Since they’re safely back in the states, I’ll acknowledge Major McGurk and his team for their fantastic accomplishment preparing the MTR for transportation and supply operations, a job well done. Our mission now is to take them to the Regimental level and conduct movements on the road, which we’re doing.

There is a criteria for accepting missions. As a priority, we ensure that the mission tests their skills in convoy operations, transportation, supply operations and cargo handling. We also ensure that they only go out for valued cargo to transport. We’re not going to send them (or us) out on the road just to drive around; it’s too dangerous.

In the middle of all this, I get an email from one of our GO’s (General Officer-US) who wanted to talk about the MTR and the successes they’ve had. He came in Friday. You have to understand what a goat rope we go thru for a GO visit, its spin city. It shouldn’t be, but they’re a distinguished visitor based on rank and you end up preparing power point presentations to review your operations and let them know what’s going on.

He came in with 9 people (they travel in packs) and blind sided me with their plan to accelerate the transition of this unit to the IA division. The original plan was to train them to the date marked on the wall and then give them to the Division, independent of CF. He wants to move that date “left”, to accelerate the transition.

He works for the gaining IA unit and I work for the MTR under another GO and what this does is put me in the middle to admit that they’d be ready by the earlier date (they will be) and that I should suggest to my GO to move the date left. Tricky business, this working with Generals is. You do your best to protect the turf of your own GO, but the spin begins and by the time I crafted my email to my boss (part of this post), two of their emails had already gone out praising our unit and suggesting what a great idea it would be to accelerate the transition. I’ve been battling those emails all day, but it’s a loosing battle and looks like the stampede is about to begin.

My worry is that the IA Division commander is going to parcel out this unit to each of the Brigades and let them use them as they see fit. That would destroy the integrity of the unit and all the hard work they’ve accomplished. But if that’s the case, then so be it. The Iraqi Army is free to use Iraqi units as they see fit and if that accelerates the departure of the CF from this theater, then that’s what we do. I just need to get over the personal issues of the officers I’ve met and worked with and trust in them like they trust in themselves. En’shalla, whatever happens will happen.

I’m being booted from the manifest for today’s trip. It’s a trip down south to drop off IA soldiers from one base to another but my emails indicate otherwise. They want the transition plan put together so the Generals can brief each other. It’s also a better idea for me if I work with the MTR staff on what exactly this early transition does to them and start getting them prepared to work with a higher headquarters.

Otherwise, all is well. It’s a great environment and we have a good team. We picked up 3 new interpreter’s yesterday and we’re breaking them in. They’re locals who are hired by a U.S. contracting agency vetted for security, communication skills, etc. I worked with one of them yesterday. He’s a little nervous around us yet, but he should be fine.

Puppies are getting bigger, still two of them left.

Best wishes from Iraq.