Travel to Kirkuk

Travel from the Embassy in Baghdad to Kirkuk was an ordeal.  First you meet the shuttle van that takes you to the Helo Pad (helicopter).  We flew on a larger helicopter from the Embassy to Baghdad airport where we boarded a regular airplane for the flight to Erbil.

After arriving at the Erbil airport we then took Huey helicopters into Kirkuk...okay, now I want to be a helicopter pilot!  LOVED the Huey, ...flying in sideways with the doors wide open.  That was a bit exhilarating!

Long travel day that started at 5 a.m and ended about 6 in the evening...glad to finally be here.

Arrived Baghdad

I finally have arrived in the country of my next posting - Iraq.  Though I am actually posted to Kirkuk I must spend a few days "checking in" at Embassy Baghdad, so HR knows I'm really here.

I know that everyone will think I'm crazy but it feels good to be back in the Middle East.  It is extremely hot and everything is covered in a thick layer of dust; even the sky is filled with a sandy cloud.  At night the temp is in the high 90's (F) but my uneducated guess is that there is less than 20 percent humidity which makes sitting outside very nice.  My body is rather enjoying the solid warmth after the bone chilling dampness and always cool weather of Brussels...but then again, I think we humans just adapt.

The Embassy compound is very much like a college campus with office buildings, dining facility, dormitory style lodging, some small convenience type stores and some recreation spaces.  The recreation options are pretty nice with weight rooms, exercise classes and swimming available.  The only difference between this and a college campus is you won't be stepping outside the gates without a very good reason and a whole team of security personnel, carrying guns.  Those who have been here a while liken it to being in a nice prison.  I can imagine you would go a bit stir crazy with the same stuff day in, day out.  I suppose that is why they work at least 6 days a week and long hours.

I have met several people that I've worked with before and others soon to be going to my old post of NATO in Brussels; and once again, I have met people that I do not know who have assisted me greatly in navigating my new environment, as well as offered their perspectives on the state of the mission, management and policy emphasis.

In a few days I will make my way to Kirkuk in Northern Iraq.  I have no doubt it will be yet even more different than Baghdad.

I Wanna Be a Race Car Driver

There are several weeks of training required by State to ensure we know what we are getting ourselves into, and to prepare us to function well in the environment of Iraq that can be, at the least, unpredictable.

One class is called the FACT course, but we call it Crash Bang because it is full immersion (in the field) training with fast cars and guns.  I am a registered gun owner so I'm not unfamiliar with weapons, though some of my colleagues have never held or fired a weapon.   Shooting an AK47 was certainly a treat.

Another intensive training session was battlefield first aid where your first concern is to ensure open airways and prevention of bleeding out in a matter of minutes.  Our instructor had to repeatedly remind us that our goal was not to care for the wounded but simply to get them stable enough that they could wait for a medic.  His oft repeated phrase was that there were just some things that are so devastating to the human body that even if it happened next to "bright lights and cold steel" there would be nothing to be done for them.  This training came complete with a battleground simulation with bombs exploding and hysterical wounded (my debut acting, lol).

We were sent out into the community while being surveilled by an unknown group targeting us for attack.  Our job was to spot the people and see the attack coming.  Our group was "blown up."  When our attackers blocked us in a narrow alleyway, a civilian completely unaware of the exercise got caught up in our convoy and stopped.  She was raging about being stuck, having no idea that everyone in the cars surrounding her were all in on the joke.

But THE most fun I had all week was driving on the race track in Crown Victorias taking curves without touching the brakes, sliding the car sideways and keeping it under control in extreme conditions.  We took the cars at a high rate of speed weaving between cones, avoiding imaginary IED's and stopping in the shortest distance possible without skidding or locking up the brakes.  We learned to spot dangerous situations and to make the decision to either ram the vehicle blocking your path or "reverse out," meaning to drive in reverse for as long as it takes to "get off the X" (remove yourself from the danger zone).  One exercise was simply to drive in reverse for over a half a mile, weave through a serpentine and turn the car around a quickly as possible to drive away.  The turn we practiced was a Y-turn, but my instructor said I was very close to making it a J-turn.  That is the one that you see on the movies where the vehicle is turned around without hitting the brakes or stopping, you simply sling it around and stay on the gas pedal.

That kept my adrenaline running for a long time, but it got EVEN better...I got to do the same stuff in an MRAP, a fully armored Humvee!

My final exam was to drive the track and go past several possible dangers and to respond quickly and appropriately.  I was shot at (not really) and bombed (not really) and I even got to ram a car - twice!  I had so very much fun that I would LOVE to spend more time racing around the track, sliding the car around curves and reversing out.  If this line of work doesn't work out, I wanna be a race car driver!

Leaks of U.S. Classified Information

Recent leaks of classified information offend me deeply as an American citizen, and as someone who has pledged to protect my country, it angers me.  Every single person who has access to classified information has stood before God and taken the Oath of Office:
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Obviously, somebody, somewhere has broken that oath.  Of course, I am a thinking person.  I do not blindly do what someone else tells me to do, but I also realize that governing our nation is a group effort, a team effort where each of us should strive to follow the ideals laid out in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

We have all witnessed the fallout from the wiki-leaks mess created by Bradley Manning and can sense there is additional push back from our partners in foreign affairs who question whether or not we can be trusted.  

I have not been privy to any of the information released to the media by this/these criminals, was not even aware of some of it.  I think that most of the American public do not even realize just how big of a wrong has been done to them.  They seem to think that actions taken by Nixon years ago worse than this.  Not that I would defend those actions, but there must be perspective.

It sincerely disappoints me that we as a nation have come to a place where we fully expect our leaders to do this stuff.  Back in the 60's such a leak would have been considered high treason, now we just brush it off as partisan games.
  
Americans who dedicate themselves to defending our country every single day do not deserve to have their work exposed, nor do the citizens of our nation.  I hope the leaker(s) are found and fully prosecuted.

Hamdu Lillah

Oh, my dear reader, how I have neglected thee!  But I'm back and I'm pumped!!  Hamdu lillah! (hom dilly la) meaning "Praise to God."  It is one of my favorite Arabic words, its just such a happy little word, much like serendipity.

I am back in DC for training for my next assignment:  Iraq.  I'm actually heading out to one of the three Consulates, not the main Embassy in Baghdad.  I quite think the bureaucracy there might actually kill me.

I spent the day learning Iraqi history, cultural norms and basic language skills.  I see there is a great depth of history and culture...and I'm just excited!

Strange way to meet your new boss - via introductions in a classroom.  I realized about half way through the student's introductions that my new boss was sitting right behind me!!!  Oh horror!! I was sitting with my feet under me in the chair and my shoes off....oh no!  He has seen my toes!!!!  LOL, I don't know why, but that was my first thought. :)

Coming back to DC for training is a lot more fun than coming here for the first time...it is much like coming home.  You see friends and colleagues everywhere.

I have a few more weeks of training and I'm sure it will be enlightening.  This after some serious downtime and personal time with those closest to me.  I spent a week at the beach, just to catch up on my own sleep and list of stuff to do.  Then a day or so visiting a friend who is fighting for his life - all my very best to him and his family, always in my thoughts.  The fun highlight of my vacation was a week plus with my brother and his family on a trip to the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Historic Route 66 and to Las Vegas.  Taking this trip cut down on the amount of time I could spend in my hometown and visit friends, though I did manage to see several, but I so enjoyed spending this time with my family.  It was/is immensely precious to me.

I'm excited again about the future and look forward to sharing with you the experience of heading out into the diplomatic field.  I am looking forward to the challenges I know I will encounter and the opportunities to succeed.

Thank you for sharing my adventure, Shukran (shoe Kran, means thank you).