Kirkooky's (re)Unite!

Yes, we are called Kir-Kooky's by our colleagues in Baghdad because those who work here truly believe their work has a direct impact on the ability of the different competing groups to come together in a common bond...yeah, not so much the opinion of those at the Embassy in Downtown Baghdad.  They think they work in the primary seat of power.  I really don't know who's work is most impactful, but I do appreciate the dedication to the cause of my Kirkuk colleagues.  They have earned my respect and I'm proud to be here with them.

There are less than 20 of us, only 3 of us are women.  Every single person adds something unique to the group dynamic and when one or two are absent there is a gap, having one half of our group away from us for a week seemed like such a long time.  So, yes, we (mostly the ladies who are more social) anxiously awaited the arrival of the rest of our team

They were traveling by convoy which can be dangerous.  Because we don't really have the most secure communications we don't talk on the phone and say "we will be at xyz at exactly 4 o'clock."  Due to many issues we did not even know if they would be coming today, tomorrow or the next.  Their trip was delayed several times then finally one afternoon we get word "they're on their way!" 

"Well, what time do you think they'll get here?"
"Could be 7 p.m., could be 8:30 p.m.  Not sure."
"DFAC closes at 8:00, if they don't get here soon they're not going to get any dinner."

So several of us sit around holding our phones (that only work when you are outside of a bldg or right next to a window) and we wait.  We might have to go to the chow hall and get a bunch of to go trays full of anything.  They will need someone to get them to their CHU.  We wait.  And we keep waiting.

Finally I heard third hand that the guys were at the billeting office, getting their CHU keys.  Since we are all sharing vehicles my friend and I hop in and race to the billeting office.  We pick up another on the way. 

When we pulled up several of them were standing around wearing their combat vests, carrying guns, all kinds of gear, hot, dirty and hungry...but I saw the grins they tried to hide behind tough-guy coolness - they missed us, too.

The Kirkooky's are all together again.

Moving Again

Kirkuk is on the border of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, which is very pro American.  Safety is a concern ALL over Iraq, but not so much an issue in the Kurdish controlled areas.  However, Kirkuk is where the Kurds, Arabs and Turks all come together - and there is lots of petroleum reserves yet to be developed.  So while it is safer than Basra in the south, it is not without risks.  One such risk is IDF (indirect fire). 

Anyone wanting to harass and harm Americans can simply shoot his rocket up over the base and hope it lands somewhere to make great damage.  We have systems in place to detect "incoming" fire and sound the alarm.  You hear a mechanical voice screaming "incoming, incoming!"  Baaahnnkkk, baaahnnkkk, baaahnnkkk!"  Then you grab your protective vest and helmet, dive into the nearest bunker and hope you're not hit.  Kirkuk's system gives more warning than most other posts in Iraq...you get all of 20 seconds before impact.  LOL, I know it is nothing to laugh at, but most of the time the devices cause very little damage or don't even explode.  I, of course, have never been hit and have never lost friends due to such an attack.  But I am of the mind that you do have to be able to shrug it off or else you will constantly live in fear...and I simply cannot live that way.

Before I arrived the base was taking about 1-3 IDF per week, and for quite some time after I arrived it did not happen.  Once it happened at 2 in the afternoon on my day off and I was in my CHU napping with the air conditioning and TV on, and the generator running (constantly) just outside my door...I never even heard it.  I have met a guy who went to the gym early in the morning and came back to find that the IDF had landed in his bed...He's happy he likes to work out early in the day.

The base, our compound was maintained by the military, but they have since gone.  It is too large for us alone to manage and maintain so we need to find a new home.  For the time being our Consulate Kirkuk will physically be located in the city of Erbil, about 60 miles north.  Yep, we're moving - again!

Several of us were sent ahead by a few days to begin receiving and setting up offices.  We flew via helo from Kirkuk to Erbil.  The "new" compound is a construction zone, but it does not take any IDF.

Several of us said this was the most bored we have ever been...locked inside a small acreage with nothing but a DFAC, offices and CHUs.  The CHUs themselves are larger and nicer than we had before.

Honestly, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the rest of our group, who seem to be delayed daily by some glitch, some security issue...and our old compound and Kirkuk in general is experiencing a much higher rate of attacks.  We worry for their safety though most of them are the ones who protect us.  We will all breath easier when the move is completed.

Parking Ticket

On the compound where we live there are lots of vehicles but they all have stickers on the windows, placards on the dash and tags that mark them as legitimate.  But someone left a vehicle sitting in an unusual area for too long.  Security tried to find out who it belonged to, but to no avail.  Because of the concern over improvised and booby trapped explosive devices it is not wise to simply open and rummage through any "unknown" vehicle.

So when the owner of this vehicle could not be identified security did NOT write a parking ticket - they BLEW it UP!!!!

After it had been destroyed, paperwork was found that indicated it belonged to...base security!

Not Literature

…Writing on the blog doesn't always have to be literature, you know…

Well, I do like to fully “explore” any topic that I write on, but I’ve got so many great ones right now.  Those words spoken by a friend who enjoys my blog have spurred me to go ahead and post the following, a more comprehensive version of a quickie email sent to a colleague:

The work is steady, but not overwhelming.  Tons of time spent doing things like escorting visitors from the gate and back again.  The multitude of steps you must take and boxes you must check to clear each level (of security) is time consuming.  Patience is a good thing, and I have found my smile opens lots of doors and engenders cooperation (I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that I’m a girl!). 

Currently we are on a fairly large parcel of land with tons of unused space so you find things to do to entertain yourself.  One guy is going to show me something they call Stonehenge tomorrow.  Sounds intriguing.

I have been down to the marsh a few times to feed the Jackals.  (yep, sounds silly, I know, but you know me –adventure is everywhere)  There’s a little pack/pride?? with cubs? But only one of them is brave enough to come out and eat while we are there.  It is getting really hot so the water is drying up, though for now it is still a good sized little pond.  The 8 foot tall reeds around the water are beginning to dry out so the wind rustles them and it sounds very peaceful and quiet out there.  Local Iraqi men here are catching the fish and moving them to another body of water that is bigger so they will survive the heat.

There are several archaeological sites on our property; one is an old Turkmen cemetery, another is a mass grave (children who died before the age of six were not buried in a cemetery) discovered when we began a construction project.

For the 4^th of July we held a major event at the Kirkuk Government Building for our Iraqi contacts and guests.  We actually had our 4^th of July celebration in the Council’s Chamber!!!  It was pretty awesome to get out of the gates and see the city.  There is poverty, there is new construction…the look of the people, it all tells you something about this place.

Was kinda cool to be transported and protected by my own bodyguards.  I love my SPS guys-they are so serious! 

We have a little “camp” of CHUs lined up in a grid, but far enough apart that we park our cars in between.  CHUS are two to a bldg with a bathroom each.  Everything in our camp is powered by our own generator.  I was standing outside one night around 9 o’clock looking at the stars when suddenly it got VERY quiet.  The generator quit and EVERYTHING went dead.  I can’t help it I laughed and said, “who forgot to order the gas truck?”  Everyone came out of their CHUs and we waited around while the MGT officer went to find someone to fix it.  Seems it just needed restarting.

Our camp is just Dept of State people and we have one big trailer room full of sofas, TV, Kitchen, library and such – all left over by the massive military presence that has since departed country.  It is our communal space.  The only place to eat is the DFAC (dining facility) and it gets boring going there for 3 meals a day, but you can buy meats at the PX.  Since there is a large group of men, they love to grill so there are lots of evenings that we just eat meat, LOL.  Brats for appetizer, hamburgers for the next course and ribs or steak as a follow up!  In their defense fruits and veggies are very hard to come by on the compound and none of us get outside the gates except for work mtgs.  But we sit on picnic tables, the swing and sit under the midnight sky and chat.

But the adventure continues.  We are moving to “new” compound put together using older CHUs.  But since it is like “new” construction there’s not all the goodies left behind by others like rugs, picnic tables, chair, grilles (some of these were made by the troops including a grille with their logo!) and shade netting.  We are scavenging everything we can find to take with us.  Stayed tuned there’s lots more to come.

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!