Hello,
Today is just one more day in a year of long days. I'm only 14 days away from getting ready to go on leave. I can't wait. It will suck coming back, no doubt about it. I entertained the thought early on in this deployment of just not taking leave. In the end, I figured I owed it to myself and my family to go back when I could. it was nicely timed so that it's almost right in the middle of the deployment. When I get back we'll be more than 50% done.
So this past weekend LTG (R) Ricardo Sanchez, the Combined joint Task Force-7 (CJTF-7) Commander from 2003-2004 (or maybe until 2005, I can't remember). Anyway, he commanded what has morphed into Multi National Force-Iraq (MNF-I). He came out and said that this is a nightmare over here, with no end in sight. It was interesting the way he framed it. Basically he was saying that the political leadership constrained the military from fighting the war the way it should have, particularly by limiting force size. This is a man who many hold liable for the insurgency flourishing during the summer and fall of 2003. Thomas Ricks, in his book Fiasco is especially hard on his leadership. Maybe he's had time to reflect on what he could have done differently.
He also had little good to say about the surge. I wonder if what he is saying is representative of what other retired Generals are thinking. I just saw the Senate Minority Leader from Kentucky on the TV last night saying that the surge is working and we're making remarkable progress over here...that means the talking points are being sent out again. It ain't "working," everyone. The enemy knows that, and the soldiers know that. he made the statement to the effect that things in the south were quiet and peaceful. This is the same place where the Brits left and handed local control over to the Shiite militias. Quiet? Peaceful? How in the world can the surge be working there when there are no soldiers there? I am totally mystified by that statement. Again, the talking points have been distributed, and they are coming back out on the news. I am hoping that things work out here; I am not encouraged by what I have seen and what I know. So Mrs. Clinton, I hope you're paying attention. When you come in to office you need to have a plan ready to execute immediately.
OUT
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Keeping us busy
So we had another rocket attack this past week. I'm a little bit surprised that the news got out so fast. They had the story nailed within about 12 hours. I don't think it was because MNC-I had a press release, either, although I'm sure they had to say something after the news got out. Fortunately, no one in my unit was injured, Unfortunately, 2 soldiers were killed and almost 40 were wounded. A couple of TCN's were injured, too. You know there are some places in this world that have dire poverty when the people will come to this place for a job.
So I think I talked about my fraternity brother in my last post...it is so ironic to run into him here. We hadn't seen each other in over 10 years, and it takes a war to bring us back together.
I was told that the statistics being reported about the numbers of insurgents being killed and captured are, shall we say, a little bit misleading. Units out there are fighting people who are connected through a spiderweb of alliances, tribal affiliations, gang affiliations, and sect affiliations. When the "insurgents" are killed and captured, however, they are reporting that they were members of Al Qaida. on a couple of levels, this is dishonest. First, a lot of the anti-coalition activity in the Baghdad area is done by Shia groups who hate Al Qaida in Iraq (AQIZ). Second, there is a great deal of internecine fighting going on between the Shia groups; they are jockeying for control. Third, the Sunni-Shia fighting that does occur is between Sunni and Shia. So all of these activities get counted as "anti-coalition" attacks or events, which clearly they are not. I don't want to sound like I'm nit-picking here, but what is being reported ends up being wrong, which then ends up influencing policy, which then produces a solution to the wrong problem--which then gets implemented, with the expectation that positive results will flow from it. It just won't work like that. We have soldiers doing a tremendous amount of work here, and that ends up getting wrapped around a policy that will not succeed. What amazes me is how the morale stays as high as it does. I think what happens is that the soldiers (who think about it) tend to internalize their doubts and keep them to themselves. Saying them out loud is tantamount to saying the Emperor has no clothes. And the soldiers plug along, doing the work of the superhero because that's why they came here.
One of my objectives here during this time was to do some informal professional development. I set out to read 5 books from the Army Chief of Staff's reading list. It is a list compiled for Officers and NCO's to use for learning about leadership in history, and to make the leaders of today think about what the leaders of the past have faced and how they solved the challenges of warfare and leadership, etc. So I have read two books already, and I'm on my third--The Memoirs of General Ulysses S. Grant. It's actually a pretty readable book. Anyway, his take on the Mexican War, while I'm sitting in my CHU in the middle of Baghdad, is really kind of interesting. The Mexican War was 160 years ago, but it just demonstrated to me that officers of that time faced the same moral dilemma some of us struggle with in this war. And that's about all I've got to say about that.
I ordered a laptop, so when i get that online I'll be back to more frequent posts and I'll be putting up pictures again. Having to go to the MWR facility to post is a little inconvenient and I can't plug a thumb drive into the terminals here. I have a bunch of cool photos that I haven't been able to show, so in the next few weeks I will be putting a lot up. I go on leave next month, so I probably won't post too much then, but we'll see. Until next time...
OUT
So I think I talked about my fraternity brother in my last post...it is so ironic to run into him here. We hadn't seen each other in over 10 years, and it takes a war to bring us back together.
I was told that the statistics being reported about the numbers of insurgents being killed and captured are, shall we say, a little bit misleading. Units out there are fighting people who are connected through a spiderweb of alliances, tribal affiliations, gang affiliations, and sect affiliations. When the "insurgents" are killed and captured, however, they are reporting that they were members of Al Qaida. on a couple of levels, this is dishonest. First, a lot of the anti-coalition activity in the Baghdad area is done by Shia groups who hate Al Qaida in Iraq (AQIZ). Second, there is a great deal of internecine fighting going on between the Shia groups; they are jockeying for control. Third, the Sunni-Shia fighting that does occur is between Sunni and Shia. So all of these activities get counted as "anti-coalition" attacks or events, which clearly they are not. I don't want to sound like I'm nit-picking here, but what is being reported ends up being wrong, which then ends up influencing policy, which then produces a solution to the wrong problem--which then gets implemented, with the expectation that positive results will flow from it. It just won't work like that. We have soldiers doing a tremendous amount of work here, and that ends up getting wrapped around a policy that will not succeed. What amazes me is how the morale stays as high as it does. I think what happens is that the soldiers (who think about it) tend to internalize their doubts and keep them to themselves. Saying them out loud is tantamount to saying the Emperor has no clothes. And the soldiers plug along, doing the work of the superhero because that's why they came here.
One of my objectives here during this time was to do some informal professional development. I set out to read 5 books from the Army Chief of Staff's reading list. It is a list compiled for Officers and NCO's to use for learning about leadership in history, and to make the leaders of today think about what the leaders of the past have faced and how they solved the challenges of warfare and leadership, etc. So I have read two books already, and I'm on my third--The Memoirs of General Ulysses S. Grant. It's actually a pretty readable book. Anyway, his take on the Mexican War, while I'm sitting in my CHU in the middle of Baghdad, is really kind of interesting. The Mexican War was 160 years ago, but it just demonstrated to me that officers of that time faced the same moral dilemma some of us struggle with in this war. And that's about all I've got to say about that.
I ordered a laptop, so when i get that online I'll be back to more frequent posts and I'll be putting up pictures again. Having to go to the MWR facility to post is a little inconvenient and I can't plug a thumb drive into the terminals here. I have a bunch of cool photos that I haven't been able to show, so in the next few weeks I will be putting a lot up. I go on leave next month, so I probably won't post too much then, but we'll see. Until next time...
OUT
Saturday, October 6, 2007
First one of the month
I am now unable to post from the pc on my desk. That makes writing this blog extremely difficult to do. Mainly because I am reduced to using a laptop from the Pre-Cambrian period in one of the "internet cafes" here on the installation. It's tough using older equipment; it's even harder to use it when overuse has caused the keys on the keyboard to be virtually unreadable for most letters.
It took me about three tries to write that.
Lots to talk about, but I can't really do it here with this laptop. I will be writing for the next two days. I also need to get some sleep tonight because tomorrow I am running in an Army Ten-Miler "Shadow Run" here at VBC. A shadow run is a ten-miler being run on the same day as the official one, just somewhere else in the world. I'll be able to tell my kids and grand kids that I ran a shadow run in Baghdad one day. That's kind of cool.
Next time I write I will be on a better computer. Maybe I'll order a laptop now since the commander back home ok'd the purchase. But I want to talk about spending 48 hours here with a fraternity brother who also happens to be here in the Army. I hadn't seen him in probably 10 or 12 years, and it took a war to get us back together. Amazing. And I also have more to say about the rest of what's going on. And I have some awesome pictures. So, this has taken me about 25 minutes to type, and I've about had it. Talk to you all later. Be safe.
OUT
It took me about three tries to write that.
Lots to talk about, but I can't really do it here with this laptop. I will be writing for the next two days. I also need to get some sleep tonight because tomorrow I am running in an Army Ten-Miler "Shadow Run" here at VBC. A shadow run is a ten-miler being run on the same day as the official one, just somewhere else in the world. I'll be able to tell my kids and grand kids that I ran a shadow run in Baghdad one day. That's kind of cool.
Next time I write I will be on a better computer. Maybe I'll order a laptop now since the commander back home ok'd the purchase. But I want to talk about spending 48 hours here with a fraternity brother who also happens to be here in the Army. I hadn't seen him in probably 10 or 12 years, and it took a war to get us back together. Amazing. And I also have more to say about the rest of what's going on. And I have some awesome pictures. So, this has taken me about 25 minutes to type, and I've about had it. Talk to you all later. Be safe.
OUT
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