Sunday Morning in Iraq

After falling asleep to the sound of sporadic gunfire, I was very rudely awoken by a very close, very loud exchange this morning. I'm not sure what weapons were shooting, I'm still trying to learn the difference in the sound. Some of it was return fire from our towers, some was AK-47 fire coming in, and then there was something else, very loud, that sounded like it was being fired very close to us (it wasn't too close, just loud). Not a pleasant way to wake up, but I'm secure in the safety of our 12 foot concrete blast walls around our compound - just not so sure about the 1/16 inch of tin roof over my head. While I'm sure this sounds dramatic, it's really not. We're not diving for the ground or cowering behind cover. These shots are coming at us indirectly. The bad guys are shooting at the perimeter towers along the fence line. Our compound is in a rather unique location on the camp and we're lined on three sides by perimeter fence - in some places only a few hundred yards away. There are a couple towers on either side of us (here's a picture of one I took from our roof) and the stray rounds directed at those towers come at us. As long as we stay smart and keep off the roof and out of the street during these firefights we're relatively safe. Of course, a stray bullet will kill you just like a well aimed bullet, but there's some security in knowing they're not being aimed right at us. There are some interesting things to see on the other side of the fence including many large Mosques. Here's a picture of the closest one to us - all I can think is it looks like a good place for a sniper to shoot from (I don't know if that's ever happened from this one).

I've been here a week and I finally feel adjusted to the time difference and I'm over the shock of waking up each morning and thinking "holy crap, I'm in Baghdad". I think I can now write at least somewhat coherently, so I'll give a generalized description of my impressions on what it's like to be here. I'll just say I'm sure this will change as time goes by, so no looking back at this months from now and giving me grief after I've said something different.

First thing, it's pretty warm. The days are around 100F. That's not really hot for here so I'm not looking forward to next summer. There's a constant haze of dust and smoke in the air. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth as you breath this stuff in. It's something easy to ignore, but if you think about it it's there. There is a fine covering of dust on everything, everywhere. It's like brown talcum powder and it's insidious - creeping into everything, including our lungs, wreaking all kinds of havoc. There's always some kind of garbage burning off the camp and large plumes of smoke can be seen drifting across the sky as seen in the next picture.

Water is scarce yet plentiful. As I've mentioned before, this area used to be Saddam's recreation area. He built many lakes and canals and put nice villas and palaces around them. We have drained many of the lakes to make areas to use for various things, and the plant life has mostly died. There are still many lakes, but the water is murky and funny looking and it no longer resembles any kind of recreation area I've ever seen. We have a water source that produces drinking water on camp so we have bottled water everywhere. It that sense it's plentiful, but when it comes to showers it's different. There is no utility infrastructure for everything that's been placed here, so it's all self contained. We have trailers for showers and toilets and they work off of very large non-potable water tanks. The water in these tanks does not last very long. These tanks must constantly be refilled. Showers work like this - turn the water on and get wet. Turn it off and lather up. Turn it on and rinse off. Now, get out so the next guy can get in. There's no lounging and relaxing in a nice hot shower. If the entire process takes more than 3 or 4 minutes it's too long. So in that sense, water is scarce. Of course, we also have to walk from our little sleeping trailers to the bathroom and showers. So I ask you to imagine this - it's 2:00am and you have to use the restroom. Get up, get dressed, walk out into the pitch black and make your way to the bathroom, then reverse course and head back. How sleepy are you now? Same thing with the shower. Gather up all your stuff, put on some PT gear and head out to the shower - three minutes to clean off and then get out and shave in the sink. Then pack up all your stuff and head back to the trailer to change into a uniform. Why do I bring this up? I want people to understand that in many places around the world, we have men and women doing this day in and day out for 6 months, a year, 15 months - or longer (and we're the lucky ones who get a shower everyday). This is something small that most people here don't even talk about, but it's something that almost every American takes for granted each day. It's a small sacrifice people make here, but it's one of many many small sacrifices that pile up into large sacrifices.

One thing that is not a sacrifice of any sort here is the food. We have two large dining facilities run by contractors and they go way over the top to provide a large variety and quantity of food. It's good - a little too good. I need to cut back and work out more or I'm going to gain weight while I'm here.

I'll end here for today. If there's anyone who you think might enjoy this blog please send out the link. Also, if there's something specific you would like to know about, let me know and if I can answer the question I will.

Andy