Although the media and DOD is rightly focused on Afghanistan, Iraq is now becoming the under the radar conflict, much like Afghanistan was for many years.  We have a massive logistics undertaking going on right now with the movement of U.S. forces and equipment out of Iraq by the end of this summer.

My unit participated in a ROC (rehearsal of concept) drill this past week in Baghdad where units planned for the movement of their equipment and forces out of Iraq.  Many issues to deal with such as will equipment go back to the U.S. or go to Afghanistan.  If it goes to Afghanistan, does it need repair and reset maintenace done first in Kuwait?  Should some of the equipment be turned over to Iraqi army and police force?  Also, how do we shape the force in Iraq?  Where should we leave special forces, engineers, military police, etc. after the drawdown to 50,000 U.S. forces??

Some wow bullets on the Iraq drawdown

- as of today May 12, U.S. military has about 94,000 troops in Iraq now and is on track to reduce the force to 50,000 by September as promised by President Barack Obama, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters (AFP News Wire)

-there are about 3 million pieces of non-rolling stock equipment in Iraq now (things like radios, generatos, containers, trailers, etc.)  Of the 3 million pieces, the goal is to drawdown to no more than 1.8 million pieces by the end of August 2010.

-there are about 60,000 pieces of rolling stock (things like humvees, MRAP's, trucks, armored security vehicles, etc..) goal is to reduce that down to 37,000 by 31 AUG.

I work right down the hall from one of the main players in the drawdown of all Army equipment in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Jack O'Connor.  I can attest that he and his staff work extremely long hours and travel frequently throughout the Middle East.

In a recent Army Times article, he was quoted

“We’re at the center of the universe right now for logistics synchronization as we draw down forces in Iraq and build up forces in Afghanistan,” said Brig. Gen. Jack O’Connor, director of logistics for Third Army and commanding general of Army Materiel Command-Southwest Asia. “As you can imagine, this is a very complex operation.”

I am hoping to take a site survey visit of Baghdad and possibly the southern seasport in Iraq Umm Qasr before my deployment is up.

A view from the back of the JVB hotel in Baghdad, U.S. Army Camp Victory.  It is a man made lake.  This hotel is where some members of my unit stayed during their recent conference in Baghdad, May 2010.

Two members of our Iraq team who coordinate with logistics partners in Baghdad - April 2010.  Although in Army fatigues, these are Navy officers.  Lieutenant junior grade Dan Nadarski on the left, and Commander Eugene Cash on the right.

A fuzzy photo of BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) May 2010.  I've been through here before, it has a military side and a civilian side now.  There are several civlian flights that currently go through here, particularly Iraq Airways, Bahrain Airways, and Lufthsana is scheduled to fly from Munich to Baghdad this summer.  The U.S. Base Camp, Camp Victory is just adjacent to the airport.  "Hurt Locker' fictitionally occurred at Camp Victory, although it was filmed in Amman (i heard Amman is nice:)

Up-armored humvees at the port of Kuwait - March 2010.  Some of these are being sent back to the states for maintenance.  Although soldiers are not supposed to go "outside the wire" (off base camp) in anything other than an MRAP, some humvees are used to drive around on base camps or forward operating bases.

An aerial view of the Umm Qasr seaport 2009.  I think this seaport can really boost Iraq's economy if used the right way and corruption can be hacked out.  It is one of the few deep seawater ports on the Gulf and Iraq actually has viable trade products.