Well, I made it home OK. My wife and I have PCSed to Germany. Its a fantastic post and my wife is happy to break the stress of her job and leave everything behind to come with me to Europe!?? Sadly, I know that I will miss the life of a TT advisor in combat. Garrison is gay but we are enjoying the new lifestyle (living together for the first time in 6 years) is a completely alien lifestyle right now. Thats the truth about this profession; its not about PT tests or Airborne jumps or power

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http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1251338528458&ref=share   There is something unique about the experience of a soldier coming home. To each time and place I believe there must be something about how they are received that says a lot about the times we live in, our Zeitgeist. A soldier coming home in America is a unique experience in this world. I know that this is a similar feeling to what WWI and WWII veterans felt. Just as in those days there are crowds cheering, loved ones

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When you need to get some ones attention or you run out of good material resort to toilet humor. At any rate, it’s a glorified whole in the ground. Western toilets are a luxury now, not essential. Often I’m forced to use the “Turkish” toilet when working with my Iraqi counterparts. It’s difficult. It requires balance and if you look closely you will notice that in Iraq it does not require toilet paper, a serious issue indeed. Well how does one make this work? Well my method, a conclusion I came

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  In many ways, being on a Transition Team is more like being in the old Texas Rangers than being in the modern Army. I've come to see myself as a diplomat with a gun as much as a Soldier. During this tour our team has conducted the full spectrum of operations Civil Affairs, Advising, Manuever, Fires and Effects, Intel, C2, Logisitics, even Law enforcement. In some ways it is our own private fight. I shouldn't say that but it feels like it when other US Forces are hours away. When your away

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 Battle Lines There is a future war coming. Its lines are being drawn ethnically and associatively; those who were loyal to the Americans, those against the Americans, and the majority who are ambivalent and will gravitate to the side with the most power at the moment. Iraq is a corrupt place, no matter who is in charge. What we in America would consider corruption is merely the price of business. We hear rumors of corruption all the time but we have never been able to prove it within the

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Iraqi forces and American forces operate along cultural lines. The Americans value precision, safety, speed, surprise and information disseminated to all levels. The Iraqis value secrecy at the highest levels, their own Soldiers and Policemen may very well be in Al Qaeda or Jaysh Al Mahdi, so they keep things quiet. They value the power or “Wasta” that comes from being the only one who can supply a unit, or know a secret, or change a schedule, or develop a plan. Americans on the other hand value

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Retelling from My journal: 4 April, 2009 A lot has happened since I last wrote. I promised I would never talk about operations but this is a story I need to tell. Its not the worst thing that has ever happened to me in Iraq, just another day really but it shows how everyday here is uniquely dangerous. We work on the border with Iran. The previous team had never visited all of the border forts and we needed to in order to know our battle space and affect the situation. On the map, one castle

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 Watching TV of late one sees a lot about the Iranian elections, Michael Jackson, and maybe the beginning of the end in Iraq. It really is the beginning of the end here. While on a recent logistical mission to the massive base at Balad Iraq my team was stuck in a sandstorm keeping us in the base until the security agreement deadline had passed. By the agreement, advisors like us are exempt from the many provisions. The main provision is that no coalition forces are permitted inside major cities

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 One of the blessings of this my second tour in Iraq is the cultural interaction. As a Transition Team we live with the Iraqi Army. We stay on the third floor of a 3-story building inside an Iraqi base, not an American forward operating base (FOB). The Iraqis live on the first floor. Most nights we have Chai together, the main Iraqi officer CPT Basil, who speaks a smattering of English, always calls me his brother, as he did with our predecessors. The fact is, we are his family. He has no wife

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