Well, planes are grounded, so I’m not going anywhere for a bit. I’d like to be on my way to visiting the 197th, but a storm blew in last night so strong I thought it was artillery. And I wasn’t alone — I heard an officer saying the same thing.
So for now I’m hanging out in an airport, waiting for my ride. Not every day in Iraq is exciting…
In case you missed it, you can listen to my first piece, which aired last night and will again this morning, here.
I just sent in a second piece, which will hopefully get on the air tonight. It’s probably the best piece of radio I’ve ever done, so try to catch it!
After a few days here at Camp Shocker, I’m catching a convoy and headed to Kuwait. There I’ll meet up with the 197th Fires Brigade, the National Guard unit out of New Hampshire. It’ll be another chance for me to connect with a bunch of New Hampshire soldiers.
But as a final farewell to this little corner of Iraq, I got up early today and shot some photos. They almost make me want to stay…
A couple people asked me about the Bibles. Here you go:
The best part? Read the small print on this one:
Lastly, the Iraqi bidet:
So anyone following this has figured out the obvious — soldiers in Iraq are remarkably connected. I don’t have wireless so my MacBook Air isn’t much help with the internet, but the tiny base I’m on has its own computer lab. In the housing units there are Ethernet cables you can plug into if you pay for a plan. At Baghdad airport I bought a day’s worth of wireless for $9. I got to choose the speed I wanted. All over there are opportunities to stay in touch.
It’s a bit crazy, especially when you talk to people who were here when the invasion first occurred. They got a couple phone calls a month; I’ve Skyped with my wife almost daily. I’m working on a story about it, along with about what soldiers do in there downtime. I’m not sure I mentioned this yet, but Call of Duty is wildly popular over here. I was in the Green Zone, and I saw two soldiers shooting people in front of a television screen. Does that seem strange to anyone? Kicking it in a war zone shooting digital people. What a concept!
Deadlines make great editors.
Yesterday I gathered probably two hours of sound, plus a ton of photos and some video. Some of the sound was spectacular — luggage push-carts on hard concrete, Farsi speakers shouting to each other, a border official stamping a passports. Today I got even more — soldiers breaking down AK-47s and being trained in police techniques. It could easily have sat on my computer for months, the volume of it was so daunting. Instead I finished my script today and will hopefully have it together for Tuesday.
Nothing like having stuff to do to make getting things done easier. Now it’s time to get to more of it.
It’s both disconcerting and hopeful here. Lots of soldiers have expressed real concerns about the future of Iraq and how it will survive once the U.S. leaves. I can see that, just because of how much the Americans are doing. But at the same time at the border Iranians were streaming over to visit holy places in Iraq for Ashura. They aren’t terrorists, they’re pilgrims. Lieutenant Colonial Mario Perez, who is partnered with the authorities at the crossing, said there was a coalition of 400 plus Muslims who had come to march in solidarity with the Iraqis to show violence will not deter them. It isn’t safe, he said, but it isn’t a war zone. It’s only a few people.
I have a skewed perspective here, it’s vital to make a note of that. I am in a place where everyone takes a gun to dinner, and you don’t leave the wire without a helmet, vest and eye protection. But it isn’t all violence. There are developments and positive news. Behind the wire it’s hard to notice because insurgents are still plotting ways to kill Americans, but it is only a small group of people. The Iraqis are working to build a safe country, only with limited assets and a cancerous group always working to undermine them.
I have no idea if it will work, but I do know I’d like to come back after it does. I’d like to sit down with these people, all of whom I have met have been wonderful and kind. I have hope as well as fear for this country, but I see something here worth fighting for. Most Iraqis do as well.
They don’t have paper towels at COP Shocker — you have to dry your hands with toilet paper.
There are camouflage Bibles available, I’m assuming for free.
There are signs everywhere warning soldiers to mind secret documents to avoid being the next wikileaker. (CORRECTION: I was informed that these notes just use Wikileaks as a reference. It’s about not giving away mission-specific information or base information that might endanger them or anyone else here. I needed an Army translator to understand the note!)
There are multiple copies of one of Bill O’Reilly’s book on one of the shelves here, like a case was shipped in for the soldiers.
The food is good, particularly breakfast. And it’s all you can eat. Soldiers live for mealtimes, because here there are no weekends.
Call of Duty — this is the strangest thing — I have seen and heard more soldiers shooting and killing digital enemies than I could have imagined. There’s a certain irony in soldiers relaxing on their deployment by trying to shoot things.
There are dogs in between the outer wall of the base and the barbed wire barrier 50 feet out. Lots of dogs. Somehow last night two made it up onto the wall. I couldn’t get my camera out in time, unfortunately.
There are minefields all around from the Iran-Iraq War. As the oil companies come in to drill they hire people to clear the mines.
The bathroom trailer doesn’t have potable water. There are big warnings not to brush your teeth on all the mirrors.
Every Iraqi I met today was incredibly gracious. Of course I was with a heavily armed group of soldiers, so that may have weighed into it.
There are spray hoses in the toilet stalls, if you so choose to use it. This is the first base I’ve seen that.
There was an old bunker on a hill near the border crossing, again from the Iran-Iraq War. A lieutenant colonial told me the locals now use it as a toilet.
The governments of Iraq and Iran allow cross-border trade, but not for trucks to go across. The goods are all taken out of the truck in one country and put in a truck in the other country by hand.
The mountains in Iran have snow on them, clearly visible from the border. They jut out of the desert as Iraq ends.
If you ever want to see an amazing place, let me recommend the border. I spent the day outside the wire, checking out what Lieutenant Colonial Smith, a New Hampshire soldier, does for work. This is his second deployment to Combat Outpost Shocker (that’s right, Shocker — and yes, that’s where it comes from…) We went to a port of entry, which he had jurisdiction over last deployment, and a border outpost, which he has jurisdiction over now. I shared chai tea with the outpost commander and got to stand six feet outside of Iran. It was a stunning experience, talking with truck drivers and border guards, watching the pilgrims come from Iran. The sound was fantastic as well; I can’t wait to put this one together.
Here are some photos from the day. The audio should be along soon as well. Enjoy!
It’s been hard to get any good shots from the back of the Rhino, and I spent most of yesterday editing audio, but I got a few things here. These are from FOB Shocker, where I am now. Not real exciting, but at least you can see what it’s like here.
Also, I was collecting sound for a piece I’m working on about convoys, and I happened to get this story. I thought it went along with my earlier post (WARNING: Explicit Language).
It’s amazing the things soldiers see.
ErikEisele.com 