DAY 14 / DEC 12

DAY 14 DEC 12
So, two weeks have come and gone and it only feels like just a month or two. Time travels slowly when there isn’t much to do and you’re far from home in the middle of a desert wasteland that has been the object of so much negative attention and violence that even the local populace doesn’t have any sense of self respect or respect for their community.
My day has run the normal course: breakfast, lunch, visit the CP, visit the S6, reshop the same stuff at the Haji-mart and PX (as it turns out, there isn’t anything new on any given day, and the old stuff I passed over yesterday isn’t any shinier or more appealing. Try as I might I can’t find anything that I really feel I need or should purchase at this time.) So, now that my day is caught up…time for a few insights on the local scene.
We share this post with not only the Iraqis who work here but also with a unit from the Georgian Army. They are wearing our old DCU type uniforms and kevlars and are carrying AK type weapons. I would like to get to know some of them better, just to broaden my scope of understanding of the world and its peoples, but they seem very closed to outside people. I really know nothing about them except what I’ve already written. I’ll try to learn more over the next months, but I make no guarantees that I can get anywhere with them.
Haji-mart – A place where local nationals sell goods that they have acquired from somewhere. The typical goods at a Haji-mart are mediocre video-camera-in-the-movie-theater copies of movies still in the theaters; decent copies of DVDs that have been released; blankets made in Japan or somewhere else; coffe pots, tea sets made of glass or stone that are actually quite nice, but made in Pakistan or India; various electronics from both name brand and non-name brand companies; and stuff that Soldiers leaving the FOB have sold to them rather than try to take it home. I’ve looked high and low for something actually made in Iraq or even by an Iraqi, but I can’t seem to find any thus far.
This morning, at breakfast, the DFAC was relatively full and I couldn’t find a nice wide open space that was not near anymore and so I sat down in any old place and began eating. As it turns out, I had sat down across from a Haji who worked with the Army as an interpreter. When he came and saw me sitting there, he seemed uncomfortable and although he did sit down for a second, he left soon after. I was actually hoping he might sit for a second because I figured that if he was an interpreter he 1. Knew English and 2. Might have some idea what’s going on outside in the real Iraq. But, he left to go eat with his Iraqi buddies. I wonder if he left because he wanted to eat with them, or because he didn’t want to eat with me, or maybe he thought that if he were to be seen eating with me someone might think badly of him. I’ll never know, but these people aren’t making it any easier to adjust my preconceived notions. Regardless of my prejudices, I think they deserve the chance at freedom and that we are doing the right thing in helping bring it to them.
During lunch, we ate in the DFAC (go figure) and of course, there are many Hajis eating there too. It seems that they have gotten some clothes from somewhere that have certain things written on them and they have no idea what they mean. Today, there was a Haji, well dressed (as Hajis go) and relatively clean, wearing a green sweatshirt that simply said “Snowboard” across the front. I couldn’t help to chuckle because I’m pretty sure that this Haji had never seen snow, much less a snowboard or mountain. I wanted to ask him if he knew what his shirt said, but I didn’t want to offend him or make him think I was ridiculing his intelligence.
The unit that we are replacing is glad to see us and is very willing to help us do whatever we need to do to get into place. Its kind of interesting to hear them talking in the line to chow or at the PX; they talk about going home, about what they are going to do, and how long they’ve been here. I asked one how long they had been here and he told me that they had been here only 11 months, so I guess we can actually look forward to being replaced sometime in November of 2006 if everything runs along the same course. I never mentioned why it was interesting about them talking about going home. It’s because it seems so far away, so distant for me, for us. I feel genuine joy for them and also jealousy that they will see their families soon. Their happiness and restlessness to get home is both an upper and a downer. I know that someday (in about a year), that will be me, but for now, I have another year to get ready to go home.
I thought I might watch a movie for the first time today and discovered that in my hurry to get things done before I left, I failed to load Windows Media Player 10 on my computer and so my CODECs aren’t up-to-date enough to watch the DVDs I bought (to send home). So, when I get back to the internet, I’ll be downloading WM10 and hopefully that will fix the problem. Just in case it doesn’t, I’ll also download a simple DVD player and that will fix the problem.
The clouds rolled in, or floated in or really they just kind of appeared. I keep hearing about the rainy season which should be coming up sometime in January, and I hope its not as bad as it sounds. It appears that any rain or moisture on this dust will pretty much turn it into a nice pasty mud.
Speaking of the dirt – Didn’t this once used to be the “cradle of life,” or “cradle of civilization,” or something like that? So, shouldn’t the ground still be capable of that same vitality that supposedly was the Garden of Eden? And now, I’m thinking that maybe the Garden of Eden is being used by us even as we speak. How’s that, you ask? Well, my understanding of how oil gets into the earth is that biological material (ie, dead plants, bugs, trees, etc) decompose into the soil and some of it eventually gets down deep enough and with enough heat and pressure turns into crude oil. If I’m wrong, correct me. But, if I’m at least somewhat right, then all of the past biological material (Garden of Eden) has decomposed into the ground here and all around here and turned into oil. Now, we are pumping this oil out and refining it and using it in our homes and vehicles and all those things. So, in effect, we are using the ancient Garden of Eden to drive to and from work everyday. That’s nice. I have no objections to that.

As I post this, I hear multiple mortar rounds landing somewhere in the city. I can feel the shock wave (just barely) so I know that they are far enough away not to worry about. So far I've heard about 3 or 4. Not long after the mortars go off the helicopters are hovering around the area. They may not have been mortars, they could have been a VBIED or something of the such. Anyhow, another day, another shelling.