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Today I visited one of our current projects rebuilding the police headquarters near the town of Makhmur. The original site was devasted by an SVBIED (car bomb) in May 2007. The project includes two buildings, the police headquarters building and a traffic police station building. The project is managed out of the Erbil Resident Office, where Gary York is the Resident Engineer running the office.

Gary has been with USACE in Erbil since March 2005. We farewelled Tiffany in Mosul on Friday night. I sent out a picture of Tiffany with her embroidered Engineer flag, our standard departure gift. Gary replied to the email saying he liked the flag and that he was jealous. I told him he could get one of his own if he ever actually left Iraq!

On the way to the project, I snapped a picture of a field of sunflowers. I know it’s blurry, but I didn’t think the security team would like it if I asked to stop to take a picture of some flowers.

The project engineer, Engineer Nawzad, gave me a tour of the ongoing construction, along with Gary. In the photo below, I am leading, followed by Engineer Nawzad and Gary. We are in the courtyard of the main police headquarters building. From the look of the photo, I appear to be saying something really insightful like “Look at that dirt”.

The quality of the construction and the professionalism of the contractors are very high in Erbil and Dahuk. I always appreciate the opportunity to visit their projects. Earlier this week, I went to a new project in the Sommer neighborhood of Mosul. We went early in the morning before the contractor had arrived to get a look at the foundation work. After we returned to FOB Marez, the contractor called Nazar, the project engineer, to tell him that the Iraqi Army wouldn’t let him work on the site that day. We had to make numerous calls to get things cleared up for the contractor to get back to work.

That’s why it’s so nice to visit Erbil and Dahuk. We generally don’t encounter the security problems there. But on the other hand, we do have to worry about picking out paint colors.

Earlier this week, I visited a new project near the town of Hamman Al Alil with Mike Fellenz, the Project Engineer. Hamman Al Alil is a small town about 15 miles south of Mosul. The drive there was relatively pleasant and took a little less than 30 minutes. At Hamman Al Alil is an Iraqi Army Training Center. New Iraqi Privates, Jondis, attend a 5-week basic training course in Hamman Al Alil. The Iraqi Army also conducts advanced MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) training in Hamman Al Alil. When we arrived on site, a group of trainees was working on camouflage. Can you find the Jondis in the picture below?

There is an 8-person US Army Military Transition Team (MiTT) living on Hamman Al Alil. They have a secure compound in the midst of the Iraqi base. This is generally referred to as a FOB within a FOB. The MiTT is our customer for this project, so we went to link up with them. When we arrived at approximately 0900, the gate to the MiTT compound was locked. Chris, my Security Team Leader for the day, pounded on the gate and waited. The instructor with the camouflaging Jondis told our interpreter to keep pounding and the MiTT would show up eventually. He was right.

Once inside the MiTT compound, I was informed that the MiTT Team Leader (an Army Major) had been called on the radio and was on his way. Jokingly, I told Mike that they were probably waking the Major up, telling him some LTC was looking for him. He showed up about 5 minutes later in PT uniform. He explained that he had been working out, but from my observation, he must have been working out in a nice air-conditioned room with a soft pillow! I’ll let the Major remain anonymous.

He gave us a tour of the training base, and we were able to see several other groups of trainees. It does not appear that the Iraqi Army is having a difficult time recruiting right now. His translator says the soldiers get paid about $500 (US) per month. Another group of Jondis was busily washing blankets and hanging them out to dry. The Major explained that there had been some bedbug issues recently.

$500 a month and bedbugs. What more do you need?

Earlier this week, Tiffany, one of my Project Engineers in Mosul, went on a site visit with a team from 1-8 Infantry Battalion, including LTC Chris Johnson, the 1-8 Infantry Battalion Commander. Today, she sent out an email describing her trip. I asked if I could share her email on the blog. She agreed, so our guest blogger today is Tiffany.

From Tiffany:

I just received photos from my trip to Nimrud with 1/8 Infantry. We went there to visit two village Sheiks and an IA Commander to discuss issues and potential solutions. Two gentlemen from US AID, Nikki (Sgt Souffrant, their soldier) and I tagged along. I even had my own interpreter.

Nimrud is a farming community, and they are having trouble growing crops due to the drought, and selling them in the local market.

Of course security was a main topic of discussion. I went specifically to discuss two schools that they are planning to build there but as the meeting progressed (and due to time constraints), Col Johnson and Sheik Ali thought it would be best for me to look at the pump station and connecting tributaries, and provide recommendations for upgrade and rehab.

Afterward, we went to Sheik Ali’s house for a meeting with local farmers and lunch.

This trip was probably the highlight of my tour. It was absolutely awesome. I had the chance to see the inner-workings of the US army and local communities. I saw how US Army Leaders work with IA Commanders and village Sheiks to build relationships, and how they work together to rid communities of insurgency and enhance the lives of the people who live in their communities. The cultural experience was great. Honestly, I needed this trip. Before yesterday, my perspective of Operation Iraqi Freedom wasn’t very positive - actually, it wasn’t positive at all. This opportunity came at just the right time. It was great and I’m glad that I was invited.

Earlier this month, I took a trip to the town of Rabiyya. Rabiyya is an Iraqi town on the Syrian border. We are involved in an upcoming project to improve the border crossing in that area, also known as the POE (point of entry). In the picture below, taken from Google Earth, you can see the stark contrast between the development on the Syrian side of the border compared to the lack of development on the Iraqi side of the border.

Our project is to build a new immigration building. So we drove up to Rabiyya in our REVAs to take a look at the project site. In the past, this same drive would take approximately 4 hours because we had to avoid most of the major routes heading west out of Mosul. But because the security situation has improved, we were able to take a much more direct route and arrived in Rabiyya after driving for only a little over 2 hours. Unfortunately some Iraqi government officials from Tal Afar were killed by insurgents on this same road earlier this week. So the improved security comes and goes right now.

To get an understanding of the project, we basically walked the route an Iraqi would take if he were crossing the border into Syria. Here we are heading into the first check point for border crossing processing.

In addition to my normal security escort, we were supported by Eagle Troop, 3/3 ACR. They live at COP Heider right on the Syrian Border. It was pretty quiet this day because the POE was closed. Notice the lack of any traffic in the photo below. The large yellow arch is the actual border looking from Iraq into Syria. Compare how empty that is with the number of trucks lined up to cross the border in the first picture.

After spending about 30 minutes on the ground, we went back inside COP Heider, used the latrine, drank some GatorAde, and got ready to head home. We discussed the project with LTC Preskitt, the US Army Officer who runs the POE Transition Team (POETT). The POETT is a group of US Army personnel who advise the Iraqi Army unit responsible for running the POE. Unfortunately, the project is currently on hold while the Iraqi commander of the POE tries to get more funding to increase the scope of the construction project. After that discussion, we had the fun of another 2 hour drive in the REVAs to get home.

I have a dream. In this dream a construction project goes smoothly from start to finish.

On COL Pfenning’s last visit, we spent some time in Dahuk. I love visiting my office in Dahuk because I get to spend some time with Gee. He took care of me when I first arrived in Mosul last year and became a quick friend. Another fun part about spending time in Dahuk is interacting with Riza. I’ve mentioned him before, but in case you forgot, Riza owns the company (Riza Company) that provides the life support services for my office in Dahuk. He rents the house for the offices and living space, provides the cook, meets the security guard requirments, and everything else it takes to support the Dahuk office.

If Riza hears that I am in town, he will always stop by the office and insist that I go out to dinner with him. We almost always go to the Malta Restaurant in Dahuk. As with many other cultures, the Kurdish people love to give gifts. When I lived in Seoul, South Korea, I had to be careful about saying I liked something I saw. If Worker, my landlord, heard, he would buy whatever it was for me as a present. He would not allow me to refuse, and if I reciprocated, he would give me athank you gift for giving him a thank you gift.

Roza heard that this was COL Pfenning’s last visit to Dahuk, so he wanted to give him a gift. As we were standing in the office after dinner, I told COL Pfenning that he was getting a gift from Riza. COL Pfenning tried to decline, but soon came to realize that Riza is persistent. Fortunately, Riza did not want to give anything that violated any ethics regulations. But since Riza was giving a gift to COL Pfenning, he decied that he need to give a gift to CSM Seitner and me as well.

As I went up to get my present from Riza, I gave him a big hug, which he was not expecting. He smiled and laughed. Then I had him move him pistol from the back to the front for the dramatic effect in the picture. As you can see, the gift was a small rug decorated with the Kurdish Flag.