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.
I spent a few days this week visiting projects in Dahuk and Erbil. COL Pfenning, my boss, is due to return to the US next month. So he is making his last visit to all of the USACE offices in GRN, which he commands. On Thursday, we had lunch with Governor Nawzad Hadi, Governor of Erbil. I was intrigued by the invitation he extended because he told us to bring our swim trunks if we were interested in swimming.
The lunch venue ended up being the Hawler Water Park. Erbil is also referred to as Hawler by most Kurds. The water park is a public park owned and operated by the government in Erbil. The main attraction is a giant pool with water slides. Fortunately for everyone around, I did not bring a pair of swim trunks.
We arrived at the park a little early. So while we were waiting for the governor to arrive, the park operator showed us his bowling alley. How many people do you know that have gone bowling while deployed to Iraq? Maybe the Army will have to take back my Hazardous Duty Pay (HDP) and Danger Pay (DP) for that day. Since I get $100 per month for HDP and $225 per month for DP, I stand to lose about $10.83 for one day. I definitely prefer the danger pay the Aussies receive!
It took me a little while to get warmed up. But I blame that on having to use an alley ball. It didn’t fit right and kept slipping off my thumb! COL Pfenning looks like he has spent some time in bowling alleys in the past. After the governor arrived, he and COL Pfenning bowled 5 more frames together. Governor Nawzad uses the brute force approach to bowling and slings the ball down the alley as hard as possible. He reminded me a lot of Jeff!
On Friday, I headed down to Qayyara, about 1 1/2 hours south of Mosul. I went with Mike Miller, aka mikem, to visit a couple of project sites. The trip was pretty uneventful, the day was warm, and mikem was fighting the Z monster. Actually, I don’t think he was trying to put up much of a fight!
Our first stop was at a drinking water treatment plant. This project has been in construction since October 2006 and is still not even 50% complete. The Iraqi contractor working the project doesn’t seem to mind that it is taking forever to finish. It’s very confusing because he’s working on a fixed price contract, which means that no matter how long it takes to complete, he gets paid the same amount. It seems to me you would want to finish very quickly under those circumstances. That way you could move onto another project and make more profit. One of the local leaders came to visit us while we were inspecting the project. He wanted to know when the contractor would begin working on the project again. I told our interpreter that we were considering canceling the project and starting over with a new contractor. I’m not sure exactly what the interpreter said, but I did hear “inshallah” quite a bit!
On the way out from this project site, I snapped a picture of this flowering bush. I have no idea what it is.
The next project we inspected was a road paving project that runs from the main North-South road to the al Mustantiq village. This is another of my headache projects. And it’s managed by the same Iraqi contractor as the drinking water treatment plant project! There was nothing interesting to see on that road, so I didn’t take any pictures. On the way back to Mosul, we did a little cross-country driving. It made riding in the back of the REVA that much more uncomfortable. But the armor is thick (as Phil would say). This 3ACR patrol had to eat our dust while we were heading back to the main road. The first vehicle is my trail REVA re-entering the dirt road. The 3ACR vehicles are the ones with their headlights on. Their patrol consisted of 2 MRAPs and 2 up-armored HMMWVs (humvees).
I visited some project sites in Mosul today, east of the Tigris River. Chris Johnson and his 1-8 Infantry Battalion are responsible for the neighborhoods I visited today. The Iraqi Operation Lion’ Roar is still ongoing; however, the curfew has been relaxed a little. So there were people and cars out and about this afternoon. It was nice that most everywhere we went, the residents were smiling and waving.
Rick was once again able to coordinate for dedicated air coverage for our entire move. The 4-6 Air Cavalry unit provided two OH-58D Kiowa Warriors. Having eyes in the sky gives me a good feeling. We traveled today in the REVAs again. I was glad that today’s move only lasted for an hour, not like the 9 hour days in Sinjar and Rabiyya!
Our record for today was 1 win, 1 loss, and 1 tie. At the first site we visited, the contractor has done really good work. The construction is progressing well. That was the win. At the second site, a different contractor seems to have done no work at all. The pump station is in total disrepair. That was the loss. The tie was at the third site. At this location, the contractor is still finalizing his design and has not broken ground yet. I knew that before the visit, but I wanted to check the site before construction starts.
All in all, it was a very good day.
