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I took my last trip to Dahuk and Erbil this week. Originally, I planned a 3-day trip with Rob, my replacement. But as the days got closer, I realized that we didn’t have the luxury of spending that much time on the road. So I cut the trip down to one full day. We left Mosul at 0600 and returned around 1830. At the end of the day (just for you, Mugs), I was worn out and slept well that night.

While in Dahuk, I received a traditional Peshmerga uniform, like the one COL Pfenning received in Erbil. The Engineers in Dahuk got quite a kick out of me dressed as a Pesh! After getting fully decked out, I walked around with Rob as he was taken on a tour of the neighborhood. If I must say so myself (which I do), I believe I look quite dashing!

Dale as Peshmerga

Here’s a closeup picture.

Peshmerga Closeup

Last week, I spent a day visiting projects in Dahuk followed by a day of visits in Erbil. I saw lots of great projects. With construction projects, the most memorable things are the things that aren’t perfect. You’ve probably heard the phrase “good enough for government work”. When I was in Korea, we often joked that it was the land of the “not quite right”. Sometimes when I visit projects here, I think of “Iraqi good enough”.

At one school we visited in Dahuk, the contractor had recently completed a basketball court. Unfortunately, he installed the goal so that the backboard was almost even with the half circle below the free throw line. In the photo, Masuood, the Deputy in the Dahuk Office, is shooting from the line.

Masuood Shoots a Freethrow

Also at this school, the contractor installed a very popular fire extinguishing system I’ve seen at several other school projects.

Fire Buckets

How do you fix issues such as these? Easy, you put the USACE castle on the front, and that’s makes everything perfect!

Veen School in Dahuk

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!