Hi, all. Just a quick posting today. I start these things at the "house" and then almost a week goes by, and I'm still fooling with them. Guess I'll post what I got.

Man, you would not believe the biggest issues we seem to have these days. Right now it is air conditioning; who has it, and who doesn’t. Who takes matters into their own hands and removes swamp coolers from other buildings to “install” as wall units into their rooms. Who threatens Neville the A/C repair guy with cutting the power cords of all the a/c units if Neville doesn’t fix his room NOW (and this guy's a/c hasn’t worked since we got here). It has honestly been one of those days where I spent about 15 minutes on actual tactical issues and 12 hours on the most ridiculous, non-tactical, sanity-draining issues you have ever seen. Iraqi interpreters who don’t like Jordanian interpreters; Iraqi soldiers who bust the locks on two empty rooms (signed for by Marines) and take the bunkbeds out across the parking lot in broad daylight. It IS the Twilight Zone. The nickname for Iraq is “the IZ” for some reason. I think I will start calling it “the TZ”.

Working with the Iraqis is kind of like playing poker. We have our cards (gear, assets, money, knowledge); they have theirs (native personnel, speak Arabic, have ALL of the “boots on the ground”). Each day, each conversation, each operation is exactly like playing another poker hand. There are days when it feels like playing five games of multi-dimensional poker. Luckily, our guys are pretty good poker players, but it can get tiring. As Marines, we’re used to making the plan, executing the plan, giving orders, following orders, etc. These guys are not as… exact. You have to see the consequences, the give-and-take, over the LONG run. If I win this hand, what will the cost be tomorrow. If I shame them into going to Ramadi on schedule, what will they NOT do for me next week. This is the Land of Unintended Consequences.

Other news: the new battalion which took over from 1/506th is the 1/110th, a Pennsylvania National Guard outfit. They are a good unit, and I think that we and they will have a great working relationship. Their CO is a former Marine, and since half of our team is from Pennsylvania, we have started off on great terms with them. We all have a really good impression of these guys.

I’m off for now. Hey, if there are any specific questions that anyone has out there, about the camp, about the area, about the equipment we have, please let me know. I feel like I am just rambling sometimes, and would be glad to address questions and comments from the peanut gallery.