Last night I hopped a flight to Camp Delta in the city of Kut in Wasit Province. Kut has historical significance because in 1912 during World War I, the Turkish sieged and defeated the British who were holding out in the city. Ironically, the Brits chose not to base themselves in Kut when they took this sector, giving it to the Georgians instead.
The flight was already supposed to take off late -- past midnight, and for some reason, it was delayed by 2 hours, and I didn't even arrive until around 4am. I felt bad because my host, the Brigade civil affairs staff officer was waiting for me and I had no way to let him know the flight was delayed. When we arrived, he was not there because the air operations night staff had told him that the flight was cancelled. Fortunately, we managed to track down their first sergeant and I made it to my crash pad. By then, I had less than an hour to lie down before having to get up for the morning mission.
I had breakfast with MAJ W, the agricultural guy who has a ton of related civilian life experience. He grew up farming, has been a dealer of heavy farm equipment, and now teaches agriculture at a local college. The morning's mission was to go out to a poor rural area to show them a way of irrigation.
We gathered up and the security convoy leader gave a quick briefing. I had rigged my gear up the night before and was ready to go, including swapping out a M4 carbine for my M9 pistol. We loaded into 4 M1151s, which are uparmored HMMWWVs. Other than the gunner, TC, and driver in each vehicle, there was myself, MAJ W, the CA team leader, CPT L, and 2 translators. As we drove out, it was my first time seeing women in abbayas, men in mixed robes or city clothes. I saw quite a lot of Iraqi Army and police presence. A lot of construction was going on, which is always good, and there is a lot of waterways in and around Kut. After going through the city, we started out on the open highway (just 2 lane). We had gotten maybe 15 km outside the gate when we pulled over -- smoke was coming out of our engine. As luck would have it, the truck I was in had broken down for the first time in the entire 1 yr rotation. The decision was made to return back to base, rather than rolling on with just 2 vehicles.
It took a LONG time to put on the tow bar and maneuver the vehicles for towing, during which traffic was blocked up on both sides for about a third of a mile. We finally got turned around and then had no air conditioning and could not open the windows due to safety reasons. It was hot and not a bit comfortable. On the way, I had a chance to speak with "Dia" the bicultural, bilingual advisor (BBA) and asked him questions. Two main ones stuck out in my mind: (1) the Georgian troops we had replaced were corrupt and shook people down. (2) About 60% of the locals would want us to stay, while the other 40% wanted us to go, even knowing that stability would worsen.
After we got back, I went around and introduced myself to some of the provincial reconstruction team members. They are the main experts (supposedly) on infrastructure development and governance, etc. I learned that there are actually at least 3 types of PRT people: the career State department or Foreign Service Officers, USAID workers, and then there new, temporary hires. I had a good talk with the governance/economics guy, where he noted that the State Department often needs green-suiters to seize the lead and lead projects, inserting focus and setting priorities.
After a couple hours to recharge, I met up with the BDE S3 and XO. They are going to help set up missions out in sector for me to meet with the battalion and companies out in Wasit.
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