Mike got called up and is serving in Iraq. My son and I went to see him a few days before he left and he was in good spirits.
September 17, 2005:Dear Friends,
It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to send any messages, so this is my attempt to catch everybody up on my travels thus far. I’ve gotten a lot of email messages from many of you, and appreciate them immensely. In order to be able to respond to all of them, I have set up some distribution lists so I can send updates to everyone. Some of this may be redundant to some of you, but if that’s the case, please don’t take offense. It’s hard to keep track of what info I’ve sent to whom. Also, the content is the same as what I sent to my non-military friends, so forgive me if I insult your military intelligence.
Okay, after a wonderful, hot (sans air conditioning) summer at Fort Benning, then Fort Sill, then Camp Atterbury, I was off to Kuwait, with a one hour stop for a Guinness at 6:45 AM in Shannon, Ireland – probably our last for while. In Kuwait we were at Camp Beuhring, which is in the middle of the desert – sand as far as the eye can see. We did some training in the 10 or so days we were there, but mostly just tried to get acclimated to the temps, which were 125-135 degrees every day. We were visited by camels once during our training, which was the most exciting thing that happened in Kuwait. It was also very windy during the day, which meant all your clothing was constantly filled with sand, not to mention your nose, ears, eyes…you get the picture. We lived in air conditioned tents, which were better than living at Camp Atterbury, but that’s not saying much.
From Kuwait, we flew to Baghdad International Airport (known as BIAP) on a very crowded C-130. It was a rather uneventful flight, which was just fine with us. From there we went to Camp Victory, which is nearby, and again moved into a tent. Camp Victory is very nice (relatively, of course), but more about that later. At this point we were looking forward to getting to our assignments and getting all of our “stuff” we had shipped ahead. But not so fast...after 2 days at Camp Victory waiting for aircraft, we were flown by helicopter to Tadji, which is slightly north of Baghdad, for more training. This would have been okay, if it wasn’t training we had already received earlier in the summer, some of it twice. But my mother always taught me if you can’t say something nice…
Where to start with Tadji? It is an old Iraqi military base (as well as a current one). There is the Coalition side which is really nice, with great dining facilities, gyms, etc. and the Iraqi side, with lousy facilities, Iraqi food in the dining facility, no PX, and living quarters which were built in the 1930s by the British, and were probably a lot nicer then. Which side would you guess we stayed on? So for about 10 days life was not so grand. And after my little bout with “Saddam’s Revenge” on day 3, I pretty much just ate cereal in the morning and chicken and rice for just about every meal. Yes, it was served every meal. If you’re wondering what “Saddam’s Revenge” is, let’s just say I always knew where a port-a-john was for about 3 days, ‘cause ya never know when… Okay, enough about Tadji, since I’m trying to forget.
After finishing up in Tadji, I finally linked up with the small team I will be with for the next year. We have four men, 2 lieutenant colonels and 2 captains. Our assignment is to train Iraqi Special Forces officers in the military decision making process (MDMP), planning operations and writing operations orders, and how to work as a staff. As far as assignments go, it’s a very good one to get, so none of us is complaining. We are at RPC, or the Randawiyah Palace Complex, about 6 miles from Camp Victory. We are southwest of Baghdad, not too far from the airport. The palace is one of Saddam’s smaller ones, but still pretty impressive. It’s on top of a man-made hill (the land is very flat in this area), and the view from up there is pretty amazing. There’s also a bigger palace over on Camp Victory, with a gold toilet and some pretty ornate rooms, as well as a man-made lake around it, but I haven’t had a chance to go inside yet. We traveled from Tadji by ground convoy, which was interesting to say the least. We had numerous up-armored HMMWVs (humvees) in the convoy, and we rode in Chevy Tahoes. No, the Tahoes were not armored, and yes, that made me nervous. It is truly a sight to see an American convoy moving through Iraq. All the cars pull off the road as we approach – if they don’t’, the lead vehicle blows a siren a couple of times. If they still don’t pull over, the .50 cal gunner on the lead vehicle shoots out one of his tires. That usually works, and happens a lot more than you would think. We shot out tires on 5 trucks in a 20 mile stretch. They apparently weren’t paying attention. It’s too bad we have to do that, but with the increased threat of suicide bombers in cars, we just can’t afford to let vehicles get close to a convoy. It was sad seeing the poverty and destruction in the countryside, then looking at the opulence of the palaces. We found out right before coming here that we would not be moving into the quarters of our predecessors, since a Special Forces team was taking it over. This was concerning, since it’s a great place. Instead, we were given a house that no one had been in for a while. It was absolutely filthy and everything was covered in dust, but after about 6 hours of 4 guys working, we got it in a livable condition. It will actually be really nice after we do some more work on it. We’re living much better than many American soldiers in Iraq. All the rooms have tile floors, and the steps into the great room are marble. We have 3 bathrooms, each with a small shower. Toilets are unreliable at best, so we’re taking no chances – it’s port-a-johns for the next year. The classroom is about 3/8 mile from our house, the gym and recreation center are closer, and the dining facility is about ¾ mile away. This is a fairly secure area, but we still carry our 9mm pistol with us wherever we go. The temps are down into the low 100s, which is surprisingly comfortable after Kuwait. Other than missing home, Katie, and the girls (oh, and probably golf a little too), I can’t really complain too much.
Although I was looking forward to getting to my assignment, I was disappointed to have to say good-bye to the last of the Pirates I had been with since Fort Benning. Some of you don’t know about the Pirates, so I’ll explain that now. About 25-30 of us arrived at Fort Benning on April 24, all soldiers in the IRR (Individual Ready Reserve), with anywhere from 1 to 13 years since we wore the uniform (6 years for me). We have in common the fact that we got called up from Fort Living Room by surprise, and the fact that we were trying to figure out what Uncle Sam had in store for us. We bonded pretty quickly during in processing and training at Ft. Benning, especially the 18 Field Artillery officers. At each station we had to go through (finance, medical, etc.), we were asked what unit we were with. We would say “We don’t have a unit, we’re IRR.” Then we started to say errrrrrr! for IRR, which became Arrrrrr!, and soon we became known as the Pirates. The 18 of us traveled to Ft. Sill, and became even closer. After Ft. Sill, 2 were sent to Djibouti in Africa, 6 to Afghanistan with a Florida National Guard unit, 1 to Iraq with a Georgia National Guard unit, and 9 to Iraq with the 80th DIV (IT), where I am. The 9 I am part of was split into 7 and 2 at Camp Atterbury, and now we are in various locations in Iraq. The 7 of us this summer were even referred to as the Pirates as a group when planning training events, and probably had more cohesiveness than anyone else in the unit (by its nature, it’s not a very cohesive unit). We all stay in touch by email and send pictures from the different locations.
We stepped right into our mission, since there was a class 2 weeks into a 3-week course when we arrived. After about 4 days of transition with our predecessors, they are headed home, and we have taken over teaching the Iraqis. Although it’s been less than a week, I’ve enjoyed working with the Iraqi soldiers so far. They are truly fighting for their country’s freedom, especially now that many of the insurgents are not really insurgents at all, but terrorists from surrounding countries. They just had a service today for 5 of their fellow soldiers who were killed in fighting near the Syrian border. They are very interested in hearing about America, and love to see pictures of our families. They are also very interested in learning how our Army works, especially the leadership. The class we teach is for officers and senior NCOs, and they tell us they like the way their army has changed since the Americans began teaching them. The say before leaders didn’t care much for the soldier as a person, or that he had a family, and just pretty much treated him badly. Now they are learning how to take care of soldiers, so they will be loyal and fight when needed. Loyalty was gained through fear before. One of the biggest challenges facing their army and their country is that people are much more loyal to family and tribe than to the nation – there’s just not a pride in country like we and many nations have. Of course, with Saddam the ruler for so long, this is understandable. So we are trying to help instill a pride in nation at each opportunity. I’m still learning the cultural differences, so I’m sure I’ll have more on that later, and I’m working on perfecting a few Arabic phrases. Classes go slowly because everything goes through a translator in both directions, but you get used to that pretty quickly. After this class, we will be working on the other part of our mission, which will be working directly with the Iraqi Special Forces Brigade staff as they plan missions. It should be pretty interesting.
Many of you have asked what I need or want. Really, I don’t need anything right now, and I haven’t been here long enough to know what I want, but if that changes, I’ll let you know. The group of officers we are replacing had worked on a project where they had gotten boxes of school supplies from people at home to give to the local children in the area. They also gave small toys, stuffed animals, children’s clothing, etc. The need is great, and this is project I would like to continue. It also helps our cause because people see the military as a friend of the people, whereas in the past it has always been something to fear. If any of you would like to send some of these items, I would appreciate it. My address is as follows:
CPT Michael Pace