Retelling from My journal: 4 April, 2009 A lot has happened since I last wrote. I promised I would never talk about operations but this is a story I need to tell. Its not the worst thing that has ever happened to me in Iraq, just another day really but it shows how everyday here is uniquely dangerous. We work on the border with Iran. The previous team had never visited all of the border forts and we needed to in order to know our battle space and affect the situation. On the map, one castle...read more

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 Watching TV of late one sees a lot about the Iranian elections, Michael Jackson, and maybe the beginning of the end in Iraq. It really is the beginning of the end here. While on a recent logistical mission to the massive base at Balad Iraq my team was stuck in a sandstorm keeping us in the base until the security agreement deadline had passed. By the agreement, advisors like us are exempt from the many provisions. The main provision is that no coalition forces are permitted inside major cities...read more

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 One of the blessings of this my second tour in Iraq is the cultural interaction. As a Transition Team we live with the Iraqi Army. We stay on the third floor of a 3-story building inside an Iraqi base, not an American forward operating base (FOB). The Iraqis live on the first floor. Most nights we have Chai together, the main Iraqi officer CPT Basil, who speaks a smattering of English, always calls me his brother, as he did with our predecessors. The fact is, we are his family. He has no wife...read more

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