Food.

Okay, I meant to post this earlier in the week but I got caught up in work and forgot.

But after eating dinner today I remembered.

Last week I went to Camp Victory, which is part of a huge base consisting of other camps, the Baghdad Airport and some other stuff. While there I got to eat in their dining facility. It was awesome to say the least...

They had everything conceivable, all you can eat...even ice cream and smoothies. It was almost like heaven. Our camp you get the same crap every day...steak and chicken always overcooked. Sometimes pizza...always overcooked and sometimes vegetables, either under or over cooked. Then for desert we have about three cakes to choose from...which are usually a mess because we have to serve ourselves the cake with this tiny ass fork so the slices of cake fall on the floor, in the middle of the the rest of the cake, ect.

Basically, while our chow hall is better than nothing....that's about all it's better than...nothing.

It pissed me off at first...all those REMFs...in Iraq they are known as FOBbits, FOB Dwellers or one I read in the paper...FOB Goblins. These are the people who actually have office hours...their offices are closed on weekends...and they never leave the camp.

Oh no, oh no they get mortared they say! It's tough being a FOBbit in the Fob shire...The camp itself is larger than Fort Drum. It's huge...the chances of a mortar round landing close enough for them to even see it is probably less than there being a hurricane in central Iraq.

Yeah yeah...they do their part. I know...I'm just venting. At least they are here and not hiding in Canada like a bunch of wussies.

Raids, raids and more raids.

That's what we've been doing for the past week or so. They're actually a lot of fun to do.

I'm in charge of evidence collecting and cataloging. Which is funner than I thought. I also do a lot of searching, sometimes we bring a K-9 team in to sniff around...most of the dog handlers are from South Africa. They're all pretty good guys who know what they're doing.

On thing I've learned working with these K-9 teams is that Iraqis are extremely frightened of dogs. Sort of like most Americans are frightened of snakes or large spiders. It's really wierd to see people so scared of a some cute doggy.

Blah.

That's how I feel.

My sleep is all messed up. I've been going to bed between 3 and 6 am every day, then I wake up a few hours later to work. THEN, like an idiot I take a nap when things are slow which keeps me awake all night long again....it's a never ending process.

It doesn't help with all the soda I've been drinking lately. I think I'm going to quit drinking it. I've done that before and started drinking diet/defcaffinated stuff.

We've been doing some fun stuff lately, too bad I can't post any of it...hehe.

One good development has been the President being chosen. A Kurd. Which is awesome. A Kurdish guy runs a few internet cafe's on the FOB and outside the wire. He make all internet use free for 24 hours to mark the occassion.

What's going on?

A Sunni was chosen as the Speaker for the new Iraqi Transitional Government's Parlament. I suppose this puts to rest all their concerns that they will be left out of the process.

The Sunni clerics have also asked that Iraqi's start joining the Army and Police to help protect Iraq.

Also, Sunni insurgent leaders have started trying to end the conflict.

So who's left to fight?

From the looks of things around here (you can read about that in previous posts)....no one.

Well...there are still Jihadists around. But there are Jihadists in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, ect. So are they really here to help put out the 'occupiers'?

The past week....

....has been a fun one.

I finally got to watch that show. It was pretty good, I can see why it's the big hit on TV that it is. What they do is dedicate each show to different cells or groups they caught. Then they go over what each guy did...one makes bombs, one is the trigger man, one procures the stuff, ect.

We lived at a local Iraqi Police station for a few days. These guys are very dedicated to the cause. They barely make any money, their equipment is substandard but their morale is high and most of them have been cops for a long time. Their Commander has been a cop for almost 30 years and he is extremely professional and competent.

Got to eat some good Iraqi food while I was there. Some roast chicken, rice, flatbread and hommus...which I used to love to put on my falafal that I used to get at that Lebanese shop on Thayer St. in Providence, RI. I haven't had the chance to get some falafal here yet but my interpreter said he was going to hook me up with some.

Otherwise we subsisted on MREs and water, which sucks but it's better than starving. The best was when we had to go visit with the IP commander and that guy knows how to feed people. He never lets your plate get less than half full.

Anyway, we were at the IP station in order to better coordinate with them for the Shia holiday, Arb'iyyin. It's a commemoration of the burial of Imam Hussian who died in battle against the reigning Caliph about 1040 years ago.

Basically the IPs, Iraqi National guard and Iraqi Army did 100% of the security. We were there just in case they needed help...which they didn't at all. They did not allow any attacks against the people. The Iraqi people should be really proud of how for these guys have gone in such a short time.

I want to write more but I think I'll hold off so I can post again sooner rather than later.