Taji Log 10 Jan 07

I about shot a Dog Sunday.Me and an interpreter was doing a post check in my truck when heard a dog bark a few feet away. I stopped, got out and saw the dogs. Two of them were walking away from us. I followed them along to angle the shot and make sure it was a clean one...After all, I was using my 9mm. I heard the interpreter, "Pablo" yell "they have babies". I looked back across the cement pad and saw a puppy scramble under neath it. I couldn't shoot anything with a baby. I let them go. We did manage to get the camera under the pad and snap a shot.

The other night I was out on our parameter and saw several walking along in a pack. I was too busy chewing the Iraqis for bunching up. One of the Officers from the BDU MTT team wanted to see the view from our towers at night. So, everyone of the mobile patrols were racing to it worse than the cops back home. I promptly got out of the truck and lit into them that they were leaving other parts vulnerable.

This is Taji. It was quite a base at one time. One of the interpreters said that many of the ware houses were empty. it did have infrastructure though. Now everything runs on generators. Today I saw some LN contractors trying to get a generator to run. I joked with some other GI's that I didn't know that if people were to ask us what Iraq is like we should say everyone is worried about generators. These boy's figured it was because they didn't have any gas. They can't keep fuel in them, other than Coalition generators. That's a funny thing about this place. It's sitting on top of all this oil and nobody has any gas.
A problem we face as advisor's is the denying of responsibility. The Iraqis will shift responsibility around like a hot potato. The other morning I had to hand one radio batteries and tell him to take them out to the guards, it wasn't going to take five minutes. Everyone wants the benefits, but doesn't want the responsibility. I don't get it sometimes. How can some of these dudes have five kids and two wives? That's allot of responsibility and they can't tell me if they are responsible for small issues on Guard duty? They've been keeping up the radio batteries though.

Dogs can create tunnels under fences and pick up disease. But, about everyone I see is healthy.
I saw yesterday that some of my guards had taken in a puppy. Pablo wanted to. But, I can't. It's against CENTCOM General Order#1. Which covers no drinking, you can pretend to drink with "near Beer", don't mess with the women, don't pretend to mess with the women, don't feed the animals don't mess with them, don't pretend to mess with them. Oh and don't get caught.
I got a Christmas Card from a Muslim. They can be such kind and polite people and they are trying to kill each other.
A while back two Jundis, one Sunni, one Shia
got into a fight over the news of massacres in
Baghdad. The Iraqi Commander took their TV's
away and posted signs saying that they are brothers and will not fight.

They will fight he mud though. It sticks to everything. Rocks stick in it on the bottom of your boots. I saw an 18 wheeler stuck in a 1/4" of mud yesterday. There is nothing like it.
I topped seven months in theater yesterday. I'm now in my eighth month. In theory, I have four or five to go. I won't start the calender yet.



Fight the good fight, people
The Appalachianist