What to write about? If that wasn't a rhetorical question! Whew, has work drained me these last couple of weeks. IEDs, evidence coming in, people to meet, training sessions, a joint Iraqi-US EOD conference... I've been working hard, to say the least. But let me talk about the conference.
The Iraqi Police, (IP), came to Speicher for a conference with Navy EOD. While the IP Colonels spoke with our higher-ups, the EOD techs and myself spent time with the IPs and their EOD team, to conduct training and to get to know one another. The training went all day and the officers spent the night.
So far, our relationship with the Iraqis has been a bit onesided. It would seem most come to the training not to really learn anything, but to use our services. They always bring about six empty fuel cans to fill up on free gas and simply look forward to the free meals in our DFAC. I can't really blame them as life is crappy compared to our situation here.
They have been more active but knowing that part of their security forces is a paid militia, made up of former enemies and insurgents, worries me. They've had members walk off the job at security checkpoints because of lack of payment. Just think of the negatives that will come of this. Hopefully we will all be out of here soon enough.
Besides this, I'd still rather be here, doing what I'm doing than be back on the ship. I did my time on the seas, and now I'm doing real work for my country. When the time comes for me to come home, I will enjoy the time spent with my friends and family. I also can't lie and deny that a real beer wouldn't be nice.
- Sailor Harry
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