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yesman065 · 11-12-2007, 07:58 AM

Sent: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 2:50 am
Subject: On the move in Iraq...

Well I spent the last 3 weeks working with the Iraqi Government getting together a major package of money, @ 30-40 million US dollars, for the province of Babil. This is part of a reconciliation process so that the local governments in each province, (there are 18 of them here in Iraq) will be rewarded with more money to spend on improvements in the province for they cooperated and worked with the central Government of Iraq, (GoI). I had to work out all the logistics to move the Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and a couple of the GoI ministries down to our Regional Embassy Office, (REO) in the city of Hillah Iraq so that they can land safe and security. The loading zone is extremely small and can only take 2 helos on the ground at a time. I had to have 6 helos come down in 3 flights, (2 per flight). I had to go out and borrow the personnel helo from Genral Petraus, (4 star) and the personnel helo from ambassador Crocker so that I could haul the VIP's & General Rollo, (3 star from the English Army) and the other Iraqi's. I also had to make sure that those 2 helos were not delayed for General Petraus had plans for them. Now that was an interesting event. I, (along one state department guy and another Navy Officer) spent 2 weeks getting all the logistic details set up and got the security part going so that it could be taken care of. The absolute hardest part was dealing with the Iraqi's. We would get name from then and than assign them certain seats on specific helos on specific flight going in and out of the Hillah air strip. They were like 9 year olds. "I can't sit with him on that helo for he did not come to my meeting last month", "I can't sit with him for he did not vote for me" and of course we had to take the Deputy Prime Ministries personnel chief so he could eat. The Deputy Prime Ministry did not want to eat the food at the event, but the others would, it was a mess!
We got them all to the helos and we pretty much "herded them" into the helos and got them down there and back. Nobody died and nobody was wounded or injured so it was a good thing. I'm sure some were upset because they could not be where they wanted to be, but that was to bad.
I also had to be aware of what was going across the river, (picture
included), for the insurgent would come up in the groves on the wire and shoot at you and at some of the helos coming in, or else drop rockets and mortar in to let you know they are there and watching. It made for a very interesting and exciting time down in Hillah. We even had a New York Times reporter with us and he wrote an article about the event and it was in the paper on 1 Oct. He did not mention any of us in the military as helping him and putting things together for him. We were to remain invisible, so he did not mention us in the article. You see, some good things do go unnoticed!
Well, in a war in Iraq conducting a lot of VIP movement and getting it
done with nobody killed wounded or injured is an event in itself. Then again, "this is Iraq so.....it is all good"

So how is life going along there?

CDR USN
"Playing in the Sand"

11-12-2007, 07:58 AM	#51
yesman065 Banned - Self Imposed Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 1,847	On the move in Iraq..Kilroy was here.... Sent: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 2:50 am Subject: On the move in Iraq... Well I spent the last 3 weeks working with the Iraqi Government getting together a major package of money, @ 30-40 million US dollars, for the province of Babil. This is part of a reconciliation process so that the local governments in each province, (there are 18 of them here in Iraq) will be rewarded with more money to spend on improvements in the province for they cooperated and worked with the central Government of Iraq, (GoI). I had to work out all the logistics to move the Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and a couple of the GoI ministries down to our Regional Embassy Office, (REO) in the city of Hillah Iraq so that they can land safe and security. The loading zone is extremely small and can only take 2 helos on the ground at a time. I had to have 6 helos come down in 3 flights, (2 per flight). I had to go out and borrow the personnel helo from Genral Petraus, (4 star) and the personnel helo from ambassador Crocker so that I could haul the VIP's & General Rollo, (3 star from the English Army) and the other Iraqi's. I also had to make sure that those 2 helos were not delayed for General Petraus had plans for them. Now that was an interesting event. I, (along one state department guy and another Navy Officer) spent 2 weeks getting all the logistic details set up and got the security part going so that it could be taken care of. The absolute hardest part was dealing with the Iraqi's. We would get name from then and than assign them certain seats on specific helos on specific flight going in and out of the Hillah air strip. They were like 9 year olds. "I can't sit with him on that helo for he did not come to my meeting last month", "I can't sit with him for he did not vote for me" and of course we had to take the Deputy Prime Ministries personnel chief so he could eat. The Deputy Prime Ministry did not want to eat the food at the event, but the others would, it was a mess! We got them all to the helos and we pretty much "herded them" into the helos and got them down there and back. Nobody died and nobody was wounded or injured so it was a good thing. I'm sure some were upset because they could not be where they wanted to be, but that was to bad. I also had to be aware of what was going across the river, (picture included), for the insurgent would come up in the groves on the wire and shoot at you and at some of the helos coming in, or else drop rockets and mortar in to let you know they are there and watching. It made for a very interesting and exciting time down in Hillah. We even had a New York Times reporter with us and he wrote an article about the event and it was in the paper on 1 Oct. He did not mention any of us in the military as helping him and putting things together for him. We were to remain invisible, so he did not mention us in the article. You see, some good things do go unnoticed! Well, in a war in Iraq conducting a lot of VIP movement and getting it done with nobody killed wounded or injured is an event in itself. Then again, "this is Iraq so.....it is all good" So how is life going along there? CDR USN "Playing in the Sand" Last edited by yesman065; 11-12-2007 at 08:15 AM.