Operation .....

In 1787 at a Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was waiting to sign a document that would hold the fate and destiny of our nation. As he stood, his eyes fell upon a carving on the back of George Washington's chair, a carving of half a sun. He stared thoughtfully at it for a minute, then proclaimed words that would be remembered forever, "I have often looked at that picture behind the president without being able to tell whether it was a rising or setting sun. Now at length I have the happiness to know that it is indeed a rising, not a setting sun."

I had the privilege of actually seeing this chair many years ago, in what seems like a life time ago. I bring it up because recently the military announces that the mission in Iraq would change its name beginning Sept 1st – to NEW DAWN. Many have written with great enthusiasm predicting either a yes or a no to this answer. They over inflate either the strength or weakness of Iraq to determine a final outcome. Whether it this times marks 200 years of non-dictatorial rule for Iraq, I do not know. But I hope so. I know that success will only happen if we (or some other freedom loving nation) stays intimately connected with Iraq for the next several decades. We need not have the tens of thousands of troops on the ground, but out presence and investment needs to be strong. And we are leaving.

It is an interesting time to serve – at the end of a campaign. We well on our way to working on drawing down the military and transferring what we as the military to the Embassy or to the Government of Iraq. We are preparing to do less and scope down our mission to training and advising. In many ways it is like teaching, which begins with intense presentation, coaching in practice and finally fading in the last stages. We are planning for the fading stage. The only thing is that I missed the other two stages. I see the results, but I missed much of the work and relationship building. It is somewhat makes the fade stage a little disconnected. I can put my energy into creating something new – some stamp with which I can say that I did that it made a difference. Most of what I deal with was started by others. My goal is to end it well, which can be a thankless task. I haven’t found my rhythm in it all yet, but I am getting there.

Church remains a highlight of the week and we have a great new pastor. I will work on getting pictures of mass and put them up soon.

Peace,
Chris Culver

PS. Skype highlight of the week. Mom tells Josh to leave so that she can talk to dad. Josh replies, “Why?” To which mom replies in great mom fashion, “because I said so.”

Josh then says, “Well that is not a reason!”

PPS. Of course nothing in the navy is sacred so one of my buddies made the following powerpoint slide of the New Dawn Campaign medal.

The Home Front

Chris asked me to step in and share the perspective from the other half of “team Culver.” We are three months into this grand adventure. That’s a quarter of the way, yeah!

We are all doing well for the most part. I know Chris is working hard and keeping busy. That is what we are trying to do as well. The kids and I like to stay busy anyway—going to the gym, sledding, skating, playing games, reading, wrestling (though I am not nearly as good as dad is, the kids are quick to tell me). We have also been packing the house as we prepare to move. Chris and I looked at a house right before he left. It’s the one. We have been looking for years, and finally found one that has all that we need. We had plans to move when Chris returned, but it’s helping pass the dreary winter days by staying busy. It’s amazing how much stuff a family accumulates over time.

The kids are doing well in school, keeping up the hard work. We did not really know what to expect behaviorally and emotionally with Chris being gone. But their teachers assure me that they are doing well. Sophie misses Chris the most or is at least the most vocal about it. Josh and Ben say it from time to time; Sophie gets sad. When Chris left, we ordered a “daddy doll.” It is a stuffed picture of Chris in his uniform, about 12 inches long. Sophie sleeps with him from time to time and takes him to school. He has a special seat when he goes to the second grade class room. When not with Sophie, he sits on the couch in the living room. We have kept him away from Molly; she does like to chew on everything. (We got a puppy right after Chris left. He never wanted two dogs but the kids and I have wanted one for a while. She is very much a part of the family. Oscar, our other dog, loves her.)

We are getting help in lots of different ways and that has been great. Our parish community has been wonderful bringing meals every Friday. My parents have been helping out with child care and little extras. My aunt helps take the kids to school in the morning, so I can get to work earlier. We also have lots of people praying for us, and I really believe that this has been a huge help.

So, please keep us all and all the military families in your prayers.

Peace,
Kelly

Groundhog Day

Have you ever seen the movie groundhog day with Bill Murry? If not it is a must see. In many ways the movie is the story of my life here at USF-I (United States Forces - Iraq) - minus of course the snow (it was 80 degrees today. Winter is over and it is starting to warm up!) and minus the girl (mine is in Indiana and we just skyped). I do the same thing most days, just a little change in content. We work from 8 am - 9 pm, except Sundays so most of the days just run together. Most days I spend sitting at a desk or in meetings discussing things and making reports.

Attached is a picture of me sitting on Sadam's thone. it is almost an obligatory pose for the soldier here in Iraq. It is located at the headquarters which I get to very infrequently (been there once in my 2 months). I spend almost all of time at the Embassy complex about 10 miles away. You can imagine me saying "Off with his head." Of course that is the only breivity of the day.

A friend of mine who was here a last year asked me if I found the work meaningful. I wrote back the following.

"I find the work occasionally meaningful. At other times I find it a waste of time. The reality in Iraq for the US Military is a sovereign GoI, American Embassy Led effort and USF-I supported (USF-I = US Forces Iraq - combined Multi-National Corp-I, Multinal NNational Force -I and MNSTC-I and others all into one command)*, and USG (both military and embassy) drawdown. There is little support in any country for our staying in force beyond Dec 2011 (and rightly so).

The General Oficers (GOs) tend want to make things happen in the next couple of days, but all of our efforts now in Civil Capacity Development will takes months (rarely), years (most common) and even decades. The Embassy is slowly working to take it role as led USG (US Government) entity**, the GoI (Government of Iraq) claims its sovereignty and often makes good decisions, (of course they still Iraqis so you get the odd 4000 year old cultural response here and there). Of course as sovereign, good of bad they make the choices.

That said, I end up wasting time when any of the 53 GOs in country forget any of the above since that efforts goes nowhere. If we move contra the GoI direction is ends up as a jab in the press (i.e Biden's last trip) and/or it simply ends up in a drawer. If we move contra Embassy direction, we in the J9 hear all about it from our Embassy partners (rest of USF-I seems oblivious to it) and/or it simply ends up in a drawer. Don't need to fill any more drawers.

When I can move a problem issue forward and get solid results keeping the above in mind, then I am happy and content. This takes a lot of work and effort as it typically involves bring many and their diverse views into line."

Peace,

Chris Culver

* editors note, I just used the acronyms with my friend. The combination of the different commands was in preparation fro going from 150,000 troops to 50,000 troops. We are just over 100,000 right now and will be 50,000 by Aug 31 st.

** The Embassy is the lead US agency for Civil Capacity Development which is what my staff section deals with.

Beer, Football and the Army Way

By and large the week itself was very unremarkable. But this Sunday was SuperBowl Sunday and that was an interesting expereince for this Navy guy out here in Iraq.



The story actually starts my first week here as it was during that week that there would be a "special beverage" allowed on Super Bowl Sunday. Heay! Not much was promlagated about the special day. Two days before the game I received an email that that I needed to send an additional email to sign-up to get my beer. If I failed to sign-up I would not get my beer. That was all for the official word. The unoffical word was that to drink my two beers I would have to go to the DFAC (dinning facility) between the hours of midnight and the end of the game and drink them there. I went over at midnight and enjoyed a few with friends for an hour and a half and then sleepiness started to take over. The selection was actually nice. and the cost was free.



The game started at 2:3o AM local Monday morning. Fortunately for us they delayed that start of the Monday's work day from the normal 8 AM to 10 AM.



Of course the only bad think about the whole deal was that the Colts Lost - bummer.



Peace,

Chris Culver