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.
