3:10 to kirkuk

so it's been yet again another span of time since my last post... so here's the latest scoop on my travels/adventures abroad.

my most recent excursion involved... just that a ford excursion. for the last couple of weeks i've gone to almost every region of northern iraq with the corps of engineers. the corps of engineers is still an enigma to me as far as how it operates. it's army driven but funded through the da, not dod. i'd like to say that after my trips that i understand their structure more... but that's not the case. i do have a new appreciation for the work they do. 99% of the corps are civilians. so they truly volunteer to come over here. and unlike many of the contractors... these folks aren't doing it for the money.

anyway... i've digressed from my trip report.

journey #1: we headed to logistics support area anaconda (lsa anaconda or mortaritaville as the locals call it.) flights were hard to come by so we drove. not in your standard military vehicle mind you. as i said... they're da not dod... so we took up-armored ford excursions as well as a contracted security force. i felt like a v.i.p. for sure. lsa anaconda is plush... as it is one of the largest bases here located just north of baghdad. other than that... nothing too spectacular. we met up with a lt. gen. who's in charge of both the corps of engineers and all the other engineer units in the army. after touring the construction projects on the post and speaking to the troops... we (my group and the general's) headed to sulaymaniyah.

sulaymaniyah is a province that borders iran and is north of baghdad and east of kirkuk. it's kurdish run so i was in for quite the treat. you see the kurds pride themselves on being a progressive culture... the airport was just like a small town private airport back in the states. very impressive. it was here that i visited an old russian castle, that sadam used to torture kurds and is now being renovated into a prison. due to all the bad memories it will double as an incentive to not break the law. i also ate the best meals i've had here. the corps of engineers office in sulaymaniyah is inside a kurdish post and their cook is a local. he was trained and worked in germany but moved back to iraq to marry and because he felt it was safer. his food was awesome. red wine beef... do i need to say any more?

after checking out the old castle... we headed to kirkuk on our way back to speicher. nothing eventful happened other than the coolest car ride through town of my life. when we got to kirkuk... we decided to go through the city instead of around. remember i'm travelling in an excursion. we zipped through the city really fast and more direct than the roads were designed to allow. we jumped medians and forced traffic to make a hole for us to fly through. it was like being in a bourne identity car chase. awesome... simply awesome.

needless to say... i made it home safe and sound... but i have new experiences that have helped shape my view of how the country as a whole is doing rather than just what's on the news. none of the news agencies go to the iraqi controlled provinces and report on the successes. that's not sexy enough. they just stay in baghdad where the main government drags its feet constantly, and in mosul or the diyala province where the insurgency still has a foothold.

this was only journey#1... i saw how long this blog was so i'm going to split them up.

to be continued...