Latest News

The usual crew visiting with some judges in Khan Bani Saad

This week we had an attack against members of our Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) as they visited a government building in Baqubah. As a result, two members of our team died and two more were injured along with eight U.S. Soldiers. It was a pretty devastating blow and certainly reminded most of us that even though things are improving, danger is always a suicide vest, rocket or car bomb away.

As for me, I have been trying to get a few projects up and running before I take my final R&R in May. When I return from R&R, I will have approximately seven weeks until I am out of here for good. Things have been crazy here lately. Since the election results were certified (many weeks late) there has been a lot of uncertainty in the provincial government. Additionally, they attempted to arrest three members-elect of the Provincial Council on the same day they were to be sworn into office.

I was in Baghdad last week. Everyone at the Embassy is wearing suits and ties and you barely know that you are in Iraq. Then I come down from the hinterlands in my 511 tactical pants, wrinkled polo shirt and muddy boots. Maybe it is just my imagination, but they seem to stare at me like the village idiot who just peed in the punchbowl. They usually ask where I am working and when I tell them "Diyala," they all give the same "yikes!!!!, better you than me" response. Truth be told I much prefer FOB Warhorse to the Embassy, despite the lack of creature comforts. Although, they did have $1 Schlitz beer night while I was at the Embassy. The bartender stood there stunned when I asked for one, I don't think Schlitz has a strong following amongst the diplomatic corp.

Still Here

I am still here, plugging away at projects which may I may never see completed but I am "moving the ball forward" as they say. I've had a few visitors here recently including my boss from DC. It is the first time I've met him, as he replaced the guy who hired me a few months ago. He's a really good guy and it was nice to get some time to talk to him.

The weather here is perfect. About 80 degrees and sunny every day. It makes being away from home a little easier since I see that it is still snowing occasionally in Milwaukee. The dust storms are kicking up more frequently, however, which means summer and blazing heat are just around the corner.

This week I am working on putting together text and designs for billboards which will inform the citizens of Diyala that they have rights under the Iraqi Constitution. We are also going to run some radio spots with the same purpose. I am also working on getting a literacy program going for the detainees in the local jails. If they are going to sit for one to two years waiting for trial, they might as well learn something.

I cannot believe that I only have four months left. It seems like only yesterday I was landing in Baghdad. Irene would probably disagree with that statement.

An enterprising local Iraqi has opened up a restaurant on the FOB. It is actually more of a food shack with some picnic tables. You can have overpriced lamb sausage, roasted tomatoes and bread, or overpriced flavored tobacco in a hookah pipe. As you can see, I went with the hookah. It wasn't bad. Not something I would do very often, but not bad.

One Sad St. Patrick's Day

Wow. My first St. Patrick's Day without fun and merriment in about 16 years. I have to admit it is a little depressing thinking about all the festivities that will be taking place without me in a few short hours in Milwaukee. No Irish beer, no soda bread, no corned beef and cabbage, no Irish music and no hanging with my friends having a blast while a few dumb fools are at work. Damn.

Not to mention that today is also my beloved pooch Guinness' birthday. It will be the first year since we've been together that I won't be baking him his favorite "liver baby food" birthday cake with the yogurt icing. It is probably breaking his little heart. I always enjoy watching him take those first bites just before I headed out the door for a day of celebration. He still hasn't learned how to blow out the candles though.

The Nepalese guys at the DFAC have once again made their best efforts to capture the essence of a holiday they know nothing about. They splashed the place up with green streamers. Baked a cake with a shamrock on it, and made "Irish beef (not corned beef) and cabbage soup" (I didn't have the guts to try it yet). They also made a batch of green non-alcoholic beer. The only thing that depresses me more than not being home for St. Patrick's Day is the thought of drinking green non-alcoholic beer.

I hope everyone back home enjoys the day and raises a pint for me.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy Birthday Guinness.

London and Paris

Irene in front of the Eiffel Tower; me in the catacombs, the sign reads "Attention: this is the empire of death;" and both of us on the top of the double-decker in London.

I am back in Jordan after spending the last nine days in London and Paris with Irene. London was fantastic. We stayed in the financial district which was very centrally located. The hotel was right next door to St. Paul's Cathedral and extremely close to the Millennium Bridge and several other attractions. We walked all over the city and got a pretty good feel for it. We also purchased a bus tour pass for a day so that we could hop on and off at any of the tourist attractions. Irene and I were especially impressed with Westminster Abbey, coronation (and burial) place of the Kings and Queens of England. It was an impressive tour. I also enjoyed the British Museum which has amazing collections pilfered from all over the world.

The people in London were fantastic. Very nice and polite as was expected. The food was pretty standard "pub fare," but the selection of cask ales more than made up for the simple nature of the food.

After three days in London, Irene and I then took the Eurotrain through the "Chunnel" and arrived in Paris. Paris was unbelievably expensive. It was also quite a contrast with London. Whereas London was clean and well kept, Paris is covered with trash, graffiti, there is dog feces all over the sidewalks and Irene saw a guy peeing on a wall in broad daylight. The Metro (subway) in Paris was convenient, yet disgusting. Also, many of the Metro stations reeked of urine.

We stayed in two very nice hotels in Paris that were located extremely close to the Arc de Triomphe. Irene and I toured around Paris and saw all of the landmarks that are required on such a trip. The Louvre was good (though I preferred the British Museum) but as many before me have noted, it is too large to see more than a few rooms in a day. The catacombs were very cool and it was one of my favorite tours of the vacation.

I guess the best thing going in Paris is the food. After getting completely screwed at an Indian restaurant the first night there (I especially enjoyed paying the equivalent of $20 for white rice to go with our small plates of curried chicken), we followed the advice in a guide book and had some pretty fantastic meals for a reasonable (by Paris standards) price.

My main complaint about Paris was the seemingly endless string of French bastards that took it upon themselves to screw me out of my Euros. Besides the aforementioned $20 white rice, there was the $15 Guinness, the $8 glasses of water and the $5 diet cokes (and that was a bargain price -- the hotel charged $10). Then there were the constant "mistakes" that occurred at the restaurants. On more than one occasion we were "accidently" charged for items we didn't order or for the more expensive prix fix menu when we had ordered ala carte. Now, mistakes do happen. However, when you hand the check back to the waiter and he doesn't even need an explanation before turning to "fix" the problem that is a pretty good sign that he is trying to screw you. There was also the cab driver that charged 6 Euro to go about four blocks even though the meter read less than 4 Euro. I'll spare you the details, but I think Irene was surprised at the speed with which I chased that (profanity omitted) French (profanity omitted) down the street after we exchanged words and he laughed in my face and asked me "what I was going to do about it?" If only he hadn't made that next light I might have seen how the filth of the Metro compared with the filth of a French jail.

So to wrap up, that's thumbs way up for London. Thumbs somewhat down for Paris. Most importantly, it was nice to spend time with Irene and, hopefully, she has the "Paris thing" out of her system and now we can focus on a return trip to Ireland.

The Irish Pub Sucked

So I finally found the Irish Pub I was so looking forward to visiting here in Amman. I spent about 10 Jordainian Dinar ($15) getting to this place. It is called "Rovers Return." I knew it was near a certain hotel, but the cabbie had never heard of it and he had to stop twice for directions to the hotel. Even then, I had to search around the back and down some stairs to find the place.

I walked into a typical Irish Pub. Not typical as in you could mistake this place for being somewhere on the Emerald Isle, but typical as in it looked like a Bennigans in Indiana somewhere. Okay, but I'm in Amman, so the "throw-anything-with-the-word-Ireland-or-Guinness-on-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks" sounds pretty good right now. I spy a Guinness tap, lick my lips and walk towards it. "Salaam alakim" says the bartender. I give him the cursory "wa alakim a salaam" and quickly get in a "Guinness." He looks at the tap, looks at me and says in broken English "no Guinness." I said "are you out." He says, "no Guinness." I look at the drink menu and damned if he isn't correct. Guinness is not on the menu. Apparently the tap is for show. I then ordered a Heinken. That Heinken cost me 6.00 Jordainian Dinar, plus a 10% service charge and a 17% government tax on alcohol. Making my almost $11 Heineken the most expensive pint on record. Then came the ultimate insult. He pulled out a Heinken "mini-keg" (see my post a few weeks ago) and tapped my beer from that thing. WTF?????

It has rained and snowed here for the past two days. I was the village idiot for walking around in the rain. Apparently it rains so infrequently here that they still believe you may actually melt. Mothers brought their children out to look at me wandering out in the rain. Every cabbie in Amman tried to get me inside their vehicle. When I would wave them off, they would just stare in disbelief. I can't wait to get to London.

In Amman. No Guinness Yet, Just Testicles

(Top) Me about to eat a testicle; (Middle) The aforementioned testicle on it's platter; (Bottom) Kais and Alex enjoying the sight of me eating sheep testicle.





I made it to Amman this morning and for the first time our flight was actually early. I travelled with two guys from the PRT, Alex and Kais. Alex is originally from Lebanon and Kais was a General in Saddam's Army who fled after the invasion of Kuwait. They are both good guys with whom I have not had the pleasure of working too much at the PRT.

Alex told me that Kais and he were going out for a big Arab style meal in Amman, and they asked me to join them. After dumping our stuff at the hotel, we found a great little restaurant in central Amman.

We ate from a huge spread of everything from roasted chicken, to lamb, to hummas, some labaneh (a dried yogurt kind of like cheese)and roasted vegetables and bread. This is just the highlights -- there was also all types of pickles, relishes, etc. As you might have guessed from the title we also had "Sheep Balls" (roasted sheep testicles). Alex said that this is a great delicacy in Lebanon. I tried it, I ate it, and I liked it. Go figure. Alex also turned me on to a type of "lamb tartar" (raw ground lamb with pine nuts and hot peppers). It was all fantastic.

The only thing that really grossed me out was the salt flavored yogurt drink that they insisted I try. I tried it a few times, but dear Lord was it aweful.

We then toured the city which is much better with two Arabic speakers. All in all it was a fantastic day. I'm off to find the Irish Pub tonight.

Keep Them in Your Prayers

This soldier and the others mentioned were part of our Brigade at Warhorse. God bless them.


Utah soldier, onetime teacher, killed in Iraqi firefight
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune

The students in Micheal Alleman's class didn't take kindly to the news.
It was the middle of the school year, and the popular fifth-grade teacher was leaving his career as an educator to join the Army. He told the class he wanted to be like the nation's first president, who left his career as a Virginia planter to take up arms against the British monarchy.
"He said that George Washington was his hero," said Samantha Larkin, 11, a student in Alleman's class at Nibley Elementary School in Cache County, last year. "But it was a little bit confusing to us."
On Tuesday, Alleman's former students were among those in several Utah communities coming to terms with a revelation that was even more difficult to accept: The teacher-turned-soldier had been killed in Iraq.
Army officials said that the 31-year-old Utahn, whose wife, children and parents reside together in American Fork, died Monday alongside two other soldiers and their interpreter in a firefight in Iraq's eastern Diyala Province.
The details of Monday's assault remain vague, but the father of another soldier killed in the battle told The Daily Star newspaper in Oneonta, N.Y., that the soldiers' patrol encountered a bunker and, when the soldiers drew near it, they were fired upon. The Army earlier had reported that Alleman, Zachary Nordmeyer and Michael Mayne had died in a roadside bomb attack. Iraq's insurgents often use bombs to draw in or disable the vehicles of U.S. soldiers, then follow the blast with small arms fire, but the Army did not provide an expanded account of the fight.
Alleman is the first Utah service member to have been killed in either of the nation's ongoing wars this year, and his death marks the first time a Utahn has fallen in combat in Iraq since July 2007, when American Fork resident Nathan Barnes was killed near Baghdad. The period between the two men's deaths coincides with a precipitous drop in violence across Iraq, including in Diyala, which was once among the nation's deadliest areas.
Given the significant security gains, the commander of Alleman's Alaska-based brigade combat team said in a recent conference call with reporters that his soldiers were sometimes bored with their duties.
"They came here expecting it to be more of a fight," Col. Burt Thompson, commander of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry, said earlier this month.
But Thompson warned that Diyala was still a dangerous place, where al-Qaida guerillas remained capable of mounting deadly attacks.
Though too young to understand the complexities of the Iraq war, many of Alleman's young scholars had worried that their teacher might be harmed in the fighting. And so, Larkin said, not all of the students were supportive of Alleman's decision to leave. "The class was a little bit mean to him," she said.
Mindy Heaton, a literacy aid at the school and the past president of Nibley's PTA, said Alleman's departure left a difficult-to-fill gap in the staff and was hard on some of the students. "It was tough, because his class really liked him," she said.
But all seemed forgiven when Alleman returned from basic training to visit with his former students last winter. Arriving at the school with his family and wearing his dress uniform, just before Valentine's Day, he was greeted with gifts and handmade cards.
Larkin said Alleman looked proud in his uniform and seeing him dressed that way helped many of the students understand why he had left.
Principal Bill Landauer said it was clear that Alleman had found his niche. "He was the epitome of a soldier," Landauer said. "That's what he wanted to do, more than anything else. Teaching came second … the only thing that didn't come second was his family."
That family was huddled together Tuesday evening at Alleman's parent's home, where his wife and two sons have lived since shortly after he joined the Army.