After an unplanned delay my new blog is finally up and running. I would apologize for this delay but seeing as I am in Iraq I believe I have a valid excuse. Since arriving my team and I have been busy to say the least. Be it moving from the US side of the base to our new home in the middle of our Iraqi Battalion's footprint, or going out on numerous missions with our Iraqi counterparts our personal time has been minimized. Although this is not the ideal situation we are in a combat zone now so I should stop complaining. Never mind the fact that I have been through this before, I should not be surprised.
The work is tough, but our counterparts are very eager, interesting, and optimistic, now if I could only say the same for all the US here. I have about ten Iraqi soldiers I work with on a daily basis. They control all of the personnel issues as well as the salaries, I have yet to find a way to place myself on their payroll, but I have more than enough time. You would be surprised what a couple pairs of sunglasses here can get you. My Arabic is actually coming along very well, of course I learned all of the profanities first and that has gotten me farther than you can imagine. Conversing with the officers and soldiers is difficult without an interpreter but they speak to me as if I were an infant so that I can understand, and therefore they are prepared for my even more infantile responses. I simply take a basic Arabic sentence, add an Iraqi saying to it, finish it off with profanity.....and voila perfect Arabic.
I will try to keep more postings coming. I know I have a lot of time to make up for so I will get on top of it when I get a chance. The emails and packages I have received so far have been fantastic and I deeply appreciate them all. Thank you again for all of your support.
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