Hey Guys, things continue to be busy at it is getting hot. It is only in the 90′s but when you are used to the great, mild temperatures of the Pacific Northwest this stuff can be a rude awaking. I probably should feel good about this nice weather, in July and August it gets up to 125 -130 degrees. Anyway, like I said I am keeping busy. I will be taking a trip up North to look at some projects, so I am pretty excited about that. While the Green Zone is realitively safe you can go stir crazy after awhile. A great thing about the Green Zone, however, are the things to see. Like the attached pics. Hope you enjoy. I also added alittle info on them. Take care, and thanks for the prayers and also thank you all for checking in on Jan, Melissa and Cassie.
Bill
Hands of Victory: To celebrate his “victory” over Iran, Saddam decided to build a Triumphal Arch. The concept of a triumphal arch is a European import, without precedent in the Middle East since Roman times. The colossal Hands of Victory monument has dominated Baghdad’s skyline since the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Built in duplicate, it marks the entrances to a large new parade ground in central Baghdad , towering 140 feet above the highway. The triumphal arch is shaped as two pairs of crossed swords, made from the guns of dead Iraqi soldiers that were melted and recast as the 24-ton blades of the swords. Captured Iranian helmets are in a net held between the swords. And surrounding the base of the arms are another 5,000 Iranian helmets taken from the battle field. On the ground are helmets that soldiers step on, further depredating the Iranian soldiers, when entering the parade field. The fists that hold the swords aloft are replicas of Saddam Hussein’s own hands. The German company that built the monument, H+H Metalform, said it was given a photograph of Saddam’s own forearms to use as a model. When Saddam inaugurated these triumphal arches, he rode under them on a white horse — an allusion to the steed of Hussein, the Shi’ite Muslim hero martyred at nearby Kerbala. The day before the first bombing run on Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi TV showed a mass of Iraqi soldiers marching beneath the huge crossed swords of the Victory Arch, to the theme music from ‘Star Wars’. In April 1998 Iraq’s “volunteer army” paraded for six hours in Baghdad’s “Grand Festivities Square,” the large outdoor arena marked by the two sets of enormous crossed swords.
Monument of the Unknown Soldier: The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is said to be inspired by the glorification of a martyr from the Iran-Iraq war. What looks like to many as a flying saucer frozen in midflight, represents a traditional shield (dira¹a ) dropping from the dying grasp of an Iraqi warrior. The monument also houses an underground museum. The artificial hill is shaped like a low, truncated cone of 250 m diameter. It is surrounded by slanting girders of triangular section that are covered with marble. Red granite, stepped platforms of elliptical form lead to the dome and cubic sculpture. The steel flagpole is entirely covered with Murano glass panels fixed on stainless steel arms and displaying the national flag colours. The cantilevered dome is 42m in diameter and follows an inclination of 12 degrees. It’s external surface is cladded with copper, while its inner surface features a soffit finished with pyramidal modules alternating steel and copper. The promenade is covered by a semi-circular, flat roof supported on a triangular steel bracing. The roof is covered with a copper sheet and the soffit displays V-shapped panels of stainless steel and Murano glass.
The transportation here is far from routine, security reasons of course. Not a lot of excitement since Operation Lighting has been going on in Baghdad. We have only had a couple threats and only one day where we had three shells hit in the International Zone. No one hurt. I was able to take a tour of the International Zone with some fellow Oregonians; Bill Williamson from Hermistion, a retire state police officer and Rick Lewis, Chief of Police in Silverton (?). Both are here teaching the Iraqi police force. The pics I attached are of Uday’s Palace that we did some good damage to and the Republican Guard Headquarters. Both are used by our forces, at least th e areas that are safe. I have been to many of the Palaces of Saddam and his family. They are beautiful but it pains me to see the life style he lived while his people suffer with no food, electricity 10 hours a day, repression…Anyway, his trial is coming up. Well, take care. More to come
Bill
Hi Guys, how are things? Sorry for the lull in e-mailing, Whew!! Am I glad one whole year is complete. Things are going well. Activity was nice and slow for June and July but is increasing as the Iraqi’s get closer to the deadline for writing their constitution. But, all in all, its not bad in the IZ. The insurgants indirect fire is still not that accurate. Their vehicle born IEDs, however, are impressive and very dangerous. I haven’t been doing much traveling; once in awhile I will go to Taji (about 30 North of Baghdad) but that’s it. Of course, Jan would prefer I stayed in the IZ my whole tour. A couple of days ago we had a heavy sandstorm, which was an experience. As far as contracting is concerned, spending a great deal of money and having the experience of a life time. Projects take forever to get completed. Costs are high because of, well, you can probably guess. We had two projects that we had to close down because a few of the Iraqi workers were killed or threatened. I think I had mentioned that before, but it still continues today. American and British contractors are making money!!! And, we have had a cooling trend with temps only at an average 115 degrees. I think that about covers it. Next e-mail I’ll provide something thought provoking like “what will the impact be to world order if the U.S. disengages to early?”
Take care, and God Bless
Bill
Many thanks for the support to our troops. This is the link to the website with the mailing addresses for our deployed soldiers: http://www.oregon.gov/OMD/DeployedUnits.shtml
God bless,
Capt Braibish
MICHAEL S. BRAIBISH, Capt, ORANG
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER
JOINT FORCE HEADQUARTERS, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD
Phone: 503.584.3886
Cell: 503.932.5805
Fax: 503.584.3912
Email: michael.s.braibish@mil.state.or.us
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Edmund Burke
Dear Jo, This link shows the various Oregon units in Iraq and Afghanistan. All we have to do is fill the boxes and send them to the names listed and they will be distributed to the soldiers. This will be easy! The items most requested:
For the kids that they interact with:
*Hard candy (NO CHOCOLATE-it melts)
*any school supplies
*pencils
*notebooks For our wonderful troops:
*Jerky
*Music
*Movies
*CD’s
*games
*local news
*magazines
*cookies
*pepperoni sticks
*skittles, protein bars
*and how about a note expressing God’s love and our thanks? The boxes that I have are flat rate boxes that cost just $8.10 to mail. It takes 7-10 days to arrive so items need to be sealed/wrapped accordingly. This would be great to do this. Let me know what you think.
John
Hi guys, How are things? Please forgive me for not writing, I have been extremely busy because I lost my second in command, he rotated out. His replacement is due in anytime so I should be able to pass some things off to him and be able to take some down time. Anyway, let’s see, what’s new? My office moved about a mile from our old office in the Palace. The building we are in, it is my understanding, was an art gallary. I haven’t seen any of the art, but the building is not bad. It is very crowded with all the different commands but it is functional. I moved to a different billeting area which is next to the Combat Support Hospital (CSH – pronounced cash). As you can imagine it gets noisy because of the medivacs coming in. I will say, however, that I have been extremely proud of the quality of people in the command because I haven’t heard one complaint of lost sleep or the helicopter noise coming into the CSH that on some nights seem endless.
These next few days leading up to the referendum will be an interesting part of Iraqi history. From my vantage point, this country has a long way to go. We shouldn’t expect to see a great deal of change overnight, but we should expect to see the Iraqi’s take control of their own destiny. As you are no doubt hearing in the news, that really isn’t happening fast enough. In the area of rebuilding the Iraqi infrastructure that has been an expensive effort, both in money and lives ( mainly Iraqi). We have had to stop, cancel, and reprogram projects because of the insurgancy attacks, sabatage, kidnappings, etc… Progress is slow.
Some parts of the country are better off. I have mentioned, I think, the Northern part of Iraq known as the Iraqi Kurdistan where progress is well ahead of any other part of Iraq. I took a trip up their a few weeks ago and was excited at the progress and the culture. It was sure refreshing to be around people who seemed to appreciate you. We visited the citadel and we interacted with some of the people still living in the citidel and around it (don’t judge the progress by the pics of the Citadel). The Erbil Citadel settled more than 8,000 years ago and is one of the longest continuously inhabited sites in the world.
I hope all is well. I am starting to really think about home but I am trying to curtail that because time really does feel like it is flying. You guys take care and keep us in your prayers.
Bill
Thanks very much for the packages. I will tell you that nothing will be tossed and in fact most of it will not last long. You really hit all the needs. We really are a community in this command and sharing has been opportunity to get a “taste of home” and our great country. Thanks for allowing me to share from our great State. I wish I could tell you the most important items but, you nailed it. I will be very carefull with your books on tape and the CD’s. They are perfect. Since we have moved I have been using my cd player much more because my running track is basically that, a track inside the walls of my billeting area and it is only 1/3 of a mile around. Boring!! The music and the books on tape will make it bearable.
This experience is very rewarding. The learning is constant so it keeps me very motivated. We have a long way to go with this country, or I should say the Iraqis have a long way to go. I am hoping that we are building a strong foundation they will need to rebuild thier country. But first, we need to get rid of the bad guys.
Take care and thank you kindly.
Bill
I just got back from a trip to Amman, Jordan. Things are not getting better in our area although I think we are gaining ground in the political process. Anyway, Jordan was good, I spent some time at the city of Petra and did a quick trip to the Dead Sea. I was not able to get the the site where John the Baptist baptized in the Jordan river because it was closed down for some reason. But, I plan on getting there and Mt. Nemo on my next trip.
Thanks again for the treats and most of all for your heartfelt support.
God Bless
Bill
You are a true American and a fantastic friend. I can’t thank you enough for all the support you have given me and my troops. As far as gifts I think I can speak for many in the command that simple little reminders of home are all we need. Nothing special, really. Heck, we don’t have time to do much anyway.
Thanks,
Bill
Howdy my PSD team with the 4ID is happy to thank you for your support. We have recieved boxes from some folks in Baghdad that just passed them on to us. But we appreciate what yall our doing for our troops. Thanks again and God Speed. I am a Soldier and SGT Teamleader Serving In Iraq. This is my 3rd trip. Me and my team all thank you.