Thanks, Deathdealer...

for the tip. Wilco.

C'mere, Troop

Top distracts an INP to get him to point his RPG in the right direction (away from us) by offering to--you guessed it--pose for a picture.

Buddha's New Best Friends

Buddha and new best friends from the Iraqi National Police. The INP we are working with are motivated and aggressive. For a new unit, they are a lot more competent when they roll out than we thought they'd be. They are plagued by all the problems all Iraqi units suffer (primarily logistical in nature) but they maintain a positive attitude despite their often austere living and working conditions. They also love posing for pictures, to the extent that they'll stop in the middle of a firefight and say "hey, get one of me now!"
Our INP brethren have taken a real shine to Buddha. They haven't realized, probably due to the language barrier, that we make Buddha wear the helmet even during down time. So that he doesn't hurt himself.

Under the Wire

When you read the papers, you see that one of the average Iraqi's primary concerns is electricity, or in most cases the lack thereof. Providing enough electricity to all the urban centers in Iraq will go a long way to enhancing the government's credibility and legitimacy--which is why power stations and lines are so frequently targeted by insurgents and terrorists. The primary obstacle to providing adequate electricity is the almost geometric rate at which demand is outpacing supply. Every city and ville we've been through is festooned with satellite dishes, implying color TVs (if not full-fledged entertainment centers) inside.
Few people had televisions during Saddam's reign. And those that did had an eclectic mix of totalitarian propaganda and Big Brother public service announcements to choose from. Now, Iraqi's enjoy whatever media and programming they can pay for. Other electric appliances (often used and in varying states of servicability) are sold in the outdoor markets and indoor show rooms.
No utility company could keep pace with the Iraqi's exploding demand for electricity. So the Iraqis take matters into their own hands and run spikes into whatever power lines and sources that they can. The result is that when we go out on patrol, we're often traveling under an unbelievable net of home-grown power lines. This poses two problems for us.
As seen below, the MRAP stands pretty high. Definitely high enough to rip out some of the lower power lines. Gunner Joe already ripped out a major power line near one of our Iraqi National Police Battalion command posts. The line arced all over the top of the vehicle. Luckily, Gunner Joe was down in the turret with other problems, as the snagged power line had ripped his .50 cal out of the mount and dumped it into his lap. Still, the adjoining transformer was very pretty as it blew up and took out about a half block's worth of the grid. So there is some a safety issue with manuevering through the streets in an MRAP (or, rather, the power lines add an additional safety issue).
Which leads to the second problem: it's hard to win hearts and minds when you take out a guy's MTV, dude.

Dawn in Downtown Mosul

The Beast

This lovely beast is the MRAP, the Mungadai vehicle of choice. It guzzles fuel at an outrageous rate, needs about 75 feet of clearance to pull a U-turn, and does 0 to 60 in abut 4.5 minutes. And it is a beautiful, beautiful machine.

Taking a Break

Voodoo, Wheels, and Witch Doctor take a break.

It's all about the rules

In Mosul

We are currently in Mosul. Upon arrival in Iraq, the National Police brigade with whom we were going to be partnered was changed. We linked up with the outgoing team and signed for their equipment, but instead of assuming a partnership with their Iraqi counterparts, we were assigned to a new brigade which has never had a Transition Team before.

We signed for our equipment, did our driver's training, and conducted one combat control in Baghdad, and then headed out to Mosul. It took us two days to get up here--actually, it took us about five hours just to shake loose of Baghdad; I guess that insane heavy traffic is a good indicator.

We got to Mosul, checked in with our US "sponsor" unit, and then met our counterparts. We've been operating non-stop since we got up here. Things have been a little hectic. Our FOB is transitioning numerous units into and out of the AO, so when we arrived we got the "no room at the inn" story. We were allocated a condemned, ramshackle building that has, for all intent and purposes, been abandoned by the coalition. Except for the local latrine I had to bunk in one time in Kenya, it was the worst place I've seen someone try to stick US Soldiers.

The Mungadai did a great job getting the place shaped up (it's still a work in progress, and probably will be until we leave, but at least now it's livable). First, we acquired some mops, buckets and about 47 gallons of pine-sol. That got the first few layers of "ick" off of the floor. Top acquired cots, and a couple of hours later managed to procure some (brand new) mattresses. Of course, the cots are about 2/3 the width of the mattresses, so one has to tie them down to the cot in order to avoid unforcasted midnight ballistic impact with the ground.

Wheels and Maximum Lumber got hold of a carpentry kit. So benches, desks, and shelves were soon in all the rooms. We're working on getting internet, both official for the Command Post and personal for the Mungadai.

Our National Police Brigade, thus far in the operation, is pretty impressive. They are motivated, professional, and aggressive. They were moved up here to Mosul from Baghdad specifically to handle the toughest, meanest streets in Mosul. The Brigade Commander, General H., is determined to see Mosul purged of terrorists and insurgents, and is pushing all of his subordinate battalion commanders hard toward that end. He also provided a warm welcome to the Mungadai, and I think we won the lottery when it comes to partnering with a unit.

We have lots of pictures of our movement from Baghdad and our operations up here to post; unfortunately, we can't do it from the internet cafe. Once we get the internet up and running in our now-livable billets, we'll get them posted.

Also, your Mungadai now has a mailing address and should get it to you in the next couple of days. This is not a permanent mailing address, but should be good for at least the next month. I'll post plenty of warning before this address becomes void, sometime before we move back to Baghdad.

Desert Gypsies

I want to apologize to everyone that we don't have a mailing address to put out yet.

Upon arrival at the Phoenix Academy, we were told that we were going to receive a "truncated" version of the training, because we had to go out on a mission as soon as possible. So, in the very near future, we'll be heading out. Once we get to the AO and I find out what the Public Affairs guidance is and what the OPSEC considerations are, I'll post that information.

So, it's been a whirlwind for the Mungadai. We've signed for the outgoing team's equipment and conducted all of our transition tasks and training. We did our first mounted combat patrol today; everything went extremely well. We'll move out on the operation soon and, as I said, I'll post the details once I'm sure it's okay to transmit in the clear.

One of the surprises in store for us was that we had been "re-missioned." Instead of inheriting our outgoing team's National Police counterparts, who have responsibility for one little slice of Baghdad, we've been assigned to a brand-new unit that has (we think) a charter to act across the nation of Iraq. This complicates our "home base" footprint.

Also, once we complete the upcoming mission, no one is sure yet where the new unit will plant its flag. So, I can't put out a mailing address because the new location is so secret, no one in the Army (US or Iraqi) knows where it will be. Total Ignorance, it's what's for dinner.

Once we know approximately how long the upcoming mission is going to last, we'll know whether we should have mail sent (at least temporarily) to the mission location or whether it makes sense to just wait until the dust settles.

If we had known all this before we launched from Riley, we'd have probably named ourselves the Gypsies.

Finally, the last training iteration

The Mungadai arrived in Taji two days ago to begin our last training iteration before we can finally launch and start executing the mission we came here to do (we got here two days ago, and I'm just posting this now; I apologize, but as ever our internet access is constrained).

We'll be here for a week or two before we cut loose and start executing our Transition Team mission with the National Police.

All Mungadai are healthy, in good spirits, and knocking out the training with their usual superb professionalism.

Bandwidth Limitations

Our bandwidth size and internet speeds are pretty constrained here. I'd intended to post more of our Mungadai pictures as a substitute for substantive text until I get a little more knowledgeable about how to work this blog stuff. Unfortunately, it's taking me about 10 minutes to upload each picture. I'll keep at it, intermittently through the day. If you don't see your Mungadai yet, don't worry, I'll get a picture of him as soon as I can. Of course, everyone is in the cook out team picture, you know, the one where Voodoo decided to commit suicide.

Glass House II

Glass House Training at Fort Riley

Team Glass House training at Fort Riley. This was during the MOUT portion of the training. This was probably the best training we did at Riley. The only down side was that we only got three days to do three weeks worth of training.

The team cook out before we launched; Voodoo signed his own death warrant with the bunny ears. I guess Witch Doctor's got my back, which is a scary thought.

Kuwaiti Dawn

Initial Blog Shot

This is the first post for the Mungadai blog. The purpose of the blog is to give the team an easy, reliable way of letting family know how the team is doing and what we're up to. Right now, I'm the only team member who can post on the blog. As we figure out what we are doing, and how to better do it, we'll expand that.

There are a couple of issues the team will have to deal with before this blog is up and running and full speed. The first is obviously OPSEC. We'll do everything we can to keep family updated, but please be cognizant of the fact that this blog will be used, to the greatest extent possible, to update you on what we have done, not on what we're going to be doing in the future. While there is nothing secret in the mission of a Transition Team, OPSEC is still a vital consideration on anything we publish.

Also, I'm not real comfortable with putting the men's given names up on the site. So we'll go with code names, and family members will know, via separate correspondence, who their team member is by his code name. My knee jerk reaction was to just use our call signs, but some of them are pretty dry. Voodoo and Witch Doctor are, of course, a given and those will be used. I obviously chose Boss Mongo. I'm not (you may have heard) a real democratic type of guy, but I'll let the team members pick their own code names; as always, I retain veto power (yeah, I'm talking to you, Mungadai; keep it clean). Initially, I was going to just use some of the nicknames that we've been using around the team room, but I figured Cupcake and Hello Kitty might have some heart burn over that, so the guys will pick their own nicknames. 'Cause that's me, I'm a giver.

So, the plan is for this to become a better and better vehicle to let family members share in the Mungadai days. Eventually, everyone on the team will be able to post, and we'll allow reader comments once we figure out how all this works, exactly (Mongo no like magic computer box; magic box frightens and confuses Mongo). 'Til there's more to write, I'll try to post some of our Mungadai pics of the team thus far, once I, uh, figure it out. Speaking of which: Voodoo, while reviewing the pictures to put up, I saw you giving me bunny ears at the team cook out. You're a dead man.