My first night out to get some exercise on the local soccer field and it was going to be great. The weather was a little chilly but the lights were on and the dirt was soft. It almost felt like running on artificial turf without the green color and white lines. I can just imagine what it will be like in the summer: hot, dusty and sandy feeling.
The local players (contractors) came out and depending on their nation of origin were wearing their favorite team colors. “Where is the yellow from?” “I think it is Morocco or something”.
There were some English, and a few others represented there. Lots of blue, the three or four in yellow and of course our five in Army black and gray. “Hey sir, you need to have some “cormillo”, you know?” No; I don’t know. My Spanish isn’t that good but he was holding the other player by the back of the shirt while he leaned into him to get a practice header. Holding is a foul, but obviously some feel like “no call, no foul”. What does "colmillos" mean? Nobody knows, but finally CPT Morales says it means shrewd or more like gamesmanship. Literally it means fangs or incisor teeth it appears, but the nuanced English is hard for most of these guys.
Warming up and suddenly there is a blast with a tremendous overpressure off to the left about 200 yards or maybe a little more. Nobody paid attention but I could tell it wasn’t the cannon going off to announce “retreat” (when they bring down the flag) or a little gun. No this was a BLAST and the smoke was lifting up past the large wall that separates us from the outside world which is Route Tampa, a major road in Iraq.
I hear a voice call out from down at the goal mouth “Welcome to Taji!” to one of our other guys down there warming up.
I go to chow before they close and leave them to their game. SFC Meder is there (we work together back home) and he is telling me how great everything is. “Sir, I really like having my own room. After the 80 man barracks at NFH and the 70 man tent in Buehring and the 3 days getting here from thee I really like it here.”
“Did you hear the mortar? I think it was just over in the other pod. It was really loud!”
“Meder, I saw the cloud, it was just outside the wall. They think it was a V-BIED (Vehicle born Improvised Explosive Device; we could also call it a car bomb, but VBIED is so much more militaryish). We saw the cloud of smoke. Then about 2 minutes later a police car came by fast with its lights on. I wasn’t sure what for but the police never miss a chance to go fast or turn on their lights (ask my daughter!) so they were either going to check it out (although they seemed to be going the wrong way) or rushing to a donut shop. Wait! We don’t HAVE a donut shop, so it must be the former. Anyway another 4 minutes later the fire trucks went up towards another spot in another direction and the SOC trucks were another minute behind them. (SOC is the company that provides the Ugandan guards who protect the exterior of the base from attack or penetration and can also respond on the base itself.)”
“Sir, when I was in the Sinai (the U.S. has had Soldiers there keeping the peace for years; when are we going to get out of the Sinai? Or Korea? Or Germany? Or Japan? Not important, but we have to di di mao out of Iraq!) there was a three prong explosion. I think it was in 1995. Anyway they blew up three different cars in about a square mile outside the camp. It killed a bunch of people and we could see the smoke rising up and blowing over the wall.”
So people have been doing this for a long time and we only notice because we are in Iraq and these explosions make the news (especially if they kill a bunch of people).
I asked a guy at the soccer field waiting to sub-in how often it happens. He said the last mortar attack on the base was in October. That must have been when that Soldier had a foot severely damaged while in his CHU (room).
It really isn’t that dangerous over here but there are still bad guys out there. When you are over 50 there are two ways you can go; you can put your face into the sun and feel the wind upon your face or you can have God call you home and you will likely lose your place (REK). Fear not; have faith; as the locals say “Insha’Allah”.
Peace.
Matthew 10:28
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