So we got told to put up a flag pole outside our compound. The flagpole is supposed to be used to fly an Iraqi flag, signifying the Iraqis are now in the lead as a part of the new bilateral security agreement that goes into effect on 1 January. Somebody with a bunch of rank decided it would be a nifty and splendid idea to put up a flag so everybody would know Iraqis were in charge. So as is the Army Way, we overengineered the hell out of the project and micromanaged it to the highest levels possible. Apparently it was absolutely critical that this flagpole be up and operational by 1 January. Magically, almost overnight, a flagpole and ten bags of cement appeared up at FOB Mahmudiya.
We had to put the pole up with an Iraqi flag to symbolize the shift of power to the Iraqis. The silly thing is, I live on an Iraqi Army compound, and I'm surrounded by Iraqis who already know this.
The interest in the status of my pole began to garner a lot of attention. I got somewhere in the neighborhood of four phone calls a day inquiring about its status. "What's the status of the Iraqi Security Agreement Symbol??!?!?!" they would ask. Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels, and Majors all called to see what was up with the pole. "We have to provide a daily status of it every day by 0900" they would say.
Wow. Is that all that's going on? Heck, we may as well pack it up and head home if a pole is all we have to worry about.
Nobody inquired this much about the power cable we needed to give power to our CHUs; it took us over a month to get that thing. Power cables are something I would think were pretty easy to come by in Iraq, what with all of the infrastructure repair we are doing and what not. The cable also "didn't make it on to the LOGPAC" on more than one occasion. Guess cable isn't important, or it didn't have the oversight of a bunch of people who didn't have a whole lot to do.
But flagpoles... That's sort of an uncommon item. Somehow they got that 30 foot pole here in about three days.
Even the Iraqi Army guys asked us why we were putting up a pole outside our compound. Even they know that flying an American flag is forbidden (as it shows we are occupiers). We told them it was for an Iraqi flag, and they gave us the confused dog look. But we put it up, to show that there were Iraqis here on the Iraqi Army compound.
Somehow this is supposed to get me home faster.
In an effort to capture the silliness of the moment, I took a picture of the fellas 'raising the flag' to satiate inquisitive minds. I had to provide a real-time visual status of progress. So we had some fun with it. I don't think the Marines had to contest with this level of goofiness of their event on Iwo Jima, and my hat is off to all of them for what they did there.
Hope you are well. Check out the New Years post below, too. Have a good one, and thanks for reading.
Ron
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