Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wheels Up
For all intent and purposes, I'm OCONUS (outside continental US) for the next few months. I'll be travelling and living in temporary quarters for the next week or two with the rest of my training group, so internet connections will be pretty spotty. Not sure when I'll actually arrive at my final location, but I'll do my best to let everyone know. In the mean time, take it easy and have a good weekend.
Monday, January 19, 2009
First Entry Disclaimer
So, in an effort to maintain some type of communication with friends and family, I figured I'd try blogging. I'm terrible at calling people and sending emails, so we'll see how this typing every-once-in-a-while thing goes. Please don't expect daily updates, as most of you know I'm a quiet and reserved person anyways.
As you know, I'm headed overseas shortly to train the Iraqi Police--IP for short. I'd like to say I will do a lot of training and have a huge impact on the Iraqis, but my mission will be to take care of the people left to my charge so they can carry out the training. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time with the Iraqis, but making sure my people are fully supported will keep me employed. Our goal is to advise the IP chiefs and their personnel on law and order techniques as well as good practices for operating a police station. There are plenty of important missions in the Middle East at the moment, but ensuring the Iraqis are able to provide for their own defense and security is paramount to ensuring the success of our exit strategy. In order to make forward progress we must overcome the obvious language barrier, but even more difficult are the cultural differences. From our point of view these differences are viewed as laziness, stupidity, chauvinist, etc., but whether they are or not doesn't matter. The differences are ever-present and we must find a way to connect on common ground rather than change a population that was once the center of civilization years ago. Only time will tell how effective we are...
Enough rambling for me; if you're looking to get in touch with me, feel free to send an e-mail (phone will be disconnected shortly).
As you know, I'm headed overseas shortly to train the Iraqi Police--IP for short. I'd like to say I will do a lot of training and have a huge impact on the Iraqis, but my mission will be to take care of the people left to my charge so they can carry out the training. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time with the Iraqis, but making sure my people are fully supported will keep me employed. Our goal is to advise the IP chiefs and their personnel on law and order techniques as well as good practices for operating a police station. There are plenty of important missions in the Middle East at the moment, but ensuring the Iraqis are able to provide for their own defense and security is paramount to ensuring the success of our exit strategy. In order to make forward progress we must overcome the obvious language barrier, but even more difficult are the cultural differences. From our point of view these differences are viewed as laziness, stupidity, chauvinist, etc., but whether they are or not doesn't matter. The differences are ever-present and we must find a way to connect on common ground rather than change a population that was once the center of civilization years ago. Only time will tell how effective we are...
Enough rambling for me; if you're looking to get in touch with me, feel free to send an e-mail (phone will be disconnected shortly).
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