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Nov 19 2009
New View of Samarra
Written by JD Johannes   
Thursday, 19 November 2009

In the lexicon of Iraq, few words carry as much meaning as Samarra.

This city on the Tigris river north of Baghdad was the source of the sectarian slaughter of 2006 and 2007 and the scene of some the most violent fire fights of the same era. 

Even as late as 2008, it was city to be by-passed when traveling north or south on Highway 1. 

The city is peaceful enough now, but still struggling with an identity crisis.  It is a Sunni city but home of a holy Shia shrine that draws millions of pilgrims a year.  It was once the leading city of Sala ad Dihn province, but during Saddam's regime, the seat of government was moved to Tikrit.  The Sunni tribes fought with the coalition to rid the city of Al Qaeda, but the Shia security services from Baghdad dominate the old quarter near the Golden Mosque.

And it was the second bombing of the Golden Mosque in 2006 that was the catalyst of the sectarian upheavals and rampant murders of 2006 and 2007.

The Golden Mosque is being rebuilt, the city is very safe by Iraq standards and the pilgrims are returning in force.

Read more...
 
Nov 13 2009
Thank a Vet
Written by David Chavarria   
Friday, 13 November 2009

Last night the local grade school performed their Veteran's Day program titled "Americans We".  I was very moved by the first song and wanted to share some grade school kids singing something worthwhile.

If you would like a copy of the complete program, please contact us and I'll let the school know if there's enough interest.

 
Nov 12 2009
The Training Enviroment
Written by JD Johannes   
Thursday, 12 November 2009

I have lifted weights more in the first few weeks of this trip to Iraq than I ever have before. 

The lower operational tempo is a contributing factor.  In the "old days" I would go outside the wire for days or weeks at a time sleeping in the dirt and living off the land or living in a Patrol Base or Combat Outpost that was just a rented house with a pallate of bottled water stacked up in once corner and boxes of MREs in another. 

The other contributing factor is that every Company sized installation now has a nice little gym.

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 The gym at JSS Sharquat in Northern Saladin province, Iraq
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Because the equipment varies from place to place (I'm on my 4th gym in 3 weeks) and there may not be a soldier around to spot me, I try to stick with dumbbells.  The only problem is that on dumbbell incline press I need 100 pounders and most of the smaller gyms only go up to 80 or 90 pounds. 

But at least there is a gym! 

In this end-stage operating enviorment I work out in the morning, eat breakfast, read the Bible, figure out what is going on that day, jump in an MRAP, bounce around in the back of the MRAP, eat lunch with important local Iraqi, head back to the base. 

I keep a few low-carb protein bars in my cargo pocket while on missions and a tub of whey protein at whatever little base I'm living at. 

The only other downside is the food.  At the big bases there is plenty of protein at the DFACs (chow halls.) 

At a little place like Sharqat some meals are mostly carbs. 

The whey protein is a must. 

I still log my workouts like I recommend people do in my book.  Overloading over time is important even when in a combat zone. 

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 Get the book on Amazon.com!

 

My workout is a simple four day rotation.

Day 1--Lats, rear delts, traps

Day 2--Chest

Day 3--Biceps, Triceps

Day 4--Delts 

The unpredictability of Iraq imposes days off. 

If I was at a larger FOB for a year, I could do a serious cycle through the Phases of the System.  But with moving every week and eating 1 Iraqi meal a day, my goal is just maintain.

 

 

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Nov 11 2009
Veterans at Work on Veterans Day
Written by JD Johannes   
Wednesday, 11 November 2009

Sala ad Dihn Province, Iraq-- 

In the US many Americans barely notice Veterans Day.  The banks and post offices are closed.  Federal Employees have the day off.  Some states and local governments may be closed. 

There are ceremonies and memorial services. 

But here in Iraq it is another day at work in a combat zone. 

The Soldiers of the 1-28 Infantry, the Black Lions, went about their work. 

 

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I went with a Platoon to the city council meeting in Ishaki, a small town south of Samarra. 

The Platoon Leader sat back during the meeting and let the Iraqis do their work.  After the meeting he talked about the timeline of some development projects with the Council President. 

 

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The meals were the normal rations heated up by Army cooks.  The big KBR Dining Facilities are for big bases, not little outposts. 

The kitchen at the JCC in Samarra is of typical design. 

 

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If many of the Soldiers realized today was Veterans day, they didn't show it. 

I didn't really realize until I looked at my pocket calendar. 

For decades veterans were older men.  Now they are women and men in their early to mid twenties, many on their second tour in a combat zone. 

They were not drafted.  They did not join when the entire nation was mobilized for war. 

They volunteered when the war in Iraq was unpopular.  They re-enlist knowing they will face a fight in Afghanistan. 

They are the ones willing to stand on the wall that protects the modern culture--the plastic-disposable-drive-thru-strip-mall culture of America from the people who want to burn it all down. 

Too many of the people in the drive-thru culture went about their day today without realizing what the young men I was with today do for them. 

It is a luxury they enjoy because Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and even Airmen will leave the plastic world and enter the real world.

JD relies on viewer support to keep reporting from the war zone. Please hit the tip jar or buy a dvd.
 
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Nov 09 2009
Is This What Victory Looks Like?
Written by JD Johannes   
Monday, 09 November 2009

I do not know what victory looks like in a counter insurgency.  With the recent bombing in Baghdad it is hard to say that a true victory and a true peace has been achieved.  There are still deadly attacks on US troops.

The true success of the war in Iraq will be revealed in the coming months and years.

But what is for sure is that the fight is now being waged by the Iraqi police and, to a lesser degree, the Iraqi army.

After full implementation of the Status of Forces Agreement on June 30th 2009, the US role in the remaining counter insurgency has dwindled.  The US Forces in Iraq are no longer waging an active war against violent extremist networks, their role now is stability, economics, governance and training.

The US Forces Iraq fill a gap between the central government of Iraq and local government.

Here in Saladin province north of Baghdad the 4th Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division is rapidly adapting to the new normal.

In 2007 during the troop surge the 4th Brigade was deployed to some of the roughest parts of Baghdad like West Rashid, Ammel, Bayaa and Rustamya.  I was embedded with unis from the 4th Brigade in 2007 and filmed the soldiers as they actively hunted down Jaish al Mahdi and Al Qaida cells and shot it out with hidden gunmen.  I went with them on grueling daily patrols through the neighborhoods to conduct census and intelligence gathering missions.

In 2007 the Iraqi Army and Police were in the background and at best they were merely ineffective, at worst they were aligned with the active enemy.

Now, in late 2009, the 4th is back in Iraq in the area around Tikrit with a whole new mission.

Read more...
 
Nov 09 2009
Snapshots from Tikrit
Written by JD Johannes   
Monday, 09 November 2009

  (The companion story to this photo essay can be found here )

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General Abdullah (Ret.) and LTC Cain, commanding officer of the 2-32 talk politics in Tikrit.
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JD with LTC Ahmed, commander of an elite police unit, the RDU
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 The RDU's unit patch
Read more...
 
Nov 03 2009
Free Speech on the Cheap
Written by JD Johannes   
Tuesday, 03 November 2009

This line from a Washington Post story jumped out at me:

"The arrival of war dead at Dover has long pitted free speech advocates against the government, which had been accused of using the ban to hide the horror of war from the public--especially as casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan began to climb."

The article is by Christian Davenport.

I'm at a little outpost in northern Iraq, fresh back from a patrol where we met with a local Sheik.  The previous day I had rode with US Soldiers to a logistics base on a resupply run and while there picked up a few back issues of Stars and Stripes where I read the story.

In the story, a previous graph has a quote from University of Delaware Journalism Professor Ralph Begleiter one of the above mentioned free speech advocates.  Begeleiter said, "Taking pictures of the returning casualties to Dover is a measure of the human cost of war.  Do you want the government ultimately to have control over what we see or not see?  Or do you want independent observers, an independent press or media, relaying those images?"

Mr. Begleiter if you really want to understand the human cost of war, don't stand on a fucking tarmac, get embedded and see the human cost of war up close and personal where the price is actually paid.

But many of the free speech advocates have no desire to put themselves at risk to tell the stories of the women and men who have willingly put themselves in harms way.

They want to do it on the cheap, standing on concrete in the US at a scheduled time rather than face the capricious hazards of war standing on the sands of Iraq or rocks of Afghanistan.

Many of those free speech advocates are interested only in the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines as props.  As the story illustrates, very few of the arrivals at Dover are covered by the media.

When a reporter is embedded with US forces they at least have to share some of the risks and possibly themselves become another account in the human cost of war.

I have been ready to pay that price for the last five years and nearly had to pay it a few times.  How many of the so-called speech advocates have been willing to pay that price?

 

JD relies on viewer support to keep reporting from the war zone. Please hit the tip jar or buy a dvd.
 
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Oct 19 2009
The Commute
Written by JD Johannes   
Monday, 19 October 2009
The drive east on the interstate 70 turnpike is pretty common for people in Eastern Kansas.  Residents of Lawrence and Topeka who work in Kansas City drive into the sun in the morning and again at night.

I skirted around Kansas City proper, heading North on the 435 loop to Kansas City International Airport for a flight to Washington, DC. 

Kansas City is a hub for federal agencies.  The flights to DC are always filled with politicians, bureacrats, lobbyists and lawyers.

This Monday was no exception.

I parked my car in the garage.  Kinda pricey at $18 dollars a day, but it wouldn't be there long.  A friend of mine was flying home from Seattle in the evening and would drive my car home.  It worked out good for both of us, especially since I will not need my car until December when I get home from working in Iraq.

Yeah, I have a long commute to the office.
---
It wasn't the longest or worst layover ever.  That prize goes to sleeping in Heathrow's International Arrival's Lounge one night.
Read more...
 
Oct 09 2009
Back to Iraq and Answering a Common Question
Written by JD Johannes   
Saturday, 10 October 2009
I'm headed back to Iraq in a fews days.  Yes, there is still is a war being wrapped up there.

I'll be back with my old friends in the 4th BDE of the 1st ID and the 1-28 Infantry.

I spent a lot of time with the 1-28, the Black Lions, during the surge in 2007.  The Black Lions are unit featured in my documentary 'Baghdad Surge.'

I'll be doing two months on this trip then probably heading to Afghanistan in January to go snow boarding.

As for the question...

A few people asked why I wrote a fitness/weightlifting book instead of a book about Iraq.

Short answer:  Not sure I could add much that isn't already covered in the documentaries.

Long answer:  People kept asking me what I do to stay in shape to run around with soldiers and Marines.  People at the gym who noticed my transformation asked a lot of questions.  Those answers in emails, etc. became long enough that my friend Nita Marquez said I should turn it into a book.

When I hit stopping points in editing the documentaries I would hammer out the book.

The next thing I knew I had 200+ pages that kind of made sense.  Nita and I then really went to work on taking her expertise, my experiences and the knowledge of other people and turning it into an open architecture system anyone can use to dial in the workout and eating plan that will achieve their personal goals.

Oddly enough, there is a lot of Iraq in the book as my experiences there were the impetus for my getting really serious about working out.

Hence the subtitle of the book:  When Fitness is a Matter of Life or Death .

I test how good my workout program is everytime I go to Iraq and Afghanistan.  So, far it has proven to work well.

Until my next post from somewhere in Iraq....Non Timebo Mala

 
Oct 07 2009
Decisions of War: The Challenge of Actually Governing
Written by JD Johannes   
Wednesday, 07 October 2009
Governing by polls and popularity regularly leads to failure and indecision due to the nature of information provided by polls which reflects how humans caliberate choices.

In the US a campaign is mostly binary.  The electorate can choose between Candidate A or Candidate B.  They have only two things to compare thus the caliberation is easy.

But once in office and setting forth proposals and policies, there are multiple options.  There are many potential ways to go forward in Afghanistan.

The electorate looks at the current situation, the proposal and the many other possibilities.  Each individual also has their individual idealized solution for their personal situation.  Thus consensus is hard to reach.

In approval ratings polls, it becomes even more clear.  The office holder is no longer compared to a singular or potential pair of opponents, he is compared to the preferences of respondent.  The office holder is not compared to Candidate B, but to a preferred version of what that office holder could or should be.

Very rarely do office office holders match enough of the electorate's preferences to have a wide approval rating for the long haul.

Candidates and staffers who are very good at campaigns are very good at winning the binary comparision battle.

But governing is not a binary comparison.

Passing legislation and governing is easiest when the office holder does not try to win a binary against the many potential ideals, but by winning against the worst case scenario.

With the public growing weary of the protracted wars and the well known challenges of Afghanistan, the best option is not arguing in favor of the best possible outcome in Afghanistan, but how to prevent the worst possible scenario.

It is impossible to achieve a meaningful plurality on the best possible outcome in Afghanistan, but it is possible to reach a majority on how to prevent the worst case scenario.

The worst case being the Taliban controlling all of Afghanistan and as in 1990s, allowing it to be safe haven for various international terrorist groups and groups seeking to topple the Pakistani Government.

We all can agree on what that led to in the past.

Then the work of building a large plurality becomes easier.
 
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