Taji

Four days ago I was selected to accompany our Deputy Deputy Chief of Staff (DDCS), a British Brigadier General, and several other officers, to the nearby city of Taji in order to visit a Counterinsurgency (COIN) Academy for both coalition forces (CF) and the Iraqi Army. Taji is not really a city, per se, but a long standing Iraqi Army military base and airfield. In the Saddam era, Taji and its sizable airfield were used to base and train Iraqi Air Force Russian manufactured Mi-17 Hip transport helicopters.

In the early afternoon, our group gathered at the Embassy entrance wearing our body armor and walked to nearby Washington Landing Zone (LZ), the main helicopter LZ servicing the embassy. We boarded two Blackhawk UH-60 helicopters for the short (ten minute) flight to Taji. This was my first helicopter trip since arriving here and I looked forward to it. To others, flying in a helicopter was old hat and routine. As we took off and quickly cleared the International Zone, I got my first bird’s eye view of the Red Zone, that is, the rest of Iraq. Baghdad is a very old city and not as big as one would expect; urban structures end relatively close to the meandering curves of the Tigris river and farmland quickly grew to dominate the landscape below. Parts of the structures below reminded me of visits to rural Mexico with my family when I was a child.

I didn’t have much time to muse as we began slowing for our descent to Taji. We landed, de-barked and walked to a waiting mini-van. Waiting for us was an imposing Marine Corps lieutenant colonel whose warm smile belied his imposing bulk. After we were driven to nearby building and conference room, we learned his name was Frank and that he had previously retired from the Marine Corps and volunteered to come back on active duty. In the “it’s a medium-sized world” department, we learned he was in the same platoon leader’s school at Quantico in the 1970s as the Marine Corps major general who runs our planning shop.

Frank had a easy-going demeanor with a lilting Louisiana southern accent that sounded very familiar to me. Only after hearing him speak during our introductory briefing did I realize where I’d heard it before: he sounded a lot like Huell Howser, who is a former marine himself and the host of public television’s documentary show, “California’s Gold.” In fact, I found it a little uncanny since they sort of resembled each other.

Frank told us that Taji was a big base and that nearly half of it had been given back to the Iraqi Army to manage. We had landed on the American side where senior officers of each incoming Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) attend a capstone COIN course of instruction. Frank took us on a walking tour where we saw US Marines practicing searching a civilian in a courtyard while US Army instructors looked on.

Also located on the US side, is the Iraqi version of the COIN Academy. We had the unique opportunity to visit with its commanding officer, an Iraqi colonel accompanied by his translator. He welcomed our group into his office, gave us each some candy and served us sweet tea. Our British brigadier and the Iraqi colonel traded questions through the translator as the rest of us sipped our tea. The colonel was very laconic and didn’t seem to show much emotion. It’s a trait I had seen before with Arab men. He complained about not getting enough money to run the academy from the Ministry of Defense which was something that we could not necessarily help him with.

Afterwards, Frank drove us in a small mini-van to the Iraqi side of the base. Frank knew many of the Iraqi contract guards on the US side of the base and even some of the Iraqi soldiers. His Arabic was pretty good. Along the way, we passed a vast field filled with ruined Iraqi armored vehicles. We saw Russian-manufactured T-72, T-60 and T-55 tanks, BMP personnel carries and numerous types of self-propelled artillery all in various states of disrepair. Most showed signs of combat damage.

We returned to the American side, and ate a brief dinner at their DFAC. Over dinner, Frank described the improved security situation. The base made use of both regular Iraqi Army and contract security. Many Iraqis worked as security contractors. On our way out of the base during the driving tour, Frank pointed one contract Iraqi security guard as a former Iraqi Air Force MiG pilot. When I asked why he doesn’t rejoin the Air Force, Frank answered that he could make more money as a security guard.

Our flight back that evening was uneventful. Shortly after take off, our helicopter automatically fired several flares which lit up the cabin in a fierce yellow glow. I had been told about that happening on most helicopter flights and was looking for it.