Concerned Local Citizens of Baqubah

The most recent developments here at the Joint Combat Outpost in Baqubah have involved the group of Concerned Local Citizens. The leader of the CLC's is Abu Matheina. He was previously a captain in Saddam Hussein's army and retreated to start his own militia group after the formal Iraqi Army was disbanded in 2003. The CLC's which number over 500 in Baqubah, are going through screening to become Iraqi Police. Most of them come from the group 1920 which is a militia that banded together against both Al Qaeda and U.S. forces at the beginning of the war to keep order in their hometown. The group has used guerilla tactics like suicide bombing, car bombs and sniper fire. All of these can be very demoralizing to our more powerful force but cannot stop it.

At this point we have identified most of the active members and are encouraging them to join the Iraqi Police force. In the past ten days we have converted the paper records of the Iraqi government into a computer database, and more importantly taken their fingerprints and a retina scan of each member. I took part in searching them as they lined up outside the compound en masse. Anyone entering the compound must be searched for weapons and possibly explosives.

This documentation process has taken place at several locations. Today our headquarters platoon went to the water treatment plant in town and stood guard while another 120 of the CLC's were registered. The process took about four hours. Another important event was the opening of a new traffic route in town. Route Gold as it is called was sectioned off with concrete barriers for a long time in order to stop the flow of weapons and contraband into Baqubah.

It is hard to believe that a further increase in security is needed. When we drive down the main roads in our Stryker vehicles, there are IP's everywhere directing traffic and throngs of people. Iraqi Army soldiers help with the job and are more reliable. Occasionally they fire their weapons in an attempt to direct traffic and get people to move. Traffic laws are not what they should be and there is a wide range of vehicles on the roads including cars, trucks, minibuses and donkey carts.

Our company continues to patrol the area on foot and mounted in vehicles. There is less and less of a concern for violence as the Iraqi forces take over. One concern is that the groups will be too segmented and turn against each other, reverting to old conflicts between regions in the past. A strong central government will be necessary to direct the nation's security.

Sgt. Byrne 92G Food Service Specialist

There is one female soldier stationed at the Joint Combat Outpost, Baqubah, Sergeant Byrne. She is one of the three cooks we have. I asked her some questions about her job to find out what it's like to be the only woman in a large group of men. Here she is standing in front of the mess tent.





Spc. Matsick: Do you like your work? How long have you been in the military?

Sgt. Byrne: Yes, I like my work. I've been in for six years.

Spc. Matsick: What's the best part about your job?

Sgt. Byrne: Making the guys happy.

Spc. Matsick: what's the worst part?

Sgt. Byrne: Being in Iraq for such a long time. This is my second deployment.

Spc. Matsick: Where are you from?

Sgt. Byrne: San Diego, California.

Spc. Matsick: Are you married and do the guys hit on you a lot?

Sgt. Byrne: No, I'm not married. The guys are respectful for the most part.

Spc. Matsick: Do you ever make foods that aren't authorized?

Sgt. Byrne: No, no messing around in the kitchen. Sometimes we improvise though. For example the other day we made gravy by mixing the juices from meatloaf and soy sauce. People said it tasted great.

Spc. Matsick: I wasn't sure what it was at first, I thought maybe like a cheese dip. Do you know how to carve fruit and make garnishes?

Sgt. Byrne: Yes, The most common one we do is to make a rose out of a tomato. That comes up pretty often. I can make carvings out of pineapples or watermelons too.

Spc. Matsick: Would you consider preparing food after the military?

Sgt. Byrne: I worked at a few restaurants before enlisting; Sizzlers, a seafood restaurant, and a retirement home. It's my profession.

Day 280

It has been getting colder here in Baqubah. This morning I woke up to a light snowfall. It turned to a drizzle as the day went on and we lit up the new industrial heaters. The heaters are like jet engines that sit on the floor spitting heat out the back end. Our squad has been drinking a lot of tea and coffee to keep warm, and a few guys are going ot the next level getting all kinds of coffee shipped to them. Today we tried the new variety pack including Ethiopian, Mexican and Indonesian coffee.

Out back on guard shift we have been lighting a small fire. Standing around in the cold can be a real killer. The Iraqi Army soldiers find wood in various places and keep the fire in a small pan to contain the ashes. As I write this in the computer lab at Camp Warhorse I can smell the wood smoke on my uniform. The majority of visitors at the gate want motorcycle badges, which are issued from the compound. Yesterday an Iraqi boy needed to see the dentist so we took him back to Warhorse. The kid played PlayStation while he waited to go and was pretty good at it. I think their family must have been wealthy.

Our headquarters platoon is made up of the mortar squad, the two snipers, the armorer, a guy that is switching to officer, and the medics. That basically comprises all the soldiers that are not 11B infantry. Besides going out on foot patrol with the commander, we do odd jobs like escort people or vehicles to Camp Warhorse and other locations. Occasionally we will do a mission. The other day we went and set up a traffic control point to search cars and identify possible terrorist suspects. I'm not sure found any, but we got a lot of names and license plate numbers. We made a road block with concertina wire and waved the cars through one by one to be checked. After a while too many cars were lined up and we just let them all through. Most of the locals are familiar with a checkpoint and know how to behave. If they keep coming when you give them the signal to stop, we're told to shoot the engine block. After that go for the driver. I think this must have happened enough times that the people know what to do. Luckily there were no incidents, everything went smoothly.

So far in our deployment I have been very lucky. I have not been shot at, rode in a vehicle hit by an IED, or had any accidents. Things have been slowing down, but there is still constant danger. Today first platoon was headed back from the government center and they hit an IED which injured two soldiers. Crawford, a guy from Pittsburgh got a serious concussion, and Hadley from Atlanta took shrapnel. Luckily both of them are able to continue fighting. They will both receive purple hearts.

Pretty soon there will be internet and showers and heat out at the JCOP and it won't be any fun anymore. It will be civilized. There are lots of signs that U.S. forces will be here in Iraq long term. The war on terror will never end it seems. We're just sitting tight waiting for summer to come around.