Christmas in Iraq, Besmaya Style

Finally, I'm entering the world of blogging. Sorry it's taken me so long. We'll have to play a little catch up. But first: What do you do for Christmas when you're 10,000 miles from home? Pretty much what you do at home, but with a different "family".

You eat.

This is our little cafe, all decorated for the holidays.

And you play football.

I'm loathe to admit it, but I was sore for four days after this little bit of holiday fun. I was in good company though!! The fellow second from the left is Col. Abbas, the Iraqi commander of Besmaya. He loves to play football. He's not yet grasped all the subtleties of the game but he's very enthusiastic. His throwing style is very unique. He's a very strong guy, so he grabs the ball like a rock and heaves it down field. It's not much to look at, but it goes a looonnnggg way.

All in all, it was a very good Christmas. Thanks to all of you who sent emails and cards and goodies. I've spent a fair amount of time in a food coma and am now paying the price on the treadmill and the bike.

But the best thing we did for Christmas was in the true spirit of the season: We gave something back to some folks who are less fortunate. Where I work is only about 20 miles east of downtown Baghdad but it's very rural. Just outside our base is a little village called Zatia. Many of the Iraqis who work on base live there. We've kind of adopted the little school there. Imagine a country school from the early part of the 1900's in the US and you'll get a good idea of what it's like.

Some photos of our Dec 27th visit to Zatia.

This is the manager of the school. Next is Col Abbas, myself, LtCol Bill Redman, and Master Sergeant David Fesko.

MSgt Fesko looks like he could tear your head off in a flash and, in fact, he could. But's he's really a softy at heart and the kids love him. He's been my senior enlisted man since June and has been a huge asset.

The 3rd graders.

The fourth graders.

This is the six grade class. There's only a few of them. The school ends at six grade and if their parents can afford it and are so inclined, they'll send the kids to secondary school. Many of the kids will go to work to help their families.

These little guys break my heart. Their parents and siblings were killed by the bad guys. They now live with their grandmother.

Some of the goodies we distributed. The little guy right in front with the "C" in his hat was killing me! He's a character.

In addition to taking toys and candy and getting the kids all spun up, we actually do some good stuff. Our medics run a clinic for a couple of hours and treat the kids and some of the village locals. Here Sgt Art Luneau is hard at work.

These are the teachers. The make the equivalent of $200 per month. They're all very nice people and very appreciative of what we're doing for their kids.

Here's the whole gang.

Here I am with some of my new friends. I don't know if you can see it in this pic, but I carry a small black flashlight on my vest. All the little boys want my flashlight. They point and say "Mister, torch. Give me torch". And I smile and shrug and pretend not to understand them. :-)

Here's my team as we're preparing to depart back to Besmaya. To a man, we all agreed that it was a great day and that we'd be back.

Thanks to everyone who sent me stuff for the kids. It was greatly appreciated.

So that's how we spent the Christmas holiday at Besmaya. It's not home and hearth, but it wasn't bad! We'll be going back to the school in February. The building itself has no power and no heat. I've got a contractor doing some work on base who's agreed to help me with some improvements. We want to get them a small generator and a water tank and pump, and do some rehab work on the toilets. We're also going to put in a soccer field inside the school yard area.

That's all for now. I think I like this blogging thing, so there'll be more coming soon.

David