Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A Day in the Life
Yes, this title is the same as that old Beatles song that we all remember. But it's about my life now, not the Liverpuddlian life then.
I woke up, decided to skip breakfast because I wasn't hungry. Don't know why, but being here doesn't stimulate my appetite like being in California. Oh, the food's pretty good, but something in me says I don't need it or don't want it, so I skip breakfast.
Did a few chores, like J. Alfred Prufrock, emptying my waste basket, making my bed, putting clothes and shoes on, nothing exciting. My laundry tag says "Thursday," so I'll take care of that chore tomorrow.
Stopping by my colleague's door but receiving no reply, I went to lunch alone. Though institutional, the food is very good. Not quite as tasty as my son's California cooking, but more than adequate. Came back and checked emails. While I was doing that, the first sergeant asked me for my weapons' serial numbers. We're never too long from repetitive information requests. The thought crossed my mind to ask why he wanted these, but it didn't matter. I gave him the one from my pistol, but my rifle was locked up in the MRAP. We went out there and I read the serial number to him. I took my kevlar and vest because I wasn't going along when we have our visitors because there won't be enough room.
The visitors are arriving at a time when we're not sure what will happen to the team. I can guess that one reason we're having visitors is to determine how much more we need to do, or if we've already done sufficient and the mission can end. We could declare victory and go home. But this leads me to my subjective and completely uneducated guess as to who's position is where. So in total ignorance, let me begin:
I think there is political impetus for the military to say, "We're done."
I think there is another shove from State to say, "We need more."
And I think there is corporate motivation to urge, "Keep our guys working."
These three positions are a bit over-simplified, and motives seem fairly transparent. The military has more urgent need for soldiers in Afghanistan, so if they can say, "Good enough" for Iraq, they'll try to do that. Is this the smart thing, the correct thing? The answer to that is above my pay grade. And I think the ones whose pay grade is commensurate with that answer have no functioning crystal ball.
State can see that there is a long way to go for this port to function at a world-class level, to be accreditied. So they'll push to keep us here. The rub is that State doesn't have an army at its disposal to support the BEA mission. The only army around may be gone.
Dyn gets paid to have boots on the ground. Thus they want to keep us here. We've been remarking that Dyn hasn't asked us for any sort of in-depth analysis of the situation. When we send in our sitreps and say, "We trained today," they're quite happy. But they seem disinterested in the overall conditions at the port or in the ongoing and future needs.
I've asked about ASYCUDA for the port. This is a computer system to automate cargo transactions. This has worked for several countries who are now in the modern customs world. But no one seems interested in getting ASYCUDA for Iraq. More the pity because this could be a big influence.
My take on this- Iraq has a different way of getting things done. Their way is good for them. But I think they're too provincial to see that doing things in a more modern way would still allow them to accomplish what they want in the tradtional way. Does the Sheik require his good right away? Well, under today's procedures, he smiles and gets what he wants. Under automated procedures, someone would direct a subordinate to release the cargo and the Sheik would get what he wants, all the while having the process be accredited as a world-class customs process. This is a bit simplified, but if you were here, this would make sense to you. This might also require some adjustment among the players as to what constitutes propriety, duty, expenses, but everything could be acceptable to everyone.
T. E. Lawrence understood the psyche of the Arab. He said you've got to get the top guy on board, then everything else will follow. The top guy here isn't the top guy in Iraq. This is where things get a bit fuzzy. Who's the top guy? I suspect the real answer may be: there are several gop guys, but as a group, they function like one person. And we have to get this one group to say, "Let's get ASYCUDA."
On a local level, we can get security screeners to do a better job; we can show customs personnel how we do baggage exams. But we can't foist big changes onto a process that depends on top-down approval, which, in turn, depends on further top-down approval.
Today has been uneventful, except for this post. Maybe that's a reflection of what's going on in this day in my life.
I woke up, decided to skip breakfast because I wasn't hungry. Don't know why, but being here doesn't stimulate my appetite like being in California. Oh, the food's pretty good, but something in me says I don't need it or don't want it, so I skip breakfast.
Did a few chores, like J. Alfred Prufrock, emptying my waste basket, making my bed, putting clothes and shoes on, nothing exciting. My laundry tag says "Thursday," so I'll take care of that chore tomorrow.
Stopping by my colleague's door but receiving no reply, I went to lunch alone. Though institutional, the food is very good. Not quite as tasty as my son's California cooking, but more than adequate. Came back and checked emails. While I was doing that, the first sergeant asked me for my weapons' serial numbers. We're never too long from repetitive information requests. The thought crossed my mind to ask why he wanted these, but it didn't matter. I gave him the one from my pistol, but my rifle was locked up in the MRAP. We went out there and I read the serial number to him. I took my kevlar and vest because I wasn't going along when we have our visitors because there won't be enough room.
The visitors are arriving at a time when we're not sure what will happen to the team. I can guess that one reason we're having visitors is to determine how much more we need to do, or if we've already done sufficient and the mission can end. We could declare victory and go home. But this leads me to my subjective and completely uneducated guess as to who's position is where. So in total ignorance, let me begin:
I think there is political impetus for the military to say, "We're done."
I think there is another shove from State to say, "We need more."
And I think there is corporate motivation to urge, "Keep our guys working."
These three positions are a bit over-simplified, and motives seem fairly transparent. The military has more urgent need for soldiers in Afghanistan, so if they can say, "Good enough" for Iraq, they'll try to do that. Is this the smart thing, the correct thing? The answer to that is above my pay grade. And I think the ones whose pay grade is commensurate with that answer have no functioning crystal ball.
State can see that there is a long way to go for this port to function at a world-class level, to be accreditied. So they'll push to keep us here. The rub is that State doesn't have an army at its disposal to support the BEA mission. The only army around may be gone.
Dyn gets paid to have boots on the ground. Thus they want to keep us here. We've been remarking that Dyn hasn't asked us for any sort of in-depth analysis of the situation. When we send in our sitreps and say, "We trained today," they're quite happy. But they seem disinterested in the overall conditions at the port or in the ongoing and future needs.
I've asked about ASYCUDA for the port. This is a computer system to automate cargo transactions. This has worked for several countries who are now in the modern customs world. But no one seems interested in getting ASYCUDA for Iraq. More the pity because this could be a big influence.
My take on this- Iraq has a different way of getting things done. Their way is good for them. But I think they're too provincial to see that doing things in a more modern way would still allow them to accomplish what they want in the tradtional way. Does the Sheik require his good right away? Well, under today's procedures, he smiles and gets what he wants. Under automated procedures, someone would direct a subordinate to release the cargo and the Sheik would get what he wants, all the while having the process be accredited as a world-class customs process. This is a bit simplified, but if you were here, this would make sense to you. This might also require some adjustment among the players as to what constitutes propriety, duty, expenses, but everything could be acceptable to everyone.
T. E. Lawrence understood the psyche of the Arab. He said you've got to get the top guy on board, then everything else will follow. The top guy here isn't the top guy in Iraq. This is where things get a bit fuzzy. Who's the top guy? I suspect the real answer may be: there are several gop guys, but as a group, they function like one person. And we have to get this one group to say, "Let's get ASYCUDA."
On a local level, we can get security screeners to do a better job; we can show customs personnel how we do baggage exams. But we can't foist big changes onto a process that depends on top-down approval, which, in turn, depends on further top-down approval.
Today has been uneventful, except for this post. Maybe that's a reflection of what's going on in this day in my life.
