23 May 2007

Funny Brits 5/22/2007

Funny Brits 5/22/2007


A day that was dedicated for recovery from traveling turned into a day of unplanned meetings. To complicate things even more, our Iraqi guests were not treated well at the location that they bedded down last night. Everything we do wrong tends to get the harmful spotlight of “international incident” shone upon it. Its important stuff, but the politics and sensitivity of it all seems way beyond my pay grade. I’m here to do a mission, albeit one that I’m not fully qualified to do. I stay in my lane which keeps me silent during most conversations. I contribute and speak of things that I am comfortable and confident talking about, all with the knowledge that some folks take what I say with much more weight that they should. I am the lowest ranking person in this group. I was almost bumped from the flight twice since more and more brass wanted to attend and protocol is to drop strap hangers from the manifest. I am looked at to provide insight on things that are at levels far beyond my experience which frustrates me. I’m trying hard to stay positive, which at times is more difficult of a fight than the one being waged against the enemy.

British people talk funny. Technically, they speak English just like us “yanks”, but when they open their mouths and spout off the Queen’s English, it takes a few minutes to process in my Americanized mind. Not only do they talk funny, but the things they say are hilarious. Sitting in a room full of British officers is like watching skit out of Monty Python or Benny Hill, except for no scantily clad women running about and no giant animated foot coming down to squash us. They are having a hard time with the insurgents in this area. I don’t think we see much of their troubles in the news since the American presence here is small, which is why I suspect that there isn’t much news about Baghdad on the BBC. The Brits have a different way of handling things. They are what we would call “soft handed”, as opposed to the American “heavy handed” policy in the north and west. This gentle tactic is one grown from a country that had to battle it’s own insurgencies and terrorism, but I’m not sure how well it’s working here.

Brits like to eat too. They have lots of breads, crackers and butter at the mess facility, and they love their sweets. They have lots of cold cuts too, even for breakfast. It’s neat to try all these new things, although I think it would be much nicer to try them in a setting where mortars aren’t falling on your head.


Interesting fact of the day: Land Rovers last forever. The Brits use them as their work horse vehicle and they are virtually indestructible, which isn’t surprising when you find these vehicles all over the world in places where there isn’t a Mr. Goodwrench for hundreds of miles. I like them so much that I’m debating about buying one when I get back, but there’s that whole “metric” thing that I’d have to get a grasp on before I do. Maybe I’ll just keep my Ford.

No comments: