Wild West: Rabea'a part 1

Interesting things I’ve seen in the last 24 hours:

- The largest flock of sheep I’ve ever seen (stretched a good 2 or 3 square acres)
- A Mexican standoff between a HMMWV and a donkey (can it be considered a “Mexican” standoff if it’s an Iraqi donkey?)
- Cow tipping, US Army style
- A HMMWV playing chicken with, you guessed it, a chicken
- Creative uses for a grain warehouse – or – the sad excuse for a stable living area for soldiers
- A two story pile of potato chips
- A flying cat

Roaming sheep

Last night we convoyed to our final destination. After countless cancelled flights and multiple visits to many airbases, I now sit in the Iraqi port of entry (POE) known as Rabea’a. Actually, I’m currently sitting in the FOB adjacent to the port because the port isn’t the type of place to just hang out and type blogs. In fact, it’s utter chaos over there, but I’ll get to that in a little bit. First let me tell you the interesting long distance convoy. Yesterday we left FOB Sykes when our pick up came a little earlier than we expected. Instead of a dusk trip where there was a chance of cooler weather, we departed under a hot high sun for what felt like a very long ride. The POETT (Port of Entry Transition Team) picked us up in up-armored HMMWVs, which as we all know is the vehicle of choice when one travels through a part of town where people shoot at you. Because we were just lowly passengers, LTC Ron and I couldn’t pick a seat up front or in the turret (no calling “shotgun” in this scenario). Instead, we sat in the cheap seats in the back and relaxed for a leisurely stroll through Tal Afar and points beyond. We were always told that things are greener up in Northern Iraq and have heard stories of lush fields of grass and droves of trees with a backdrop of the picturesque snow capped Sinjar Mountains. I’m not sure if it was due to the fact that it’s the middle of the hottest month of the year or everyone was lying to me, but I failed to see much green let alone snow. The terrain actually reminded me of west Texas with vast amounts of rolling rocky dirt speckled with small patches of scrub. What wasn’t covered in dust or pebbles was taken up by sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. Apparently the sheep are very coveted in this area for their wool and their meat, which makes them a prime target for smuggling. That’s right, you heard it here first; sheep smuggling is a serious problem in Iraq and the coalition needs to do something about it. Who knew? Sheep aren’t the only wildlife in this area. Donkey carts appear to be the primary mode of transportation in the smaller villages we passed through, and you’ll even run into a few cows on the road (literally).

Look at the LTC, all cozy in his back seat Hummer ride

After the trip in the sweat-box, we arrived at FOB Heider around dinner time. We threw our gear in the deluxe accommodations of the former “grain storage warehouse turned makeshift barracks” and tried to get over the excitement that we actually made it where no other Border Forces team member from Baghdad has made it before. We wanted to find out what was going on at the port, assess the progress of the transition, streamline procedures and resolve infrastructure issues (we had a lot of spare time to excited about this) but it was getting late and the port closed at nightfall. The Army Major in charge of the POETT gave us a Cliff-notes version of how things were going and said that we could address more of the issues tomorrow once we actually got on the port. The Major, a special forces/ranger type who just left his command of a SF Team, was initially not very receptive to us. In fact, he didn’t even know we were coming and what we were here to do. It made him and his team, which consisted of military, Department of Homeland Security agents, and a handful of contractors very stand offish. We learned that there was a significant breakdown in communication and promised ourselves not to rely on someone else coordinating our movements in the future. Anyway, after some explaining what we were here to do (mainly help them and their mission), they warmed up to us, but like us, they were tired of after a day of traveling in the heat. We called it a night and departed for our 4 star room with the satisfaction that we were here.

FOB Heider is located next to POE Rabea’a, which is located west of Mosul on the Syrian border. POE Rabea’a is one of 2 open ports of entry into Iraq from Syria. With over 4000 pedestrians and 400 trucks a day moving through the port, it provides a major source of income for the government of Iraq through taxes and duties of oil and goods traveling between the countries. Different ministries operate out of the port to collect fees to include the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Oil, Ministry of Transportation and my personal favorite, Ministry of Tourism. And let’s not forget the most prominent ministry on the port, and that would be the Ministry of Pocket, which is in reference to the corruption that exists in places like this. Now Syria isn’t the best when it comes to regulating the people or products who enter and leave their country, so some of those undesirable tend to leach into Iraq through the ports and borders. We as the coalition and the Iraqi government both have a stake in preventing these undesirables (and we’re not talking about sheep here) from entering the country, which explains the strong US presence. Without getting into the details, the Major and his small team have an important mission and they do it with virtually no support, which is the main reason the LTC and I took 6 days to get here.

The makeshift housing. By the way, those are concrete roof truses, that are not very stable.

This morning we climbed the 13 story former grain silo to get an aerial view of the physical layout of the port. It was a long climb but the view was well worth the effort. The Major gave me a virtual tour of the port, which was already getting crowded with people and trucks at this early hour. The bird’s eye view helped me navigate the port once we climbed down, put all of our gear on set out on our foot tour. Now I’m a person with no experience about ports of entry. I’ve been to the Mexican border in Texas and saw what on a port looked like from afar, but I’ve never really had to go through a land POE before. When the Major led us through the checkpoints and T-wall maze to finally enter Rabea’a POE, we entered a world full of noise and chaos. Trucks stacked to the sky were parked everywhere as inspectors and customs brokers exchanged forms and money. Cars over laden with families and farm animals jockeyed for position in line to be served next. Pedestrians, dressed in a myriad of different clothing were waiving passports at guards while little kids with coolers darted in and out of the crowds trying to sell their liquid wares to the hot bystanders. It appeared to be shear madness until the Major explained the method of getting from one country to another. We walked to each station and observed the process and in spite of the pushing and shoving of the passengers and the yelling and shoving of the guards, there existed a logical flow. The areas that needed improvements were obvious even to me, and I quickly jotted down my own notes before seeing the Iraqi port director about his concerns. After a long briefing in his office, and much chai (tea), I returned to the FOB excited at the prospect that I might actually be able to help this place and anxious for a bathroom. I still have to sit down with the POETT and get their evaluation, but I feel energized to make a change, especially after the fiasco it took to get here.

Mound - o - chips

I think I touched on most of the things I saw today and where I could, I took photos. One of the things I did not take a picture of is one of those funny/sad stories and it deals with a cat. I originally wrote a narrative of the incident but decided against posting it as it could offend some cat lovers out there (only because despite the tragedy of it all, it was damn funny).

Oh, in regards to the competition between the HMMWV and the chicken... the HMMWV won.