Superman

Route Tampa is the major supply route for Coalition forces in Iraq. Billions of dollars’ worth of gear and supplies are pumped up the northbound artery, while rumbling down the southbound vein back to Kuwait are damaged vehicles, units returning from a year or longer at war and convoys of empty trucks. Along the way, thousands of blue, black and clear plastic bags twirl, swirl and skitter in the hot dusty winds. The bags ramble about like so much plastic tumbleweed; aligning along the wind, drifting along the desert currents until they catch on nettles, concertina or the shards of wreckage. On those summer days so hot machines and bodies begin to falter, the air inside the bags is heated just a few degrees more, enough that some bags spontaneously buoy and drift away.

Wayne has expired in Peoria, Illinois.  A memorial service will be held this Saturday between 9 and 10 am at St Thomas Catholic Church, Peoria.  Internment will be held at West Point in September.  The family requests contributions in lieu of flowers to the following:

D+30
19 July 2007

Today marks D+30 since the start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. The initial goal of Arrowhead Ripper was to clear Baqubah of al Qaeda, and then attempt to “jump start” the city back into civic life, which had all but ceased while the terrorists were in control. Though relatively minor clearing operations are still underway, there is little combat in the city.

As a warrior of renown in the Special Operations community, Downing might have been expected to keep his knowledge clandestine. But as a scholar of COIN, Downing knew the powerful role that media must play in fighting the Great War on Terrorism. And so he became one of the first—and certainly the most prominent—special operations experts willing to give all journalists the benefit of his insight.

Bird’s Eye View: The Battle for Baqubah

A Tactical Operations Center (TOC) is the headquarters for a unit. Company-level TOCs are the smallest I have seen. A typical infantry company has about a hundred or more soldiers. The commander will normally be a captain. A company-level TOC often consists of a radio and a map, and one person on duty 24/7. It might have a coffee maker, too.

Associated Press journalist Talal Mohammed has been kidnapped.
Although I learned this information earlier, I did not report it out
of concern for his safety. Now that the Associated Press has
officially reported his kidnapping, the need for secrecy is
diminished.

August 13, 2007

Almost everyone (by now) must have heard about the “lazy” Iraqi parliament members who, like so many Neros fiddling while Rome burns around them, are taking a month off. Yet comparatively few Americans will ever hear or read about IA Scorpion Company Commander Captain Baker; or Iraqi entrepreneur and community catalyst, “Tonto”; or the Mayor of Baqubah, who summoned the courage to step out of the shadow of al Qaeda and fight to get his constituents a warehouse-sized stockpile of food.

It was after midnight and there was to be no sleep. Thinking of the war. I stepped out of bed already dressed, pulled on the shoes without socks and walked a minute or so to the beach. August 15 had begun. On the beach the small stands selling skewers of cooked meat, soft drinks, beer and water were closing. I sat in the dark looking out at the dark sea. Some light shined from behind and to the right, but mostly there was darkness, the sea, and scattered Balinese people. No moon. The sea was mostly quiet, the waves gentle. Thousands of stars twinkled above the Bali Sea. The Milky Way was clear.

This is the only Public Affairs release I have ever published. This release is consistent with the facts I saw on the ground in Baqubah.