As promised in my yesterday's blog posting, I am pasting in my last Stateside email dispatch that I sent out to my email list just a day or so before I left for Iraq. It was almost a year ago to the day. The email dated September 24, 2006 is as follows:
Hello Everyone:
The following is a final note on the preparing for my trip to Kurdistan.
The first thing that is important to remember is that this trip to the Kurdistan areas of Turkey and Iraq will not be like a flight into present day Saigon, Vietnam. However, like Saigon, I only have mostly rumor and urban legend to go on. My head was so full of misinformation on present day Vietnam that the first time I went there I stayed 14 days in Saigon just getting the lay of the land, just to see if it was actually safe. I was not even sure my camera might not be confiscated. That notion I acquired due to all the contradicting information that was out there in tour books, the Internet, and text books with useless information on today's Vietnam. Information on Kurdistan is a similar situation.
I find a bunch of conflicting information on Eastern Turkey and Northern Iraq (Kurdistan). Using the same safety template I used in Vietnam and applying it for this current travel, I am entering Central Turkey first and moving into Eastern Turkey to test the waters of the Kurdish areas. It should also help get acquainted with the subtle or not so subtle tendencies of the people. Once satisfied with what I find, I will try to venture further into the Kurdish areas of Turkey, and Northern Iraq.
The second thing to remember is that I am not completely crazy. I will abort this trip at any point I see fit if I feel it is going down the tank. That being said, I must use all my training and innovation to make this work. I will need to pull from my farm experience as Kurdistan is often rural. I will need to pull from my 10 years of medical training as medical facilities will no doubt be few and far between. I will need to pull from my Army Corps of Combat Engineer training as we trained relentlessly how to identify booby traps and road-side mines. They also trained us how to duck capture and how to disrupt a capture in progress as well as how to immediately escape. I will need to pull from my three years of being stationed by the Iron Curtain between Germany and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. I will need to pull from my military training in the mountains of Germany as Kurdistan is mountainous in areas. I will need to pull from my many trips to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand as the potential for travel catastrophes are ubiquitous there as I am sure they are worse in Kurdistan. I will need to pull from the innovation I have learned from living and traveling in places I do not speak the language and can not read the signs. I will no doubt need to pull from my many job experiences of working with mechanical things and not having the proper tools or safety devices in place. I will need to pull from a lifetime of eclectic experiences to make this trip work. Poetically, perhaps after all this time, all the crap I have worked at, and all the weird experiences I have endured in my life for little return, I can now summon these experiences to help make my journey safe.
The third thing to remember is that because of all the precarious variables of this trip to the Middle East, it could get scuttled at any point by any number of potential problems - foreseen or otherwise (just use your imagination). Starting with, going through all the airport hassles at O'Hare as recent events have once again caused a heightened state of alert.
The forth thing to remember is I am not a full time journalist. Nor, am I a hardcore war correspondent or do I want to be. I am more of a people-geography-culture-history kind of researcher guy. I am not Michael Ware who has the vast resources of Time and CNN at is back while he is in the Middle East; nor am I Christopher Allbritton or Michael J. Totten who are both full-time Middle East Blog journalists respectively; nor, I certainly do not have the 18 member editorial staff of Kevin Sites of Yahoo News' - In the Hot Zone; I am not Frank Viviano with the full weight and power of the National Geographic people on my team; and finally, I am not an embedded journalist with the U.S. military with the luxury of machine gun escorts, armored vehicle transport, and access to body armor. I am after all, just Bob. But then again, being a small outfit allows me a certain freedom to move, stop, and especially not be beholden to anyone.
The last thing to remember is I am doing exactly what I want to do. Please remember this one last thing if something goes haywire with this trip. This is the kind of work I have trained my whole life for to bring together.
A final note is this trip would not be possible without consultation and equipment from my trusted photographer Heide Keith. If the bad guys over there interfere with my trip and wreck her cameras, they will at some point have to deal with her wrath. And, the trip would be made much more precarious if it were not for Chris Miller who is behind the scenes logistically. Our humble team and resources are not as vast as the aforementioned journalists above; however, so-far-so-good.
The next correspondence should be in-country.
Later,
Bob Keith
End of dispatch.
It is hard to believe it was already a year ago I left for Iraq. Going to a place like that puts a whole new spin on how one defines time. It just seems to pass differently now after going there. It is hard to explain. The average people in Iraq seem to try so hard despite their electricity, water, and health care system rarely works. Going there puts a different timbre on what is and isn't urgent in life. Most of the things I used to see as urgent I no longer do - mowing the lawn, washing the car, shaving, collecting the latest music, buying a new vehicle, belonging to civic groups, keeping up with the Jones, etc. I still appreciate that these things are important to someone out there, I just don't rush to accommodate the "mores" of these things others find so urgently necessary.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Corporal Robert Paul Warns II, age 23, of Waukesha. Corporal Warn's unit arrived in Iraq less than two months before he was killed. He died Monday, November 8, 2004 due to enemy action. Robert joined the Marines after graduating from Catholic Memorial High School in 1999. Corporal Warn was Wisconsin's 25th casualty in Iraq since the spring of 2003. He was attached to the Madison-based unit of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve. Robert was in the same unit as Lance Cpl. Shane K. O'Donnell, of DeForest who was last week's Daily Dadio soldier to remember. Both Marines were killed south of Baghdad. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Robert went by "Bobby" was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Robert wrestled, ran track, and played tennis in high school. The Journal Sentinel went on to say the unit was activated in June of 2004 and arrived in Iraq in September of that same year.
3,798 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
27,936 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring 2003.
79 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
112 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring 2003.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
