Special Forces Day Trip

Shortly after arriving in Baghdad, I had the opportunity to tag along with a 3-man contingent of Special Forces (“Green Berets”) on a day trip that they were making across the Tigris River into east Baghdad. We left shortly after dawn. There was the detachment commander, Major Dave Barron, plus two NCO’s and me. In typical SF fashion, they were all on a first name basis in spite of the rank difference. Instead of the usual hot, open air Hummers, we took a GMC SUV, shipped over from the states and brand new. Air conditioning. CD player. Fully loaded. SF.
They popped in a Rolling Stones CD, and drove over the 14th of July bridge at 65mph to the sound of “Satisfaction”. Made me think of that scene in Apocalypse Now. Especially as there were Navy PBR’s patrolling the river. Cool.

We made several stops, mostly to headquarters of newly established political parties. One of the NCO’s was a specialist in political party formation. So this was an "advise and assist" mission since the Iraqis didn't have any idea what to do after 25 years of Saddam Hussein. We finished the day at an open air pizza parlor in the very fashionable Karrada district which was also the Christian Quarter. We sat outside, took off our body armor and enjoyed the rest of the day. We had brick oven pizza. It was great. The owner had lived in the US and fell in love with brick oven pizza. So he managed a pizza store in the US to learn the trade and came back to Iraq to open the shop. Good for us! And the price was right, especially for us. I think it was $2 for an individual size pizza. He had all the toppings except pepperoni (no pork). The Iraqis also sell their version of potato chips in these huge kilo size bags. They make them by slicing them by hand and boiling in oil. Big, thick chips and nice and greasy and salty. The best.

SF guys generally project a very non-hostile image. They take off their helmets, body armor, and lay guns aside. As a result, locals will spontaneously come up and start conversations. When you look non-threatening, you tend to get that kind of response. So that was cool, but I was still a little nervous and kept my 9mm Beretta within close reach.

We went back home at dusk. I thanked the guys for taking me along and I never saw the NCO’s again. A good day.