Christine

Christine Bierwirth. Mentioned in previous blogs, she was the first and for most of the time in Baghdad the only female in the IAC. She was 19 years old when she was literally called out of a class at the University of Maryland and told to report to her unit to go to Kuwait in November 2002. She had her own room in the HOC House with 13 guys. Like a fraternity’s little sister. She was very attractive and was the principle subject of fantasy for many men that saw her in Iraq. In fact, when guys found out that she lived in our house, we were greeted with comments like, “wow, are you lucky!” “what’s it like?” “can I move in?” We couldn’t figure out why we were so lucky. Living and working in close quarters caused us to look at her as just one of the guys. We never really saw her in that light. She was single and dated, but never anyone who lived in the house. That would be tantamount to incest! Christine is extremely intelligent. In fact, she was an intelligence specialist and provided the grist for daily intel briefings, much as Sally did with NGO briefings. And she had incredible poise and could brief senior officers in a pinch if she had to. She ran the internet café that we set up. Like Sally, also great on missions outside the wire and was an excellent driver. She could get through any traffic situation in Baghdad with ease. She had many connections and was a natural at networking. In fact, she got me one of Saddam’s shotguns that I used to hunt dove. On loan from the British SAS, whom she knew well. Prior to the war, she had a part time job teaching etiquette to elementary school kids in private academies. Christine went home in October 2003. She got married and has two daughters. My wife and I went to her wedding, which was one of the most elegant I’ve ever been to. What’d you expect from a former etiquette teacher?