Dave

Dave Pierce. Staff Sergeant. The coolest guy I knew in Baghdad. I met Dave at Arifjan in Kuwait while we were waiting to launch. He was going on a mission with an Special Forces Major ahead of us. I didn’t know Dave, but tried to go along, to no avail. His arriving in Baghdad ten days ahead of us had great advantages. When we got there, Dave hooked up with us. He and the major were staying Uday Hussein’s office at the local sports club. Uday had nice furnishings in his office. Upon inspection, we found that his desk was wired for sound. He would apparently record everything that was said in his office. One night after we moved into the HOC House, Dave came by and told us to come out and meet him at his Hummer. In the back was a foot locker. As we was opening it, he said, “OK kids, everybody only gets one.” It was full of bayonets for AK-47’s. Mine is now at my house. Dave kept a cot in the house for appearance purposes, but he didn’t live there. He lived in a SF safe house that was a walled compound on the Tigris River. The windows were sandbagged and they had parapets on the walls. The house was more like a cottage, but very nicely furnished inside. Dave actually had his own bedroom with a queen size bed. The living room had a huge U-shaped sofa in the middle and on the wall was a large flat screen TV with satellite. Fully appointed kitchen. And they had a large carport with a stable of luxury cars and vans. Other inhabitants of the house included members of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations, their intelligence-gathering arm. One of the bedrooms looked more like an internet café. These guys cultivated informants among the population, interrogated prisoners, and conducted raids in the city. Dave usually went along, but couldn’t relate any details. At the IAC, Dave mostly just came by to check in, get information, and share what he could. The Convention Center at the time had a nice cafeteria. Dave and I would have breakfast usually once a week and talk about anything. He technically worked for me, but our relationship was mostly collegial. He knew Baghdad like the back of his hand and I frequently called on him to either lead or go with us on runs downtown. No situation ever phased him. Dave was instrumental in the “Aliyah” chapter of this blog and apparently took a lot of heat from his half-Saudi fiancée over it. Dave got into Kuwait in November as well, so left earlier than the rest of us. He and I help Sally in her efforts to get our Iraqi interpreters over to the states.