View from above

On Christmas day, I had the opportunity to fly in a Blackhawk helicopter to 3 different locations around Iraq. Some impressions:

We flew pretty low. The pilot would hop up and over power lines. I could see tree tops at my eye level. I estimate we were going about 100-120 MPH, but it's hard to tell. The pilot would bank and veer, turn right or left, and generally avoid flying in a straight line for very far. He seemed to be having fun. We kept the main side doors shut, but the gunners manned the machine guns and left their doors open.

The land is flat northwest of Baghdad, pretty much. We flew over an area of hundreds of springs. They just seeped out of the soil, and flowed downhill, joining other creeks, and eventually forming a river. I don't know if this is seasonal. Where the creeks flowed, the water eroded the soil, forming deep creekbeds, some as much as 10 or 20 feet deep. It reminded me of the Grand Canyon in the way multiple stream flows carved into the soil, though the soil was just brown and not very deep.

I saw lots of farmland. Most fields were plowed and prepared for winter. Some had stubble of corn, or grain. I saw no fences, and the fields are not square. Rather, they are just whatever shape seems to happen. I saw no rhyme or reason for the shape, other than following a stream or ditch. Not sure what they are growing, although we did fly over what had to be a date palm plantation. The fields were small, no more than 3-4 acres, and often smaller. Irrigation was mostly from gasoline powered pumps drawing water from a ditch, then flowing through the furrows. I saw one center pivot irrigation system.

Around Kirkuk I saw many tank and infantry fighting and survivability positions. For tanks, these are tank sized ramps down into the ground to the level that only the tank turret would be showing. Dirt berms were next to the ramps. (Pretty poor positions; very visible, and the dirt berms cannot stop a tank busting bullet.) These positions were out in the farmers' fields. Soft dirt, easily plowed back under, but completely left alone. Just plowed around and left. I guess the farmers are afraid to get rid of the positions. Shows the mindset of the farmers. The Kirkuk area smelled like sulpher, and the streams I saw all had oil slicks.

Flew over lots of villages, or hamlets. Homes are flat topped, and the same color as the soil, having been built out of mud. It looked like each family would had a compound surrounded by a mud fence. In the compound, attached to or part of the fence, were one-room structures. Some were bigger (perhaps multiple room), some were small. They just kind of lined up along the fence, leaving the center compound open. In many of them, the only 2oth century item I could identify was an automobile. Clearly, no electricity or plumbing.

We flew over many sheepherders. Each herd must have been pretty much a family affair. 20-30 sheep. Not white, but brown to black. We'd see a herd out in the open, and guy or two standing near it. The herder would usually give a friendly wave. If we flew right over the herd, the sheep would scatter. The pilot would usually try to bank and turn to avoid flying over the herds.