On Patrol

I went on a presence patrol into Kirkuk. After a little stutter-step getting going, we got off, though a bit late. That’s okay as we try to vary our routine anyway, so being late works toward that end. It was bad news for our interpreter, though. He just got married, in June, and his bride was expecting him by a set time. Well, our late start caused him to miss his deadline, and pretty soon his cell phone started ringing. Contrition and explanation looks the same in any language, it seems.

We stopped at a police precinct for a brief visit. We sat down with the head policemen, not in the city but in the precinct. He had a clean office, painted blue on the lower half, and light blue on the upper, with a small window in the corner. His desk was clear except for inbox, pencils, and office utensils, and had recently been wiped off. He had a desk and return, his chair, a tiny refrigerator, two sofas and two love seats, all matching, and a TV on a stand.

Within a couple of minutes a policeman wearing a blue shirt and new black body armor came in with a tray and several little glasses of dark Chai. About two inches tall, the bottom half inch was all sugar. I stirred it with tiny spoon and drank most of it. If you drink it all, you get a refill, so it’s important to leave a bit. I was a bit leery about the water source, but took the risk. After a few minutes of chatting, and listening to our interpreter make excuses, we left to drive around the streets, accompanied by some Iraqi Police (IP).

We stopped and talked to a shopkeeper who was sitting in a little windowless stall, about 8 by 15. The front was painted pink, and inside colored lights (Christmas lights) helped the feminine presentation. I saw deodorants, shampoos, hair coloring, lipsticks, eye liners, pretty much most of what you’d see in a normal grocery store, with a couple of exceptions.

He had a variety of products, but no variety among products. That is, he had several different scents of deodorant, for example, but only one brand. The products were not lined up by type, but more by symmetry. I saw a row of various round containers, deodorants, lipsticks, eyeliners, etc, all lined up in a symmetrical pattern. Lipsticks were all over the shop, as they made nice colorful counterpoints to larger items. His biggest seller; shampoo. He had a few articles of clothing, including to my surprise, a negligee. And what looked like a moo-moo.

We took off after a few minutes and continued the patrol. Saw several mosques, some sheep, some goats, lots of trash, and some absolutely beautiful children dressed in bright cothing. After a while the IP had to return to their station for another mission.

Looking for progress? The soldiers I was with told me they have seen a great deal of progress in the IP since we arrived several months ago. They are getting better equipped; the body armor was brand new, which might explain why the guy delivering the tea was wearing it. The IP set up good security when stopped, and generally looked pretty good. Coming along nicely.