FOB Marez, Mosul __We went tonight to an Iraqi army post on the east side of the Tigris River to have dinner with Iraqi soldiers.
Briefly continuing the food review theme of the last post, it wasn’t bad at all. There was lentil soup, almond rice and the excellent flat bread they make all over Iraq. It tastes a lot like Nan, that bread you can get at Indian restaurants.
This was an entirely Kurdish battalion. A lot of the soldiers are former Peshmerga who had bitterly fought Saddam Hussein for over a decade.
The lieutenant colonel who leads the battalion survived Saddam’s poison gas attack on the Kurds. Many of his family members didn’t. Other relatives were buried alive by Saddam.
Two Fort Lewis soldiers live at the post with the Kurds. Their company commander, Capt. Brent Clemmer of Steilacoom, has dinner at the post just about every other night. The Kurdish soldiers call him their brother.
These soldiers loved having their picture taken. Everywhere Tony went with his camera, they called out to him,”take my picture!” Then they’d look at the view screen on the back of his digital camera with delight.
“Good, good.”
-- Sean Cockerham