thedrifter
12-26-07, 08:55 AM
A time for sharing in Iraq
The Christmas holiday served as the perfect format for U.S. military personnel and their Iraqi counterparts to learn more about each other and their culture.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Editor's note: Col. Stephen E. Spelman, 52, is a member of the Army Reserve and an assistant district attorney in Hampden County who is serving in Iraq as senior military officer at the Law and Order Task Force established by Gen. David H. Petraeus, commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq. He is sharing with readers of The Republican his perspective of the experiences of servicemen and women in Iraq. This marks his second tour of duty in Iraq.
It was a good old New England Christmas party here in Baghdad - with a twist.
Your soldiers had cold weather. (Well, cold for Iraq - high 50s at noon yesterday.) Your soldiers had Christmas music. And your soldiers had food. Lots and lots of food.
The food is what made it different. At this Christmas Eve party, we had home-made Iraqi food - made fresh and hot, right out of the oven.
We'd worked until noon, and then all of us in the task force broke for lunch together. It's an interesting group when we assemble. We're older on the average than most military units. (We prefer "more experienced.)
We have a mission that's part military, part law enforcement, and part many other things.
Who's in this task force? Men and women. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen. Agents from the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Air Force Office of Special Investigations and other agencies. Foreign service officers. Linguists. Australian soldiers, airmen, and sailors. Australian, British, and Iraqi criminal investigators.
We work every day with our Iraqi counterparts. When we began working with them, many of us also began eating lunch. When they ate the American food at our mess hall, they were always polite. But when they talked about their food, and its preparation, they got enthusiastic and excited.
So we asked them to start bringing Iraqi food to share with us at lunch. Once they did that, we were hooked.
Somebody suggested having a Christmas Eve lunch with our Iraqi brothers, with Iraqi food. The task force leaders paid for everything - and our Iraqi partners prepared the meal. We invited friends from other units we work with to join us.
Eventually, so many people from outside our task force agreed to come, that we had to serve the meal outdoors. So we held the meal - almost a feast, really - at the basketball court on our forward operational base.
Once people assembled, one of our task force members gave an invocation, then I thanked people for coming, and introduced the dignitaries ( British and Australian brigadiers). I then invited everyone to get in line to begin the meal.
Here's how things went. First, we each picked up a huge piece of soft, warm local Iraqi bread, the size of a small pizza. This was bread with a heft to it, yet soft and flexible. Then, we moved down a long table, filled with plates containing all kinds of Iraqi food. In the center of many of the plates was a beautifully cut carrot as centerpiece.
On the plates there were lamb kebabs, chicken kebabs, lamb chops, sliced cucumbers, sliced lemons, rice, noodles, pickles, hummus and other sauces, kebah (grape leaves stuffed with rice, beef, and spices), kufta (a long piece of succulent ground beef, cooked on a stick, with the stick removed before serving), grilled spiced tomatoes, and grilled onions.
We wrapped all of these things in a torn-off piece of that wonderful, warm, delicious bread. Every bite, every mouthful, produces an amazing taste or flavor. Everyone ate slowly, enjoying every ingredient and every aspect of the meal.
We ate where we could - some sitting on plastic chairs we'd brought, others sitting on the edge of the basketball court, others standing in the bright sun. Everyone thanked our Iraqi friends for bringing us this wonderful meal. Wonderful because of the effort they'd put into it, wonderful because of its taste, and wonderful because how it brought us together.
We spent about three hours together today, eating, talking, listening to Christmas carols, playing chess, playing volleyball and basketball, and having a Yankee swap (which our Iraqi friends enjoyed immensely). I'm sure we could have done most of it without the meal, but it wouldn't have been the same.
When human beings break bread together (literally in our case), a bond of friendship and mutual respect develops that doesn't exist otherwise. The simple, fundamental event of eating together draws people closer.
Everyone got to know each other a little better because of it. We certainly drew closer to our Iraqi friends, as we shared not just their food, but their history and their culture as well.
So although we can't be home with you, please be sure that we are with family here - family in the real sense of people who love us, care for us, and watch out for us. People who share with all of us the same fundamental values of a desire for freedom, a desire for peace, and the enjoyment of the simple pleasures taken from a sunny afternoon filled with exotic aromas, conversation, and laughter.
As I write this, it's almost midnight on Christmas Eve here in Iraq. Members of my task force are nearby, standing around a fire in the cold night, reading scripture and singing Christmas carols. The full moon is directly overhead, so bright in the cold, dry air that some are reading their scriptural passages using nothing but its light.
We've had an interesting and rewarding day here. Tomorrow is Christmas. We miss you and love you, but we are not alone.
Merry Christmas from Iraq.
Ellie
The Christmas holiday served as the perfect format for U.S. military personnel and their Iraqi counterparts to learn more about each other and their culture.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Editor's note: Col. Stephen E. Spelman, 52, is a member of the Army Reserve and an assistant district attorney in Hampden County who is serving in Iraq as senior military officer at the Law and Order Task Force established by Gen. David H. Petraeus, commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq. He is sharing with readers of The Republican his perspective of the experiences of servicemen and women in Iraq. This marks his second tour of duty in Iraq.
It was a good old New England Christmas party here in Baghdad - with a twist.
Your soldiers had cold weather. (Well, cold for Iraq - high 50s at noon yesterday.) Your soldiers had Christmas music. And your soldiers had food. Lots and lots of food.
The food is what made it different. At this Christmas Eve party, we had home-made Iraqi food - made fresh and hot, right out of the oven.
We'd worked until noon, and then all of us in the task force broke for lunch together. It's an interesting group when we assemble. We're older on the average than most military units. (We prefer "more experienced.)
We have a mission that's part military, part law enforcement, and part many other things.
Who's in this task force? Men and women. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen. Agents from the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Air Force Office of Special Investigations and other agencies. Foreign service officers. Linguists. Australian soldiers, airmen, and sailors. Australian, British, and Iraqi criminal investigators.
We work every day with our Iraqi counterparts. When we began working with them, many of us also began eating lunch. When they ate the American food at our mess hall, they were always polite. But when they talked about their food, and its preparation, they got enthusiastic and excited.
So we asked them to start bringing Iraqi food to share with us at lunch. Once they did that, we were hooked.
Somebody suggested having a Christmas Eve lunch with our Iraqi brothers, with Iraqi food. The task force leaders paid for everything - and our Iraqi partners prepared the meal. We invited friends from other units we work with to join us.
Eventually, so many people from outside our task force agreed to come, that we had to serve the meal outdoors. So we held the meal - almost a feast, really - at the basketball court on our forward operational base.
Once people assembled, one of our task force members gave an invocation, then I thanked people for coming, and introduced the dignitaries ( British and Australian brigadiers). I then invited everyone to get in line to begin the meal.
Here's how things went. First, we each picked up a huge piece of soft, warm local Iraqi bread, the size of a small pizza. This was bread with a heft to it, yet soft and flexible. Then, we moved down a long table, filled with plates containing all kinds of Iraqi food. In the center of many of the plates was a beautifully cut carrot as centerpiece.
On the plates there were lamb kebabs, chicken kebabs, lamb chops, sliced cucumbers, sliced lemons, rice, noodles, pickles, hummus and other sauces, kebah (grape leaves stuffed with rice, beef, and spices), kufta (a long piece of succulent ground beef, cooked on a stick, with the stick removed before serving), grilled spiced tomatoes, and grilled onions.
We wrapped all of these things in a torn-off piece of that wonderful, warm, delicious bread. Every bite, every mouthful, produces an amazing taste or flavor. Everyone ate slowly, enjoying every ingredient and every aspect of the meal.
We ate where we could - some sitting on plastic chairs we'd brought, others sitting on the edge of the basketball court, others standing in the bright sun. Everyone thanked our Iraqi friends for bringing us this wonderful meal. Wonderful because of the effort they'd put into it, wonderful because of its taste, and wonderful because how it brought us together.
We spent about three hours together today, eating, talking, listening to Christmas carols, playing chess, playing volleyball and basketball, and having a Yankee swap (which our Iraqi friends enjoyed immensely). I'm sure we could have done most of it without the meal, but it wouldn't have been the same.
When human beings break bread together (literally in our case), a bond of friendship and mutual respect develops that doesn't exist otherwise. The simple, fundamental event of eating together draws people closer.
Everyone got to know each other a little better because of it. We certainly drew closer to our Iraqi friends, as we shared not just their food, but their history and their culture as well.
So although we can't be home with you, please be sure that we are with family here - family in the real sense of people who love us, care for us, and watch out for us. People who share with all of us the same fundamental values of a desire for freedom, a desire for peace, and the enjoyment of the simple pleasures taken from a sunny afternoon filled with exotic aromas, conversation, and laughter.
As I write this, it's almost midnight on Christmas Eve here in Iraq. Members of my task force are nearby, standing around a fire in the cold night, reading scripture and singing Christmas carols. The full moon is directly overhead, so bright in the cold, dry air that some are reading their scriptural passages using nothing but its light.
We've had an interesting and rewarding day here. Tomorrow is Christmas. We miss you and love you, but we are not alone.
Merry Christmas from Iraq.
Ellie