Lunch at Set Al Sham

So, on our latest bank run we had to deposit some checks and pick-up close to a million in dollars and riyals which came out to be roughly 20 or so 'bricks' of cash.  A brick of cash is 1,000 bills of a certain denomination.  Each brick weighs about 3+ pounds, so you're looking at 60-75 cumbersome pounds.  Well, we realized on the way that we forgot to bring our bag/case to put the bricks in.  So, we asked the branch manager, Bander, if we could borrow one.  He gave us what amounted to a 30 year old duffle bag with no clasp or mechanism by which to seal it.  When we were summoned to receive the cash, they did so in front of the regular customers sitting in the waiting room.  So, there I am holding a raggedy duffle bag while SSG Spann dumbs cash in it in front of about 15 of our newest friends.  

Once we had the big bag 'o cash, we had to wait in Bander's office for the rest of the deposit receipts.  As we are sitting there, some dude in a janitor's jump suit walks casually into the office and starts to pick-up our duffel.  SSG Spann and I both jump up and yell at the guy, sending him scurrying out of the office just as Bander launches into him in Arabic.  Apparently, Bander asked him to get a cart to help us get the bag to the car and the poor guy made the wrong assumption that it would be okay to bring the bag to the cart first rather than the cart to the bag.

Anyway, Bander comes into the office and we start to chit-chat.  Long story short, Bander leads the conversation to religion.  Now I had always heard that it was not cool to broach such subjects with a Muslim when you are obviously not one.  But he brought it up and I didn't want to offend him by shutting down.  Okay, okay...I actually got a little excited to have the chance to argue Christianity over Islam.  The actual details of the next 25 minutes are/were a bit boring but I'll say I had the upperhand in presentation but that's because this is my blog and you weren't there. (Ha ha)

Well, good ole Bander was nice enough by the end of the visit of our last bank run before this one to offer a recommendation of a restaurant owned by a friend of his, Sa'har.  He told us it was a very nice restaurant and that he would have to call ahead for us to 'gain permission' and describe our person and vehicle so the guard at the underground parking garage would let us in.  Turns out, the place was a very nice Syrian restaurant called Set Al Sham.  Here are some pics...

SSG Spann holding the menu.

There was a Caesar salad in the bowl at the top left.  We had mixed grill kabobs.

This was the elevator to the parking garage.  The handrails are inlaid with mother of pearl.

Bahrain Trip

 Gassin' up just outside of Riyadh.

 This is the view for about 3.5 of the 5 hour drive east from Riyadh to the Kingdom of Bahrain, an island  off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf.

 At about the halfway point we drove by this odd site - an abandoned group of buildings complete with creepy ferris wheel.

 Saw plenty of camels and Bedouin camps enroute as well.

 Crossing the causeway to the Kingdom of Bahrain.  The first bit of land in the distance is the passport/customs station.

 Not sure what this is.  Just thought it made for a cool pic.

 Left to this kingdom, right to that one.

If I didn't tell you, could you guess what restaurant this is?  'Tis the Macaroni Grill.   

 Picture didn't turn out very well, but this is referred to as "American Alley" or "Heart Attack Alley".  Has McD's, DQ, Macaroni Grill, Starbuck's, Pizza Inn, Baskin Robbins, etc.

City Centre mall - very large.  Here's a fun game: see how many abaya-wearin' females you can count (ninja dresses).  I count eleven.  All abayas are black, by the way.  Can't draw attention to yourself with colors or decoration. 

The gang is hagglin' over carpets with store owners Mohammad and Mustafa (yes, it does seem like every male in the Middle East carries one or both of those names).  Some of these carpets were amazing - all hand-stitched and most were a silk and wool combo.  The big one (second from the top of the pile) went for around 1000 Saudi Riyal or about $270.

Caveat to the golf experience

I was just writing an e-mail to my illustrious Aunt Jackie and realized I should probably share a perspective on here that I've come to appreciate.

I had been told before 'deploying' here to Riyadh that I could bring anything from golf clubs to triathlon gear out here.  I didn't do so because it just didn't feel right knowing I was coming here, to the Middle East, to do a job for the U.S. Army in support of stabilizing what we all know is a very volatile region.  If I was going to sacrifice an entire year away from family and friends, I wasn't going to pursue activities that might seem to turn this opportunity into some sort of strange vacation.

But, as usual, my mistake was that my perspective was too inwardly focused and naive given my less-than-adequate understanding of the true mission here.

Now, I have a new and proper perspective.  Engaging in activities such as golf (see pics below) isn't just a chance to unwind here.  It is also an opportunity to show trust and good faith in the host country's intent to modernize and accept religious tolerance.  It's an opportunity to step outside the safety of our compound, shed an ample degree of force protection and rely on the stability of our locale that has been built with and through the Saudi government.

But more importantly, I can now use the excuse that I'm playing with rented clubs rather than my par-producing set at home. ;)

Golf at Dirab / Off-roadin' SW of Riyadh

Dirab Golf Course is SSW of Riyadh.  It is a beautiful (and very long) course.  3 of the 4 par 5's are 583, 605, and 610 yards.  Dan Morris and I certainly didn't win anything during the 2-man scramble, but we finished 5-under, shooting a 95 with a 28 handicap (highest allowed). 

 Dan Morris and I.

That's the clubhouse in the background.

One of the super fast greens tucked into the surrounding terrain.  Notice the guard shack/post on the hill. Since Dirab attracts many Westerners, there are obvious force protection measures in-place around the course.

Dan drove us further W from Dirab after the tournament to checkout these escarpments. 

Part of the venture was to find these very old hand-made camel trails leading up/down the face of the escarpments.

Don't do it, Dan!  For some perspective, that speck in front of Dan's left shin is a large truck (akin to an 18-wheeler) on the ground below.

I was too chicken to stand at the edge like Dan.  

Bank Run pics - 31 OCT 10

When you can't read the signs, you find your way around based on landmarks.  This is a common landmark in giving directions.  It's affectionately known as the BAM (Big-ass mosque).

View of southern Riyadh skyline.

Can't remember the name of this one, but there's a restaurant in the ball.

Having tea and coffee with Omar and Bandar at the 'high priority business branch' of SAMBA.

SSG Spann keeping a close eye on the process.

A typical line up in Riyadh: Bentley, Rolls, Beemer, Lexus outside of office building.

Bank Run pics

We had another bank run yesterday.  That meant a return trip to the Kingdom Centre (pictured above).  The bank is on the ground floor.  The rest of the ground floor and the second floor are a high-end mall complex.  Floors 3-12 are the SAMBA bank offices.  There are roughly 60-65 floors in total.  The top span is an observation deck that costs 50 'rips' to enjoy (roughly 13 bucks).

This is Mustafa, one of our contacts at the bank.  This was my first time meeting him so we were having the customary getting-to-know-each-other-before-conducting-business chat.

This is a pic from a window near Mustafa's office on the 11th floor.

Afterwards, SSG Spann and I went to the food court in the mall for lunch.  I wanted Mickey D's b/c in that instance, I wanted to be relatively sure of what I was getting.  Unfortunately,  I didn't see those signs overhead that depicted which side was for women and which side was for men (BTW, I was the only one at the counter at the time).  Anyway, I was kindly asked to step to the other side of the partition, which was probably a lifesaving maneuver since these two purse-wielding ninjas were deftly closing in behind me.  

Budget fun

My uncle, in an effort to poke fun, used to always claim that his tax dollars weren't being well-spent if they were paying my salary as a member of our country's military.  He'd be happy to know, and most would be surprised to find out, that the Great American Public does not foot the bill for SCOs/SAOs.  The host nation has that privilege.

As such, it's incumbent upon us (the SCO/SAO) to submit a budget every year to the host nation.  Very simply, we say "this is what it'll take to continue the mission for the next year" and they decide how much to actually pay.  For the last few years, USMTM has submitted requests around the $32 million mark.  That includes approximately $9 mil for military payroll and $5 mil for civilian payroll.  It even includes funds for  temporary duty travel and the funds that buy our tickets back to the States when we take our mid-tour leave.

Unfortunately, we have, over the last few years anyway, been approved by the Kingdom for about 75% of what we ask for.  This forces the powers that be to rob from Peter to pay Paul in some instances.  An example is that we submit the budget for military payroll personnel based on a 100% fill of the manning roster.  In actuality, we are not 100% manned for all services.  In other words, there are several Army slots that have yet to be filled, but we've received the funding that pays for those slots.  That 'surplus' in military payroll is used to fill a deficit elsewhere in the overall budget.  If we asked for $1.5 mil in TDY funding and only received $1 mil, then that's where the hole gets patched.

While that may sound fair, an audit by our gracious hosts would result in their wanting the 'extra' military payroll funds returned regardless of our needs in other areas.  Saudi will replenish funds such as paying for tickets home should they run out during the fiscal year.  But any budgeteer will tell you they can't properly plan for funds that they don't know when and if they're gettin'.  It's nice to know ahead of time that you don't need to rob Peter to pay Paul if Paul is gonna get his later in the year.

My question was, why are we slighted on our budget request?  Is Saudi hurtin' economically?  The short answer is no.  The King has said that $37 of every barrel of oil is earmarked for the economy.  A barrel goes for about $89 bucks these days and this country produces 12.5 million barrels A DAY.  The other $52 per barrel is "the King's money".  The Saudi national debt could be paid off with one day's production of oil, by the way.  Surely, a good portion of the King's money goes to other reforms, payment of those debts and foreign investment, but the dude doesn't exactly need to borrow change for a cup of coffee.   Additionally, the King has already set aside $100 Billion for military improvements this year. $50 Billion of that is going towards the purchase of F15 fighter jets from the good ole U.S. (which will equate to thousands of new jobs in the States) as well as $25 Billion for Apache helicopters.  If our request is around $32 mil again, that equates to about less than one-thousandth of a single percent of the $25 Billion remaining for 'military improvement'.

So, what the Hell?  Why short us.  I don't have an answer.  We'll call my theory the 'suq' theory.  The traditional market shops here are called 'suqs' (pronounced 'sook').  Every price in a suq is negotiable.  It is even considered a cultural slight not to haggle.  Maybe that's why we don't get what we ask for.  We don't haggle or they feel they should never agree to the first offer.  I say, why not just figure out what we need, arbitrarily add 25% and submit that?  That may actually end up being the plan.  Don't know.  But when I find out, I'll let you know.

A few pics

This is looking NNW from my roof.  You can see the backs of a few villas and the playground.  I've never seen any kids around here so the few families that I've heard are here are obviously not lodged in my area.

This is basically looking W.  The dark dirt is the softball field.  The high netting to the left and little sliver of light green turf is the driving range.  Again, I've never seen anyone use these amenities while the sun is up.  You can see the shade covers for cars in the foreground.  Unfortunately, the construction is to replace water pipes so the covers can't be used.  The tall buildings in the far background are completely uninhabited.  Back in the Desert Storm days, they were teeming with US military.  Now they simply provide stand-off protection against any terrorist attack on what's currently occupied.

This is looking SSE (my front door is below me).  I'm driving the 2nd car from the right. A '99 Crown Vic.  That's what they gave me - can't complain.  Across the street, that is basically one villa.  It mirrors my own for the most part.  The tallest part of that structure is where I'm standing on mine to take the pic.

Coming through the gate at Eskan.  Notice the road sign on the left.

One of many guarded points in the 'process' of entering Eskan village.

Post 9/11 Saudi-American Relations

Oil – Still important, but the game is changing.  Saudi has market opportunities in China now.  No longer will they need to rely as heavily on US markets.  While the option exists to place an embargo or at least severely limit sales to the US, it’s still not in the interest of Saudi or China, for that matter.  Such an action could serve to further de-stabilize the Middle East as the US is the one providing the most duct tape and spit to keep it from falling apart.  The US may lose some sway over the kingdom given their market diversification, but a global interest by their new partners will serve American interests as well.

Defense Relationship/Location – We’re still the biggest bad-ass on the planet.  That, plus Saudi needs our influence in stabilizing Iraq and keeping Iran on a short leash.  That means they’ll want to preserve a strategic relationship that allows us use of their land and airspace to keep things in order.  Unfortunately, the kingdom’s relationship with China and Russia means different options for defense articles.  And China, more than likely, will have fewer restrictions in selling sophisticated weaponry to the Saudis.  Something the US will have to keep a close eye on.

Religion – Our mutual interest in defeating communism has led directly to the Islamic radicals that terrorize Western civilization today.  This is the tough part.  The US, once complicit in Saudi Arabia’s support/funding of religious radicals during the Cold War, now stands starkly against the very same actions.  Saudi Arabia has made commendable strides in working with the US to root out local terrorist organizations and its militants, but the tough part is re-directing a religious message they’ve supported for more than a half-century.  The US must get Saudi to use their pulpits from Mecca and Medina to preach a positive, proactive message in promoting Islam.  Additionally, Saudi Arabia must increase vigilance in tracking what their money funds and supports.  For the US’s part, we must accomplish our goal of a stable Iraq.  Furthermore, we have to broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians to help neutralize toxic anti-Americanism in this region.  

All of this will take time and patience, neither of which is in great supply given the current global environment as it pertains to terrorism.  Failure in accomplishing this reform will certainly lead to a very dangerous and grim future. 

(Source: Thicker Than Oil by Rachel Bronson)

Obama to Eskan

       The challenge I’m accepting this time is being able to explain my command’s existence from the White House to Eskan Village.  Hopefully, I’ve been able to establish why the US and Saudi Arabia are partners.  Now I want to help you understand how the United States Military Training Mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (my command) materialized out of this relationship.

I understand if you find yourself napping between paragraphs.  I’ll try to use my uncanny ability to reduce intellectual insight to elementary musings.

The President, once during their term, issues a National Security Strategy.  The Department of Defense (MUSCLE) and Department of State (DIPLOMACY NERDS) each write their own plan to support the NSS.  The Secretary of Defense writes the National Defense Strategy to assess threats to the objectives and interests outlined in the NSS, while the Secretary of State writes the Strategic Plan to provide priorities and direction to both the State Department and USAID.

On the DoD side of the house, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs comes up with the National Military Strategy to support both plans from DoD and DoS.  The Military Strategy begets 2 subsequent documents: Guidance for Employment of the Force (near term) and Guidance for Development of the Force (long term).  The consideration of State objectives in penning these docs forces a holistic approach to strategy and planning in order to avoid conflicting guidance and resource constraints.

The GEF is given to the geographic combatant commands.  Mine happens to be Central Command or USCENTCOM, headquartered on MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida.  CENTCOM’s area of responsibility or ‘theater’ is the Middle East (Egypt to Jordan to any country ending in -stan).  CENTCOM makes theater plans supported by regional plans supported by country plans.

Meanwhile, back at the Batcave (…uh…I mean the State Department), similar nesting of subordinate plans make their way down to the embassy and ambassador level.  

Country plan (DoD) meets embassy plan (DoS) and bingo, bango, blam-o …a security cooperation/assistance organization 'tis born.  The SAO for Saudi Arabia is the United States Military Training Mission.  The embassy provides the country-level foreign assistance budget, to include Foreign Military Financing and International Military Education and Training.  The security assistance programs ran by USMTM are classified in 3 ways: Equipment, Services, and Training; Training and Education; and Military-to-Military exchanges.

Foreign Military Sales is the largest and most well-known of US security cooperation programs.  FMS is a Title 22 security assistance program (security assistance simply means a security cooperation program that’s carried out by the military) that allows our international partners to procure defense articles (planes, tanks and guns – oh my), services (maintenance and support of planes, tanks and guns), and training (how to use planes tanks and guns).

Wake up – you’re drooling on your keyboard.

Oil, Oil, Toil and Trouble

Alright, raise your hand if you’ve ever read a protest sign or heard the words chanted, “No more blood for oil!”  Is this accurate?  Is it a generalization that holds any merit?  

First of all, for anyone to claim that oil has nothing to do with today’s environment would be pretty shortsighted to say the least.  However, to claim that oil is the only reason would be equally shortsighted.  

How does the role of oil play into the Saudi-American relationship?  American businessmen won concessions for oil drilling in Bahrain in 1933.  The Saudi king was eager to allow the concessions because he was broke and the British wished to colonize his kingdom, placing politics over business.  The American company, completely void of political motive, was successful in their exploration, won a concession that covered 50% of the Saudi mainland, and their anti-colonial sentiments helped Saudi rid themselves of the British in the 1950’s.  The Americans started a new company within the kingdom called the Arab American Company (Aramco) and tapped into what would become 25% of the world’s oil reserves.  With the technological and industrial advances of the times oil became extremely important worldwide, especially during WWII.  By 1950, Saudi was producing 578,000 barrels a day of crude oil – 5% of the world’s production.  Over the course of the 1970’s, ownership of Aramco changed from American to Saudi hands.  Today, Saudi Arabia houses 85% of OPEC’s spare capacity, which is to say it houses 85% of the world’s spare capacity of oil.  As you can imagine, Saudi’s oil exports are responsible for 95% of its country’s revenue.

So we know that oil is extremely important and Saudi Arabia has a metric buttload of the stuff.  

This may explain America’s interest in Saudi relations but it doesn’t explain the strength of the relationship.  Take Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Libya and Sudan for instance.  They’re major oil-producing states, but no one would categorize our relations with them as strong.  Oil certainly explains where Saudi Arabia derives its wealth, but it doesn’t explain how they chose to invest and spend said wealth.

The strength of the Saudi-American relationship is a 3-legged stool: oil, geography, and religion.  Remove one leg and the stool falls.

We’ll talk the number one rule in realty next: location, location, location.  Get out a map and imagine all shipping and flight routes from the States to anywhere from the Middle East to the Far East.  Use of a Saudi Arabian airbase and airspace in WWII helped us with logistical ties to our then allies, the Soviets.  Think of the Arab peninsula’s advantage during the Cold War’s threat of Soviet expansion.  Think of the necessary supply routes to our troops in Japan.  Now think of our current conflicts of the past 10 years.  Pretty key terrain for the good guys.

Finally, it was recognized by the US government that making the king of Saudi a global icon for the Arab world was vitally important to protecting our national interests against Soviet/communist expansion.  FDR determined “that in view of the strategic location of Saudi Arabia, the importance of oil resources of that country and the prestige of King Ibn Saud throughout the Arab world, the defense of Saudi Arabia was vital to the defense of the United States.”

That’s why the U.S. is in the relationship, but what does Saudi Arabia get in return?  Some ass-whoopin' ability.  Even when we backed Israel while Saudi backed Syria and Egypt in the Yom Kippur War of '73, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia showed a video to some Saudi government officials to illustrate the incomparable ability of the U.S. to provide support to an ally in times of war, remarking, "this is why it is imperative to maintain a strong relationship with the United States."

In conclusion, we were not shedding American blood for oil in Iraq.  On the contrary, our relationship with Saudi Arabia allows the U.S. freedom to sanction and alter the production of other oil-rich countries in order to impose political reform or at least political mediation.  Oil will always be a significant role player in the shifting sands of power (until it’s replaced by the discovery of alternative energy), but it will never stand alone as the reason for U.S. military operations.  

The Saudi-American relationship

In my blog post “A Little Perspective” I set-up, in general terms, the ‘reason’ why the US came here in the first place.  Purposefully avoiding any confrontation, I glossed over the birth of the relationship as special interest vs. protection.  Obviously, there’s a helluva lot more to our two nation’s relationship than what I mentioned.  The commingling of politics, oil and religion have strained and strengthened this partnership for over 60 years.

So as I learn more about this country and our relations with it, I’ve become more and more interested in the view points of individuals from both sides.  With great trepidation I’ll start the discussion with my basic understanding of how we got here.  Please understand that any opinions that I may espouse here are purely my own and not necessarily that of my command, the US Army or our political leaders.  This proclamation is simply to limit the fall-out of my being ignorant in my understanding.  Believe me, that happens more often than I’d like to admit.  With that, I hope you’ll chime in either to share your perspective or to correct mine.

Here’s what I’ll try to tackle this go-‘round: how did we get here?  How’d we maintain a relationship with a devout Islamic culture through the Cold War and 9/11?  15 of the 19 9/11 attackers were Saudi citizens.  We sell arms to a nation that wants to drive Israel (our ally) “into the sea”, right?

Not to ignore the first 3 decades of partnership, but I gather that three significant events in 1979 were the genesis for today’s environment.  First, Khomeini of Iran had his intentions to push the Shi’a version of Islam beyond his borders (Sunni was the predominate version of Islam in the Middle East).  Then, the Mosque of Mecca was seized by Saudi extremists.  Finally, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.  This prompted Saudi Arabia to pump money into the coffers of religious institutes to include mosques, schools and charities on a regional and global scope to purposefully bolster religious radicalism – to push for ‘jihad’.  This politicizing of religion had an immediate and damaging impact on Soviet efforts in Afghanistan, a benefit not lost on the U.S. which not only gave tacit approval but even armed the mujahedeen.  We supported these efforts throughout the 1980’s because it served our national interests at the time.  Hell, it’s what won us the Cold War.  Unfortunately, 9/11 seems to be the price we paid for the strategies we chose to win the Cold War.  The religious radicalism we supported to ally with all sectors of the muslim culture in order to defeat “godless communism” is the very problem we face today in this region.  I’m not saying what we did was wrong.  And I certainly do not think the U.S. had any idea that today's threat of terrorism on the West would be a by-product of our course of action against Cold War enemies.  But we seem to be reaping what we sewed.

  So, how do we move forward?  How do we shape foreign policy to maintain our union and push political reform to a proselytizing nation (and region for that matter)?  Push too hard and you’ll increase radicalism (see Iran and Algeria) in a nation that houses the birthplace of Islam.  Push too fast and you’ll trigger out-right chaos (see Iraq).

 If the rose can be pinned on the religion of Islam alone, we’re screwed.  But, if the problem is at all political, there’s hope.  Policies are malleable; so too are the environments governed by them.

So what do you think?

Don't worry, this is not a change in the overall direction and purpose of this blog.  My capacity to wax rhapsodic on international relations is shallow at best.  Just wanted to mix it up a little and see what y'all think.

Bank Run

First I wanted to try and help some of you that plugged the coordinates I gave into Google Earth and it didn’t work.  If you’re still interested, go to Google Earth and type in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Once you are there, go to the southern edge of town and move your mouse around paying attention to the coordinates at the bottom of the screen.  Eskan village is a small group of buildings that are along the main road that runs SSW from the southern edge of Riyadh.  You can find the location that way.  Good luck!

Yesterday, we embarked on a bank run to SAMBA bank located on the ground floor of the Kingdom Centre.  We traveled in a discreetly armored SUV wearing business attire and carrying handguns.  The Kingdom Centre is a beautiful building but I couldn’t help thinking that it looks like a large bottle-opener (search "Kingdom Centre Riyadh" in Google Images).  Nonetheless, it contains, as I was told, one of the main shopping centers for the upper crust of Riyadh society.  Once at the bank, we met Omar.  He’s a 29 year old college grad and adept English-speaker who has worked with SAMBA bank since 2005 as the conduit for our operations.  Omar is a laid-back and personable individual that while certainly responsive to our requests felt no need to impress or be proactive.  After making our deposits, Omar escorted us through town to SAMA bank.  This bank serves as the central bank or Federal Reserve to all other banks.  Security was a bit tighter this time around as I was apparently scolded by a security guard to put the small digital camera I was carrying into my pocket.  I, of course, had no idea he was even talking to me so Omar sheepishly translated the directive.  Once inside, we walked directly to an open teller.  We were there to withdraw several ‘bricks’ (1000 bills - 10 banded sets of 100 bills) of Riyals in the denominations of 10’s and 5’s as was previously coordinated through Omar.  However, the teller told us he had only 20’s and 5’s to offer.  At this, Omar turned to us and asked, “Can you come back tomorrow?”  Now this pissed me off, but I held my tongue as I have to go through the long relationship-building process this culture demands before I can really do any sword-rattling.  As I found out during my in-brief with the Deputy Chief of USMTM, there is almost no recourse for any Saudi who doesn’t have the work ethic and due diligence expected by their American military cohort.  My problem was that each bank run is a half day gone.  Each run has to be done, now, by my deputy and I.  More importantly, we need certain denominations for a reason.  If that isn’t met, cyclic inspections and management of dispensed funds falls off rhythm which eventually spreads to impact other services under our purview and blah, blah, blah.  Bottomline: we want what we want, when we want it.  But, like I said, we have to grin, accept half-hearted apologies and graciously request that this not happen in the future.  Anyway, we took the 20’s and 5’s.

During our ride to SAMA bank I carried on a conversation about this and that with Omar to start the get-to-know-each-other process.  One of the things I asked was what Saudis are known for.  I prefaced the question with examples that Germans are known for precise engineering and Americans are cheeseburger-eatin‘ capitalists.  Omar was quick to offer that Saudis are known for 3 things: investing money, hoarding money, and verbosity.  On the latter point he illustrated that Saudis do not give simple concise answers to any question.  He said, “If they do, you’ve probably already offended them in some way.”  Good to know.  I also asked, “If there’s one place I should visit during my tour, where would that be?”  He laughed saying anywhere but here (Riyadh).  He said Jeddah (coastal town along the Red Sea) was a pretty contemporary beach town with modern exceptions in regards to Islamic culture (i.e. couples could live together out of wedlock and women are not required to cover themselves in public).  He also said that Dubai is a cool place to visit.  His sales pitch?  There are hardly any Arabs there - all Westerners.  And there's a mall that he claims takes 2 full days to cover.  He also seemed partial to any place that had cinemas.  Movie theaters are banned in Riyadh.  I had assumed this had to do with religion.  But, when asked, Omar said that it actually had to do entirely with business.  He said movie theaters used to exist in Riyadh, but government was not pleased with the “constant wrestling of who would run them.”  Omar’s words, anyway.  I didn’t really understand to be honest.   Didn’t care enough to ask him to elaborate.

That’s about it for now.

I’ll be sure to take some pics next time out.  We make these runs about every 2 weeks or so.  The camera I was holding didn’t belong to me but to my deputy whom I accompanied on the run.  Also, I’m waiting on my October 1st paycheck to purchase a personal wifi device with a company downtown.  Once I have that, I’ll have the freedom to download pics and videos on my own time.

Saturday's Football line-up

Dang it!  Thought I was going to get to see UF v TENN tomorrow.  AFN (about 10 channels run by the military) is showing 3 games in the 10:30 PM time slot (3:30 PM EST).  They're showing AF v OK, BYU v FSU, and NEB v WASH.  At least I get to watch one SEC match-up on one of the early games - ARKY v UGA.  Normally, I'd root for the SEC East, but I really want Arky to give Bama a run for their money in the West.  And, right now, if Arky can't beat UGA, they prolly can't beat Bama.

Where I is

This is the third time I will have tried to share my location with y'all.  The first two times I tried to cut-n-paste a screen shot from Google Earth.  Didn't work.  So, for the adventurous and curious types out there, the coordinates to my villa in Google Earth are as follows: 24 degrees 34’51.86 N   46 degrees 51’33.24 E


Once you're there, you'll find tennis courts 2 blocks south. West of the tennis courts is the driving range (golf).  North of the driving range is the softball field.  East of the tennis courts is the 'hub' of Eskan (buildings surrounding a pool).  The building left of the pool as you're looking at it is the gym.  The long building below the pool (where I'm sitting right now) is called The Breezeway.  Basically, it's a long corridor with shops, a Subway, multi-media center, coffee shop, shoppette, beauty & spa shop, and a Morale, Welfare and Recreation office.  Right of the pool is the ECC - Eskan Community Center (restaurant, pool tables, etc.)  Due east of the ECC is a small 4-way intersection.  If you head NE from that intersection, my office is the 2nd building on the right.  If you continue looking NE about a 1/4 mile from my office, you'll see a long building running WNW to ESE that sits at the SW corner of a fairly square parking lot.  That's the commissary (grocery store) and base exchange (mini Wal-Mart).


That's about all I know right now.  It's the weekend here (Thurs. and Fri.) so I'm bummin' around right now, trying to pass the time.  I downloaded Perry's latest sermon on iTunes though and I'm about to rent season 3 of Weeds (again with the moral contradiction, right?).  


The gym's pretty cool.  They have cardio equipment with monitors you can put DVDs in.  For someone who hates cardio machines, these things rock!  Running in this heat sucks, but as soon as I start to whine about it, I think about my Infantry brothers who climb mountains in Afghanistan carrying 100+ lbs. in equipment in this kind of heat for hours.  Suddenly, several minutes wearing ounces of Under Armour running gear while listening to my iPod on flat terrain with no one shooting at me doesn't seem so bad.  Sadly, that's the kind of mental diggin' I need to do to motivate myself to run these days.  I hate running. Who invented that crap anyway? Was it Phidippides (sp?) with his jaunt from Marathon to Athens? Hate that guy.  Thank the Lord for people like Dr. Naismith, Walter Camp and Abner Doubleday who at least broke the monotony by introducing a ball and a set of rules.


Alright off to the commissary....walkin' the whole way.  

1 is the loneliest number

First and foremost, congrats to everyone whose team was a winner yesterday!  I have a hard enough time when my team, Los Gators, are not doing well (read: losing) but it really sucks when all I had to go on was the little ticker on the game they were playing on AFN at the time (USC v UGA).  The cool thing was, I'm pretty sure I saw our good friends Jeremy and Natalie on TV.  Right after USC scored their first TD, the cameraman (must've been a USC fan) showed a random shot of disappointed UGA fans.  And if Jeremy was wearin' a white UGA polo with horizontal lines, a tan "G" cap, and sunglasses with a certain blond lady to his left who was also wearing sunglasses (all I could see was the top quarter of her head), then I got to see your personal anguish from quite far away.  Bittersweet.

So to Mark, Lee Miller and all my other Gamecock friends - congrats!  Big win against a very good SEC team.  To my brother TJ, even though you've walked a dark path as a Seminole football alum for a long time, I still felt sorry for your loss.  Just kiddin' - that was awesome!  Luv ya, bro!  I've gotta talk crap while I can, my Gators aren't exactly firin' on all cylinders.

I was very excited for the football on Saturday, though.  I was almost finished with the two seasons of Dexter that Mike Thow gave me.  Yes, 24 1-hour episodes can be consumed quickly in a place like this. It may be surprising to most, but ask any Soldier that's been to Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Saudi, ....pretty much anywhere they are alone and have to find passive outlets to pass the time and they'll regale you with stories of entire seasons going down in one sitting.

This place is definitely different from any other place I've been though.  In Iraq, there was never much silence.  The machine of war maintains at least a constant hum spiked by distinguishable arias of mortar and gun fire.  Throw in the constant posturing of equipment, loudspeaker announcements, drills, mortar alerts, and foot traffic to and from chow halls, offices, ranges, tents, and a buddy's CHU (containerized housing unit) and you get used to the ruckus.  Now that I have this experience as a reference, that noise was comforting.  Not only did you never want for human contact, but it was easy to take ownership of your piece of the madness, making you proud to be contributing to the deafening overture of war.  And I'm a Finance dude for heaven's sake!

But here, it's eerily silent.  Outside our offices and villas, but within the walls of our little military community that is Eskan, it's almost post-apocalyptic in its feel and perspective.  Inside my villa, it's an alone that I haven't ever faced before.  The circus that is my family (as is any with at least a kid or two) is truly the happiest place on Earth.  But to so starkly realize its absence is very sobering.  You're almost compelled to laugh a little louder at the TV,  even start some running commentary just so you can hear a human voice.

Don't get this wrong, I'm not writing this for anyone to feel sorry for me at all.  I just want to capture the experience for you.  Sure I miss my family, and this place is strange so far, but I'm not sad at all.  Besides, part of this is my timing.  I came in a few days short of a weekend.  During those days I didn't have everything I needed to in-process because my bags were delayed.  Once I got them, we hit a weekend that coincides with the beginning of a Muslim holiday.  All this means I have more time than usual to be by myself at the beginning of such a tour.  Soon, I'll in-process, start work, meet colleagues and peers and eventually weave myself in as part of the Eskan fabric.  Maybe I'll begin to hear that familiar tune as I go, despite this being a non-combat assignment.  And I'll write about that too!

So, don't worry about me.  These are positive experiences I can always use to better myself, strengthen my relationships and become a better husband, father and Soldier.  Just wanted to try and give a glimpse to those who have never spent time in uniform or in similar circumstances.  That's what this blog was meant to be anyway... a window for my family and friends.

Have a good night!

Bags have arrived!

So, let’s see...I arrived in Riyadh at 8:37 PM on the 5th and finally got my bags at 4:00 PM on the 9th.  That’s 4 days, almost 96 hours, without a change of clothes.  Actually, I put on the clothes I travelled in at about 11:00 AM in Florence on the 4th.  So, quick math tells me I spent...(adjust for time zones, carry the 1, factor in 110 degree heat, subtract hours of sleep)....uh....a long time in beach pants, a lightweight long sleeve button-down, and flip-flops.

I had never been so happy to have my uniforms, shorts, t-shirts, socks, and seasons 2 & 3 of Dexter (Thanks, Mike!).  But, you know what I was most comforted to finally have back?  My bible.  I know with those last two words I may have turned-off some people who may be reading this blog.  And that’s okay - I get it.  What I mean is, it wasn’t too long ago that I’d have been turned-off by that statement if the roles were reversed.  But not now.  I knew right where I had packed it, and it was the first thing I looked for.  Pretty cool feeling.  

So, what’s the first thing I did after I put down my bible and put on some very wrinkled, yet clean clothes?  Watch a few shows of Dexter, of course!  Nothing complements a comforting religious experience like watching some dude hack people up AND cheer for him.  I know I’ve strongly implied my Christianity earlier, but that should also strongly imply the fact that I’m not perfect.  Right?    

Now that I have my clothes and paperwork I can get started in-processing and get to work, right?  Wrong.  Not only are Thursday and Friday the weekend of the Islamic culture (by which all military personnel abide by, working on Saturdays and Sundays), but it’s Eid - the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.  So, everyone is off until the 15th here.  What’s that mean?  It means both Dexter seasons are goin’ down in short order.

Paola and the kids are off to Florida tomorrow and Disney next week!  I’m very excited for them and the rest of the family that is joining them there.  Can’t wait to hear the stories and see the pictures of kids jacked-up on natural adrenaline and Disney treats.

Well, I didn’t get this posted yesterday, so I have one more experience to share on this entry.  I went to the protestant service here at Eskan.  Unfortunately, I have to blame my church at home (NewSpring) for setting me up for failure.  Because NewSpring rocks out with amazing, contemporary music every week, I felt the urge to run screaming from the little chapel here once I heard the synthesizer fire up with its anemic drum machine accompaniment paired with a tone-deaf worship leader.  That was excruciating.  The message was good and well delivered, however.  I wonder if they’ll mind if I show up with an iPod and headphones next week. 

That’s it for now.  And Happy Birthday to my friend, Lee Burris!  Now that dude is old.

A Little Perspective

So, a quick history lesson on the region is probably in order to explain the existence of USMTM, and, by extension, my capacity as its Finance Flunky.

BTW, I’ve always sucked at history and ultimately found a way to dumb down such things to a level that, by comparison, would make ‘An Idiot’s Guide’ seem convoluted and haughty by comparison.  It’s easy really, just strip away any political understanding and ignore the need to maintain continuity where social and economic development (or lack thereof) is important in conveying present circumstances.  My teachers would be so proud...

Okay, so the Arab peninsula’s southern edge was a huge part of a trade route (almonds, dates, frankincense, myrrh) linking India with civilizations North and West of the peninsula since Abraham’s time (Father, not Lincoln).  The terrain, mostly uninhabitable desert-scapes, prevented any worry of attack from most powers throughout history (Rome, Persia, Greece, etc.).  Anyway, some dude in a cave had a vision and decided to start the religion of Islam around 610 AD.  The religion gained popularity in the region and eventually the tribes were brought together under said religion to form the first Saudi state in the 18th Century.  After going back-and-forth with the pesky Ottoman Empire, the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed over the first quarter of the 20th Century.  Since then, the royal family lineage has done much to modernize the region, develop and improve infrastructure, build school systems, develop security forces, etc.

The US first entered into a partnership with the Kingdom during WWII.  Simple logic really - we noticed the strategic importance of the location given our foreign affairs at the time, and the KSA (Kingdom of S.A.) liked that we would build an airbase that they could use for commerce and military purposes in the future (not to mention the protection of a superpower).  Well, we never really left and, eventually, Schwarzkopf staged our forces for ODShield/Storm in the KSA and basically ran the war from Eskan Village. 

The United States Military Training Mission for KSA (USMTM), a joint force of less than 300, is a group of US military advisors and their support personnel that seek to advise, train and assist comparable components of the Saudi Arabian military forces.  And, of course, we use the opportunity to sell them US military equipment that would aid in that venture (an important element of the mission recently bolstered by the Saudi’s swift victory over rebels along the border of Yemen where Chinese and Russian equipment proved inferior while US equipment performed as advertised). Yay, us.

Advisors for the US military have a tough job here.  If it were not for T.E. Lawrence’s 27 Articles published in 1916, it would have been a longer and tougher road to hoe.  Google them to better understand what someone outside of the muslim culture must appreciate to earn the necessary relationship to accomplish what we seek to accomplish.  Or, just rent Lawrence of Arabia.  Same Lawrence, same Arabia.

Even armed with that priceless knowledge, the mission and goals remain difficult.  When you have a royal family that places ‘a royal’ as the head of every defense and governmental ministry, regardless of capability, the relationship between the royal family and the other government officials / military leaders becomes tenuous at best.  Simple things like the king, who is the supreme commander of Saudi forces, seeking only the established royal’s perspective on his organization, regardless of understanding, makes interoperability and concerted efforts across components nearly impossible.  As a leader in the US military (and I would assume in the civilian sector as well), you learn early-on that authority does not equal competence.  The KSA has to be delicately and indirectly (so as not to embarrass - huge cultural no-no) reminded of this...um...often.

Dangers of working here in general?  There were many terrorist attacks on westerners in Riyadh in 2003 and 2004.  The last terrorist action against Americans on the peninsula was at the US embassy in Yemen in 2008.  So while this is a relatively safe country (not currently a combat zone), vigilance is a strict necessity.  While most should understand that we are not at war with the Muslim community as a whole, there is no escaping the fact that certain elements of that community, with roots in the Middle East, to include the KSA, perceive Americans as the highest priority for targeting of violence.  “We are political capital in a wide-ranging global struggle between those who seek a path of societal moderation and those who are bent on a path of societal extremism.” (Unknown author)

My job?  Make sure all military personnel have no pay issues, that proper entitlements are received, develop relationship with local bank, provide commercial vendor services, and in any way support the Office of the Comptroller as the ranking Finance dude in uniform.  I’ll get into more details when I actually start the job (still waiting on my bags).

So here’s how I remember all that...

USC Gamecocks (KSA) wants to protect themselves from the Clemson Tigers (any adversary).  So, they call on the superpower that is the Florida Gators (US) and take on their chief advisor, Steve Spurrier (USMTM) to teach offensive tactics.  Spurrier tries to explain that Florida talent (US equipment) is better than SC talent (Chinese and Russian equipment)....

The analogy kinda breaks down from there.  Clear as mud?  Cool.    

Day 0 is in the books

My flight arrived in King Khalid Airport (north of Riyadh) at about 8:35 PM, local time.  After finding out my bags hadn't made the trip with me, I met with the two NCOs that came out to pick me up.  Since I didn't pack my carry-on for the contingency of not having my bags make the trip, I needed some necessities - cereal, milk, shaving kit, etc.

We drove straight south through the middle of Riyadh (since Eskan Village, my destination, is 12 kms south of Riyadh).  After several u-turns on the every-driver-for-himself streets, we made our way to the HyperPanda.  This grocery store was immense!  Think Super Wal-Mart times 15....and all groceries.  I bought what I needed, tried not to notice the women in their ninja dresses (I'm not cultured enough yet to know what they are really called - all you could see were their eyes), and we headed back out to the car.  I made a comment to one of the guys about the ninja dresses.  He replied, "Yeah you'll see a lot of 'T & A' around here!" My inquisitive look was enough to trigger the coming punch-line: "Toes and Ankles".

We finally made it to Eskan and I endured, for the first time, the crazy gate security process.  While I obviously can't post specifics, let's just say the security principle of redundancy is well-abided by.

We made it to my "villa" by 11 PM.  Eskan Village was original built by the Saudi government to settle the local Bedouin tribes.  Long story short, nomads like being nomads.  Additionally, the village was built without any accommodation for the tribes' camels, a staple feature and necessary resource for their culture.

So each villa was built for large families.  My villa, in particular, has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 living rooms, 1 formal dining room, and 1 kitchen with 2 refrigerators.  As of now, I have no roommate.  I've been told that may change soon.  Oh well.

This morning, my first in country, I awoke at 10:30 AM, poured my cereal and milk from HyperPanda in a bowl and took a huge first bite.  Apparently, I bought buttermilk.  At least that's what I gathered in the millisecond it took me to spit it into the kitchen sink that I was thankfully standing right beside.  Now that's how everyone should start their day.

The rest of the day was spent getting a tour from one of my Soldiers (actually he's my one Air Force airman in our office) and buying more agreeable dairy to pour into my cereal tomorrow.  The place has quite a bit going for it.  I'll snap some pics and video to load here in the near future.

Good night for now.

Chad