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