Captain Kristen Augé's Sandbox Trip: Outside The Wire

I was invited by Coach to visit a couple job sites in downtown Basra. The Corps of Engineers is responsible for overseeing a number of projects in Basra and Coach had given me a couple choices of things I could see. Sewage lines was not one of them since I see enough of that here being the ECO so I decided upon a couple of police stations.

After receiving a briefing from the contracted security guys, we were on our way. Finally, I was outside the T-walls and concertina wire. Was I really ready for what I was about to see?

As we made our way from COB Basra to the city of Basra, it was much like driving on an unkempt highway in the desert. Not really much to see other than a lot of old cars. I even saw a couple of burnt out tanks. At various points on the way, we would drive through check point areas which were manned by the Iraqi Army.

Within about 10 minutes of the drive, I was beginning to see a substantial amount of garbage. Now, I had been prepared for this since others had gone on similar trips and described the mountains of garbage. And I had seen this for myself in parts of Kuwait when I had made my trip from Camp Beurhing to Arifjan. Somehow, this seemed like more. As much as there is sand in Iraq, there is garbage. Indescribable when you see it. I’ve visited Guatemala twice and I don’t remember seeing this impressive display of garbage.

We drove off the ‘highway’ onto a winding, dirt road. Off to both sides of the road, the garbage stretched forever. Children were playing in it or maybe they were searching for something to bring back to their homes. There were a couple homes in the midst of the garbage or more along the lines of a fort that a few kids would build. I think the forts my friends and I built were in better condition than these homes.

Not long after, we made our way into the inner part of city. As we drove through, I kept thinking to myself, thank God I was born in the United States. Everything was dirty and the garbage was everywhere in the city. I can’t even imagine living in one of these homes. I’d feel better in a tent in the desert than live in one of these places.

We stopped at the first police station. We met some of the Iraqi contractors/engineers and proceeded to tour the site. We were briefed beforehand to not make any moves without the explicit direction from the security personnel. This included getting out of the vehicle and as we moved to the building, we stayed in a reality tight group.

Their construction practices are interesting to say the least. The second floor was braced by hundreds of 2”X4’’ boards. Since not all of the boards were long enough to support the floor above, blocks of concrete or wood were used to prop the bracing board. I had never seen anything like it. Frankly, walking under that ceiling and then on top of it was the most nerve racking of the entire trip.

At the second site, I met a female safety engineer. I don’t think she realized I was a woman at first. When I first spoke to her, she had a look of surprise on her face. Great, now I really look like one of the guys with all this body armor on. She asked me a few questions and I in turn asked her. I found out she was 22, married for 9 months and no kids. I would have liked to spend more time talking with her but after looking at the site, it was time to leave.

As we made our way through the city and back to the COB, I thought about the people of Iraq and how they live. I wonder what they would think of our homes, schools, malls, parks, highways, cities and everything that makes the U.S. such a great place to live. Even COB Basra is 1000 times better than what I saw today. Today was a good education in not just what is outside the wire, but what is outside America. Be thankful. Be very, very thankful.