Snake Eatergauze: Days 1-3 and Iraq News

While the first two days were full of PowerPoint there was some fun in training.

Day 1
Mission: Scope out hotel without being located by patrols.

Everyone scattered around the hotel. Some hide in plain site on benches right by the front door while others milled across the street in a restaurant and gas station. All of them were caught. Everyone but your's truly. I ran nearly half a mile to the top of hill in a Byzantine Catholic nunnery campus. People avoided this spot because the hill was hard to see because of a line of trees. However, the hill gave me an excellent hidden spot to watch the patrols pick off the team one by one.

Day 2
Mission: Drive around the hills and mountains spotting "hostile" followers

Some were good. Some were bad. But if there is one thing that can defeat a well planned stragegy it is incompetence. The last quater of the 90 minute journey we managed to lose all our tails because we got lost. Another team had fun messing with some of the less experienced tails but forcing them into "Do Not Enters" and following the followers. The organizers of the training did not appreciate that.

Day 3
Mission: Learn Krav Maga - The IDF Martial Art

A bloody hand and aching muscles did not help Catholicgauze defeat the ex-Navy Seal instructor but they are the price I paid for a oh-so-brief training lesson on self-defense. So in the event when I am in Iraq and away from help and away from a gun (a disaster which probably would not end well) I stand a chance at still winning.

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Iraq News
When I am in Iraq blogging will be less frequent and subject to "review" by others. However, while anything I create due to my experience over there has to be reviewed as well, expect a book about the how geography helps out in the War on Terrorism! The book will be finished after my time in Iraq is over.