Part 3: Venturing ‘outside the wire’ in Baghdad

Slow pace of change is grating
One month after his arrival in Baghdad, Deierlein wrote to his friends and family about the frustrations he was beginning to feel:

“I continue to work with the local politicians (District Council) and must admit to getting a bit frustrated already with them at times. All they do is complain and all they want to do is talk and talk with no solutions or goals. … But in the end we all want the same thing — quality services for the people of Sadr City. Also, they have a tough job. Not in my district but the one next to me, three of the District Council members were murdered and the chairman fled the country all in the last two weeks. … I need to spend a little more time studying up on Arab culture to find better ways to work with them and to have them want to work with me. I’ve bonded with some already, but a couple of the key players remain aloof since they have dealt with colonels and generals in the past and I am a lowly captain.”

At Forward Operating Base Loyalty, Deierlein soon formed fast friendships with people from different units, and his bonds with the people he met at Forts Jackson and Bragg continued to grow. Corbin became a close friend. Deierlein constantly challenged him to games of rock-paper-scissors — and lost. He stirred up all sorts of other competitions as well, such as impromptu races in the swimming pool or quick-draw contests with the pistols they carried in holsters on their hips.

Courtesy Tom Deierlein Capt. Bill Billeter

“Tom is the most competitive guy I’ve ever known and that’s not an exaggeration,” Capt. Bill Billeter, another officer who trained with Deierlein, said of the quick-draw showdowns. “Drew was pretty quick, and the first couple of times Drew won. Well, Tom went to his room and practiced in a mirror. That’s how competitive he is. After that, he started winning.”

More than anything else, Deierlein earned a reputation as the guy who could make almost anybody laugh.

“When we’d eat chow, we would just sit there for an hour and just laugh because of the jokes he’d tell,” Corbin said. “It was so great to have a meal with your friends and just laugh.”

On Saturday nights, Deierlein held court during what became an addicting tradition: Cigar Night. He and some friends would sneak up to a rooftop on the base so they could smoke cigars, unwind and talk for hours. Deierlein cued up everyone’s song requests on his iPod, and he often kicked off discussions by posing questions: What are the top 10 books ever written? What’s the best movie of all time? What celebrity would you sleep with if your wife or husband gave you one get-out-of-jail-free card?

Birth of a charity
On other evenings, armed with his laptop and his Internet connection, Deierlein fielded e-mail messages from friends and relatives back home who wanted to send him care packages. They asked him what he’d like to receive most.

He looked around at his surroundings. He had a limitless supply of water and every imaginable kind of food. He had access to TV, movies, good music on his iPod. He was even getting to smoke cigars. What did he really need?

He thought about the children in Sadr City who always ran up to the Humvees with those giant grins on their faces.

“Meester! Meester!” they yelled in English. “Soccer ball? Water? Dollar?”

“I really don’t need anything personally right now,” he wrote. “But, if you want to, please think of inner-city children and what they need. Specifically, I need things in bulk. Ones and twos are nice and still appreciated, of course, but I need bunches of stuff if I am going to set up a distribution and do anything meaningful.”

‘Like sandcastles on a beach’
When the occupations of Germany and Japan began at the end of World War II, the United States didn’t suffer a single combat-related casualty.

The U.S. also didn’t experience a single combat-related death when it intervened in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

James Dobbins, a former U.S. envoy who has overseen multiple post-conflict missions over the years, said the key to limiting casualties in such scenarios is to flood an area with a large enough number of troops.

“The first thing to do is establish security,” said Dobbins, now a director with the RAND Corp. and author of the book “The Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Building.” “If you don’t establish security, nothing you spend on political or economic development is likely to be of lasting value. It will get washed away like sandcastles on a beach.”

Members of Deierlein’s civil affairs company often felt overwhelmed by their jobs in Baghdad, in part because violence and intimidation clouded every project, every interaction.

Courtesy Tom Deierlein Capt. Drew Corbin

Corbin had responsibility for the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya. He worked hard to forge relationships with Adhamiya officials during his year in Baghdad, but in that short time he said two District Council chairmen and seven District Council members were assassinated.

Deierlein said it was tough to get projects completed anywhere in Baghdad because of the dangers local officials faced if they worked closely with Americans.

“As much as you were trying to get them excited about the latest sewage line or water line or trying to improve the electricity in the city … they’re just wondering if they’re going to make it home that night,” Deierlein said.

The enormity and complexity of the problems could conspire to make a soldier feel small in a place like Baghdad, Billeter said.

“Trash, sewage polluting the water, the economy — these are huge problems. What can I do about it?” he said. “You think, ‘I just want to do something, I just want to make a difference.’ … But looking at it realistically, did I solve the problems in eastern Baghdad? No. Realistically, I was just a little guy in a truck with three other guys driving around trying to make a small difference.”

MORE FROM CHARITY BEGINS AT WAR

Charity Begins at War Section Front

Part 1: From executive suite to Baghdad Journal: Called back to active duty — ‘No joke’ Day 2: Minimal training for a huge task Journal: Readying for ‘very dangerous job’ Part 3: Venturing ‘outside the wire’ Journal: ‘ThunderCat6’ arrives in Baghdad Part 4: It all comes back to garbage Journal: Goodbye Baghdad; hello bed rest Part 5: Charitable spirit survives Journal: A new foundation Charity Begins at War Section Front   Add Charity Begins at War headlines to your news reader: