Stepping it up

Earlier this week we shifted into full on security mode. No more traipsing in and out of the camp. Now we have around the clock guard duty and patrols to simulate the reality of life in Iraq. The trainers don’t mess around either. As gate guard you don’t just sit idle waiting to be relived by the next shift. You have to stay on your toes and keep an eye out for “Iraqi nationals.” The army hires locals to dress up in contemporary middle-eastern garb to flock to the gates and harass us. The vast majority of the mock-nationals are Hispanic, and when they get riled up (which happens very easily in this scenario) the whole mob begins yelling and cursing in Spanish. It is a strange feeling that I hope I don’t have to get use to. I don’t like the fact that I don’t understand what is being yelled by a group of people who are obviously very angry with me. It is difficult to gage the seriousness of the situation when you personally have no idea what they want or why they are so mad. After a few days, however, you don’t get as flustered and learn various ways to handle the situation as diplomatically as possible. This training is definitely helpful. While I don’t look forward to spending such long hours at the gate, I’m glad that we’re getting more realistic and practical with what we are learning. It is also just one more real life reason to hit the Arabic language books.