“The big problem is that our headquarters is in Baghdad and most of the military leadership has no idea where we are working or what we are working with. They are driving a timeline to start on April 1, 2007, based on political and general officer demands, not the reality on the ground,” Major Brad Head explained of the challenges facing their mission to begin a training program for the Iraqi Air Force.
Air Force staff at headquarters in Baghdad thought the renovation of the designated Iraqi Air Force training buildings at Taji was complete. They were mistaken. The facilities were in shambles, with no electricity, functioning sewage, or water.
“It could take months to secure the funding and then who knows how long it will take the Iraqi contractor to actually renovate our facilities. In the meantime we don’t have a single vehicle, computer, printer, phone, or any office space to place equipment, if we did manage to get our hands on the tools we needed,” Head explained.
Because the United States Army was in control of Taji, Head and his team often took their supply requests to the Army. They found themselves navigating key differences between the Army and Air Force, such as the number of officers to enlisted men. The Army at Taji had thirty enlisted men/women to each officer. The Air Force had a smaller ratio, with six enlisted for every ten officers. When an Army colonel offered to supply Head, a Major, with one of his office chairs, he was surprised when Head picked up the chair himself instead of asking the Air Force Captain with him to move it.
The cultural differences between military branches were nothing compared with the cultural differences with the Iraqis. Iraqis think in terms of decades and centuries while Americans tend to think in terms of days and weeks. The Iraqis wanted a three-year program to commission their new officers; too long by U.S. military standards for standing up the Iraqi Air Force.
The U.S. military convinced the Iraqis to begin with a special fifteen-week senior term at the Iraqi Military Academy in Rustamiyah specifically tailored for cadets indentified to come into the Iraqi Air Force. However, these different approaches made it difficult to know how to guide the curriculum. What should an Iraqi Air Force lieutenant fresh out of the Academy know and be able to do?
“We literally have nothing,” Head explained.
Their true mission was to make something out of nothing. And that requires resourcefulness and faith.
Prayer:
Thank you for the abundant resources you have given me and for your faithfulness to make something out of the nothings in my life and in others.
“He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17b)
March 31
THE CONFRONTATION
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
“While the chaplain was preaching the one thing that kept popping into my mind was that the previous three weeks had been a test of my character, and I’d failed miserably,” Major Brad Head emailed his wife after attending a worship service at the base in Taji.
The battlefield is not immune to personnel conflicts. If anything, the increased life or death tension combined with scarce resources only worsens such problems. Head had observed that his commander was content to “sit back and let things unfold,” failing to be more proactive. Another was frustrated that he had not received the commander’s role. All of these threatened their mission of standing up the Iraqi Air Force. The chaplain’s message that day encouraged Head to boldly face these personnel challenges.
“I committed to myself that I would confront him and let him know. That night we were in the office trying to put the finishing touches on our request for funding and he was basically saying there was no need to keep my position on the books because he didn’t see what my replacement would be doing. I couldn’t swallow it any more and I expressed my frustration to him in pretty plain language,” Head explained, knowing such frankness normally wouldn’t go over so well when addressing a superior.
Their shared faith, however, played a role in resolving the conflict. “He is a Christian, also, and apologized for offending me. I apologized for not coming to him sooner. The commander joined in and apologized for not taking a more active leadership role and not addressing the brewing discontent earlier. He was convinced that God had sent him there for a reason,” Head indicated.
His commander then started crying, saying that when God grabs a hold of his heart it comes out of his eyes.
“Next thing you know, two hours later we were all praying together,” Head said. “I won’t say everything is now magically perfect in my life, but the air is clear and I’ve opened a channel of communication with both bosses.”
Head was thrilled at what clearing the air did. He was able to provide some guidance to the funding process for the renovations they so desperately needed to get the school going. The resolution also had a ripple effect on the other team members.
“People are starting to notice a difference and morale seems to be improving across the board.”
Prayer:
Thank you for the sweet relief that comes by resolving a conflict and setting paths straight.
“The speech of a good person clears the air; the words of the wicked pollute it.” (Proverbs 10:32; THE MESSAGE)
Chaplain (Capt.) Matt Hamrick (April 21) conducting a baptism service in Iraq
April 1
IRAQI AIR FORCE
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
“When the Iraqi Air Force members are at work, they typically eat and sleep at the base because military members are regularly targeted for assassination,” Major Brad Head revealed in an email to his wife.
An Iraqi Air staff deputy director had been recently kidnapped and killed. Most Iraqi Air staff didn’t tell anyone they were in the Iraqi Air Force. As a result, members didn’t like to stay at work very long so they could “show up” in their neighborhood every few days to keep people from asking questions. The commander of one of the Iraqi flying bases went so far as to put up a taxi cab sign on his car to disguise his real job.
Despite facing overwhelming odds, Head and his teammates managed to start the Iraqi Air Force program with twenty-three students on schedule in April 2007. They solved their renovation woes by securing temporary digs in a building they labeled “the Alamo” until the renovation of their permanent facility known as the “White Castle” was complete.
Head and his team finalized the curriculum, customizing it to reflect the subtle nuances of Iraqi culture and taking into consideration the unique roles, mission, and equipment fielded by the new Iraqi Air Force.
“In spite of the complete failure of our staff to plan for our arrival, we are doing the best we can with what we’ve got. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that successes for the original team will be to lay a solid foundation for those who will follow in our footsteps,” Head explained, noting they were effectively re-creating the Iraqi Air Force from scratch.
“When I call headquarters in Baghdad for guidance, they respond that no one knows better than I do; so just do what I think makes the most sense. I regularly find myself creating policies that will drive the creation of the Iraqi Air Force for years to come,” Head noted.
Head identified disconnects between the number of Iraqi military personnel on the books and what the Iraqi military was supposed to look like by calendar year’s end. Taking space limitations into consideration, he mapped a plan that flowed the majority of people possible into the most critical career fields. As he made something out of nothing, he was doing general’s work well above his pay grade.
“In the U.S. Air Force, the person who makes those types of decisions is the four-star general in charge of Air Education and Training Command. Here I am a newly pinned Major sitting in a trailer in Taji (with little to no input from Iraqi military or anyone in the coalition) and effectively making that same level of decisions. Another Major is doing something similar. Surreal,” he wrote.
&n
bsp; Head’s experience was about to become even more surreal. General Allardice, commander of the Coalition Air Force Transition Team (who also happened to be his boss from his time on the Air Staff in the Pentagon), asked Head to accept a new responsibility and move to headquarters in Bagdad. He was about to find himself doing work he never dreamed he would get to do.
Prayer:
Father, you are the giver of surreal moments in life, and I praise you for the gift of your Son, whose promise of eternal life will one day take me to Heaven, the greatest place beyond earthly reality.
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)
April 2
WATERMELON
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
Could a watermelon mishap a seedy mistake take down plans for building up the Iraqi Air Force?
“I took a piece of watermelon and then froze as I pondered what the proper etiquette was for dealing with seeds in Iraq,” Major Brad Head emailed his wife.
The meeting was one of the most if not the most important meeting of Head’s deployment. He had come to Iraq with the mission of rebuilding the Iraqi Air Force by establishing their accessions and training pipeline. Scarce resources nearly killed the mission, but they had somehow managed to start the program on time. After moving from Taji to Baghdad, Head arranged several meetings with key players to obtain “buy in” for the long-term acceptance of one key element of the Iraqi Air Force training program. One important person not yet on board was the Iraqi Minister of Defense. Then the call came. Head was asked to grab his slides because he and General Allardice had been invited to brief the Iraqi defense minister.
When they arrived, the defense minister invited them to a traditional Iraqi lunch of roast lamb, rice, kabobs, and flat bread. Desert was watermelons and oranges. That’s when Head’s “near international incident” over watermelon took place. How do Iraqis handle the seeds?
“I fell back on some basic etiquette classes we received that said, ‘when in doubt just do what your host is doing.’ I looked down the enormous conference table (it could easily seat 25) just in time to see the minister lean forward and let several seeds dribble out of his mouth. Relieved that I wouldn’t cause an international incident, I chowed down on my piece of watermelon, happily spitting my seeds on the plate.”
After dinner the minister excused his other guests and settled down on one of his six leather couches to hear the Americans’ pitch for creating a new interim Iraqi Air Force Academy. The briefing was short and to the point. All of the prep work they had done, including a letter Head had helped to draft that was signed by General Dempsey (Commander of Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq) paid off. The minister approved the program and offered whatever support he could provide to help rebuild the Iraqi Air Force Academy.
“General Allardice was almost skipping as we left,” Head shared, “This was a huge victory for us!”
“I’ll say it again for the millionth time. This has been one of the most surreal experiences in my entire life. I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to engage at the level I’ve been working to accomplish some of the things we are getting done. We are building the Iraqi Air Force, as Gen. Allardice likes to say, ‘one brick at a time.’”
Prayer:
Thank you for the times in life when hard work brings a tangible reward.
“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.” (Proverbs 22:29)
April 3
A SWEATY RHINO
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
“Before I left for this deployment, I swore up and down to my wife, Meredith, that I was going to ride in a helicopter one time from Baghdad to Taji; stay there the entire six months and take a helicopter ride back to the airport; and finally, fly home. By no means was I ever, ever, ever going to ride in a convoy. We had an understanding,” Major Brad Head emailed to his friends, noting things didn’t exactly work out as planned.
Gen. Allardice invited Major Head to take a new position at headquarters and then move to Bagdad. This assignment involved traveling regularly from his office at Phoenix Base in the International Zone to the Victory Base Complex across town. Unable to catch a helicopter one day, Head had to ride in a Rhino, part of a convoy or “carpool” as he told his wife.
For those who’ve never heard of a Rhino, it’s a heavily armored bus that looks like something out of a Mad Max movie. Several times a day a Rhino and several armored Humvees make the twelve mile trip from the safety and security of the IZ through the appropriately named ‘Red Zone’ then through the heart of downtown Baghdad and over to Victory.
It was very hot that day 116 degrees. “While the air conditioner was making noise, I think that was about all it was doing. The ‘sweatbox’ (as Rhinos are affectionately called) was living up to its name. Did I mention that when you ride you have to wear your body armor, helmet, and Nomex gloves (just in case it catches on fire)? Miserably hot as we were, we were at least making progress, that is, until just after we entered the IZ.”
Suddenly the Rhino died. All efforts to restart the vehicle failed. A lieutenant colonel’s loud coaching did more to frustrate the poor driver and flood the Rhino than to get it started again. The second lieutenant in charge of the convoy tried to jumpstart it by pushing it with his Humvee. Failure. Next option? Towing.
“Now these are up-armored Humvees that already have an extra two thousand pounds of armor plating on the doors. A Rhino weighs about thirteen tons. I’m not sure what towing capacity a Humvee has, but I’m pretty sure we were way over it. Did I mention it was hot? When the Rhino died so did the barely functioning air conditioner. My body began to sweat in places I’d never felt sweat before. (Did you ever feel sweat dripping off your shins?)” Head retorted sarcastically.
The crew eventually hooked the Rhino up to a Humvee for an inch-by-inch towing through the IZ. When the ordeal was finally over, Head noted that even the outside’s oven-warm breeze actually felt refreshing. He returned to his room, stripped off his drenched fatigues, and sat in his boxers to enjoy an ice-cold Dr. Pepper that never tasted so good.
But good humored Major Head made the most of the ordeal. He told his wife he loved her “more than all the sweat on all the soldiers in Iraq.”
Prayer:
Thank you God for humor, a gift to wipe away sweat and unpleasantness in life.
“True intelligence is a spring of fresh water, while fools sweat it out the hard way.” (Proverbs 16:22; THE MESSAGE)
April 4
MISSING PIECE
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
A funny thing happened on a trip back to Taji. First of all, when Major Head got off the helicopter, all his old friends started giving him a hard time saying things like, “Didn’t we use to have a Major Head that worked here?” He related this of the quick return trip he made to Taji after taking a new role at headquarters with General. Allardice in Baghdad.
“I felt kind of like the guy on Survivor who chose to switch to the other tribe in the middle of game. I wasn’t fully accepted as a member of my new tribe yet (it doesn’t help that I worked for the General before and they all know it) but I was definitely not welcomed back with my old tribe,” Head commented.
The ribbing he received was only just the beginning. On the return flight to Baghdad, he carried a backpack and two other large bags transporting his belongings he had left behind in Taji. After landing, they headed over to the General’s vehicle when Head made a startling realization.
“As I loaded my bags in the car I caught my holster and it seemed a little light. That’s when I noticed my 9mm pistol was not there. I quickly scanned the ground and seeing nothing started running back to the helicopter pad. As I rounded the corner, the helicopters took off for their next mission. Not sure if this seems like a big to deal to the civilians out there, but in
the Army you can get in some serious trouble for losing your weapon. It’s not like I can deny that it happened, my General and Colonel bosses were both standing there with me when I noticed it was missing,” Head explained.
He also noted it was dark. The helicopter was loud and he wore earplugs, so he couldn’t have heard the pistol drop.
“And I had on body amour and was carrying three heavy bags, so I wouldn’t have felt it drop. I scurried over to the passenger terminal and told them I thought I left my pistol onboard. After they stopped laughing, they got on the phone and called ahead to the helicopter’s destination. Sure enough it was back right where I’d been sitting,” Head relayed with relief.
“The General wants to see you ASAP,” General Allardice’s executive assistant barked at Head the next morning when he arrived at work.
“You obviously need this more than I do. You can give it back when you get your own,” Allardice said as he handed Head a pigtail, which is a lanyard soldiers sometimes use to keep guns attached to their belts in case it falls out of the harness.
“Everyone then had a good laugh at my expense,” Head said.
Major Brad Head has a great sense of humor. He knows when to laugh, especially at himself.
Prayer:
Father thank you for grace for those times in life when I misplace or lose something of value. Give me a clear mind and the ability to laugh at life’s minor foibles.
“Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle!” (Jeremiah 46:3)
April 5
RANK
Maj. Brad Head, United States Air Force
Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan Page 14