Practis

Original post date:
Wednesday, May 30, 2007


Today I responded to a escort violation with about 23 people. They were part of a Personal Security Detail for a company called Practis located Kirkuk, Iraq. They weren't authorized to be in the IZ and found an abandon house to set up camp. It shows how much the IZ is secure when a group of armed individuals could go through a military checkpoint full of weapons without proper ID. Nobody heard of their company and they couldn't provide the current authorization letter or even a current ID to show they were authorize to be in Iraq. The situation turned into a weapons seizure with over 30 weapons.

I was in charge going through to clear the house and then to provide security over the 23 individuals. I knew from the start they were going to probably be escorted out of the IZ. However, finding out they were Kurdish and if they were kicked out into Baghdad it might mean certain death. Once they were told they were going to be kicked out without their weapons, there was almost a riot. We took order and luckily one of their supervisor's calm them down. They were going to have to go out into Baghdad on foot without their vehicles. However their boss, which was a US citizen, waved the right for to stay at the embassy. He volunteered to escort the Kurds back to Kirkuk, without weapons.

So there I stood watching the Kurds cry and say goodbye to other boss, basically feeling that they would be killed on their way back home. Before all this, I was talking to some of them and they were telling me about their families in Kirkuk, and other personal things. I had to keep my distance from my personal feelings and remember my duty to uphold the law. I can still see one of them staring at me with such hatred that only minutes before offered me a cigarette and told me how he enjoyed working for the Marines years ago.

Luckily our commander allowed them to take some of their weapons for their convoy back to Kirkuk. I put the blame on their supervisor that got them into the IZ and didn't follow proper protocol and put his men lives on the line. The worst part of it all was he wasn't the one that left with them. He choose to go to the embassy to be expelled from Iraq. The victims were the Kurds that worked for this company that did not even exist. I will be praying tonight they made it back to their families. Sometimes I feel that I can't be in Law Enforcement, civilian or military, anymore. I just want to be home with my dogs and wife, away from this country. 3 1/2 more months.........