I received an email this morning from my dad.  He wants to know if it was true that the Iraqi’s are celebrating in the streets over the US forces pulling out of the cities.  I have to tell him that I have no idea if those news reports are true or not.  I’m on a base that’s about five miles away from a population center next to the Basrah International Airport (military strategists have this thing for long runways).  All I know about life in Iraqi cities is what I see on CNN and BBC News.  This is why if you subscribe to the Red Bull Report, you’ll see a plethora of stories about events that occur on American Bases.

June 30th is the last day American forces are supposed to have bases in cities. We’ve been covering base closures ever since I’ve been in Iraq. The only way today is significant from an American presence perspective is that American forces can’t patrol towns without the Iraqi Security Forces present. Please don’t quote me on that, but that’s my understanding. We can escort State Department teams and do other things, but our patrol presence in cities will go down.

Today I got to accompany the Commanding General of the 34th Infantry Division Red Bulls, Major General Rick Nash, to COP Mak for a turnover ceremony. It was essentially a press conference for the Governor of Maysan Province and General Nash. You can hear my work, here. I hope it doesn’t bore you to tears like it did me.

My June 30th can really be summed up with the photo below. A gift given by the Iraqi Governor to General Nash commemorating the day of the COP Mak Turnover. BTW-COP Mak is located at an old sugar mill.

Here’s some real news on today from the BBC News, The Times, and the New York Times.

Update: Molly asked for an explination or two. I have no idea what the picture is about. I know it was given to our commanding general as a gift during the turnover ceremony. June 30th was the last day we were supposed to be “in the cities.” We’ve been moving out of them ever since I got here in January. To us, June 30th isn’t a big deal because we’ve pulling out of the cities for awhile here in the south. Now when we go into the cities, for the most part, we’ll be accompanied by the Iraqi Army or the Iraqi Police.

This post is tagged 343rd MPAD, COP Mak, Iraqi Sovereignty Day, June 30th, Maysan Province