Inside Iraq
Excerpts from an e-mail home from a 99' alumnus on the front lines

	Captain Joe Byerly ’99 serves with the 4th Stryker Brigade out of Fort Lewis, Washington. Deployed to Iraq in April 2007, Joe and several of his men were wounded last July when their Stryker vehicle hit an IED while on a mission in northern Iraq. Joe is scheduled to return stateside in July 2008.
	Men, who were once shaking their fists at each other and asking me to arrest each other, are now shaking hands and beginning to look towards the future together.
	"When you can come home at the end of the day and know that you are helping facilitate peace . . . you tend to sleep a little better.”

(21 February 08) Not that it matters what I think, but I would just like to share some of my thoughts on the situation over here, mainly because I am out there almost every day trying to secure a solid future for this country.

I’ve been in the Army for four years, and I can honestly say that my job satisfaction has been at its highest over here. If I could walk out of my home in the morning after kissing my wife on the forehead while she sleeps, conduct a patrol in the Diyala province, and return back home in time for dinner at the end of the day, I would.

I attribute this to several factors, the main one being the fact that I have been given the honor of leading soldiers in a combat environment. The second being that I could take a measuring stick right now and see a considerable difference in the situation from when we first got here in May of ‘07 to the present. My platoon has covered a considerable amount of ground in the last eleven months. We have found ourselves in Shia (I hate the word Shi’ite which is an American media invention) villages, Sunni villages, mixed villages, and villages that have had some type of strong militia presence (Al-Qaeda or Jaysh Al-Mahdi). Most of these villages, although differing in beliefs, are all slowly beginning to ask themselves a very important question: Why are we still fighting?

This summer, my platoon found itself in an area ripe with Al-Qaeda influence. The grip that the organization had on the region known as the Canal Zone was a strong one. The people would only talk to us about rebuilding things like power and water; however, security was never brought up, and if it was the people said everything was okay. Everyone referred to an important man in the area as the head Sheikh, and we were to coordinate everything through this man. When speaking to him, he was very unreceptive to coalition involvement in the affairs of his area. He also told us that he couldn’t help because he was scared of Al-Qaeda ruining his quality of life (he always made these comments with a smug look on his face). After two meetings in his house, I asked a Special Forces Major to come with me to see what his assessment was.

A red flag in all of this was that the Sheikh never once offered us chai (a drink made of black tea, honey, spices, and milk). He is the only man since I have been in Iraq to not show any “Southern hospitality.” After the third meeting, we began to watch the Sheikh more closely. We soon came to find out that he was the Al-Qaeda Emir for the area, and that he was financially backing the organization as well. Several weeks after the revelation was made, we took him out of the picture. Force requirements quickly changed, and the Troop was called to another location and left the Canal Zone completely. Many of us wondered what was to happen of the gains we were beginning to make. Did we do all of that for nothing? Did I have to face several roadside bomb attacks for nothing?

As we shifted areas, the enemy threat changed to mortar attacks, sniper attacks, sand fleas, as well as roadside bombs. As the threat changed so did our focus, and the Canal Zone didn’t even cross my mind again until October. At that time, my platoon was attached to another unit and we returned to the Canal Zone again, but with a different purpose.

This time we introduced a former insurgent group, which we had been fighting only seven months earlier, into the area as part of the Son’s of Iraq program and they put the area on lock down. In my opinion, this was a major blow for Al-Qaeda in the Canal Zone. The Son’s of Iraq program, originally called Concerned Local Citizens or the PT Belt Mafia by the soldiers, was established in order to provide local security for villages, as well as provide jobs for men that might have once taken money to set IEDs on the road in order to feed their families. It also gave the Iraqi Army and Police some buffer space so that they could continue to recruit, train, and strengthen their force. The Son’s of Iraq program slowly spread across the Diyala Province like kudzu in Georgia. The security in the area slowly became better as AQI’s sphere of influence shrunk, caches began to dry up, and Coalition along with Iraqi forces cut off major supply and logistic routes for the organization. The Northern half of the Canal Zone began to be controlled by the Son’s of Iraq and the Iraqi Army, the Southern half still had pockets of resistance until last month.

One of the major areas of emphasis for me and my soldiers is on relationships. Since we arrived in this country, we have been building and fostering relationships with local leaders, tribal sheikhs, and people of influence. This is one of the most important aspects of fighting a counterinsurgency because it erodes the insurgents’ base of support.

Last month I had a meeting with a village leader who was once a former Al-Qaeda sympathizer. A few minutes into the conversation I realized that he had connections with some of the leaders from the Southern Canal Zone, and I began to do some namedropping (something that I have gotten good at after being here for almost a year). We knew many of the same people, and I asked if he could put together a reconciliation meeting that would include members of those villages. He agreed as long as I promised that I wouldn’t arrest anyone. I made that promise.

One week later I returned for the meeting. The village leader escorted me into his guest house where the meeting was to take place. I was amazed at what I saw . . . over forty men sat, side by side, representing both Sunni and Shia tribes. Most of these were men whose villages had once aligned themselves with sectarian militias, and as a result had taken part in some fierce sectarian battles over the summer. Also present were those men from the Southern Canal Zone, who this time were ready to cooperate with Coalition forces and usher in peace to their areas as well. So on that day, I came full circle and found myself talking to the same men this summer who were closed lipped about Al-Qaeda. This time they had a lot to say . . .

That story is just one example of how things have begun to drastically change in the area. Men, who were once shaking their fists at each other and asking me to arrest each other, are now shaking hands and beginning to look towards the future together. Yes, I know that according to the American Media (not a huge fan since being deployed), the Diyala Province is a hot bed of insurgent activity, but that is quickly changing. It has taken eleven months, but due to the hard work of my brigade, the Iraqi soldiers and police, things are continuing to move in the right direction . . .

There is still a lot of work to be done here, and there are plenty of factors that could crumble the gains we have made. Will Al-Sadr continue with the cease fire and work towards being a peaceful party, or will he end it causing widespread violence across the country? Will the Iraq Government incorporate the Son’s of Iraq into the already established Iraqi Security Forces or at least find another way to create jobs? Will local leaders continue with the reconciliation process and let past crimes committed against their tribes be forgotten? I think these questions will be answered in the next six months, and if the answers are all yes, then we have won and the mission was a success. If the answers are no, then I pray not only for the people of Iraq, but for the American soldiers and leaders who will be faced with the burden of once again restoring the peace.

I have had an amazing experience, and whether the overall mission turns out to be a successful one or not, I know that myself and my soldiers did everything we could to bring peace and security to this area. We came with a toolbox, which was filled with tools to fight, and quickly had to turn it in for one that contained tools to make peace. Only on a few occasions did we quickly swap out boxes. Not only am I very proud to have played a role in this mission, but also to have led these fine soldiers. I will never hang my head in shame, and once I return, will take my place with a strong sense of accomplishment alongside every single veteran that came before me. To many this war was a mistake, but to me it was classroom where I not only learned a lot about myself, but also learned about faith, hope, and how much I truly love and appreciate my wife.

For more information, see Joe Byerly '99 update in October 2005 E-Raider.