Deployment

Last week I found out that I will be spending my summer and fall in Baghdad. At least it won't be hot (probably only around 120)!  This doesn't come as too much of a shock to Kelly and me; they told us we should expect to be deployed around our 18 month mark.  It'll be 18 months to the day when I step foot in Iraq.  

Many people have asked, "Why would a lawyer get deployed?"  My common answer is, "We are essentially trying to set up a rule of law in Iraq...who better to help do that than lawyers?"  JAGs have a variety of jobs when they get deployed.  We see the same types of issues there as we see here, so we have JAGs that are doing courts, defending Airmen, doing legal assistance, etc.  We also have JAGs that go around the country and teach Iraqi lawyers and judges our rule of law.  Further, we have JAGs that are telling commanders what they can do legally when it comes to operations.  I will be working in detainee operations.  There are thousands of suspected terrorists sitting in prisons...I will essentially be going through their files, interviewing them, and determining whether or not there is enough evidence to prosecute.  If so, we'll hand them over to the Iraqis to prosecute (see, we are making progress). If not, we'll release them.  

I head off to Fort Dix (NJ) at the end of April for training.  I then come back to CO for a few weeks and then leave the States on 10 June.  I'll be gone for 179 days.  I never thought I'd be watching the Cubs win the World Series while in Iraq.  We'll keep you up to date if anything changes.