The Inner Game

I’m reading a good little book entitled, The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green and Timothy Gallwey. The book is part of Tim Gallwey’s “Inner Game” series that is written to help people perform at their optimal level by reducing the noise that goes on in one’s head that often leads to nervous anxiety, stiff limbs and fingers, unequal breathing, etc…

As it turns out The Inner Game is one of the best books I’ve ever read on the Zen Buddhist practice of staying in the present moment, and reducing all of the extraneous noise and distraction that takes place both within and without. I’m not sure if Tim Gallwey is familiar with the practice of Zen but he seems to heavily touch upon it. He goes so far as to suggest some exercises designed to increase one’s awareness to the task at hand, staying in the present moment, and not assigning any preconceived notions or ideas; just play.

So far I’m thoroughly enjoying the work and would recommend it to anyone trying to improve on a skill or task whether it be music, sports, or even just getting more out of life.

Getting My Life Back

There was a time, long, long ago when I would go on long bike rides, attend back-to-back Aikido classes, or enjoy a leisurely breakfast at Einstein Brothers. It was an idyllic time, full of fun activities and adventures. Then came “child”, and it all came to a screeching fast halt.

Today, for the first time, my wife and I went back into the Aikido dojo, this time with a four-year old in-tow. We rolled and tumbled, teaching the littlest aikidoka, and remembered the old days of endless hours spent on the canvas-covered mats. We both realized this morning that we are slowly getting our life back, this time, however, with the unmitigated joy of being joined by our eager and adventurous son. Long Sunday bike rides, underwater hockey, and more Aikido are just around the corner. Imagine the joy!

Back From PEI

I’ve been up at Prince Edward Island, Canada for the past ten days attending a piobaireachd course at the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts. The bed and breakfast that I stayed in did not have an Internet connection so hence my prolonged absence from this blog.

Attending a course in classical music for the Highland bagpipe is one of those things that you can do when you’re “retired”. It was great fun and I’m a much better piper for the experience although our Atlanta neighbors might not see it that way.

Prince Edward Island is paradise on Earth, at least for three months out of the year. Cool ocean breezes, swaying pine trees, and picturesque pastoral scenes crisscross the island. Everything about the island is relaxing and low-key. I’m not sure why I was even surprised that my accommodations didn’t have an Internet connection. It’s just in keeping with the “time stood still” atmosphere that permeates the collection of small towns and ancient seaside farm pastures.

Nonetheless I’m back in Atlanta and at it again. More to follow.

You Might Be A Metro-Tactical...

Dhow makes it's way up Dubai Creek at sunset

Sitting in the VIP lounge of Dubai’s airport the other day I spotted the metro-tactical poster boy. This guy had it all, right down to the shaved head, goatee, American flag baseball hat, and Velcro splashed all over his khaki shirt. If you’re unsure what I’m talking about; that’s probably a good thing. If you’re “tracking”, than press on:

If you're back in the "civilized world", you might be a metro-tactical if:

• You believe that khaki is the new black.

• You're currently wearing more than one article of clothing made by 5.11 or Oakley
  

• You have a single dog-tag embedded in the laces of your boots.

• Your blood type is inked onto any piece of clothing. Extra credit if it’s tattooed.

• You're wearing a “riggers belt”
  

• You're wearing an ID card holder around your neck in the mall.

• You’re wearing an earth tone baseball hat with a subdued American flag on it. Extra points if you’ve sewn on “ranger eyes”

• You’re sporting Velcro

• Your keyring is made of 550 cord.

• Your backpack has a tag in the back that states “Insert Your Name Tag Here”.

• You can’t have a conversation without using the words “roger” or “copy”

• You're carrying your MNFI card prominently displayed in your wallet.

• If all of your t-shirts are black.

• You’ve contemplated the individual merits of black, OD green and khaki.

• You’re wearing dogtags.

• You know how much protein your last meal had. Extra credit if it came out of a blender.

Oberserving Change

A lone cameraman "shoots" concertina-topped blastwalls depicting hope for Iraq's future.

I’m heading home in a day or so, my short time here in Iraq has come to an end, causing me to become slightly reflective of those things that have recently changed. Over the past months:

• The security situation has vastly improved, to the point where violence is the exception and not the norm. Daily explosions and gunfire that could be heard throughout Baghdad is now a rarity. Today automatic weapons are fired less in anger and more to celebrate local weddings and soccer victories.
  

• The streets are full of pedestrians going about their daily business; children happily walk to school, the shelves of neighborhood shops are full of goods, and kids peddle refreshments to gridlocked motorists.

• The road to the airport is undergoing a face-lift; painted murals adorn concrete blastwalls, new bright and shinny guard rails, palm trees, irrigation, and new hope-filled billboards. They still haven’t fixed the heavily pot-holed road though.

• Main battle tanks, Bradleys, and Strykers are a rarity on the Baghdad streets now. HMMWVs still flit around but chances are they belong to the Iraqi Army and not the Coalition.

• Muqtada al-Sadr has been severely marginalized and his Madhi Army fractioned into many dysfunctional pieces.

• PSDs still operate with an amazing degree of aggressive disregard for those around them. The Iraqi Government, however, is on the verge of striping their legal immunity. I’m waiting for the first PSD to get pulled over by the Iraqi Police and ticketed for speeding☺

• The Baghdad airport is undergoing renovation. Operations have moved to another terminal while the old one is “improved”.

• The government is reconstructing the many traffic circles in the city that were destroyed during the war. Work is progressing slowly but there is still no order to the traffic that circumvents them.

• The Iraqi soccer team has enjoyed great success, acting as a unifying force for this country. Soccer is the one thing that every Iraqi can get behind and support.

All-in-all Iraq is improving greatly albeit slowly, certainly not at the pace that many U.S. politicians would like to see. Nonetheless, the average Iraqi is seeing his or her country rise up from the rubble caused by years of despotic rule, warfare, and subsequent sectarian violence. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.

This Is Gonna Hurt A Little

Protective blast-wall covered in Arabic sits behind some plastic flowers at a check point. I'm sure it says something about "deadly force is authorized".

One of the many things that I bounce around with is the Japanese culture; at least what I envision it to be. I’m not sure what has attracted me to it for almost my entire life; maybe it’s the whole warrior-monk, search for spirituality, samurai thing. Who knows? Frankly I gave up trying to analyze the reasons for the affinity many years ago and am just going with it.

As part of this “interest” I’ve dabbled in such pursuits as Aikido, iaido (sword drawing, cutting, and return techniques), shodo (calligraphy), shakuhachi (bamboo flute) ikebana (flower arranging), haiku writing, sake (rice wine) appreciation, and the Japanese language as a whole. As you can imagine, this has been a great source of entertainment for my wife, only tempered by the fact that she is an aficionado of the culture as well.

I’ve played around with learning the language since I was in college in 1985 and it’s always been an uphill battle. During my military career The Army spent tons of money and time trying to force Spanish into my noggin, with limited success, so Japanese has been a bit of a challenge. I've never attempted formal classes as it's been hard to schedule them, so I've sort of gone about it on my own using books, CDs, and anything else I can get my hands on. My Japanese language library at home rivals anything that Barnes & Noble could offer.

Lately I’ve discovered several outstanding on-line language resources and have delved back into this painful practice once again. I’m finding that it’s a fairly productive way to spend my time while deployed; better than sitting around watching DVDs. Of course Arabic would be the obvious choice while plunked down in Iraq, but I find the language guttural and not very attractive, to say nothing of the culture.

I’m happy plodding away with Japanese. I’ll never be able to attain the heights that I have in Spanish, but it’s a good mental exercise and I enjoy the challenge. Again, I’m sure my wife will be looking on with great amusement as I continue to struggle.

One Tick Closer

A little Iraqi girl smiles for the camera

We spent yesterday at Camp Victory, a sprawling military outpost adjoining the Baghdad airport. The camp is one of the largest bases in Iraq and home to some thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and contractors. While our media team went off with the military to cover a massive re-enlistment ceremony, my partner and I retreated to what is known as the Green Bean; the local coffee spot.

I passed most of the day sitting in the makeshift, air conditioned coffee shop that is ever so popular with Victory’s inhabitants. The structure is comprised of twin trailers joined together, air conditioners mounted every five feet on the white metal walls, and leather couches and tables surrounding the massive coffee bar. Over the hours I watched hundreds of military personnel and civilian contractors come and go; the very lifeblood of the reconstruction effort in Iraq. This was how they were spending their 4th of July as well. It seemed like any other day on Camp Victory.

Men and women dressed in dust covered uniforms with weapons slung over their shoulders sat around drinking iced drinks as fast as the Green Bean staff could turn them out. Some were sporting black Army PT shorts but still wore leather shoulder holsters or drop-leg rigs carrying sand-covered handguns. Contractors lounged about in their ever standard 5.11 pants and t-shirts; well-tanned arms often adorned with tattoos.

It was just another day here, the same ebb and flow of people working at their jobs, biding their time in Iraq until they’re able to return home. Some came to this country out of a sense of duty, others for the money, most simply because this is where the military sent them. Nonetheless, there we were, in a makeshift coffee trailer celebrating the 4th of July all together; everyone with a sense of it was yet another day in Iraq, just one more tick closer to being home.

Honor and Commitment In The Security Industry

Showing the neighborhood kids the magic of digital cameras

I don’t write much on the security industry as a whole, but I had a discussion with a fellow contractor the other day and thought that I would put a few words down for those that were not aware of how things worked.

My beef with many operators working in the industry is their propensity to “jump contracts”, in other words coming over to Iraq or Afghanistan on one contract and immediately start looking around for something better. Once they find a job that might be marginally better in terms of pay, living conditions, or mission, they immediate leave the original position and move to the later. Once there, the process starts all over again. At what point to they give their full measure to the task at hand? For lack of a better term, it’s very mercenary in nature, and it doesn’t bode well for the contractor’s sense of loyalty and commitment. If the individual operator cannot be loyal to his or her commitments what makes anyone believe that they will display any loyalty to their fellow teammates or the client?

To be fair, contracting security companies are often guilty of something similar, knows as “resume gathering”, sort of a form of bait and switch. In order for a security company to bid on a contract it will have to show that it can produce the required number of qualified personnel. As a result, companies make false representations to high-end contractors in order to secure their resumes. Once the contract is in-hand the company hires lower-skilled contractors instead in order to save money or increase its profit margin. Again, if a company shows no loyalty and respect to perspective operators why would anyone think that it will honor its commitments to the client?

Security contracting is a very competitive business. Margins have shrunk considerably over the past years and therefore some of the practices have become less than desirable. You live and die in this industry based on your reputation. If you treat your employer, the client, or your teammates with something other than complete up-right honesty and respect you will not be long in the security world.

A Day At The Airport... Or Four

Time stands still. The Arrivals board at Baghdad's airport that has not functioned since the first Gulf War.

Air travel in and out of Baghdad has always been tenuous, but lately it’s been particularly bad. Frequent biblical sandstorms and airline maintenance/crew issues have made traveling by plane to and from Iraq’s capital truly a hit or miss venture. It’s not uncommon for travelers to wait several days before they can complete their journeys. The lucky ones are able to stay in modern hotels in Amman or Dubai waiting flights into Iraq, the damned are stranded in the skeleton of Baghdad International Airport waiting.

This makes me laugh. The Information Desk can only tell you were the bathrooms are, which is pretty obvious if you simply just follow the smell.

Getting a traveler to the Baghdad airport requires a good bit of security and is often very expensive. Once you’ve been dropped off at the airport, the security team leaves, and you’re there to stay, all to often for a few days. In a large, modern international airport that’s no great pain as there are hotels, restaurants, VIP clubs, and other diversions to help pass he time. Baghdad has practically none of that, and the stranded are forced to sit and wait in a crowded, dingy, smoke-filled room with a few hundred other perspective passengers often reeking of the sweat of humanity. The chairs are mostly broken plastic, the carpet is beyond stained, and to add to the discomfort there is never any flight information. The airline employees have less information than you do, rumors are move around like the plague, and quite frankly no one even cares.

A fashionable Muslim woman waits. I wonder if she's been the the airport's Prayer Room yet?

Off to one side of the terminal “lounge” is a Muslim prayer room. Every time that I walk past I can’t help but wonder how many believers have gone in there and prayed to Allah to deliver them from the hell that is the Baghdad airport.

Blasphemous?

Iraqi boy sits in a dirt pile along the side of the road.

I remember some years ago a news story that reported, then First Lady, Hillary Clinton wanting to rid the White House of uniformed military. Back then I was a serving officer and thought the whole idea blasphemous. Today, I’m not so sure she didn’t have a point.

If you look at news footage of less-developed countries, uniformed personnel surround their heads of state. Some of the Latin American countries come to mind as they have a habit of placing a uniformed officer behind the president when he speaks in public. It’s as if the military is looking over the president’s shoulder making sure that he stays in-line. Personally, I find it a little creepy.

I believe that the United States, as well as other nations, should strive to be above that sort of image. The President doesn’t need a Marine standing there opening the door for him every time he leaves the office. I’m certain that the Corps could better utilize the young Marine in another capacity. Is the Corps so awash with highly trained Marines that it can afford to make them doormen? I don’t buy the security argument either as I believe that’s the Secret Service’s purview. I think the President can open his own doors as it’s not like his hands are full. Besides in makes the President appear less royal. You don’t see a Royal Marine opening the door at Number 10 do you?

Having been stationed in Washington DC I realize that the military does have a lot of legitimate ceremonial duties, but I contend that many of those associated with or around the White House are unnecessary and often send the wrong image to the world. Why must visiting heads of state be greeted by formations of flag-bearing soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines? I think that we’re past that now, and those guys and gals can be better used elsewhere. We are at war, aren't we? We spent a lot of time, energy and money training the finest uniformed men and women in the world, let’s allow them to do the job which they joined up for in the first place.

Executive Protection- The Low Profile Option

AK-47 magazines sit atop a wooden palette at a Baghdad neighborhood check point

In Executive or Close Protection there is a threat spectrum in which we operate. Low-threat jobs normally entail a single, unarmed agent who often spends more time facilitating than guarding. On the other end is the high-threat environment, which according to the American model, is normally the purview of the PSDs or Personal Security Detachments. Prevalent in Iraq and Afghanistan, PSDs operate with the philosophy that brute force and superior firepower will deter or defeat any attack on their client(s).

Aside from the threat spectrum, however, there is also a profile spectrum as well, one which many protection details fail to recognize or simply ignore. The profile spectrum is characterized by answering the question, how much or how little do you want the client and the protective detail to stand out and be recognized? Many American details lean toward the high-profile end of the continuum as exampled by US Secret Service operations, high-risk PSDs, the entertainment or sports industry where protection is a fashion accessory. When watching these operations its clear who the clients are or at least who the members of the detail are and what they are doing.

Now give some thought to the opposite end of the profile spectrum, low-profile or 'covert protection'. For me, this is where the art of close protection lies; in the game of deception, and subterfuge that securely moves the client around without ever giving anything away. Security comes from remaining hidden, obscured, not drawing attention to yourself or the client. There’s no need for flashy SUVs, sunglasses, or earpieces. It’s all done in plan sight and no one is ever the wiser for it.

The British teams are very good at low-profile operations, using tactics and techniques developed in Northern Ireland by their Special Forces during the “troubles”. I for one believe this explains why there are proportionally so many British protective details in the world compared to pure American teams. The Americans practice what they’re taught in the various executive protection schools. Very few, and I know of really none, have an emphasis on teaching low-profile or 'covert protection', as most of their classes are derived from official U.S. Government doctrine developed by the Secret Service, Diplomatic Security Service, the Department of Defense, etc…

Having said that, care must be given not to confuse the difference between low-risk and low-profile. Protective details can conduct low-profile operations across the entire risk spectrum as evidenced in Northern Ireland, some of the current British-based details, and very specialized American details in Iraq and Afghanistan. Similarly high-profile operations can be conducted in low-risk environments, which is often the biggest mistake made by new operators.

Finally, protection should either be one or the other; high-profile or low-profile. Do not try to meet in the middle somewhere. All that achieves is maximizing the weaknesses of both doctrines without ever achieving any of their strengths.

It's Not Just Sandwiches

Little Iraqi boy walks along a dirt street

My Scottish partner mistakenly left his sandwich and a bottled Starbucks iced-coffee in the car after returning from a task this afternoon. He went back a few minutes later to look for it and it was gone, obviously taken from the car by our Arab security drivers who are tasked with cleaning out the vehicles. Upon questioning the two drivers he got a resounding, “We haven’t seen your lunch nor the coffee”. A lecture ensued about the importance for westerners to be able to get the truth when asking questions. This certainly isn't the first time the drivers heard this.

Soon after, one of the drivers showed up with the missing the lunch and coffee stating that he found them in the Driver’s Room. “Dun’no how they it got there.”

The “take away” here is that two 40+ year old men have to play this little kindergarten game about telling the truth while at the same time saving face. My friend, who’s been kicking around the Arab world for years, is telling me that this happens on all levels, not just with sandwiches. Iran’s Ahmadinejad (technically not Arab) is doing it right now with the IAEA, Saddam Hussein did it with the United Nations, Hamas did it with Jimmy Carter. Lying to save face is endemic within the Arab culture. I realize that sounds terribly racist, but it's true and Arabs will be the first to tell you so. For my part, sadly I have to question everything that I’m being told by the guys whose hands I often have to put my life into. It makes for some very frustrating moments.

Fighting Through The Rough Patches

Iraqi boy heads his soccer ball down the street

I’ve learned that you need to struggle to make progress. I have several skills that I work hard at to become proficient, it’s just my competitive nature. Some days things come easy and effortless, other’s everything is a battle, and it seems as if I’m regressing instead of becoming more adept. You can apply this to almost everything that we strive to be better at, it’s part of the human endeavor.

I believe that it’s those times when we have to fight through the rough patches that we make the most progress. If, on the other hand, our practice is easy and effortless how are we really learning anything? Sure it feels good and marks the progress that we’ve made, but I question the value of effortless practice. I try to look at those days when it’s hard and takes effort as rare gifts, as those are the true opportunities for achievement and progress in whatever you strive to be better at. Having a bad day? Perfect!

What's Not To LIke?

Iraqi woman stares into the camera. She's not about to smile.

After banging around this country for over a year I’ve just now come to the conclusion that Iraqis do not like us, not at all. I know that it’s hard to fathom, what’s not to like? Westerners in general, and Americans specifically, are happy, jovial, albeit culturally insensitive people that are here to rebuild their country. Yes, all of that is true, but in the eyes of the average Iraqi we were the ones that broke it in the first place. In the words of retired General Colin Powell, “… you break it, you own it”. To be truthful, our “ownership” has not been all that good.

At best the Iraqis tolerate us simply because we’re slowly making infrastructure improvements, we’re the only game in town at the moment, we employ a lot of them, and not having us here right now would be exponentially worse. At worst, they want to blow us up, and speed off to paradise.

The Iraqi people that I come in daily contact with have worked for years alongside westerners, and still there’s an undercurrent of disdain, or maybe more accurately, disapproval. They don't understand the western culture and simply try to exist alongside it while maintaining some semblance of their own cultural and religious identity.

In the meantime we are working to make the best of the situation at hand because that’s really all we have. In the end we rely heavily on one another and working friendships are formed, but if conditions were better I believe they would just as soon see us off to the airport with a hardy “thank Allah those idiots are gone”.

N1452

Sitting on the BIAP tarmac, well off to the side is an all white Airbus A300 B4 with the letters 'DHL' hastily painted over yet still visible through the layers of dust. The only lettering untouched is the infamous tail number N1452, identifying this aircraft as the DHL Airbus that was struck by an insurgent surface to air missile shortly after taking off from the Baghdad Airport in November of 2003.


The Airbus sits in the baking sun and dust; it’s undercarriage home to dozens of pigeons as evidenced by the carpet of droppings covering the concrete below the wheel wells. Both engines have been removed and all signs of damage from the missile have been apparently repaired. The tires of the famous aircraft are well flat indicating that it has not moved for quite some time. The cockpit windows are caked with thick dust and offer no relief to the curious. Today the Airbus is little better than a huge shade tree for those that are out on the Baghdad tarmac for other reasons, trying to avoid the 130+ degree heat. It was fun, nonetheless to explore a piece of recent aviation history.

Half-Security

Shooting at the airport

We brought a news crew into the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) this morning. After several days of securing permissions from the Transportation Minister, the Civil Aviation Administration, Iraqi Airways and the airport security contractor we were finally allowed to do the story on Iraqi Airways.

The entertaining part of this was just how many people came up to us and told us that we couldn’t film or take photos in the airport. We were surrounded by representatives of all of those organizations, and still the Iraqi Police, Iraqi Customs, KBR, and the security company still thought it necessary to inform us that we couldn’t take pictures. It seemed like the new national sport, telling the media it couldn’t film inside the airport.

One over-eager, low-level, security contractor informed our cameraman that he was going to have to review our tape for approval. You want to upset a cameraman? Tell him that you want to have his tape. A good cameraman is well-prepared for that eventuality.

This is a case of what I call “half-security”, in other words applying restrictive measures in the name of security because it seems like a good idea; security measures in the absence of common sense. What are we going to capture on film that everyone sitting around the terminal already cannot see for themselves? Are the fifty new KBR employees just in from the States, marching past the camera, somehow in disguise? Everyone knows who they are; they all have little red KBR ID card-holders around their neck so that they can identify themselves!

My other favorite is cell phones. Every security checkpoint that we pass through the “checkers” want us to remove the battery from your cell phone, lest we detonate a car bomb with it. Meanwhile they neglect to open the trunk of our car and search for the mystery explosives or completely overlook the Motorola radio hanging from our hips. It simply sounds like a good idea to remove the cell phone batteries but is devoid of any common sense or reason.

“Half security” is the case with almost every protective measure that you come across in Baghdad. Security is a sport here, played well by a few, but for the majority, they’re doing just that… playing.

Don't Give 'Em An Inch!

Writing on a concrete blast wall with plastic flowers in the foreground.

We dropped some of the media guys off at the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) yesterday morning. As is normal with the airport there was a long line of people waiting to be screened by security just to get into the terminal building.

As we’re wrestling with the vast amount of bags that the media habitually travel with, loading them up onto the handcarts that are available, the line continues to grow behind us. In front of us are almost one hundred people destine to wait for an hour before they can get screened, and to our rear is a middle-aged lady with a handcart stacked with luggage. She pushes the cart right into the ankles of the westerner in front of her; hard and deliberate, as if she were trying to push her way through him.

I’ve seen this happen before in other Arab airports and just wrote it off to a mistake or not paying attention. That’s not the case, she did it again, this time harder, and I reached out and grabbed her cart and yanked it back towards her. The look she gave me was priceless, as if I had somehow committed some grievous sin against humanity.

Politeness and courtesy are seen as a weakness in the Arab culture, even among women and especially if there’s a westerner involved. For her to stand and wait for us to load our handcart was weakness to her, and she was having none of it. The same attitude manifests itself with drivers and pedestrians on the street as well. No one will yield an inch and you are forced to fight your way through lines and traffic jams to make any progress.

I’ve spent a great deal of my life assimilating into other cultures, and have made it a point to study them and achieve a better understanding. The Arab culture remains a complete enigma to me, and I don’t think that I will ever even begin to comprehend it.

More Cultural Tidbits

Young Iraqi soccer player

Here’s a little stumbling block westerners have when trying to work within the Arab culture; Arabs lie. At first I thought that was a terribly racist observation until someone pointed out that it’s in the Qur’an. Muslims, not only have permission, but rather have a duty to lie to non-believers; it’s called, “taqiyya”. Wrap your head around that little tidbit.

When talking to the throngs of Iraqis and other Arabs that we have working for us it’s all but impossible to get a straight, reliable answer to your question. At a minimum you will receive a gross exaggeration, but more likely you will be told a bold-faced lie with no remorse or compunction whatsoever. You will get whatever story, exaggeration, lie or fabrication which will save the most face and honor with the person you are speaking with.

Here’s another favorite of mine; "honor killing". True story as reported by a Jordanian newspaper (see above). Young Muslim wife is married to her husband who is “pimping her out” to his friends to perform sexual acts for them. The wife can’t take it anymore and runs home to her father. The father, injured by the insult that his daughter left her husband, is therefore forced to murder his own daughter to restore his honor. He does so by wrapping her in bare copper wire and plugging it into the household outlet and walking away for 15 minutes.

My final favorite, and another true story, "blood money". A man owns a motorcycle and sells it in good faith to his friend. The friend promptly goes out and kills himself on the motorcycle because he’s never even ridden one before, Inshala. The tribe of the dead motorcyclist then demands some thousands of dollars from the man who sold him the bike simply because if he never sold his friend the motorcycle the friend would still be alive. Failure to pay the blood money results in the tribe killing the man in order to restore its collective honor.

Rip Your Heart Out

A 10-year old boy pipes at his mother's grave. The tune he's playing is a piobaireachd known as Glengarry's Lament.

Maai

Old broom leans against a tree along a dusty Baghdad neighborhood street.

There’s a concept in Japanese martial arts called, “Maai”, and it has to do with the distance between yourself and your opponent, in other words, how far away can I be where I can attack him, but he can’t attack me? It’s much more complicated than simply distance; it takes into account the size of participants, length of weapons, the terrain, and even the mental state of the opponents. Complicated stuff, but then again it’s Japanese.

Standing in the Green Zone Post Exchange (PX) today I saw a young PSD that could use a little attention to maai. Keep in mind that the PX is considered to be very secure as it’s located behind several layers of security, safe to the point where I would have no problem letting my 4-year old son run around. The three-man PSD was looking after two junior diplomats from one of the western embassies as they attempted to do their shopping. All “kitted out” with radios, ballistic vests, ear pieces, knives, pistols, sun glasses, 5.11 pants and matching polo shirts the team remained within feet of it’s client as they walked up and down the isles.

This is the one huge mistake that young protectors always make. I know, because I used to do it myself, and it’s so obvious to those that have experience working close protection. Give your client some space!! You’re in the PX, there is no threat, give them some distance and privacy to do what they need to do, know your maai.

I’ve never had a client tell me to get closer to him or her, but I’ve heard hundreds of clients complain that their detail is “all over them”. It's the #1 client criticism. If you’re working close protection you have to be realistic about the threat and balance that with your client’s needs. Pay attention to maai, how close do you really need to be given the realistic threat to your client?