Manners & Mustaches (pics)

11 Jun 07
Off in Baghdad again. Got to fly up in the Iraqi Air Force’s newest aircraft--a modified Cessna Caravan. It’s a great little aircraft and has a large forward looking infrared and video pod the Iraqis will use for reconnaissance. It came down from the Kurdish north to pick up one of our colonels. Two of us needed to go to Baghdad so we asked him if we could get a ride. We took a longer route to get to Baghdad this time so the colonel could play with some of the gizmos. Very cool way to see the country.













I came back today on an Iraqi C-130. Our first stop was the U.S. base at Habbaniyah on the edge of Lake Habbaniyah outside Fallujah. Habbaniyah was the old British garrison established in Iraq after World War I to protect the provincial government. It was the largest of several bases in Iraq and was key to protecting the country.

Scifi returned from his R&R in the Caribbean some weeks ago and when he came back he had shaved the caterpillar that had inhabited his lip for the first half of his tour. The Iraqis are big on mustaches. At our training prior to deploying they advise us to grow a mustache if we can…that it projects “machismo” and respect to Arabs.

When he got back Scifi looked 15 yrs younger and several of us didn’t recognize him. Adnan commented that the American advisors always grow a mustache when they come to Iraq but shave it when they go home to visit their families. He said he thinks American women must not like mustaches. He went on to ask why they bother at all to grow a mustache…in short, why don’t we just “be ourselves” while we’re here?

Someone asked about manners and Arabs (i.e., it’s disrespectful to show them the bottoms of your feet, don’t use your left hand when eating, etc.) and I think peculiarities in and sensitivity to Arab manners/mannerisms is very much exaggerated. I’ve seen them sit in all sorts of positions and have seen them eat with their left hands.

In my travels all around the world and living in Japan, I believe good manners are universal. Say please, thank you, yes/no sir. Be respectful of your hosts...get to know them and try to understand their customs/courtesies. They will recognize that you are being respectful and they will overlook petty transgressions like where your foot is pointed.