Hey folks,

Nothing to do here right now so I thought I'd send another e-mail just because I can. I am wondering what the weather is like? I'm sure it's still very much summer. Has it been nice or rainy so far? Also, it's about time for the silver salmon season!!! Good Lord am I jealous that I can't be there for that. That's all right though, I am thinking more and more about the Alaska hunting season. I have been meaning to tell ya'all about the interesting experiences I had over here with Karbala wrestling, so here goes.

About a month and a half ago the COG (Corporal of the Guard) came to me and said, "Hey sir, there is some wrestler-guy that wants to talk to you at the front gate." I told him to search him and show him in. A few days earlier my CO told me that the battalion was contacted by local wrestlers who wanted to meet and wrestle with some Marines. He told me I would probably be the coach of the Marine wrestlers. This was exciting to me but I didn't think much of it. Now I walked out and met Hussein Khadim, who was a very broad-shouldered man with a big smile. I soon learned that Hussein was a former world champion! Very impressive. We talked about getting Marines and Iraqis practicing together in order to form a good relationship with one another. Arrangements were made and I found these "sporting men" as they call themselves, very nice to deal with after a month of dealing with local corrupt, lying, and severely incompetent police, self-proclaimed "very important men," and other political faction leaders who were trying to take advantage of the power vacuum in Karbala.

A few days later I had rounded up about 18 former wrestlers from throughout the battalion and we headed to Hussein's practice facility. I had reconnoitered the facility a day earlier and as I had suspected it was small and desperately needed repairs, and, like every place else in Iraq, it was looted during the war. I knew it was going to be a tight fit for all 18 of us and however many of them, but I figured the more exposure between us and them the better. We arrived at the facility and I noticed that there were kids everywhere! I led the Marines through a sizable crowd of youth to the door to the mat-room. I walked in the open doorway and we were greeted by an overwhelming cheer from the crowd of spectators, young and old, that were crammed into the room. There was one wall of the room that was lined with wrestlers ranging from 16 to 40 years old. There were about 30 of them in all. It was going to be tight. But I was very pleased with how hospitable and nice everyone was. The atmosphere was one of sport, not of American presence in a foreign environment with awkward stares and the ever-present language barrier. Very quickly we were warming up the best we could in the cramped and extremely hot space (of course it was about 100 degrees in the room with no AC). Needless to say it didn't take long to bust a sweat.

We quickly transitioned to wrestling each other, it was practice -- but as you can imagine it was extremely competitive -- all very good-natured though. Hussein, through a series of hand and arm signals, stop watch pointing, and holding up his fingers, had told me that we should just skip the small talk and have a scrimmage. I agreed wholeheartedly and before we knew it our lightweights were wrestling against the Karbala lightweights. The crowd was in a very loud, good-natured mood, and it was very exciting. The Karbala team was very good. Truly, their technique was superior to ours. However I quickly realized that all of our Marine wrestlers had a style that was different from the Iraqis. We were all much more physical and aggressive than them. And though it had been many years for most of us, we had a lot of talent on our team, two-time state champs, wrestlers from huge wrestling states like Iowa, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. The match went very well for us. They won a few matches, but we won the competition.

We left the facility only after much handshaking and smiling, the language barrier in this case was completely transparent. Since that time, I have done just about everything in my power to help Hussein and his dedicated handful of coaches and I am very pleased with what we have accomplished together. I did an assessment on his facility, complete with estimates from local painters and plumbers and put together a proposal for fixing up the facility. The result after much paperwork was $7,000 being given to his facility. With this money we were able to completely restore and improve his facility. He now has uniforms and shoes for all his students, and attendance is on the rise. Now due to operational commitments the Marines, self included, no longer have time to wrestle with the Karbala team, but I am very happy with the knowledge that together Hussein and I were able to ensure that the sport will attract youth for years to come. And hey, I'm sure there are members of the Polish Army (who will be relieving us in the next few months) that wrestle. Of course they won't be as aggressive or physical as the United States Marines.

Well that's all from scorching hot Karbala, please feel free to send this message to anybody who might like to read it. Maybe my wrestling coaches.

By the way, yes, I was the final match and I did win.

Isaac