Check out Lt. Kennedy's latest answers!

1. Do you find out far in advance that you or your men have a mission coming up or do they spring that type of thing on you without an advance warning?
That’s a very good question. A lot of the missions around here are planned to be last minute if that makes sense. There is a thing in the Army called a WARNO, or Warning Order that leaders will receive almost immediately after their boss decides that a mission needs to take place. That mission can take place 30 minutes later, or 30 days later, but you are from that point on supposed to be prepared to execute the mission. It probably seems a little strange, but the beauty of the system is that one way or another the mission has to get done, so it may be a little crazy for a little bit, but somehow you always find a way to do it.

2. Will you get any extra time off at Christmas?
I’m looking to hopefully get the afternoon off and spend it with my soldiers watching some movies and maybe having some pizza. It may not seem like much to you guys, but after two months without more than a few hours truly off to myself…it seems like an awesome proposition. I may even sleep in!

3. What are the seasons like there? Temp. changes, etc? How hot is it in the winter?
Up until about last week it was pretty much hovering around 75 degrees, and all I could think about was how it is going to be incredibly hot in the summer. However, in the past 4 days it has completely dropped off, and is probably around low 50’s, high 40’s. It is cold enough to turn your heater on in your room.

4. What are the circumstances for emergency leave?
Emergency Leave is primarily given in response to a Red Cross message. Those messages come from the Red Cross HQ and can be for the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one.

5.Do you have to take any courses while you are there? Are any advanced educational courses or college credit courses offered there?
They do have an education center here as we are one of the bigger bases in all of Iraq, and soldiers are afforded the ability to take classes or the CLEP or DANTE exams (I don’t know what they stand for, but they basically give you college credit if you complete them with a passing score). Furthering your education is huge in the military amongst all the ranks. As an enlisted soldier, college credits directly correlate to promotion points (to be promoted as an enlisted soldier you must get a certain amount of points and successfully complete a board where you are tested on your knowledge as a soldier). As an officer, it is a requirement to have a Bachelor’s Degree, and once you get higher in the ranks, it is a requirement to have a graduate degree.

6.Will your family send you Christmas presents?
My mom doesn’t love me, so therefore she is not going to send me any presents…haha- just kidding. My family sent me my Christmas presents almost a month ago and I have had to exercise some serious constraint so that I didn’t open them. I may or may not have cheated a little bit when a “corner of the wrapping paper accidentally ripped off” and I saw that my mom sent me Ratatoiulle and I really wanted to watch it. By the time you get these answers it will probably be after Christmas though so I should be in the clear…

7.Are pets allowed or are there any that have been adopted on the base?
On our base they aren’t allowed because some people were getting sick because of most of them hadn’t gotten their shots. However, I did hear a rumor of a little pup wandering around the other day and someone may or may not have picked him up and given him a home. On other bases there are dogs, and the Army Vets have gone around and given them all their shots.

8.Does all of your mail get checked before you send it out (in case you accidentally tell things you shouldn’t)?
I do not believe that our physical mail is censored, but I would not be surprised. I know that our internet access is monitored, our email may be screened for buzz words, and if you have any pages like MySpace or Facebook, they are monitored by your chain of command to make sure you aren’t putting any information up about ongoing operations or any pictures of battle damage, etc.

9.Have you seen any poisonous snakes, bugs, etc. since you’ve been there?
To date, no. And I hope never to, but I would be highly surprised if I don’t.

10.Can you shoot off fireworks on New Year’s Eve or 4th of July?
I am going to guess no because I think a lot of people would assume we were getting attacked. While it is not a very good possibility where I live, it still would probably ruffle some feathers that do not need to be ruffled…

11. Do you plan on making the military your career or will you get another job after your tour is up? If so, what would you like to do?
I want to begin my answer to this question by saying that you guys ask some very thought provoking questions and a few of you should probably look into investigative reporting. That being said, I honestly have no idea what I want to do at the end of my commitment. I will have almost a year left in the Army when I get back from this tour, and there is a good possibility that I may come back to Iraq for a second tour. So in the short term, that is what I’m planning for. However, in college I was fortunate enough to be able to run some big events and I would really like to manage events for a large hotel or something of that nature. Maybe I’ll become an astronaut…

12. What’s your favorite color?
Midnight Blue

13.What interests you about being the first female Pres.?
The White House throws fabulous parties that I would love to have thrown in my honor. I also really enjoy sleeping in five star accommodations…

14.If you could change three things about the world, what would they be?
- Every kid should be allowed to be a kid during their childhood. I would give them the opportunity to do that.
- I would make sure that every person that works for a living, from the guy that cleans the portapotties, to the President of the United States receives respect for what they do. Every job is valuable to society and every person should have enough pride if they are working an honest job to hold their head up high. They are in turn due respect from the rest of us. Sorry…I’ll get off my soap box. However, I see how hard that people here, and people in Europe work at jobs that we in the United States would traditionally throw our noses up at. Street Cleaners press their uniforms each day and make sure their section of land is spotless because it is important to them to uphold the commitment they made to the job. I take my hat off to those individuals.
- I would make it so money didn’t matter, and your character would be your most valuable object.

15.Is the war over there what you expected?
This war is more about being a police force than being a military force, and that is ultimately the nature of a counterinsurgency. It is an extremely interesting experience and I’m glad that I get to be here to do my part. I’m not sure if its what I expected, but it is what it is.

16.Do you have any information about Iraqi schools? Do all kids attend? Do many women get advanced degrees?
It is at times difficult for all children to get to school. Here in Baghdad it is kind of a different situation because there is in general more money flowing around, and therefore children are not forced to work to help support their families. Boys and girls attend school here, and there are women in college. This is still a Muslim country however, and the acceptance of women in the workplace and higher education ebbs and flows with each leader that stands up from the President of the country, all the way down to the leaders of the Muhalla’s, or neighborhoods. School is not as commonplace and necessary in this society, but is still extremely valued by the population at all levels. There was a detainee the other day that was brought in with his bad brother and he spent an hour lecturing him about how he was an idiot and if he had been smart he wouldn’t have left school and would have found a real job that kept him out of trouble.

17.What is the protocol for having a civilian get on the base? Can non military personnel get on the base at all?
Yes, local nationals can get on base. Many of them are employed on base to do construction work. However, they must be put into a biometrics tracking system, and guarded one hundred percent of the time that they spend on the base.

18.How many people are on your base? How many men? Women?
I honestly have no idea. My Brigade alone has 3,000 people, and we have been plused up by other battalions. There are upwards of three or four brigades stationed here, one Division Headquarters, and one Corps Headquarters. Not to mention Special Forces elements, and a bunch of civilian contractors from the states that drive around in their SUV’s and wear civilian clothes all day.
19.What are your favorite types of books to read?
All types- one’s with interesting characters? That was a really lame answer. The last book I read was Harry Potter, so I don’t know what that says about me.

20.Do Iraqi women still have to cover their heads and faces? Is it common to see women without them?
Yes, it is a part of their religion. It is possible to see them not cover their faces completely, but a large majority cover their heads at a minimum. They wear the very traditional black Birka that covers pretty much everything. Even our female interpreters cover their heads.
21.Is it common for young people to own guns there?
No. It is actually illegal. Each household is allowed to have 1x AK-47 in their home for ceremonial and protection purposes. All other weapons are illegal to have (handguns, larger machine guns, more than one AK-47, grenades) and will get you some time in prison, no questions asked.

22. When you are on the base, do you use American currency to buy things or Iraqi money?
We use American money. The interesting thing is that instead of actual change, they give us little cardboard pogs. The coins cost too much to ship over here.
23. Why aren’t women allowed in the infantry and other dangerous positions? After all, they receive the same training as men.
We receive the same initial training as the men, but are not allowed to have the same additional training. Every soldier when they enter the Army goes to either Basic Training, or if going the officer route, the equivalent taught in college. However, upon their graduation from Basic, or their commissioning as an officer, that soldier will go to what is called Advanced Individual Training. At AIT soldiers get very specific training regarding their future job, from how to order property and maintain accountability as a 92Y (supply sergeants), or how to fire a weapon a 50cal and conduct advanced assaults in urban environments as 11B’s (Infantrymen). Women are not allowed to participate in Infantry or Armor courses, and are not allowed to attend follow on training to become Sappers (combat engineers), Rangers (advanced infantrymen), or Special Forces.

However, I will say that on the majority of Personal Security Detachments that guard our key leaders, there are women on each one of those details. They just are not traditional combat arms soldiers. The rules are relaxing.

24. Do you miss the snow?
I miss the snow very much. I would love to go skiing right now.