So there we were: Baghdad, 2008 or 2009. I was in Iraq on an assignment that took me around the country and occasionally had to check in at the Combined Intelligence Operations Center (CIOC) housed in what was known as the “Perfume Palace” (known as such because it resembled a bottle of perfume and unconfirmed rumors about its use by Saddam’s sons). I spotted a familiar-looking bespectacled Asian colonel across the large room during a shift-change meeting, and to my surprise, it was George. He was commanding a unit on that base doing things related to stuff etc. We were able to go together to North End Pizza, a decent fresh-baked pizza and calzone place at the very north end of the Baghdad airport runways.
I don’t know what George thought of that overlap, but it was amazing to me to find that my CAP family could find me (and perhaps find George) all the way in a war zone.
