The shortest path

As of today US forces are not permitted in Iraqi cities except under certain extremely limited circumstances that bear very little in common with the assumptions my brigade commander has been laboring under for a very long time. Shockingly enough, Maliki actually meant what he's been unambiguously shouting for months on television.

So I shouldn't be going into Mosul ever again, barring some truly extraordinary circumstances. This is a good thing. Alas, the Army is not going to let me sit on my ass for a month or send me home earlier than planned, so I will be operating somewhere else, just outside Mosul. The most direct route, passing through the city, would get me there in just over an hour, and would take perhaps half an hour with good roads, better suspensions, or no traffic.

The indirect route, which is the one we have to take, is estimated to require something very close to and quite possibly exceeding five hours. I will be ascertaining the exact time quite soon.

But it's not as bad as it seems, because I expect the return journey to be much faster. Medical evacuations are one of the exceptions allowing one to drive through the city, so my platoon sergeant and I have agreed we'll just shoot one of our guys in the arm or leg at the end of each mission so we can trim four hours off the trip home.