Coming Soon: Another post

The wireless internet is down in my room, and thumb drives have been banned from the post. So right now I have no way to post anything until I get wired again. When that happens I'll post something new and possibly even entertaining.

By popular demand...

My leave was a wonderful time but all too short. It was refreshing, and gave me new energy to face the new challenges in what’s left of this deployment. Despite being delayed at every step in the journey, my return to Iraq went well and much fast than I expected. Everything went wrong, but it didn’t’ bother me. I would have liked to at least get off the plane in Budapest.

Now that I am back with my unit, I face several new challenges. The most challenging of them are boredom, safety and office life. I’ve been moved to night shift temporarily which is nice, but quiet. I’m just not used to working with people whose idea of a bad morning is coming in to work with no hot coffee waiting for them. A month ago the coffeemaker broke and it was an event to remember.

It’s still cold here. It hasn’t snowed in a while and I don’t expect it to, but it will likely rain more, and we will have more wind storms. The rich soil and poor drainage conspire to make a sticky muck that has the consistency of pea soup with glue mixed in.

I received a random care package recently. This one was unusual because it contained a rap CD, some energy drinks, energy bars and vitamin drink powder. Getting those kinds of things made go “hmm”. So I looked, and sure enough, it came from CA. At least they sent me some Girl Scout cookies too.

Vacation

I am now on my way back to Iraq. 18 days of leave didn’t go by as fast as I thought they would but still too fast for me. It seemed that as soon as I got used to being home it was time to go.

On my first leg from Seattle to Dallas there were vacancies in first class to the flight crew went through the plane and selected the youngest soldiers to fill the seats. The seat was comfortable and the food was good. The plane landed early, but was delayed on the ground in Dallas so that I missed my next flight, along with several other soldiers. The army bought us rooms in a nice local hotel and I might be flying another day.

Leavenworth, WA

Returning Home

I started my long journey home on the 16^th, with a night flight in a US Army Blackhawk helicopter to a nearby base. I love flying in Blackhawks and wish the ride had been longer. I was surprised with how many lights I saw. The country below me looked just like any other that I’m used to seeing from the air at night. To the south I could see an expanse of lights that I assumed was Baghdad. To the north I could see another city, and many small houses or villages in between.

I arrived at the passenger terminal of this other base, and to my dismay I was told to come back in 48 hours, on the night of the 18^th. I checked into the temporary lodging and tried to find something to do for the time. On the night of the 17^th I decided to stay up all night to readjust to Pacific time. This turned out to be a good idea, but one that was not well timed. I had an accountability formation that I had to go to at 1445, which meant I could not sleep the whole day.

On the evening f the 18^th, I packed all my bags and reported to the terminal. After an hours wait I was told that I’d been manifested on a flight in8 hours, at 0730. I’d slept most of the day, so there was no sleeping that night, but my Brigade’s point of contact at the terminal was kind enough to let me hang out in his office and the night passed quickly.

On the morning of the 19^th, I boarded a C-130 cargo plane and flew to Kuwait. This was where I realized my timing in staying up all night was not the best. The flight took two hours and by 1400 I was in a briefing in Kuwait. I was disappointed but not surprised to learn that I would not fly to the US until the 20^th. I had another briefing in the evening, and then was free for the night.

Despite hardly sleeping that day, I wanted to try to remain in one time zone, so I waited until 0200 before boredom and exhaustion got the better of me. I slept until 0630, and then had another briefing at 0730 where I learned my itinerary for the next 24 hours. I also learned that I would arrive in Dallas at around 1200 but not leave for Seattle until 1730. I was not happy about the long layover. I had a short break from 0900 to 1200 and I tried to find another book because I knew I would finish my two during the travel.

At 1245 we started our finial briefings and manifesting for the flight. I was glad to have something to do, but we still had 12 hours before departure. I volunteered for baggage detail so I would have something to do, and it was a wise choice. The detail was the first to go through customs, and then we assisted the rest of the passengers going through. My bag was X-rayed and then thoroughly searched. We had about two hours of downtime after customs and then 1800 started the final roll call and boarded buses to the airport. Since I was on the baggage detail I got to walk around in the belly of the aircraft and stow everyone’s checked baggage. It was hard work because the ceiling was a few inches shorter than me.

The flight from Kuwait was one of the most torturous things I have endured while not actually training. Every seat on the plane was filled, and I spent 19 hours out of 24 in the air. Our first stop was in Leipzig Germany, where the current temperature was warmer than Iraq was when I left it. I am fortunate that our 9 hour leg over the Atlantic took place at night both over the Atlantic and PST, so I remember little of it. It was the best part of the trip.

When we got off the plane at Atlanta, we had to go through customs and security again, and then get back on the plane to go to Dallas. About half the soldiers got off at Atlanta, which made the trip to Dallas more comfortable.

About two hours later we arrived at Dallas Ft. Worth. When I left the gate and walked into the terminal, there was a large crowd of people waiting for us with signs and applause. Even the people waiting at he gates nearby stood up and clapped for us, and there were many people waiting to shake our hands and thank us. We went to the customs section where some people were waiting to stamp our leave paperwork and then we were free. The next stop was baggage claim where some ambassadors employed by DFW had lists of all the outbound flights and was ready to tell us how to get on the next thing leaving for our hometown. When I left baggage claim, another crowd was waiting for us with more signs, cheer and applause. The Girl Scouts were there handing out boxes of cookies, and the Boy Scouts handed out bottled water. Two ladies at the door asked each soldier where they were going and pointed out the proper bus to get on. When I got the Alaska Airlines counter the early flight had sold out, but I was put on standby with about ten other soldiers. The airline was kind enough to allow soldiers in uniform to board at the same time as the first class passengers, but we were all on standby. A little more than half of the soldiers that were on the list got a seat, and my name was one of the first called.

The Alaska Airlines flight crew was very professional even without the special courtesy that they showed us. The flight offered food for purchases and the rental of portable DVD players and the attendants refused to take any money from us, and offered the services free of charge. The soldiers sitting next to me slept through the lunch offering. When the flight attendant saw they had awakened she offered them lunch, and the cost was not even discussed.

It feels different to be home, but not nearly so much as it did after my first deployment. I’ve spent the last few years coming and going so much we seem to just pick up where we left off when I do get home. It helped that I was able to have so much communication with home while I was away. My wife did all the driving until we went to Leavenworth and I was sure I was comfortable with having rules to driving.

Winter in the Desert

I most unusual event occurred this morning. I first noticed it when my roommate left early in the morning to take a shower and remarked in surprise that it was snowing outside. I was only half awake at the time, but upon hearing this I was instantly awake. i got up and opened the door to see if it was true, and just as quickly shut the door because it was true and i was only wearing shorts and a shirt. It snowed well into the morning, and at least made today stand out from the last 10 days I've done nothing walk to the office and back. It melted on the ground, but stuck until after lunch in most other places. By afternoon the clouds had moved on but the cold had not. By 9pm the snow had been replaced by ice and mud. Thick gooey mud that sticks to my boots and build up until after 50 feet i've got an inch of mud on the bottom of my boot, and every step I take flings gravel behind me.

Happy New Year?

30 December 2007

My friends and I had planned to go out to the ruins and have bonfire and do some recreational training with our M4’s and an M249 for New Years, but plans have changed. I have been reassigned to another Company within the Battalion. I will be working within my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) in this new job, but I will leave the Company I’ve grown to love.

I’m better now, but I felt sad when I packed up and left yesterday. My Company often felt dysfunctional, but it was a dysfunctional family. I have never in my military career felt so sad to leave a unit. Part of it was the people, and part of it was that I loved the job and the unit we worked with. Despite being in Iraq, I felt like I was leaving a home. I am truly proud to have been a part of this unit for the last year, because this company was one that I could be proud of. My chain of command cared about the soldiers and was easy to work with. Every one worked hard, we always got the mission done, and accomplished more with less than any other company in the Battalion.

Another sad part about the move is that I will be leaving a job out on the road and going to one in the office. I am not much of an office person anymore. I will be seeing the same sights every day, and have few new things to see. There will be little reason to learn Arabic because I won’t be interacting with the local much anymore. I will not be eating or drinking chai with the interpreters late at night. I will not be greeting the Iraqi mechanic in Arabic and learning a bit more when I see him every few days. I will not going to range anymore, or driving a pickup. I will not have the dogs or the cat anymore, because I left them behind at another base. I will not be shopping anymore, because I will be nowhere near the local markets. The only physical danger I will face is the possibility of infected paper cuts. It will be a good move for my career, and in time I will grow to accept the change, but I will still miss my old company. Perhaps one day I will change my MOS or unit to one that spends more time outside the office.

I spent most of today moving into my new living quarters. I now live in a 20x8 foot containerized housing unit (CHU). I share it with another person. It is smaller than the space I had to myself before, but it is enough. I got a bunk bed and put it up on block so I can store things above and below my bed. I also have a real desk which I am thankful for.

In the afternoon I went shopping and treated myself to a late Christmas present. I finally bought the Surefire flashlight that I had been wanting for the last nine months. The Surefire is an amazing flashlight about the size of a mini Maglight that puts out as much light as a full size four D cell Maglight. I also bought a little green LED light the size of my little finger that puts out a lot of light for its size. I was also finally able to make some of the nice gourmet hot cocoa that my wonderful wife sent me. It was helpful in combating the cold desert night.

My mailing address has also changed. I will soon send an email to my family with the new address. If you did not get the email, and wish to send me LETTERS and NOT packages (I have no need for them, and too little space as it is) contact me or my family for it.

Because my life is going to get much more monotonous, I do not expect to be writing as much as I have been recently. Check back occasionally, maybe I’ll get an infected paper cut, or something interesting will happen. I’ll write something while on vacation for sure.

P.S. For some unknown reason the software would not permit a more aesthetically pleasing layout for the pictures.

December 07

18 December 2007

Yesterday I found out that sometime towards the end of the middle of January I will be heading home for a break from my government sponsored vacation. I’m looking forward to spending some time with my family and eating good food.

After a few days at the main base, I’m back to the smaller base where I’ve been enjoying life for the past few weeks. I was able to pick up four important things while I was there, but I forgot one. I will see if I can get it next time. The last three days were a blur, but they went well. My job at this base has never been easier, and I have never felt so good about the way it’s running.

While I was at the bazaar at the main base a few days ago, I accidentally found and bought the perfect item for my house. It’s an electric kettle, and I’ve been very impressed with how quickly it can boil a liter of water. Now I can have tea or coffee anytime I want to take the chill out of the cold desert nights. My first cup was some Tazo that my sister had sent me. After dinner tonight I went shopping at the Dining Facility and got some instant oatmeal packets and more tea.

Some local shopping

One of the units that we support asked for our help with something a few days ago. It was something that only my battalion could do because of our heavy equipment. The mission came down at the last minute, and I had no idea about it until I saw the LHS drive up to my house and said to myself “that’s not good”. 15 minutes later I was on the road headed to do something. I didn’t even know yet. Turned out there were several different things that they wanted us to do, and our equipment was capable of all but one. On the way there I was looking out the window and saw a shop with table full of baklava and pastries outside. At the next stop I asked the 1LT if we could stop and go shopping on the way. It turned out that one of our next stops was right next to the shop, and he even had his interpreter do the negotiating for us. I gave him 250 dinar (worth about a $.25) and got a plate with about twelve pieces of different kinds of baklava. It was dripping with honey and the best I’ve ever had. I hope to somehow get the opportunity to get more.

The 24^th of December

Not much happened today. My soldier and I got bored so we made a bonfire and then when that died down we got in the pick up and went cruising, but there was no where to go. We decided to help SGT L by lacing his cigarettes so they would explode when smoked.

The 25^th of December

We decided to celebrate the 25^th with an even bigger bonfire than we had the day before. The dining facility had a nice dinner, but I thought the lasagna they served for lunch was more meaningful. I had orange juice, lasagna, and broccoli. It was rumored that some high ranking officers were supposed to come have dinner at our chow hall, so I ate quickly and left. After diner we had the bonfire, and then went to the internet and phone café. I tried to call my parents and sisters, but the phone hung up on me after a minute. Then I could not call back on that phone so I called another. I was told that there was a problem with my PIN and I needed to call customer service, but I could not get through to them. After half an hour I gave up and went back to my room.

12 December 2007

A Typical Day Outside

Yesterday I had a mission off post. It took us two hours to load everything that we were taking to the soldiers out in the city. Everyone was in their trucks and we were getting ready to roll out when one of the trucks broke. We called our mechanic and he diagnosed he problem, and we decided to take a part off another truck to fix it, and use and replace that truck with a different one. It was a little harder than we thought and turned into a two hour job. This time half the convoy made it out the gate before the new truck broke. The Commander decided to just roll without it. When we got to our first destination I started to go about my job in the fuel truck, but when I was done I went help my soldier in the LHS. First his trailer malfunctioned when he was trying to remove a flatrack from it. About 20 minutes later the truck malfunctioned when he tried to put a flatrack back on the trailer. So that ate up about an hour or our day. Then we went back to our staging base and prepared for the next trip. This time I drove the LHS. I don’t drive it very often, so I enjoyed the trip. Nothing went wrong, but since we had a lot to do, we didn’t get back until late. It was a long day, made longer because I’d been working until 0200 the night before. At least it’s not normally like that. The worst part of the day was when my uniform shirt caught on the door and ripped.

A Night With The Interpreters

After I’d brought all my gear into the house, my soldier and I went to the MWR. He spent more time on the computers than I did, so I went to the Falafil Shop to hang out with the interpreters and wait. That nights entrée was falafel served with tomatoes and Iraqi ketchup and wrapped in flatbread. It was very good and more than made up for the three meals I’d skipped on the mission.

The Dining Facility

Except for the lack of a bread bar, I think the dining facility here is the best one I’ve been to so far. I know the cooks well, so anytime I want to I can get a case of cereal, soda or chocolate milk to take home. Most of the food has a spice to it, which I like. About I week ago I realized how much my wife had brainwashed me when I found myself annoyed at the lack of quality vegetables in Army Dining Facilities. Today at lunch I was excited to find some steamed broccoli. It was meant as a topping for the baked potatoes, but I took it anyways. Steamed broccoli covered in olive oil and parmesan make a grudgingly acceptable substitute for my wife’s cooking.

New Housing

The rest of my Company is starting to move into 2 person rooms at their camp. It’s will be the first time in 8 months they haven’t lived in a tent. I now have my room in our house to myself. It’s so big I don’t know what to do with it all.

Two new things

Fun in the Wind

Yesterday’s mission required one of my soldiers to fill a 3,000 gallon water blivet that was on his trailer. The blivet is like an enormous bag that is filled with liquid and then strapped to a flatbed. Normally it’s not a problem, but yesterday was a stormy, windy and rainy day. As soon as he loosened the straps the wind caught the blivet and blew it off the trailer. He then came over to my truck to ask for help, so my driver and I went to try to hold the canvas sheet on the flatbed. I got up on the truck and then the wind caught the sheet again and just about threw me back off the truck. After a few minutes there were four us trying desperately to hold it on, but barely succeeding and we were making no progress in getting more of it on. We were all laughing at situation, despite being almost blown across the truck. I went inside the truck to get on the radio for help, while the 3 other soldiers sprawled out across the sheet to keep it there. About five minutes later an Infantry squad rolled up, and they lifted the blivet up for us while we stood on the sheet to keep in there. Then we stationed 3 people to sit on the blivet while we attempted to pump water into it. Out pump was not working for some reason, and it took half an hour for the Iraqi water people to get it working, but not before sending a 2in wide by 20ft tall geyser of water out, soaking two people. To make things more interesting, there was a lightning storm overheard and EOD was setting of controlled detonations nearby for most of the time we spent there.

More Culture lessons

One of the things that I love the most about this base is being able to spend time with the interpreters. I love to travel and see new places, and so I am glad that this deployment has allowed me to see a glimpse of what Iraq is like, in contrast to my first deployment, where I never left the airport. If I could, I would want to go on some foot patrols and see what the country is really like.

Tonight I stopped in to the shop where the interpreters cook their food. They had been cooking all three times I had been in that area, and the smell made me hungry every time. It smelled just like my mother making taco shells. There was one person there I knew, but the other one I had not yet met. The person I had already met was a teenager, and here their teenagers do the cooking for the older men. There are no Iraqi women on the base, nor any American women. The one I had not met invited me to sit at the table with him and we introduced ourselves and started to talk. He immediately offered me some of his food, and I gladly accepted. The younger man was cooking some eggs and tomatoes and when they were done the older man (who is a year older than me) shared them with me. We ate it with Samoon and it was very good. Every time we ran out of Samoon the younger man would get more or the older man would cut his piece in half for me. I enjoyed talking to him. He graduated from Baghdad University a few years ago, but could not find a job so he took one as an interpreter. We shared details about out homes and families and the weather in our countries.

One of the most important things in Arab culture is hospitality. They will offer or do almost anything to for a guest. I saw some of that tonight, but I have noticed it in all of my dealings with the Iraqi people at this base. When I go to deliver fuel, the Iraqi man that I give it to will sometimes invite me to come and sit. When I dropped off laundry to get done, the man there invited me in to sit with him. Again, I wish I knew more Arabic, but what I do know is at least enough to win some favor with those I come into contact with. I wish that I was in a position to learn it. It is very rare that I come into contact with someone that does not speak English well, so I rarely have a need to use the language.

Sheep In A Jeep