Christmas Shout Out

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas. Unoriginal I realize, but effective. Thats me and Eddie and our Gingerbread house. Engineers we are not!

Well Christmas has made it to the barren desert. The day went pretty well, which is to say it did not suck. This is mostly due to the fact that I got the whole day off! Thus the first shout out goes to my boss, LTC Gary. We were scheduled for a 1/2 day today, but LTC Gary told us to enjoy the day and he would come in and deal with anything that came up. All he asked was that we keep our cell phones on. He did call me once for a minor issue, but the rest of the day I did absolutely nothing. I slept in. Went to chow with my roommate Jeff. Then proceeded to fall into a triptophan induced coma as a result of the mass of turkey I ate. I slept until about 1700 when I got up and went to the gym. I came back to my room, showered and Skyp'd my parents and Emily then promptly went back to sleep. That my friends is a good day.

I have plenty more accolades to bestow on family and friends so please read on. I have to start with Emily. Many of you know that I had asked that I not receive any gifts this year. I am a little concerned that my girlfriend did not heed my words, but at the same time it was sure nice to have a box full of fun gifts to open. We will address the not listening issue later ;) I got a whole bunch of little snacks and games and just fun kinda stuff. I have to give a shout to Helena, one of Emily's pals in DC. She is always out shopping with Emily and I wanted to say thanks for helping to pick out fun stuff. You're doing great! It was fun opening my gifts while watching Emily have Christmas over Skype. As usually she went above and beyond. I am a very lucky guy to have a girlfriend that doesn't listen to me...

Next up is my family. My mom, sister, grandmother, great aunt, and cousin all sent me stuff. Mostly cookies and treats from home, which are all gone! My Aunt Rita sent me enough almonds to last me a few months I think! She is so fun. Aunt Helen made some of my favorite cookies, little powdered white butter cookies with nuts. They lasted for like one pot of coffee! My mom sent her usual pile of yummy cookies and some other stuff just like I told her not to. Again, a very lucky guy to have women around me that don't pay any attention when I talk....Sometimes I think my mom is trying to get me fat so I can't be in the Army! My mom is a great cook and baker; heck shes a great mom all around.

My sister gets a huge thanks not just from me, but from the whole unit. My sister thought it would be nice to get some folks to send some cards to me and the soldiers I serve with. I don't think she expected the response, but I received over 300 cards and letters. I handed out all I could to folks around here. I took the rest up to another camp and gave them to a unit that was putting together a Christmas party. They told me they had plenty of soldiers that did not get very much mail or any at all. This was going to be a real treat for those guys. I want to specifically thank the following groups that my sister identified as having sent cards:

• Employees of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources


• Mrs Bender's class at Mayo Elementary School


• Mrs. Weissmueller's class at Sunderland Elementary School


• Ms. Kirchner's class at St Mary's school


• Stevensville Girl Scouts


• Bowie Girl Scouts

Thanks to these great Americans some young trooper far from home had a little bit brighter and happier day. I can tell you from personal experience, there are times when one single letter can make the difference between a soldier crying and a soldier laughing.

I also want to say a huge THANKS to Emily's family, all like 10,000 of them! I know there are some goodies in the pipeline. I don't know what they are but I know they will be great. More than for the treats and gifts I want you all to know how much it means to me to have such a supportive family. Being there as your daughter, sister, cousin, etc deals with loving a soldier at war is a difficult thing. It is a sacrifice, make no mistake you are fighting for freedom and America as much as those of us deployed. Thanks for your support of me and especially for taking care of Emily. I know she is OK because she has all of you. Knowing that lets me focus on my mission and my soldiers.

So that is Christmas from Arifjan. I hope yours was peaceful and warm.

Christmas Eve

I lucked into a Christmas Eve feast! I had to go up to another camp today and deliver some equipment to a warehouse there. We have contractors that run the warehouse and most of them are from India. When we got there they were having lunch and invited us to join them. What a great deal!

We had some sort of BBQ chicken, some curry shrimp and rice. Some vegetables and flat bread, it was great. Turns out there is a very good restaurant near where all these contractors live and they "catered" all the food. It was really good chow and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and the food.

You can see by the picture that we are all enjoying ourselves and getting along just fine. Fairly ironic considering in the group there are Christians, Muslims and Hindi's! It is a surreal feeling to celebrate Christs birth in a Muslim nation with friends of Hindu faith. When we left to head back to Camp Arifjan all I could do was look north to Iraq and shake my head in wonder.

Not a visit from Santa, but it'll do!

It must be Christmas. You can tell, not by the decorations or music in the PX, but by the number of visitors we get. Some of you may know of the USO tours made famous by Bob Hope. The USO is still at it and brings a lot of talent in especially around holidays. You can check their website and read all about them, and yes they accept donations. Since I have been here we have had the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders twice, Chuck Norris, and a few comedians. I haven’t had time to go to any of those, but I made time today.

This USO tour is sponsored by the Sergeant Major of the Army, SMA Kenneth Preston. He brought along the Cheerleaders, and some singers and a model. I realize many of you are not military so I will take a minute to explain the SMA. The Seargent Major of the Army is the highest ranking enlisted Soldier in the Army. You can read about this personal accomplishments here http://www.army.mil/leaders/SMA/bio.htm . The US Army’s website describes the SMA’s duties and responsibilities; “The Sergeant Major of the Army serves as the Army Chief of Staff's personal adviser on all enlisted-related matters, particularly in areas affecting Soldier training and quality of life. The SMA devotes the majority of his time to traveling throughout the Army observing training, and talking to Soldiers and their families. The SMA sits on a wide variety of councils and boards that make decisions affecting enlisted Soldiers and their families and is routinely invited to testify before Congress.”

I found out late in the afternoon he would be available for a meet and greet, so I headed over with my boss and a camera. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to see not only SMA Preston, but a model that has been in some men's magazines (I read them for the in depth and compelling articles), Darryl Worley, and a couple other singers. We each got our turn to go up and get a picture and an autograph. Each of the celebs was great. Asked us how we were, where we were from, that sort of stuff. Shook hands, hug, pat on the back, the whole thing. I realize this is all PR for them but really, you gotta want to do it to be that into it hour after hour. Keep in mind these folks have been doing this around camps in the area for days and will be going around to Iraq and Afghanistan.

So for all that this being away for the holidays sucks, this was fairly bright spot. I have to say thanks to the USO. They are the organization that put this stuff together. They do a lot of other morale stuff as well. For example, they run the “canteen’s” at the major US airports. These are places where military members and their families can get a snack, watch TV and relax in between flights. Some have bunks if you are going to have a lay over. Thanks USO, and thanks to the folks that come out and visit us. We appreciate it.

I met a Marine today

I really do get to do some cool stuff here. A few days ago I was invited to meet LtCol (ret) Oliver North. LtCol North was moving through on his way to Iraq and someone I knew here needed an assistant driver to ride along up to the airport to pick him up. If your not aware I deal with Foreign Military Sales. LtCol North was involved in "a bit of controversy" surrounding that very topic, so my buddy thought I might want to meet him. That issue did not come up and I'll not discuss it here. What I will say is that after meeting and talking to LtCol North I have no doubt that whatever he did or did not do he was driven by a love of country and believed he was doing the right thing.

I got up to meet LtCol North after he landed and had made his way to the waiting area where he would stay until he could get a flight to Iraq. This means that I was meeting the guy after about a 14 hour flight and an hour or so truck ride. At this point he is in a big tent just like every other Soldier, Airman, Sailor and Marine that comes here. There is no VIP room, and after meeting the guy I don't think he'd go to one if there was one. Nobody should be excited or in a good mood after all that, but he was!

Things just kinda conspired and my partner, Leroy and I were just kinda left standing there with LtCol North while his people and the escorts were working out some details. Not really knowing what to do or say, Leroy and I just kinda stood there not saying or doing anything. LtCol North took the lead, he could see we were a little uncomfortable and not sure how to approach meeting him. Just as if it was nothing at all, he walks over to us, "Hey, how ya doin Ollie North. Whats your name? Where you from?" Man and like that it was on! Just a pleasant conversation about how long we had been there, how our families were doing, what our plans were when we left, if we had been on R&R. It was just cool. We lucked into like a 15 minute conversation. Just the three of us.

I realize I don't know the guy that well, but I do know people. I know when people are blowin smoke and when they are genuine. This guy is the real deal. I got to hang around with him for a few hours while his travel plans were finalized. I watched him interact with others. I watched him approach young troops he knew were to nervous to come up to him. He engaged them, not the other way around. He seemed to want to meet them as much as they wanted to meet him. He truly, genuinely cared about these folks. You could see it in his eyes. When he asked how you were, he really wanted to know. When somebody remarked about the son or daughter they were going home to see that they had never met you could see his expression change. He felt it.

LtCol North was really an engaging and interesting guy. It seemed to me that he truly liked being around us. He seemd to draw energy and enthusiasim from us. I will tell you though, he loves his Marines, and they seem to truly and deeply respect and love him. When he got around a group of Marines, it was different. Nothing I could define, nothing I can really describe, but unquestionably different. There is a bond among Marines that does not exist among others. It was amazing to actually see.

LtCol North took any amount of time anybody asked of him. Signing autographs, posing for pictures, etc. My section, since we deal with Foreign Military Sales, has had a picture of LtCol North hanging on our wall for as long as anybody knows. It is there to remind us to focus on the details. I explained the pic and the reason we had it up. I thought it would be cool if he signed it, and of course he was happy to. That joker in the background is my partner Leroy. So now we have the pic up and I get to tell my story of the day I met a Marine.

Its cold, and I am thankful

Well the temp has settled out a fair bit. It is in the 60's or colder at night. Usually doesn't hit much above the 70s during the day. This is all perfect with me. There are plenty of people here that are not as OK with it as I am. I see a lot of "cold weather" gear being worn around. Me, I am still in shorts when i go running. That's about the only time I don't have my uniform on.

Still pretty busy. My boss is gone on R&R so I am in charge. Now that I have a real handle on what needs done I am enjoying it. The first few days were a little tuff. I still don't like all the briefings, meetings, working groups and other such gatherings. I know have to go at least 2 hours of briefs a day. That spikes to 5 1/2 hours of various meetings once or twice a week. Still, I'd rather be in charge than not.

Thanksgiving was OK. The DFAC did the best they could. They really did a great job decorating. Butter sculptures, displays, food carvings the works. The food was OK but really, it was just another meal. I am thankful for that. I am glad I didn't think it was great. It just means to me that my family and holidays with them are in fact special. That no matter the quantity or quality of the food, the lavishness of the presentation; it is the company you are in that makes a holiday. In fact, you can have a holiday any time you want, because what matters is who you are with, not what day of the year it is.

I would like to say a few things I am thankful for. Not the laundry list sort of thing, just a few comments.

• I am thankful to God, for all of it.
• I am thankful for my parents and my forefathers. They gave me not only life, but they gave me "a life". From my parents who sacrificed so I didn't have to and love me unconditionally in spite of my many faults; through my great uncles and aunts who fought and died or worked at home for liberty; all the way back to my forefathers who took a great risk leaving all they knew to come to America and forge a new life.
• I am thankful for Emily and her family. I have found a true friend and true love in Emily, I simply can't express the impact she has had on my life. I am thankful beyond measure to her parents for the faith and trust they have put in me in dating their daughter and for always making me feel welcomed and loved.

Certainly I could go on and on, but doing so would cheapen what I have already said. If I have learned nothing else in the past few years, I have certainly learned that defining priorities and then acting in such a way as to respect those priorities is key to success and happiness. The things I mentioned I am thankful for are important to me. One can expect that the bulk of my efforts and energy will be directed at ensuring the safety and happiness of those included.

November 3d!

WOW, so I just realized that my last blog was over 2 weeks ago. Man, every yesterday seems so long ago. This is a weird place for time. I might be able to tell you what day of the week it is without looking at my watch 20% of the time. There is also the whole groundhog day thing to deal with as well. It so no so much that everyday is the same its that everyday runs into the next or is just a continuation of the last. So thats not so good. What is good is when you look at a calender to find what day it is and realize that, yes it is Saturday, but damn it is Saturday the 17th. Of November! So thats cool. Then of course I start day dreaming about the 17th of Dec, Jan, etc etc.

This Saturday was particularly interesting. Work is work. I'd say it sucks, but nobody is shooting at me and I don't have to live in a tent or go outside and down the street to an outhouse, so I am not going to complain. I'd say it was great because Ohio State dominated Michigan, but that made Emily sad so I am a little sad. I won't even pepper my blog with all the yummy details except to say Ohio State was, by every metric, the dominate team. So it was an interesting Saturday. 13 hours at work and then a nice 4 hour football game before bedtime.

Today is Sunday so I'll be heading off to Mass in a few minutes, and then to work. Doing some laundry today as well. That'll be about it for the day, and that'll be about it for this post.

300 and Flat G

I am happy to report I have broken the 300 barrier! I am under 300 days remaining in theater. I realize this doesn't seem like all that big a deal, but it is one of those landmarks. The next, in case you are wondering will be the 101st day. That will occur on 05 December.

In other news Flat G has arrived! Finally after months away Flat G has found me again and is diligently watching my every move. Flat G is an interpretation of the popular children's book "Flat Stanley" This all stems from my tour in Korea. A buddy of mine, Mike, has a son named Charlie that sent him a drawing of himself. The drawing was a "flat" representation of himself, Flat Charlie. The idea was that Mike would take the picture around Korea take pictures and write his son about where "they" went. This would be a way for the two of them to bond and tosatisy a class project for Charlie.

Well, we got hold of this and started taking Flat Charlie everywhere. We took Flat Charlie to work, out to dinner, up to Seoul. We even took him places 3D Charlie, or for that matter any of us should not have been! After a few trips to places I liked to go Mike decided he didn't want his son, flat or otherwise hanging around with me and took him back. Unfortunately Flat Charlie was left in the back seat of a cab by his dad after a Korean wedding. Ooohhh the horror and loss! Somebody decided we needed a new friend and alas Flat G was born.

Flat G is a picture of our Team Commander in Korea. Again we took him everywhere. This time though we decided to send him around to people that had been part of the unit. Flat G went with some folks to Thailand, went to Ft Lewis with me, was in D.C. with Mike and Toni. Now Flat G is here with me. I was thinking about creating a Flat G blog all it's own. What do you think?

Trick or Treat?

Seriously, another 5K? Yeah seriously. I realize this is wholly out of character for me, but what the hell there isn't anything else to do here except go to work.

So while the civilized world is out getting drunk, toilet papering trees, egging houses, and the various other activities of "All Hallows Eve" we here at Camp Arifjan took to the prescribed 5K route at the witching hour of 2000, or 8 pm if you are in the National Guard. I did not even have to be goaded into it this time. I just went out and ran it. I can't sat it was fun as I like to define fun, but it was cool. As you can see I have another t-shirt to add to my collection. It is my goal to leave here with 12 t-shirts, one for each month.

I finished under my alloted time of 30 minutes. I was at 29 something, I didn't really pay attention. Unlike last time, my roommate was not here to harass me the whole way about my pace. I just kinda ran along. Until I realized i was at about he 4 K mark. Then I started noticing all the females around me. Now don't go hammering me about being a male chauvinist pig. There are truckloads of females that run faster than I do. Some younger, some older. They work harder than I do at it and they are faster, doesn't have anything to do with gender and I know that. However, I was not about o get beat by a bunch of females with in eye shot. Maybe it is a character flaw, but that's how I feel about it. So, I pick out the girl in front of me and focus my running to catch her figuring I'd get a few meters in front and cruise on in. I chug away and wouldn't you know it, there is like a pack of 'em in front of her. Well, darn sure can't have that so off I go. Get there, a few more past her. This goes on for a minute or two. When I started this I only had about 1,000 meters left in the race so by now I'm turning the corner to the finish-line. I'm thinkin to myself "Where the hell did all these women come from?" I keep running and by now I am sprinting. Unfortunately so is everybody else. We are all pretty similar down inside in the military, we don't like getting beat. Now keep in mind we are at 28 minutes. The winning time was 16 something, so we have been beaten. Beaten almost as badly as Ohio State will beat Michigan (had to get that in there). None the less, in every ones mind the same thought is screaming out "don't let that guy/girl beat you." So we are just pumping it in. PAss that person find the next,pass them find the next, pass them. I gotta say, that is the best part of the race. Those last couple hundred yards that you are just pounding it out.

So in i rolled. Felling like I had achieved some victory. In a pure statistical sense, I got beat by over about 50% of the pack. I know that, but still I am going to go out there next month for the Marine Corps Birthday Fun Run and do it all again. Its an odd thing. I really don't like running, but I sure do like finishing!

Hanging Out

Well not really hanging out. Just nothing I thought was interesting enough to write about. I haven't gone on any trips lately. No one is shooting at me. I have gotten a handle on most of what my boss and his boss want. 12 hours days are now the norm so when things are slow and we go home a little early I am pretty bored.

Now that I know a lot more about my job I can explain it a little better. Man I have never been in a job where the learning curve was so steep! I guess that should be expected since we are at war and most things should be moving fast. So I have a better handle on the responsibilities. If you are really into government you can check out a lot of I do by researching Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreements (ACSA) along with Code of Federal Regulations Chapter 22 State Department. Yeah me, working with laws and crazy international agreements.

FMS is a process, and I mean a process whereby foreign nations purchase military equipment form the US. This is a long and cumbersome process that involves Department of State, and Defense and a host of other agencies; and of course congress. My role in that is to track all that stuff as it flows into the country. One would think that with all that bureaucracy and oversight this would be a simple task. Well, probably one would think that with those chiefs things are pretty jacked up, and one would be correct! My main problem here is that all these chiefs want info, so they all have staffs. These staffs work in different places and at different paces so they report info differently. Then when the chiefs all have pow wow it hits the fan. Yeah so my job is to make sure that my boss's boss always has the "right" info. It's a mess. My good pals in the US Congress are ever so interested in this issue. So of course there is a lot of focus. Oh yeah the best part of FMS tracking, not really supposed to be the job if the staff section I work in! No shit! The folks that are supposed to do it (who are much larger than my section) jacked it up so much so often that we got stuck with it. I love the Army.

ACSA is something similar to FMS but simpler. Basically it provides a way for our Coalition Partners to exchange Logistics Supplies, Support, and Services (LSSS) with us. This process is restricted to certain kinds of items. For example, if the Polish contingent here needs food, or fuel we can transfer that under an ACSA. If they want a F-16 fighter, they need to go through the FMS process. We actually manage the ACSA process so that is a lot of work. There is a lot of LSSS being transfered as one might expect during war. This process is faster and simpler and therefor much easier to manage and to explain.

So thats pretty much what I do. I track FMS shipments and I manage ACSA transactions. I have a couple soldiers that work with me and I am also responsible for managing their time. They are pretty senior, so that's not to tuff. It's not like having a bunch of Privates around that you have to really provided focused leadership and direction to.

My apologies to my adoring fans. There just wasn't a lot going on. I promise I will blog more, even if it is mundane. I realize it probably isn't all that mundane if you not here every day.

Fun Run?

What do you do for fun when your in the Army and the Navy is having a birthday while deployed to a foreign country? You get together with about 500 of your newest best friends and you get up at 0430 on a Saturday so you can run a 5K! Yeah baby, thats livin the dream.

I realize that this does not seem like a fun idea, except to the dedicated few runners I know. It wasn't really the sort of thing I'd do on a regular basis on a Saturday morning. While it is true I have been known to be found running at 0430 on a Saturday morning that was more likely running FROM somebody than for another reason. I will say that seeing 0430 after waking up is a much different experience than seeing it just before you go to sleep. Ahhh how I miss Korea. But I digress...

So I get up and Jeff, my roommate and I join several hundred of our fellow Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines in front of the gym. We wait for Reveille and then the start gun. Which here is a horn, for obvious reasons. Off we trot on our 5K run. I do mean trot. We ran around the camp and I came in at about 28 minutes. A little better than my self imposed 10 minute mile pace. There were no prizes as this was a "Fun Run" but they did hand out t-shirts. Jeff and I are modeling the newest in Navy birthday fashion. Pretty stylish, and not bad for free.

The run was not the high point of this day. Not that I expected it to be, but I got some great surprises. I finally found the "panel" we did last time I was here. I was deployed to Kuwait in 1999 in a mush more austere environment. We lived out in tents in the desert and were her for Operation Desert Spring. We were a continuing presence left here in Kuwait after Desert Storm. Every rotation would get a sheet of plywood and paint a commemorative panel. When the rotation was over the panel was hung in a sort of "canteen" on the base that used to be known as Camp Doha. Camp Doha closed and they moved every thing to Camp Arifjan a while back. The panels were put up in different Gyms, and Canteens on Camp Arifjan because they would not all fit in one place. The run started at a different gym than the one I usually go to, so I had not seen our panel. It was cool to see it hanging up there.

I got another surprise when one of my former soldiers from Pennsylvania walked by and pushed my shoulder with a "Hey, Sir!" That was pretty cool, it's always nice to see old friends. I also found out that another of my soldiers who retired from my unit in PA was here as well as a contractor. This now brings the total up to 5 soldiers I have run into that I know, by name. There are about a dozen or so more that I know I served with but either were not actually in my unit or part of my organization but I sort of recognized. Those meetings are funny. They kinda go like this: You start talking to somebody or you have to go to another office for this or that and after a few minutes of lookin kinda funny at one another somebody days "...don't I know you? Yeah I think so, where you been. Ever been to Hood? Stewart? How about Korea? Well in 19xx I was xxx. in yyyy I was at blah blah blah." That goes on back and forth until bam! "Oh yeah yeah that was it. Hey man how are you? Hey you remember blah blahblah..."

So that was my Saturday. Not to bad. quick 5K for PT. Free T-shirt. Stroll down memory lane. Heck I even had a short work day, only 10 hours!

Camp Bucca

Ok. This is not going to be all that comforting to read. It's also not going to be all that specific. For obvious reasons I can't tell you about everything I saw. What I want to do, what I hope I can get across, is the feeling of Camp Bucca.

If you Google Bucca you get a whole lot more info on the place than I am going to provide here. I can tell you it is bigger than it was. There are a lot of detainee's there. There are a lot of young American's there too. I can tell you nobody is living good there. The detainees live in buildings until they riot and decide to burn them down. Then they get a tent. Not real smart, considering how hot it gets and the fact that they have A/C in the building and nothing in the tent. Our folks live in trailer like mobile huts. Usually 4 or 8 to a room. The latrine and shower are down the block a few buildings. Yeah that's right, they have to go outside, down the street to go to the bathroom. Think about that next time you get up in the middle of the night. The detainees' have a bathroom building as well. We eat in a fairly big dining facility. Food was pretty good! There was a lot of it the day I was there, lots of selection. Pretty much the same as I get here in Kuwait. I ate with a few Airmen and they said occasionally they run low on food. When they get low, the guys said all the "good stuff" like Ice Cream, lunch meat, chips, cake, etc is gone. Then there comes the point where your eating the same few things for a couple days. But as these great young Americans said "...it aint nothin'. My buddies have it worse." The detainees get fed a traditional diet. The Red Cross is there to make sure they get a decent meal and are treated well. Thing is, the food is all given to one detainee in the quad, the "chief". He gets to decide who gets what and how much. I run this altogether because that is how I saw it. These detainees and our troops are both living pretty hard.

The detainees are an interesting lot. Very industrious, very creative, very smart. Make no mistake, they control the battlespace inside the wire. That is exactly what it is, battlespace. They riot, they dig, they scheme, they injure and kill one another, the works. They have their own chain of command. They have their own justice system. Anything you think you know about what goes on inside a prison, goes on there. For example, the detainees will take the Chai Tea they get and mix it with dirt to make "Chai Rocks" that they then use to hurl at the guards. They make shivs out of anyhting. Slingshots and other weapons. I saw all kinds of contraband and weapons they confiscated, to include crude body armor and a gas mask! Yeah, really. There is so much to tell about these guys. Like the fact that the most requested movie for the 5 days before Ramadan was "The Passion of the Christ", and many of them wept through every showing of it. Sounds odd, as much as they hate the infidel, but Islam teaches that Christ was a prophet. My guess is this movie gives them just another reason to hate the Jews. There is some pretty gross stuff too. They get drink boxes of milk, but instead of drinking them right away they put them out in the sun all day. Gross? Yeah, but it gets worse, they pee in the boxes and mix it with the milk and put that in the sun all day! No kidding, supposed to be good for you. Most of the detainees are illiterate, so there is a literacy program. There are also work opportunities and the ability to learn a trade. All of it voluntary. If they just want to sit around all day, they can do that to. Oh yeah, and they get some of the best medical care anywhere. Just as good as the guards.

There are all kinds of people in there. Some of them are really, really, bad dudes. Unfortunately there are some who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of them get turned in by angry neighbors. Yeah really, piss the guy down the street off and he'll turn you in for something you didn't do! One of the most interesting things I think I will get to see while I am here is the effort to weed out those that should not be in there. There are some who would have America believe we just round 'em up and lock 'em away. I can tell you that is not the case. I witnessed it. Every single detainee will have their case reviewed every 6 months. if the review board feels they were detained without sufficient reason, or if they are no longer a threat they are released. The detainees have an opportunity to speak at the hearing and question any witnesses that may be called. I got to sit in on one. I am glad all I had to do was observe. It has to be a hard thing to have to decide wether to send a guy back, or set them free.

I don't think i have done a fair job of describing Bucca. It's tuff to put it all into words, especially while trying to guard against putting to much out there. It's not as easy as some would lead you to believe. We don't just toss the detainees in and forget about them. A lot of work goes into intelligence gathering. A lot of effort is put into sorting out the bad guys from those that should be sent home. Of course there is a ton of effort put into trying to get the point across that we simply want them to stop killing us, and to live in peace with their neighbors.

I need to say I have the greatest respect for those young Americans stuck up there. They are really "in the shit". The amazing thing is their attitude. Given all the reasons things suck, they just do it; like no Nike commercial could ever capture. More importantly, they treat the detainees with a dignity and respect that is most often not reciprocated. They have a job to do and they do it well. These folks truly embody the saying "I am an American Soldier, I fight where I am told and I win where I fight!"

Additional Duty

I appologize for keeping you all waiting so long for the next installment. I know my loyal fans are left yearning for my words, like the desert yearns for water! ha ha ha :)

Yeah, no doubt. Actually I have been pretty busy. My boss took a trip to Baghdad. Yep, that's business travel for us. Funny, but that is how it's approached. Of course there is no way to pack lightly when your body armor alone weights over 60 pounds! I suppose it's not an issue, since we wear it as opposed to pack it. While he was gone I was in charge, which is good. I'd much rather be in charge. Being in charge however is challenging. It is more so when you are just filling in. Filling in or not, I am expected to know everything the Branch Chief knows although, as the General pointed out, I don't!

As soon as my boss got back I got tagged with escorting a Distinguished Visitor (DV). Man, seriously I thought. This sucks, I got shit to do. This DV was an undersecretary, nobody you all would probably know, but I still don't want to blab the name. Even though the DV is an undersecretary and not somebody who is well known the position equates to 4 star General status! Dude, doesn't get much higher. Pretty cool DV though. Real low maintenance. Brought along another government civilian and a military aide, the aide outranked me too! All three were pretty cool.

So in the past few days I got to see a 5 star hotel in Kuwait City, the US Embassy, and the best part Camp Bucca. The hotel was amazing, it is an international chain, don't wanna toss the name out there. Trust me though, very cool. I did not get to go out to eat in town or go to the civilian side of the airport and go shopping or go to the mall. All things you might get to do if you are an escort. Basically as an escort you simply get the DV from place to place. Sometimes they want to go downtown, so you get to take them. My DV was pretty focused, so there wasn't any going downtown. I know that judicious use of the taxpayers dollars for travel will be appreciated by my Dad. Rest easy Pop, this guy was here to do his job and did not waste your money on lavish fripperies! There was however a trip to Camp Bucca. So now I can say I have been to Iraq. Never mind you can see the Kuwait/Iraq border from Bucca, I was standing in Iraq by God! Oh yeah, did I mention I got to go by Helicopter? No matter how many times I ride in them it's still fun :)

I am truly grateful I got the opportunity to escort this DV because I got the same briefing and tour he got at Bucca. I did not however get any pictures :( Mostly for security reasons. Bucca is a whole other blog entry and I'll post it in a few days. If you are really interested I suggest you Google it. Bucca is one of the camps we hold detainees at, and yes I saw them. In fact at times there was nothing but chain link fence and about 12 inches of air between a couple hundred of them and me.

I'll give as much detail as I can in my next blog, but I will leave you with this. I looked several of these men dead in the eye from a foot away. I saw many things in those eyes: anger, frustration, fear, rage, and yes, unfortunately even innocence. I realize that statistically speaking a few dozen men is not a representative sample. I am not some sort of mystic that can know a mans true heart by one glance. But I also know I recognize bitter hatred when I see it. If nothing else I know when I see burning, driving, unrelenting passion. This fight will never be over. They will never stop.

It Must be Getting Cooler

Today was the first day my t-shirt wasn't soaked in sweat whenever I went outside! That's big news! It is getting fairly comfortable. Mornings are real nice, sunny in the 70's. Days are even getting OK. It still gets pretty hot in the afternoon, but it's no where as bad as it was.

The temp is about the biggest news I have right now. Been really busy with routine stuff. It is amazing how much work just existing involves! I don't mean me, I mean this organization. It takes a mountain of effort just to keep the beast moving. That's not for any out of the ordinary stuff either, that's just day to day. This organization really is just a big bureaucratic corporation. Only difference is that we all wear the same outfit to work, oh yeah and people shoot at us. That may not be so different, depending on where you are from in the US!

I was hot!

"I was hot and sweating a lot. I thought it was my hair that was making me hot, so I went home and..." Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite

True Love

Ok, for those that do not know, my girlfriend graduated from the University of Michigan. I am an Ohio State fan. This creates some interesting moments in our relationship, especially around football season.

So I'm over here in Kuwait and was briefed before I left that I could draw linen to sleep on. This is a fairly routine procedure when living in barracks so I believed what I was told. I get here and no linen! So I buy some cheap crappy stuff at the PX.

This is where the true love part comes in. Emily has been working very hard at taking care of me. When she saw via webcam that I had crappy sheets she decided she had to try to make me comfortable, so she sent me some nice new comfy sheets. Now that's an act of love, but as she is often prone to do for me Emily went above and beyond. That's right she bought me Ohio State logo sheets! This is a real big deal for a Michigan Alumni. In fact she may be in danger of losing here Alumni card :)

Anyhow, the sheets are real comfy. It's just one more little touch from home to make this place a little nicer. So I am off to sleep to dream about my girlfriend and the victorious Buckeye's!

You Nam E?

Ha ha ha. Actually its UNAMI, United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq. This is another of the many organizations that it is my job to help support. If you are really interested in what UNAMI does check out http://www.uniraq.org/aboutus/aboutus.asp

I went over to their compound to meet the staff and discuss some issues. It was a very productive visit. I learned a great deal about the UN and the kind of people who do it's work out "in the field". I have to say the folks I met were an eclectic mix of nationalities and backgrounds. The common thread that bound all of them was their commitment to the people of the places the go to work and their courage.

It was really good to meet these folks for work related reasons. It was amazing to get to hear their stories about the places they had been. I wish I could tell the stories here, but having only heard them I fear I'd not do them justice. We are talking about places that rarely make the US news and stories that make crime in the US look like a kindergarten outing. Then there were the "good news" stories. Again, never heard of some of these places. What impressed me most was the cool demeanor of the folks I met. They weren't boasting, just retelling some of the more interesting events.

So it was a good trip. I got to see a little more of Kuwait City. In some respects it is just like any other city with highway signs and buses. I thought the pic of the advertisement on the back of the bus turned out funny. I have no idea who that joker is or what the script says.

Think

11 September 2007

EVERYBODY here is very focused today.
Where were you 6 years ago today? There is a lot of talk and effort given to that.
More importantly where do you want to be 6 years from today.
I know right where I was, I know right where I want to be. Which is why I know it is right to be here today.

Ukranians?

Never would I have believed it. I am in a picture with soldiers from the Ukraine! So what? Well, only that up until about a decade ago these guys were our mortal enemies. Crazy. I gotta say though these are some cool guys. They were pretty laid back. Real friendly and very knowledgeable. It was kinda funny though, they have a classic Hollywood eastern European accent. It's really just the way they talk. The senior of the three just cracked us up. We met with them for a bit on business and to introduce me as the new guy. At one point one of them passes around a paper so we can right down our contact info. One of the officers hands this senior guy the paper and he didn't like how he had it done because there was just like a name no info, so he says a few things in Ukrainian to him. Then in a perfect Hollywood movie accent he says "Who's 'dis guy, here. Yeah 'dis guy. Who's 'dis guy?" So were sitting there all trying not to laugh, and he looks over and says something like. " Yeah. like movie huh? 'dis guy". Man we just start cracking up. , it was hilarious.The right three guys on the top row are Ukrainian Officers. They came down to give one of our soldiers an award for all the help he has given them while he was here. The "awardee" and I are on the left of the first row. He's is going home soon, so we will probably see more of this, which is cool.

Goodbye Tent!

Woo Hoo! Like Christmas in September. I have moved into my relatively palatial accommodations in the barracks.

Now, really it doesn't seem like much, a mere 160 square feet for two guys. I have a bed, complete with lumpy mattress and all. I have a desk, fridge, TV, and a wall locker. My roommate and I share the TV and the fridge. Fortunately, we don't have to share the bed! Ha Ha Ha.

I got a pretty good roommate. He's a real good guy, been here about 8 months. He works in a completely different part of the organization than I do which is nice. It's good to get different perspective and get to be around different people. I spend about 12 hours a day at work, so I really have no desire to hang around those guys after work. Not that they are not good folks, it' s just that after 12-15 hours everyday you really just want to see somebody else!

So these are my digs. Complete with my MacBook! We have wireless. $35/month with an average rate of 52 kBps! For those that aren't geeks, that's slower than US dialup. Yeah shitty, but way better than those guys in the tents where I used to be who have nothing.

Really that's what it's all about now. "This sucks Felix. Yeah Jeb. But it could suck so much worse. I got a buddy, he...blah blah blah." Really makes me appreciate just how much I had at home. By God when I get back I am going to take advantage of it. Really. I'm proud of America. We have a lot, and we should. My great uncles didn't all go trough this same stuff, and worse, so we could be second best. They went and did, as I am doing, because they believed in America. I'd like to think they also subscribed to the higher moral cause of believing that people should be free from tyranny and oppression. If they didn't and they went and fought just because they wanted America to be on top, that's good enough for me! I feel a real connection to those men now. When I get back I am damn sure gonna enjoy America and all that comes with being American!

1 week down!

Alright! I knocked out the 2d hardest part of a deployment. The first few days suck for all the obvious reasons; jet-lag, new environment, new people, policies and procedures, etc, etc. Same as it sucks to be any place new you don't really want to be. Oh, if this is the 2d worst what is the worst? In my opinion it is the last few days. You rarely know exactly what day you're leaving. When that day comes you might get stuck, aircraft break, weather, and all the other bullshit that can occur. So there you sit all done, nothing to do but get home and your stuck. That to me is the suckiest.

Life here has gotten quite a bit more eventful. There is a lot to do. My day is pretty full, but I rarely feel like I have gotten anything done. My mission here is basically a staff officer. Briefings, slides, research, policy, problem solving. We are doing non-doctrinal stuff because it deals exclusively with coalition partners (foriegn countries like Australia, Georgia, etc.) That part is cool, but the staff work sucks. Don't get me wrong, I have clear indicators that we do accomplish the mission, it's just I am on the planning and resourcing end of it and I would really rather be on the execution end. These are a few pics of us getting soldiers from the nation of Tonga some equipment. These were cool guys and this is the part of the job I like, but I rarely will be "doing". Mostly I plan this event and then check to make sure it goes OK.

We work a pretty good schedule. I can't complain, the "boys" at my last unit were so good at what they did I got a fair amount of time off. I am paying for it now. I am getting up at 0530 and going to work by 0630. I leave for lunch about 1200 and usually take about 45 min (it's a 5 min walk to eat). I get back and work until about 1900 (7 p.m.), except for Thursday. Thursday Mass is at 1800 so I get out early and go because I have to work Sunday. This schedule is fairly the same Mon-Sat. Sunday I come in a little later and leave a little earlier.

I need to start doing some PT. I am going to try and hit the gym/run at lunch. We'll see how that works out. It's tuff to want to do anything but work, sleep, and eat. I think as my body continues to adjust to the heat and tempo I'll get better. The heat should start to break here in a few weeks. I really think that once we get down into the 90's during the day I'll be a lot better. We are still hitting 115-120 during the day. It gets down into the 80's at night and that actually is a bit chilly in the morning! Imagine that, 85 being chilly.

Still living in the tent. That too is not as bad as it could be. There is only 4 of us left in tent that sleeps 14, but was set up for only 7, so we have lots of room. When I move I'll be going to a room that is 8x10, WITH a roommate! Yep that's right, Soldiers, Sergeants, and Commissioned Officers of the most powerful nation on earth living in a space smaller than what many convicts live in. Yeah, I am pissed. But heah you can only do so much with a couple Billion per year to fight a war with right? Aw anyhow, we have a pool here. I haven't seen it, but it exists. What the hell do we need a pool for? Good question. All things for you to ponder until my next post!

Austrailian's Rock!

Let me just say that if I ever get the chance to go to war with an Australian unit, you probably wouldn't even have to pay me! I got to work today and found out that we had been invited to a BBQ being held by the Australians on their camp. Cool I thought, but man I had no idea.
Before I get into the the Australians I need to explain a few things about being over here. I am extremely lucky to have the job I have. Working with all the different nations provides me a lot of unique opportunities most soldiers don't get. For example, this BBQ was held on another camp, so we had to travel. Even here in Kuwait that is a big deal. We are not so worried about IED's like up north, but you still don't just go driving off into Kuwait. In fact a fair number of soldiers on this camp will not leave it, except to go on R&R or if it is a sponsored trip to a cultural event.

We went through all the steps to get permission to go, got our weapons and ammo and off we went. The great thing about my job is I get to go off base a lot. We need to deal with our coalition partners that are spread all over Kuwait, so getting permission to go wasn't tuff. We get up to where the Aussie's are and pull into their camp, Billabong Flats they call it. Man it was cool! They have a little grassy area where they flew their flag, real nice patio type setup, a real decent place to be. Do you know how odd it is to see grass here? We go walking up and turn the corner and we see a real live BBQ happening. Music, food, people all chillin out. Check out the pic. It's a real BBQ, minus the alcohol.

They did have a bar, complete with pool table and all. Non Alcoholic beer, Beck's actually, it was 50 cents a bottle! We had burgers, streaks, all the fixin's. Man those Australians know how to fight a war! Me being me I mingled around. We had a pretty good time but didn't stay long. We had a mission to go check on over on the other side of the camp so we headed out after about 2 hours.

As if having a BBQ after being in a war zone for a few days was not weird enough, I ran into my former Battalion Commander's daughter! Yeah really crazy. I was eating with my two Sergeants and talking to some Korean Air Force guys when this soldier walks by. I saw her name tag and it was my BC's last name, not a common name. I knew it had to be her because she looks just like my BC's wife. Just before I left he told me to keep an eye out for her if I got up to this camp. So I got up and went up and asked her, sure enough it was her! She was like, " Oh yeah he told me one of his commander's was coming here!" We were both like "weird". Anyhow I snapped the pic to send to her mom and dad. She asked me not to tell them she was hanging around a bunch of Australian guy's. Hope they don't read this ;)

Life at Camp Arifjan

I wanted to post a few pics of my tent. I'll post more pics to this entry as I get them. I can't really show a whole bunch of stuff for security reasons, but I think you'll get the idea. Well enjoy. I am off to have Starbuck's. Yeah, crazy. I still can't get over the fact that I can get Starbuck's 24/7. Hell It is easier for me to get a cup of coffee here than it is in DC! Go figure!

The tent pics are where I live. You'll know when I move becuase I will definatly write about that day! The soldier at the tent is not me!

24

My first day here in Kuwait has not been to bad. I mean really, how do you complain when you are sitting in my air conditioned tent, on my bunk, drinking a Starbucks Iced Carmel Machiatto? Really, I bought it at the Starbucks next to the PX. Paid the same as I did in DC, about $3. Camp Arifjan (AJ) has it all, PX, pool, Starbucks, Pizza Hut. All the comforts of home. Yes I am living in a tent. Yes I have to walk about 300 yards to the latrine/shower. Yes it is about 115 degrees here by 1 PM. All true, but when you realize how hard, I mean really hard those guys up in Iraq have it, this is the lap of luxury.

The section I will be working in wanted to give us some time to acclimate to the climate as well as jet lag so we had yesterday and this morning off. We start in-processing this afternoon. Yesterday, I tooled around post a bit, bought some stuff at the PX. IM'd Emily. Watched "Letters form Iwo Jima" at the MWR tent. Unpacked some stuff and went to sleep. The highlight was definitely the movie.

If you haven't seen "Letters from Iwo Jima" yet, I recommend it. It may be my situation, but I found it a great commentary on war. The movie is half of Clint Eastwoods' effort to illustrate the fact that wars are fought by people on both sides that believe in their cause, and believe they are doing the right thing. People, regular people who have families and want better for the next generation The other half of the effort is "Flags of our Fathers". Letters tells the story form the Japanese side, Flags from the American side. I haven't seen Flags yet, but I hope to soon. The MWR tent is open 24/7 and you can borrow DVD's if they aren't showing anything you like. Let me tell you. Blockbuster got nothing on these dude's, they have all kinds of movies.

Today I woke up about 0400. IM'd Emily, you will find that I do that a lot ;) Then I went and did PT. I stretched a lot, because I haven't done PT in a while, then went for a slow run on the treadmill for about 30 minutes. Headed over to the DFAC for breakfast. Man, I need to be careful over there. They have a ton of food, and it is all pretty good. This morning I had Scrambled eggs, sausage and french toast. Orange/pineapple juice, and coffee. A banana and a plum rounded out the feast. I stayed away from the rest of it because I just know I could eat myself into a stuper. Anyhow, chow is pretty good. There isn't much you cant get. They even have the neat little tubes of Crystal Light for bottled water! Good stuff, because water in the quantity we drink it gets pretty bland!

So I'll be hanging around the tent until after lunch. Going to try to limit lunch to a burger and fries, as opposed to 2 burgers, fries, pie, coleslaw, potato salad, cookies, and an ice cream sandwich which was yesterday's lunch!

Praying

I wanted to paint you a picture of my last few hours in the US. I hope that after you read about this experience you are as struck as I was at what a great country this is and why we must, at all costs protect our fragile way of life.

On my way to the gate to board my plane I passed the chapel. I figured I ought to stop in and say a few words, ask a few favors of God. Besides I could spend some time looking up the bible passage that describes why Moses did not get to enter the promised land (a story about why that came up will have to wait). So there I sit, non demonitional chapel, bible opened to the old testament in my lap. Keep in mind this is no cathedral, the whole room might be 8' x 10' and it has chairs and an alter in it.

So as I sit in walks this guy, an airport worker. I'm in the 2d row of chairs. He takes off his shoes and walks up to the front past me and rolls out the prayer rug kept there. I ask him if he'd like me to leave. He shakes his head: "no, no. of course not" a little broken, very accented but clear enough. He had no problem me being there reading the Christian bible, clearly on my lap.

At this point we are about 3 feet from one another. He begins his ritual of praying toward Mecca. I keep reading. A few minutes goes by, in walks another guy. This fellow kneels down in another row, again about 3 feet from me. So we all three are within about 6 feet of one another. This guy starts praying, clearly in a Christian manner. So here we are; a Muslim, a Catholic reading the Jewish portion of the bible , and a Protestant of some sort clearly praying to a Christ. Then the most amazing thing happened.........nothing. No bomb, no IED, no protest, nothing. The guy behind me got up and left when he was done. The Muslim finished up, rolled the rug and nodded as he went by. I said "Have a good day." He replied "Yes. You too. Good Day."

How about that. An American Soldier, in uniform, on his way to Iraq, reading about Moses, while a Christian and a Muslim pray within arms reach. If that does not just hit you right in the head with this is the greatest country ever, than nothing ever will. Yeah we eat to much McDonald's. We invented Baseball and Nuclear weapons. But we also have shit like this happen a thousand times a day all over the country. And that folks is why I am going down to Gate E-38 and going to battle against those that would rather the three of us turned that Chapel into a boxing ring.

Making the Grade

Being the studious sort I am, I started a Master's program about 3 weeks before I found out I was deploying. I thought I would have plentty of time and few distractions so I would be able to knock out a class easy. Well things changed quickly. Alas in the middle of Deploying, moving Emily back to DC, selling a house, and packing up the house I had to complete this class.

Now, I really am no kind of student. In fact I hate school, always have. All that being as it is I am happy to report that I have completed my first class and received a passing grade. In fact I received a 98.79%!!!! Yeah it is that big a deal that I decided it needed to go on the blog.

Finally Flying

A mere 4 weeks after I reported to Ft McPherson I am now in the last few hours before I fly out. My four duffle bags are checked in, I have my boarding pass. I am hanging around the USO waiting to board my flight. I have to give the USO the recognition they are due. Most of you know the USO as the organization that sends performers to war zones. Most famous of those performers is probably Bob Hope. More recently the WWE wrestlers and musicians like Toby Kieth are on the bill. What many of you probably don't know is that the USO operates "canteens" in several major US Airports. The one here in Atlanta is remarkable. I have been in several, and they are all to be commended for the work they do. The one here is definitely a top 1% kinda place.

Let me first say that the canteen is nothing without it's volunteers. The folks that man these operations are themselves usually veterans, though not always. These folks meet and direct servicemen and women, make the sandwiches, clean up, and basically do everything else necessary to keep up the place. The USO in Atlanta for example serves coffee, tea, sandwiches, cookies, cakes, etc. They have a large sort of "living room" complete with TV's, magazines, books, etc. A small children's area to accommodate families moving from duty station to duty station. They have a quiet room with some recliners and a couch with paperbacks in and other reading material. This USO also supports a free WiFi connection and three PC's. The place is nicely appointed, carpeted throughout and just generally pretty nice. The volunteers do all of it.

I mention all this in an effort to get the USO the help they need to keep doing this work. The organization relies heavily on donations. I don't know the breakdown or if any of the admin staff gets paid. What I do know is for the BILLIONS of Soldier's, Sailor's, Airmen, and Marines and many of their families the USO has been an Oasis, a haven, a much needed distraction. So I would ask you to send them a buck or two. If you were gonna send me some candy or a card, I'd ask you to send the money instead to the USO. They do great work!

ummmmm, eerrr. ahhhhhh. Just a second, my collapsible soap-box is stuck........ there we go packed away. For know.

So anyhow, I am getting ready to go. Emily and I had a great week together here in "the ATL", but it is time to focus. Get my game face on. I'll be honest, I'm nervous. I worry. What I am not is unsure. I have no doubt that I need to go do this. I have no doubt in my ability or the ability of those around me. I believe I am a member of the best trained, best equipped, military in the world. So what the heck will I be doing you ask? Well that will have to wait for the next post, because I am not really sure. I was supposed to be going to do one thing, but apparently either I am to good or to bad for that job. So I might be going to do something related or something way different. No matter. I am an American Soldier. I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight. You'll probably here that a lot from me over the next year.

A Weekend Off

Having completed the laundry list of tasks and briefings we were given the weekend off. I took off just as soon as I could and flew Air Tran airlines to Detroit to meet Emily for the weekend. This was total bonus time as I did not expect to get any time off once I left on 01 August. Yeah last minute tickets are a little pricey, but how do you put a price on time? Hell I'd have probably paid 2x as much. I mean really, I'm going to war. As is always the case with Emily we had a lot planned for a few short days but I knew it would be fun.

Before I go into the weekend I have to give AirTran their props. I had a great flight with them and would recommend flying with them if you can. I am not sure if it is a corporate policy or what, but they bumped me up to 1st Class on the way to Detroit and put me in an Exit row on the way back to Atlanta. Both times the agent thanked me for my service and told me that the bumbs were a small way of saying thank you.

The weekend was great. It was so wonderful to see Emily and her family and friends in Michigan. The wedding reception was an absolute blast. By the time we left my teamate and I retired as the undisputed, undeafeted Beer Pong champion of Dewitt, MI! Yep, Beer Pong at a reception. In fact we beat Emily and her dad. I have to say that was the toughest game, Mr. Pasch can bounce a mean pong ball. By the time it was over there were three tables going at once. Music kickin in the background, man if I get married again that's the way I wanna do it ;) (Emily, I know that shit ain't never gonna happen).

Sunday we went down to a BBQ with a few of Emily's college friends. It was a good time, but alas my rein as Beer Pong champ came to a horrifying, brutal end. These guys are real pros. I took a good smokin, which resulted in consuming a fair amount of the beloved beer. Anyhow, we had a great time. It was really a good idea to spend the last weekend with some distraction. I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Brian and Kelli. They are two of Emily's closest friends and have become good friends to me as well. They have both welcomed me into their circle, opened their home on several occasions and have given us amazing support during this deployment. Kelli even stayed up to do some laundry for me so Emily and I could spend some time alone together. Then she got up at 0400 to drive us to the airport! Thanks guys.

Pre-Deployment Fun in the Sun

If war is hell, pre-deployment is a decent stand in for purgatory! Our days consist mostly of waiting in line to get to the next processing station. When we are not waiting in line we are sitting in another briefing. No lie, we have heard 23 separate briefings. These have ranged from Cultural Awareness -don't shake with the left hand or show the soles of your feet, through the Chaplain –it's normal to be scared, your family misses you don't shut them out, to Finance –here's what you're going to get paid. That's not to say that there are not literally hundreds of people working to make the process of getting to the Area of Operations (A.O.R.) as efficient and painless as possible. The process is just an inherently difficult and time-consuming process. Did I mention it is over a 100 here before 1100 a.m.?

Consider what has to happen in the case of the average Reservist (a soldier who normally has a civilian job and has been mobilized in support of the current operation). This Soldier has to go from civilian to a full time, fully trained, processed and equipped Soldier operating in a foreign country where people are trying to kill him/her in a matter of a few weeks. In the case of the group I am with, about two weeks. These Soldiers have all the technical training they need such as driving trucks, managing logistics, flying aircraft; whatever their "job" is in the Army. Most have some of the tactical training such as reacting to an ambush, calling in a MEDEVAC, occupying a check point; typically what people think "war" is. However, they are not part of the active duty force. They have not had the benefit of Army medical and dental care and may not have been able to afford that same quality of care on their own. In those cases they may need some work. Reserve soldiers are not in the pay system to receive all the entitlements active duty soldiers do and they may not be aware of them. The Reservists family starts receiving medical care and other benefits once their Soldier comes on active duty, that is another system altogether. This and a myriad of other systems, process, training, information and most of all, paperwork must get done, and done right.

Now, imagine me coming along. Though in the Reserve's I am on active duty and have been for 12 years. I have deployed several times, once to Kuwait, which is where I am going to now. I am in the pay system. I have had all the training. My forms are filled out, and in the system. You get the point. It's frustrating, but it is necessary and I understand that. So that is basically what we have just completed. We should almost all be on "the same sheet of music" administratively by the end of today. The fun stuff starts tomorrow. I didn't do much blogging for a few reasons:

· Internet access is very limited and lots of other Soldiers needed the computers to do training or deal with issues so they could get out of here.

· It was boring the hell out of me and I didn't think it would make interesting reading

· It was boring the hell out of me and I didn't want to relive it by remembering it and writing it down.

· It was boring the hell out of me and the last thing I wanted to do was sit down and write.

· Did I mention I was bored. Oh yeah, fairly frustrated too.

I should give a big "Shout Out" to all those of you that pay your taxes. You can not believe the stuff they give you when you go to war! When I was a Private here at Ft Benning, one of my Drill Sergeant's was telling us all about going to war. He had been in the Gulf War and was relating the "war stories". I remember somebody talking about the equipment we were training with and how worn it was. Our Drill Sergeant just responded "…don't worry about that shit. You go to war and BAM new shit starts droppin out of the sky. BAM, brand new M-16. Still in the plastic. Poof! New uniforms. Don't worry Private. You go to war, you'll get all the shit you need." He was right. I have three duffle bags full of mostly brand new stuff. Uniforms, body armor, Gerber multi-tool, Chemical protective masks, boots, literally everything except underwear and 90% of it was in plastic, just like my Drill Sergeant said it would be.

So, tomorrow the fun starts and Thursday we get to go to the range and fire our weapons. We will do some training that will enable us to handle most situations we can expect in Theatre (Doctrinal term for the area of the war fight). The Army is continuously updating this training. As the enemy develops new Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (T.T.P's) we develop countermeasures. This is a radical change to how the Army has historically done training. Technology surely has enabled us to get better and clearer information from theatre, and we can get it almost real time. More importantly Army leaders have realized the dynamic nature of our enemy and have put processes in place to deal with it. In this area we are truly doing what we do best as soldiers –adapt and overcome.

T-36 hours and counting

I have about a day and a half until I leave Pennsylvania and begin the process of deploying. It has been a tremendous couple of weeks. I am just about ready to go, and I have to tell you that I could never have gotten here without the help and support of family and friends. First among those is my girlfriend Emily. She has been a rock to hold on to, and sometimes a a heavy current to push me to accomplish my goals.

The house is ready to sell, bags are packed, homework is almost all done. My parents, stopped by for the weekend to spend a little time. We had a great visit just hanging around. We celebrated my parents 41st anniversary by going to Niko's in Lebanon. Niko's is a fantastic restaurant with outstanding food. The only downfall was the service. Not terrible just very slow. It gave us all a chance to relax and enjoy ourselves, so no big deal.

I have to say that I think the next day or so is going to be the worst. As excited as I am to go on this deployment it is really going to be tuff leaving Emily. We have had such a great summer together and I just want it to keep going. We both agree though that this is as good a time as any to get deployed. Law School keeps Emily pretty busy and this way she will be able to focus all her energy into her studying and work.

The next few days will be pretty busy. I leave for Ft McPherson, GA this week. I'll be there in-processing for a few days and then I will go to Ft Benning, GA for some pre-deployment training. Ft Benning is the home of the Infantry. It is ironic that I got my start in the Army when I reported for Infantry Basic Training in August of 1992. Odd, it will be 15 years, almost to the day when I report there for my pre-deployment training. This is not my first time back to Ft. Benning as it is also home to the United States Army Airborne School. The only place in the world the U.S. Military teaches normally intelligent, rational people to jump out of a perfectly good airplane! I highly recommend it.

I will stay there for about a week and then return to Ft McPherson. Once there I will integrate with my new unit. I will be assigned to the legendary Third United States Army, or 3d Army for short. This organization was once commanded by GEN George S. Patton Jr. during WW II. It is a very large organization and is responsible for a very large portion of the War on Terror. I am proud to have been selected to be a part of such a storied organization.

I can't say for sure what will become of me after that. I have been told that most likely I will deploy to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. I am not going to speculate on when I will be where ever it is I am going. I am pretty sure though I won't be able to attend any Labor Day BBQ's!

My First Time

OK. Go easy on me. This is my first post on my first blog.

I started this blog because I am deploying to the Middle-East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I wanted an easy, efficient, effective way to update a bunch of people at once. I surmise by the massive number of blogs that this is not an original idea. Time will tell if it was a good one.

A couple of things before I get started.:

1. This blog represents my own personal thoughts. The thoughts and ideas presented here do not in any way represent military or Army wide thought.
   
2. I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told and I win where I fight. I volunteered for this profession and for this deployment, knowing full well the hazards of both. DO NOT expect to find in theses pages condemnation, praise, criticism, or support for political efforts for which I have been sent to execute. There are plenty of other outlets for that.
3. I Love my God, my Family and my Country. I will fight for all three, in that order. I will defend them each, but I will not waste my limited time defending my Love for them to you.
   
4. If you are some scum sucking terrorist or sympathizer looking for intel in an effort to support a cowardly assault on us, read on and check back often. This will give us maximum opportunity to find you, and find you we will.

If you are still with me I ask your indulgence for the remainder of this literary effort. I intend these pages to be riddled with menu's of what I ate, things I saw, the high temp for the day, what my quarters look like, who my commrades are and every other mundane detail of life. It is my hope that through this blog my family and friends can remain connected to me and I to them. I do not expect to return home unchanged, nor do I expect things at home to remain static in anticpation of my return. I expect much will be different, and much better.