Long time, no post

Well I guess if you know me and keep in touch that I made it back safely from Iraq last month. The last 2 months were just crazy as I was tasked with coordinating the trip home. We were released about a month early and as luck would have it flew out of Kuwait on December 1st. We returned to Ft Riley, Kansas on 2 December after 24 hours of traveling from Kuwait to Ireland and Bangor, Maine before landing in Topeka. After a 2 hour bus ride to Ft Riley, they processed us in briefly and then off to the Welcoming Ceremony. Only 3 wives were there to welcome back the 32 people that we came back with, luckily my wife was one of them.

We have now moved to Fort Gordon, Georgia where I will attend school from May to December. For now I have a temp job and start school in May. Thanks to all who followed this blog and apologies for not updating the past 4 months.

Rumors

The other day we received another indicator that we were slated to leave early, but it was just a memo so no real word yet. It also dawned on me that I really hadn't explained what it is like to be here. So here goes. Typical day at Al Rasheed is get up around 9am, eat breakfast, shave, brush teeth. I then walk across the hall to do team work, as the S-1 (Admin) guy I take care of leaves, awards, performance reports and administrative stuff (I send a daily report to higher). At 1200, lunch is ready so I head down to our dining facility (DFAC) for lunch. Today was rice, chicken breast and beans. Our meals are mainly what they call UGR-A, or Unit Group Rations A. It's mostly boil in bag stuff but we also get fresh fruits and lettuce. After lunch, I usually go back to my room and surf internet for a bit or read. On Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays we have a team meeting at 3pm. On those days we lift weights and do cardio afterward, most days we work out at 4pm. After working out, shower, get into uniform and get ready for advising. At 6pm, dinner is served in the DFAC, usually a meat of some sort (steak/chicken/bbq brisket), veggie and rice most days. Occasionally we get crab legs or lobster tails, but without butter they don't taste so good. After dinner, we surf, chat with the family back home (it's 7 hours ahead of eastern time here), or watch TV. About 8pm, we head over to meet our counterparts; mine is a Staff Colonel who is the division's G-1 (admin/personnel). Sometimes I am there for an hour or more, and after that we come back, write up reports or just watch TV or read until time to go to bed. Most nights I am up past midnight. That's a typical day for me here.

Now, what is Iraq like? First thing is the smell. It doesn't stink everywhere, just around here because there is a sewage treatment plant. Second, there are dense neighborhoods everywhere, and the strangest thing is the mud huts that have satellite dishes on them. Third thing is in many respects, this is a beautiful country, palm trees, green fields (at least here in Baghdad). Worst thing about the beauty is it is overshadowed by the fact they think the world is a trash can and the streets are littered. They have cleaned up a bit since we've been here, but it is no where like the USA. Another aspect is the heat, yes it gets hot here and has been over a 100 since early June, but the highest I have seen it was about 120. Now it is starting to cool down, and temps are about 105 for high, in the 80s at night. Soon it will be very moderate and by the time we leave here it will get down in the 30s at night. The worst part about that is there is no heat in our building only AC, so when we got here in January, my room was usually around 60 at night. Hopefully we will be gone before it gets that cold again.

I live in an Iraqi built building, we live in large rooms subdivided into smaller rooms with plywood walls. Most of us have a door for privacy. Some use bed sheets to cover their door. Our bathrooms are mostly eastern style toilets (you have to squat to use them as they are flush to the ground) but the showers are just like home. In the summer, because our water tanks are on the roof, there is no cold water, but the water heaters here are super hot (about 73 degrees Celsius or 163 Fahrenheit) so you have to be careful when turning on the hot water. A couple guys have been burned by it. We have no laundry facilities and weekly we make runs to FOB Falcon to drop off laundry (usually pick up same day). We also pick up food on those weekly runs but recently they started pushing our food to us, though it usually isn't what we want.

All in all, life isn't bad here, except for the they try to kill us part. So far we've been lucky to not get into any trouble, and we hope to continue that trend. Also since the 30 June agreement went into effect, we can't travel during the daytime without Iraqi escorts so we mainly move at night.

Well, I hope this give you a better idea what it is like here. We are due to rotate back about mid December, and hope to be home for Christmas.

Grenades

I know, two posts in two days, how exciting! I learned a lesson about grenades today. We were leaving FOB Loyalty when I asked about how arming a grenade happens. Since I didn't come in the Army originally, I was making sure I knew what was safe. After figuring out that just pulling the pin was safe as long as you hold onto the handle, we left the gate to the FOB. We hit a big bump and one of the smoke grenades we hang on our door fell, but it was just the body, the pin assembly separated from the body and it fell. I was worried it had armed at first, but we figured that it was safe for now, it was only a 10 minute ride to our base. So for 10-15 minutes, I rode with this at my feet paranoid it was going to go off. But it didn't because the pin assembly is designed to screw in, only when the pin is pulled and the handle release does it ignite. This led to a discussion about me possibly throwing one (a smoke grenade) for practice. I'll update if that happens. Anyway, thought I would share that tidbit and actually keep this thing updated better than once a month.

Moshgool

Moshgool in Arabic means busy, and the past month has just flown by on me. Today I was reminded that I hadn't updated in a while, and I apologize for that. Not sure how many are still reading since I post so infrequently but I will post more often. The key has been getting a USB keyboard to make it easier to type with. Anyway, over the past month, I have been over and around most of the Baghdad area. From Taji down to Mahmudiyah and from the Mada'ain to Victory Base. I have been so busy my advisor duties have suffered. But the time is flying by and each day I am one more closer to home. The only incident we have had happen is a VBIED (vehicle based IED) went off near were we were at on FOB Falcon, I heard it when I was in the PX and thought it was a controlled detonation (what we do to caches we find) but found out later it wasn't. Anyway, it was that day that 6 went off and one was close. Danger is imminent, coalition forces are still being targeted, let's hope we keep sneaking through.

Baklava in Baghdad

I had a great meeting with my counterpart, he gave me some baklava that was outstanding, I couldn't relate through the interpreter just how good it was. I felt like a pig eating it, but I couldn't help myself. We had a great talk, spent some quality time with him. I think I will have a good time this year, he seemed impressed with my limited Arabic skills and when I said I could read and write, he seemed amazed. Hopefully by the time I leave here I can visit with him sans interpreter. That is my goal, but not sure if I will make it. Anyway, I have been sick the past 2 days and still feel bad, but in a few days I will actually get off the FOB. Yes, I've been a FOBBIT of late, but I have no desire to go anywhere for anything. Too much hassle just to go to a PX for crap I don't need.

Anyway, not much else to update, just hanging out and trying to learn my job in a few days. Will try to update soon if something exciting actually happens.

Settling in

We made it through Baghdad from Taji to our base here in Southeast Baghdad. It's a small compound within an Iraqi compound. Yes, we're completely surrounded, but this time the Iraqis are our friends. There seems to be a lot of dogs here, the guys here say they have killed over a hundred of them, have to because they may be rabid. On the way in, we saw a bunch of them chasing a poor little donkey. The ride over was about an hour and a half, through the heart of Baghdad. I wanted to video but was told not to, though it wouldn't have been very good anyway. It was interesting to see the progress in the country, I was happy to see many checkpoints and police along the route. Though there is still danger from IEDs, it has been relatively quiet here of late.
Our rooms are actually sub-rooms of larger rooms partitioned off with plywood for privacy. I have one of the rooms with a door so I can lock it, others have to put up blankets but people respect privacy. We probably will move once the other guys leave, depends on if the rooms are bigger, I like mine because it is dark, no windows and the walls are high. But I only have one outlet and the light on one side doesn't work well. So I will see what is available and don't mind staying where I am if the other places aren't better.
A few of you may wonder why I don't talk about what I do, well for one I haven't started my job yet, and for another, we aren't allowed to talk about specifics so I thought it best to give my impressions of Iraq in general, and relay funny things or really what I think is interesting. I will update as often as I can, but no guarantees it will be updated daily or even weekly. I plan to include stories of our interactions with the Iraqis but I will not include names or actual places. As for where I am, well southeast Baghdad is good enough, I hope you understand. We are near two Coalition FOBs on an Iraqi base. It's fairly safe, but again you should never get complacent. Well, that is all for now, will update as soon as I can.

Kuwait today, Iraq sometime soon

We are still in Kuwait, enjoying the weather. Just had 3 days of MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle training. A very rough ride in the back, bounced around like a rag doll at times. Hard on the backside as the seats are not very soft, plus you have an extra 40lbs of gear on and you bounce up and down constantly. We are almost through with training here, and should be in Iraq sometime in the next 2 weeks, can't say for sure as you all hopefully understand. It's nice to have internet access and all, but it doesn't always work so you can't rely on it. Last night I fell asleep waiting for it and missed a chance to chat with my wife. Anyway, I've acclimated to the time change and actually slept through the night for the first time. No 0300 wake up call to pee for once. There are a lot of things here that we'll miss when we head to Iraq, here they have Taco Bell, KFC, Burger King, Panda Express, Starbucks, Nathan's Hot Dogs, and a few others I can't recall. Spoiled you might say, plus we have free laundry service, though not the best it saves us the time having to do it. Lots of souvenir shops and things to buy and send home, not sure if I will be able to get anything as I am now tight on space as it is. Have to send things home I guess. Well that is all for now, hope to update soon but you never know.