tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2342261265186028092024-02-08T00:47:54.162-05:00Andy in IraqE-mail me at andyiraqupdate@cox.netAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-78122185507808322192008-08-09T22:32:00.002-04:002008-08-09T22:39:34.443-04:00It's been a whileI case anyone ever checks my blog anymore I thought I would post an update. I stopped updating my blog sometime ago for various reason and I apologize to anyone who may have wondered what was going on. I'm back in the states now at my new job. I've been home for a month and feel completely adjusted to being back. Iraq seems a bit like a dream now. I'm so happy to be back with my family. I missed my wife and kids so much and it's such a joy to be able to see them everyday. I certainly don't take seeing them for granted anymore.<br /><br />Thanks to those of you who followed along over the last 10 months or so. I appreciated the support and positive comments very much.<br /><br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-63902860805783423522008-03-30T08:23:00.003-04:002008-03-30T08:58:04.931-04:00Back From LeaveAfter what was an amazingly fast couple weeks with my family I'm back to the grind in Iraq. I had an absolutely fantastic time at home. My parents were able to come spend some time with us which was great. My kids were on spring break and my wife took off work the second week I was home and we had a great time. Just spending time with them was great, but we also did a few fun things. We went to Baltimore and enjoyed the Medieval Times dinner theatre. We also went to Colonial <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Williamsburg</span> for a few days. We were there for the opening day of Busch Gardens theme park. It was a lot of fun. I want to mention something great about this park - they offer 4 free passes a year for members of the military so my family got in free. It's a great program and I appreciate the generosity very much.<br /><br />I know I said I had a great visit already, but it really was good. It's also very painful to have to pack back up and leave again, but I got some great news while I was home that helps to lessen that pain somewhat. I had a job interview while I was home and I was lucky enough to be selected for a squadron command position. I was very happy and surprised to be selected, but I was even more surprised when I found out I was being released early from Iraq to report for my next job. The way it looks now, I'll be leaving Iraq in time to make a mid July report date. I feel bad in a way because I volunteered to spend a year here and I'll be leaving a little early, but I'm extremely happy that I don't have to spend as much time away from my family and I'm humbled that I get the opportunity to be a squadron commander. <br /><br />I hope the next three months go by as quickly as the last 6 have....<br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-75792235001072024632008-03-02T14:15:00.002-05:002008-03-02T14:23:11.752-05:00Going on leaveI'm amazed (and happy) at how fast time has gone. I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I apologize for not writing more, but it's sort of hard to come up with new things to write about when everyday is like a duplicate of the last. On a very positive note, I leave this week to head home on my mid-tour leave. I get to spend two weeks with my wonderful family. I'm very excited and a little nervous to see how much my kids have grown, and I can't wait to see my beautiful wife. I'll also be able to spend time with my parents. It should be a great break from here and a much needed chance to spend time with my family. I'll update my blog when I get back from leave.<br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-12876559014998411732008-02-02T16:54:00.000-05:002008-02-03T07:17:37.177-05:00Garbage and Bomb Craters<div><div>Here are some more pictures from my travels around Baghdad doing route clearance. I've tried to show the contrast in living conditions within this city. People live in open garbage dumps in houses made of tin cans and plastic bottles, and then there are somewhat normal looking neighborhoods. The one thing that's a constant is garbage. It's everywhere. The picture with the children waving looks like a decent neighborhood, but what you can't see is the view behind where I took the picture from. There are mountains of garbage covering everything. Electricity is run with makeshift wires trailing everywhere.</div><div> </div><div> I included the last picture to illustrate the IED problem. Look closely at the picture and you can spot 4 places where IED's have exploded. The route clearance business is deadly serious - this week has been especially bad for the young men who do it day in and day out. I'm lucky I only go out on occassion - these warriors get up everyday and go out looking for traps meant to kill them. The sad fact is, no matter how well trained and equipped they are, sometimes the worst happens......and the next day these boys load up and go searching again.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj6OsFtTL9yUS3lRpi__o_NTBN_lBFun5h-uSCowvfdj8QSUet0EKaSfi93Fi8JHG3qaVGHMwf7HxhCNVdL6mMWIsuPgxZKMZTmQWFmrYAkq-NQNqzclJ93YqzqsyOIs2oP0ROD41NkMQ/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162723013962174082" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj6OsFtTL9yUS3lRpi__o_NTBN_lBFun5h-uSCowvfdj8QSUet0EKaSfi93Fi8JHG3qaVGHMwf7HxhCNVdL6mMWIsuPgxZKMZTmQWFmrYAkq-NQNqzclJ93YqzqsyOIs2oP0ROD41NkMQ/s320/002.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfodI3dedQF_F8EehyphenhyphenhHThIjnOwIiFxgIzvZZ8HRGxQ903aWXFL1Q7lPNE0nUIRKr-DzRQ8E5wLnkiXpWj7SKT7C_hxYkFQILPjM3GMYNMsfyyWNre7GPgwZxXbLTuiDT_Z9c-ZORuAY/s1600-h/048.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162721003917479474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfodI3dedQF_F8EehyphenhyphenhHThIjnOwIiFxgIzvZZ8HRGxQ903aWXFL1Q7lPNE0nUIRKr-DzRQ8E5wLnkiXpWj7SKT7C_hxYkFQILPjM3GMYNMsfyyWNre7GPgwZxXbLTuiDT_Z9c-ZORuAY/s320/048.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxd09Qojk_6c3T6PtLdVi5b9moU68jXz6lGVw5hUHmsiSZgwQ20rP8RlDsnGXC7r7GJEDs1PrDOTD_D_K_LQ_CfSQVwD4qyCSuQaU2U8sZ1nRIhWaC0iuYuS7wJV5GPGXwgitsJGsxoE/s1600-h/047.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162721033982250562" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxd09Qojk_6c3T6PtLdVi5b9moU68jXz6lGVw5hUHmsiSZgwQ20rP8RlDsnGXC7r7GJEDs1PrDOTD_D_K_LQ_CfSQVwD4qyCSuQaU2U8sZ1nRIhWaC0iuYuS7wJV5GPGXwgitsJGsxoE/s320/047.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBDEdFJV1-s1WZ083HpvjeyRuo316J9nOj4c72AEblkSnQlgLz8QqlqapCCR7v1pDjg9La9z6ugB3tyjyrjtJknQSGVvKzzfxsy1U-1ZVD_2GPZ5oa6scnPjAv5IHsvILp5OqTrI9uHM/s1600-h/005.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162721038277217874" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBDEdFJV1-s1WZ083HpvjeyRuo316J9nOj4c72AEblkSnQlgLz8QqlqapCCR7v1pDjg9La9z6ugB3tyjyrjtJknQSGVvKzzfxsy1U-1ZVD_2GPZ5oa6scnPjAv5IHsvILp5OqTrI9uHM/s320/005.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQm9fr9bmlhm7ijDR-FZ5wUOgFpIzkFGxVAUbD1q91uFIKIycvgnDyWqjKEdDktezxVBlmvDQKCMPIDYgkOyfF_JWX6yQKSsiz5yH8kHvC-gL3q4aqh2qwq6XS4mJbryvfODU6YuQ63M/s1600-h/036.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162721051162119778" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQm9fr9bmlhm7ijDR-FZ5wUOgFpIzkFGxVAUbD1q91uFIKIycvgnDyWqjKEdDktezxVBlmvDQKCMPIDYgkOyfF_JWX6yQKSsiz5yH8kHvC-gL3q4aqh2qwq6XS4mJbryvfODU6YuQ63M/s320/036.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdGEt_INbo6FUyUSIGLpSCttkT4IjCmzHI9dXvjmg277YF1V-WcdmLQOGlwZCgW5A7tnoqCrUvyIYz8aR29TBr_mwm9luiKKMYyziLJJBOqPdmwnxOTqjKrSPuOzHmcF_ZdJzCcm_Qt0/s1600-h/052.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162721665342443122" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdGEt_INbo6FUyUSIGLpSCttkT4IjCmzHI9dXvjmg277YF1V-WcdmLQOGlwZCgW5A7tnoqCrUvyIYz8aR29TBr_mwm9luiKKMYyziLJJBOqPdmwnxOTqjKrSPuOzHmcF_ZdJzCcm_Qt0/s320/052.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZvvv6WaPPJvGmL-vE40sl5wyZna5DENLn3de4Q1Z-LfUJgBrMtxFeFc_7u3kdoZvIjUB6_21jRcv_h9xiKfscTm9f2N3MuDEas1iU749SReI5jdIfO9p-L4V_bVl2fTQYrRhyv9Hz6GQ/s1600-h/052.JPG"></a></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-8218518751025343062008-01-26T12:22:00.000-05:002008-01-26T12:41:33.951-05:00Clearing the WayI recently went to training on how to conduct route clearance operations. As you can imagine by the title, it involves clearing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">IEDs</span> from the routes used by coalition forces. Without getting into the details - you drive around looking for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">IEDs</span> so they don't get other vehicles. It's interesting to say the least. After completing my training, I've been participating in the clearance operations. I've included some pictures of a few of the vehicles used, as well as pictures from around Baghdad. Many of the operations are at night so I don't have pictures, although I did throw one in of me getting ready to go out at night. I wish I could talk more about it, but this is something we really don't want the bad guys to know very much about.<br /><br />Andy<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dUn59oCqygcLwGeIv66rtS1W0vuk5M0M2c9zvN97-uHk11aGFA2pYfTAzR_63tbrizyqoVUlOZLt3c8B0hRE91OfrngKqvOnVLU2ssNvl3katRWAM7dQQ1xIiS8G5dM1t0HTR6MYLeQ/s1600-h/010.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159838522516114802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dUn59oCqygcLwGeIv66rtS1W0vuk5M0M2c9zvN97-uHk11aGFA2pYfTAzR_63tbrizyqoVUlOZLt3c8B0hRE91OfrngKqvOnVLU2ssNvl3katRWAM7dQQ1xIiS8G5dM1t0HTR6MYLeQ/s320/010.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYh5ldpYHyKZ7kpOA1SpOlL4Ds8rCRtbXesCobEVZ1SddamPgHwLTmXZs-k3XS1DfSfBF3n06Inp9HKTXptcH49NT33abXeGZMlxORkEfL3IevGQzE00N5lO39JdxwDkvqeR1GuraDrQ/s1600-h/012.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159838531106049410" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYh5ldpYHyKZ7kpOA1SpOlL4Ds8rCRtbXesCobEVZ1SddamPgHwLTmXZs-k3XS1DfSfBF3n06Inp9HKTXptcH49NT33abXeGZMlxORkEfL3IevGQzE00N5lO39JdxwDkvqeR1GuraDrQ/s320/012.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61AZfhFkvsS7euKo7WtnHoBlKZDcqnoQGv3q7N4mROWddBtDkAHJ3TcdM54oVXQyM0i_JWvic4z-640n9jjd0G8_qQlmgeZKQKVRGHmfICO3EeG4dwvAf16PVMN4g307ir4NcD-ZM2DM/s1600-h/009.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159838565465787794" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61AZfhFkvsS7euKo7WtnHoBlKZDcqnoQGv3q7N4mROWddBtDkAHJ3TcdM54oVXQyM0i_JWvic4z-640n9jjd0G8_qQlmgeZKQKVRGHmfICO3EeG4dwvAf16PVMN4g307ir4NcD-ZM2DM/s320/009.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXDZgXcvX9B_4Lx74SfD8Vz7ZN-ytL39CcD48oiRZS4Ff_F3GR012z9wjbzjCqJkK_-6T-16kwhl8WjUeS25OVO7Z0WF0dQUjt0pBi7H9Bq3g8Ti7zgrUHVrGE_QPeaSMclOqqyidS6M/s1600-h/035.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159838604120493474" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPXDZgXcvX9B_4Lx74SfD8Vz7ZN-ytL39CcD48oiRZS4Ff_F3GR012z9wjbzjCqJkK_-6T-16kwhl8WjUeS25OVO7Z0WF0dQUjt0pBi7H9Bq3g8Ti7zgrUHVrGE_QPeaSMclOqqyidS6M/s320/035.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-Shhd1_CWHb7Tb-Kj11OFOfVWPnNjViV2h2qk0xvOwe7nR0G_K80ZrA0TogvCGWv5zQZoUjJcRo-RhT9569KQV1YnTkodVqAy6zjmh8RKRND9yrMJdKNi22Ubz6VmZxBNPzU1KOhxDs/s1600-h/029.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159838617005395378" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-Shhd1_CWHb7Tb-Kj11OFOfVWPnNjViV2h2qk0xvOwe7nR0G_K80ZrA0TogvCGWv5zQZoUjJcRo-RhT9569KQV1YnTkodVqAy6zjmh8RKRND9yrMJdKNi22Ubz6VmZxBNPzU1KOhxDs/s320/029.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5yZnfuqrBp5ZVQ7-r2e9r-2iXWLXmCH5VFlmubt-lyoPjZ2QP2o9k3sndhAMRO9y_noqni5pzuZNsB3VvzBFaJynW3FISFjO4_UqNDDkYQtchHhVmHYToL-Mm0gx7GeKl5VyzO2bsqME/s1600-h/019.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159839136696438226" style="FLOAT: right; 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MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLnfQUUc8A7PjA9BO6ZAlhRU2oMiwFkMbjUnG1qFIivhe7KvzJxcfCkMzgUxjJDVf5B9rnfNU0Bbu5bgk4oDOWHCDl_sn7bjfhXBcPqyqkUjccEyLJ6OVVRpdtyVeJSjyr_Xg3KVSIt28/s320/027.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmOexJziaZAoYw0aI1TbKMOTGcpBYzkq0spKJ4F2GuAa5-qqa2JLT4fFLaIsCz6UAKyx41TKzvbzbQxau5cGol_XXwXhEWQIXsp3qyCwCsfmZt25pZm19RRZiXWMNkht41ubSoEgs6qk/s1600-h/016.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159839132401470914" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmOexJziaZAoYw0aI1TbKMOTGcpBYzkq0spKJ4F2GuAa5-qqa2JLT4fFLaIsCz6UAKyx41TKzvbzbQxau5cGol_XXwXhEWQIXsp3qyCwCsfmZt25pZm19RRZiXWMNkht41ubSoEgs6qk/s320/016.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT0LRrBg8NwsXqE3gMgyodGNO7vm-bVoL1iFgsblcjgLE6Wgj4_-qr8C2FzcJDWsO6TZwGlZ1_oDCj5FzNxeXkFonCV9xW9bg8uxc6Z0tloN7wUAnBnv43w1mU5ntklstmbrPwQrFp_Z8/s1600-h/032.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159839158171274754" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT0LRrBg8NwsXqE3gMgyodGNO7vm-bVoL1iFgsblcjgLE6Wgj4_-qr8C2FzcJDWsO6TZwGlZ1_oDCj5FzNxeXkFonCV9xW9bg8uxc6Z0tloN7wUAnBnv43w1mU5ntklstmbrPwQrFp_Z8/s320/032.JPG" border="0" /></a></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-50096750426270003692008-01-17T13:42:00.000-05:002008-01-17T14:27:21.563-05:00The Combat Lifesaver CourseYesterday I was certified as a Combat Lifesaver (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CLS</span>) after finishing the Army's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">CLS</span> course. This course covered areas such as performing tactical combat casualty care, opening and managing an airway, treating penetrating chest trauma and decompressing a tension <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">pneumothorax</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">initiating</span> a saline lock and intravenous infusion, and requesting medical evacuation. There are several other areas also covered, but this gives you a general idea of what we learned. The purpose of the course is to provide a bridge between the basic first aid taught to everyone in the military and the medical training a combat medic receives. The combat <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">lifesaver</span> is a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">non medical</span> soldier or in my case an Airman, who provides lifesaving measures as a secondary mission as the primary mission allows. Normally there's one combat lifesaver per squad or team. Because a medic may take several minutes to reach a casualty, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">CLS</span> can provide immediate care that can save a persons life, such as stopping severe bleeding, administering intravenous fluids to control shock, and performing needle chest decompression for a casualty with tension <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">pneumothorax</span>.<br /><br /><br /><br />The first part of the course was classroom learning and hands on applications with airway control, needle chest decompression, and administering IVs. I was given a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">nasopharyngeal</span> airway and also gave one to another student. The best way I can describe this is to imagine a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">plastic</span> hose the size of your <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">pinkie</span> finger being shoved up your nose and coming out the back of your throat. I learned it hurts very much and that I have some sort of nasal blockage that keeps the tube from going all the way through. I learned this after much pushing and twisting failed to force the tube in my nose and resulted in a bloody nose. I had better luck administering the tube to my "patient" and managed to get it in with only mild discomfort to him. Of course we can't do needle <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">decompressions</span> on each other so we used a medical training aid for that. We did have the opportunity to practice <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">IV's</span> on each other. That was an interesting training session. Lots of blood and three people who fell out - one of which completely passed out for a good amount of time. I've attached some pictures of the IV training - if <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">you don't</span> like the sight of blood you should avoid those pictures. The culmination of the course was field application of the skills we were taught. We put on all our combat gear and attended to "wounded" soldiers. The instructors did a great job of creating <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">realistic</span> wounds and battle field conditions for us to practice with. We had the opportunity to administer IVs again - and of course get them administered to us if we were "casualties". I was lucky enough to play a casualty as well as a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">CLS</span>. I meant to get pictures of the field exercise but forgot my camera that day.<br /><br /><br /><br />Here are the pictures I did get.<br /><br />The first three show my IV setup and me giving the IV. The last shot is of me getting mine.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvJargFvIMfdk3sT9bO9EL-Z4LbidSqPHoCT995fq8lWGx2RANYTcGc-q52HVlq7pbLqlbHBbKN5tOn8OjaVsovepVcqUwokL4w84mpdjXvry6xUhSIKQhSVnZ3StdR0qhdqgL5udZftg/s1600-h/010.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5156527507577022930" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvJargFvIMfdk3sT9bO9EL-Z4LbidSqPHoCT995fq8lWGx2RANYTcGc-q52HVlq7pbLqlbHBbKN5tOn8OjaVsovepVcqUwokL4w84mpdjXvry6xUhSIKQhSVnZ3StdR0qhdqgL5udZftg/s320/010.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0OHIEcPU5WjcUwoE0B6Ij3esa_317SMDM_AlL93kP2YL3alf4JBjPAWwNE35TfDfbpUfrq_gtghJu7kcdBmSpAhL8qcV_jIt0PB_7YY0HRp-EnCU1a-oFbQNuzFKvpTPy9_ZcHTltM1I/s1600-h/012.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5156527511871990242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0OHIEcPU5WjcUwoE0B6Ij3esa_317SMDM_AlL93kP2YL3alf4JBjPAWwNE35TfDfbpUfrq_gtghJu7kcdBmSpAhL8qcV_jIt0PB_7YY0HRp-EnCU1a-oFbQNuzFKvpTPy9_ZcHTltM1I/s320/012.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9O23gL4IUv-Im8CYiJ_wsgwxYmj1L0do_w4VHQeBCK9z3W31FTSSHpBG2wVLu9HwWor6a1fL1rJCpe1Pwa5lM4Wo-rBP7arM4CifsQ-ZSQP32FbxeCBmeCShin567_SmuDY6vOw_Vakc/s1600-h/018.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5156527529051859458" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9O23gL4IUv-Im8CYiJ_wsgwxYmj1L0do_w4VHQeBCK9z3W31FTSSHpBG2wVLu9HwWor6a1fL1rJCpe1Pwa5lM4Wo-rBP7arM4CifsQ-ZSQP32FbxeCBmeCShin567_SmuDY6vOw_Vakc/s320/018.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNGFJrTtLryjUJjBSD7vA2ZH8GUKVDJxHbH63RMSGEvHIWAZWtPIIoUV2Qj6I7zgBPPONDwdaWpDQDULZzQFqCdo4-5ZV3SnsddOE6BxQOO6GinUuF8gLS_AO01OAsvRCbvWuzCG76Wk/s1600-h/015.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5156527516166957554" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNGFJrTtLryjUJjBSD7vA2ZH8GUKVDJxHbH63RMSGEvHIWAZWtPIIoUV2Qj6I7zgBPPONDwdaWpDQDULZzQFqCdo4-5ZV3SnsddOE6BxQOO6GinUuF8gLS_AO01OAsvRCbvWuzCG76Wk/s320/015.JPG" border="0" /></a>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-27977978332157595332008-01-11T15:11:00.000-05:002008-01-11T15:26:36.184-05:00At Least It Wasn't Rockets Falling From The SkyAbout midnight last night I heard what I thought were far off explosions. It took me a few minutes to realize what I was hearing was thunder. A few hours later I awoke to the sound of rain hitting the trailer. It's rained a few times here, but on those occasions by morning it was hard to tell anything happened. When I got up this morning I expected to walk outside and see a few puddles and not much else as a result of the rain. When I opened my door it took me a few seconds to register what I was seeing. There was snow falling. It wasn't sticking to the ground, but it was coming down at a decent rate for a little bit. I'm not sure what the history of snow in Baghdad is, but according to this article, it doesn't happen very often. I can't say I was glad to be here to see this rare <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">occurrence</span>, but it was interesting.<br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq_first_snow_in_memory;_ylt=AqufIdpI0razJHGZD.akCz3q188F">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq_first_snow_in_memory;_ylt=AqufIdpI0razJHGZD.akCz3q188F</a><br /><br />So here's the downside to all this. What do you get when you mix lots of rain and wet snow with dirt, dirt, and more dirt? Yes....mud. Lots and lots of mud. Today it was about 2 inches deep anywhere off the pavement. Sorry, I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera while I was out and about. Unfortunately, I think I'll have plenty of opportunities to get some shots of the mud. I'm sure about July when it's 120, I'll look back fondly on this cold wet weather - until then, it sucks.Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-4783238250128851612008-01-08T09:02:00.000-05:002008-01-08T10:08:41.337-05:00A Mop In One Hand And A Gun In The OtherI've come to accept that I'm not a good blogger. I had great expectations of writing a few times a week updating everyone on all the great and exciting things being done around Baghdad. Don't get me wrong - great and exciting things do happen here each and every day, I'm just not directly involved in much of that kind of stuff. That leaves the mundane and boring things for me to write about. I'm not sure how much of that you may be interested in. I realize my perspective has changed on what's exciting and what's not - many of you may think flying around Iraq visiting different camps, ducking small arms fire, and avoiding the now very infrequent rockets sounds exciting - and in some respects it is - but the reality is this.... travelling makes up about 10% or less of what I do here (and the other stuff is a minuscule amount, thank God) - and I'm one of the few in my organization that really goes off camp at all. My life here, condensed into a few posts on a blog, does not capture what it's really like. Most of the time it's sitting around doing routine work over and over and over. There's nothing wrong with that - it's much better than the constant threat of enemy action - it's just that at the end of the day there's no where to go and nothing to do but more of the same routine work. There just isn't much new to write about (considering most everything is either classified or restricted from being written about). That leaves me without much to write about except my opinion on what's happening generically around Iraq - unless you want to read about the highly armed Sunday cleaning detail and how I've perfected mopping the conference room while wearing a gun. So, baring any great and adventurous stories of my skill with the mop, I'll probably start writing more about my opinions and ideas on what's happening here.<br />I realize part of my problem is boredom has set in. I think even the guys going out on patrols every day get bored. A persons level of what's normal is based on what they do and see every day, so normal has been reset to a different level for people here - and certainly it's different even within different groups here. As an example, the large explosions occuring several times a week outside the perimeter wall are only momentarily startling and are mostly just routine now - although the people out there close to them would have a different opinion. It's all a matter of experience and perspective.<br />I'm sure I'll have many new experiences and adventures to share over the next 8+ months I have left (hopefully none involving being shot at, rocketed, mortared, bombed, etc.) and I promise to share those - but between any of that, I'll still try and write more, just don't expect it to be very exciting. That's about it for today.... Now where did I leave that mop?<br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-88884997766975956532007-12-25T14:38:00.000-05:002007-12-25T15:33:53.558-05:00Christmas in Iraq<div><div><div>Once again, I've been remiss in writing in my blog. Honestly it's hard to write very often because I can't really write about much of anything that goes on here. What I can write about today is Christmas in Iraq. It really has felt very little like Christmas. I was deployed two years ago at Christmas also, so I guess it has made this Christmas all that more distant feeling. Last night, there was an excellent Christmas eve service at the palace. It was very well done and definately helped reinforce what the true meaning of Christmas is.<br /></div><br /><div>Today my unit took a little different approach to Christmas. We went out to the range to do a little weapons training. The best way to show what this was like is with pictures so here you go - as a note - you'll see we had a little chance to "let our hair down" in some of the later pictures and we had a couple special visitors - Joe Dirt and Elvis.<br /></div><br /><div>The JIEDDO Iraq Field Team celebrating Christmas day.</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgqc1kuZkMVDSqRG-uPBK-QzIuh9HO4Vz6F52GKWW-ZGi5TIQfDIm-tiz3y_9locPGJnAqoa07Y-gLUe1p5TWEhxSKW3_AOP3BMXpSZkL3YvCyN0rYDN2ki_Mo1QXoJviNEBZcpZJJ_A/s1600-h/015.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjuolf4sjVmsSxt3sAJ3-5ugoXEtEvEaYQmE8MpUFQXcfNEEZE8qa3W-ms5-Xsf__7mNsfHy-E1R3qklbDqtCIXUKRdIVBjCBgGDWiQ4iXBEd7i3yF1NQrjxzLWRTHolkIUpuZcj_-m74/s1600-h/013.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148004162157979874" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjuolf4sjVmsSxt3sAJ3-5ugoXEtEvEaYQmE8MpUFQXcfNEEZE8qa3W-ms5-Xsf__7mNsfHy-E1R3qklbDqtCIXUKRdIVBjCBgGDWiQ4iXBEd7i3yF1NQrjxzLWRTHolkIUpuZcj_-m74/s320/013.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6bFTNLiEdvwuBABUB-2XhG7FVThUIlTWUX7BX34TruZpXgO0J_jNy7KUWktuX9RbJ2kpRYBSluuwVg661jr8ynHXo_sYXsCDO9UEt3VTlwHrAVslj8OVLpwf8MXVxoT_LzBqi4breZw/s1600-h/015.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148011081350293938" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6bFTNLiEdvwuBABUB-2XhG7FVThUIlTWUX7BX34TruZpXgO0J_jNy7KUWktuX9RbJ2kpRYBSluuwVg661jr8ynHXo_sYXsCDO9UEt3VTlwHrAVslj8OVLpwf8MXVxoT_LzBqi4breZw/s320/015.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdD-n008F8-NGNnYxCoX4pFMfCqkoDMv3BJZzPplFIjZUAh08wwfIRICarR7n7-OqEV4KF8grlCHNtEGY7zbokItnVDjba3nnQkR349KX4z5PGK5IqdwQ0iYRgbKBFCzeaXvXJ7pThsY/s1600-h/028.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148004170747914530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdD-n008F8-NGNnYxCoX4pFMfCqkoDMv3BJZzPplFIjZUAh08wwfIRICarR7n7-OqEV4KF8grlCHNtEGY7zbokItnVDjba3nnQkR349KX4z5PGK5IqdwQ0iYRgbKBFCzeaXvXJ7pThsY/s320/028.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeV28J_wmrC3-sGGcqFXxc_rTiO90jZYVlFijvHLBPw5qLFm3TOZji8ae3VWnGPDerdiTtKJc9nf2HJqdsUUP9qvhd200T6TnWahx1UsyfAEM6bIsV1C8k6BS58UBluPYdajvTPjZs0Q/s1600-h/021.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148006683303782818" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeV28J_wmrC3-sGGcqFXxc_rTiO90jZYVlFijvHLBPw5qLFm3TOZji8ae3VWnGPDerdiTtKJc9nf2HJqdsUUP9qvhd200T6TnWahx1UsyfAEM6bIsV1C8k6BS58UBluPYdajvTPjZs0Q/s320/021.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjoRVfN1Xpz6ya_AJ0utuUj99PoVdcilucqjmrhiuqtDlXocVXeGancTB-DadvVJDajgJIm-QOERTPfbQE-vr_pc9j-6rgt8A9eT6j1vwjsJ94xJrOjEjZ3R5JjsV435e8CHJBpxAma_k/s1600-h/017.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148006253807053202" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjoRVfN1Xpz6ya_AJ0utuUj99PoVdcilucqjmrhiuqtDlXocVXeGancTB-DadvVJDajgJIm-QOERTPfbQE-vr_pc9j-6rgt8A9eT6j1vwjsJ94xJrOjEjZ3R5JjsV435e8CHJBpxAma_k/s320/017.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAioI-QEv7akGR_j0j04DJlypKKOB4Ts8vfwuB61pdqYTl9Su_TvOJlFusig56G27Sl2zjZ0sV3CPNZ94YC8xfNNk4kPsqi81pLQpi9PGv6qsSHNocqK7_o94EoyPe2oeMXWHJROaS8aE/s1600-h/crew_II.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148004888007452994" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAioI-QEv7akGR_j0j04DJlypKKOB4Ts8vfwuB61pdqYTl9Su_TvOJlFusig56G27Sl2zjZ0sV3CPNZ94YC8xfNNk4kPsqi81pLQpi9PGv6qsSHNocqK7_o94EoyPe2oeMXWHJROaS8aE/s320/crew_II.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPd7rJyBQS1SNpUzJQV0WZoO8Wgkhpgowh7Yb2eBShZcaC52mZrTe_3UVxwONHzR3x1brR9mZv7KBShuOHAyCeVnPg4dkJo_iPrbwmUFnBTAuQ6V-gYeaTn9W8CjNWMd_Ki8u3xdWMGDk/s1600-h/Christmas_in_Iraq.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148004896597387618" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPd7rJyBQS1SNpUzJQV0WZoO8Wgkhpgowh7Yb2eBShZcaC52mZrTe_3UVxwONHzR3x1brR9mZv7KBShuOHAyCeVnPg4dkJo_iPrbwmUFnBTAuQ6V-gYeaTn9W8CjNWMd_Ki8u3xdWMGDk/s320/Christmas_in_Iraq.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34VxjB0zbBaOAZ5-BA2EHpewejuthH8y0oLU21ci2U0UbrD89pwyNyXbJNAbU6g9t2RvmDnrkwa68JjKC52k0fYPunDMlzJTed2CkDo_52FCdZM8yoW-VrBbYF9z7N1M1beLUMdym980/s1600-h/AQI_Fear_II.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148004892302420306" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34VxjB0zbBaOAZ5-BA2EHpewejuthH8y0oLU21ci2U0UbrD89pwyNyXbJNAbU6g9t2RvmDnrkwa68JjKC52k0fYPunDMlzJTed2CkDo_52FCdZM8yoW-VrBbYF9z7N1M1beLUMdym980/s320/AQI_Fear_II.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO4QHbwNJY6m8urLvqCe17C24Q2aJlIFPAA0AZ2jcvpK7exAwXkEizBjSBvY37tgYSoj0xsF3IgmAqyVH4bGqtj7PmVdovzDCNv2j27ypB_0sEZS-AfbchcQz__n00pjodFkL-XwEGfM/s1600-h/Joe_Dirt_&_Elvis.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148004900892354930" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO4QHbwNJY6m8urLvqCe17C24Q2aJlIFPAA0AZ2jcvpK7exAwXkEizBjSBvY37tgYSoj0xsF3IgmAqyVH4bGqtj7PmVdovzDCNv2j27ypB_0sEZS-AfbchcQz__n00pjodFkL-XwEGfM/s320/Joe_Dirt_&_Elvis.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_noB5VvE3J4wlBQgWgfQuO5fE6iSkWLTLBbixb_atLLXQNZOLu19XRjmRNFiO6cDN2I-pKVcv-1HU_xkcJ_K8ohmi25Ck1AIA8RO2wC0sR6aHYpomJtUJ8qdBbP0URRDwx-WQaojsINo/s1600-h/034.JPG"></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSS2t-4NC1A-vFY530NIKQ6TukiT3-7brZmF4KKX2zwan6LKt3AgTsL4l-2wfhbsnmlcg3dFcRWIwJNoAtV8gYsrhRu7OZydejXkqy7XVn6cKE6ZhirRDKPM-eP9qHSpkqabP6_T7V0Kg/s1600-h/034.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148011351933233602" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSS2t-4NC1A-vFY530NIKQ6TukiT3-7brZmF4KKX2zwan6LKt3AgTsL4l-2wfhbsnmlcg3dFcRWIwJNoAtV8gYsrhRu7OZydejXkqy7XVn6cKE6ZhirRDKPM-eP9qHSpkqabP6_T7V0Kg/s320/034.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-53513382879909492282007-12-09T09:07:00.000-05:002007-12-09T09:57:07.055-05:00<div><div><div><div>Well, after three or so weeks I'm finally posting an update. I hope no one was too worried about me. I have excuses out the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">whazoo</span> for why I haven't written. Let me get them out of the way - first, I've been sick. Yes, I know that's a lame one, after all I should have had more time to write. I was sleeping most of the time when I was in my room so I wasn't doing any <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">writing</span>. I was also gone again. Out seeing the wonderful sights of Iraq - plus did I mention I was sick? See, now I'm looking for sympathy. Sick and traveling at the same time was really no fun. My final excuse is bad <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Internet</span> connectivity. We've had a great deal of trouble with our <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Internet</span> connection and it's been down a lot lately. OK - now I have all my excuses out of the way and I'll get down to the business of updating you on what's happening. </div><br /><div>Things have been very quiet lately. With the exception of some small arms fire a few times there hasn't been much activity - let's hope it stays that way. I'm sure you've all seen the news on how the violence has decreased around Iraq. It's true - things are getting better. Here comes the personal opinion part - now is the time for the Iraqi people to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">seize</span> this moment and actually rebuild their country. Other agencies outside of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">DoD</span> need to step in and do some Nation building (hello? anyone from the State Department out there?) The military is great at lots of things but I don't think it's in our arena to rebuild Iraq from the ground up. Things are lined up to go in the right direction thanks to the tireless efforts of a small group of American men and women. If this initiative isn't capitalized on things can just as easily slip back into total chaos. It would be a sad day if that were to happen.</div><br /><div>Enough of my opinion for now. I spent a little time in a real garden spot last week. Easily the dustiest place I've ever been in my life. Here are a couple pictures to show you how bare and desolate that place was.</div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTttYD5N0UekBX7eGEN-Mev0aVt_wyBDhueq0xtAFloin02UF790iT7fMxPM030C6iCgJ2AVX-ZH1CtgYzVVFGRUjqiwKPU-UgTEgtrEqpdaBI2CWusVP50GjRquxvvkDIH_0eshWU4xU/s1600-h/014.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141980952815737250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTttYD5N0UekBX7eGEN-Mev0aVt_wyBDhueq0xtAFloin02UF790iT7fMxPM030C6iCgJ2AVX-ZH1CtgYzVVFGRUjqiwKPU-UgTEgtrEqpdaBI2CWusVP50GjRquxvvkDIH_0eshWU4xU/s320/014.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnJ5Q_sr6O4CPHo9RzXE2Iyye7klnjqgb_hE7CwSttTf54D-s_ztJeuif-2H3xFNNXAgzs3lf4DVXcBg6JYbWFmsRvwMLZxjQ0iSLsEpUzNkyn6pQ0LmaQ8-s2CzfZOsmm28rM28Q83M/s1600-h/019.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141979956383324530" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnJ5Q_sr6O4CPHo9RzXE2Iyye7klnjqgb_hE7CwSttTf54D-s_ztJeuif-2H3xFNNXAgzs3lf4DVXcBg6JYbWFmsRvwMLZxjQ0iSLsEpUzNkyn6pQ0LmaQ8-s2CzfZOsmm28rM28Q83M/s320/019.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-pUBdVk2u_Blw3slIss9cVD-dOYS6g4rbmokl5M9vAg_82EzRdFXyuwZ0pPk8zotgt40GGvCMojJgPXQHa9wF1YOEU-hE0Xf7vsqs_uiLCy8cyHx7ob_ZD_iVufJhxHohyhTZOzmexo/s1600-h/003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141980209786395010" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-pUBdVk2u_Blw3slIss9cVD-dOYS6g4rbmokl5M9vAg_82EzRdFXyuwZ0pPk8zotgt40GGvCMojJgPXQHa9wF1YOEU-hE0Xf7vsqs_uiLCy8cyHx7ob_ZD_iVufJhxHohyhTZOzmexo/s320/003.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>I traveled by CH-46 again, my new least favorite way to fly. These things are the slowest, noisiest, most hydraulic fluid leaking things imaginable. On the positive side we didn't crash or get shot down. There's something to be said for that.</div><div> </div><div>As my closing thoughts for today, I'd like to reflect on something. I've been here for about 10 weeks now. This is probably the time that seems the most bleak. The newness of being here has completely worn off and time has slowed down. Looking to the future I see over 9 months ahead of me. It seems like forever. Nothing seems close and everything seems slightly out of reach. The holidays take their toll also. I miss my family. I have the best wife and greatest kids a person could ever ask for and there are many times I kick myself for asking to be sent away from them. I have comfort in the thousands around me who are in the same situation, but it's a sad and lonely comfort for all of us. I hope Americans give more than a passing thought to the people who have volunteered to fight their battles and endure the hardships (and make the ultimate sacrifice) they do so the rest don't <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">have</span> to. Next time you talk to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">someone</span> not associated with the military either directly or through a friend or loved one, ask them if they appreciate what people do for them.</div><div> </div><div>That's it for today,</div><div>Andy</div><div> </div><div> </div></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-34651031722283128952007-11-19T15:07:00.000-05:002007-11-19T15:41:34.383-05:00Back from Another TripSorry to go so long without posting. I was out traveling again and just returned last night. Like my last trip, I was checking on some equipment we have at another location and working on transferring some things from one location to another.<br /><div><div><div><div><div>I thought I would describe whats involved in traveling around here - not so much from the logistics of it, but the personal side. In the picture below you can see what I packed for this trip. A few days worth of clothes and a sleeping bag inside the backpack - along with some spare ammo magazines and assorted other pieces of gear. Next to the back pack, and by far the heaviest piece of gear is my body armor. It has 6 magazines for my M-4 and 2 for my Glock, along with a first aid kit and a few other small items. My Kevlar helmet is next, of course both my weapons and some small things like a flashlight and multi-tool. It may not look like much, but for this trip the gear weighed 86 pounds. It's not too bad for a guy my size but I feel bad for the smaller guys and the guys that carry much much more gear than I do. </div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aasOLWw01FmAMo2IBcv1ATIBF_ISdMTXD_l0jmXSCmKeIOG7v1tKQ6APq_S2u12ebIxMNm_GiHd-rLSxrWwc_KEak45V6eJhV5klmRNQ7SK_-3jNI1OQuIQHahv3nu1pO37khSKhhIc/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134646598632716386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aasOLWw01FmAMo2IBcv1ATIBF_ISdMTXD_l0jmXSCmKeIOG7v1tKQ6APq_S2u12ebIxMNm_GiHd-rLSxrWwc_KEak45V6eJhV5klmRNQ7SK_-3jNI1OQuIQHahv3nu1pO37khSKhhIc/s320/002.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>When it was time to head to the helipad I strapped all this stuff on and headed out. This trip I flew out and back on a CH-46. Here are a couple pictures for those of you who aren't familiar with them. Please note, these are not pictures I took - my flight was at night. The flights were interesting and much less eventful than my last trip.</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxhiM3C7oXr6Jj3UTR4MwcGSuc_JvZyuu332yHVFXjY7LOOBugOL-A70n5IU9Aos205KN8QifhyphenhyphenI-K8zGpMhL2qu86wfmfGw1ZK6WYjK60vWmYMdKFdOf8KP8XekyqkSW-n2PwpawGP0/s1600-h/aab_sized.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134651928687130866" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxhiM3C7oXr6Jj3UTR4MwcGSuc_JvZyuu332yHVFXjY7LOOBugOL-A70n5IU9Aos205KN8QifhyphenhyphenI-K8zGpMhL2qu86wfmfGw1ZK6WYjK60vWmYMdKFdOf8KP8XekyqkSW-n2PwpawGP0/s320/aab_sized.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGYaKmDC1Q9Dbrtv5Pj2gTXKq5JgT4BZdt3nFp9KxN77DU0sENyOvFpJufQcdK6FRCTdFCKQMbkNpTXdzlPls6SaVsTalM90qmo04gbvC4PjsKr7JVObKfwH1sv_M1to3HeT5B5pyg3Q/s1600-h/ch-46.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134651675284060386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGYaKmDC1Q9Dbrtv5Pj2gTXKq5JgT4BZdt3nFp9KxN77DU0sENyOvFpJufQcdK6FRCTdFCKQMbkNpTXdzlPls6SaVsTalM90qmo04gbvC4PjsKr7JVObKfwH1sv_M1to3HeT5B5pyg3Q/s320/ch-46.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>I'll just throw up a couple pictures from this trip. I'm so limited on what I can say there's not much I can describe. There are two things I would like to point out. One is the picture with the cots and beds. This was our billeting for the trip. Not too bad really, but I needed the sleeping bag for sure. The other is the last picture. This is a shot of the new Osprey. They have just gone operational in Iraq and I thought it was interesting to see one coming in to land. As always, I'll post more pictures on my website soon.</div><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-346pO5KNG_9cC0_yl4qUhIqKYLfUnvPLdCgEtVi9nacbJQjnl_I-NLnMPlJ5J-OSvcwOvlH7hd1Kc1Rfre5fqbEii4hGDYE79VCc60fbwE8HJ51EoQ-2E_MTQYUN52sobm9GYyXf2M/s1600-h/004.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134650824880535698" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-346pO5KNG_9cC0_yl4qUhIqKYLfUnvPLdCgEtVi9nacbJQjnl_I-NLnMPlJ5J-OSvcwOvlH7hd1Kc1Rfre5fqbEii4hGDYE79VCc60fbwE8HJ51EoQ-2E_MTQYUN52sobm9GYyXf2M/s320/004.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vsLAsXA7pb0OybB5swaTb3Pg3zRVYVonXE3GrpBTrUj5EuGohTsVodcPqL2D1s7_oWjRRuiNiQJi2JRTZY1R2zN-Hfp41jWrhPNiPHGPGx6JKNXhnBnuwwzTpRUclzY9Ye_OKmsFqXo/s1600-h/017.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134650837765437618" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vsLAsXA7pb0OybB5swaTb3Pg3zRVYVonXE3GrpBTrUj5EuGohTsVodcPqL2D1s7_oWjRRuiNiQJi2JRTZY1R2zN-Hfp41jWrhPNiPHGPGx6JKNXhnBnuwwzTpRUclzY9Ye_OKmsFqXo/s320/017.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgnyEDGpUH1pscx9gJeqiJjMcjjhf-vpzc8XOrIMGf3gkqR1-kEQAzE9CDec6laqePJKKqUg79vrnbAgk0-QlNRXzGFwVNKWOL-laOKMZ0ROeej-2WQU4kcDdljxTSVG4aIpJ3UIkG78/s1600-h/014.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134650846355372226" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgnyEDGpUH1pscx9gJeqiJjMcjjhf-vpzc8XOrIMGf3gkqR1-kEQAzE9CDec6laqePJKKqUg79vrnbAgk0-QlNRXzGFwVNKWOL-laOKMZ0ROeej-2WQU4kcDdljxTSVG4aIpJ3UIkG78/s320/014.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqpPw5vDqFUIMcyBoLnB5cTOTuk8oYig3iiOzGVHH0Mi3_naB2G4ZPdmEYfAkrtLKR8F8_0C6JX6xHqp8A99cRG7Ig8HpCkfJPSafrzvLDXexJAtZuddp4V5SS4AF_KknA_acLkDuZRvg/s1600-h/005.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134650833470470306" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqpPw5vDqFUIMcyBoLnB5cTOTuk8oYig3iiOzGVHH0Mi3_naB2G4ZPdmEYfAkrtLKR8F8_0C6JX6xHqp8A99cRG7Ig8HpCkfJPSafrzvLDXexJAtZuddp4V5SS4AF_KknA_acLkDuZRvg/s320/005.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNreCfvX98u7JoFZrGBbteOq3sXaVG7_wlOrM28E4hvkDs_ZOjG0IUMAt6XhO27KbmLsm2on33J6QAzHemejTwpXB-2DFii3FN-93-kRJQYTKrw3Ayuix9lR2c8OO38j5xSAwZJqZO8o/s1600-h/015.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134650850650339538" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNreCfvX98u7JoFZrGBbteOq3sXaVG7_wlOrM28E4hvkDs_ZOjG0IUMAt6XhO27KbmLsm2on33J6QAzHemejTwpXB-2DFii3FN-93-kRJQYTKrw3Ayuix9lR2c8OO38j5xSAwZJqZO8o/s320/015.JPG" border="0" /></a></div></div></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-52019975337119002052007-11-11T03:56:00.000-05:002007-11-19T15:06:55.100-05:00My Slice of ParadiseAfter nearly 6 weeks, I've finally moved into what will be my permanent room for the duration of my deployment. To give you a better idea of exactly where I am and what my living conditions are, I have some pictures from Google Earth and some of my own I'll use to explain my setup. It helps to click on each picture so you can see better detail as I explain them.<br /><br />First is the regional view. If you look closely, you'll see two red circles. One is in Turkey and the other is in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Kyrgyzstan</span>. I spent 15 months in Turkey and 4 months in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Kyrgyzstan</span> so when I'm done in Iraq I'll have spent over 2 1/2 years in this part of the world.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg83XzXbnOT3qFkIp9jEg-iRuQXpgB3nHiOgxjE-Eeka8U_41SJf7AfDcNnbnJFimdGOnfb-1ae2TzZ2RMfa5mRfyMKXvU-SQxzfdn2XWl4Ci3PNcEMRscAjNK7f5S4ZWYvbP0lF747_U/s1600-h/Iraq.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131506382686537666" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg83XzXbnOT3qFkIp9jEg-iRuQXpgB3nHiOgxjE-Eeka8U_41SJf7AfDcNnbnJFimdGOnfb-1ae2TzZ2RMfa5mRfyMKXvU-SQxzfdn2XWl4Ci3PNcEMRscAjNK7f5S4ZWYvbP0lF747_U/s320/Iraq.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVCwxFqwqvBC9FEXOXSt__hg1Yxngy9X7R6ysGiMo8jo3PsTgjGzJHsTVMX6gZmvNx-v2u-shphySQoBwJ8cRnunsS6PbRl4lk9ilnzJnw9MEEADA0rFefs_mkrSc8SvvgPxHZ97gcZs/s1600-h/Victory+Base+Complex.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Next, I'll zoom in on Baghdad and you'll see the Victory Base Complex circled in yellow. As you can see, we're located on the western side of Baghdad and we're connected to the Airport. If you look at the upper right side of the circle you'll see a greenish colored lake. This is called lost lake and is near where I work.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVCwxFqwqvBC9FEXOXSt__hg1Yxngy9X7R6ysGiMo8jo3PsTgjGzJHsTVMX6gZmvNx-v2u-shphySQoBwJ8cRnunsS6PbRl4lk9ilnzJnw9MEEADA0rFefs_mkrSc8SvvgPxHZ97gcZs/s1600-h/Victory+Base+Complex.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />PICTURE REMOVED FOR SECURITY REASONS<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On the next zoom you get a better view of lost lake. Looking to the west of lost lake you can see where the Al <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Faw</span> Palace is located in relation to our compound. To put it in perspective, the Palace is xxxxxxx from my building. The red line is to show you where the perimeter fence is.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwaZAeKQBCgxUa6T15_cV_aVlomjpXebi4WOeJv6L1TVpsblqTwX45JHU-JZjnj42sR3aQqE3OxiQB-znRYzxwRe8yB68uZx0RYmMREBuAlOdIE1nsFuWsfWx83jditjRlUAe7P5F7wA8/s1600-h/lost+lake.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br />PICTURE REMOVED FOR SECURITY REASONS<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here's a view of our living trailers. This picture is taken looking southeast, so the lake is on the left behind the trailers and our work building is on the right across the road. The closest open door is my room. The great thing about where I'm situated is the proximity to the bathroom and shower trailers.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAkebOU1VZz8tnecYx_QxJ89wWhFAgf_fyIemQcmQ7dGLNjHbWHn3jEDhJ5plagZHeMkpIMgEEfuwlEJSoEIeg2fa0FT5rMk7WVM3jiYcRrmjpFbS-tTtJKzQLeQADpiOLHqI4GN-umH8/s1600-h/001.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131506425636210690" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAkebOU1VZz8tnecYx_QxJ89wWhFAgf_fyIemQcmQ7dGLNjHbWHn3jEDhJ5plagZHeMkpIMgEEfuwlEJSoEIeg2fa0FT5rMk7WVM3jiYcRrmjpFbS-tTtJKzQLeQADpiOLHqI4GN-umH8/s320/001.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This is a view out of my room door. The trailer on the left is the shower and the one on the right is the restroom. A nice close walk.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-jAz6ynw5L_ZFJCOkkTlmXd5XOLCJbGkf45UVZw5rHW20e8fQYfyXILTC2d52ZV_MQbHHhwcStu8wDmtZB6nUTOVIuQTHtZkvTUdsCB8eKvla_ikAGwJzfvPrRUkUd16htWlqspJqWY/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131510690538735650" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-jAz6ynw5L_ZFJCOkkTlmXd5XOLCJbGkf45UVZw5rHW20e8fQYfyXILTC2d52ZV_MQbHHhwcStu8wDmtZB6nUTOVIuQTHtZkvTUdsCB8eKvla_ikAGwJzfvPrRUkUd16htWlqspJqWY/s320/002.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The rooms are very small, but at least they're private - sort of anyway. The walls are so thin you can hear people cough, snore, talk, everything. If someone closes their door too hard it sounds like incoming - not a good thing for us. But all that aside - it's my slice of paradise for the next 10 1/2 months.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdvx1TZZ1TrrvdY7lmq77vqgMTCYp-A4RuRZk7M9ka1DSScwH4i9NLH3gw1TrYAQ6dR84p-fLx4IJIkQqJGu8M9IzMxM6J5PBJ6EXRbwUTdiFrY-XMSveU2MSwcgz-T7eYLJBFQ4Hpi1Y/s1600-h/004.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131510703423637570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdvx1TZZ1TrrvdY7lmq77vqgMTCYp-A4RuRZk7M9ka1DSScwH4i9NLH3gw1TrYAQ6dR84p-fLx4IJIkQqJGu8M9IzMxM6J5PBJ6EXRbwUTdiFrY-XMSveU2MSwcgz-T7eYLJBFQ4Hpi1Y/s320/004.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Just so you don't think - wow, they live by a lake! Here's the view behind our trailers, blast walls and sandbags. Nice waterfront property.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhux5Mdq1V6cOAYmMY67nw51J_h_U04z5V3cEg_JkK2y5Uq4fm7t2ieZJfziPyjl0_eQLKXlr33SWAYdzezrJrQlSc6VSSjCYV3BELW8mkywM3RYQnaeJujJmcyF4AR7Kp1WtLJUWEO3yE/s1600-h/003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131510699128670258" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhux5Mdq1V6cOAYmMY67nw51J_h_U04z5V3cEg_JkK2y5Uq4fm7t2ieZJfziPyjl0_eQLKXlr33SWAYdzezrJrQlSc6VSSjCYV3BELW8mkywM3RYQnaeJujJmcyF4AR7Kp1WtLJUWEO3yE/s320/003.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdvx1TZZ1TrrvdY7lmq77vqgMTCYp-A4RuRZk7M9ka1DSScwH4i9NLH3gw1TrYAQ6dR84p-fLx4IJIkQqJGu8M9IzMxM6J5PBJ6EXRbwUTdiFrY-XMSveU2MSwcgz-T7eYLJBFQ4Hpi1Y/s1600-h/004.JPG"></a>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-60989770425608068742007-11-05T03:15:00.000-05:002007-11-13T11:50:37.055-05:00Morning Wake UpI haven't really written much specifically about the rocket attacks occuring here other than to generically mention them. Only one of them has made the news, but there have been many more in the 5 weeks I've been here. To attempt to give you an idea of what it's like to go through one, I'll describe the one we had this morning. They're all different depending on the type of munition used and how close they come to where a person is on the camp - for security reasons I won't describe the type of rocket or the exact location of the impacts.<br /><br />As I've mentioned before, there are lots of explosions all the time around here. Many of these occur outside the base but they still get your attention. I mention this because it has become somewhat normal to hear these at any time of the day or night, and usually the warrant nothing more than a quick "wow" or something of the sort and then you keep doing what you were doing. Rockets are different. We have an early warning system that sometimes goes off and gives us a very small amount of time to take cover. It can't always be heard depending on what you're doing or where you're at - but it's something. In our housing trailers, we <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">have</span> air conditioner units running non-stop and they make it hard to hear this warning system. This morning I was sound asleep, the AC was going so there was no hearing the warning. What did wake me up was the sound of the first rocket coming in. It's hard to describe the sound - it does have a whistling noise to it and sometimes you can hear the initial launch and rocket burn depending where it comes from. This morning it was just the whistling - it brought me out of my sleep just enough to not be fully asleep when about 2 seconds later the rocket impacted close to my trailer - I promise you it's not the way you want to wake up. The explosion is a very deep earth rattling sound - <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">literally</span> the ground shakes - followed by strange reverberations. It's very hard to describe. The time from initial sound to impact is seconds - but let me tell you - I was instantly awake before the reverberations were over. This was by far the closest impact yet. Now - after the initial rocket comes several more. Same scenario as the first, with them coming in over a period of 5 to 7 seconds. That may not seem like a long time, but when you're sitting there listening to each whistling rocket followed by the explosion - it seems like forever. In my 5 weeks here, we've had dozens and dozens (I don't want to get too specific, but it's a lot) of rockets come in. They hit all over the place at all times of the day - people laugh them off and everybody acts tough, but I'm not afraid to say these things are kind of scary. Today was the first time I've actually grabbed my helmet and body armor and hit the floor during an attack and the adrenaline took a good 30 minutes to wear off.<br /><br />This was not the best description of what a rocket attack is like, but it might just be one of those things you have to experience to understand - I for one would be happy to never experience it again.........<br /><br />On a different note - while this sounds bad for us, and it is, things are actually improving very dramatically in Iraq. Here's a link to an article in the Washington Post that pretty accurately captures what's going on.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110102733.html?hpid=moreheadlines">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110102733.html?hpid=moreheadlines</a><br /><br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-16808229434659788212007-10-30T13:55:00.000-04:002007-10-31T18:51:50.114-04:00The Al Faw Palace<blockquote></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote>Today I thought I would post a little about the building used for the Headquarters of the operation here in Iraq. It's one of Saddam's many palaces that has been converted to military use. I go to the palace a couple times a week to conduct business so I thought I would share a little about it. I've included several pictures as well as a link to an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">MSNBC</span> article about the palace. When you look at the article be sure to watch the video on the right side.<br /><br />Here's a description of the palace I was able to get off the web.<br /><br />The Al <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Faw</span> Palace (also known as the 'Water Palace') is located in Baghdad approximately 5km from the Baghdad International Airport, Iraq and was commissioned to be built by Saddam Hussein to commemorate the re-taking of the Al <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Faw</span> Peninsula by Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq conflict. The palace is situated on a former resort complex about 8 kilometers from the 'Green Zone', which is now referred to as the 'International Zone' or '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">IZ</span>' and the complex contains numerous villas and smaller palaces and is now one of the largest US/Coalition bases in Iraq (Camp Victory/ Camp Liberty). The palace contains over 62 rooms and 29 bathrooms. Many of the rooms have now been converted to serve as offices, and since 2004 the Palace has been used as the headquarters for the Multinational Force Iraq (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">MNFI</span>) along with the Joint Operations Center (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">JOC</span>), which serves as 'Mission Control' for all operational aspects of Operation Iraqi Freedom. There is an artificial lake surrounding the palace that has a special breed of large bass dubbed the Saddam bass as well as large carp. Saddam formerly used the palace for duck-hunting expeditions.<br />Because of the very light damage to the Al <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Faw</span> Palace and other structures located on what is now Camp Victory, it is widely presumed that the planners of the 2003 invasion intended that this area would be used as a headquarters and main base area following the liberation of Baghdad. The resort is surrounded by high walls with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">preconstructed</span> security towers which contributes to more readily maintaining surveillance and security for the former resort.<br /><br />Check out this article and video - double click this link<br /><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17524022/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17524022/</a><br /><br /><br />Here are my pictures:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPCGz8FBApSgAtdMDcX2soqgGIcvdYi2Lt9KptLtwbaMG68H76BgLppeofekhLHTy4pJf1rFE3-ohYKbNSRHY60F1wOi3firCat8fcq1AArdeV2UB1d_iDEL65jS-CnpRiCvNxUaRowg/s1600-h/800px-Al_Faw_night.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127193653160222530" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPCGz8FBApSgAtdMDcX2soqgGIcvdYi2Lt9KptLtwbaMG68H76BgLppeofekhLHTy4pJf1rFE3-ohYKbNSRHY60F1wOi3firCat8fcq1AArdeV2UB1d_iDEL65jS-CnpRiCvNxUaRowg/s320/800px-Al_Faw_night.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2yh5DgEC_Y4KgUxT7FVMkIzWAPTpXcslEQ4bNBAdZhgnw_Ju1P_i3DUKY15arfBvWyEwVXdp4Izvp7GfmXTeFp9QsUw89997R9W7yETLHn8rTeov0eDluYyJr-1eBZA6RbjzsiJc4ys/s1600-h/al-faw-925815.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127192652432842530" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2yh5DgEC_Y4KgUxT7FVMkIzWAPTpXcslEQ4bNBAdZhgnw_Ju1P_i3DUKY15arfBvWyEwVXdp4Izvp7GfmXTeFp9QsUw89997R9W7yETLHn8rTeov0eDluYyJr-1eBZA6RbjzsiJc4ys/s320/al-faw-925815.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ_v2CtSvDT86bQMMBt2UfzR6A9Zxb3B6p5Wyd8Z-gjnxA7ldiW5fgLlzqeoaBAZsRN-4vCoEePkMlT5ta0_lvyLBtTjGmffGgIHTFw8802VIQda5yuEAAp00x1k4VE7Eq11vyp5ZEx8/s1600-h/007.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127193687519960946" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ_v2CtSvDT86bQMMBt2UfzR6A9Zxb3B6p5Wyd8Z-gjnxA7ldiW5fgLlzqeoaBAZsRN-4vCoEePkMlT5ta0_lvyLBtTjGmffGgIHTFw8802VIQda5yuEAAp00x1k4VE7Eq11vyp5ZEx8/s320/007.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXCJWlzRVYIFP8Bw9pYXzIHbx5wf1oXJ0_SAnLecQtMls2tNdPKVfbY9XoR_l-44krJjIGPdaO1HT_wtn1f0k83Y7yA4ICApL5b5RefikxfpPmvPiDwQtc454fA5RGX2WDVbAJS_dxYA/s1600-h/005.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127195190758514610" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXCJWlzRVYIFP8Bw9pYXzIHbx5wf1oXJ0_SAnLecQtMls2tNdPKVfbY9XoR_l-44krJjIGPdaO1HT_wtn1f0k83Y7yA4ICApL5b5RefikxfpPmvPiDwQtc454fA5RGX2WDVbAJS_dxYA/s320/005.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5cxo-TD1KCNQ29gbo1sgoYHv3M9UEkvzfsA2YcWRuCm904L2peyI1r5PIIrGWhSvmyToD2qnsNNQ2dO-9bmWkiVGXQzg_Ho3DPR-6_ODyl-vRny9cahG_r_ZRi0iFVqmrWMLBw_ZU93w/s1600-h/016.JPG"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZtOuNrvDT9rWQf4Id3VeLdNjCnk8oBaKJmmI3aJvsbyIbjW_YpmCfV-NlEW4wqZEdQ5eQborxeNhSO60VV3b5Yc_AiI4hELtK9gbAreYBPiO4XmQTrQjK1moaR2owaK-2XnSxV1t5oA/s1600-h/008.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127194190031134610" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSZtOuNrvDT9rWQf4Id3VeLdNjCnk8oBaKJmmI3aJvsbyIbjW_YpmCfV-NlEW4wqZEdQ5eQborxeNhSO60VV3b5Yc_AiI4hELtK9gbAreYBPiO4XmQTrQjK1moaR2owaK-2XnSxV1t5oA/s320/008.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Just so nobody gets the wrong idea and thinks we live in some luxurious playground, I've also included a picture I took earlier today while going to take care of some business elsewhere in camp - yes, that's a huge pile of burning trash. The picture doesn't do it justice. The garbage pile is several city blocks in size. Oh yeah - driving around the camp is an adventure in itself. I'll do a whole post on just what it's like to drive around here.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKYMRBYAy_snAmF8FLGuFEKTny7EBSMIPW4IXuvoGSkYW1PaQeFIJKS4x2ZpJtoLRjdl6Wa0i-AXRFlfMG3wgX5wwJHRfl7uA9HFhlvb3RlfCoA4tDJG-7A4fGdQjdQHzIz_OGZykJo5A/s1600-h/003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5127194194326101922" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKYMRBYAy_snAmF8FLGuFEKTny7EBSMIPW4IXuvoGSkYW1PaQeFIJKS4x2ZpJtoLRjdl6Wa0i-AXRFlfMG3wgX5wwJHRfl7uA9HFhlvb3RlfCoA4tDJG-7A4fGdQjdQHzIz_OGZykJo5A/s320/003.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-65281810072845628822007-10-29T06:41:00.000-04:002007-10-29T07:33:54.236-04:00Back From My Trip<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZfzKuEbRpTcPfwEFPY3HHgOCJ-f-jigpFTxXcy1ts2_1H59RwliXDUijvlEIMWumJpD_YRo6YCWzYPRoTqCfE374NZ55E4SrGpZ2YQrtjwSXecnLzp7H4_drXB_LCrHUsXaQllhMqqs/s1600-h/010.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126712844456337122" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZfzKuEbRpTcPfwEFPY3HHgOCJ-f-jigpFTxXcy1ts2_1H59RwliXDUijvlEIMWumJpD_YRo6YCWzYPRoTqCfE374NZ55E4SrGpZ2YQrtjwSXecnLzp7H4_drXB_LCrHUsXaQllhMqqs/s320/010.JPG" border="0" /></a> I made it back from my excursion through the country side of Iraq. I can't get really print any of what I was doing other than to say I was checking on equipment we have at another location. I flew via C-130 to get there and it felt like we traveled across half of Iraq to get to our destination. We made several stops at other camps along the way, and one unscheduled stop because we lost an engine on the last leg. While at my destination, I had the chance to do a little sight seeing. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSI6gaLnv9nT_tD32CGs5DuR5DOkOh2Be4UoGP-UtsXWZ3FO3rk-cU-9GPviMl0et3SZmav2Q2f1P7lBp-dgybdewhlSwYrdmqfo7V_Oxj0VmLPGK4CAJuRec5Jl4jPA0c2xXcoRyd1AY/s1600-h/008.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126710898836151970" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSI6gaLnv9nT_tD32CGs5DuR5DOkOh2Be4UoGP-UtsXWZ3FO3rk-cU-9GPviMl0et3SZmav2Q2f1P7lBp-dgybdewhlSwYrdmqfo7V_Oxj0VmLPGK4CAJuRec5Jl4jPA0c2xXcoRyd1AY/s320/008.JPG" border="0" /></a> I had a chance to see the remnants of Saddam's wonderful Air Force. I'm not sure what kind of aircraft these were, but I know they were trainers of some sort. They were pretty torn up, but most of the pieces were still there including the machine guns.<br /><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif2rofUXtzKS-pAPni4V_xNbr6acOwY3e9kzgdkDxfv7EuE6FvPIsYalhPH4FBhbHKWzMxLvNs392_sUEMydAV77n2fPVHXOAHamCs581gmW1JtWH3QZ5B36VtNJHMRkJal-nnb25svJY/s1600-h/013.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126712573873397458" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif2rofUXtzKS-pAPni4V_xNbr6acOwY3e9kzgdkDxfv7EuE6FvPIsYalhPH4FBhbHKWzMxLvNs392_sUEMydAV77n2fPVHXOAHamCs581gmW1JtWH3QZ5B36VtNJHMRkJal-nnb25svJY/s320/013.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>We went on to explore an old munitions storage bunker. There were still remnants of stabilizing fins, chutes, and what looked like rocket launchers.<br /></div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126713716334698226" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ5OGbkbR82EW7sDSGFfYW2OEUiCxngRx9x6UI1FqKsENRDtgd6qLcJgBLgACCRdiJMO4_I8hpj0H6RBHCnAr1i40oVvBDfbYX4zFvzLHWgsQDuWfJVq1Ut8WbNOw8jRM6aPNjzmXSDJU/s320/012.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWjA0ykqijv3p7J3dB2yxcf4bTIqWU3WMx0HA23qsiPnAiLi_rzFCMWXVK6XzRq9qQ9DHTswXsBOy0z1bhdXulHj4lWCiX8UspePJR5dQ1LVSb9JJCDj3XBNoIBqumulbFQX27M9T8lc/s1600-h/011.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126714102881754882" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWjA0ykqijv3p7J3dB2yxcf4bTIqWU3WMx0HA23qsiPnAiLi_rzFCMWXVK6XzRq9qQ9DHTswXsBOy0z1bhdXulHj4lWCiX8UspePJR5dQ1LVSb9JJCDj3XBNoIBqumulbFQX27M9T8lc/s320/011.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Finally, we had the chance to check out a personnel bunker. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">entrance</span> is under the tin overhang. The impressive thing about this was how nice the equipment inside was. It was all built by the Dutch through a contract with the Iraqi's many years ago, but it looked like top notch stuff. I tried something new here and I've attached a short video. It's just one I did with my camera so there's no sound and I realize it's dark and hard to see - so now you know how it was for us. At one point in the video you'll see my "Gunny". This is the Marine <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">GySgt</span> who was traveling with me. He's looking through night vision goggles we used to aid us during our expedition. After 4 days on the ground, Gunny and I headed back to camp Victory via <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Blackhawk</span> in the middle of the night. I personally hate flying on helicopters and I'll just say, that pitch black terror fest over hostile territory managed to solidify my feelings even further..... </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OZ6PT8taY5GbbetvGBuyJqqseI-FkVGcBJjDGq4CVqXre2615uwh0C5ULQy5UZ1ViVU-YV5N8hglaCJl3NQBV9qHPTyNk-pH3RdH_C9aAQpiOcZJGtAQTDv5wuiyfvs2OmSbj-d7oJo/s1600-h/015.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126715765034098450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OZ6PT8taY5GbbetvGBuyJqqseI-FkVGcBJjDGq4CVqXre2615uwh0C5ULQy5UZ1ViVU-YV5N8hglaCJl3NQBV9qHPTyNk-pH3RdH_C9aAQpiOcZJGtAQTDv5wuiyfvs2OmSbj-d7oJo/s320/015.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzxriDsgsWbQo0HhAaSnJrHV8UtQgUgJNlpemqHRR9Qs1if41QyeEys1tTCYKVIwKC8XPPcJibEdTGlo0Ktiw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-66675244978301224102007-10-23T14:57:00.000-04:002007-10-23T15:35:18.174-04:00Stepping Out For A Few DaysTomorrow I'll be leaving for about 5 days of off camp travel. I won't be able to post any updates during this time but have no fear, I'll take my camera with me. I'll take pictures of anything that might be interesting and I'll post what I can about my travels around Iraq when I get back.<br /><br />I also want to take this time to say hello to everyone who has sent me an e-mail or a note. I appreciate each and every message I get. I'm sorry I haven't had time to respond to each of you individually. It means a lot to hear from family and friends. I also appreciate the e-mails from strangers who stumble across my blog and take the time to read it and drop me a note. Mostly I started this as a way to keep those close to me informed about what I'm doing. It's grown a little beyond my initial intent and I have fun posting knowing I have a bit larger audience. I've started to see if I can <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">achieve</span> some goals. I have the ability to see what locations people have checked my blog from and I'd like to have visitors from all 50 states and at least 50 other countries. So far I've had visitors from 36 states and 27 countries. To <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">achieve</span> this goal I need your help. Please send a link to my blog to anyone you think may be interested in reading it. Family, friends, co-workers, whoever. I really enjoy checking to see how many people have visited each day ( I had one day last week with 100 visitors), so please help me out and send out my blog. By the way, if you want to get an e-mail letting you know when I've made an update, there's a place to put your e-mail address on the right side of my blog.<br /><br />As I've said before, I'll happily answer any questions I get - that I can answer.<br />Here are the only two questions I've really gotten so far - Jimmy, I haven't seen any spiders yet so I don't know how big they are. Little Rodger, I haven't seen any Iraqi women so I don't know what they look like. I'll be happy if I make it the entire year without seeing either one.<br /><br /><br />On a completely different note - Here's a little comedy sketch I think is hilarious. Check it out.<br /><br />Andy<br /><br />Funny Link - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Achmed</span> the Dead Terrorist<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go</a>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-9550349158243916292007-10-21T15:07:00.000-04:002007-10-30T14:29:11.099-04:00A Little Sight SeeingI had the opportunity to go see some of the interesting things around the Victory Base Complex today. Specifically I, a<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn7UFyFQpCbz4DKIsh8MbGOtSqyP2Wbsydkx2_v4k-iLsXl7g9_t1KSTW506T0vsuOEz4FZzHdJaVs9UfAK6zpk_tuovoiMpO0DTG2b1w8r8t160u6wFH_FVkkzVz6IC72CqtPoX68tV0/s1600-h/023.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123875390979643170" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn7UFyFQpCbz4DKIsh8MbGOtSqyP2Wbsydkx2_v4k-iLsXl7g9_t1KSTW506T0vsuOEz4FZzHdJaVs9UfAK6zpk_tuovoiMpO0DTG2b1w8r8t160u6wFH_FVkkzVz6IC72CqtPoX68tV0/s320/023.JPG" border="0" /></a>long with a few of the guys from work, went to Camp Slayer and looked around the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Abu</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Ghurayb</span> Presidential Grounds. This was the former home to the Republican Guard and the Iraqi Military Academy. I was able to look through Saddam's "Victory over America" Palace (The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Abu</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Ghurayb</span> Palace) which Saddam had built starting in 1996 to commemorate his "victory" over the U.S. in the gulf war. <div><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123874540576118530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOqBO9W5jwv2DOAS25Kg4tdjTI2z2WkoyTKrWkbLcfEpVMIxIiqdWcyZsl4kIAMgYVACFivKGTYHnH9MMSDEMLnrqt69ZWjbm9Brna4D135THkzVbvfZB_EcVgM5O28sCHQhUq2XvdGRY/s320/032.JPG" border="0" />It was built against the back side of the "Victory over Iran" palace (with the palm tree in front of it) creating a very large and impressive structure.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin03FgEU4Ag2FUEEgcqxa90C8Fj32XhRaq9uosJMVGL2C8_CtErkboY1J5f8-86qPHY5JgEzB7jjpAI8kJvw626xDlrdbqhnrRj8wCafmD8iBtULTJ4H_wjGHop9eabed_kMr4KQw-duU/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123874188388800242" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin03FgEU4Ag2FUEEgcqxa90C8Fj32XhRaq9uosJMVGL2C8_CtErkboY1J5f8-86qPHY5JgEzB7jjpAI8kJvw626xDlrdbqhnrRj8wCafmD8iBtULTJ4H_wjGHop9eabed_kMr4KQw-duU/s320/002.JPG" border="0" /></a> The palace was still under construction in 2003 when we invaded Iraq, which is why there are still cranes around it. Of course, no construction is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">occurring</span> now - we bombed it <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUN6WcJS8CmPLVCym2H74DyvimkdXAHtRBdhPGQQtGyAiYK7lJtxD-OfVTymkK9YmUsOxmm9HU17aByECNFjDN2-dlLZQfPMiTamaEGNAUICu56Jv3N61I6I6OWSi0aQzu0H-07j5QAEI/s1600-h/009.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123875116101736210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUN6WcJS8CmPLVCym2H74DyvimkdXAHtRBdhPGQQtGyAiYK7lJtxD-OfVTymkK9YmUsOxmm9HU17aByECNFjDN2-dlLZQfPMiTamaEGNAUICu56Jv3N61I6I6OWSi0aQzu0H-07j5QAEI/s320/009.JPG" border="0" /></a>during the war as shown by the twisted metal and broken concrete from inside the palace. I also went through the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Ba'ath</span> Party Convention Center (the building sitting on the water). This is the building Dan Rather interviewed Hussein in just prior to the start of the war in 2003. It was used as a meeting place for political and military leadership of Iraq.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpirsg2yzpy-pu69s5ecUC9puQxuZmREzR55YzgbYzSNoApnv4HEUlbeXwFUB1IK8r5mdVkS7kzaucBMMH4zd5LhYOuOg1nC_61dhiC48ullaS4gXmVH2lZY4sJCC79_BzJhyrbAuzpk/s1600-h/036.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123875902080751426" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpirsg2yzpy-pu69s5ecUC9puQxuZmREzR55YzgbYzSNoApnv4HEUlbeXwFUB1IK8r5mdVkS7kzaucBMMH4zd5LhYOuOg1nC_61dhiC48ullaS4gXmVH2lZY4sJCC79_BzJhyrbAuzpk/s320/036.JPG" border="0" /></a> Just as a quick refresher on the history of the war, President Bush gave a public address in early 2003 and told Saddam he had 48 hours to surrender for failing to comply with UN sanctions. The next day President Bush again addressed the nation stating the attacks had started early because there was reason to believe a large gathering of the top leaders in Iraq was taking place, giving us an opportunity to strike at their leadership. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTJMNbDBbRquclB6eRmWOYNb91PXGbHfB5YXJFX4wyh8yHlEMfjLi2NBu2kksv30p8fcUzZ0pR3OkNiKMLb55lmuXfXsIpzdkEGMGBuBaThapdyI1MAgCqt4adIVT02VBMA_GhlcxoYpw/s1600-h/034.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123875592843106098" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTJMNbDBbRquclB6eRmWOYNb91PXGbHfB5YXJFX4wyh8yHlEMfjLi2NBu2kksv30p8fcUzZ0pR3OkNiKMLb55lmuXfXsIpzdkEGMGBuBaThapdyI1MAgCqt4adIVT02VBMA_GhlcxoYpw/s320/034.JPG" border="0" /></a>This gathering was in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Ba'ath</span> Party Convention Center. A gathering of over 200 of the leaders was struck with Tomahawk cruise missiles and guided weapons dropped from Air Force fighter jets. There were no survivors. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUrwJN8Qe_IZlTqLUl0ktNT98JYCwRceuXXWpa2Qk7TvpneQNY2Uw3rXY8a0E-avovb6gYaWz2a5AkZik4c6qbvpaFxWqsHw3ORgPpIJvGekITRt9rOPJ_NBPpZqBcDhJbgXkkhzErMK0/s1600-h/048.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123876507671140210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUrwJN8Qe_IZlTqLUl0ktNT98JYCwRceuXXWpa2Qk7TvpneQNY2Uw3rXY8a0E-avovb6gYaWz2a5AkZik4c6qbvpaFxWqsHw3ORgPpIJvGekITRt9rOPJ_NBPpZqBcDhJbgXkkhzErMK0/s320/048.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>These pictures show the conference room from the outside and from the inside. If you look at the bottom of the interior picture you can make out chairs that made up the stadium style <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">seating</span> in the room. Of the over 200 people in the room, only 50 remains have been retrieved. It was rather unnerving to be in that room knowing what had taken place there. To keep things in the proper perspective with reference to the loss of life that <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">occurred</span> at this location, the picture below came from the same building. While most everyone would agree it looks like it used to be a nice swimming pool, it was used as an execution chamber to dispose of whomever Saddam felt was a threat to him. He was a dictator and the top people in his government were his henchmen. They were a group of thieves, thugs, and murderers. As big, expensive and wasteful as this particular palace was, Saddam had 98 others like it. All these were built by looting money from the people of Iraq. These were not public buildings - they were for the private use of Saddam and those closest to him. </div></div></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqZC7H4lkjDl9wtyQw-Kn6BQCd4VK6s-3a8Xe8Ut4ZVv0-AmC9KLITsh8W5X_PUDgeaEU_rtBIQqe6cy65MuK-10h4zHoiMzZK2I4XSw5tpWKzNaMnNB6sPDc2MHkJ2bXn1fCTdUzbbc/s1600-h/037.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123876176958658386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqZC7H4lkjDl9wtyQw-Kn6BQCd4VK6s-3a8Xe8Ut4ZVv0-AmC9KLITsh8W5X_PUDgeaEU_rtBIQqe6cy65MuK-10h4zHoiMzZK2I4XSw5tpWKzNaMnNB6sPDc2MHkJ2bXn1fCTdUzbbc/s320/037.JPG" border="0" /></a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As always, there are many more pictures on my website.</p><p></p><p>Andy</p>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-35413697939129259142007-10-17T08:20:00.001-04:002007-10-17T09:17:28.376-04:00What does JIEDDO do?<div align="justify">For those of you who still may be a bit confused about the role of the Joint IED Defeat Organization, here's a link to a 4 part article titled "Left of Boom" from the Washington Post that discusses the IED problem and JIEDDO. I won't say I agree with everything in the article, or the way it's written, but it gives an idea of what's going on.</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/29/AR2007092900751.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/29/AR2007092900751.html</a></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-69073162245110581582007-10-15T14:39:00.000-04:002007-10-15T15:05:36.917-04:00Things have been pretty calm the last few days - at least when it comes to rocket and mortar attacks. The evenings and nights are still filled with the sound of machine gun fire and large explosions, but the machine gun fire is not too close to our section of the camp and the explosions are from in Baghdad. I'm getting settled into a routine now, although I need to increase the amount of time I excercise and decrease the amount I eat. I've had a chance to see much more of the Victory Base complex comprised of many different camps and I'm still amazed at the amount of military hardware we have here. The complexity of the logistics and the ability of the people here to make it work day in and day out is truly impressive.<br /><br />Tomorrow I head to the range to zero in my M-4 for my first excursion off the camp. I'm heading to a different camp to take stock of some resources my organization is accountable for. Here are a couple pictures of some of the things around the base.<br /><br />This is the largest lake with some of the villas visible around it.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77BJ4JNHA0h5kxZdTggSqV1duwi0E4IUdN1NXVdFMdADGmBLhT9onRYUFtMX7Z6YxN2cZZitudwFArr9FJ8_-Jx2mOYoxTDjp2KipXjbbOOkFjgsYyXu5R8sIpYJDxJa1GWvHe_OgnIg/s1600-h/003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121638108155418210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77BJ4JNHA0h5kxZdTggSqV1duwi0E4IUdN1NXVdFMdADGmBLhT9onRYUFtMX7Z6YxN2cZZitudwFArr9FJ8_-Jx2mOYoxTDjp2KipXjbbOOkFjgsYyXu5R8sIpYJDxJa1GWvHe_OgnIg/s320/003.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLLxaT0ZtL8FGIQiAXa9ThyphenhyphencDCNJF-c3flqzSkwUc5hrTaFQasPy2OBR-TCBmWj5USoLfvdnkvDHPOI5Hp6fbhphYGhSAOrGB8ULKPNo4UC3meh_cMsYWj8ACYMepBlj7BwTevbzYtY8E/s1600-h/020.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121638649321297554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLLxaT0ZtL8FGIQiAXa9ThyphenhyphencDCNJF-c3flqzSkwUc5hrTaFQasPy2OBR-TCBmWj5USoLfvdnkvDHPOI5Hp6fbhphYGhSAOrGB8ULKPNo4UC3meh_cMsYWj8ACYMepBlj7BwTevbzYtY8E/s320/020.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A very small example of some of the hardware here.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesdv802Jkgvu37uGiJ7ZKqlMtru1sBs7ETdCStDHCN5ZSPzPfHF5P6vDJj-2OyxbWl-Kv6Uy16CjLxs6c2q__A9tXixwi4dRyG_aGtkhTIbr_UJWFHAXTRXnP83dq4rYn9s5GpapYdgg/s1600-h/007.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121638288544044658" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesdv802Jkgvu37uGiJ7ZKqlMtru1sBs7ETdCStDHCN5ZSPzPfHF5P6vDJj-2OyxbWl-Kv6Uy16CjLxs6c2q__A9tXixwi4dRyG_aGtkhTIbr_UJWFHAXTRXnP83dq4rYn9s5GpapYdgg/s320/007.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqpGwSIBXwUINoA_bDQ9CAx55aL53zV65hqRZtFZeH2-VbYA59Qjq4xU1hs9GeXm-6tKw53qVfXNlYfX5PCaJkIk23syYQPjW50bho2YXXQuHBo5ZJZWL0pZm7HYVe3qofgaSaR1iIE4/s1600-h/009.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121638451752801922" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqpGwSIBXwUINoA_bDQ9CAx55aL53zV65hqRZtFZeH2-VbYA59Qjq4xU1hs9GeXm-6tKw53qVfXNlYfX5PCaJkIk23syYQPjW50bho2YXXQuHBo5ZJZWL0pZm7HYVe3qofgaSaR1iIE4/s320/009.JPG" border="0" /></a> This is an Iraqi hardened aircraft shelter they used to house their aircraft in. What's not easily visible in this picture is the large hole in the top made by one of our guided bombs. The other picture is a very nice looking building I have no clue about, but I thought it looked cool.Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-86762634555601969942007-10-11T07:11:00.000-04:002007-10-11T11:14:57.476-04:00We Had a Bad DayPeople die here. We strive to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">achieve</span> some day to day normalcy in our routines and the infrastructure we build around the base. We work, we eat, and we socialize in ways to enhance that normalcy. There are familiar comforts from home like Burger King and Taco Bell. We have a large exchange stocked with familiar items from home. We do these things to try and bring comfort and security to what is truly an unnerving and dangerous place. Sometimes these things can bring a false sense of security for those of us fortunate enough to not leave the camp on a daily basis. Sure, stray rounds fly around and the occasional <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">mortar</span> or rocket flies in and hits in the middle of a field. We all laugh it off, make a couple of jokes and press on. Last night proves how thin our veil of normalcy is. People die here, and it happens without warning and with no regard to who you are, or what your role on the camp is. The person with the least dangerous job on base is as vulnerable as anyone else while eating, showering, watching T.V. or sleeping. This is truly a dangerous place....<br /><br />Andy<br /><br />For details please check this link. <br /><br /><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oYeFwuWKCusr2jrojs98w8wD8S6UIR80">http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gkx-3oYeFwuWKCusr2jrojs98w8wD8S6UIR80</a>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-73114798883057003862007-10-09T09:30:00.000-04:002007-10-09T16:11:00.792-04:00Just a quick updateI hadn't planned on writing anything today, but I wanted to give a little update on the events of the last couple days. We've had a series of attacks of different sorts over the last two days. I'm not going into any detail on most of these specific incidents for security reasons, but one piece of what <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">happened</span> illustrates a point I made in an earlier post. I've mentioned stray rounds as a result of incoming fire and the potential danger they represent. Last evening we had some fire coming in, and the result was a soldier who took a round to the face. Luckily for this individual, the round had little velocity at the point of impact and the injuries were not serious. I will say, this individual was not somewhere one would expect to get hit by any stray rounds. It shows the danger every person here faces whether or not they are directly involved in combat operations.<br /><br />I'll work up another post with more pictures soon.<br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-1283281621040643832007-10-07T06:54:00.000-04:002007-10-18T07:04:05.073-04:00Sunday Morning in IraqAfter falling asleep to the sound of sporadic gunfire, I was very rudely awoken by a very close, very loud exchange this morning. I'm not sure what weapons were shooting, I'm still trying to learn the difference in the sound. Some of it was return fire from our towers, some was AK-47 fire coming in, and then there was something else, very loud, that sounded like it was being fired very close to us (it wasn't too close, just loud). Not a pleasant way to wake up, but I'm secure in the safety of our 12 foot concrete blast walls around our compound - just not so sure about the 1/16 inch of tin roof over my head. While I'm sure this sounds dramatic, it's really not. We're not diving for the ground or cowering behind cover. These shots are coming at us indirectly. The bad guys are shooting at the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">perim</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLH_20IFck2FdpAkeanj4hCK8F4LSZyqb95vtKQpFpX2-P6_cxQfkMcrvr7U7VB5mMv3Qy6ujuns04BSKBMmsRUxsebt9PNPCTvXVXeq4h4-A8y74iVkGO9dme4FvH8becMYMBCH9bsM/s1600-h/008.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5118563293823571490" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLH_20IFck2FdpAkeanj4hCK8F4LSZyqb95vtKQpFpX2-P6_cxQfkMcrvr7U7VB5mMv3Qy6ujuns04BSKBMmsRUxsebt9PNPCTvXVXeq4h4-A8y74iVkGO9dme4FvH8becMYMBCH9bsM/s320/008.JPG" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">eter</span> towers along the fence line. Our compound is in a rather unique location on the camp and we're lined on three sides by perimeter fence - in some places only a few hundred yards away. There are a couple towers on either side of us (here's a picture of one I took from our roof) and the stray rounds directed at those towers come at us. As long as we stay smart and keep off the roof and out of the street during these firefights we're relatively safe. Of course, a stray bullet will kill you just like a well aimed bullet, but there's some security in knowing they're not being aimed right at us. There are some interesting things to see on the other side of the fence including many large Mosques. Here's a picture of the closest one to us - all I can think is it looks like a good place for a sniper to shoot from (I don't know if that's ever happened from this one).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw29hfSwLmfR_G291fQaa6ODuM1ZpdA-sOGU0j48yhn3ZmXqWBYCd55C57-_ZI3thFy6vGhiHanQ4buA865j6AI9MKkxbUvIsYm6ejshWMbuDUAZUEWsey2mEdV87LY9yXuR5waZmD1s0/s1600-h/009.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5118563946658600498" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw29hfSwLmfR_G291fQaa6ODuM1ZpdA-sOGU0j48yhn3ZmXqWBYCd55C57-_ZI3thFy6vGhiHanQ4buA865j6AI9MKkxbUvIsYm6ejshWMbuDUAZUEWsey2mEdV87LY9yXuR5waZmD1s0/s320/009.JPG" border="0" /></a>I've been here a week and I finally feel adjusted to the time difference and I'm over the shock of waking up each morning and thinking "holy crap, I'm in Baghdad". I think I can now write at least somewhat coherently, so I'll give a generalized description of my impressions on what it's like to be here. I'll just say I'm sure this will change as time goes by, so no looking back at this months from now and giving me grief after I've said something different.<br /><br />First thing, it's pretty warm. The days are around 100F. That's not really hot for here so I'm not looking forward to next summer. There's a constant haze of dust and smoke in the air. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth as you breath this stuff in. It's something easy to ignore, but if you think about it it's there. There is a fine covering of dust on everything, everywhere. It's like brown talcum powder and it's insidious - creeping into everything, including our lungs, wreaking all kinds of havoc. There's always some kind of garbage burning off the camp and large plumes of smoke can be seen <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">drifting</span> across the sky as seen in the next picture.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMKWQe79wjz8dKyemD9M7k7XN3AIRIaBX3cQ_ifk9KuHjeyCV3EPIaf4Fqekpw4GXCJkHrqI0RqnjQrsqjupVgZHiytfN-mXXWer_m47dB7kqWUH99C57d3arlQvjNZNlBGAV0EbCi80/s1600-h/007.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5118564393335199298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMKWQe79wjz8dKyemD9M7k7XN3AIRIaBX3cQ_ifk9KuHjeyCV3EPIaf4Fqekpw4GXCJkHrqI0RqnjQrsqjupVgZHiytfN-mXXWer_m47dB7kqWUH99C57d3arlQvjNZNlBGAV0EbCi80/s320/007.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Water is scarce yet plentiful. As I've mentioned before, this area used to be Saddam's recreation area. He built many lakes and canals and put nice villas and palaces around them. We have drained many of the lakes to make areas to use for various things, and the plant life has mostly died. There are still many lakes, but the water is murky and funny looking and it no longer resembles any kind of recreation area I've ever seen. We have a water source that produces drinking water on camp so we have bottled water everywhere. It that sense it's plentiful, but when it comes to showers it's different. There is no utility infrastructure for everything that's been placed here, so it's all self contained. We have trailers for showers and toilets and they work off of very large non-potable water tanks. The water in these tanks does not last very long. These tanks must constantly be refilled. Showers work like this - turn the water on and get wet. Turn it off and lather up. Turn it on and rinse off. Now, get out so the next guy can get in. There's no lounging and relaxing in a nice hot shower. If the entire process takes more than 3 or 4 minutes it's too long. So in that sense, water is scarce. Of course, we also have to walk from our little sleeping trailers to the bathroom and showers. So I ask you to imagine this - it's 2:00am and you have to use the restroom. Get up, get dressed, walk out into the pitch black and make your way to the bathroom, then reverse course and head back. How sleepy are you now? Same thing with the shower. Gather up all your stuff, put on some PT gear and head out to the shower - three minutes to clean off and then get out and shave in the sink. Then pack up all your stuff and head back to the trailer to change into a uniform. Why do I bring this up? I want people to understand that in many places around the world, we have men and women doing this day in and day out for 6 months, a year, 15 months - or longer (and we're the lucky ones who get a shower everyday). This is something small that most people here don't even talk about, but it's something that almost every American takes for granted each day. It's a small <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">sacrifice</span> people make here, but it's one of many many small <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">sacrifices</span> that pile up into large <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">sacrifices</span>.<br /><br />One thing that is not a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">sacrifice</span> of any sort here is the food. We have two large dining facilities run by contractors and they go way over the top to provide a large variety and quantity of food. It's good - a little too good. I need to cut back and work out more or I'm going to gain weight while I'm here.<br /><br />I'll end here for today. If there's anyone who you think might enjoy this blog please send out the link. Also, if there's something specific you would like to know about, let me know and if I can answer the question I will.<br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-8751982964646972312007-10-03T07:02:00.000-04:002007-10-03T12:18:59.682-04:00Home Away From Home<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0Y4nByE9bIr1hipFWP9vVpt8n9D4W0Zo8Q0kv4lDi-LYewZ65wJy8c0VWFjFKu3XIGoPFP8R1r0LItHMkHQJGjfKhcOk9KruZaOHXcnfv7HjpwZ4h3w3Cu6uwaFiPc5g8i043Ag_IYs/s1600-h/001.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5117065174870988274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0Y4nByE9bIr1hipFWP9vVpt8n9D4W0Zo8Q0kv4lDi-LYewZ65wJy8c0VWFjFKu3XIGoPFP8R1r0LItHMkHQJGjfKhcOk9KruZaOHXcnfv7HjpwZ4h3w3Cu6uwaFiPc5g8i043Ag_IYs/s320/001.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>As promised in my last update - here are some pictures of the compound I'm in. One shot is of the trailer I live in (temporarily, until I get my permanent room in the same kind of trailer), and the other two are of the building I work in. The trailers and the building are right next to each other so I don't have a long walk to work. We have a bathroom trailer with 8 stalls and a shower trailer with 8 showers, both located right next to the living trailers. It's all very small, but it's convenient. There are a couple dining facilities to choose from which are just a short drive from our compound. We're lucky to have our living <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">accommodations</span> next to where we work. Most everybody else here lives in several centralized trailer complexes away from where they work. There are palaces, and many lakeside villas where Saddam's closest relatives and friends lived. It's not such a nice place now. As I get more pictures I'll put them up.</div><div></div><div>Andy</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhwP1cbAz3beEXlQoBoFVQLgfQl5WvfCebN7bUcJoKZsnc7MJZ4Ld73QVtJss4EljlpUELlqOkOlQK0oj45PTHGWGovpHlMEL2hjAFZKXgkmxZrSfLDi8m1eTE0VxEOtiK9ip-IubCWY/s1600-h/003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5117065518468371986" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhwP1cbAz3beEXlQoBoFVQLgfQl5WvfCebN7bUcJoKZsnc7MJZ4Ld73QVtJss4EljlpUELlqOkOlQK0oj45PTHGWGovpHlMEL2hjAFZKXgkmxZrSfLDi8m1eTE0VxEOtiK9ip-IubCWY/s320/003.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguepMg6uGQXJVq486-S2olCSfgrRQl5BOgmEhik6Nb8G_lQhtFc2u_POh2-1xdgVcg-qbhXDyis9uvO7faPnyJKmFZKYB2xhRWetUl-nF4pqASMdeI1JOtDjn6PQBXx0SXDjH263yz7bk/s1600-h/002.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5117065372439483906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguepMg6uGQXJVq486-S2olCSfgrRQl5BOgmEhik6Nb8G_lQhtFc2u_POh2-1xdgVcg-qbhXDyis9uvO7faPnyJKmFZKYB2xhRWetUl-nF4pqASMdeI1JOtDjn6PQBXx0SXDjH263yz7bk/s320/002.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div></div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-20605507891485984072007-10-01T14:52:00.000-04:002007-10-01T16:10:42.108-04:00First 24 hours in Iraq<div>After what has seemed an eternity, I've finally made it to Iraq. I had very long flights from Ft. Benning to Kuwait - via Ireland - and then a long drive from Kuwait city to Ali Al Salem Air Base. From there, it was an hour and 20 minute flight via C130 into Baghdad. This was a HOT HOT flight. We sat on the runway for 25 of the longest minutes of my life. Full body armor packed in with lots of oth<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6dzHwY9KDu0y3OGsZuNzbjZ4AODnpKrXBl7HblgKq6v9pvNVwf2IeQXfqGhw8323QyVnM_PTq2D8NJ5sLf2caYcAbJRMPgFebUQvVwqU4MqjP9ZR9Mr6ivXQzSxjXtQT-GaYOWflJTk/s1600-h/polehole.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116447373890229682" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6dzHwY9KDu0y3OGsZuNzbjZ4AODnpKrXBl7HblgKq6v9pvNVwf2IeQXfqGhw8323QyVnM_PTq2D8NJ5sLf2caYcAbJRMPgFebUQvVwqU4MqjP9ZR9Mr6ivXQzSxjXtQT-GaYOWflJTk/s320/polehole.jpg" border="0" /></a>er people in the blazing sun sitting in a tin can. Not fun. Once here, LT JG Bob and I were greeted by a member of JIEDDO and driven to our compound. As far as living conditions, it's not too bad. I'll put up some pictures soon. The interesting part was the large fire fight that took place a few hours after we got here. The bad guys decided they wanted to shoot something in our general direction and it was a full on shoot fest with the base security guys. These bullets were whizzing by within feet of us. I've attached a picture of a light pole sitting about 25 feet from where my bed is. The bullet I'm holding did not make that large upper hole - a larger caliber round did. I could see tracer rounds flying feet over head before I quickly retreated to my trailer, an<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijet9NfEIUEQ-S3ZeQHu8XZ3w2zqW7o1YbaeuEMxeMFHRVu7t-g7FcrDDpIzVMyRGIZzqS2GVSTl0s0ZMGFvykREkBA5akuQ8cfuQ1rZFLB2qwqBDsRL5QzAoKYVHuR5_ZMSz1n65mp_s/s1600-h/iraq+007.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116461766325638626" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijet9NfEIUEQ-S3ZeQHu8XZ3w2zqW7o1YbaeuEMxeMFHRVu7t-g7FcrDDpIzVMyRGIZzqS2GVSTl0s0ZMGFvykREkBA5akuQ8cfuQ1rZFLB2qwqBDsRL5QzAoKYVHuR5_ZMSz1n65mp_s/s320/iraq+007.JPG" border="0" /></a>d someone with a different angle said they could see the sparks from rounds bouncing off the street in front of us. Lucky for us we have 12 foot concrete barriers around o<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQTGXJYXE_L7iMYQqmDxf1hIg8vHFQZA3XNcFAuzBhtBHF691WwxXNm08zo7a20Qd23ko5-p9j-71RzP1x3LGH3rA8cZYMxWDEcrhVcxAb1KGIQ2FfkObw7GL_Q9tE23F0wbQe4qNC8Y/s1600-h/rocket.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116450212863612354" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQTGXJYXE_L7iMYQqmDxf1hIg8vHFQZA3XNcFAuzBhtBHF691WwxXNm08zo7a20Qd23ko5-p9j-71RzP1x3LGH3rA8cZYMxWDEcrhVcxAb1KGIQ2FfkObw7GL_Q9tE23F0wbQe4qNC8Y/s320/rocket.JPG" border="0" /></a>ur sleeping quarters. (you can see one of the barriers in the background) The round I'm holding is from an AK47 and I found it this morning on the roof of the building we use for offices. This morning, as several of us were standing outside discussing the previous evenings firefight, two large rockets flew overhead and impacted our base. These landed a long distance from us, but the explosions were very loud and unnerving. In the picture, you can see the smoke from the larger impact (this is a couple minutes after it hit).</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>This may sound a bit strange, but people didn't really get very worked up by any of this. It was just business as usual. It wasn't really scary - just strange. I'm not sure how to explain it. </div>Andyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234226126518602809.post-28943446644859142532007-09-29T05:12:00.000-04:002007-10-19T15:41:35.414-04:00A cold morning in Ireland.It's been very hectic since my last entry. I spent the last week at Ft. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Benning</span> learning the Army way of deploying. There were over 400 people being processed together so it was like being in a herd of cattle most of the time. Civilians and contractors out numbered military 2 to 1 and of the military, there were only 4 people who weren't in the Army. Two of them weren't going to Iraq so that just left Navy Lt JG Bob (who is also going to work at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">JIEDDO</span>) and myself as the only non-Army.<br /><br />The training consisted of lots of briefings, medical screenings, and military training. We have briefings about Iraq, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">IEDs</span>, first aid, weapons, tactics, and on and on and on. We fired the M-9 at and interesting range with multiple pop up targets, and we even practiced throwing hand grenades. It was a packed week with days that lasted from 10-12 hours. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">accommodations</span> were interesting. The Army has a different standard than the Air Force, but it was not too bad. We were issued all of the gear needed for the next year - uniforms, sleeping bag, body armor, and lots of other stuff. Bob and I are now stealth Army guys - we have Army uniforms so people think were Army officers until they take a look at the service tapes and see Navy and Air Force and then they generally just look confused. It's kinda fun.<br /><br />We boarded a contract flight out of Ft <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Benning</span> and we're currently on a refueling stop in Ireland. In a couple hours we'll load back up and head off to Kuwait were we'll switch to military aircraft for the final hop to Iraq.<br /><br />Stay tuned for more after I get to Iraq and get set up.<br /><br />AndyAndyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05078054884830931260noreply@blogger.com2