013108 Day 2 of no water

So yes, it can get worse than no water. We had plenty of bottled water but people have immediately hoarded that as well so for most of today there was no coffee since there was not even bottled water. And it rained again today as if God himself is mocking the water problems here. Of course the military could just 'take' the water but then that might (would) invite the only retribution that the locals here know and we'd be headed to bunkers at all hours due to mortar attacks.

Below are a few pics that show the rain clouds but there's a hint of orange due to the dust still in the air.

013008 When it Rains it Pours - Day 1 No Showers, No Laundry

So its wet and windy and rainy in Iraq right now but our water situation has gone from bad to worse (not unlike the global subprime mortage meltdown crisis but that is a different story). Basically we have no laundry service now and this is day 1 of no showers. To use a toilet I now have to walk about 100 yards to a communal toilet trailer. The Army did send out a nice PowerPoint presentation (the Army REALLY likes PowerPoint). I've attached a few of the pics from the presentation below. But overall Urgh, it's gonna suck for a while. Some women here are REALLY upset! A few of them just figured out that no water for a shower means no water for the toilet. I'd like to say 'at least we're not getting shot at!' but we went to bunkers just yesterday.

012808 Water rationing and a lawn in hell.

We're still on water rations and things are getting worse. We may soon go to 'Phase II' water rations. This means:Two showers per week (with shower sentries) Tuesday and Friday 0500 – 0800 & 1900 – 2200 Port a Johns Only Tues & Fri Laundry 3 Kg Limit Water Distribution No Ice distribution So this will REALLY SUCK. Eh, part of life in a war zone.

Also the Sergeant Major here has decided that we need a lawn out front. This sorta reminds me of those MASH episodes where they would have a 'putting green' in a combat zone. WTH (why the heck) would anyone want a lawn in of all places, Iraq?! While it would be nice to have, a lawn consumes copious amount of water and is it really a good use of the taxpayer's money??? Well, we'll probably have a lawn and below is a 'before' pic of said future lawn.

Also below are two pics of the gnomes we're thinking of buying for said lawn. Anyone have any pink flamingos they want to contribute???

R/Chris

012708 Vultures we are

Iraq has two seasons. One is a hot, dry season (summer) the other is a cold, wet season (winter). Right now we're still in winter and it's cold and wet and dang muddy. Unusually enough, the base is now on WATER RATIONS. Laundry is curtailed, only disposable dishes are used in the DFAC (dining facility), and 'combat showers' are required. Now the Tigris river, which is full to its banks, flows less than a 'click' (kilometer) away. From what I've found out, the Army was paying some local to watch the water inlet (for the base water supply) to be sure nobody blew it up. Well, the Army either decided not to pay him or reduced his fee and LO AND BEHOLD 'someone then blew up' the water inlet when 'he wasn't watching'! If you've watched a few Sopranos episodes then all of this makes perfect sense. If this doesn't make sense, you may be living a sheltered idealistic American life. Anyway, I suspect the Army will start paying this guy again and I'll be back to my Hollywood showers.

We also receive 'stuff' every now and then from the states. We've received letters from school kids, care boxes, etc. Usually anything received goes in the breakroom here and like vultures, we pick it apart quickly. Last week we received a big box of coffee from the Yellow Ribbow Society of Cincinnati and a box of 'pocket flags' from the Pocket Flag Project. It seems there is a group of weblos in Colorado somewhere working on their humitarian badge by folding 4x6 inch plastic flags into 1x2 inches and sending them to Iraq. I'd say of a box of 50, all were gone in two days.

Vultures we are (yea, I got one).

012508

Below is a dumb pic of me and my co-worker (bee). She's been here in the MidEast for over 3 years now so she has senority on me and makes me do things like being a target for a marshmellow gun (for her entertainment). Now before you think, "Gee what a wuss, he can't take a hit from a puny, soft, squishy marshmellow?" You should realize that a marshmellow from a toy pump-air gun can be a formidable projectile.

It rained here the other day so there is mud everywhere. Its in the 30s at night and 50s during the day. Fortunately its supposed to be clear and sunny again by tomorrow but we still haven't had the 'big rains' that Iraq usually has at this time of year. Eh, we'll see what happens. Such is life in hell.

012208 Sunday Bloody Sunday

Below are some pics of the final mass casualty exercise I did this last weekend. The 'blood' was food dye which will NOT come out of clothing and the 'protruding intestines' look pretty real in person as well. While we practiced the drill twice I wonder how I really might have to do this stuff for real. Frankly I hope I never find out.

012008 Remember Matt Maupin

Today we received some coffee from the Yellow Ribbon support Center of Cincinnati OH. It was basically a big box of 25 packages of coffee. This will last for a good month or so and it was very kind of them. The box was plastered with 'Remember Matt Maupin' stickers. Matt was abducted while on a convoy operation. His 'sergeant'(boss) at that time is now the Command Sergeant Major for the command where I am located here at Balad and he still remembers Matt and how he had to communicate the news of Matt's disappearance to Matt's parents. I've met some interesting people while over here. While at CRC in Houston a few years ago I met a retired Sergeant Major named Richard (Dick) Rambo. 'CRC' is the week long orientation that one attends before deploying to the Middle East. Long story short, Dick Rambo was a retired 'special forces' Sergeant Major simply working on his post-retirement career with KBR. I got to know Dick pretty well over the week and still keep in touch with him but it was only after we were both deployed to Iraq that I found out Dick was THE RAMBO which the Rambo movie series was based upon.

Here are some pics of the Combat Lifesaver Course instructors. I'll post pics of our final exercise tomorrow. The 'wounds' that we treated were pretty realistic looking.

011808 Thursday Bloody Thursday

My internet has been very intermittant so I've missed a few day's worth of postings. I'll try to catch up. As a civilian on an Army base, we're expected to 'pull our weight' at times and this includes potentially caring for wounded personnel at the business end of a mortar attack. Last summer there was a bad day here at Balad when several soldiers, airmen and civilians (US and Turk) were killed in a mortar attack. I think there were 9 deaths and 13 serious injuries. Recently an opportunity came up to attend the 'Combat Lifesaving Course' and I chose to do so on my off hours. The course is also at night so my schedule has been up at 6 AM, office at 7 AM, leave work at 6 PM and then Combat Lifesaving Course till 9:30 PM. It makes for a long day. The class is about half discussion about 'what to do and why' and the other half is hands-on training. Part of the hands-on training is administering an IV. Needless to say I'm pretty sure this is a skill that one improves upon with repetion and practice. Below is a pic of me getting 'stuck'. It really wasn't so bad as the pic seems to imply. Another hands-on skill that we practiced is shoving a 6 inch rubber down your partner's right nostril since airway breathing problems are the second leading cause of 'preventable deaths on the battlefield'. The trick here is lots of lube! And if you don't have lube the rule is to spit on it and it'll go in. After that tube was in I could feel it way down the back of my throat. Not everyone could do this however. There were a few guys that wussed out.

Internet down....again

Today is Wednesdady 1/16 and my internet started working last night after nearly a week hiatus. It's been pretty dang cold here (relatively speaking of course.) Every night is in the 20's and it's been warming to high 40's or low 50's by noon. I'm tired of it being cold but it's not wet...yet. There are two seasons in Iraq, the hot/dry season and the cold/wet season. When it rains, EVERYTHING is muddy. Mud is everywhere. But it hasn't rained so I'm wondering when it will start to rain.

Friday 011108

It snowed at Balad, Camp Anaconda today. It's not much but it's rare here and we ran out and took some pics. The first pic (below) is me in front of the mosque on base. Camp Anaconda was an Iraqi air base before it was Camp Anaconda. So there are facilities here that are being re-used but the mosque is off limits and surrounded by a fence. General order 1A prohibits any US soldier or civilian from entering a mosque. (No, general order 1A does not say 'unless you are muslim...'). There are problaby some big ass camel spiders and snakes making a good home of the place while it's unoccupied.

The next pic is of me and some Humvees. The 'rhino-nose' is put down while the vehicle is in motion and outside the wire to trip any IEDs that are activated by an IR beam (like in a garage opener).

The next pic is of me and the snow accumulating on some car hoods.

The next pic is a view from a top hooch. You can barely make out some snow below but this gives you an idea of what soldiers and civilians live like over here. How big is a hooch. It's a standard sized shipping container that you'd see on the back of a truck in the states. It's approximately 12x20 foot. Does one 'really' need much more than that?

The last pic is an ad I saw in Stars and Stripes newspaper advertising jobs here in Iraq and the middle east. Yes, they hire all the time. KBR, ITT, Dyncorp and many other companies hire. It can be tough to live here, but for me the alternative was a cubicle at Microsoft. Living/working over here certainly isn't for everyone either.

010708

Right now its a bit chilly in I-rak. At night its in the 30s and by morning its freezing. On my bike ride to work I see frost on car hoods and patches of ice where there are usually puddles. The sky is a crisp,clear blue (as you can see from the pic below). You can also see your breath but only thing that other pic shows is that I haven't shaved in several days.

I spent Saturday night watching a movie (I am Legend) with a friend. A 'DVD' (vs a 'theater' copy) of the movie was being sold at the haji-mart and I picked up several copies. I'll be sending them out and if you want one, I'd be happy to send you one. You just have to ask. On Sunday I learned that an old friend relapsed back into drug abuse. I had high hopes but its not looking good. Living in a 'controlled' environment like Iraq would have probably done him good.

010608
The weekends here can be pretty boring like today. And since my boss (his name is Don) is on his R&R (rest and relaxation vacation) that means I'm on my 'Don-cation'! Actually we're all on doncation for a few more days. Another co-worker travels alot for his job and he recently went to Baghdad and below are a few recent pics. He actually went to Camp Victory, which was a hunting compound that Sadaam used as his own provate game reserve. It's only about 4-5 miles away from the center of Baghdad itself. There are also a few of his palaces there the biggest being the Grand Place which is now the Coalition Headquarters and a smaller one, the Perfum Palace when he kept his concubines is somewhat an office building and museum now. The Throne Room in the Perfum Palace is a Green Beans coffee shop. Go figure huh?
Anyway, here are some pics.

010508 In Iraq

My internet here sucks. I have to pay $300 a month so that I can access the internet from my hooch that allows me to connect to the 'good stuff'. The computers in the office (Army/Gov't) have blocked blogs, auctions, music and many other band-intensive sites. And the internet in my hooch can take 'forever' to upload a pic over 100kb. THUS this is my excuse for the last month. I was hoping it would get better, but it didn't and it probably won't.

Anyway, here are a few pics of me and the satellite dishes, me and our 'charley brown' christmas tree and me under the gazebo at 4:00 PM. It's the dead of 'winter' here so it rains (it rained a little today) and the sun sets early (the photos shows the long orange rays of the sun).

I've also chatted with a few guys online who actually are thinking of working over here. Well, they are hiring at all times and it is an adventure. The living conditions can be anything from a tent (I lived in a tent for 4 months initially) to multi-person barracks complete with bunkbed and snoring roommates to a 'hooch' that may or may not share a toilet and shower. Generally the work is 7 days a week, 12 hours a day in Iraq and Afghanistan unless you're in Kuwait (then it's 5 day x 8 hrs). The weather can be hot, really ridiculously Death Valley hot and dry. You'll also be on the other side of the world, so it's about 10,000 miles away from most places in the US (but shorter distance along a great circle path.) The biggest thing is that you don't really 'live' here, you just seem to do time. Everyday is a Ground Hog day (so to speak). I know its Friday when they serve fish at the DFAC. And so like the military here, prisoners and animals in a zoo, everyday is the same dang thing except on Holidays when we get a really nice meal.

There are pluses though, you do get an adventure.