092608 Holidays on a Military Base

Generally a holiday on a military base means that the meal for lunch
won't suck. Like animals in a zoo, we tossed an extra bone but
otherwise it's business as usual. But Hallween is a little differnt.
The base command (402nd AFSB) puts on 'Haunted House'. Last year it
was a bit lame as they took a room and partitioned it into corridors
and then you had to walk through it like a mouse in a maze. Given the
rules that they had, they did a good job but evidently this year's
event is better and at a bigger venue. For example, last year they
were barred from using chainsaws and fake blood since that was 'too
much'. But this year I've been told it will be 'much' better. And I
don't care how tough you are. If some guy covered in 'blood' is
coming at you in the dark with a running chainsaw (sans blade) it's
DAMN scary!! We'll see how it goes.
R/Chris

092508 Nice sunny day, no explosions for a while, I've yet to replace my camera

092508 Nice sunny day, no explosions for a while, I've yet to replace my camera

Today is a nice sunny day and the dust storm from a week back is all
but a photo memory. I still get question about if it was 'really that
orange' and the answer is still yes. And NO, one REALLY tries to stay
inside on days like that. It's not healthy at all. We've had a few
attacks during Ramadan (a-ding-dong) but overall it's been VERY quite
this year over last. Every year the security/peace out there has
gotten better (that or the bad guys have run out of things to fire at
us!) Either way, I'll take it. I'm tired of running to the bunker.
The improvement in
security here has financial implications for some of the contractors
here. You can read the story below but the message seems to be 'do a
good job, get paid half'. And I've yet to replace my camera that I
dropped into a cup of coffee. I'll do that soon and will take some
more pics.
Also recently there was a CH-46 helo that was on its way from Kuwait
to Balad (here). The helo crashed (no survivors) just north of the
Iraq border and the crash has been attributed to causes other than
enemy air fire. To get from Kuwait to Balad everyone here utilizes
military aircraft. And you don't get to pick what you might be flying
on. A few of the people that I work with were supposed to be on that
particular flight but got bumped in priority by other military
personnel. Even with that I'll never hesitate to get on a military
aircraft. Oddly enough, I just consider it part of the job.
Here is a link on the helo crash.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57583
R/Chris

091708 I live on Mars

In the last few days we've experienced the worst dust storm I've seen
in Iraq. It started Sunday night and at first looked like a light
snow. But walk outside and you'd taste the grit in your teeth right
away. The days have been truely orange. The pic below was taken at
about 3 PM on Monday afternoon and by that time, cars were driving
with headlights on and the bats were already out. Not only is the
dust inconvenient but it is simply not healthy at all. I start
gargling Listerine right away during these dust storms. Dust storms
can last a few days and it's just dust. A sand storm can be as short
a few minutes to a few hours dangerous due to the winds and what gets
picked up and thrown about.
Yea it sucks but what are you going to do?
R/Chris

091008 Lightening, thunder and a bit of rain, fall is here

091008 Lightening, thunder and a bit of rain, fall is here

Yesterday started with cloudy but still bright skies and then thunder
and even a bit of rain. Usually the first rain isn't until October or
November here so this is early. I still haven't replaced my camera (I
dropped it in a cup of coffee a few weeks ago) so I have no pics to
post but really not much has changed.
And by saying it 'rained' here I mean that it barely rained enough to
make the ground wet in places before it evaporated just as fast. So
it's not much of a rain.

R/Chris

090108 Pig roast in Iraq

090108 Pig roast in Iraq

I've been (lazy/procrastinating/busy) so I've not posted a msg in a
while. I also dropped my camera into a cup of coffee a week back so
I've yet to order another one. Anyway, my apologies to those who do
check in here.

The sergent who teaches knife fight had a birthday pig roast last
week. I've been to more dang pig roasts while in Iraq than I've ever
been to in the states (which isn't but one)! A big roast is quite an
effort and takes hours just to prepare and 2-3 hours to roast the pig
(depending on size) but DANG it's good! You may wonder where/how does
one even get a pig (a whole pig) in Iraq? Well, the answer is Germany.
Evidently the cost just to transport such item is about $200

On another note, I think/hope summer is almost over here. There still
may be a few more hot days in September but by October they'll
probably close the outdoor pool. The other night my AC pretty much
gave out in the middle of the night and while I tried, I didn't sleep
much at all that night. It's fixed and I keep the temperature at 18C
now.

I'll try to blog more and I do appreciate the comments.