061609 How hot is it? It's too hot to leave a light on! (pic3)

pics

061609 How hot is it? It's too hot to leave a light on! (pics 2)

pics

061609 How hot is it? It's too hot to leave a light on!

It's now hot everyday but honestly, I know it'll get hotter. When it
begins to 'hurt' when standing in the sun then that's hot.
Regardless, it's still hot. The usual policy here is to keep one's
porch light on during the night for others to see while walking etc.
But now we're told to turn off all lights inside and outside our CHU
(containerized Housing Unit - aka 'hooch') because stuff is cracking
and or/melting. The following is notice from housing here.

"Please turn off all lights inside and outside of your living quarters
when not in use. Due to extreme temperature and the heat index being
very high through-out the day, we have had some minor incidents of
where the outside lights of a CHU get too hot and crack the glass
casing, as well as the bathroom heating element on the water tank gets
too hot and explodes, so please if you are not utilizing the lights
inside or outside your living quarters, turn them off."

Also, people want to know what we do here and the answer is all sorts
of stuff. Above are some general pics of life here at Balad from the
shared drive I found.

R/Chris

061109 What time is is?

When I was in the Navy I have a 'love/hate' relationship with the
Navy. Some things I loved, some I hated. One of the things I really
enjoyed was working with some very cool and interesting people. (Uh, I
hated gettin seasick.) In one of the pics above is Tony Eisenhard
(he's the big guy that stands out). Tony played football at Ohio
State. Here's his short bio.
-------------------------
Eisenhard attended Ohio State University on a full athletic
scholarship, earning three letters in football and another in
basketball.He also played for the 1996 Rose Bowl champions and the
1998 Sugar Bowl champions before graduating with a degree in
sociology.
Eisenhard joined the U.S. Army in 2001 and graduated from Officers
Candidate School as a second lieutenant in 2002.
------------------------
There are lots of other cool people here as well.

Another pic is me and the 'mailman' being caught like deer in the
proverbial headlight.

The main purpose of the command here is maintenance. One of the pics
above shows some of that maintenance.

Also, the 'other' battalion commander had this cool LED clock that
indicated time for the east coast (EST) as well as Baghdad time. Our
commander had to 'one up' that so there's now an LED clock for 4 time
zones (as if I couldn't just subtract 7...)

R/Chris

061009 'Tanks for the memories...'

There's a junkyard here at Balad as there's a lot of junk. In a
previous blog (last year) I posted pic of some of the MIGs in the
junkyard here. At the junkyard in Mosul there are tanks, lots of
them. Here are a few good pics of the tank junkyard at Mosul.
R/Chris

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass (pics4)

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass (pics4)

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass (pics3)

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass (pics3)

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass (pics2)

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass (pics2)

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass

060909 R&R and an 8 Day Pass

As a contractor in Iraq I get one vacation every six months. When I
worked for KBR, I got a vacation every 4 months. Soldiers (who are
here on a 12-13 month assignment) 'generally' get one R&R vacation
back to the states at the six month mark plus 1 or 2, 'Four-Day'
passes to Qatar. And of course for everyone (mil and civ) the 'needs
of the mission' come first. Even if you GET your pass or R&R, you
have to get OUT of Iraq and that can be a trial of patience. For me
to just get from Balad to Kuwait I'll budget 2-3 days and this
involves just going to the APOD (our version of an airport passenger
terminal) and waiting for a flight, any flight that might go to
Kuwait that I can get on. Of course I won't leave there until I get a
flight as you never know when a flight might land and be available to
take passengers to Kuwait. This is basically the same experience for
soldiers.

When (IF) I do get to Kuwait, I have a mandatory overnight stay while
my Kuwait VISA is processed. This means my passport is reviewed by
the Kuwaiti authorities for any unpaid bills that I might have in
Kuwait (this is only for civilians.) Then I'll get on a bus and go
to the Kuwait airport where I'll generally get on a plane for a 13-15
hour flight (non-stop) to DC. In short, one generally needs a
vacation to recover from going on 'vacation'.

Anyway, above are some pics of Qatar that I received from the
battalion chaplain who just came back. He had a good time and as you
can see, the capital city Doha is a modern city. I think Doha and
most places in the Mideast (Kuwait, Dubai and Iraq) have more than
their fair share of tacky architecture (giant oyster shell, tower of
Babel?)

R/Chris

060709 General Pics of JBB, What you Can't see is the Heat and Noise

060709 General Pics of JBB, What you Can't see is the Heat and Noise

Attached are some general pics around JBB (Joint Base Balad). The
MRAPs have the elongated PVC tubes on them along the top to coax wires
up and over the vehicles since they are so tall. Sometimes the wires
then encounter are just low hanging telephone and power wires.
Sometimes the wires have a more sinister purpose. Since soldiers have
the be in a uniform 24x7 here, you'll see alot of soldiers in PT gear
in order to not have to wear a full uniform. Some civilians and
foreign troops are authorized to wear shorts. US troops have no
uniform of shorts that is authorized in Iraq. The US military DOES
however authorize short in D'joubti (the horn of Africa). The reason
is because Iraq may be hot but in D'joubti its REALLY hot!

And while the pics that I post may look nice one thing that you cannot
see the the Heat and Noise. Right now (June) it hot but it'll still
get hotter. It probably averages 110 or so now and when I ride my
bike 'home' at night at 9 or 10 PM, it's still about 100F! The
coolest time is around 4-5 AM.

Also there is constant noise from generators that produce electricity
to run (among other things) A/C units to keep cool. A generator is
quick to install and initial cost is cheap however generators are very
inefficient power producers. The base is switching to a more
efficient, high voltage electrical grid (thus the new power lines).
The new systems will allow many small generators to be eliminated as
electrical power production will be consolidated and then distributed.
The new power lines will last years... It's as if someone knows
something about how long the US will be in Iraq....
R/Chris