040110 Living at a small FOB

040110 Living at a small FOB

Above are a few pics that show some of the other aspects of a life at
a FOB. One pic is my bed while at Kalsu and another is me standing in
the housing area. One of the pics is the 'food court' where you can
get a Pizza
Hut pizza or a cup of Green Beans coffee. The other pic of me under
the tarp is at the APOD (air terminal) at
Kalsu. Finally, there is no sewer system at the FOBs (or for that
matter at Balad either.) When you flush the toilet the waste water
goes to a 'black water' tank. From there it is moved via taker trucks
to 'ponds' on
the edge of or outside of camp where evaporation and algae do their
job. Potable water is in different tanks
and generally (of course) is heavily chlorinated. As you can see it's
a Spartan-sorta life.
R/Chris

033110 Kalsu and What's is that blimp up there?

033110 Kalsu and What's is that blimp up there?

Pretty much all the camps in Iraq look the same. Up in the north you
will see more (the only) trees while in the south at Tallil, I think
things looks dustier and it sure seems hotter in the summer. But for
the most part, 'you've seen one, you've seen them all.' So above are
a few more pics of Kalsu. In one of the pics you can clearly see the
blimp above the camp. Attached to this blimp is a very expensive
camera which can probably see the print of a newspaper better than I
can at arm's length. The blimp is there to 'keep an eye on things' and
just about every small camp has one. If the camp gets incoming (as in
mortar rounds) the camera will swing around to find the source an
appropriate action will be taken (usually from a few armed helo
mounted rockets.)

At Balad there is no such blimp but rather a 24 hour around-the-clock
CAP (Combat Air Patrol) consisting of two F-16 aircraft. When we get
incoming at Balad, the CAP is vectored to 'intercept and destroy'.
Whadda life huh?
R/Chris

032810 Flying Over Iraq

032810 Flying Over Iraq

A few weeks ago the weather was great here in Iraq and perfect for
running at noon. Last week though it got cold and even it rained here
yesterday. I've had to bring my jacket out of summer storage since
it's so chilly at night now. But at just over 1000 feet in the air
traveling via helo it's downright cold! One has to wear a long sleeve
shirt or jacket while in a helo and I wish I would have worn a jacket.
Anyway, bitch, bitch, bitch...
Here a few pics over Baghdad and Camp Kalsu. The pic of people in
helmets and flak jackets is the group that was headed out to the helo.
This is the Camp Kalsu Air terminal waiting area. There's also a pic
of a palace. There are quite a few palaces in Iraq that Sadaam had
built and he moved from place to palace on a daily basis I understand.
You can also see that Iraq has fairly modern freeways now and the
houses are jammed next to each other. People in Baghdad generally
live in different neighborhoods depending upon what 'tribe and sect'
they were born into. And how do they know this? It's printed on your
passport! Whadda life huh?
R/Chris

032610 Traveling in Iraq...sucks

032610 Traveling in Iraq...sucks

Every now and then I travel to different sites in Iraq. Usually I
travel to do server maintenance or training. Traveling in Iraq is not
generally a pleasurable. Sure you get away and go see different
things but honestly, one base in Iraq looks about like any other base
in Iraq. To travel to the smaller FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) we
travel via helo (affectionately called Catfish Air). On the first day
of 'trying' to get to FOB Kalsu the weather was too dusty (see pic
above with me outside in the blue shirt). Now honestly it's really
not that dusty but since the Air Force runs air ops, they tell the
Army helo pilots it's 'too dusty' to fly. So, on day one, I sat
around at the Catfish Air terminal all day and watched TV and read my
Seattle Times Sunday paper. Fortunately, there is a Green
Beans Coffee nearby (pic above) enclosed in T-walls so it wasn't such
a bad day. Just waiting...travel in Iraq can sure suck.
R/Chris

16MAR10 Rules...we meant to be broken...

16MAR10 Rules...we meant to be broken...

Living on an Army base overseas in a hazardous duty area comes with a
certain amount of rules. Some are just plain dumb but I do try to
follow...most of them. My pet peeve is riding bikes on the sidewalk.
It used to be a non-issue until some AF major (the base mayor at some
time past) thought it would be a good idea to
prohibit bikes on the sidewalk and make them share the road with 10
ton HUMMVs and MRAPs. The guy is probably long-gone now but his
'legacy signs' are still there.
Another pet peeve is wearing headphones in non-designated areas.
Basically the whole damn base is a non-designated area (evidently)
except for in one's hooch, the gym and work areas. That means wearing
a headphone anyplace else is prohibited (like running outside.) In a
recent 60 Minutes interview with General McCrystal in Afghanistan, the
general pointed out that he starts his day with a run around the base
WEARING HEADPHONES. So much for that General Order 1A rule! Anyway,
if you're a general, you can disregard that rule (or you can just wear
a hat, that works too!) The pic above is me as I go running. I
always wear a hat (see above) and I've started running now with a flak
jacket to increase my endurance. I'm not sure yet if it's working but
after a few miles I sure feel it.

R/Chris

15MAR19 Pics and stuff

15MAR19 Pics and stuff

In two weeks the outdoor pool opens up for the summer. (for a pic see
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11072377/). The temps will probably hit
100 this week or next too. Today it is very nice out there and the
evenings still cool down to where you don't need or want a coat any
more. Basically, it's just right. In the north near Mosul it may
rain again before summer but there'll probably be no rain here. In
the south near Tallil, I'm sure the temps are already hitting 100 and
over. As places go in Iraq, Balad is pretty nice. I've had to live
in tent for many months while at Tallil and certainly have had to take
'water bottle showers' when there has been no water here at Balad.
The conditions that solders and contractors have are pretty much the
same. In the housing area where I live it's about a 50/50 mix of
mil/civ. And 90% of the mil in my house block are reserves so that
makes it even easier. The 'hard core' Active Duty mil (Special Forces,
etc) generally have their own housing area and don't mix well with civ
or even the reserves. I try to post a mix of pics and comment on this
blog but am really sure if I have the right balance yet. For more
pics of Balad/Iraq you can visit the following link. There's lot of
stuff there but it is somewhat 'sanitized'.
http://www.balad.afcent.af.mil/photos/index.asp
As a contractor I can only relate what I've seen and experienced. It
is certainly not all-inclusive and my pics can be pretty bad at times.
Eh, overall, it is what it is.

R/Chris

031410 Winter is too cold to run and summer can be too hot to run

031410 Winter is too cold to run and summer can be too hot to run

I try to run at lunch time here in Iraq to keep in shape. The Army/AF
does a great job of providing the facilities to keep in shape but you
still have to go there to take advantage of such. By far, most of the
guys (and women) in the gym are under 30. Iraq can be a tough
environment so it helps to stay in shape. Military personnel are
generally given 'time on the clock' to work out. For contractors
that's generally not the case. I've been running at lunch time every
other day now for about 2 weeks. I leave at 12 sharp, change, run,
shower and ride my bike back to the office. It's a tight schedule but
I can do this in about 1 hr +- 5 minutes. I'll then suck down a
protein shake for lunch and I'm good to go.
The weather will be quite tolerable until Jun or so when it gets
really hot. Anyway, here are a few gratuitous pics.
R/Chris

031310 Winter is over, spring has sprung, summer is right around the corner

031310 Winter is over, spring has sprung, summer is right around the corner

Winter (uh, the wet season) is over and spring has sprung. The best
time to be in Iraq is the spring and fall. But in temperate regions
of the earth there really is only a wet season (winter) and a dry
season (summer). Only recently have I had to start running the AC at
night and I safely pack away my light
jacket until this coming October or so. The weather is pretty nice
right now but soon enough it'll get dang hot.
Two of the pics show the new sidewalks (aka Iraq public works
projects). They were put in by an Iraq company and are about a foot
thick (I don't know why). After the sidewalks are poured and hard,
the Iraqis come back and using a diamond saw, cut lines across the
sidewalk every 5' or so. This is so that when the slab cracks (which
it eventually will do) that it will crack along that line. But they
could draw the same line across the concrete while it is still wet and
save a lot of time and energy and efforts. But that is not the Iraqi
way....
Alson in one of the pics is you can see the American flay painted on a
t-wall. That is the post office. The other pic is of me in front of
where I work.
We still get attacked about 2-3 times a week but they're still damn
lousey shots. Pretty damn exciting huh?

R/Chris