Random thoughts from Iraq *** warning very random***

I go through the day often times thinking and often making notes about what I should write at night. There are many things that seem of no consequence but I am sure … well not sure, but think you might like to hear about.

So… tonight I had walked over to one of the offices to make my Friday night phone calls… afternoon for most of you and as I walked out I thought Damn it’s dark. It’s not that much darker than any other night but it’s dark nonetheless. What little light we have on the FOB is stopped by the 12 foot T walls we have everywhere. So walking across the camp can be an adventure and even a little unsettling for a 6 foot 2 inch 185…. O ok 200lb guy. In one of my pictures I just posted you can see my little LED light attached to my US Army Nametape. This is everyone’s handy dandy flashlight.

Calling home is a planned event for me. It’s not as simple as picking up a phone and speed dialing your BFF; best friend forever for those of you not so internet savvy. First things I have to consider is what damn time is it back home? The best invention ever is my dual zone Timex that takes a lot of the guess work out of it. But of course this year Iraq decided not to play the daylight savings time game. Did you know that not all countries do the savings game at the same time….. It’s just crazy. Ok back on track the phone call here we go. Ok now that I have consulted my watch and done my algebraic equation (sarcasm) to make sure I’m not calling someone at 3 am well unless it’s Micca and she’s working then it’s ok. She works thirds. IT’s called random thoughts for a reason… lol Micca and I have often played this game of how did we get on this topic and would ,ap out each step for each other…. More randomness… are you still with me lol. The phone call right. Time is checked and then I walk across the camp to my buddies office. He has the good one that calls to other military phones at no cost. So I call camp Lincoln in Springfield…. This is why Friday’s are important, well any week day. So I call camp Lincoln and get somebody there. I ask them to connect me to another number. Then I pray for an answer. Now If I do get an answering machine I must leave a message and this is why. Almost everyone has caller ID these days and the number that rings in is out of camp Lincoln. So if you were a person that screened your calls and didn’t answer you might call the number that just called back. In this case Imagine my wife calling back to camp Lincoln not knowing that it was a camp Lincoln phone number. (Camp Lincoln is the State National Guard HQ) People could very easily jump to conclusions. I will leave it at that. Whew!!!
OK moms and dad’s this is where the kids stop reading

So no kidding there we were… I’m telling this joke cause it made me cry I laughed so hard and it was totally of fthe cuff. One of our group is a school teacher who teaches Biology and we got on the topic of birds and what kind we might see there. She said she would have to get a book so she would know. And one of the guys (not me) says maybe you will get to see the very elusive double breasted bed thrasher. Now reading this isn’t near as much fun as hearing it happen in conversation but thus far that has been my favorite line
If you can’t tell I’m in a writing mood tonight.
I had a great conversation with Micca and my parents tonight. It is always great to hear about home. I plan on trying to call the kids tomorrow. I feel so out of touch with their lives right now. I can’t tell Micca enough how much I appreciate her spending time with them. I know she does it because she wants to and cares for them but… well I don’t think a lot of kids are as lucky as my 2 that have such an involved stepmom. She is the best. Everyone should remember I am not the only in the family that is in the Army. My whole family is and I often think they have it tougher than I do. I have plenty of company in my misery but Micca and the kids have to go quite a ways to be able to talk with others that can relate.
My last random thought for the night… I may have mentioned this already. Did you know we have to take bottled water to the bathroom with us to brush our teeth. The water we bath in is not fit to Drink.
One last comment. I understand that a lot of people are reading what I am writing. I hope I didn’t lose you tonight.

came back to edit because I remembered something funny we were talking about in the mess hall. There are some words like Shiek i think I spelled that right that is commonly pronuced SHEEK here at home but the proper way to say it is SHAKE. We got to laughing tonight wondering if the most important people in Iraq know if they are associated with an ice cream like substance that tastes really good. ok I'm done I did lots of stuff tonight.

But please feel free to ask questions. As the year goes on I’m afraid I will bore you to death.

Thanks,

Brent

Things that will be wierd when I get home

I was on the airfield the other day and a bunch of contractors were talking about what they would have to get use to when they got back home.

Going to a resturaunt and paying for a meal... we eat for free all of the time
Going to a convienience store and paying for a soda or gatorade... kind of like the one before this we have all of the gatorade and soda we could drink
YOU MEAN YOU ACTUALLY PAY FOR BOTTLED WATER ROFL
Getting up in the middle of the night to go pee and not having to walk around the block to find the bathroom... well we don't usually do that we recycle our water bottles in a different way.
You mean I cant drive down the middle of the road or even on the wrongside and those stop light things are for everyone else
Hearing the noon fire alarm and trying not to find the nearest bunker
Driving off from the gas station without paying
Dusting every damn day
I can wear something besides ACUs and PTs??
CLearing my weapon before I enter a building... every time we enter a building we have to clear our weapon... lots of ammo=accidents and this prevents that.

So I posted a couple new pictures... those of you that know me well, know it wouldn't take long before I caught a gecko. Mom and dad can tell all kinds of stories about me and whatever insect or animal or worm I could find when I was a kid.

SO what did I do today? Well not to much more than the usual it was pretty slow. I think I'm going to be ready for my helicopter if it ever comes. I'm getting caught up and even getting ahead to some degree. It's a good thing I replaced 2 people otherwise I would be very bored and boredom is something I need to stay away from.

Thats it for now

You've Got Mail!!

Today was the first day we recieved mail since we have been here. I received 2 boxes from Micca and 2 cards one from Don and Dawn and the other from Cheri. I really do appreciate the cards and support. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal to get mail but I have to say I was quite excited. Ashtyn even sent me her latest and greatest artwork. It now has a place on my wall. My walls are steel so it's like a big magnetic bulliten board. I think the boxes Micca shipped were sent around the 20th of March. Unless you are going to use those special boxes it doesnt make much sense to send it priority. They get here roughly the same time. Our mail comes by truck every couple of days... well it has been a week since the last one.

I took a minute to take some pictures today... one of the card sent since it was of grandma and the other is of my building that I work in. The one side isn't that heavily fortified whereas the other side is T walled and bunkered up... taht is my side :).

I've continued my daily routines and found my motivation today to get quite a few things done. I am reveling in the fact that I am not directly supervised and I don't have anyone working for me which is even better. I know that may sound wierd since the Army has trained me for years to be a leader but it is kind of nice to have that break. I really enjoy just doing my own thing and not having to coach people along to get things done. That means I have to actually get up from behind my desk and do stuff rather than tasking others to do it. I was even given the opportunity to have someone work for me and I quickly declined.

Today was a little warm, in the mid 90s and it felt good to do PT with the sun beating down. The last couple days have been cloudy and dusty.

Well if anyone has been watching the news things are portrayed as being somewhat fragile.... that I wont dispute but I can tell you things here at echo are 180 degrees from what they were last year.

Well now I am going to try and post pictures, that generally ttakes awhile so I best get to it.

The flight=NO GO

Well today I waited on the airfield for my flight that was suppose to arrive at 1135, we have to be there an hour early just in case the helicopter shows up early. Well I cold draw this story out but the short of it is that the weather was crappy and the helicopters couldn't fly or if they did it would be to late for me.

We have problems with dust storms here and that limits the ability for the helicopters to fly.

As I am writing this I am writing a DVD to send to Micca. It should be there sometime next month. It will have everything from Easter up until today.

Also as I am writing this I am listening to President Bush giving a Medal of Honor, its kind of sobering. It probably has something to do with tomorrow being the 5th anniversary of this war. I don't think that came out right. Make no mistake about it I truely believe in what we are doing here. Those of you who know me know that to be true. I always have said what chance do people have walking around in a skyscraper? Well I know what I am getting into to. I wear 45 lbs of armor, have a pistol and a rifle, and if I am in a vehicle it will take nothing short of a tank round to blow it up. I'm prepared, those at home are not. Let me hop off my soap box lol.

Today after I got off the airfield I really didn't feel like doing anything. It's the first time I have felt that way. Eventually I got in the groove. I'm really missing the kids and Micca and I think that was hitting more than usual today. I will continue to immerse myself in my work and try to stay busy.

Forgot about something I so I had to come back and edit this post. I was going through my pictures and realized that there are some significant things going on. We gave some Hummers to the Iraqi Police through the Polish. It was a fairly big event. We decided to get the Iraqi's the Hummers sonner than what we had planned because of the anniversray tomorrow and the suspected cessation of the cease fire. So we may see some fireworks tonight or tomorrow or not. Things around here are going well and are quite stable. Ok enough editing

Well, I'm tired so that will be it for tonight.

Brent

Another day in paradise...... well not really

Well lets see,

The weather here has been very pleasant. Today was in the low 90s with almost no humidity so it was quite comfortable. It was overcast as well and even sprinkled for a minute, it did the same thing yesterday.

I head to Ballad tomorrow for a quick class. Honestly I'm in it for the helicopter ride and tour I could have probably got out of the class but I figured what the hell I have to take the opportunities when they come along. I'm not suppose to get back until late but I hope to post some new pictures in the next couple days. I've got quite a bit of video that I am going to put together here pretty soon and send out some DVDs.

We talked about taking leave tonight and it got me to thinking about when I dhould put in for mine. I'm thinking about shooting for New Years and missing the big rush home. Micca and I talked about taking it later rather than earlier. We will have to see how she still feels about that.

I've been taking a lot of video but it just occured to me I should take more pictures and post them more often.

Well thats all for now, not much to say tonight.

Brent

So how are things different..

So today I was thinking at how different we operate here in Iraq than at home. I will give you some examples. The biggest and most apparent one to me is how we handle weapons and ammunition. At home an individaul is never allowed to keep ammo on his person and is issued in a very controlled manner. Here I have over 1000 rounds of 5.56 (rifle ammo) and about 80 rounds of 9mm (pistol Ammo). Weapons control is way different too. For one we are always taught to never point a weapon at a person, well back home people tend not to pay attention and sometimes when you are unslinging or turning you sometimes inadvertenly point it at them. We call this flagging someone. Imagine that there is a laser coming out of your barrel all of the time and try not to ever make it hit someone. Because are weapons are loaded a lot of the time we have to be much more careful.

Another thing about weapons at home is that if we arent using them they are locked in big elaborate vaults... no vaults here lol.

Bottom line is if Hagi ever makes it inside the wall and starts something I don't think it will last very long. My pistol is on my nightstand and my rifle and ammo are in my locker about 3 feet away. Some may say we are paranoid I just call it being prepared. This is pretty standard so thats why they stand off 15 miles and launch rockets and mortars at us.

Speaking of rockets and mortars. I had to laugh at myself tonight. I had just finished locking a door to our little playroom, I will post pictures of it in a couple of days. Well I heard this whistle I paused and listened some more.... now you have to understand the FOB (forward operating base) has lots of continuous backround noise. Well the whistle go louder.. I started to run for the bunker and quickly relaized it was a atv of sorts that must have had a turbo that was whistling and the motor was masked by the generators until it go closer. I had to look around to make sure no one saw me. LOL. We are all very vigilant knowing its only a matter of time before things start to heat up again here.

Someone posted and asked who our littel friends are. If you look at the closeup of the christmas tree light you can see him hiding behind it. We have a gecko infestation lol. There are 3 or 4 in our little bunker.

If you have any more questions let em fly it makes writing about stuff that much easier.

If for some reason I don't post the next couple of days I have to take a little helicopter ride for some training. The flights here are even less reliable than those in the states. Believe it or not we fly standby too lol. We have been having issues with the weather specifically the dust makes it so we cant fly.

Anyways what is suppose to be a 1 day trip might turn into 3 or more.

Settling in... some more

Hello everyone and special hello to Micca, Drake, Ashtyn, and Dade. Ive been thinking about calling but whenever I do I'm sure Ashtyn and Drake are in School. So as I sit here now I'm thinking I need to go find a phone... but firat I will finish this.

Today was a pleasent day. It was a little on the warm side but hey it's Iraq. Oh yea and there was a dust storm too. But really t was pretty nice. I wore my heart monitor that Micca had got for me. That's an interesting story that I will let her tell. It was pretty cool. I will use it everytime I run which should be daily and I hope sometimes more than that.

I did my usual stuff today and still fell like I'm not getting caught up. I have several projects that I want to fiish and once I have those done then things should run more smoothly. I keep getting interuppted while trying to get this stuff done but one of todays interupttions was rather rewarding. My Polish counterpart had a dilemma. Now first you must understand that the polish are using Hummers that we have provided for them and we are responsible for thier maintenance. They have lots of other vehicles here as well. One of them happens to be this big fuel tanker used to fuel the helicopters. The tires on it are going bad and they have no way to change them. Well I think shoot this is no problem I will ask the guys who do the maintenance on the hummers to take care of the tires. Nope wrong answer they don't put tires on rims here they have the whole thing shipped in. AHHHH but the maint team leader had an idea. There is a company who contracts the convoys in and out of here with lots of semis. SO we toodle over there and talk to the head guy for the contractor and get them to agree to take care of the tires.

Now I really didnt do any work but I got to facilitate the resolution. I felt pretty good. Don't tell anyone but My job is beginning to remind of Klinger off of MASH LOL. No dresses for me though lol.

I'm really gertting to know the people here and the ones that can get stuff done. I think it helps a little that I have the 2nd highest ranking officer on the base at my disposal if anyone gives me to hard of a time. The contractors have to keep us happy or we will find a new one.

Well thats it for now.