tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12823389490860803042012-01-27T17:03:21.507+03:00I'm an Air Force officer currently assigned to the Army post at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, attending the Army's Command and General Staff College. By and large, the posts contained below come from my experiences and impressions in the military. Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to drop me a line or post a comment.USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.comBlogger781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-90531421005965565312008-11-10T07:21:00.003+03:002008-11-13T00:09:55.261+03:00

8 Nov 08It’s been a long hiatus since I was blogging in Iraq last year but I’ve finally had time and tales to share that you may find interesting.This past summer we moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where I was selected to attend the Army’s Command and General Staff College. We are divided up into some 80 classes of 16 students. Of course, the preponderance of students are Army, however, each

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-53503252193789057992007-08-03T09:26:00.000+04:002007-08-03T10:08:37.497+04:00

3 Aug 07Mike and I said our goodbyes the afternoon and evening of the 1st. I was surprised at the number of Brits that caught us in the halls, in the dining facility or came by to wish us well. It was a nice send off.Several of the guys there really looked after us and we wanted to do something nice for them. Ultimately, I decided to get them an American flag and picked some up while I was on my

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-10316616203990567052007-08-01T15:25:00.000+04:002007-08-01T22:56:51.410+04:00

1 Aug 07You may have heard by now that my departure has been moved forward. As opposed to having to extend 3 extra weeks to spend quality time with my replacement, they actually moved my replacement's report date forward by 3 weeks so I actually leave Basrah in the early morning hours tomorrow. Mike is also leaving with me.Dan left last night and was to meet up with us in Qatar to catch a rotator

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-68003590188064306392007-07-30T19:27:00.000+04:002007-07-31T18:39:36.668+04:00

30 Jul 07Adnan was a lieutenant at the end of the first Gulf War. After the war the base was summoned to the south of Iraq to help put down the Shiia uprising. Adnan was left in charge of a small contingent of maintainers. Late one afternoon some 100 villagers from a nearby town attacked “Saddam’s forces” (Adnan’s 15 maintainers). Adnan ordered the men to fire their weapons over the villagers

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-73145915426602267092007-07-29T19:11:00.000+04:002007-07-30T19:12:49.685+04:00

27 Jul 07For my 5+ month tour we have tried to get to the range to fire a bunch of ammo our predecessors left for us. Today our British friend, Lee, arranged a day at the range for us alongside the RAF Regiment who was qualifying on their weapons. It was no ordinary day though. The Brits were keen to fire their heavy and light weapons also and they had a bunch of ammo from their predecessors

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-40456827917563892622007-07-29T14:55:00.000+04:002007-07-30T19:06:54.646+04:00

26 Jul 07Lt Diya (not to be confused with my other friend Dhiaa…we call this one “Diya, Jr”) brought a cake in the other day to announce that he is getting married. A few days later one of our maintenance officers, Lt Ali (also not to be confused with my friend Major Ali), came back from his home town and announced the same. They are both in their late 20s and are very excited about getting

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-28364636663740723032007-07-20T14:31:00.000+04:002007-07-23T20:15:08.359+04:00

18 Jul 07If you haven't figured it out, I’ve come to be quite good friends with many of the Iraqis and they tell me they have great respect for me and what I do for them. Not every day is a picnic working with them (some days are far from it) but we have all agreed that business is business and not to be confused with the person.I try to help them out in small ways and, of course, I share

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-80002813192013892222007-07-12T14:19:00.000+04:002007-07-13T09:45:05.320+04:00

12 Jul 07Before I went on R&R I worked with the British to allow our IqAF members to come on the RAF camp to use their gym. First though I wanted to set some ground rules for the Iraqis to make sure they didn't abuse the RAF's generosity or get themselves hurt. Before they could use the gym they had to do a safety brief on how to use the equipment and secondly they would only come to the gym

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-18810084863290891552007-07-09T21:43:00.000+04:002007-07-13T10:59:54.391+04:00

9 Jul 07Back from R&R...what a great time! I went to the Army's Camp As Sayliyah outside Doha, Qatar. It was a great time.I took a red eye C-130 down to the USAF base Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar and arrived in the early morning hours. It was a British C-130 and of course those guys were great when I got there. To save me time running around to all the USAF agencies, the Brits offered to store all my

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-39202436914500124972007-07-01T09:12:00.000+04:002007-07-03T12:55:13.755+04:00

2 Jul 07The British Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) guys from MND-SE recently came to see us about a commercial campaign (or "advert" as the Brits call it) they have been running on the Iraqi Armed Forces called the "Sons of Iraq" series. They started with a 30 second commercial filmed in an Arabic style showcasing the Army then the Navy and Border Patrol. Scifi was on leave so I met with them

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-73626041170726765322007-07-01T07:43:00.000+04:002007-07-01T21:05:20.745+04:00

1 Jul 07Several weeks ago the British Entertainment Committee approached us and asked us if they could throw us a 4th of July party. Of course we said yes but I was surprised and had to ask "you do know the significance of the 4th of July, don't you?" They assured us they knew but that it would be a good theme for a party. The only catch was the Brits are allowed to have two beers once a week on

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-88424701018162420812007-06-30T00:14:00.000+04:002007-06-30T11:30:53.061+04:00

29 Jun 07Just back from what should be my last trip to Baghdad. This one was a bit different from all the others in that I was actually there for work vice professional education. Scifi and I attended a conference in the International Zone (the “IZ”…aka the “Green Zone”).We had to take a helicopter ride over from Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) to a landing zone in the IZ near the US Embassy

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-6132970568788120762007-06-29T23:42:00.000+04:002007-06-29T23:43:40.660+04:00

23 Jun 07Got up and ran the Sather AB 5K today. It was mostly gravel so the dust was bothersome but it was a good way to start the day.One point on the course took us by the flightline. I noticed a C-17 parked backwards on the ramp and several Stryker fighting vehicles assembled not far behind it with their company flag unfurled. In front of the Strykers were several white bread trucks. As I

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-84407945956418271962007-06-29T23:34:00.000+04:002007-07-02T23:45:43.629+04:00

21 Jun 07On the road again this time traveling with Scifi. We caught a ride up to Baghdad with the British then hopped on the Iraqi Cessna Caravan headed to Kirkuk. Scifi was going up to attend a squadron activation ceremony there and needed a travel partner. He and I have to attend a conference in the International Zone ("the IZ") in downtown Baghdad in a few days so it made sense for me to

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-16397561912508227872007-06-11T21:58:00.001+04:002007-06-13T16:33:21.553+04:00

11 Jun 07Off in Baghdad again. Got to fly up in the Iraqi Air Force’s newest aircraft--a modified Cessna Caravan. It’s a great little aircraft and has a large forward looking infrared and video pod the Iraqis will use for reconnaissance. It came down from the Kurdish north to pick up one of our colonels. Two of us needed to go to Baghdad so we asked him if we could get a ride. We took a longer

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-36187604917042587612007-06-05T17:13:00.000+04:002007-06-05T17:33:48.723+04:00

5 Jun 07Our sqdn interpreter, Mustafa, didn’t come to work today. He called Adnan to say that his cousin had been killed and he was going to see the family. Adnan described the country as a lawless place where people kill one another and no questions are asked and no one is prosecuted. He said a friend of his family described Iraqis as dead people walking around…they all expect to die soon.Adnan

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-2039640481371907482007-06-05T17:06:00.000+04:002007-06-06T06:50:02.337+04:00

4 Jun 07Whiskey invited us to another cook out Saturday night. I think claims of British cooking being bland and uninteresting are very exaggerated (though a curry dish is on the menu every night). Those guys cooked up some of the best burgers, chicken, and bratwursts I’ve ever had. But not just that, we eat very well each meal in the chow hall. We joke that they couldn't mess up chicken if they

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-1518345010555948092007-06-01T10:00:00.000+04:002007-06-04T10:54:52.837+04:00

31 May 07Back from my third trip to Baghdad to take another test. One of the Dans and I went up Sunday. Dan is replacing Curtis who has been at our Baghdad operation for a month. Dan will spend a month there then back here. We were set up to fly in a RAF C-130 up there and reported to the terminal tent at 1815 (6:15 pm). When the acft landed they had maintenance problems and had to send for

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-29851256172932809822007-05-31T11:22:00.000+04:002007-06-04T10:59:53.688+04:00

29 May 0720 years ago today my dad drove me over to the Military Entry Processing Station at Ft Jackson, SC and spent the day with me as I enlisted in the U.S. Army. I was excited but scared...seems like a million years ago now!You might know that I'm a proud Sandlapper. It really bothered me that I had been to Baghdad twice before but didn't have my camera to get my picture taken in front of the

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-72326118667145467682007-05-31T10:43:00.000+04:002007-06-04T10:53:28.014+04:00

27 May 07Happy Anniversary, honey! I’m off to Baghdad today.The militia has been caught off guard by lots of changes in the Coalition/British rules of engagement and increased capabilities. As I mentioned earlier, after Abu Khadir was killed the insurgents attempted to retaliate against numerous MNF targets. We found out later that 26 British soldiers had been surrounded and in jeopardy of being

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-46975715292962451992007-05-31T10:40:00.000+04:002007-06-04T10:57:18.884+04:00

26 May 07Abdul Raheem returned from Baghdad today. He was with our deployed operation up there. I asked him about Jasim, the missing Iraqi Army soldier and son of his neighbor. He said the young man’s family went to Baghdad’s Medical City based on the info I gave them but was unable to find him. They believe he is dead. I called all around the Coalition hospital system and found no information

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-67081066182407691612007-05-24T18:00:00.000+04:002007-05-24T18:17:44.034+04:00

23 May 07Adnan is from Basrah but was stationed in Baghdad in the years before he married his wife. After the marriage was arranged his parents were obliged to throw a party. They called him in Baghdad and told him to bring a bull home to slaughter for the party. He went to a local farm and bought a bull. He intended to transport the bull in the back of his Toyota pick up truck so loaded the

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-71805578005803936432007-05-21T22:19:00.000+04:002007-05-21T22:32:08.800+04:00

21 May 07We had a great evening Saturday night. Mike met some guys from the next camp over who invited us over for a cookout. Whiskey is a very likeable Royal Marine. He was wearing a USMC t-shirt and refered to his American cousins all night. He’s stationed with a UK Army engineer company next door at the Turner Camp. They have quite the oasis over there. We had a great time and had a great time

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-1914025151470460862007-05-18T13:58:00.000+04:002007-05-19T07:32:04.594+04:00

16 May 07Just saw the news that the British Army Chief of Staff has decided not to allow Prince Harry to deploy to Basrah. As expected, it would be too dangerous for him here.18 May 07So we figured out why the Czechs talked so much trash about soccer…that’s because they’re very good. They beat us 4-1. The Iraqis got really frustrated and it showed on the field. They had several penalties that

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-72999308142257447262007-05-15T18:04:00.000+04:002007-05-16T16:30:38.126+04:00

15 May 07The Danish got into quite a fight yesterday in downtown Basrah. It wasn’t clear in the briefing how the fight began other than three of their platoons were operating in northern Basrah when they were contacted by the insurgents.Early in the fight they had one member critically wounded and called for medical evacuation. When the aircraft arrived on the scene they were expecting one

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-52245758564938727522007-05-14T21:56:00.000+04:002007-05-14T22:20:21.280+04:00

14 May 07We had quite the dog and pony show today. As the Chief of Defence Staff (they spell defense with a “c”), Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup is the top military man in the UK; a post equivalent to our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He came to Basrah to visit the British troops and asked specifically to come see 70 Sqdn. I suspect part of the visit was to assess whether Prince

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-12582168125429641892007-05-10T07:26:00.000+04:002007-05-11T23:05:09.716+04:00

9 May 07I just got back from another interesting trip to Baghdad. I went up Sunday to take another test and got back Tuesday evening. I know it isn’t like this for all our forces in Baghdad but visiting the US bases at Baghdad is a nice break from the day to day happenings at Basrah. It’s just nice to move around without your body armor.I flew up to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) Sunday

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-46407574090891645612007-05-06T08:14:00.000+04:002007-05-06T08:33:41.521+04:00

6 May 07Temperatures are rising fast. Today was 101º but we’ve already had temps up to 105º…and it’s early May! It isn’t even a dry heat either. Basrah is only a 30 or so miles from the Arab/Persian Gulf so it’s very humid.Adnan used to work at the port of Umm Qasr as a ship agent. Umm Qasr is only a few miles up the Shatt Al Arab River from the Arab/Persian Gulf. Despite that, he has never seen

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-37049848770277625232007-05-06T07:57:00.000+04:002007-05-06T08:14:24.128+04:00

3 May 07Most people know Muslims don’t eat pork. However Halal (“permissible”) food requirements are much more complicated than a simple commandment not to eat pork. We like to share our care packages with the Iraqis but whenever we give them something they thoroughly study the ingredients before they eat the contents. Much like Kosher foods, Halal foods must be prepared in a certain way. For

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-13790260320309249942007-05-02T12:51:00.000+04:002007-05-02T14:15:41.009+04:00

1 May 07Susan’s birthday today…happy birthday, honey!Last night's festivities were the work of a single IDF team firing rockets at the base for just over 3 hrs. They would “shoot and scoot” firing from several locations south of the base. The Brits would fire back but by the time they fired the team would have already moved to a new location, set up a defensive perimeter (a level of

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-28604988934200373082007-05-02T12:33:00.000+04:002007-05-04T13:14:55.525+04:00

30 Apr 07There are lots of mice in the Iraqi squadron. Some time ago Susan sent me a bunch of mouse traps. Adnan saw them and asked for a couple. He had them in his car and forgot about them until yesterday when his wife saw a mouse. He hunted through his car to find them, set them in his house, then left to go to the market. When he returned his wife was locked in their bedroom and the boys came

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-33297443508636571902007-05-02T12:32:00.000+04:002007-05-02T12:33:47.589+04:00

29 Apr 07Ali is back from his time off. He came to see me today and said the IqAF had issued him a pistol to take back and forth to his house for personal protection. It was a really nice Walther PPK 9mm pistol. He asked if I had any bullets I could give him. The sqdn gave him the pistol but they had no money for bullets. I commented that it was a nice pistol and he replied, “yes but without

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-57840850346645776772007-04-28T15:46:00.000+04:002007-04-29T14:53:45.253+04:00

28 Apr 07The RAF Force Protection (FP) guys came to see us today about reinforcing our hangar and office buildings with sand/concrete walls. Flight Lieutenant (pronounced “Lef-tenant”) Dave is the officer in charge of the operation so came to survey the area. After the survey we had a long talk about the COB and security within it.Dave works in the FP Cell which is in a concrete bunker but with

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-70594091161455528472007-04-27T10:26:00.001+04:002007-04-27T12:56:51.589+04:00

27 Apr 07I had a bizarre visit in the middle of the night last night. Mustafa is our squadron interpreter. The contract agent for interpreters is Nathan at the Army's Camp Bucca. Nathan said he would be down last night to give me Mustafa’s contract renewal form and to give me Mustafa’s back wages. He was coming on a convoy which seemed to me to be an exceptionally dangerous way to conduct

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-75574625229479562302007-04-27T09:55:00.000+04:002007-04-27T10:41:33.543+04:00

26 Apr 07It seems to me the Iraqis form friendships on a much deeper level than the average westerner. They are always very mindful of others’ feelings and always very polite. The average Iraqi isn’t like the guys you read about in the newspaper so ready to kill westerners, Americans, or Christians. Much as we misunderstand Iraqis, the Iraqis and even the Brits misunderstand that we Americans

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-64073861488889027912007-04-23T14:27:00.000+04:002007-04-27T09:29:27.872+04:00

22 Apr 07Still no word on Abduhl Raheem’s neighbor though one hospital said if he died before actually being admitted in the hospital (i.e. triage) he wouldn’t have been logged in to the hospital database.We get rocketed routinely and with the British recently handing over two other bases in the province, the insurgents have stepped up their attacks on our base. The other night I set a personal

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-66042858950847630502007-04-20T00:12:00.001+04:002007-04-23T14:30:17.765+04:00

20 Apr 07Hit the 60 day point today…only 119 days to go.Allah has 100 names and he told 99 of them to his messenger, Mohammed. Mohammed in turn gave 99 of the names to his followers. Many Muslims name their children one of the 99 names. Allah told Mohammed he gave he whispered the 100th name into a camel’s ear for it to safeguard and explains why the camel is so contemptuous of and crass

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-17128746112119851512007-04-20T00:11:00.001+04:002007-04-23T11:21:28.668+04:00

18 Apr 07Lots of rockets throughout the day. Finally at about 1600 the Brits returned fire. Seems to have quieted them down a bit.Rockets again at 1930. Man, it was close! Sounded like a 240 just on the other side of the camp. I set a personal record with 5 separate attacks. Though only 14 rockets.The day I returned form Baghdad I met SciFi in the terminal to do turnover. He was heading home on

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-960365740730001872007-04-20T00:10:00.001+04:002007-05-01T12:41:13.471+04:00

Rocketed twice today in the middle of the day...very uncharacteristic of the insurgents.

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-62544534869754251942007-04-20T00:09:00.000+04:002007-04-23T11:24:12.132+04:00

16 Apr 07Got back from Baghdad tonight. What a great experience though my security senses were heightened for the first 24 hrs. Once we landed, the acft parked some ½ mile from the passenger terminal. We grabbed our gear and walked into the open darkness of the flightline led by a UK Army corporal. We walked past what seemed like dozens of US helicopters all with motors running and taking off

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-5734010248855777182007-04-20T00:08:00.001+04:002007-04-23T11:25:41.310+04:00

12 Apr 07Rockets today during lunch at Allenby. We eat lunch almost exclusively at Allenby and have never been rocketed there…broke the streak today. More rockets this afternoon.The Brits are conducting an “Operation Miller” in Trenchard lines. The goal of Op Miller is to find all the Iraqi local nationals that are squatting in the camp. It seems many local nationals may have had a valid reason

USAF Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05327654975071702769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1282338949086080304.post-24637117964673450232007-04-20T00:07:00.001+04:002007-04-23T14:32:05.696+04:00

11 Apr 07Found out the rockets yesterday were in response to a British show of force operation downtown. It sounded like well over 30 rockets but there was outgoing mixed in (we aren’t accustomed to hearing much of that).Tried to head up to Baghdad today. Got two rocket attacks while I was at the terminal. I had just walked out of the tent when the first round exploded. Ran back inside, got my

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10 Apr o7Wow! Huge rocket salvo this afternoon at 1700…17 rockets. Second salvo at 1830…7 or so more. Sounded like a thunderstorm. Another rocket at 2030. About 30 min later they announced there would be a controlled explosion at Habaniyah/Trafalgar Lines. Radio traffic indicated a rocket must have landed there but not exploded.Rained like a son of a gun in the late afternoon. Everything leaks

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9 Apr 07Earlier I mentioned that Col Abduhl Hussein lost his 4 year old son to leukemia just 2 weeks before I arrived but still comes to work each day simply to keep his mind occupied. Today, I walked past the colonel's office and noticed he had a picture of his son displayed on his computer screen. I stopped out of sight for a second to steal a glace of the small, good looking boy. A few minutes

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8 Apr 07Windy day today and no flying. Heard an explosion at 1540 followed a second later by the “attack” alarm. Seems the warning system isn’t very reliable in the wind. Another alarm at 2150.I ran the Basrah Easter 10K before going to the Easter service this a.m. For the first 5K I fought back and forth with two RAF blokes. Every time I would get at their shoulder they would surge ahead to keep

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7 Apr 07Rocket alarm today at 1400 though we never heard anything…an afternoon attack is out of character for the insurgents; they should be napping.At prayers today, Group Captain Neville asked me what I was doing at 11:00 a.m. Naturally I replied, “whatever you need me to do at eleven, sir.” He invited me to join his RAF team in a fire engine pulling challenge against the Royal Navy during

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6 Apr 07Most westerners know Islam is broken into two factions: Sunni and Shiia. To use a western comparison, you might equate Sunni Islam with Roman Catholicism. There is one central doctrine and they believe the rulers of Islam after Mohammed were popularly elected.Shiia Islam is similar to Protestants in that there are several “denominations” or sects based on the number of appointed rulers

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5 Apr 07On our way to dinner last night we happened on the repatriation procession for the two UK soldiers killed here recently. UK military police (MP) were standing in the intersection at parade rest while stopping traffic. We got out of our vehicle and stood at parade rest with them and several other vehicles followed us. As the vehicles carrying the coffins approached the MPs came to

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4 Apr 07Found out today that there were actually four rockets. One was a 240 with the 75 lb warhead. The other three were 107s with a 15 lb war head. All three 107s landed in the middle Camp Bravo. For reference the Iraqi camp butts up to Camp A which is a couple hundred yards wide. The rockets hit a sunshade above their hooches and exploded down into the hooch. There were three T3 casualties (

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3 Apr 07We got a new guy in a few days ago and we’ve had at one or more rockets every day he’s been here. Today we got three rockets. The first was this morning around 2 a.m. and seemed fairly benign. Two more rockets this evening shook all of us. I was in my hooch and heard what sounded like a aircraft maneuvering as he passed overhead. In actuality, the sound was the rocket passing overhead.

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2 Apr 07The squadron’s chief warrant officer, Abdul Raheem, returned from leave yesterday. We found out that it wasn’t his nephew that was recently killed as was reported to us earlier; it was his brother. According to Abdul Raheem, his brother was driving his car when an insurgent who didn’t know him “assassinated him.” His brother’s son had been killed by insurgents 2 years earlier and Abdul

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31 Mar 07In our hangar we have a brand new ambulance that was delivered to us from Kuwait. However, during the overland trip up from Kuwait the truck that was carrying the ambulance was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED). We were told the driver was killed. The ambulance was damaged extensively and rendered useless. It has been sitting in the hangar for months. Likewise, we have two

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30 Mar o7Tonight is daylight savings in Iraq.At dinner last night Ali told me that his 10 year old son called him from Baghdad to say he had gotten “a very good mark in mathematics.” Ali asked him what he would like as a reward. His son replied simply, "an American pencil." He said his son thinks American pencils must be better than pencils made in China simply because they come from America. But

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29 Mar 07There are two very ancient and famous rivers in Iraq that eventually become one river. The rivers are called the Al‑Farat River and the Dijila River. Once they merge it’s called the Shatt Al Arab River and flows through Basrah at which point it forms the border between Iran and Iraq. However, neither river is known by its Arabic name outside of Arab countries. They are the Tigris and

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28 Mar 07Two more rockets this morning around 0400 both landed just outside the wire by Waterloo Lines.The other day we were playing volleyball with the Iraqis. As we were leaving one of the older Iraqi maintainers, Abdullah, was ribbing one of our guys. Our guy returned the rib and said something to the effect of “We’ll get you next time, Alibabba.” Abdullah rushed over and pretended to wrestle

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27 Mar 07I attend the British wing staff meeting almost every day. Both at home station and while deployed the British call the wing meeting “prayers” though no one is certain why…“it’s just always been called that.”I sit next to Squadron Leader Charlie Allen (RAF major equivalent) at prayers. When we first met he introduced himself as an engineer. I figured out later that they call their

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24 Mar 07Before discovering oil in Iraq, dates were one of Iraq’s principal exports. In Basrah they have several date palm forests. During the Iran-Iraq war, many of the forests were destroyed. Adnan explained that the date palm is a very delicate tree. If you shoot it with one bullet, the tree will die.Apparently it is also an emotional tree. Adnan said it is a well known fact among date farmers

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23 Mar 07Dhiaa has been invited to go to Ft Riley, KS for nearly all of April. He’s just waiting on his visa now. He has only ever traveled outside of Iraq once to Turkey. He only wants to spend the time required at Ft Riley and intends to spend all of his free time experiencing American culture. Before Gary left, he convinced Dhiaa that he absolutely had to eat at Hooters. Dhiaa has no idea what

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22 Mar 07Adnan decided I needed to learn more Arabic. Today we covered the Arabic alphabet and I learned to write my name. Dhiaa came to the same conclusion and decided he was going to give me 20 words per week to memorize. I can think of at least one Spanish teacher and a high school chemistry teacher who would tell them they’d have better luck teaching a rock!I was watching the news tonight

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21 Mar 07Adnan has mentioned several times that Iraqi insurgents come from outside of the country (principally, Syria and Iran). I asked why the two countries want to see Iraq so unstable—their next door neighbor and a brother country in Islam. He said it’s because of President Bush’s “Axis of Evil” list. Both Iran and Syria are currently on the list so believe that if Iraq stabilizes then the

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19 Mar 07We got a tour of a Royal Air Force Merlin helicopter the other day. It’s a great helicopter and the Brits are exceptionally proud of it. The aircraft was recently selected by the USMC as the replacement helicopter for the helicopters currently used to fly the President. The Brits are very proud of that fact and when they speak of it they sound like they’ve pulled off a massive coup—the

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16 Mar 07Went two days without running water in the compound. We only had water for 3 hours today. Hate that. To top it off, we had a dust storm all day and into tonight. Visibility was less than ½ mile.A US Marine captain stopped by to visit us the other day. He is embedded in the Iraqi Army performing the same mission we are—training and building up their Army. He was traveling to the prison at

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15 Mar 07Got rocketed tonight. Explosions from two sounded fairly close. Listening to the force protection radio, I heard there was a third rocket near the air traffic control tower that didn’t explode. Their building is just a block and a half from our squadron building. SciFi was right next door when all that was going on.

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14 Mar 07The guys that stay here in the compound come down from Baghdad, Fallujah, Najaf and other areas and stay several weeks then go home. They said they enjoy staying on the compound because we always have electricity and water (usually). In Baghdad they said they only have electricity for 2 hours a day. They cook by propane and those that can afford it have generators to power a lamps or the

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13 Mar 07We have cell phones at work but they get limited reception so far away from town. We were night flying but Colonel Sami came in at his normal time intending to stay all day and into the evening. However, he forgot to tell his wife that he would be home late. Throughout the day he tried to call tell her but could not get reception. It was late at night before he could finally get through.

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12 Mar 07While preparing one of the Seekers for flight today, one of the IqAF maintainers noticed a hole in the armpit of the right wing. We investigated the damage and I found a damaged spar where the round must of pierced. Luckily it was a dry bay. Twelve inches forward and it would have found one of the inner wing fuel tanks. The damage apparently happened yesterday during flight but neither

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11 Mar 07We currently only have three guys on station from our team. Everyone else is in Baghdad supporting missions up there. Of the three of us, only DC and I live in the IqAF compound. Mike lives in the British compound “Trafalgar.” Trafalgar has its own exercise tent, dining facility, etc so he stays put most evenings. DC doesn’t like to leave our compound so we eat most evenings with the

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9 Mar 07Discussed prejudices and racism today with Ali. We covered racism in the U.S., Iraq, and the rest of the world and agreed that it exists universally and is unacceptable. I couldn’t resist asking about Israel and why it is such a source of animosity to so many leaders in the Middle East. He said, the people he knows don’t care about Israel. I was surprised. Given the present situation 1)

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8 Mar 07A cold encounter today. We were at the terminal waiting for mail and struck up a conversation with three foreign troops. We talked their national politics, cultural dynamics, et al for a while. Anyway, all three work in K-9/police dog units. One of the guys is a reservist in their country's army but in his civilian life he is a contract hunter in Africa who works for various national

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7 Mar 07One rocket today…not certain where.I played volleyball with the Iraqis today. Much like soccer, they use some of the same terminology (“out,” “in,” “spike it,” etc.). It was fun but everyone wanted to teach me the numbers in Arabic. I had 4 instructors on the court each of them making sure I had the correct pronunciation. It was difficult to keep track of and I only remember one

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5 Mar 07Woke up to the alarm this a.m. Huge explosion sounded close…shook my trailer. Radio said several Iraqi police cars at the terminal received shrapnel damage/broken windows and the fence at their compound was knocked down. Master Sergeant Gary leaves today…I think this is their send off for him.Adnan and I discussed living conditions under the Saddam regime. Like many here in Iraq, they

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4 Mar 07Night flying tonight.Adnan was telling me about his aunt’s family who lives out on the marsh. They built a home on poles above the water. They have strung net pens around the house and eat fish from the nets for breakfast, lunch and dinner.In the early 80’s Basrah flooded. They built sandbag levies around the city but the desert became an ocean. Adnan and his father went to the flood

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2 Mar 07Really bad dust storm last night. Other side of our small compound was barely visible. Windy still today.Got snail mail for the first time yesterday. That was great…and only 8 days. While at the post office I struck up a conversation with an Army Master Sergeant Lamereaux. He was armed to the tooth. He explained that he is in the Army Corps of Engineers assigned to a British scout or

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28 Feb 07Adnan is 43 years old and has an 18 month old daughter. I commented that 43 is considered slightly old to have such a young child in the U.S. He said it is normal/the standard in Iraq. Men have so much work to do to prepare for adulthood and marriage like going to college, getting trained, finding a job, saving money, etc. that men are normally older when they marry. Additionally (and

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27 Feb 07We live on the Multi-National Division-Southeast (MND-SE) compound at Basrah International Airport. On the compound we have British, Aussie, Danish, Czech, Ghurka, Contract, Latvian, Lithuanian, Iraqi, and US forces. I’m told that nearby there are Japanese and Korean compounds as well. The British are the largest with over 7,000 troops on the ground and have Army, Royal Air Force (RAF),

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26 Feb 07We sent our detachment commander, Lt Col Scifers (call sign “Sci-Fi”), off to Baghdad. Maj Matt Vincent (call sign “Chet”) will follow in a few days. Chet and I were talking about where we are from. He said he’s from a small town in FL I had probably never heard of. Likewise, I told him I’m from a small town in SC he had probably never heard of. He’s from Rockledge, FL where I have

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25 Feb 07Quick history lesson: Iraq’s population is predominantly Shiia Muslim. During World War I Lieutenant T.E. Lawrence of “Lawrence of Arabia” fame was sent by the British to convince various sheiks to rise up against the Ottoman Empire. Prince Faisal of the Hashemite tribe from Arabia (a Sunni Muslim) supported Lawrence and Britain in the fight against the Ottomans. In return, Britain

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24 Mar 07I met a British officer in the Queens Own Ghurka Logistics Regiment (QOGLR). Ghurkas are Nepalese soldiers serving in the British Army. I remarked that I didn’t know the Brits still had Ghurkas to which he explained they’ve had them since the early 1800s when the Brits were at war with Nepal in the former Raj. The British Army recruits heavily in Nepal and for every one Ghurka position

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