The President and the Sandstorm

Sounds kind of like a children's story doesn't it? Well, it has been busy here, a welcome change from the first few weeks of this little "vacation." Yes, I got to see the President (kind of). While I do work in Al Faw palace, and he did speak at Al Faw palace, I was one of about 2,000 people there that day. The media reported a few hundred, but they weren't counting everyone who was already there because they work there! The balconies were crammed full of people trying to get a view/photo, to the point where I thought we were in danger of having a catastrophic structural failure, especially since this place was built using bubblegum and scotch tape. I was stuck on the third floor since they closed off all the staircases for the duration of his visit, but I did manage to get one semi-good photo. Trust me, the black man speaking on stage really IS President Obama, REALLY!
And now the Sandstorm. No, Obama wasn't caught in a sandstorm (though wouldn't that have been an exciting media moment?). I was. Just this week I was to accompany my boss' boss (Brigadier General Walker) to a conference in one of the border regions. We were supposed to fly out to a place near Ramadi, about 150 Km west of Baghdad. It should have been a short 30 minute C-130 flight to Al Asad airbase where we were to get on a Marine CH-53 helicopter and fly into the conference sight. We had with us the Iraqi Director of Ports of Entry (a 2-star general), one of the Ports of Entry directors (a 1-star general), and a regional border brigade commander (a Colonel). We ended up flying halfway across Iraq to the north to pick up some other people going to the confrence, and then heading back south to Al Asad. What shold have been a 30-minute direct flight, ended up being a 2-hour flight with an extra stop. Once we got to Al Asad, we thought all was going well, since our helos for the next flight arrived on time, we all loaded up and then took off. Then we turned around, and landed back at Al Asad. It turns out a nasty sand storm was on the way and we couldn't fly, well, we could fly, just not land which is an important part of the flight some would argue. Anyway, so we got stuck at Al Asad, and what was going to be a day trip to Ramadi, turned into an overnight stay in Iraq's western desert in a sand storm. At least I was able to stay in some nice temporary billeting (travelling with generals has its advantages), but I learned a valuable lesson. Always listen to the advice from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, always bring a towel. It would have made the overnight stay MUCH more tolerable. Still I got to sit and take notes as General Walker discussed issues with two Iraqi generals, and I learned first hand quite a bit about Iraqi culture and perspectives. I also found the answer to a long-time question of mine. When working with a forgein leader through an interpreter, its proper to keep eye contact with the foregin leader while the interpreter is speaking, which is harder to do than you might imagine. Try responding to questions someone is asking aloud while focusing on someone who isn't talking.

Yes, this IS the President down there. I like this picture because it shows the crowd and the excitement more than it shows the President, a perspective the press didn't show.

Here is lovely Al Asad airbase. It used to be an Iraqi Air Force base, and now the Marines have taken it over. Not much out there but sand and wind.

Our ride into Ramadi that ended up being a big lap in the sky.

And this was why we couldn't fly. Umm, which way was the chow hall again?

Some people like walks on the sand. I got to take a walk IN the sand! The mask and glasses is not to look like some train-robbing bandito, but to let me breathe without inhaling the dust; it's like brown talcum powder. Hmm...train robbing asa second career maybe? Probably more time at home with the family...

31 days and 17% down, 151 days and 83% to go

Greetings and salutations! I have another few minuteso n a slow Sunday morning and it's time to update y'all on the goings-on here. I have actually had a pretty busy week or two, a welcome change from the first several days here. At the end of each month I have to put together end-of-month reports and summaries, so it does take a bit of my time. Our Commanding General (or CG) also got back from leave and so he is driving a lot more taskers to get done. The good thing is that it's making the time go by faster! There's been a lot of turn-over in people here this month, and so I've taken a trip or two to go out and meet some of the new people that I'll be working with and for them to meet me. One of these was to FOB (Forward Operating Base) Prosperity in the International Zone, or IZ, which used to be called the Green Zone, which used to be called a big target. The folks I visited lived and worked in a bombed out palace that, to the best of my knowledge is called the "palace of the four heads" mainly because sadaam had four giant sculptures of his head in brinze or something placed out front. The heads are gone now, one is in the Smithsonian (or so I hear) one may be in the British Museum, and the other two may be in the Baghdad museum which just recently opened up. I'm sure given a few years, someone will make a movie about them. Indiana Jones and the Four Heads! National Treasure...Baghdad's Big Heads! But I digress. The palace is still standing (obviously since people work there) even though 7 JDAMs hit it in 2003. I got to go up on the roof and get some pics of the damage that 7 500-pound bombs can do to poorly put together steel and concrete. Emphasis on the poorly put together too, seeing the construction of some of these buildings is absolutely terrifying, especially when you're standing 100 feet up on top of it! I think the buildings stay up because they're so light due to all the voids in the concrete (ask a civil engineer or anyone who knows what a "slump test" is and they'll tell you voids are bad things, especially in load-bearing walls). The trip over to FOB Prosperity was an uneventful event. I mean that because it was my first convoy, and it was extremely boring, which is a very good thing. The situation over here has gotten much safer, to the point where taking the armored bus (affectionately called the Rhino) from Camp Victory over to the IZ is a pretty dull, everyday thing. We still have to wear all our "battle rattle" but the threat has been significantly reduced. The Iraqi Army is ensuring the roads in Baghdad are much safer than in the past.
I'm starting to settle in and figure out the way the Army does business. They like to have meetings, a LOT of meetings. They even have meetings to get readty for pre-meetings before they have a meeting (I'm not exagerating either). They will hold a meeting to get ready for a teleconference during which they will discuss what they're going to say at the next teleconference. Maybe that's just headquarters staff in general, but it makes me crazy! I was in a meeting where we spent 15 minutes of intense discussion on whether to change a rating scale from 4 colors to 3 and the potential impacts. The best part is, they tabled the discussion until the next meeting! I'm amazed anything gets done at all. Well, I should really get going, it's time for me to get back to work, fighting the insurgency one PowerPoint slide at a time!



Don't ever accuse the Army of being unsafe. See how concerned they were about some spilled oil in the parking lot? If you look close enough, there may be room for 1 more cone...
Here's an entry hole from one of the JDAMs that hit the "four heads Palace"

From the roof of the palace we could see the second largest mosque in the world, apparently still unders construction.

Here I am on top of the "Four Heads Palace" with evidence of what happens when you make yourself a target for the Air Force.

Waiting for the "Rhino." See Mom, I'm being safe and wearing all the protective stuff they issued me.