Sea Lion VI and the Green Zone

21 Jun

This is why our munitions did the damage they did...

In every language there is term that people use for procrastination and for getting out of a commitment.  In Iraq (Middle East in general), that word is “Insha’Allah,” which means “God Willing” or “If it’s God’s will.”  It takes me back to my Guatemalan days when all I would hear was “Primero Dios, Primero Dios....si Dios quiere...”  Yes, Allah wants you to have processes set in place so when we get out of here you can take over your own country.  In my opinion, “Insha’Allah” is one of the reasons why these countries are still living in the 15^th Century. 

You can’t just hope for something to happen and then “boom!” the job’s done...you have to apply yourself and commit to “SOMETHING.”  Over the past week or so, I have been working on a project, trying to set in stone a process for all of the contractors here in Iraq.  When most of them came in, the country was not stood up as it is today, meaning there were no institutions like the Ministry of Finance or Trade.  Now that these companies are leaving, the govt of Iraq wants to charge levies for those that have not directly supported the military.  Apparently there was one company (sub-contracted under KBR) that decided to make some money on the side from the Iraqi people.  So, I contact the customs folks trying to figure out the timeline for these companies to turn in all their paperwork and get approved/rejected for a Levy Export Waiver.  I asked how long it would take for them to accomplish the process “cradle to grave” or start to finish.  They told me “1 to 4 days”...okay, that is quite a range.  So, I tried to break down the process into phases, assigning a timeline to each phase.  I get called into my boss’ office and he told me that he liked what I was doing, but I had “ruffled some feathers” over in the Customs office.  They don’t like being committed to a certain time frame.  In addition I was to “cease and desist” all communications to the Iraqis.  Luckily I had only been talking to a representative (KBR employee) that worked along with the Customs office.  I never would have thought that inquiring about a process could cause so much consternation.

 25 Jun

            So, our Navy Capt that works as a liaison officer has been on leave since I got here.  He goes by the name of “Sea Lion VI.”  The story behind his name actually comes from the Commanding General of United States Forces-Iraq (USF-I).  General Lloyd Austin is in charge of all the military forces in Iraq.  Before him was General Odierno, General Patreus, General Casey, etc.  Well, General Austin goes by the call sign of “Lion VI.”  So, the shop decided to give our Navy Capt the call sign of “SEA Lion VI.”  Since he has been gone, I have been driving around his truck, which has helped me out quite a bit.  In fact, I actually call his truck “Sea Lion VI,” which in my opinion it sounds cooler attached to a vehicle rather than a person.  Too bad once we get out west we will lose our vehicles.

  I had a meeting to attend today “outside of the wire,” which for the record I did not realize it was outside of the wire until someone asked me, “well, how are you going to get there?”  Sea Lion VI (F-150 truck) can do many things, but it can’t handle the streets of Baghdad, nor would they even let me drive it off the base.  So, with the help of my “battle Buddy,” Maj Awtrey, we got hooked up in a private security detail convoy, which is basically a bunch of up-armored suburbans.  Their method to the madness of driving in Baghdad is pretty interesting.  The consistently change driving patterns, honk to get people out of the way, and are very observant to possible threats.  Driving on the highway made me feel like I was back in DC.  We had to stop at a couple of checkpoints and our trip there and back was uneventful.

I will say that it was nice to get out of the office and to see new sites.  We got done with our meeting and Maj Awtrey was able to catch up with an old friend from one of his previous deployments.  His friend had been an interpreter for the U.S. military back in ’06.  He now is the lead interpreter for the Minister of Defense.

Interpreter for Iraq Minister of Defense

  He showed us around the FOB told us where to get take some great pictures and he we had some good discussions on the future of Iraq.  It was cool to see (from a distance) downtown Baghdad, the International Zone (IZ), the new Embassy, the Tigris River, and the military training complex with the famous “two swords” statues.  We also got to see the mosque-turned mall.  They basically emptied an old mosque and put a bunch of stores (primarily pirated DVDs) and made an indoor market.  The return to base was uneventful and I got back to work just in time to do my daily ritual: Powerpoint Rangering.

 

From the Land of "CHEAP" Palaces

15 Jun 11

I have finally acclimated from the jet lag and am settling in well here. I still have no room mate...not complaining...and I consistently face power conversion issues due to the fact that AMERICAN plugs do not work here. My lifestyle of eating three square meals a day and working a 9 to 9 shift is a lot different from the last deployment. I am still trying to set out my daily schedule and trying to get some exercise in...so far, not a lot of success.

The J4 building is probably one of the most elegant buildings I have ever worked in...Sorry Deployment Center at Bolling AFB and the School House at Maxwell AFB, but you guys got nothing on the “wanna-be” palace that sits on the lake. I go up a set of spiral marble stairs to get to my office.

The ceilings in these places are so ornate, and I found out recently in a news article that a lot of these palaces were “shoddily” built and they used a lot of cheap supplies. Granted the banister in our building is sort of coming out of the wall, but I thought that was because Saddam’s daughter would ride down it on her way out....apparently not. In fact, it is said that Saddam built the “wanna be” palace for one of his daughters as an apology for killing off her husband...gotta love this place!
Now, with all of its awesomeness, there are a few drawbacks...mainly the restroom situation. I know this may sound a little “Seinfeldesque” but, what is the deal with all of these war-ravaged third world countries that don’t have efficient indoor plumbing??

Looks nice right?

I understand that some locations in Iraq warrant the lack of plumbing, but a palace on a lake in this day and age should have some decent plumbing!! (EXCUSE THE GRAPHIC CONTENT COMING UP...POTTY LANGUAGE MAY BE USED)

Besides, we as the world’s greatest military can drop a bomb on a dime, but when I have to “drop a bomb” at work I have to exit the facility and use a port-o-john....

WHAT!!! Anyway, I drink water like it’s my job so #1 is all I have to worry about for the most part. I guess we will let the Iraqis deal with that problem when we leave ☺

18 Jun 11

We have numerous wildlife around the base; a lot of times when we drive home we come across one or two coyotes. During the day, we see the ducks or geese...not sure what they are.

All you have to do is shake one of those travel cups of cereal and they will come racing from across the way...sometimes it is like they appear out of nowhere. Victory Base is home to “Freedom Rest”, an R&R location for folks to unwind, relax, take a dip in the pool, watch a movie, or knock some golf balls into Saddam’s lake. I would like to check it out before I leave this area, but with the work schedule I have now...not sure if that is going to happen.
 

This week was Lt. Col Becker’s last week, and it has been nice to have almost two full weeks doing turnover. For his going away, we went to this pizza place up by Camp Victory and surprisingly it was delicious pizza. Now, one may say, “how can you go wrong with pizza??” I have been to numerous countries, and believe me sometimes when they say something is pizza...well, it really isn’t. The pizza at “North End Pizza” (where we had his going away) had real mozzarella cheese, the dough was just right...really I have no complaints! Yesterday was his last day, but with the weather the way it was, we are not sure if he flew out. We get these sand/dust storms that really limit visibility for aircraft.
Since I have been here there have been minor IDF (indirect fire) incidents where the alarms go off, but for the most part I have not heard them. Last night I DID hear them. I got off of Skype with Gretchen and was about to go brush my teeth, and I heard the alarms....”INCOMING, INCOMING....” Then there was some counter-fire, which the system ultimately tracks the mortar attack and takes them out mid-air. From what I have been told, most of them land in Saddam’s lake, but the events 2 weeks ago about 20 mi from here still present the reality and danger. In the end it was uneventful, and I am thankful for the technology that gives us a heads up.

I'm HOT because I am deployed!!

6 Jun 11

            Throughout my career I always wondered if I was going to get to live the Iraq experience...and now I am waiting to get on that lovely C-130 to fly into Baghdad.  Looking back a couple of days ago, it’s hard to believe that I am still able to coherently do things with so little sleep.  I was at least able to stay in a real nice hotel (Mariott Residence Inn), see a good flick (X-Men: First Class), and enjoy some good food (Dave and Buster’s) over at Arundel Mills next to BWI.  It was different than last time in that I had a long wait at BWI before flying out.  Last time I did this, Gretchen was able to drop me off in front of the Intl terminal and that was that.  This time I hung out in the USO, did a storybook reading for Elise, and just tried to savor my last moments in the great United States of America.  The realization really hit me when we landed in Kuwait at midnight, had to wait a couple of hours for authorization from Ministry of Interior to proceed and oh by the way, it is 98 degrees and the sun has long set....yep, I am officially now deployed!!

            Now, after what seems a week of traveling (really just a couple of days), I am at Ali Al Salem AB in Kuwait, sweating like a pig, and going through bottles of water like it was my job.  I do have to admit that the Expeditionary Theater Distribution Center (ETDC) process is a lot smoother than the one at Manas.  The ETDC is where you get your chem. Gear, body armor, and for me I got my ammo as well.  They had a schedule of events for us, a shuttle to take us different places, and gave us plenty of time to take a power nap and grab some hot chow.  We then met our respective Air Force units (the ones that had administrative control (ADCON) over us while we are working in joint/Army assignments.  That was a huge difference, because during my 6 month stay in Afghanistan, I had no earthly idea how the chain of command was set up, especially when it came to administrative things.

            Kuwait for all of it’s extreme heat and “barren wastelandedness” does have some pretty awesome scenery.  They have preserved a lot of the base from it’s Desert Storm operations.  There are several bunkers that are still used today that we (Coalition) had bombed when Saddam was running his air operations out of the air base.  A lot of relics and sights that you don’t see in too many other places.

            We were also notified at this time that many of us had a showtime for departure at 4am the next morning, meaning that we had to be out of our lodging at midnight that night....so much for getting any sleep!

Day 6

12 Jun 11

            Did I mention that Kuwait was hot??  Well, now I am in Iraq and I must say that it is quite a different environment.  In the heart of Baghdad resides the Al Faw palace, a palace that is said to have been visited by Saddam only 4 times.  Currently it is the headquarters for the US forces in Iraq.  My job is working on the J4 (Joint Logistics) staff, focusing on transportation.  We do not work out of the main palace, just a sub-unit on the other side of the lake.  Yes, I did say lake.  Apparently, Saddam wanted a nice little moat around the palace, so he dredged a large area around it and procured water from the Euphrates River.  Supposedly, he nearly emptied the river, draining it for almost 3 days so he could fill his man-made lake...very “dictatoresque” in my opinion.

            My C-130 ride was uneventful, which was a good thing, because a week ago, 5 service members were killed sitting in their housing units over on FOB Loyalty (closer to the International Zone), which is less than 20 miles from Camp Victory.  Since there is no runway on Victory, we flew into Sather AB.  Lt. Col Joe Becker picked me up, and I am sure he was happy to see me since I am replacing him.  He showed me around the base, checked me into lodging, and then let me go for the day so I could get some rest and settle in.

            The next day I got to meet all of the folks in the office.  It is really interesting because I am the junior person in that office.  There is an Army Major, an Air Force Lt. Col and an Army Lt. Col is the chief of the section.  In addition we work with a liaison who is a Navy Capt (0-6).  I am very confused as to where I fit in right now, so I am trying to take in as much as I can, but at times it feels like I am drinking from a fire hose.

            One of my main tasks is very exec-like.  I prepare slides and the briefing room for a nightly brief with the J4 staff.  I am learning more and more everyday and I am very excited about the work that is being done here.  It is cool to be part of the drawdown in Iraq.

We're not at Camp Bullis Anymore...

We’re Not at Camp Bullis Anymore...

16 May 2011

Yesterday I had to leave my beautiful wife and my darling little girl to attend pre-deployment training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey.  The last time I was up this way I ate at “The Diner,” which has AMAZING food and Gretchen and I went up to NYC.  I am pretty fond of the Joint Base Dix McGuire Lakehurst area.  Pre-deployment training on the other hand is a different story.  My experience with this training evolves around my experiences at Camp Bullis, Texas...a week’s worth of sweating, MREs, dehydration, sleeping on cots, shoulder pain, and no real working restrooms.  So what was I expecting from Combat Airman Skills Training (CAST) at lovely Ft. Dix, New Jersey?  In reality I was expecting much of the same, except I knew that the weather would be much cooler....boy was I wrong.

I got to CAST in processing at about 6 pm.  I was expecting to get MREs and get transported to some other facility.  To my surprise I was told that we would get hot food from the Chow Hall 2 out of the 3 meals each day.  That was AWESOMENESS #1.  AWESOMENESS #2 was when I got up to my room to find that we actually had beds...not cots.  Plus, it turns out that there is only 3 of us in a room built for at least 10 people...plenty of space.  Having a hot shower to come home to every night definitely falls in line with AWESOMENESS #3.  Having a working restroom that does not consist of either a “port-of-john” or “shower tent” does make my vacation stay at Ft. Dix so much better than my “week of hell” at Camp Bullis.

19 May 2011

My last deployment consisted of primarily working with folks from Blackwater...now known as “Xe.”  I get to work with some of these folks again, except this time they are “motivating” us.  Our first field day was (believe it or not) out in the field.  We worked on small unit tactics, individual movements, and reactions to contact while moving in a squad.  Our morning was spent doing low crawls, high crawls, and rush-n-rolls.  Our Blackwater and ex-Marine instructors liked to make a game of it though, especially when they combined all three in the end, making it a 75 yd obstacle.  At first glance, this seemed like nothing but after doing it consecutively and wearing 40lbs of armor plus Kevlar helmet and M-4 rifle makes it quite more difficult.  In the afternoon we got to work on our squad movement tactics and they gave us “blanks” to use during our stroll through the woods.  Overall, it was a very taxing day and reminded me how unprepared I was (conditioning wise) for CAST.

The next day we reviewed Counter Improvised Explosive Device (CIED) material.  It was a great review from the vast knowledge that I have attained by teaching at ASBC, however I learned so much more.  In the afternoon we went out to the field and walked around as a flight identifying different IEDs.  I learned that there is no such thing as a “potential IED”...it is or it isn’t.  The best part was driving in the “Humvees” spotting them going 15-20 mph and then following all the correct procedures.  We missed a couple which really humbled me...it is amazing how people are able to see them in the AOR.  I have a newfound respect for those that work in Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD).  I was also educated on the fallacies of the movie “Hurt Locker.”

Today was land navigation, which is usually my strong suite.  However, my fire team has different views on how to conduct land navigation and I swear it almost got us lost in the woods.  Not to mention, New Jersey is said to be the deer tick capital of the world.  After trouncing through the woods for a few hours, I came home to find 7-10 ticks on my person.  None actually dug into the skin, but still not a good thing to come home to.

22 May 2011

Friday had to be the most fun day thus far in my CAST experience.  We had to wake up a little early for it, but it was well worth it.  Our day consisted of instruction and hands-on experience (through simunitions) of urban operations.  We learned how to stack on each other and how to use the fire team concept to get through an urban environment.  This involves calling out corners, danger zones, windows, rooftops, doors, suspicious people, etc.  We even got to kick in doors and clear a room/building.  Being the tall guy had the responsibility of checking the aerial area of fire.  I was impressed with how close we walked together and how much you have to rely on the person who has your “six.”  After a series of instructional walkthroughs, we ate lunch, geared up with paintball masks and other “protective” equipment and received our simunitions ammo clips.  The mission was to get from one side of the neighborhood to the other side, clearing at least one building.  Our first run was pretty much a disaster, but that is to be expected.  The second run was better, and our opposing forces (OPFOR) stepped it up a notch as far as intensity.  The third run required us to go backwards to the original starting location, and this is where I got lit up pretty bad.  Since the OPFOR stepped it up even more, we ran out of ammo quicker, which meant we could not “lollygag” around on the street.  Major Jarrett (the second position) ran out of ammo so I had to cover both aerials and one of the flanks.  However, when MSgt Autry (rear security) ran out of ammo, he did not communicate it very well, and I started to get pegged in the back.  Upon realization, I took the rear security and we got to our destination.  We learned a pretty valuable lesson that day...COMMUNICATION is key!

Saturday was spent doing our high risk of isolation (HRI) brief and Hummvee rollover drills.  One of these was really fun and the other one was boring...I bet you can’t guess which one was which?  They have these simulators that actually rotate you 180, 360, 270, etc.  From there we had a very limited amount of time to egress from the vehicles...definitely a new experience for me!  In the afternoon we had our HRI briefing and it was 3 hours of PAIN and SUFFERING.  To stay awake I played “buzz word bingo” with Nate Hocking (2Lt in my room), and I almost got a blackout.

24 May 2011

The last two days of training prior to our final exercise were very eventful and educating.  Yesterday we were able to work on our marksmanship out at the firing range.  The difference between this range and other ranges that I have shot on was that there were pop-up targets.  I actually got to use my red dot sight like in Call of Duty on different targets that consistently popped up.  My strategy was to hit the targets closest to farthest and in particular, focus on the 300m (farthest) targets when I was down in the prone position.  Unfortunately I had a range instructor that encouraged me to do more: “I know you can hit that 50m chicken$#!%...I want  you to knock down the 300m targets!”  At one point we had a “Double tap” exercise where you aimed on a target and pulled the trigger twice...hence the “Double tap” (Zombieland Rule #2).   At this point in the exercise you were only focusing on the 50-100m targets.  So, in the end I did not do as well as I would have liked, but I did knock down four 300m targets, and one of them I used my weak (left) side.

Today we learned mounted/convoy operations.  We got classroom instruction in the morning and then went out to apply some “Experiential” learning out on the convoy course.  Our fire team took turns being the gunner, vehicle commander, driver, etc. and we had to travel as a convoy and conduct operations as such.  As one point, our convoy came under simulated attack with OPFOR firing on us and a few grenades and IEDs thrown in to add chaos to the mix.  Our last run through the course I got to be the gunner and I swear that I shot off about 90 rounds of blanks.  Part of the training is evacuating injured/casualties from a downed hummvee and moving them over to a functioning one.  Imagine trying to drag someone like me unconscious with 40lbs additional weight in body armor...oh, yeah and you have to get them from one vehicle to the next.  Today’s class provided me with a lot of insight and some very memorable experiences.