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.