"Big RIG" and Lucky Charms

29 Jun

            In Guatemala they called me “Grandote”, at Bolling AFB they called me “LT” or “Hey You!”—(no real nickname there).  At Bagram they called me “STOL Nazi,” and at Maxwell I was known by “CoCo-Motion.”  The folks at my shop decided to give me a name: “Big Rig”...part, because of the fact that we oversee truck movement...hence the “rig”; part comes from the fact that I am a tall guy, and the other part deals with RIG (Rockstar in Guatemala)....I guess they saw my BLOG!!  So, sorry Orions, but CoCo-Motion is no more...(unless of course I come home early).  I think there is some mockery behind it...you don’t find too many Air Force guys working in a joint service logistics office overseeing Army ground transportation.  I don’t mind it; it’s all good fun!!  I will say that they haven’t told me that I am sucking at this job yet, so I must be doing something good :)

            Tonight we had the opportunity of attending a dinner presented by the J4 (our big boss) honoring some wounded warriors.  Due to our nightly ritual however, we could only make the dinner and then we had to leave.  It was at the Joint Visitors’ Building...a 4 star hotel for general officers, situated right on the lake looking out at the Al Faw Palace.  One of the wounded warriors was burnt from head to toe, and had to have skin grafts done all over his body.  I was amazed though, because he was the most funny and optimistic one.  He made one joke: “I would like to apologize to the fact that right now I am “mooning” some of you in this audience,” and “I now have to pick lint out 5 different places on my body.”  It was inspiring to see someone who has went through “HELL” be able to get up and laugh, joke, and make people smile.

           

Day 26

2 Jul

            The other morning I decided to have Lucky Charms for breakfast, which I usually despise them, but I had to give them props, for indeed I was lucky.  The other night I got home from work was skyping with Gretchen and then out of nowhere, I heard a “FWOOOMP.”  Now, you learn quickly around here that one you hear a “FWOOOMP,” there is usually a “BOOOOM” that follows.  From previous experiences here, there have been warning sirens and “incoming, incoming,” but this time I did not get that luxury of a “heads up.”  

R.I.P. KBR trash can

 The “BOOM” shook my entire CHU (house) and Gretchen told me that she could see stuff moving in my room.  A cloud of dust also entered my room and chunks of debris were raining down on my roof; I knew that this one was “too close for comfort.”  At that moment I had to get off of the Skype, so I tried to hang up on her as smoothly as possible, making every indication that I was okay.  She had a pretty rough day that day, and I am thankful that there were friends to console her.  Several mortars landed around base, but one particular one imbedded in a “T-Wall” about 30 yds from my door.  As soon as we got the “all clear”, I went out to see if there was anything I could do to help...mind you, I didn’t know if there were any injuries, rubble, etc.  I ended up getting kicked out of my CHU because they had to cordon off the area.  I decided to go over to the MWR area so I could use the Internet to get back in contact with Gretchen.  I sent her a quick Facebook message and then headed back to the area.  After about two hours, I was able to get back to my room.  I walked over to the site and apparently the only casualty from our mortar was a KBR trash can.  I was a little shook up, so  I listened to an audiobook and fell right to sleep.

30 yds from my door

            I was able to talk to the guy whose CHU was right on the other side of the wall.  He told me that he works the night shift, so that “Boom” gave him a rude awakening.  He told me that upon impact, every door in his room opened up.  I look at this experience and I think, “no big deal, because there were no serious injuries,” but indeed I must say that for about 50 of us that evening, luck was on our side.

We are in July, which means we are getting closer to some high visibility, large movement pieces that requires a lot of oversight on our part.  I am getting accustomed to all the Army acronyms and I may just be getting the hang of Army ground trans.  We will see what challenges July brings.

Feeding the ducks has become part of the daily routine