Sunday: A Nice Way to End the Week

Well today is Sunday and the end of the week. We get to show up to work at 1000 hrs. At 0615 I was wide awake and when you're living in a 8x9 foot room with only a bed, nightstand and a wall locker and the only other amenity is an air conditioner and my trusty old shortwave radio that is on it's third Iraqi tour there's no reason to lay in bed pondering whether Sun stock will reach $20 while I am here or whether my favorite soccer team Betis will be relegated to second division like they were when I was over here during Desert Shield/Storm. So up and at em I headed for the showers, changed and hit the coffee shop before taking the bus to work.

The shuttle buses here is our means of travel from one FOB to another within the green zone or IZ as they tend to call it. They have various stops within the IZ and depending on where you are going there are different bus numbers. Due to the threat of mortars and other things that tend to ruin peoples days we have to wear our IBA (body armor) and our kevlar helmets. It is rather funny seeing the embassy staff or other civilian contractors wearing some nice Italian suits with a flak vest and helmet on. Somehow I don't envision our CEO Jonathan Schwartz riding in his limo from the city to work wearing a flak vest and with his ponytail hanging out from under his helmet with a cellphone stuck in his ear!

I finally got briefed on what my new job is and of course can't mention all the details but it they decided to use my Army logistics background, civilian supply chain experience and program management experience at Sun when they selected me for this position. I was to have been the OIC for the Iraqi Army National Supply Depot, but instead will be the Program Manager Officer for the construction, equipment and parts acquisition, setup, implemenation and training of the Iraqi soldiers for the National Maintenance Depot. Additionally I will also be overseeing some projects at the Supply Depot and Ammuntion Depot. So I have been receiving some briefings as to status of the project, who my Department of the Army Civilian and Iraqi Army counterparts will be. The first of my many meetings will be tomorrow and I have some catching up to do as the train has already left the station and all I see is the smoke of the engine that is way ahead of me. Like everything in life this is not a sprint but a marathon and I love marathons.

The logistics section that I work for is notorious for smoking cigars and my boss Colonel A (a West Pointer whose family is from the Basque Region of Spain) is always seen with a cigar in his mouth. Today I had an excellent Hoyo De Monterrey cigar while we talked shop out in the courtyard after working out at the gym. We both had a laugh as both he and I were on the treadmills earlier cranking out 6:30 miles and this Air Force guy with a nice beer gut got on the treadmill next to us and was running at about a 10:00 pace and after about 15 minutes got off the treadmill and looked like death was near as he was huffing and puffing! The gym here at the location where we work at is real nice, they have treadmills, elliptical machines, stairmasters, free weights and weight machines. They have to have these gyms because with the food they serve in the chow hall if you didn't work out at least once a day you'd be on the Army Fat Boy Program in a heartbeat. They have those killer 1500 calorie breakfasts: eggs, sausage, ham, biscuits and gravey, waffles, pancakes, omellettes, cookies, cake, baskin robbins icecream etc. For lunch besides the main line they have burgers, burritos, franks, onion rings, fries, etc. Bottom line if you don't watch what you eat you'll either be moving up a few sizes in your Army uniform or you cholesterol level will be in the high 200's if your lucky not to get a heart attack or stroke!

Key thing when you get here is to try to get into your battle rhythm, ie your daily routine. With 12 hour shifts being the norm you need time to decompress and get out of the office, so besides running and working out they have lots of other activities here in the IZ, aerobics, karaoke, chess, ping pong, country dancing and 2 steppin, etc. This was my first chance today to go to church services here in the IZ, we have a new priest and I was laughing when I saw him with his robes on , you could tell he was wearing shorts underneath and was sporting a pair of Nike's. I know that in my parish back home Father Jim would have had a field day if an alter server was dressed like that. But when it's 98 degrees and you have to be going from place to place to give mass, you might as well be as comfortable as can be while delivering the good word of the Lord!

Guess I gotta run and get ready for tomorrow, from what I have been told I will be here for another 2-3 weeks before heading up north to manage the project.

Hope all is well with all of you back home and those April showers will give way to those May flowers!

Go A's!!