Back in Baghdad

Well I am back in the IZ once again doing a myriad of tasks for a short time. Several of us are down here to review some of the technical specs on bids for one of the contracts up at the Depot. We flew down on the 7th and it was a very hot flight, since it was over 100 degrees when we lifted off and that was after sun down. I must have been brain dead because instead of sitting with facing the rear of the aircraft I sat in the end seat facing the front. I never was able to relate to Dantes Inferno when I read the book but about 3 minutes in flight I suddenly had a greater appreciation of what hell was like. Hot wind hitting me in the face and even though I had my Kaenon protective eyewear on the force of the hot wind was too much so I basically flew with my eyes closed or my head turned the facing the inside of the aircraft. I was glad to hit the ground and get out of there. I lucked out and instead of staying in the small 8x9 foot hooch I got a wet trailer. By wet I mean that there is a bathroom, wash basin and shower between two trailers. This is nice because that means you don’t have to go outside to the restroom. I got a single room and it had a telephone and color TV. It’s been weeks since I have been able to watch any TV in a relaxed manner, even though we have TV’s in DFAC there is so much noise that it’s hard to follow the programs. Here in the Mideast the Arabs don’t dub the movies or shows instead they keep the original audio and use close caption in Arabic. Carmen you would have loved it there were 3 different CSI Las Vegas’s running at the same timeslot, one on AFN and the other two on Arab channels! I finally got to watch the Factor with Bill O’Reilly. The next day being Friday which is a sleep in day most of the folks were nowhere to be seen this morning, but we started at 0830 hrs. We had to get briefed on what is legal and illegal when reviewing the bids and what will land us in jail if we don’t follow the rules. Then we started the review. I was able to take some time out to track down some actionable items that I need resolution on before heading back north. Such as dropping off my Army laptop for turn in, getting updates on the new structure of the Iraqi Army that will be manning the Depot and everyone’s favorite subject fuel and how to get some more of it.

I was able to work on a couple of contracts that I am trying get for life support activities i.e., setting up DFACS for the Iraqi’s, barracks maintenance, security upgrades, etc. I have found out the hard way that money can’t buy you everything here in Iraq. There are some things that just take plain old time and all the money in the world will not get anything expedited. Being a Poli Sci major and a political junkie I have always held our form of government especially the 10th Amendment (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people”), in high regard. And though many politicians want to expand the powers of the Federal Government I prefer to let us the people decide at the state level what is best for us. Unfortunately here there is a very strong federal government and nothing gets approved here unless it is approved by various committees and then either the Prime Minister (PM) or the Minister of Defense has to sign off on the document. So some of the changes that we need to implement has to go to the MOD (Ministry of Defense) which is our Dept. of Defense, then reviewed by various committees and kicked around like a soccer ball at recess and when it is said and done the PM must sign the doc. I somehow don’t see VP Cheney signing off on the same docs that we would be processing in our Army, much less Sec of Defense Gates or even the Chief of Staff of the Army. It drives me crazy and has made me realize that this project is not a marathon but more like one of the ultras that I tend to run. The problem is that I am still not at the starting line but feel like I’m still at home trying to figure out what I am going to wear for the race, shoes, hat, shirt, what flavor gels I will take with me, power bars etc. There is just so much boots on the ground and foundation work that is required that the critical path end date feels like years away!