Finally Got Internet

After almost 3 months here in country I finally got internet in the room! Wooohoooh!!!!!! The internet company had to send us a new router and that did the magic. Once they got it up and running all we had to do was lay the line and since I was working late they laid the line for me so I was hooked up ready to go. It's nice to finally be able to listen to some streamed country and western from KRTY back home and Energy 92.7. Plus I get to listen to the A's and podcast the talk shows so life is good!!

Things are starting to pickup at the Depot. The Jundi came back from their 10 day vacation which really isn't a vacation. Instead since they don't have direct deposit and western union is not an option, they have to go home and show "momma the money" after getting paid. Today they began the beautification of the Depot, ie cleaning around the building that they will be training in, to include removing weeds, sweeping and burning bushes. Tomorrow they will be inside the building sweeping and mopping up. Though we still don't have our combined Iraqi-US PMO office up and running at the Depot due to no fuel to run the generators. We are working that issue and am trying to get this issue resolved without having to spend our taxpayer money. Meanwhile the Aussies are still working setting up the temporary classrooms inside the large empty manufacturing plant. We have completed some additional building design reviews and are now awaiting for those to be signed off by the J-7 (Engineers) who have the purse strings for construction.

Last Wednesday COL A from the J-4 was up here since there was a delegation of retired generals and State Dept folks visiting to see where we are at with transition and what additional monies may be needed for the various projects that are taking place and will need funding in FY08. That was a quick meeting for us because the other Colonel took up most of the time that had been allotted to BG S (my Iraqi counterpart) and I to answer any questions they maybe had. After COL A and I left he was not a happy camper at the prospect that we really didn't get a chance to pitch our project to the delegation especially in light of all the talk on capitol hill about getting out of here soon! I took him to see the depot, and to speak with the engineers regarding building design and other construction issues. We finally got to sit down and relax late in the afternoon sitting on some sandbags in the shade smoking a cigar while waiting for the choppers to arrive to take them back to the IZ.

I get to go south next week to brief the project to some of the key leadership and get some decision made on a couple of issues that need resolution at the higher level. I don't know it that it is a good time to head down there. As you have read the IZ has been getting hit rather hard as of late and the other day 3 persons were killed. The press coverage on these attacks is greater since the journalists hang out in the IZ, so the bad guys know that if they keep taking pot shots with mortars and rockets in this area it will be splashed all over the wire and internet.

I finally got the window on my Chevy pickup fixed today thanks to the Aussies. It had been 2+ weeks riding without the side driver window and the dust out here is incredible. Even though the water trucks wet the rock and gravel roads every couple of hours you literally have to stay 40-50 meters behind the vehicle in front of you if you want to see anything. The inside of the cab is coated thick with fine dust and sand which makes the coffee in my cup taste a little richer and somewhat gritty but that saves me on the dental floss.

That's about it for now, I am rather tired and will call it a night, the choppers can be heard over the radio in the room, it must be 90 out right about now and it seems cool compared to todays high.

The Colonel