What a Week!!

Wheew, man I am tired and so glad that this week is over. It seemed that it would never end with all the visits and big cheeses that showed up to check out the Maintenance Depot. It all started one week ago Saturday when Juan my boss who is based out of the IZ called me while I was with the IT guys working on my computer. "Hey brother how would you like to escort a general officer tomorrow?" I knew from his tone that he was having a good laugh so when I asked him who are for how long he said its our boss BG S and he'll have 4+ hours boots on the ground, and oh by the way he'll be there at 1030 hrs. and wants to see you and the depot and nothing else! Damn I thought Sunday is the only day I really get a small break from the grind and now it's shot, plus BG S isn't the most talkative guys in the world. I never met him but had heard about him, and lets leave it at that. Not only was BG S coming but so were 7 other folks from the IZ.

So on Sunday while I am heading to the LZ to pickup the entourage, with choppers you have to get there about 15 minutes early because they sometimes arrive early and sure enough by the time I got there they were already waiting. After the exchanging pleasantries we headed off to turn in some paperwork to one of the units and then we headed to our main office. After presenting the team I gave them the intro brief and a more detailed "where we are at" brief. There was some open discussion as to what additional items they wanted me to work out, some training issues and lots of questions. We ate lunch and then it was off to both depots.

The boots on the ground tour went well as did the drive by of various sections of the depot. We stopped off by the RTC (Basic Training) area to check out some Iraqi troops and then it was off to the LZ so they could head back to the IZ. It wasn't too hard to figure our why he visited, we were going to have a 4 Star visit on Wednesday and the command group in the IZ wanted to make sure I had my ducks in order unlike some of the other O-6's here at Taji. I passed that muster as no one called me that day from the IZ to tell me how to suck the proverbial egg. But now that they visited I knew it was a matter of hours that the original schedule and activities for Wednesday would be changing every 2-3 hours!

Monday was filled with meetings in the morning and then in the afternoon I had to a chance to meet the new O-6 for the USACE in Baghdad. I linked up with them down at the depot and gave him and some of his folks a tour. I actually enjoyed this tour and getting to meet the Colonel because here in Iraq it is so important to meet people who you will be dealing with in the future so when there are issues you know who to contact and have had face time with them. They brought a camera crew and I had no idea that they were filming until after the tour I was asked to spell my name and list my job title. Here is the short clip

By Wednesday the schedule had been changed at least 9 times and here the 4 star who was here to see his folks and the depot since they are supporting us with the development of the depot was no longer scheduled to visit the depot. We kept our original plan of the depot visit and the assets required to support that visit because I knew that he was going say that he wanted to visit the depot. The big arrived, we picked up our command group at the LZ, LTG D, BG S and BG A plus 4 other Colonels. General G and his group of a MG and BG and Colonels arrived soon after. That gave us a total of 12 stars and shitload of full birds crammed into a conference room going over logistical and Foreign Military Sales info. During the logistics brief when the depot was mentioned the discussion was rather intense regarding the manning situation, when the General said that the wanted to go to the depot. BG S handed me a slip of paper with what needed to be visited and I told him not to worry because like I tell my kids and HQ6 all the time "Don't worry everything is under control"! The visit went without a hitch and the General had a good time going inside some the buildings under construction and speaking with some of the Aussies and other support folks on the ground. The total visit lasted almost 3+ hours and as the General left he gave us coins and for me it was the first time I have ever received a coin from a 4 star general.

On Thursday Major Y from the J-4 arrived to see what we were doing here at Taji and to interview for the Deputy PMO position. I had told Juan that I needed now more than ever a deputy because with all the work that had to be done I found myself getting bogged down at the tactical level and with all the strategic decisions that still needed to be made I couldn't afford to lose site of the long range decisions that need to be made. She had a chance to see both the north and south depots, what the layout of the depot and Taji was like, interview and take care of some work that she had to do over at the Supply Depot.

I finally got the Operation and Maintenance Contract awarded for the Generator Farm. This was the last hurdle to get the power running at the depot and a couple of other areas on the Iraqi side of the base. The contractor is now testing the generators, replacing some dead batteris, fine tuning some of the equipment, making sure that the transformers are connected properly and that no one is tapping into the lines illegally. We should have the power on Monday and can begin to do our infrastructure testing and after that make any necessary repairs and keep the power running. That will enable the Iraqi's to move into their quarters and we can finally begin day to day operations at our HQ building at the Depot. That will make my life a lot easier because we will now be able to work with our counterparts on a daily basis versus once a week.

I had my usual chips and dip with some non-alcoholic beer tonite and am listening to soccer via the internet from Spain. At least tomorrow I will be able to sleep in and relax until 1300 hrs when the new week will start all over again. I am sure that this coming week will be an interesting one but more hectic than this week I doubt it.

I finally got a chance to see some of the pictures from the reunion get together last weekend and from what I have seen so far it looks like a good time was had by all. Some of my classmates haven't changed much from when I last saw them, others I didn't recognize right away.

Have a nice week everyone, Go A's and Viva Er Beti Manque Pierda!!

The Colonel