Life is a Bowl of Dust

Dust and more dust seems to be the story of late, for three days that's all we had in the sky and the picture above was taken at around 1745hrs and that's about all you could see of the sun.

We are still moving forward with the development of the Depot. The power is on and everyday brings more progress. Unfortunately there are still issues with the power grid and some of the work that was done when the electrical grid was built. Until we can get the warranty work completed we can still not do a full fledged infrastructure test. I missed the water geyser that occurred when the pump house was turned on and water began to flow into the pipes, as we mobilized to see where there were more water main problems the flow of water stopped. From what we found out later the main water line coming from the coalition side was turned off cutting off the water flow. We are still not able to inspect the sewage lines due to the water issue.

I was glad that the NCOIC SSG G came back from his 4 day pass in Qatar. They say that the NCO Corps is the backbone of the Army and that was driven home while he was out for the 10 days, since you lose at least 2 days traveling to and from if all goes well weather wise. He manages the 6 interpreters that we have working for PMO group to include translating for the Aussies in the classes they are giving the Iraqi’s. With him out I had to take over some of the admin work involved like driving them back and forth to chow and work when the Aussies couldn’t. I had to go out again and escort some trucks from the south gate to our depot so that they could drop off some supplies. Coordinate lots of the day to day activities with the coalition team that supports us, work with the Iraqi’s on life support issues etc. He had a great time and filled me in on what to see and not to see when I go down there later this fall. Except for my 15 day R&R this will be the only chance I get to leave Iraq while I am here so I am looking forward to those 4+ days in Qatar and the almost 8 days away from the daily grind up here.

The other day I had to assist the Iraqi’s with picking up some vehicles from the Supply Depot Class VII yard for initial issue. The 40 jundi have been using two Chevy Silverado Crew Cabs as their only mode of transportation and if you want to see something scary check out how many Iraqi Soldiers you can fit in one of those trucks both in the cab and bed, it’s scary! These vehicles were ordered and sat in the will call section for a couple of weeks while 1) we tried to get fuel for the vehicles, 2) coordinated drivers to drive the vehicles from the Supply Depot, and 3) ensure the guy who could sign out the vehicles was there. I called ahead to CPT Nap the Ops guy and told him although it was getting close to lunch hour that we would be over there in about 30 minutes. We arrived at it was 1125 which in our world means jack, but here you are on the edge of the start of their lunch hour or is it hours and hours and hours! I walk into the office with one of the Iraqi Majors and let the Iraqi Captain know that we are here to pickup the truck. He looks at the clock, then his huge gut which is probably growling because he had more than likely finished breakfast a couple of hours earlier and announced we were too late and that it was their lunch period. I smiled and said to his interpreter that we had called in advance and are here to pickup the vehicles that we have in will call. He says that’s a no go and in a cocky manner of fact say that these had been on will call for almost 3 weeks and why the hurry now. I have been told that at times I am an excitable guy and I was livid as I reminded him that if the Iraqi Supply Depot soldiers wouldn’t siphon out the fuel from these vehicles to power the depots vehicles I wouldn’t have had to get fuel for these trucks and please stand up when speaking with a senior officer. He’s yelling at the interpreter to tell me something, I’m yelling back at the poor interpreter telling him what he can tell the Captain, and the verbal tennis match goes on for a couple of minutes and by the way my guys are not going to wait until 1400 hours which really means 1430 hours because nothing ever gets done here on time. The US Depot Senior Advisor comes outside to see what all the ruckus is about and when I explain what’s going on he basically toes the Iraqi line on this one and says you're lucky we have assets today to assist if not you might not have gotten these vehicles for a couple of days, my jaw hit the ground in awe while listening to him basically say that the Iraqi’s can do whatever they please instead of holding them accountable for failing to follow standard procedures, and their lack of urgency and not taking care of their customers in a satisfactory manner.

We got them to handle the will call at 1300 hrs which was a victory of sort and some poor Iraqi Soldiers missed out on their long siesta, good for them!! I went out to the yard at around 1400 hrs to check up on how things are coming along and find out where the forklift we are supposed to draw is since we need it to move some supplies. They are trying to get one of the vehicles started, obviously no one ever went to the yard to prep or ensure the vehicles would be ready for the customer to pickup. Batteries dry, no fuel as it was siphoned dry, and all of us who have had diesels before know what a pain in the fourth point of contact they are when they run out of gas. Long story short after 90 minutes of struggle they are able to start the vehicle and move it with the gas I got from the Generator Farm.

The next day I swung by to look at the other truck and it was missing a roof, when I asked them where it was, come to find out it was issued like that, no tire jack, or tarp on the back, etc. And oh by the way none of the trucks now start. I let the folks back in the J-4 know that the vehicles the TNMD was supposed to be issued are basically inoperable, and we need another issue so we can turn these in and get vehicles that are operable. I have to hand it to my guys, they were so desperate for a vehicle that they accepted anything they could get their hands on, I advised them that isn’t how its’ supposed to work and when we draw the replacements all equipment will be on hand and the vehicles will start ASAP and have the roof on!

Now that summer is coming to an end since I have been outside a lot these past couple of weeks I am finally used to the weather, as evidenced the other evening when I had to go to the depot to linkup with one of the engineers. It was about 1815 hrs., about 98 outside and I just drove down the road with the window open no AC and it felt like a normal day and I was very comfortable. That’s scary!!

Well that’s all for tonite, got to get up and run about 10 miles tomorrow to make up for the run I didn’t get in today since we had to be at work by 0700 due to a contractor visit, but that’s another story.

One big shout out to Ascension my daughter who finally hit the big 21 on the 10th and can legally drink! That’s not to say she never got a six pack of her favorite Class VI beverage thrown in one of the boxes that she was taking back to school after spending the weekend at home compliments of the Senior Quartermaster in the family!

The Colonel