Concrete and other debris from the disassembly and reassembly buildings
Removing old Concrete Reassembly Building
Small Arms Facility
Staging Yard
The New USACE Engineer Mr. Potato Head at the job site
Here are some pictures from the North Depot that I took the other day while I was signing for beneficial occupancy a couple of warehouses. This gives you an idea of what is going on at the Depot. As you can see although work is serious and we do some long hours there's always time for some fun! The good news is that every building is either completed or being worked on at this time, with all but 4 on schedule to be completed on time. In a couple of the buildings we have contractors installing equipment that will be used by the Iraqi Army. I will try to post some more pictures of the South Depot in one of the later posts.
Time is flying quickly as it seems that I am either tied up in giving tours at the Depot or reviewing reports and working with the Iraqis on getting some issues resolved. Earlier this week the Deputy Commanding General came to Taji. Since it was his first visit he got the long tour and we had a good time showing him and some of his staff around the depot. He's British and with a great sense of humor and is well versed in logistics. Today we had some Ph'D's from various think tanks visit and although they are not high ranking officers, they actually carry more weight around, since they tend to write articles regarding policy, testify at congressional sub-committees and some of the lucky ones pop up every once in awhile on CNN or Fox News to discuss Iraq. So we get hit with questions that most military generals aren't going to ask. How many Iraqi's are employed by the contractors who do work here, will there be civilians working at the depot, etc. I am getting close to my 50th star (total number of stars that the generals I have escorted have). I learned a new word last week in Arabic-fagur which means "Murphy" . Last week I had the flat tire in the mud, today another flat coming back from the LZ and when I got back at the office I let out a loud Fagur and the interpreters were rolling when I told them why! They volunteered to fix the flat so this time I let em fix it. I believe that is flat number 6 for me since I have been here, incredible but when you see the roads and all the garbage and debris we have to drive over it makes you wonder why only 6 flats!
Talking about driving and roads, today when we were doing the test drive of the route for the visitors a convoy of lowboys pulling T-55 tanks was in front of us so I was able to get around them, and on my way back here they are going down the wrong side of the road hauling ass, so I flick my lights telling the guy that hey this isn't London get on your side of the road, he in turn flashes his and the chicken contest is on. Now granted the Dodge Durango is a decent sized SUV, but it's no match for a tractor trailer that is hauling a tank. So both of us keep going rambling down the road, the guy next to me starts to wonder if I have any plans to get out of the way. I yield at the last second and give the guy the one finger victory salute as he drives by! No sooner then this and we are pulling into a round about and this other buffoon is going the wrong way and decides to cut the corner by about 30 feet and just misses me by a couple of inches! I didn't have time to give him the salute but did call his mother a few names!
I had fun explaining to the interpreters about Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday and with yesterday being Ash Wednesday we had services at 1800 hours and I came back to work. I had to laugh because most if not all the AMC guys are from either east Texas or Alabama which is not the Catholic hot spot in the US. I would imagine that most of these guys are baptists or other fundamental Christian denomination. So I kid you not 8 or 9 of them stopped me and said sir do you know that you have some grease or something on your forehead. I stop tell them yes and that those are the ashes from the our Ash Wednesday service, they sort of looked at me funny and I had to chuckle and tell them that it's Catholic thing!
With tomorrow being Friday and their day off lots of Soldiers were in civvies making their way to the gate so they could go home for a couple of days. I love to see how a truck with a 10 foot bed will stop, about 8 guys will get on, it will stop in another 200 yards for more guys to pile on, etc etc. By the time the truck makes it to the gate there must be half of San Jose on the back to the truck hanging on for dear life and it doesn't even phase them at all. They walk on all sides of the road, cross whenever they feel like it and at night you have to be extra careful as they have no reflective vests, or gear on and you can't even see them. I would imagine that out here that it's not the animals that end up as road kill but the Soldiers!
Well that's all for today, it's late and all I can hear are the Chinooks at the heavy lift pad dropping supplies off and picking up Soldiers to take them where ever.
The Colonel
Time is flying quickly as it seems that I am either tied up in giving tours at the Depot or reviewing reports and working with the Iraqis on getting some issues resolved. Earlier this week the Deputy Commanding General came to Taji. Since it was his first visit he got the long tour and we had a good time showing him and some of his staff around the depot. He's British and with a great sense of humor and is well versed in logistics. Today we had some Ph'D's from various think tanks visit and although they are not high ranking officers, they actually carry more weight around, since they tend to write articles regarding policy, testify at congressional sub-committees and some of the lucky ones pop up every once in awhile on CNN or Fox News to discuss Iraq. So we get hit with questions that most military generals aren't going to ask. How many Iraqi's are employed by the contractors who do work here, will there be civilians working at the depot, etc. I am getting close to my 50th star (total number of stars that the generals I have escorted have). I learned a new word last week in Arabic-fagur which means "Murphy" . Last week I had the flat tire in the mud, today another flat coming back from the LZ and when I got back at the office I let out a loud Fagur and the interpreters were rolling when I told them why! They volunteered to fix the flat so this time I let em fix it. I believe that is flat number 6 for me since I have been here, incredible but when you see the roads and all the garbage and debris we have to drive over it makes you wonder why only 6 flats!
Talking about driving and roads, today when we were doing the test drive of the route for the visitors a convoy of lowboys pulling T-55 tanks was in front of us so I was able to get around them, and on my way back here they are going down the wrong side of the road hauling ass, so I flick my lights telling the guy that hey this isn't London get on your side of the road, he in turn flashes his and the chicken contest is on. Now granted the Dodge Durango is a decent sized SUV, but it's no match for a tractor trailer that is hauling a tank. So both of us keep going rambling down the road, the guy next to me starts to wonder if I have any plans to get out of the way. I yield at the last second and give the guy the one finger victory salute as he drives by! No sooner then this and we are pulling into a round about and this other buffoon is going the wrong way and decides to cut the corner by about 30 feet and just misses me by a couple of inches! I didn't have time to give him the salute but did call his mother a few names!
I had fun explaining to the interpreters about Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday and with yesterday being Ash Wednesday we had services at 1800 hours and I came back to work. I had to laugh because most if not all the AMC guys are from either east Texas or Alabama which is not the Catholic hot spot in the US. I would imagine that most of these guys are baptists or other fundamental Christian denomination. So I kid you not 8 or 9 of them stopped me and said sir do you know that you have some grease or something on your forehead. I stop tell them yes and that those are the ashes from the our Ash Wednesday service, they sort of looked at me funny and I had to chuckle and tell them that it's Catholic thing!
With tomorrow being Friday and their day off lots of Soldiers were in civvies making their way to the gate so they could go home for a couple of days. I love to see how a truck with a 10 foot bed will stop, about 8 guys will get on, it will stop in another 200 yards for more guys to pile on, etc etc. By the time the truck makes it to the gate there must be half of San Jose on the back to the truck hanging on for dear life and it doesn't even phase them at all. They walk on all sides of the road, cross whenever they feel like it and at night you have to be extra careful as they have no reflective vests, or gear on and you can't even see them. I would imagine that out here that it's not the animals that end up as road kill but the Soldiers!
Well that's all for today, it's late and all I can hear are the Chinooks at the heavy lift pad dropping supplies off and picking up Soldiers to take them where ever.
The Colonel
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