Our visitor was none other than the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) Admiral Mullen who had requested during his visit to Iraq and Afghanistan to come out to Taji to check up on the National Maintenance Depot, the M1114 HMMWV repair project and the trainup of the Iraqi Soldiers who would be assigned the HMWWV's once they were repaired. To top that off about 20 Soldiers from several active duty battalions were going to be re-enlisting and the CJCS was going to do give the re-enlistment oath to the Soldiers.
So it was a toss and turn night, and seemed like every hour on the hour I would awake to think about what could go wrong that we hadn't discussed or planned for. Monday morning at 0'dark hundred the fun began and we linked up at the LZ with our vans and escorts, The MNSTC-I folks arrived first and soon after the CJCS and his huge entourage arrived. After the usual meet and greet that is done at the airfield with the dust and dirt flying all over the place we moved over to the overhang adjacent to the LZ and the CJCS greeted the Soldiers who were re-enlisting, conducted the ceremony, signed the docs and each of the Soldiers got their photo taken with him. Then it was off to the races and the Track Depot was the first stop on the tour. I gave the usual windshield tour of the tour to explain the vehicle flow, give some detailed info on what will be refurbished at the site and where we are at with construction, equipment install and training of the Iraqi Army. We then got a chance to get out and walk thru the Small Arms Repair Facility and discuss in greater detail some of the training and repairs that will be done at this site.
We then visited the M1114 repair site facilities then I got a chance to give another windshield tour, this time of the South or Wheel Depot. He then asked that we show him the building which was still under refurbishment so we stopped off at the Paint Facility, and took him inside to show him what was going on. Sure enough they were knocking down a wall to make room for the paint booths and there was the CJCS climbing on a pile of rubble to take a look for himself. After that I handed off the tour to one of the other guys whose site the CJCS was going to visit and got to sit back and enjoy the banter inside the van as certain pressing topics were discussed amongst the CJCS and some of the MNSTC-I Generals and Colonels. I was very impressed of his grasp of what was going on and how much detail he already knew about the projects here at Taji. You'd figure that he is so busy with other things that for him to know about what we are doing and the questions he asked was remarkable. He is really a down to earth kinda guy and the 20 minutes that I got to brief him and answer his questions was a great experience that I don't think I will be forgetting for a long time!
The following day Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubaie a who is a trained neurosurgeon and also happens to be the Iraqi National Security Adviser visited the installation and unlike the previous visit, we had one hour briefing to go over the state of the military, the transition role and what we are doing here at Taji in the maintenance arena. It gave us a chance to discuss the Depot, Mechanics Training, drivers training, the M1114 project, unit fielding of the HMMWV's etc. Our Iraqi counterparts were involved in this tour and as the saying goes nothing goes to plan when the Iraqi's are involved. As much as we wanted to keep on schedule to ensure that the visit would be over on time for the helos. I had told the General that I advise that we had 10 minutes per depot and that included a 5 minute drive through each or the depots and then 5 minutes in the small arms facility and 5 minutes in the main wheel facility. I told the General to be waiting outside the headquarters building at the given time and sure as shit he's no where to be seen as we pull up. I go running inside and he casually walks outside to greet the NSA and instead of getting into the vehicle proceeds to drag the NSA into the building and starts briefing him on the depot. Luckily for me our Deputy Commanding General said TS don't worry about it let them do what they want. After 10+ minutes it was off to do the drive through then we went to the small arms facility and finally to the south depot.
I tagged along for the rest of the tour after jettisoning the General at the South Depot since I and Colonel Alberto had seats on that bird so we could go back to the IZ for some meetings at MOD. The sky started to turn darker and then came the dust and wind and next thing we knew all birds except for medivacs were grounded. They called up the Rough Riders who are our convoy escorts to come up to pick up the NSA and take him back to the IZ. The package had to be delivered that same day and with the choppers grounded as the saying goes: "when it positively absolutely has to be there at a given time call the Rough Riders. The NSA I believe has already survived 3 attempts on his life. I had not been down MST Tampa since July and it was intersting to actually see the Iraqi countryside at ground level versus a birds eye view from the chopper. We arrived safe and sound with no incident and spent about 30 hours in the IZ until we flew back Wednesday evening from IZ-Washington with a couple of stops in between.
It was back to work on Thursday trying to get caught up again knowing that on Friday we had another visitor. I forgot the name but he was the under-secretary to something in DOD and was a retired Rear Admiral. His trip along with a GS-15 was to see what we were doing here at Taji that was tied to the strategic defense level for Iraq. That was a more laid back visit and went really well as he was shown some additional sites here at Taji.
Saturday it was meetings with our Iraqi counterparts, sign for the top floor of Bldg 3051 which is the final drive facility on the north depot so that the Depot Integrator can use that space for thier headquarters and to train the Iraqi Depot Production staff later on. I also signed for the first warehouse that was built in the south depot and we really need it as some of the ASL for the HMMWV's started arriving recently.
The last few nights we have been sitting around the fire enjoying a good smoke and some fine company as the weather has been really great, high in the 80's and at night in the mid 60's. For some of the folks on the ground there are not too many more opportunities to enjoy the fire and company as the left seat/right seat training will begin soon. For some of us the chance to light up a good cigar is a necessity as our humidors are maxed out and we are trying to ensure that all our cigars will fit inside when it's time to ship our belongings back home!
Yesterday besides having to go in for couple of hours I was able to start sorting through all the items I have gathered up in the past 13+ months and trying to figure out what I plan to toss in the garbage for burn in the pit or send him. It was nice to be able to wear shorts again and enjoy the sun, from the looks of it they are saying it may rain on Wednesday and Thursday.
I am having problems trying to upload pictures from the CJCS visit, when I resolve the upload issue I will post them.
The Colonel
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