TDY Bound Day 1

Me in the front row of the UH-60

Iraqi landscape from the air vicinity north of Baghdad

Close to Baghdad

As the title says I am TDY (Temporary Duty) bound to the US of A, where I haven't been since 17 April 2007 when we left Ft. Riley Kansas. As I mentioned in another email, we are escorting 8 key Iraqi officers to several Army Materiel Command Depots in the US so that they can gain the necessary insight as to how our depots are run, the complexities of the depots and many other aspects of depots. As usual I will post info after the fact for OPSEC reasons. The adventure or as others call it "Boondoggle" started on the 19th when COL Alberto and I departed Taji bound for the Camp Liberty adjacent to the IZ and BIAP. At first it didn't look to promising when the day before our NCO went to the Taji International Helopad to confirm our flight and was told that we were scheduled for the 23rd. She told the rep at the airfield to recheck the original request and all that was heard was "ah shit I screwed up", and worst part was that it involved two Colonels who had to be at BIAP on the 20th to fly out. The Ops cell then created a mission and sure enough at 2400 hrs I was informed that I had a showtime and flight. So the morning of the 19th off we went down to Liberty. As usual I always run into someone at the Helopad and this time it was 1SG Gonzalez who was there shipping off one of his new replacements back to the US because the Soldier had arrived into country pregnant which is strange since when we deployed last year the female Soldiers had to take a pregnancy test at the Mob site and until the results were confirmed right there were not allowed to manifest on the flight to theater. Looks like he'll be on my lift also when we rotate out of theater. The flight was uneventful but at least it was daylight so I was able to get off a few shots. Which you are able to see above.

At Liberty we got checked in at the AMC office there and it was a normal workday and with the various computers they had there I was able to knock out those last emails and updates that were required before we were to head out the next morning. It is a small world and sure enough we ran into one of the O-6's and his CSM at the AMC offices and got to talk some shop regarding TNMD and the M1114 IROAN project that is taking place in Taji. While I was there CSM showed us an EFP Electronic Formed Projectile that has been so lethal to our vehicles and the US has confirmed that Iran is shipping these to Iraq for Al Qaida and the insurgents to use. Here is a picture of one that was recovered from a vehicle that got hit by the EFP and the good news is that no Soldiers were killed or injured in this blast.

EFP

Later that evening I had to go and turn in my weapon and IBA since I wasn't going to need these in Jordan the US for my trip. I was dead tired that night and hit the sack early knowing that our showtime for the flight to Jordan was going to be an early one. Luckily for me as always I packed my trusty poncho liner because the trailer was cold and it got a lot colder that night and I was nice and warm!!