Windy and Wild Taji

What a wild night two nights ago! It was a slightly overcast in the afternoon and around 1700 hrs the cold front came through and the wind shifted the temperature dropped and then it got windy and wild. The winds were about 30-35 MPH but then the gusts started getting up in the 50-60 MPH range and anything that wasn't sandbagged down started to fly. At around 2400 hours the wiind died down and it wasn't until morning that you could see the damage that was caused by the winds. The DFAC that the Iraqi Soldiers use to train on had two thirds of it's roof peeled back like a can of sardines, I don't know if it was the wind that caused it or a combination of wind and the less construction quality of the roof. Around or living areas, the metal poles that support our comms and TV cables were snapped in half so there were wires all over the place and blocking the roads. Satellite dishes were laying on the ground having been blown off the roofs, mine was good to go since I had recently put about 6 additional sandbags on the support base and that saved the day for me. As I drove to the depot all the trash that had been laying around or in piles was spread all over the Iraqi side of post and was piled up along side the fences. When I got to the depot there must have been at least 10 tree limbs strewn along the road. Late yesterday the dust started picking up and it has been less than 400 yards visibility all day and with that visibility nothing flies except medevac choppers.

We are busy moving our remaining items to PMO Bldg. on the dark side (we call it dark side because since they don't have much fuel the lights are usually out on their side of post). As of this Monday all of our operations will be handled from there which will make coordination with our Iraqi counterparts that much easier, especially since they don't have nor will have for a long time internet. I personally am looking forward to it since I will be to get status updates on the spot from the Iraqi's and they will have no place to hide except their Quarters when I come looking for them.

That's about for now, but before I hit the post button just wanted to give a big shout out to Censi for having passed her HESI nursing exam last week. USF won't let the nursing majors graduate or take the state boards unless they pass this test and she scored very high so now they want her to tutor her peers who did not achieve the required and get them ready for the next HESI.
Now all she has left are her final exams in early May and interviews for the job hunt! Censi great job and enjoy your last spring break as a college student, next year at this time you'll be working for a living and paying taxes so the buffoons in DC and Sacramento can spend it on pork barrel projects!

The Colonel