As I left off last week, we finally received our first major shipment of fuel, but nothing is easy over here. Unfortunately for me the NCOIC of our section was in Qatar on his pass so I was left to fend for myself and it was a zoo. I got the email from the vendor that his trucks were going to see if they could make it through the bridge site. I got a call at around 1230 stating that the fuel trucks were at the Southgate. So I grabbed one of our interpreters (A) and we headed off to the gate. Once you arrive there you have to be in full battle rattle and there is nothing better than standing in the sun when it’s 114 out and can feel the beads of sweat rolling down your back. Getting these guys on post was a different experience and off to the generator farm we headed. Once we got there I see the guys pull out instead of a hose a plastic tubing 4” diameter much like the ones we use back home to catch water from our gutters at the end of the spout. I asked the driver where was his hose and he told me what I was seeing was his hose. No clamps to tighten the hose to either the discharge or receiving end. So it takes about 45+ minutes to figure out a way to rig it using rubber from the inner tubes. Obviously until the pump on the receiving end begins to really crank there is fuel spillage and at .85 cents a liter I’m not a happy taxpayer. The stick for dipping the fuel is broken and there are no markings on it, so calculating total fuel received was not going to be an easy chore. Just like back home right? The first truck is almost empty when I get a call that another contractor had arrived with a shipment of consumable items we needed for our work shops, and he didn’t have the proper credentials to make it to the south gate and instead I had to meet him at the first manned gate there is on the edge of the Iraqi side of the base. Definitely not a good sign when these are the places that the terrorists target for their VBIED attacks. Full battle rattle, locked and loaded I get waived by the south gate guards, then the US guards and finally the interpreter and I arrive where the driver was.
I get out and he’s talking all the while he has a his 9mm mag and pistol in one hand waving it around as if this was the norm. Here I’m thinking to my self yeah the mag is out but does he have a round chambered and why does it seem to be pointing away from him and towards us? The order is in the back of the van and the bag carrying some of the supplies is broken so some of the bottles of oil are strewn about the floor and here we are trying to pickup the bottles so I can begin to inventory the items before transferring it to my vehicle. After 25 minutes counting the items, discussing future deliveries and moving the product I am flying down the road trying to get back to the south gate and generator farm. The US guard stops us, inspects the vehicle and asks me whether I was from Taji, figuring that this dumb Colonel was stupid enough to drive a non armored vehicle outside the wire, I smiled and told him that I was based out of here and had just gone to the first gate for a delivery pickup.
Back to the generator farm and they were still downloading fuel and it was obvious that all 5 tankers would not be downloaded prior to the gate closure time. The drivers were hungry so I gave them some MRE’s and water and told them which MRE's had pork. Once the third vehicle was empty I had to escort them back to the southgate and in order to get them out the guards inspect the fuel trucks to make sure they dumped their entire load and are not trying to steal the fuel to sell elsewhere. Since the rigged seal on the hose worked only so well ;>) there wasn’t enough suction so one of the tankers probably had 50-75 liters of fuel in it. I asked the guard at the gate where he could drive up a ramp to unload the fuel and was there a collection point for the fuel, they said no, just pull into the gravel parking lot which has a slight rise and dump it there! I’m sure the EPA would have loved it. Lesson learned for next time, bring jerry cans to catch the extra fuel so the Iraqi trucks in our depot have fuel. Got the fuel downloaded from the other two trucks, reverified by inspecting the storage tanks total fuel delivered, told them where they could park for the night and we got them dinner.
The next morning which was Sunday my sleep in day and my “take the entire day off” day was screwed since we had to get them out early and notify the units at the bridge that they were coming through. So after getting them out I took the rest of the day off and got caught up on my reading and cleaning the room.
With the fuel the generator farm began to power up amid all the testing and preparations and on Monday the zone which had been inspected and all electrical substations and transformers were good to go was powered and on the grid. The north depot had some issues with transformers not being grounded properly, so I had the electricians fix the three transformers that fed the three buildings I needed most, and Tuesday night after just over 100 days up here in Taji we finally had power! The Iraqi soldiers were happy campers that evening as they could finally sleeps in AC billets instead of sweltering 90+ degree heat at night. The timing was perfect as the Aussies had been using a small 60Kw generator to power up the building where the depot classes had just kicked off on Monday. These are our first group of Iraqi Soldiers going through depot training, we started with 42 prior to them going to boot camp and had 40 after boot camp, we lost one due to medical issues, so these 39 are the trailblazers. The Aussies constructed temporary classrooms and work areas for the small arms, generator repair and welding courses that they are teaching.
Now I’ll have to start setting up my office at the Depot which should facilitate Depot discussions with my Iraqi counterparts on a daily basis. Unfortunately until now they work out of Baghdad and come out here once a week to for our meeting and just leave one officer out here to manage things. We have lots of items to work on, plus are expecting shipments to arrive next week and all the supply paperwork has been prepared on our side, they will now have to do the same.
Before I sign off for the day a couple of shout outs, one to Ray L a good friend from back home and retired Naval Officer sent me a nice note with some candy, and Tia Carol and Uncle John who sent me a nice card. Thanks
The Colonel
07 September, 2007
02 September, 2007
Challenges Ahead
As the saying goes "nothing ever comes easy" and that seems to be the motto around here as of late! The big push here has been getting the generator farm (15 1MW generators on line). Thanks to the 1st Cav Division they paid the monies to have RMS start up the generator farm which has been dormant since December 2006 because of lack of fuel. At the same time the generator farm was being checked out, they were also high potting and checking out the 11KV lines that run to the various parts of the post, the transformer boxes and inspecting the lines.
We had been approved for our first fuel delivery but as the motto goes that still wasn't a reality. As you all probably read several weeks back a bridge that is located along the main route between Baghdad and Taji was partially destroyed and that has created a huge chokepoint along this route for various meetings. All traffic going north and south now has to use the same lane at the bridge site and this is a four lane road (2 lanes on each side). Additionally the bridge site is protected by the Iraqi Army (IA) and unless they are made aware of certain deliveries or convoys the wait there can be several hours long and many vehicles get turned back. Our fuel delivery was tied up because of this bridge. Then the contractor didn't send us the required info to get them past the bridge. When we finally offered them US Convoy security support, the issue was his drivers didn't want to be seen with American troops, then it was the drivers didn't want to go to Taji and he would have to switch out drivers. At that point I picked up the phone and called the contracting officer and told him this contractor wants American Greenback and now it's time to have him walk the walk! And if there was any other delay in the fuel I would request another vendor and this guy can go to hell! All this unfolded when the 7 day vehicle curfew was imposed to prevent any violence during one of the pilgrimages to a shiite shrine. Now I thought us Roman Catholics had a lot of religious holidays but these guys take the icing on the cake!!
As RMS has continued to inspect the various power generation equipment they have noted numerous deficiencies from the work of the company that built the generator farm and installed the high and low voltage lines through out the base. Unfortunately for us until some of these deficiencies are resolved we will not be able to start pushing power out to the grid. Stay tuned more to follow next blog.
The first shipments of equipment that were purchased for the Small Arms, Generator Repair and DPW facilities will arrive next week. I had originally thought that I would have to sign for the equipment and then get it added to the Depots Property Book as a US Army asset. Instead I have been advised that since this equipment was brought for the IA by US funds that it can not be added to the US Army property book but instead the IA will have to sign for the equipment after I approved the receipt of the material and sign off on the DD250 which will then allow the Army to pay off the vendors who shipped us the equipment. Property Accountability in the Iraqi Army leaves a lot to be desired because signing for property means taking responsibility for something and in the old regime if you were responsible and something went wrong than you were screwed with either prison or an early meeting with the grim reaper. So getting them to not get so uptight when it comes to taking responsibility for property or actions is trying at times. I will be letting them know what will have to happen prior to arrival of the equipment and ensure that they get their property book set up properly to annotate their new property.
SGT A who was loaned to our group in mid June left our group since he was redeployed to another location in Iraq. He has already been missed since he was here for over 8 months and knew all the ins and outs as to how to get things done, who to contact etc. Good news is that I hired from the IZ Major Y who had come up here earlier to interview for the Deputy PMO slot. I told her to finish up what she was working on at J-4 and to schedule her arrival here NLT 10 Sept. Her arrival should help since I will be able to hand off some of the day to day activities and concentrate on some of the longer range items that are sticking their ugly heads out and keep me up at night. AMC has sent us three new individuals to support this project, and this should help us since we will be required to do the technical review for the equipment that the bidders will purchase as part of the contract they bid on.
Well that it for now, the big question is when I post my next blog will we have power in out depot area?
The Colonel
We had been approved for our first fuel delivery but as the motto goes that still wasn't a reality. As you all probably read several weeks back a bridge that is located along the main route between Baghdad and Taji was partially destroyed and that has created a huge chokepoint along this route for various meetings. All traffic going north and south now has to use the same lane at the bridge site and this is a four lane road (2 lanes on each side). Additionally the bridge site is protected by the Iraqi Army (IA) and unless they are made aware of certain deliveries or convoys the wait there can be several hours long and many vehicles get turned back. Our fuel delivery was tied up because of this bridge. Then the contractor didn't send us the required info to get them past the bridge. When we finally offered them US Convoy security support, the issue was his drivers didn't want to be seen with American troops, then it was the drivers didn't want to go to Taji and he would have to switch out drivers. At that point I picked up the phone and called the contracting officer and told him this contractor wants American Greenback and now it's time to have him walk the walk! And if there was any other delay in the fuel I would request another vendor and this guy can go to hell! All this unfolded when the 7 day vehicle curfew was imposed to prevent any violence during one of the pilgrimages to a shiite shrine. Now I thought us Roman Catholics had a lot of religious holidays but these guys take the icing on the cake!!
As RMS has continued to inspect the various power generation equipment they have noted numerous deficiencies from the work of the company that built the generator farm and installed the high and low voltage lines through out the base. Unfortunately for us until some of these deficiencies are resolved we will not be able to start pushing power out to the grid. Stay tuned more to follow next blog.
The first shipments of equipment that were purchased for the Small Arms, Generator Repair and DPW facilities will arrive next week. I had originally thought that I would have to sign for the equipment and then get it added to the Depots Property Book as a US Army asset. Instead I have been advised that since this equipment was brought for the IA by US funds that it can not be added to the US Army property book but instead the IA will have to sign for the equipment after I approved the receipt of the material and sign off on the DD250 which will then allow the Army to pay off the vendors who shipped us the equipment. Property Accountability in the Iraqi Army leaves a lot to be desired because signing for property means taking responsibility for something and in the old regime if you were responsible and something went wrong than you were screwed with either prison or an early meeting with the grim reaper. So getting them to not get so uptight when it comes to taking responsibility for property or actions is trying at times. I will be letting them know what will have to happen prior to arrival of the equipment and ensure that they get their property book set up properly to annotate their new property.
SGT A who was loaned to our group in mid June left our group since he was redeployed to another location in Iraq. He has already been missed since he was here for over 8 months and knew all the ins and outs as to how to get things done, who to contact etc. Good news is that I hired from the IZ Major Y who had come up here earlier to interview for the Deputy PMO slot. I told her to finish up what she was working on at J-4 and to schedule her arrival here NLT 10 Sept. Her arrival should help since I will be able to hand off some of the day to day activities and concentrate on some of the longer range items that are sticking their ugly heads out and keep me up at night. AMC has sent us three new individuals to support this project, and this should help us since we will be required to do the technical review for the equipment that the bidders will purchase as part of the contract they bid on.
Well that it for now, the big question is when I post my next blog will we have power in out depot area?
The Colonel
25 August, 2007
What a Week!!
Wheew, man I am tired and so glad that this week is over. It seemed that it would never end with all the visits and big cheeses that showed up to check out the Maintenance Depot. It all started one week ago Saturday when Juan my boss who is based out of the IZ called me while I was with the IT guys working on my computer. "Hey brother how would you like to escort a general officer tomorrow?" I knew from his tone that he was having a good laugh so when I asked him who are for how long he said its our boss BG S and he'll have 4+ hours boots on the ground, and oh by the way he'll be there at 1030 hrs. and wants to see you and the depot and nothing else! Damn I thought Sunday is the only day I really get a small break from the grind and now it's shot, plus BG S isn't the most talkative guys in the world. I never met him but had heard about him, and lets leave it at that. Not only was BG S coming but so were 7 other folks from the IZ.
So on Sunday while I am heading to the LZ to pickup the entourage, with choppers you have to get there about 15 minutes early because they sometimes arrive early and sure enough by the time I got there they were already waiting. After the exchanging pleasantries we headed off to turn in some paperwork to one of the units and then we headed to our main office. After presenting the team I gave them the intro brief and a more detailed "where we are at" brief. There was some open discussion as to what additional items they wanted me to work out, some training issues and lots of questions. We ate lunch and then it was off to both depots.
The boots on the ground tour went well as did the drive by of various sections of the depot. We stopped off by the RTC (Basic Training) area to check out some Iraqi troops and then it was off to the LZ so they could head back to the IZ. It wasn't too hard to figure our why he visited, we were going to have a 4 Star visit on Wednesday and the command group in the IZ wanted to make sure I had my ducks in order unlike some of the other O-6's here at Taji. I passed that muster as no one called me that day from the IZ to tell me how to suck the proverbial egg. But now that they visited I knew it was a matter of hours that the original schedule and activities for Wednesday would be changing every 2-3 hours!
Monday was filled with meetings in the morning and then in the afternoon I had to a chance to meet the new O-6 for the USACE in Baghdad. I linked up with them down at the depot and gave him and some of his folks a tour. I actually enjoyed this tour and getting to meet the Colonel because here in Iraq it is so important to meet people who you will be dealing with in the future so when there are issues you know who to contact and have had face time with them. They brought a camera crew and I had no idea that they were filming until after the tour I was asked to spell my name and list my job title. Here is the short clip
By Wednesday the schedule had been changed at least 9 times and here the 4 star who was here to see his folks and the depot since they are supporting us with the development of the depot was no longer scheduled to visit the depot. We kept our original plan of the depot visit and the assets required to support that visit because I knew that he was going say that he wanted to visit the depot. The big arrived, we picked up our command group at the LZ, LTG D, BG S and BG A plus 4 other Colonels. General G and his group of a MG and BG and Colonels arrived soon after. That gave us a total of 12 stars and shitload of full birds crammed into a conference room going over logistical and Foreign Military Sales info. During the logistics brief when the depot was mentioned the discussion was rather intense regarding the manning situation, when the General said that the wanted to go to the depot. BG S handed me a slip of paper with what needed to be visited and I told him not to worry because like I tell my kids and HQ6 all the time "Don't worry everything is under control"! The visit went without a hitch and the General had a good time going inside some the buildings under construction and speaking with some of the Aussies and other support folks on the ground. The total visit lasted almost 3+ hours and as the General left he gave us coins and for me it was the first time I have ever received a coin from a 4 star general.
On Thursday Major Y from the J-4 arrived to see what we were doing here at Taji and to interview for the Deputy PMO position. I had told Juan that I needed now more than ever a deputy because with all the work that had to be done I found myself getting bogged down at the tactical level and with all the strategic decisions that still needed to be made I couldn't afford to lose site of the long range decisions that need to be made. She had a chance to see both the north and south depots, what the layout of the depot and Taji was like, interview and take care of some work that she had to do over at the Supply Depot.
I finally got the Operation and Maintenance Contract awarded for the Generator Farm. This was the last hurdle to get the power running at the depot and a couple of other areas on the Iraqi side of the base. The contractor is now testing the generators, replacing some dead batteris, fine tuning some of the equipment, making sure that the transformers are connected properly and that no one is tapping into the lines illegally. We should have the power on Monday and can begin to do our infrastructure testing and after that make any necessary repairs and keep the power running. That will enable the Iraqi's to move into their quarters and we can finally begin day to day operations at our HQ building at the Depot. That will make my life a lot easier because we will now be able to work with our counterparts on a daily basis versus once a week.
I had my usual chips and dip with some non-alcoholic beer tonite and am listening to soccer via the internet from Spain. At least tomorrow I will be able to sleep in and relax until 1300 hrs when the new week will start all over again. I am sure that this coming week will be an interesting one but more hectic than this week I doubt it.
I finally got a chance to see some of the pictures from the reunion get together last weekend and from what I have seen so far it looks like a good time was had by all. Some of my classmates haven't changed much from when I last saw them, others I didn't recognize right away.
Have a nice week everyone, Go A's and Viva Er Beti Manque Pierda!!
The Colonel
So on Sunday while I am heading to the LZ to pickup the entourage, with choppers you have to get there about 15 minutes early because they sometimes arrive early and sure enough by the time I got there they were already waiting. After the exchanging pleasantries we headed off to turn in some paperwork to one of the units and then we headed to our main office. After presenting the team I gave them the intro brief and a more detailed "where we are at" brief. There was some open discussion as to what additional items they wanted me to work out, some training issues and lots of questions. We ate lunch and then it was off to both depots.
The boots on the ground tour went well as did the drive by of various sections of the depot. We stopped off by the RTC (Basic Training) area to check out some Iraqi troops and then it was off to the LZ so they could head back to the IZ. It wasn't too hard to figure our why he visited, we were going to have a 4 Star visit on Wednesday and the command group in the IZ wanted to make sure I had my ducks in order unlike some of the other O-6's here at Taji. I passed that muster as no one called me that day from the IZ to tell me how to suck the proverbial egg. But now that they visited I knew it was a matter of hours that the original schedule and activities for Wednesday would be changing every 2-3 hours!
Monday was filled with meetings in the morning and then in the afternoon I had to a chance to meet the new O-6 for the USACE in Baghdad. I linked up with them down at the depot and gave him and some of his folks a tour. I actually enjoyed this tour and getting to meet the Colonel because here in Iraq it is so important to meet people who you will be dealing with in the future so when there are issues you know who to contact and have had face time with them. They brought a camera crew and I had no idea that they were filming until after the tour I was asked to spell my name and list my job title. Here is the short clip
By Wednesday the schedule had been changed at least 9 times and here the 4 star who was here to see his folks and the depot since they are supporting us with the development of the depot was no longer scheduled to visit the depot. We kept our original plan of the depot visit and the assets required to support that visit because I knew that he was going say that he wanted to visit the depot. The big arrived, we picked up our command group at the LZ, LTG D, BG S and BG A plus 4 other Colonels. General G and his group of a MG and BG and Colonels arrived soon after. That gave us a total of 12 stars and shitload of full birds crammed into a conference room going over logistical and Foreign Military Sales info. During the logistics brief when the depot was mentioned the discussion was rather intense regarding the manning situation, when the General said that the wanted to go to the depot. BG S handed me a slip of paper with what needed to be visited and I told him not to worry because like I tell my kids and HQ6 all the time "Don't worry everything is under control"! The visit went without a hitch and the General had a good time going inside some the buildings under construction and speaking with some of the Aussies and other support folks on the ground. The total visit lasted almost 3+ hours and as the General left he gave us coins and for me it was the first time I have ever received a coin from a 4 star general.
On Thursday Major Y from the J-4 arrived to see what we were doing here at Taji and to interview for the Deputy PMO position. I had told Juan that I needed now more than ever a deputy because with all the work that had to be done I found myself getting bogged down at the tactical level and with all the strategic decisions that still needed to be made I couldn't afford to lose site of the long range decisions that need to be made. She had a chance to see both the north and south depots, what the layout of the depot and Taji was like, interview and take care of some work that she had to do over at the Supply Depot.
I finally got the Operation and Maintenance Contract awarded for the Generator Farm. This was the last hurdle to get the power running at the depot and a couple of other areas on the Iraqi side of the base. The contractor is now testing the generators, replacing some dead batteris, fine tuning some of the equipment, making sure that the transformers are connected properly and that no one is tapping into the lines illegally. We should have the power on Monday and can begin to do our infrastructure testing and after that make any necessary repairs and keep the power running. That will enable the Iraqi's to move into their quarters and we can finally begin day to day operations at our HQ building at the Depot. That will make my life a lot easier because we will now be able to work with our counterparts on a daily basis versus once a week.
I had my usual chips and dip with some non-alcoholic beer tonite and am listening to soccer via the internet from Spain. At least tomorrow I will be able to sleep in and relax until 1300 hrs when the new week will start all over again. I am sure that this coming week will be an interesting one but more hectic than this week I doubt it.
I finally got a chance to see some of the pictures from the reunion get together last weekend and from what I have seen so far it looks like a good time was had by all. Some of my classmates haven't changed much from when I last saw them, others I didn't recognize right away.
Have a nice week everyone, Go A's and Viva Er Beti Manque Pierda!!
The Colonel
17 August, 2007
Franklin High School Class of 77--Thirty Year Reunion "Party On"
They say time never stops and it is true as this weekend back in Franklin Wisconsin my classmates will be celebrating our 30th High School Reunion. It's hard to believe that 30 years ago we were just a bunch of 18 year olds with the rest of our lives still in front of us, and here we are today celebrating all that we have done in these past 30 years. It seems like yesterday that we were going to Kiss and Queen concerts, wearing those bell bottom pants and those great looking polyester leisure suits, participating in sports, going to football and basketball games, for us guys enjoying the view in any of Ms Noble's classes and drinking beer out of I forgot whose boot at Senior Skip Out Day!
I guess the get togethers and parties start tonite, tomorrow is the big event and Sunday is the picnic which will wrap up the reunion weekend! I had looked forward to attending especially since I had a good time at our 20th reunion, but hey I've got nothing to complain about and there's always the 40th!! To all my fellow classmates, I hope you all are doing well and have a great weekend celebrating and enjoying each others company, I will partake in a nice cigar and can of non-alcoholic beer late tomorrow night after work and will offer a toast to all of us!
GO SABERS!!
The Colonel
12 August, 2007
Sunday Morning in Taji
It's hard to believe that another week has gone by so quickly! Today being Sunday is normally a day to sleep in but here at Taji we had a 5K run "Harley Davidson 5K Hog Run" obviously sponsored by Harley Davidson who just happen to be from my home town of Milwaukee! Since I am finally running 5 days a week but with no speed work I figured that if I could run a sub 24 race and not have feel anything funny in my left quad that I would be happy with that! So for the first time I actually went to bed at a decent time since I had to be up at 0530 for my pre-race cup of joe and get ready for the race which started at 0700. I never check my watch when I have to get up in the middle of the night so I don't get depressed that I have only X hours more of shuteye before I have to get up. So when I got up I noticed that there was some light coming from the sand bagged window so I checked my watch and almost had a cardiac arrest. It was 0623 and I still had to shave, brush my teeth, change and drive to the start and sign in. I was flying and got there at 0645, signed in, did some quick stretching and bang the gun sounded at 0655 and off the pack went. I went out easy and since there were no mile markers (no big surprise here) I figured I was a little slower than 8 minutes at mile one, so I picked it up slightly and at about 12 minutes figured it was time to do start passing some runners and the last mile it was great picking off the runners one by one and I finished pretty strong. No pain in the quad, not thirsty since I had my handy water bottle that I use when I run back home and a 23:35 time, which considering it was the first time since my quad injury that I ran a sub 8:30 pace!! I was happy with that, I ran into some of the Aussies and a couple of the 104th guys at the finish area. The T-shirt is not bad either and is a good souvenir from Taji!
Got back and spoke with Carmen, Cheenie Peenie and my sister in law on Skype, they had just gotten back from their week in Tahoe. We reserved the cabin before I got mobilized and I told Carmen that life goes on and to enjoy themselves up there and from what they told me they all had a good time. They said that even though I wasn't there it was like I was there, since Javi was doing the usual stupid antics and things that I always do and Cheenie was planning the days events like I always do! That's good to know that the kids do take after their dad sometimes, or as Carmen always points out when they do something bad or stupid that they take after me!
Here at work we are soooo close to getting power turned on at the Maintenance Depot. We purchased fuel, the guys that run the generator farm are almost done getting the last minute details ready so they can crank up the generator farm and start running power to the maintenance depot and another part of the base. Once they do that, we will be able to turn on the lights, AC's, to see what doesn't work, run the sewage lift stations, turn on the water and see what part of the infrastructure needs to be repaired. The power will run for 48 hours so that we have time to inspect all the buildings, and various water and sewage lines. The bid is out for the Operations and Maintenance Contract for the Generator Farm and power lines, that should be ready to start in late August and the contract for fuel has been approved. You would have thought that fuel in Iraq is cheap since it is drilled and refined here, but with the transportation costs which includes armed escorts and the middle man profits a gallon of Diesel goes for $4.97 a gallon at a discount rate since I will be purchasing a decent amount!
Once we get the generator farm operating 24X7 then we can occupy our PMO Building and work side by side with our Iraqi counterparts daily. That alone is worthwhile, since there are so many decisions that we still have to make regarding which fleets we will rebuild at the Depot, order the repair parts for those vehicles, work manning figures, training plans for new incoming Soldiers etc. Robert and Larry have completed updating the designs and have forwarded that info to the J-7 and USACE so that they can review and buy off on the changes and send those designs to the Construction Services folks at USACE and the Army can send them the monies so they can start refurbishing the buildings. I know that folks back down at the IZ want to see bricks and mortar flying all over the place because that shows progress. I would not be surprised that once the construction starts to really pickup that the one star and three star Generals will be paying the Depot a visit.
We finally had our new priest arrive here at Taji, unlike the others that were rotating on a weekly basis because lets face it there just aren't enough priests back home and that affects the number or Army priests. This one will be based out of Taji which means more services and that fact that we now have someone we can go to if there is the need. He reminds me a lot of Father Jim the priest from back home; he likes participation wants us to feel good about ourselves and get involved here on base with the church. He's from Puerto Rico but lived a long time in Boston so he has a very peculiar accent to say the least!
Well I got a couple of hours left before it's time to go to work today and I have to finish up a couple of officer evaluations and hit the PX to see what they have on their shelves. I honestly believe that on my second or third day back home I will go to the mall and stay there from the time it opens until it closes just to walk through and stare at the shelves full of merchandise!
Before I close a big birthday shout out to Javier who today hits the big 16, and tomorrow starts his behind the wheel training for drivers ed! Happy birthday Javi enjoy your birthday and remember keep two hands on the steering wheel at all times! ;>)
The Colonel
Got back and spoke with Carmen, Cheenie Peenie and my sister in law on Skype, they had just gotten back from their week in Tahoe. We reserved the cabin before I got mobilized and I told Carmen that life goes on and to enjoy themselves up there and from what they told me they all had a good time. They said that even though I wasn't there it was like I was there, since Javi was doing the usual stupid antics and things that I always do and Cheenie was planning the days events like I always do! That's good to know that the kids do take after their dad sometimes, or as Carmen always points out when they do something bad or stupid that they take after me!
Here at work we are soooo close to getting power turned on at the Maintenance Depot. We purchased fuel, the guys that run the generator farm are almost done getting the last minute details ready so they can crank up the generator farm and start running power to the maintenance depot and another part of the base. Once they do that, we will be able to turn on the lights, AC's, to see what doesn't work, run the sewage lift stations, turn on the water and see what part of the infrastructure needs to be repaired. The power will run for 48 hours so that we have time to inspect all the buildings, and various water and sewage lines. The bid is out for the Operations and Maintenance Contract for the Generator Farm and power lines, that should be ready to start in late August and the contract for fuel has been approved. You would have thought that fuel in Iraq is cheap since it is drilled and refined here, but with the transportation costs which includes armed escorts and the middle man profits a gallon of Diesel goes for $4.97 a gallon at a discount rate since I will be purchasing a decent amount!
Once we get the generator farm operating 24X7 then we can occupy our PMO Building and work side by side with our Iraqi counterparts daily. That alone is worthwhile, since there are so many decisions that we still have to make regarding which fleets we will rebuild at the Depot, order the repair parts for those vehicles, work manning figures, training plans for new incoming Soldiers etc. Robert and Larry have completed updating the designs and have forwarded that info to the J-7 and USACE so that they can review and buy off on the changes and send those designs to the Construction Services folks at USACE and the Army can send them the monies so they can start refurbishing the buildings. I know that folks back down at the IZ want to see bricks and mortar flying all over the place because that shows progress. I would not be surprised that once the construction starts to really pickup that the one star and three star Generals will be paying the Depot a visit.
We finally had our new priest arrive here at Taji, unlike the others that were rotating on a weekly basis because lets face it there just aren't enough priests back home and that affects the number or Army priests. This one will be based out of Taji which means more services and that fact that we now have someone we can go to if there is the need. He reminds me a lot of Father Jim the priest from back home; he likes participation wants us to feel good about ourselves and get involved here on base with the church. He's from Puerto Rico but lived a long time in Boston so he has a very peculiar accent to say the least!
Well I got a couple of hours left before it's time to go to work today and I have to finish up a couple of officer evaluations and hit the PX to see what they have on their shelves. I honestly believe that on my second or third day back home I will go to the mall and stay there from the time it opens until it closes just to walk through and stare at the shelves full of merchandise!
Before I close a big birthday shout out to Javier who today hits the big 16, and tomorrow starts his behind the wheel training for drivers ed! Happy birthday Javi enjoy your birthday and remember keep two hands on the steering wheel at all times! ;>)
The Colonel
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