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!!

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

Starting to Feel Like Sun Here at the Depot

It's been a long while since I sat in or dialed in to one of the many Sun meetings that we must attend on a weekly basis. The lack of meetings has been one of the highlights of my tour over here. People that know me know that I hate meetings and my mantra when it comes to meetings is less is better! The only meeting that the key folks have to attend here at the Depot is my morning 0830 meeting where in 20 minutes we get status updates on what's on everyones plate, where I get to ask for updates or areas that need focus, a quick round table, and the "let's go to work" closing. Since all of us are all over the place during the day the comms is constant and if I need an update on one of the buildings all I have to do is walk over to the Corps of Engineer building or I more than likely will run into one of their engineers at one of the job sites. However with the Depot Integrator on board and as we approach critical mass on some of the construction it has become evident that there has to be some meetings so that critical info can be exchanged.

Although the meetings are kept under one hour which is the max my brain will function before it shuts off, I think that we are up to 5 set meetings a week and God knows how many impromptu ones if we are in crisis mode. Between the bridge crane and stand alone crane issue and the indicative list finalization and reconciliation there have been a flurry of those as of late! On top of that I have now split the Iraqi Army meeting into the north and south depots to reflect the MTOE and usually after those I am either ready to hit the gym and take out my frustrations on the elliptical trainer or I just go out for a power walk while looking at the construction sites to clear up my mind and refocus on what's out there!

SSG Gamboas replacements finally arrived this week so he is busy doing his left seat right seat with the two NCO's that will be part of the PMO team. I was able to get an additional head for our group based on all the work that SSG G has been doing and the fact that one NCO is not enough when our group is doing 2-3 tasks at the same time. Major Young's replacement won't arrrive until later this month and we have been able to get her extended for an additional two weeks so that she can cover down in my spot while I am on my TDY trip which I will elaborate on after it's over and I am back in Taji home of the real wild west! It's sometimes funny to see the expressions on SSG G's replacements as he explains some of his duties or they see first hand some of the stuff we have to put up with out here in Taji especially on the dark side (Iraqi Side). From what I have seen so far they will do just fine and am confident that they will have a better idea of what their job role is and duties are in the next few days. The joke around here is that my replacements name is COL Nobody since at this point there is no one slotted as my replacement. Although my boss said that the first O-6 who has the MOS qualification will be diverted to the Depot to replace me, I honestly don't imagine I will see him or her until early April.

Construction work at the Depot continues to move forward, as yesterday I signed for 2 more completed buildings; the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) facility and the Automotive facility. I also looked at the second floor of the Paint Building in the south depot and there were just a few minor issues that I had them touch up before I sign for that area of the building tomorrow. In addition I should be signing for another of the warehouses at the South Depot in the next 2 days.
I am still on the mend with my ITB so I have been hitting the elliptical trainer 4-5 times a week trying to get ready for this weekends marathon. Due to the injury I will not run it but instead will do two 13.1 segments this weekend on the elliptical trainer and as we would say here in Army get "constructive credit' for the marathon which mean a t-shirt and finishers medal. The guys in the IZ will be running the marathon at an undisclosed location (more to follow on that).

That's about it for now just wanted to give my wife Carmen a happy birthday shout out since yesterday the 11th was her birthday and rumor has it she really didn't celebrate it because she's waiting for this old Colonel to get his butt back home so that both of us can celebrate our birthdays together! Happy Birthday Carmen!!

The Colonel

Really Earning my Tour Guide Tab

What a week it has been! It seems like it was only last Sunday night I was tossing and turning in bed thinking about the upcoming VIP visit that was lined up for Monday. I usually don't get involved in the detailed planning regarding security, seating chart for the vans, route selection etc., for these visits but the BSU commander LTC Meyer is out on his 15 day R&R Leave so with two Majors who are more than capable to pull it off, the folks down in the IZ wanted me to earn my pay and take charge of the impending visit. So I had to go over to the BSU and dial in on concall (just like back at Sun) to discuss every damn detail of the visit, knowing too well that by the next morning the protocol folks would make several changes to what was discussed.

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

Warm and Sunny!!

What a gorgeous day today, upper 70’s with plenty of sun made it real nice outside. It’s about 1815 hours and the sun just dipped below the horizon, I am sitting outside with a t-shirt and shorts, my A’s cap and smoking a nice Gurka cigar writing this blog. I slept in this morning but forgot to turn off the phone and sure enough got the dreaded 0830 call which woke me up for good although I had been laying in bed trying to figure out when to get up! I was able to enjoy a nice coffee while talking to Carmen on the phone sitting outside with the sun keeping me nice a warm. Looks like she’s ready for me to get my ass home as soon as possible and I agree. I was kidding with her that this weekend was one of my favorites back home, it’s when the Russian River Wineries have their barrel tasting and it’s a great chance to taste some young Pinot Noirs. She laughed and said that next year we’ll be able to go!!

I have been taking my Celebrex anti-inflammatory medicine, stretching and working out on the elliptical trainer and I feel a lot better with my ITB. Today I did 10 miles on the elliptical and feel good, and will probably sleep like a rock tonite!

Although I was off today I had to go in today to resolve some issues we are having with the new contract and how to activate some of the task orders that the contractor needs turned on so that they can bring in some workers but not execute the entire CLIN. Then it was over to the RSU to work on some final details on some visits that we will have coming up. We have a bunch of new folks on the ground and had to ensure they knew the routes and all the logistics was coordinated, which is something us loggies enjoy doing. Then it was over to the depot to check up on some construction, there was holiday this past week and most of the sites were shut down since the workers were off and there was a curfew. I usually joke with my interpreters that I gotta change religions because over here there is a holiday at least twice a month and one with a 3-5 day pilgrimage every two months. Makes you wonder sometimes how anything ever gets done over here if you get my drift.

The big thing over here is that the Iraqi Army is finally getting serious on cleaning their side of the base up. The place usually reminds me of Sevilla FC’s soccer stadium which is nicknamed by us Beticos as the pigstye! The are plastic water bottles, trash and garbage strewn all over the place. It is not uncommon to see Soldiers in the back of trucks throwing their soda cans and wrappers out the back as if it’s nothing. The RSU commander has started cracking down on the garbage problem and has driven around notifying commanders to start picking up the stuff and keep it clean. Hallelujah is all that I said, as I am blue in the face from telling the BG here at the depot that here we are spending a shit load of money to fix the place up the least they could do is maintain the place clean. So today as I drove down the one road along the north depot you could see that they have been picking up the trash not everyday but often enough that it looks okay but still doesn’t meet the boy scout standard I grew up on that you leave a camp site cleaner than it was when you arrived. We recently split the depot up in two so there is staff that now is in charge of each site, I told the officer in charge of the south depot to hop into my truck and took him along the outside of the perimeter of the depot and showed him all the trash that has been there for weeks and that he needed to get it cleaned up starting today and that not having enough Soldiers wasn’t a valid excuse. I will check up tomorrow to see if he blew me off or actually did start to clean up the mess. Yesterday the guys at the Track depot while cleaning along the roadway adjacent to the depot drove their truck into the wall and knocked down an 8 foot portion of the wall. The wall is at least 6 feet off the road so how one goes about hitting the wall is unknown to me. Now comes the fun part, having them repair the wall, as I kindly reminded them that the US taxpayers will not be paying for the repairs!

Today the guys at the guys working at the supply depot were all smiles, as they finally met their replacements who are here at Taji going to the Phoenix Academy which is an 8 day course which provides instruction on the Iraqi language, Force Protection, how to be an advisor etc. They picked them up and brought them over to the supply depot and then to Tomahawk Village to show them their soon to be homes for the next year. I was talking to CPT Nap and he said it’s no longer a dream, and they will be going home soon now that their replacements are here and will begin their left seat right seat training in about a week.

That’s about it for now, looks like we’ll be in the 70’s and low 80’s for the next 10 days which will definitely make life a little nicer here in Taji.

The Colonel