Left Fort Bragg, NC
April and Ally were both able to hangout with me on my family time. We also got to see my friend Pierrot's sergeant promotion ceremony.
October 2, 2007
Arrived in Kuwait City, Kuwait then went to Camp Buehring, Kuwait.
October 7-9, 2007
We conducted live reflexive fire training and convoy training.
October 15, 2007
Arrived at Camp Victory, Iraq.
October 26 to November 3, 2007
Conducted switching exercise to validate our signal equipment.
November 16, 2007
Our company had the combat patch ceremony; a new regulation states that after being in theater for one month you can be awarded the combat patch to put on your uniform.
November 16-18, 2007
Conducted a switching exercise with 44th Signal from Mannheim, Germany.
November 17, 2007
Ran in the 5K fun run, turned out to be more like 6.2K, I placed 5th overall.
November 24-25, 2007
Had LNE (Local National Escort) detail, went around with an Army contractor and an Iraqi crane operator, while they did work on Camp Victory.
November 27, 2007
Flew from Camp Victory to FOB Prosperity in a Chinook helicopter.
November 28-December 3, 2007
Chilled at FOB Prosperity, waiting on equipment so that we, the CPN, (Command Post Node) team could leave for our mission.
December 4, 2007
Arrived at COP (Combat Outpost) 402, also called JSS (Joint Security Station) Independence, a small compound on an (IA) Iraqi Army base. Took over for the other CPN team here. We are providing non-secure and secure voice and data communications to the other Americans here. There is just three of us, we have a daily 8 hour shift, since we run 24 hour operations.
December 15, 2007
We now have commercial internet access in our room. Yay!
December 25, 2007
Christmas in Iraq, my first one away from home. Our Commander and Platoon Leader flew out and delivered our mail, we actually got Christmas gifts on Christmas morning, how fitting. Hung out with the CDR and PLT LDR all day, showed them our site and living arrangements and explained what all we do here.
December 29, 2007
I am 21 years old now. Alcohol? No thanks. But this does mean I can now purchase handguns.
January 8, 2008
Let me relay my cultural experience that I had here tonight. Around 1930 hours a CPT called me outside to talk to an Iraqi CPT about a virus on his computer, something we have dubbed the Blue Star virus because of the things it does to title bars in Windows and Internet Explorer. I head out and we start walking, there is an interpreter with us. The Iraqi CPT starts unlocking this little pickup, I'm like oh, we are going somewhere, okay, sure. We all hop in, the interpreter and I in the backseat, and the two CPTs up front. We start driving off, and I'm like hopefully we aren't going too far. We pass through one Iraqi Army checkpoint; where there are several soldiers huddled around a little fire on the ground. They swing the gate bar up so we can proceed and they salute the truck. The next gate is similar, except this time it is a piece of wire cable instead of a gate bar. They take it down so we can drive over it and once again salute. The Iraqi CPT gives a few horn honks. I'm not sure if he is happy to have a truck to drive or just happy to have a cool horn to beep. There are offset cement barricades that you have to zigzag through. Usually people slow down for this type of situation. Our driver speeds up, I'm like hey, now I know what it feels like for people when they ride with me. I know, I am a very bad driver. We get into the compound and I realize it is the same one I run around, we just had to drive out and about to get a truck into it. We pull up at a two story building and we head inside. I am lead into a room with two desks, and a bed in it. The person on the computer was drawing some Arabic symbols in Microsoft Paint it looked like. They made him get up so I could sit in front of the computer and try to fix their Blue Star virus problem. Almost instantly a cup of some sort of hot tea is whisked in front of me and plopped down on the desk. I'm like hey I've heard of this happening before. It is too hot to drink at first so I let it cool off a bit. Shortly after the Iraqi CPT offered me a cigarette, then he lit up his, right in the room. The Iraqi Army smokes in their buildings. Where the US Army law on that is, no smoking inside and you have to be 50 feet from a building's entrance when outside. Once that tea cooled off, I was like okay I'm thinking this is either going to be very "interesting tasting" or really good. It turned out to be really good. It was sweetened, but not too much. It was black and kind of minty. I blew into it and it was like kind of like Mentholatum-fume type of minty-ness coming back at my face. At the bottom of the cup when I was nearly done drinking it all, there were these black plant like matter things. Maybe tea leaves or something, but all kind of crumpled up. After glancing at the computer, I feel bad for the Iraqis. Apparently they got the computer from us. "Coalition Forces give to us." It is running Windows XP in English. I'm just like oh man, I know there is Windows in Arabic, you guys really need that, since you don't know English. I go to removing this virus. Funny thing is there is only one account on this computer, named administrator, yet I don't have administrator rights. I'm trying to do a "run as" command and it asks for a username and password, possibly a hidden, true administrator account. The Iraqi CPT is like "You need this? I call and get for you." He called a few people and in the end he told me USA. I figured this was the password, but I tried it to no avail. Then he tried explaining that it is not the password, and the person he called just said they get the computer from "USA". That would make sense ya know. Since I have limited rights to do stuff, I do my best to kill this virus. I partially take it off, but it is still hiding on there. I had the interpreter come over and tell them this. While I was showing them what was bad on it, the Iraqi CPT got this idea that anything ending in .exe was a virus. I was like no, just these two certain things are, and don't just delete .exe things. I'm not sure he exactly understood that. This computer is not on a network, much less the internet. Nor does it have a printer, so it is a straight standalone computer with a non-working CD drive. They just type stuff on it and put it on USB flash drives.
January 11, 2008
Man, I am here in Iraq, witnessing history. Not just this war though, today was a historical weather event. News link here. According to that article it has been a century since snow last fell on Baghdad. Around 0645 people came in saying it was snowing, I went out and was like, hmm, not really snowing, more like sleet, or slushy rain. Then around 0720 I head back outside to check on it. It was actually straight up snowing. I was so surprised. It was pretty much a mirror of normal Washington winter weather: snow that doesn't always stick, cold out, and then mix some rain in there somewhere. Then I went outside last night and there was ice on our fuel cans and Humvee. So it actually got to at least freezing temperature. Crazy times, and totally unexpected. If you search Google for stories of snow in Baghdad, you are sure to find plenty.
"Could you just switch this monitor?", is how it all started. That is what led to a night of computer problems, in the end, rendering the machine inoperable. Here is the story. Tonight, wow... You see there is this computer here, that is called a CPOF (Command Post Of the Future). It is a pretty neat, it has three screens, one of which is a HDTV. Anyways the whole computer ended up breaking due to me unplugging one monitor cable, which I was directed to do. In the end we had to take it apart, since a monitor cable lead to a video card, lead to a hard disk coming lose, etc. etc. Basically the problems kept compounding. I, the computer guy I think I am, attempt to fix it. I managed to successfully boot it several times with it taken apart, but then when I would put it the computer back together it would always pretend like it forgot how to boot. Then when I called the civilians who support the CPOF, they are like "What!? You took it apart!? You opened it up and swapped parts from the spare CPOF!?" Oh dear, they were not happy. Telling me I voided the warranty and such. Basically they were like if it breaks, take it to us and we will fix it. But guess what guys, I am on an Iraqi Army base, I can't just walk it next door. We have to rely on ourselves for a lot of things here, we don't have the luxuries of being at a big camp. Basically I am the last computer tech guy to go to here, there is no one else, no super smart guy in the Army here for that, and definitely no civilians for that. That is why I tried fixing it here, so it would be ready by the morning, since it is pretty important. In the end I had been working on the CPOF for 9 hours, and pulled a 16 and 1/2 hour shift. No one here was mad at me for trying to fix it, they were happy I stayed so late attempting to repair it.
January 16, 2008
A civilian from General Dynamics, the people who made and support the CPOF, came out here and replaced the CPOF with a new one. We went over what happened and luckily he was really cool, and understood our situation out here. Although I have learned that next time something goes down, call them first and call them right away.
January 23, 2008
I haven't driven in almost two months, so what better way to test my driving skills by me driving a humvee in a convoy today? We went to FOB Prosperity where my Company is and get an anthrax shot and picked up some mail. While there I was treated like a celebrated celebrity since my Company hadn't seen me in about two months, so they commented on various things from me growing my hair out to me having a handgun. I wasn't there too long, since I had the convoy waiting on me. After we leave I get to drive to the Embassy. This was my first time there, so I got check out a new place. After eating lunch, we were on the road again, back to JSS Independence. I even got to sit in a traffic jam in Baghdad!
January 26, 2008
A simple task of putting a grounding rod into the ground became a huge mess. There was a group of engineers that came here to help fix up our living area. They accidentally ended up piercing a water main with the grounding rod, causing a miniature lake to form from the ensuing floodwaters. This caused our septic tank to float out of the ground it was buried in and tip over, emptying its contents. So what we have is a mini lake of water and sewage. This is still being worked on. They are sucking the water out of the lake into septic trucks.
January 27, 2008
They managed to drain the sewage/water lake. They also flipped the septic tank right-side up, although it was a toss-up if this little pick-up crane truck was going to flip over or not. Once this whole mess gets fixed we will be able to have running water/showers/flushing toilets again. Right now it is port-a-potties and baby-wipe showers.
January 30, 2008
Showers and toilets are both back online. Now we appreciate them even more. A couple undersea telecommunications fiber cables were cut by a ship's anchor. The Middle East lost about 70% of its bandwidth due to this. Normally I wouldn't have noticed this too much, but since I am over here when it happened, I see the dramatic impact to this region firsthand.
February 10, 2008
Today we took a diagnostic APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test). The most you can score is 300 points, 100 per each category of push-ups, sit-ups, and running. I scored a 297, since I was 2 sit-ups short of going over 300 (over-maxing it). We have about a month until the "real" APFT.
March 5, 2008
I got to head out to the range we have here today. I got to shoot my M9 (semi-auto 9mm handgun) and an M4 (assault rifle). It was a blast!
March 8, 2008
I gave my informative speech today. This was for my online speech class I am taking from CTC (Central Texas College). I presented the background history, theory, and real-world uses and applications of GPS (Global Positioning System). I gathered my audience of ten to speak in front of and filmed it so I could send it to my instructor.
March 13, 2008
Tonight we had an extremely strong windstorm. This caused a lot of dust to blow around and coat everything (as if it wasn't already coated in dust). Our LOS (Line of Sight) radio shot antenna head was blown out of alignment, so that our LOS shot went back in after the storm died down.
April 5, 2008
It has finally happened. We are being forced to go out of system and join the rest of our Company up north at FOB Sykes. The two CPN operators who are replacing us arrived today to start learning the ropes.
April 11-12, 2008
We have ripped our CPN (Command Post Node) with the oncoming team. So long for our CPN 79804 at JSS Independence, we now welcome CPN 63804 to take over.
April 17, 2008
All of our equipment was picked up and put onto flatbeds behind semi trucks tonight. Then we jumped in the convoy and headed up to FOB Prosperity.
April 18-22, 2008
Chilled at FOB Prosperity (again). This time waiting on a flight to head up north.
April 23, 2008
We boarded a Blackhawk helicopter from Baghdad and flew up to Ballad. I rode behind one of the gunners and the doors were open so we had a great view of everything as we flew. From Ballad we rode on a small fixed wing aircraft, a Sherpa, to FOB Sykes. We came into FOB Sykes tonight and are now reintegrated into the company.
April 25, 2008
Sad times, today I had to turn in my M9 handgun. I was lucky to have it for almost 5 months. It is hard to see it go though, now I am backing to lugging my M16A2 around.
April 26, 2008
FOB Sykes is a completely different landscape then the palm/date trees and urban landscape of Baghdad. Here it is all wide-open spaces, with virtually no vegetation in sight, save for the grass growing from water dripping off air conditioning units. You walk outside and are immediately squinting from the brightness and realizing that it is very hot out. This place is definitely a desert and the FOB is spread out, since there is tons of room. There is a 5K track that I've run on, and I have been told there is another one.
April 27, 2008
Running here is wonderful, since there is so much space to do it in. Today, I ran 14 miles. It started out with me wanting to run out to the 5K track, do two laps and run back. About my second lap around I realized if I did 3 laps that would give me 10.9 miles. I kept up this method of simple math, and I told myself I would just run an even 14 miles. So when all was said and done, I ran 4 laps around the 5K track, plus there and back. At least I know I can still do a little over a half marathon.
April 30, 2008
Today we had a Company cookout, and awards/promotion ceremony. We had two soldiers promoted to the rank of Sergeant, plus several other promotions and a few awards given out. When we checked out some sports equipment from the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) facility, we decided to sign out a javelin as well as the usual football and soccer ball. So we took turns throwing the javelin. None of us could really throw it any distance, but we had a lot of fun with it.
May 4, 2008
We have been here 19 days, and are still waiting on our equipment to catch up to us. That leaves us without a mission for now, and I have luckily been kept off details. This means we have had tons of free time that I have spent at the MWR, watching movies in my room, or running. The MWR here has a lot to offer in the way of fitness and recreation equipment and set-ups. Several people from our Company and I have been playing a lot of Monopoly lately. We have had several games run over the four-hour mark. I've also discovered a new game called shuffleboard. So between these two plus some web surfing and such, I have been enjoying my time at the MWR.
May 9, 2008
To add to my exercise routine I thought that I would through in some step aerobics. My First Sergeant teaches this exuberant class, very early in the morning. It starts at 0500 and goes till about 0600, except on Fridays where it ends up being about 0630 by the time we get out of there. It is three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have noticed that I'm almost replacing some of my runs with the step aerobics. When I think I should go run, I tell myself I already exercised today and don't want to get another pair of PTs (Physical Training uniform) dirty. Excuses, excuses.
May 14, 2008
After being out of work for a little over a month now, I once again have a CPN (Command Post Node) mission. I have fallen in on another CPN's equipment, as ours still has not found its way up here. So I am providing Secret and Non-Secret voice and data services to the Brigade TOC (Tactical Operations Center) and some outlying subscribers like my Company TOC.
May 19, 2008
We have been putting our knowledge to the test as we have been spending the past few days and some nights troubleshooting an STT (Satellite Transportable Terminal) that belongs to another CPN. They have been having many issues with their shot, and so we have been helping them try to keep their communications systems online. I've got to learn a little bit more about the satellite side of the CPN this way.
May 22, 2008
My time for R&R has arrived. I have started my journey on my way to Washington State. Today I flew from FOB Sykes to Camp Liberty (which is on the same compound as Camp Victory) with a few stops in between. I got to ride in a Blackhawk and a Chinook.
May 23-24, 2008
I have been hanging out at Camp Victory, where I was originally stationed when I started my tour in Iraq. I've been away from it for about 6 months, but it is still very much the same, and luckily I remembered my way around it, since it is a pretty huge base.
May 25-26, 2008
I have been chilling at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) waiting on a flight to Kuwait. Due to a major dust storm, that severely limited visibility my first two flights were canceled. I did make the third one though, which was a ride on a C-130 Hercules to Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
May 27, 2008
Today is the day I leave the Middle East and fly back to the USA. I will be arriving in Atlanta during the morning of the 28th, then onto Dallas, and finally Seattle.
May 28, 2008
Beautiful western Washington (WeWa) State. I love it here! I flew into SeaTac International Airport today. Technically my leave actually begins tomorrow, so that I can get a full 18 days back home.
May 29-June 15, 2008
My 18 days of R&R (Rest and Relaxation) were awesome. I started it off with a 7-mile local race. I was aiming for less than 50 minutes, and ended up getting 50:17, so very close. I was able to hang out with a bunch of my friends, and of course spend time with my family and relatives. I also bought several firearms and ventured out shooting many times. One of my buddies flew up from Hawaii to spend a few days with us. We did a 15-mile day-hike up to Pony Bridge out in the Quinault area. If the 15-mile hike wasn't enough, three days later Ally, Dad and I went to La Grande, Oregon for a half-marathon and marathon respectively.
June 16, 2008
I got up way too early after staying up way too late packing. Ally and Sam took me to SeaTac International Airport. There we received special treatment. First, Ally and Sam were given passes to get them past security so that they could go up the gate with me. Then as we were getting into the security line, we were promptly whisked to the First Class line and that saved us at least 20 minutes of waiting. From there it was about time for me to board, so I said my goodbyes, we did our hugs, and I was off to Dallas/Fort Worth. I had to wait at Dallas/Fort Worth for about 7 hours before we headed to Germany. While there I used my phone to the last second, enjoying being on the cellular network so I could text and browse the web. In Iraq, my Palm Treo is merely a PDA, since Verizon doesn't have cell towers over here for some reason.
June 17-19, 2008.
I arrived in Ali Al Salem, Kuwait and hung out there until the 19th. After several plane delays and flight cancellations, and much sitting around in tents, I hopped aboard a C-130 and made the flight into BIAP (Baghdad International Airport).
June 20-23, 2008
After arriving at BIAP, I hung out at Camp Victory, Iraq for several days, waiting to get a flight up north.
June 30, 2008
Oh what a glorious day. We now have an internet connection in our CHU (Containerized Housing Unit). We set up a LOS (Line of Sight) Wifi shot and were able to maintain a strong enough signal with the equipment I brought for a situation like this.
July 4, 2008
This is my second 4th of July in Iraq. My first one was back in 2005. I started this day off with a 10K race they held here. I came in 5th place overall with a time of 44:45. I managed to hold 1st place for about 3 to 4 minutes when I was over a third of the way into the race. We ran 2 laps around the 5K track that I love running on during my personal time.
July 17, 2008
Got to love the Army and its required training. This morning we had a lovely double dose. The first class was sexual harassment prevention, followed by sexual assault prevention.
August 3, 2008
Today was the 5K Summer Breeze Run put on by the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation). It was a nice fast paced run a little after sunrise. I did start in first place, but only stayed there for about 100 meters. I fell back to second where I stayed and finished. The winner's time was 18:59, I finished over a minute behind him with a time of 20:10.
August 7, 2008
You know it is hot outside when you can grab a bottle of water that has been sitting in the sun, and use it to cook Top Ramen in. When the water cools down as it enters your mouth, that's another sign it is way too hot out. We keep water in the tent, plus we have a fridge, since the water bottles pulled directly from the crates outside are a bit too hot to use initially.
August 8, 2008
Today we held a weapons qualification range. I didn't really shoot too much, just a few rounds for fun.
August 10, 2008
Since deploying I have been increasing my vocabulary in multiple languages, notably Spanish and Arabic and a little Japanese. Not to say I am fluent in them but I am alright in Spanish, and can say a few words in Arabic and Japanese. Today, I learned a word that is from my mother tongue, septage. Apparently this is partially treated waste that is stored in a septic tank. I always knew how it smelled, especially after cooking under that great desert summer sun, but know I now the correct noun for it. It's good to be able to place a name on a smell.