Life in the IZ

Well folks, its been a couple weeks here in the International Zone, adjusting to and learning the new job, territory, people and of course challenges. I have also been trying to figure out where to take you in the blog by asking myself what kind of things would you guys all like to know about life here in Baghdad. I am aware that the picture for many is not clear, but I intend to be careful not to share any information that would compromise the safety, security and effectiveness of our operations over here. As you can imagine there are a lot of new things for me to experience here: life working in an Army National guard unit doing public works engineering and renovations, working and living in one of Sadaam’s old palaces, working side by side with many different nationalities that are represented here in the international zones from the Peruvian and Nigerian security, the Pakistani and Indian food service folks, the Italian, Australia,British military, and of course the local Iraqi people and contractors. The truth is, it is all very interesting, but not as excitement filled as you might imagine. Many days are spent doing the day to day business of our jobs, and working on not being too discouraged by the large bureaucracy that has taken hold here in Baghdad (not much different than Washington D.C. back in the states) but some days do lend them self to a good story to be told. So I will just try and share a few of the experiences that I thought where memories I will take back with me to the U.S.

The President is coming …..

Well as I am sure you all heard, George Bush made an unscheduled visit to Baghdad for his last time as President to meet with the Prime Minister of Iraq. Of course the headlines were not about that meeting, or visiting the troops but that of a local reporter who was trying to be the first man to hit a U.S. President with his shoe. Thankfully Bush is still pretty light on his feet was able to duck the two size 10’s that were hurled at his head. Well I am excited to report, our unit got to set security detail that night on the route the President traveled through the IZ to the Prime Ministers compound. I was fortunate enough to be part of the detail that secured the airfield where the President would fly out of. We all came into work that morning business as usual, and by lunch we where briefed we would need to report in later that afternoon, in full battle rattle (all that stuff you saw me wearing in training), and would be briefed on our roles in a security detail that was being set up. I was assigned to the airfield and was there a few hours before the President arrived in the motorcade, and had plenty of time to talk with various folks from the President’s security team, and the air crew, and got to for a very brief second, see Mr. Bush, rush from his car into the aircraft.

The opportunity was really quite exciting, but it didn't neccesarily start off that way. For some, the reaction was one of dread at first, as the thought of wearing our full battle rattle for some unknown period was a real downer, as we would likely be standing outside in the cold for many hours, but when we all showed up that afternoon, and were briefed it would be the President that this securit detail was being set up for, I am proud to say that all hands where excited and ready for the task, and honored to be chosen and trusted with such a duty. You see, I believe, despite the differences that can exist between people, either Army, Navy, or Air Force, Officer or Enlisted, Republican or Democrats, when it comes to the President and the United States, we are all proud of the privilege to serve, and getting a chance to serve the president directly was an honor. I am not trying to over dramatize that evening, but those who have been in the military or worked in a service environment, know that many of the hours spent serving are tedious, without reward, and sometimes in an environment of wondering why you are there doing what you are doing, complaining about work conditions and bureaucracy. The rewarding part comes on evenings like these when you see a team of men and women come together for a common cause, and serve with pride, and professionalism, that you hope still remains, but during long stretches of day to day ops, you may not directly see. Ultimately we are all proud to be Americans and rejoice in our differences, and celebrate our unity when the times call for it.

So we all did our job in a professional manner and kept the presidents motorcade safe. I would like to think had any of us been in that press conference room that evening, any of us would have been willing to take a shoe for the President, if that is what was needed.

The night the lights went out in Building 1 and 6

Often times in crisis, we operate at our best. Unfortunately crisis is often the result of something that was missed. This was the case of a recent renovation project that we were working on. The command I am at is currently primarily focused on the renovations of the buildings that the commands that are staying in the IZ are moving to as part of our IZ transition plan to turn things over to the Iraqi’s. Let me tell you the transition is occurring, and the timeline has been compressed dramatically over the past few months, so contracts are being put together at a abnormally fast pace, and we are all motivated to help aid in this transition. As it turns out, the buildings, that our command is moving to, renovations recently came to completion, when it was realized, that a number of electrical sub panels now had a much larger electrical load on them than originally designed, and the cables supplying them where not of sufficient size to support all the great new equipment we installed in the buildings. The contracting process here (and even back in the states) is just not fast enough to respond to the turn around a contract and get another contractor in the building to update the cabling in time for the end of the year deadline to move out of the Palace. As a result, two of the buidlings are without permanent power, one of which is the building the Commanding Officer of the unit is going to. Our boss in Installations, asked us if we could order and install the cable ourselves, and like good military men and women we are, we stepped up to the challenge and spent our Christmas Eve installing and connecting cables.

The photo’s seen are of the Installation's directorate personell pulling together to lift and install over 500 meters of cable throughout two buildings. It was an exciting and muscle burning day, as it took all the bodies we had in the directorate. Prior to this the command had small teams that daily spent their time out at various sites throughout the IZ monitoring contractors on various job that we have contracted. Normally we are the ones, watching the contractors work, inspecting for quality and compliance to the contract, so this was a nice change to get some hands on work done. It was an exciting day, one that reminded me of the good old days back in the shipyard, with crews of dedicated people pushing to get the job done. Comradery and morale are always high when the team has a common achievable goal, that they can all see the finish line ahead of them. Much like the Presidential security detail, this job drew us all together, and felt a feeling of pride as we accomplished yet another memorable task here in Iraq, and left most feeling good going into our day of rest on Christmas day.

Christmas in Bagdad

So you might be wondering, what was Christmas like here. Well it was quite pleasant and relaxing, with just enough holiday cheer. As mentioned in the previous story we spent Christmas Eve working all day on the cable install and walk away feeling content and tired. At the end of the day I hopped in the shower (a nice 10 min hollywood shower with plenty of hot water to sooth my muscles from lifting cable), headed out to dinner and went to the Christmas eve candle light service at the Chapel at the Palace. It was really nice, singing Christmas songs, and hearing great message from the firey Army Chaplain. We even got a special treat to hear some Arabic Christian Hymns, by some of the Arabic interpreters that work here in the compound. We did receive the full day off for Christmas to sleep in and do what we like. I choose to stay at my residence near the palace, sleep in, watch a movie or two, and enjoy a couple of fine meals at the DFAC. The pictures tell the who story of the DFAC, which was cheerfully decorated. I met up with my Battle buddy from Fort McCrady who works just down the street, and we enjoyed a great meal of turkey, ham, and all the fixings. We ended the day with a nice cup of coffee and a movie in the palace. I did get a chance to Skype with Abby and the girls, and talk with my mom and sister on the phone, it was nice to see and hear everyone enjoying the holiday. I am without a want or need out here in Baghdad, so I counted my blessings, to be safe, warm, and full as I celebrated a memorable day in a memorable place.

Welcome to the middle east - my first 10 days in country

So where did our story leave off, oh yeah, flying out Thanksgiving night. Well, we boarded our chartered aircraft at the airfield and headed off for a two leg trip into Kuwait. The first leg landed in Ireland … somewhere, where we had about 2 hrs to stretch our legs and grab a large pint of our favorite… oh no, sorry to disappoint, we have been under CENTCOMs general order number 1 , no alcohol while in theatre since day 1 back at Fort McCrady. But not to worry the men all took it well when we deplaned at the airport which had a nice Irish pub right in the terminal. We did receive one surprise as we arrived though, the Secretary of the Navy, Donald Winter was in the terminal on a return trip from having Thanksgiving dinner in Iraq with the troops.

He was a nice enough fellow, gave me a nice coin, but didn't’t seem interested in temporarily suspending the band on alcohol in celebration of our meeting. The second leg of the flight was another 7 hr or so leg into Kuwait City where we were greeted by some Navy sailors , escorted to buses and given a 2 hr ride to Camp Virginia. All and all the travel was not bad though we had been at it for nearly 18 hrs by the time we got to Camp Virginia.

CAMP VIRGINIA - Kuwait is the hub of all coming and going personnel in theatre, and many are taken to CAMP VIRGINIA, to acclimate to the climate, and the time zone. Once there we were given almost 5 days of down time, before spending three days in the desert training more on close quarters marksmanship, and convoy training. Once we realized we were actually free to move about and control our schedules we were able to relax and enjoy the place a bit. They had everything necessary for rest and relaxation, including a world class USO that was recently renovated by the show “Man Cave”. The large tent now was outfitted with 2 living room style movie watching area’s, one large mini-theatre, about 6-8 video game consoles (XBOX, PS3, and Wii), an internet café area, and plenty of comfy leather couches to lounge in. I spent many good hours in there watching movies , napping, and surfin the net. The guys that work the USO were great, a couple of young kids (early twenties) who kept the place lively and moving so everyone had a chance to take advantage of the services. My favorite was the booth where you could go in and record yourself reading book to your kids. They send the book and a DVD home to your family for free. The facilities we slept in continued to be a little more sparse than even the 40 man barracks we stayed in at Fort McCrady. We slept in 10 man tents on cots in our sleeping bags. Showers and bathrooms were now outside down the road. Despite the conditions we all got plenty of sleep, and plenty to eat as we experienced the DFAC (Dining Facilities) in theater for the first time. Let’s just say food is definitely not an issue in country. Fresh cooked food, with many options, including soup, salad, burgers to order, and oh yes, baskin robbins ice cream bar for dessert.

UDARI – convoy training , an experience I won’t forget

After our five day adjustment period we loaded up the bus and headed out into the desert to enjoy some intensive more advanced weapons training and convoy training. To be honest I had heard that conditions just got worse the farther along in the training you went. In Udari, we no longer had restrooms or showers, and shared an entire tent with all 40 people in your convoy, with no bunks or even cots to sleep on, just head to toe sleeping bags throughout. The food was MRE’s for breakfast lunch and dinner, needless to say I saved my fig bar from the night before’s dinner so I didn't’ have to eat meatloaf and mashed potatoes for breakfast. The tents were our classrooms and sleeping areas. The truth was since it was only two nights, it wasn't that bad, it was kind of like a nice little camping trip to the desert.

While in Udari I was randomly selected to be the convoy commander of our convoy during training day. At first I was a little disappointed because now I couldn’t just sit back and wait to be told what to do. To my relief, the experience was challenging and exciting and truthfully after not actually doing much the previous week, it was a welcome relief to have my brain engaged again. The training was excellent, they had us drive a 8 mile course that simulated going through various village, traffic schemes, and scan the roadsides for IED’s and car bombs . It was quite realistic, as they even had the local Kuwaiti’s dress up as locals and insurgents, to allow us to add realism to the training.

After 2 days of MRE (army meals-ready to-eat), no showers, and camping out in the desert we headed back to Camp Virginia, for a quick shower , a good meal, and off to the airport to make our flight to Baghdad.

So I write this latest blog from my new home in Baghdad, the living accommodations are nice (a real mattress to sleep on), I share a room with just one other guy, and a bathroom with 3 other guys total, so it is like I have been upgraded to the Embassy Suites compared to the last few weeks.

I will be sure to write more on the blog as soon as I settle in a bit and figure out the place.

I hope this message finds everyone enjoying their holiday season, and remembering to celebrate the season of family and fellowship and the one that made us and saved us, our Lord and Savior Jesus.

Season’s Greetings,

Joe

NIACT week 2

Well friends and family, I have completed Navy Introduction to Army Combat Training (NIACT)and have made the next leg of the journey to Camp Virginia in Kuwait. I wanted to highlight a few of the things that I got to experience during the last week or so of training at Camp McCrady in South Carolina, it was a unique experience that I will never forget, and look forward to not experiencing again.

Top experiences during NARMY training:

1 Training to fight with while wearing IBA's (Individual Body
Armor - approximately 70 lbs of Kevlar ,and plating designed to protect the torso, groin and head area, but not designed to be worn while doing anything athletic!) I give credit to the Army guys that wear this stuff all the time while deployed, fortunately I will not have to wear it all the time while in theatre, unless of course flying shrapnel from a stapler is considered dangerous. We have spent many days just wearing the full gear, to allow our bodies to adjust physically, but the real physical test came when we did reflexive firing in "full battle rattle". This consisted of jumping out of a humvee (not as easy as you think in that gear), running up a hill, loading our magazine into our rifle, running down range shooting at targets from standing, kneeling, and laying down positions. The entire drill took 1 ½ minutes max, but I know I was huffing and puffing at the end. It seems adrenaline does most of the work for you during these exciting maneuvers, with your body paying the price for that extra pancake or two you ate breakfast later on. Needless to say I am thankful my job in Iraq does not entail wearing the equipment fulltime.

2. Brass pick up – So if getting to shoot over 700 rounds of ammo is the best part of the training, the worst part is having to pick up the brass afterward. That included 13,000 or so casings to be accounted for on our last day of qualifications. You'll be happy to know the Navy ensured we had low level light (sunset) shooting training which of course means by the time you are done it is completely dark on the range, and you can't go back to the barracks until 99% of the casings are accounted for. Sure the first hour was fun, almost like an Easter egg hunt as we hunted through grass and sand for the brass casings with flashlights and headlights from the cars we drove onto the range. Somewhere after the first hour, the grumbling began as we searched diligently so we could go home and get some rest. My engineering mind all the time saying there has got to be a better way to do this. Of course the brass is not magnetic and therefore the supermagnet idea went out the window. If anyone has any bright ideas on an easy way to pick up 10,000 brass casings easily, send me an email, we can save the military a ton of money.

3. Urban operations - That's right from G.I. Joe to SWAT team we got to do it all, with the focus no shifting to learning to enter and clear houses safely. It was kind of fun, again pretending is always the fun part. Many of us know that this won't be part of our day to day activity, but the training is designed for defensive and survival maneuvers, should you ever have to exit your humvee during a convoy and seek shelter in a village. This was deemed particular necessary after the debrief of the now famous Jessica Lynch capture that occurred early in the war. At that time only the army teams whose job it was to clear houses where trained, but they learned it was critical that all personnel entering theatre receive basic training in weapons, land navigation, communication, urban operations, and convoy operations. That is mostly what the training period has been designed for ,and I would say the Army has done a great job in training us, despite our surly Navy attitudes toward the Army's way of conducting business.

4. Convoy Operations - The grand finale of the training was a full day in the field conducting convoy operations and land navigation exercises. They both turned out to be good fun. We got to take a convoy of humvee's through a course on Fort Jackson, that gave us an opportunity to practice spotting IED's alongside the roads, deal with local population (Army drill Sergeants simulating aggressive insurgent activity), and a roadside ambush with a firefight breaking out (we were issued blanks). Despite one of the younger overzealous drill sergeants pretending to capture our humvee with his imaginary gun, we all had a good time and learned a lot. The land navigation was pretty fun, and worthy of earning some sort of boy scout merit badge for not getting lost in the woods. We simply were given some grid coordinates on a map and a start point and told to go find the markers in the woods using nothing but map and compass. Evidently Google maps has not yet mapped this area as we all pulled out our cell phones in an effort to use some more advanced technology. But alas, a good old compass, and a map and a little shoe leather got us where we needed to go.

5. Thanksgiving dinner - This was a true blue American experience that had tears welling up in my eyes. A few of the local military veterans organizations, boy scouts, and the community put together an incredible evening for us on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We were greeted with applause, hand shakes and hugs as we entered the building. They provided a great meal, with a desert table as big as the dinner buffet. After the many speakers including a retired General, and a congressmen from South Carolina spoke. They entertained us with talented choirs, and young kids dancing, with the finale being a country music gospel singer. Needless to say we were all uplifted, and looked forward to making them and all of you proud when we do head off to Iraq. An aside, these same people actually showed up to the airport on Thanksgiving night and spent another two hours with us as we waited for our plane to depart. They provided snacks and water for us to take on the plane, and a big send off as we boarded.

The people – another "Joe perspective" into the many interesting and varied people and personilities that make up our armed forces:

CDR McRibs - This training while not as rigorous as boot camp had it physical hazards. We are all not 18 year olds running around with our hair on fire like when we first joined but many still have the spirit to give it their all. One unfortunate CDR in his late 40's, cracked a rib while diving to the ground in his IBA. The unfortunate part about this is now he will have to wait until he heals to deploy, and his relief in country will likely delay another month while he does so.

Lt Colonel Recall. This guy was a really good instructor. He had already served active duty during the the 70's and 80's, now he has been recalled to active duty to train us Navy guys to go over and serve. I didn't realize it but when your retire from the military you go into the inactive ready reserve (IRR) and until you reach retirement age (60) they can call you up as needed. This guy was now a district attorney in Ohio, and is taking a year of active duty in South Carolina to help train us Navy folks on Rules of Engagement and Rules of Force. So for all you out there who think retiring after 20 years at age 42 is a great Navy deal, make sure you understand the fine print of your contract.

IS1 Mommy- Many of you may not know but there are quite a few military members who are married to active duty military members. This young first class petty officer was a reservist married to an active duty sailor. Her husband had been deployed frequently on ships the past few years, and they recently moved to Millington Tennessee for some much deserved shore duty. She was active duty herself for a few years but when they had children she got out of active duty and joined the reserves. To their surprise a month after reaching Millington, she got the notice that she would be deploying to Iraq, and now her husband is taking care of the family back home. The story was just a reminder of the challenges the families of those deploying really face. It truly is the amazing families of all of us deploying that make these deployments even possible. The military really does take care of every need of the individual sailors and soldiers when we deploy, a place to sleep, plenty of food, and even occasional entertainment. However, families back home are all now one short of their normal complement of people to take care of the family; they truly are the unsung heroes of military, and if you are looking for a way to support us soldiers and sailors while we are we are deployed, find a family back home in your town or neighborhood and support them.

Specialist Translator - My battle buddy and I had a couple of Army reservist, Arabic translators join us for dinner one evening. It was actually nice, because they gave us a good break down of the Islamic background of Iraq. Quite frankly it was the best training we received on the culture of the people, what the real difference was between the Kurds, the Shia's and the Sunni's and what to expect from the people when we go there. They were a nice couple of guys and are going back for their second time to serve in theatre; one was originally from Lebanon, and the other from Egypt. Much of what we learned was of the peaceful nature of the Islamic people, and the genesis of the radical groups.

Bottom line assessment:

I am glad to have moved on in to the next phase, I think I have had sufficient training and am just ready to get in country and start my clock so I can return home to the family. As expected you bond tightly with the men you train and serve alongside, get to know the customs and traditions of another organization, and add a few more "sea stories" to you duffle bag.

Take care everyone back home, and God bless.

Joe

NIACT week 2

Well friends and family, I have completed Navy Introduction to Army Combat Training (NIACT)and have made the next leg of the journey to Camp Virginia in Kuwait. I wanted to highlight a few of the things that I got to experience during the last week or so of training at Camp McCrady in South Carolina, it was a unique experience that I will never forget, and look forward to not experiencing again.

Top experiences during NARMY training:

1 Training to fight with while wearing IBA's (Individual Body
Armor - approximately 70 lbs of Kevlar ,and plating designed to protect the torso, groin and head area, but not designed to be worn while doing anything athletic!) I give credit to the Army guys that wear this stuff all the time while deployed, fortunately I will not have to wear it all the time while in theatre, unless of course flying shrapnel from a stapler is considered dangerous. We have spent many days just wearing the full gear, to allow our bodies to adjust physically, but the real physical test came when we did reflexive firing in "full battle rattle". This consisted of jumping out of a humvee (not as easy as you think in that gear), running up a hill, loading our magazine into our rifle, running down range shooting at targets from standing, kneeling, and laying down positions. The entire drill took 1 ½ minutes max, but I know I was huffing and puffing at the end. It seems adrenaline does most of the work for you during these exciting maneuvers, with your body paying the price for that extra pancake or two you ate breakfast later on. Needless to say I am thankful my job in Iraq does not entail wearing the equipment fulltime.

2. Brass pick up – So if getting to shoot over 700 rounds of ammo is the best part of the training, the worst part is having to pick up the brass afterward. That included 13,000 or so casings to be accounted for on our last day of qualifications. You'll be happy to know the Navy ensured we had low level light (sunset) shooting training which of course means by the time you are done it is completely dark on the range, and you can't go back to the barracks until 99% of the casings are accounted for. Sure the first hour was fun, almost like an Easter egg hunt as we hunted through grass and sand for the brass casings with flashlights and headlights from the cars we drove onto the range. Somewhere after the first hour, the grumbling began as we searched diligently so we could go home and get some rest. My engineering mind all the time saying there has got to be a better way to do this. Of course the brass is not magnetic and therefore the supermagnet idea went out the window. If anyone has any bright ideas on an easy way to pick up 10,000 brass casings easily, send me an email, we can save the military a ton of money.

3. Urban operations - That's right from G.I. Joe to SWAT team we got to do it all, with the focus no shifting to learning to enter and clear houses safely. It was kind of fun, again pretending is always the fun part. Many of us know that this won't be part of our day to day activity, but the training is designed for defensive and survival maneuvers, should you ever have to exit your humvee during a convoy and seek shelter in a village. This was deemed particular necessary after the debrief of the now famous Jessica Lynch capture that occurred early in the war. At that time only the army teams whose job it was to clear houses where trained, but they learned it was critical that all personnel entering theatre receive basic training in weapons, land navigation, communication, urban operations, and convoy operations. That is mostly what the training period has been designed for ,and I would say the Army has done a great job in training us, despite our surly Navy attitudes toward the Army's way of conducting business.

4. Convoy Operations - The grand finale of the training was a full day in the field conducting convoy operations and land navigation exercises. They both turned out to be good fun. We got to take a convoy of humvee's through a course on Fort Jackson, that gave us an opportunity to practice spotting IED's alongside the roads, deal with local population (Army drill Sergeants simulating aggressive insurgent activity), and a roadside ambush with a firefight breaking out (we were issued blanks). Despite one of the younger overzealous drill sergeants pretending to capture our humvee with his imaginary gun, we all had a good time and learned a lot. The land navigation was pretty fun, and worthy of earning some sort of boy scout merit badge for not getting lost in the woods. We simply were given some grid coordinates on a map and a start point and told to go find the markers in the woods using nothing but map and compass. Evidently Google maps has not yet mapped this area as we all pulled out our cell phones in an effort to use some more advanced technology. But alas, a good old compass, and a map and a little shoe leather got us where we needed to go.

5. Thanksgiving dinner - This was a true blue American experience that had tears welling up in my eyes. A few of the local military veterans organizations, boy scouts, and the community put together an incredible evening for us on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We were greeted with applause, hand shakes and hugs as we entered the building. They provided a great meal, with a desert table as big as the dinner buffet. After the many speakers including a retired General, and a congressmen from South Carolina spoke. They entertained us with talented choirs, and young kids dancing, with the finale being a country music gospel singer. Needless to say we were all uplifted, and looked forward to making them and all of you proud when we do head off to Iraq. An aside, these same people actually showed up to the airport on Thanksgiving night and spent another two hours with us as we waited for our plane to depart. They provided snacks and water for us to take on the plane, and a big send off as we boarded.

The people – another "Joe perspective" into the many interesting and varied people and personilities that make up our armed forces:

CDR McRibs - This training while not as rigorous as boot camp had it physical hazards. We are all not 18 year olds running around with our hair on fire like when we first joined but many still have the spirit to give it their all. One unfortunate CDR in his late 40's, cracked a rib while diving to the ground in his IBA. The unfortunate part about this is now he will have to wait until he heals to deploy, and his relief in country will likely delay another month while he does so.

Lt Colonel Recall. This guy was a really good instructor. He had already served active duty during the the 70's and 80's, now he has been recalled to active duty to train us Navy guys to go over and serve. I didn't realize it but when your retire from the military you go into the inactive ready reserve (IRR) and until you reach retirement age (60) they can call you up as needed. This guy was now a district attorney in Ohio, and is taking a year of active duty in South Carolina to help train us Navy folks on Rules of Engagement and Rules of Force. So for all you out there who think retiring after 20 years at age 42 is a great Navy deal, make sure you understand the fine print of your contract.

IS1 Mommy- Many of you may not know but there are quite a few military members who are married to active duty military members. This young first class petty officer was a reservist married to an active duty sailor. Her husband had been deployed frequently on ships the past few years, and they recently moved to Millington Tennessee for some much deserved shore duty. She was active duty herself for a few years but when they had children she got out of active duty and joined the reserves. To their surprise a month after reaching Millington, she got the notice that she would be deploying to Iraq, and now her husband is taking care of the family back home. The story was just a reminder of the challenges the families of those deploying really face. It truly is the amazing families of all of us deploying that make these deployments even possible. The military really does take care of every need of the individual sailors and soldiers when we deploy, a place to sleep, plenty of food, and even occasional entertainment. However, families back home are all now one short of their normal complement of people to take care of the family; they truly are the unsung heroes of military, and if you are looking for a way to support us soldiers and sailors while we are we are deployed, find a family back home in your town or neighborhood and support them.

Specialist Translator - My battle buddy and I had a couple of Army reservist, Arabic translators join us for dinner one evening. It was actually nice, because they gave us a good break down of the Islamic background of Iraq. Quite frankly it was the best training we received on the culture of the people, what the real difference was between the Kurds, the Shia's and the Sunni's and what to expect from the people when we go there. They were a nice couple of guys and are going back for their second time to serve in theatre; one was originally from Lebanon, and the other from Egypt. Much of what we learned was of the peaceful nature of the Islamic people, and the genesis of the radical groups.

Bottom line assessment:

I am glad to have moved on in to the next phase, I think I have had sufficient training and am just ready to get in country and start my clock so I can return home to the family. As expected you bond tightly with the men you train and serve alongside, get to know the customs and traditions of another organization, and add a few more "sea stories" to you duffle bag.

Take care everyone back home, and God bless.

Joe

PS - for pictures check out the Photo section of week 2 - due to low bandwidth here in Kuwait I wasn't able to add them to the blog post.

Heading out to Kuwait

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Well, training in South Carolina is complete and they are shipping us out tonight (That is a good deal, considering they could have us sit here for a couple of days during the holiday).

I will be going dark for a few days until we settle into Kuwait. My cell phone will no longer be a viable source to contact me for the next 7 months so please send me correspondence to this blog or email me at joseph.j.keller@gmail.com.


Take care everyone, and God bless

Joe

Week 2 - NIACT Week 1 (hooaah!)

Well family and friends, 2 weeks down, 1st week of Army training complete, a sigh of relief for the weekend to be here. It was a long week of gear issue, and Army training, lifestyle adjusting and body adjusting, but we all made it through. I am enjoying a one night stay in downtown Columbia, South Carolina at the Marriott where I can have my own room and a little quiet time to myself. During the week I am living in a barracks, with 40 of my closet friends, sharing 4 showers amongst ourselves, which can be challenging but is not so bad; it is still better accommodations than on the submarine, but it has been a while for me since I have been stationed on a ship, let alone living in barracks . The barracks are a good mix of officers from all over the navy, Ensigns through Commanders, and we are band of brothers of sorts, surviving the scratchy green army blankets, and barracks inspections by drill sergeants.

Overview of the week

We departed San Diego Saturday morning at o dark thirty (early) on a NALO (Navy Charter flight of our own, with business class seating throughout) a short stop in Texas to drop off some that where going to training at Fort Bliss, and then onto Columbia, South Carolina. Checked in Saturday evening at NIACT (Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training) got issued a set of sheets, a blanket and an assigned barracks building. The good news is, as I arrived, I got the last bottom bunk (important for the late night bladder runs without the hassle of jumping down), and settled into my new home for the next couple of weeks.

Monday - We were up early in the morning with the rising sun , gonna do admin, until the admins done. We are now in the Army's hands, and are being led and trained by a group of dedicated drill Sergeants who had us in formation at 0530 on Monday. To be honest most of us where expecting a bit of the boot camp treatment, who can blame us, we are sleeping in barracks, wearing uniforms we have no idea if we really are wearing them correctly, and being told to just show up on time (which equates to 10 mins early). It turned out not so much yelling, but alot of waiting around. So I learned to hurry up and wait for the drill sergeants instruction on where to go next. Monday was primarily gear issue day, 3 more sea bags worth of stuff, some cool, some not so much, they issued us two weapons (a 9mm hand gun which I will take into theatre, and M16 rifle I would qualify on but not take with me) and then proceeded to tell us we would carry our weapons with us everywhere. We also got plenty of traditional army canteens, and even a shuffle. But the cool stuff was the 70 lbs of body armour and cool cold and wet weather gear.

Tuesday/Wednesday - Big classroom training days with weapons familiarization, breaking down the M-16, cleaning. First aid - including applying tourniquets, learning the tell the difference between the smell and taste of urine, sweat, and blood. The first aid instructor was quite effective and lively in his demonstrations, and we all appreciated the chance to practically try some of the equipment out. On Wednesday we got to wear our full gear (kevlar helmets, knee pad, elbow pads, and 70 pounds of body armour, and head out to the electronic gun range. We got to shoot on a big nintendo like screen that had some realstic feel to it, while we learned to fire the weapons in full gear, and practices zeroing the weapon (adjusting the sites). We also got to drive humvee's that day and try out the Humvee rollover trainer, which was an actual Humvee that they rotate 30, 90, and 180 degree's so you get the feel of it, then with the vehicle rotated upside down they have us practice get out of the seatbelts, dropping down, and getting out. That by far was the most fun, as you can't get a ride like that at Disneyland. At the end of the day wearing all the body armour and carry our gear, we were all exhausted and ready for some chow and few hundred milligrams of ibuprofen to relieve some of our newly discovered muscles.


Thurs - We got to shoot our guns! O.K. I will admit to not being a big gun fan, I don't own one, and never really shot one except for quals when I first got in the Navy but once again the hidden G.I Joe in all of us was awakened as we got to the Army range, and shot the M16, it was honestly the most fun we had had yet. I shot right next to a female JAG officer on one side, and a doctor on the other. We all laughed and smiled as we considered our navy backgrounds and being given guns to shoot. All of us salty sailors came back feeling one step closer to being John Rambo, and were quickly beginning to develop a close relationship with our m16; a few sailors even gave their guns a names like Lucille.

Fri - So just when it is starting to get fun, the Army is shut down by rain ! The saying goes train like you fight, and fight like you train. For the Army the one exception comes when shooting long metal rod like weapons in lightning conditions. I am grateful for their safety concerns as it saved us a day of sloppy around in the rain, and we seemed to make the most of it with some more decent training. Training on Land Navigation and communications via Army radio's. Biggest lesson of the day, don't try and eat at early at the chow hall. If your company is assign 0700 chow time, don't try and get in early so you have more time to put your gear on. Many smart and efficient officeres tried to get in early that shot straight up to the NIACT CO who I am sure had to explain he had a bunch of Navy sailors here who are still working on their Army skillz.

Saturday - Liberty at last ! - It turned out to be a light training morning with a gentlemanly 0800 muster, training was on convoy ops and IED's (improvised explosive devices). IED's appears to be the biggest threat to soldiers and sailors lives over there, and we were given some good training on what to expect and what we are doing to prevent the IED's from injuring us. I should really only have one convoy to travel in during my time in Iraq, with most of my time being spent inside the FOB (forward operating base ) in Baghdad. After an hour of barracks field day (cleaning up) we were inspected and released for liberty at last ! A fellow EDO (Engineering Duty Officer) and myself quickly changed clothes, and jumped the first shuttle to the main gate, and took a taxi to downtown Columbia for a night's stay at the Marriott. I looked forward to a full day of solitude, rest in a full size bed and long hot showers. I enjoyed a relaxing with a no rush dinner out in town and a nice conversation with the girls back home on Skype (video chat service) in the privacy of my room.


The people -
Again, I am always amazed, and uplifted at how quickly people bond together when faced with common challenges, and how willing all are to help others, even a strangers get through.

LCDR Battle Buddy - There are 5 other ED officers here and I have partnered up with one in my platoon to be my battle buddy. In the Army everyone operates with a "battle buddy" who essentially keeps an eye on me and I one him to ensure weapons safety, uniform correctness, on time musters, and all around commiseration over NARMY training. He is a great guy, two little girls, and young toddler boy back home in Virginia. We have many common friends in the ED community, and have spent a good deal of time catching up on others and what they had done since leaving Postgraduate School in Monterey. He is a SSP guy (Strategic Systems Program) and is a no kidding a rocket scientist. It is good having a battle buddy to watch my back and catch the details I miss. As most of us know, our wives have long been our battle buddy back home, watching to make sure we don't leave our credit card at the restaurant, letting us know when we have forgotten something important before we leave (like the kids). We have joked that we are battle buddies with out benefits (read deeply into that one if you need).

LTjG Brooklyn - there is always one joker in every group. For us it is this italian-greek kid from Brooklyn, who keeps things lively and upbeat in the barracks. His Brooklyn accent and Beastie Boys attitude are enough to keep things lively. He is a respector of no rank and quickly finds some way to characture a few people in the barracks, from the surgeon we have in our barracks, to me who he just calls Ray Ramono. His only complaint is that some guy near him snores like a bear and keeps him awake at night (no coincidence he sleeps right near me)! He rejoiced Thursday night in waking me up to relieve him as fire watch in the barracks.

CDR OppsIdidItAgain - You got to feel for this guy. He is a JAG reservist, reactivated just 6 months after returning from deployment to Iraq. He is heading back this time to Afghanistan. There are quite a few JAG folks going over. You can definitely get a feel overall of the communities in the Navy that are heading over their to support the stabilization efforts : lawyers, engineers, fire control and sonar operators, IT network guys, and a bunch of guys going to support the staff administration for the commands over there.

Chief bumblebee - He is the salty old seabee who is seen it all, and done it all. Little known to me our SeaBee's (naval construction, facilities guys) are well versed and trained in the ways of the Army. This guy was the salty dog who showed us all how to wear our body armour correctly, how to set up the shoulder sling on the M16 so we can let it hang loose while getting chow, most importantly refreshed our platoon on some of the marching basics, so we didn't embarass ourselves with the Army drill sergeants (which we still ended up doing).

Staff Sergeant bumpkin- this is the type of drill instructor you would be expecting to find in the Army, a self proclaimed country bumpkin, wearing his smokey the bear hat and telling all of us great stories of his time in country, and how to take care of each other over there. Many drill sergeants here are from the South, and that only adds to the character that makes me smile when I hear them share stories, don't be surprised in I come back with a Carolina accent y'all. His heart is pure, and he shares much with us from his vast experience out of a desire to see us all be safe, and by far makes this training worthwhile and useful. The drill's are all good men, and have not treated us like the recruits we at first felt like, I have a great deal of respect for their professionalism, and teaching ability. These men and there sacrifice would make all Americans proud of the caliber of men our country produce, and the sacrifices they are making.

Staff Sergeant rookie - this born again hard staff sergeant had an obvious age difference from the others, and was quite disciplined in his demeanor. He was the first to march us out to PT, and proceeded to give us some not to advanced but more complicated facing movements sending our tight formation into a scattering of people. A chief in the platoon, later that day called him to the mat and asked him how long he had been in (all of five years ), and then proceeded to ask one of the Commanders in the platoon how long it had been since he had been in the Navy(15 years) and how long it had been since he marched in formation (another answer of 15 years) which brought the platoon to a degree of amusement. He has shared alot of good technical stuff with us, and I am sure will be a good leader as his experiences and leading opportunties grow. The take away for those Navy folks still to go to NIACT is that you don't have to worry about becoming Army hard, they can't completely take away the Navy attitude of the sailors that I have grown to love, and they do respect our time on the pond.

This week's take away:

Last week was mentally tough as I adjusted to the admin shuffle, and missing the family back home. This week was by far more physical and somewhat mental. The physical part came with the constant movements from place to place, with tons of equipment being piled on; finding a comfortable fit for 70 lbs of armour, and slinging around a 7 lb rifle everywhere. The mental challenge for me was not really having a good feel for what you were going to do each day. The Army does their best, to keep us doing something, but we are training at a location that trains reservist and national guardsman, as well as Army recruits. We don't always fall in the highest of priorities. We have learned to be flexible and relax with alot of hurry up and wait.

Spiritually it has been good. Without any t.v. to distract me, I have got good time at night to read books and do my daily devotions and journaling. God has been faithful to teach me lessons daily as I read His word and reflect on what it means to me to trust in Him, as I face this new environment. Most of what I have been reading has come from 1 and 2 Corinthians where the Apostle Paul is disciplining and guiding a group of Christians that he helped disciple to hold fast to the faith that they first had, when they first came to know Christ. As I have left my home and my home church in Hawaii, I know my desire is exactly that , to not forget the faith that I have developed, and I feel strengthened as I realize how far God has brought me along to this day.

I hope to get the next blog out sometime during the week of Thanksgiving, which should be the end of our NIACT training, and final preparations to fly out to Kuwait.

Week 1 - NMPS - the admin shuffle

Well, I have completed the first week of my deployment process and am currently heading to my next destination for some good old fashioned Army training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

Here is what I have been up to since I last blogged:

Sunday Nov 2nd: I departed my dear family in Hawaii. We had a great last day together, lots of close family, good food, and movies galore. For me it provided a good distraction from the impending thought of leaving the girls behind. Abby was real champ and good Navy wife and sent me off with lots of hugs, kisses, and not too many tears. For me an uneventful, low key departure is best, as I prefer to keep the emotions under control and conserve my energy for the time ahead and ultimately a jubilant celebration upon returning.

I arrived in San Diego for NMPS (Navy Mobilization Processing Site) on Sunday night, and we jumped right into the processing on Monday morning 0600 for uniform fitting. That is where I learned excitedly that I would be issued the Army Camouflage Uniform (ACU) vice the Navy Desert Camouflage. The nice feature of ACUs are the tons of pockets for storing everything from I-pod to 20 oz bottles of coke, and the ability to not even look like you are concealing anything. Just imaging those popular 80’s zipper pants and zipper jackets that had tons of pockets everywhere, but instead of zippers they use Velcro, and it is all camouflage so each day you discover a new pocket that you didn’t realize you had.

My assessment is that NMPS is just a necessary administrative evil that must be endured. It serves two purposes. First, another thorough review of all your medical, dental, and personnel records (considering I spent 6 months prior to departing Hawaii doing a thorough 6 page deployment checklist, I expected to have them find very little, but was not the case) This proved to be a monotonous and often frustrating process of being herded around from one clinic to the next, getting last minute shots, answering questionares and seeing different doctors and corpsman. This brings us to the second purpose of NMPS, to prepare you for the Army way of doing business … hurry up and wait, don’t ask too many questions, this is the way we do business. The ultimate inefficiency of the process got under most of our skins, but we quickly realized that fighting against it only dissipated unnecessary energy, and that it was best to just make the most of each wasted moment. After day one being full briefings, we all came back day 2 with books, gameboys, ipods, and snacks to occupy our wait times in between events. The first two days where the hardest but then it seemed to thin out a bit as we all were just finishing up our last few administrative details on Wednesday. Thursday started looking up as they told us that we needed to only to get fitted for our gas masks and to report in at reasonable 0830 get our gas mask and then we would be released to enjoy San Diego a bit. Well as you can imagine it was another Army training session in which once we mustered, they figured out there was no way they would process all 140 of us in the morning, and told half of us to come back after lunch. The gas mask process completely captured the spirit of the whole week here, once we were sent, we waited 1 hr in line to get to the gas mask fitting room, only to realize the room was full of chairs of people waiting to be fitted and tested. The good news is you got a chair to sit and read a book for the next hour, while you watched everyone do the 10 min leak test while wearing their mask. I was able to capture a few pictures of that event. One Petty Officers displayed wise use of time reading email on her phone while doing the 10 minute leak test of the gas mask.

I did get some time for some liberty in the evenings, and Friday afternoon, so I spent some time visiting with old friends from college and their families, as well as going back to visit San Diego State. Wow what a change they have undergone. Lots of new buildings and renovations since I went there (except the engineering building where I spent so many hours of my life in college, it looked exactly the same. Not surprising engineers are so cheap!) many more starbucks and a cool new basketball arena on campus. I also ate my traditional carne aside meal in old town San Diego during my visit.

The final day at NMPS was uniform issue. That was pretty cool, 4 full sets of uniforms, 2 pairs of boots, gloves, sweats, a couple items for extreme cold weather . They gave us nearly a full seabag full of stuff when you included the gas mask, and it made packing the last night a little challenging. I ended up having 1 full sea bag, 1 very full back pack, and a small extra carry bag as I departed Saturday morning on a Navy DC-10 from North Island San Diego to Columbia South Carolina. Here in this picture you can see my miraculous transformation from Navy blue to Army green.

The story of the people: Everyone knows that men and women of the military serve for love of country and family, but one thing my Navy career has taught me is that we are motivated often times much more by the people we serve along side, the relationships we develop, and the desire not to let the guy beside you down. Here are some short bio’s of the people that were deploying with me from NMPS (names changed to protect the identities) that I found inspiration from:

OS2 (Operations Specialist 2^nd class) Seawiss - I sat next this fine petty officer on the flight from Hawaii on United Airlines. It was not until we reached LAX that we realized we were both going to the San Diego for mobilization. He volunteered for a 1 year IA (Individual Augmentation) tour directly from his ship in Pearl Harbor. He is going to Iraq to operate the land based Seawiss systems that protect us on the military Camps in Iraq from incoming rockets and mortars. He just arrived in Hawaii 3 months ago and left behind his wife of 3 years. He was a humble and yet excited volunteer, really amazing from a guy going from a sea going command to Iraq.

HMC (Hospital Corpsman Chief) Savesem - I met the Chief waiting in the medical clinic. I thought it was a bit ironic that even a corpsman chief was not able to make it through the medical screening process at NMPS without finding something missing in his records. HMC was going back for his third tour over there. I was needless to say impressed, and listened carefully as he shared great stories and advice on how to operate in theatre with the locals, the contractors and the third party foreign nationals working there. The HMC was taking a 1 year GSA billet which is different from the IA billets that I am going on in that he actually detached from his previous command and took orders to ECRC (Expeditionary Combat Readiness Command) and upon return gets his orders to his next command. His family is allowed to move temporarily if they desire until new orders are received. It seems like a good idea, so that commands are not losing personell to gapped billets like the IA billets create.

CAPT Chopper (Supply Officer) - The CAPT is an activated reservist going back for the second time. He works supply and logistics in theatre. I enjoyed a good amount of time in the gas mask line getting to know him and his experiences. He is a San Diego resident and works in the medical supply field in his civilian life. He was all in all in good spirits and took it well being just one of the guys waiting in line for hours like the rest of us. It definitely impressed on me the diversity of the group both in skill training, anywhere from sonar techs to pilots and from seaman to CAPTs where in our group.

Reflection:

So what’s the take away from this unique and memorable week. There is more waiting and frustration ahead, and inefficiency has long been a pet peeve of mine (some of you may know that I have history of reacting in frustration when I get impatient) but that there are many great people in which to share the experience. Often times people grow close in times of adversity, and you make memorable friends along the way. I must rely on God to give me patience and peace during the trying times that lie ahead.

The verse of scripture that I believe God has given me to work deeply in my life for all the trials that remain ahead comes from Philippians 4:6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus”

Thanks everyone for you continued support and prayers, I continue to pray for peace of mind for all my friends and family back home.