The Last Month

Well, January was eventful, to say the least. Aside from the normal everyday grind of work, I occupied my off-time with my roommate making a rap video about our jobs. It was funny, but perhaps not the brightest idea, as it ended up getting us both in trouble, and delayed my departure from Iraq while I was awaiting punishment.

A few days ago, I finally got cleared to leave, and the race was on to find a flight home. Since I had missed my scheduled return flight, I couldn't be booked on a flight until I was cleared to leave. But by that time, the flights for the next 2 weeks had be filled. So I was scheduled to leave the AOR almost at the end of the month! Not good. Thankfully I was able to get orders written for me allowing me to an "additional crew member" on a C-130 that was heading down al Udeid. I went to their squadron, put all my stuff in the van that they use to drive to their plane, and got ready to brief. As we were about to brief the flight, we got a call saying our mission had changed, and we were no longer going to al Udeid. Crap! So I called my squadron and had them pick me up to take me to the PAX terminal. There I was able to get myself onto a space-available flight down to al Udeid. That is where I am now, but I still am not booked on a flight out of here for another 2 weeks! So I put my name on the list for another space-available flight back to the US that leaves tomorrow sometime, I think. I will have to go there and hope that someone didn't make it here to get onto that flight and then can take their spot. Wish me luck!

The New Year

We finished our shift at 10:30 last night, so afterwards we went to the rec center for the New Years "Party." It was basically the same rec center, but with ridiculously loud music and free sparkling grape juice. We played cards for a bit to pass the time until midnight, then did the countdown and drank the juice. It's crazy that a whole year has already passed. It seems like it was just recently that I was back in Vegas for New Years last year. This year has gone by very quickly. But I suppose that is a good thing. I am ready to get '08 behind me, and hopefully '09 will be better.

Communication Slowdown

In an ill-timed mishap, apparently a trans-atlantic communication cable was damaged. The result was that the base, along with the entire AOR restricted internet use on official computers to official business only: i.e. no ".com" websites. So in order to check email I have to come to the cyber cafe. This also affects the DSN phone lines, so I cannot call home during my off time at work, only from the cyber cafe. Other communication slowdowns have been from the US to here. I have been trying to ask my squadron about the exact date I will return home, as well as trying to plan ahead for taking some vacation time, but have not heard back on either. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that it somehow has to do with the damaged cable...

Less Flying... More Logistics...

Now that I've been here for long enough to not be worried about how to do the actual procedure for launching or landing a Predator, a new set of challenges has come up: logistics. For the last week or so, it has been a constant game of trying to figure out the logistics of running the show. Every day I come to work hoping that everything will go as scheduled, and without fail, something always happens that throws a wrench into the plan. A few nights ago, for example, I took off and handed over a plane, no problems. Then, as I was getting set up for the next one, the plane I had just handed off had a major maintenance problem and needed to come home immediately. So I gave stopped the start-up sequence I was in the middle of, and gave that to the newer guy on my shift. I went and quickly got set up to take back the malfunctioning airplane and set up for my emergency landing. While all the was going on, the leadership at the planning level was asking me when they could expect a relaunch for this airplane, and the maintenance people were asking me what was wrong with the plane and telling me how long it would take to fix. After I safely landed the plane, we had to figure out the flow of how we would get the rest of the airplanes airborne that were still scheduled for that night, as well as the relaunch of the malfunctioning airplane, not to mention the airplanes that were airborne and needed to land. So it seems like my job is less like being a pilot, and more like being a logistician.

The Halfway Point

Well I am about halfway through the deployment now. I am pretty comfortable with doing the daily operations in the squadron. I have been an operations supervisor for about a month and just trained a new guy to be an operations supervisor, too. There is going to be a big swap of people as some guys move out and go home while their replacements show up. Among these replacements is a good friend of mine. I worked my magic to have us be roommates and also work the same shift. So I think the last half of the deployment will be even better, and will also, therefore, pass as quickly, if not faster.

My general impressions thus far: Iraq is not too bad. This base is very nice, and has a lot of things that make quality of life pretty good. My job is easy, although I wish I were doing something else (i.e. actually flying). And I am making pretty decent money while out here. Obviously the big drawback is being away from Jen (as well as everyone else) for 4 months, but all in all, I have a positive view of this deployment so far.

The Little Things

I was reminded of the story of the guy who lived in a small house who complained that it was too crowded. The town elder suggested he move all his farm animals into the house with him. When the man complained that now it was even more crowded, the town elder said, "OK, now take out all the animals," and miraculously the house didn't seem as crowded anymore.

The showers here kinda suck. They are small and cramped and gross, and they use shower curtains which continually blow in towards the shower stall whenever someone opens the door to the shower room. I always feel like I am being molested by a nasty mildewey piece of plastic. I couldn't see it getting much worse. Then the hot water went out. For a week. When it finally came back a couple days ago, it was the best shower I've ever had in my life.

It's the little things that make life enjoyable.

Back to Work

After my one sick day, I went back to work. I was still feeling pretty crappy, but good enough to play my $4 million dollar flight simulator game. Sorry if I scared anyone about being sick. It was just a cold/sinus infection. I still have a slight pain in my sinuses, but it is slowly getting better. In the meantime, I received three of my math class DVD's in the mail, and since I decided to lay off the gym until I am feeling better, it gave me a chance to watch those and catch up on my homework.