Mud on the Ground

Well, no sooner than the day after I wrote the last post, did a huge storm come in. It rained non-stop for over a day. And as advertised, the water piled up. It was (and still is, several days after the fact) gross. The water was almost a foot deep in some places. And since many of the pathways are dirt, it quickly became mud. The base implemented "Mudcon" procedures to try to keep some common areas somewhat clean. To go to the gym, for example, you have to bring an extra set of shoes to change in to once you get there. And if you are driving a car onto the flight line (which we have to do to get to our squadron) you have to pressure wash your tires to get all the mud off. Getting to the bathroom or showers is now an obstacle course, with the consequences of a wrong step being ankle deep mud. Fun times, as you can tell.

The good news was that for a few days while this was going on, we were not flying. So I studied for my math class, read some of the book I am on, and watched some movies. Today the weather was great so we got back to work.

Dust in the Wind

In Iraq, when the conditions are right, the pressure systems that move across the area, create strong winds, which kick up massive amounts of dust. It can vary from just a mild haze in the distance to a thick shroud that drops visibility down to mere feet. That is what we are experiencing right now. The vis today was declining rapidly and is expected to stay that way. Aside from the obvious effects on aviation, it also has the effect of caking everything in dust. When you leave a building, you immediately feel as if you are breathing in dirt. It gets into car's air conditioning system, so when you first turn on the engine, a cloud of dusts bursts into the cab from the air vents.

From what I hear, pretty soon we will then go to the polar opposite: mud. Since the ground cannot absorb the rain that will soon be falling, the water will pile up into rivers all over base. Then when the ground is finally able to take in some of the water, it will stay as mud for days, if not weeks. Thankfully, that has not happened. But I have seen pictures of previous seasons, and it does not look fun. I'll let you know when that happens, though.

A Slow Day

The weather prevented us from flying today, so we waited around for it to clear up. It stayed around, though, for all of our shift, so today seemed to go by very slowly. I read a few chapters in the book I'm reading right now, and watched a couple movies.

Other than that, the last couple of days have been relatively uneventful.

A Busy Day

Today was the first day of the transition to the new flying schedule and it was crazy busy. No sooner had one event finished, that we went to the next one right away. A few maintenance issues were primarily responsible, so hopefully that will not be the norm. Plus, we didn't get a chance to eat anything until lunch time, so we were all cranky and hungry. So tomorrow, we are shifting everyone's schedule later by one hour to let us get to the DFAC (dining facility) when it is open.

After work I went to volunteer at the hospital. I came just in time to help some of the techs work on a little 3-year-old local girl. She had severe burns on about 30% of her body. Apparently it happened when she reached for a pot of boiling water on the stove and it tipped onto her. Thankfully, none got on her face. She is very cute. The hospital here is the biggest (and best) in all of Iraq, so they were able to help her. I tried to communicate with her aunt who was sitting by her side, but it was pretty much impossible. But I think she got the general idea that I was there to help. It is examples like this, though, that help to show the Iraqi people that we are here to help. Who knows how she would have been treated if this hospital were not here?

Changing it Up

So the new schedule came out, and with it, a drastic change in the personell schedule. I am now on the 6am to 3pm shift, which will turn into the 7am to 4pm shift later this week, and "should" stay that way for the rest of the time I am here. So that meant that I had to totally rework my daily routine. Oh well. It keeps things interesting I suppose. The good side is that I am back to a somewhat gentlemanly schedule. The bad side is that means that all the other people on base are on that schedule, too (i.e. the squadron, group, and wing commanders... not to mention any DV's that happen to come through and want to see the squadron).

At the hospital a few days ago, I was volunteering at the PAD (the helicopter reception area where we essentially wait for a helicopter to come in to help unload patients). I had been there for about 30 minutes, when we were told that I helicopter was incoming. A few of us went out there, and I was picked to be the "strong man" (the person that leads the team with the stretcher cart out to the helicopter). I was the first person to get to the side of it, and helped lift the patient out and onto the stretcher. It was an Iraqi Army soldier who had been injured by an IED. He was severely burnt and bleeding. It smelled like barbeque. After we got him onto the stretcher, we wheeled him under the "Hero's Highway Tunnel" (see the facebook page for a picture) so that he could be inspected... just in case he had anything hidden on him, like an IED. Then we brought him into the ER and they let us stay for a few minutes while they started working on him.

I guess I felt like I helped out a bit, although there were plenty of other people that could have done the same thing since so many people were there volunteering. I didn't know how I would react if someone was really badly injured. I guess I actually didn't really think about it until I was right there. It was a little odd, at first, but overall it wasn't that disturbing. It actually kinda felt more like a movie, although I know that it was much more serious. It definitely helped to remind me of why I am here, though.

Other than that, things are pretty much the same. Over the next day or so I'll be helping to get the squadron acclimated to the new schedule (as well as myself).

The Swing of Things

After a couple of days, I've pretty much got my job down. It's actually very simple. Mind-numbingly-simple. All we do here is pretty much take-offs and landings. I'll either start up the airplane, take off and hand it over to the people back home; or I will take it back from them and land it. And since I work the same shift every day, I pretty much always do the exact same landing and/or takeoff. It's kind of an anti-climax. Here I am out in Iraq, I start up an airplane (albeit I'm not actually in it), take off, and then call it a day. It's kinda frustrating to say the least.

So I have focused more on the things I do that aren't work. In the hour or so in between each launch or landing, I either read a book (I've already finished one, and am halfway through the second) or play my guitar (I brought mine into the alert trailer that we have right next to the squadron). After work I go to the hospital to volunteer for a few hours. Then I go to the gym. They have this incentive program at the gym: if you do 5,000 or 10,000 push-ups or sit-ups, you get a free shirt. So I figured that would be a good goal to try to achieve. In addition to my normal workout, I always do 100 pushups and 200 situps. At this rate, I will get the 10,000 T-shirt for both. After the gym I go to lunch, and then back to my room to study for my math class that I am taking online. Then I shower and go to sleep at about 3pm in order to get 8 hours of sleep and wake up at 11pm. It's kinda nice to give myself a schedule like that, because it prevents me from ending up sitting in my room doing nothing. But at the same time, it's kinda like groundhogs day: every day is exactly the same.

Supposedly the work schedule is going to change around a bit soon, so I might have to totally redo my whole routine. So we'll see how that goes. Other than that, there's not much else going on. I imagine that other people deployed here have more exciting things to talk about, but for us, the exciting stuff happens back home (if you can really even call that exciting).

On My Own

After a brief delay in getting a piece of paperwork signed off, I finally was able to start my training flights a couple of nights ago. Those really just consisted of two takeoffs and two landings with someone standing over me and watching. I already know how to do the actual takeoffs and landings; it was really just a matter of learning the local procedures and some good techniques for getting through the checklists faster. The big difference between here and back home is that back there they are very strict about making sure there is a clear step by step process throughout the checklist and you can't move ahead to the next step until everything is completed. Whereas out here, we just want to get things done as quickly (and also as safely) as possible. So I pretty much do my stuff and the sensor does his or her stuff and we meet up at certain points to make sure everything is done. It works a lot better, I think. What took about an hour and a half to do the old way, now can take as little as twenty or thirty minutes.

So being fully signed off, I was on my own last night. It really wasn't that big a deal. I did a few takeoffs and a landing. It is interesting to see the process from this side, but at the same time, I can see this getting very old and repetitive very quickly. We just take off and hand it over to the people back in Vegas. So we never really get to fly mission-related stuff. Well, actually, there is one mission here that stays in the local area for base defense, but that is mostly during the day shift, and I am on the night shift.

The guy I replaced went home, so I will be moving out of my temporary room into his room today. Then I can finally unpack all my stuff.

Settling In

Aside from only working on two hours of sleep due to a late notice show time at the passenger terminal, the trip to Balad was relatively uneventful. When we got there, though, I was definitely aware that we were in a combat zone. They brought us off the airplane and brought us into a room where they showed us a video. That video described procedures for taking cover in the event of a base attack. From there I was picked up by someone from my squadron and started doing the standard inprocessing stuff: getting a room, checking in with the squadron, getting a local area briefing. Additionally, we were briefed on the rules of engagement and special instructions (SPINS) for Iraq (althoough I already knew them from having operated aircraft in theater). Then for the next day or so I did the remainder of my inprocessing stuff.

Balad is similar to Qatar in that it has many of the same things: gym, movie theater, chow halls, crates of water bottles etc. But it is also distinctly different. In Qatar, we stayed in tents, walked around pretty freely, and other than being in the desert, I did not feel like I was in a combat zone. Here, I definitely do. There are concrete barriers everywhere designed to protect people and buildings in case of a base attack. Also, just about everyone here walked around with a gun of some sort. I have my M-9 (9mm pistol) that I will carry as soon as my squadron here can find a holster for me. There are always planes and helicopters taking off and landing at all hours of the day and night.

Tonight I start my actual local area training. From what I have seen thus far, it is pretty relaxed in my squadron: you do what you need to do in order to take off on time. Late takeoffs are a big deal because the delay will ripple throughout the rest of the schedule. Other than that, though, I am staying pretty busy. My DVD's for my masters class have started arriving here, I already finished the first of 5 recreational books I brought with me, and I even brought my GPS to do some geocaching if I get the chance (yes there are a ton here on base!).

Killing Time

Unfortunately, the name of the game here at Al Udeid is killing time. If you are not stationed here, this place is pretty much a holding area while you wait for an airplane that is heading to your deployed location. So every day our chalk commander (the guy in charge of the group of people heading to our base) calls the terminal to find out if there is a plane scheduled. If there isn't, then we wait until the next day and try again. In the meantime, you find ways to pass the time, and there is plenty to do here.

The huge tents with 50 bunks that we all sleep in are air conditioned 24/7 by portable coolers. It's great during the day for getting out of the heat, but at night it is freezing cold. I finally caved yesterday and asked the linen people for two extra blankets, and they allowed it. You always have to be in uniform when you are outside, and PT uniform suffices (shorts and t-shirt) but you have to tuck in your shirt, and wear socks and shoes - even to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The only exception is when you go to the shower, you can wear flip flops. Speaking of showers, they are grouped together in pre-fab trailers. There is a limited water supply, so you have to take "combat showers" (or what Arnie would call "Navy showers"): turn water on for 6-9 seconds, turn it off, wash with soap, shampoo, etc., then turn water on again to rinse off, then that's all you get. Plus, it's pretty nasty in there, too.

Then back to the tent to change and put back shower kit and then off to breakfast. All you have to do is scan your ID card, then you can go through the line as often as you want and take whatever food you want, too. It's not too bad. Additionally, all over the base there are huge stacks of bottled water like what you would see at Costco. You can walk up and grab one whenever you want to have some water to drink. The downside, obviously is that they get hot in the sun, but if you take it inside with you, they cool down pretty quick. Speaking of drinking, unlike Iraq, Qatar allows you to drink alcohol, but limits you to 3 drinks a day. They keep track of this using an alcohol ration card. Yes, seriously. When the bar opens in the evening, the line stretches back for about 50 yards, and you can wait about 15-30 minutes sometimes. You show your ID, your ration card, and pay for your drinks. On military bases in the desert, they don't use coins, so if you get change back from buying your drink (or anything else, for that matter) you get little cardboard cirlces that look like Pogz that say "25 cent gift certificate."

During the rest of the day, there is wireless internet, movies, the BX, gym, a pool, billiards, chess, video games, and a few other things to keep you busy. As fun as all that stuff sounds, it gets old pretty quick, and frankly I am ready to move on to Iraq. Partly because I want to get started with what I came here to do, partly because I know that there is someone in Iraq waiting for me to get there to replace him so that he can go home, and partly because like I mentioned earlier, I only packed enough stuff for 72 hours, and after tomorrow I will have no more clean socks and underwear!

Getting Started

Hello everyone. Since a few people have asked me to start this back up again, I'll see how it goes. I'll post here, along with emails as often as I can. I'll still only post pictures on Facebook, though, so email me if you don't know how to see those.

I left Vegas on Monday afternoon. It was very tough to see Jen crying as I left. I got to Baltimore at midnight that night, picked up my bags and got a hotel room for the night. I slept in 'til about 1pm the next day (jet-lagged) then got up, ate, and went to D.C. I took the train down and then transferred to the subway to take me to the east side of the national mall. I saw the standard things to see there: Library of Congress, Capitol Building, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korea Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, White House. There are pictures on Facebook. Then I took the train back to Baltimore, got my stuff, and went to the airport. I happened to meet up with my friend Jon, who is on his way to the same base as me, except he is coming all the way from Japan (yes, they have to go east all the way around the world). It was nice to meet up with someone I know, because otherwise I would have been going essentially by myself.

Anyways, we flew first to Rammstein, Germany. We only stopped there for an hour or so to unload/load passengers and refuel. Then we flew to Aviano, Italy to do the same thing. From there we flew to Al Udeid, Qatar. All in all, we left the U.S. late Tuesday night / early Wednesday morning and arrived here Thursday morning. Needless to say I was ready to get off the airplane. Once off, we had to do the whole process of immigrating into Qatar. This involved checking in our weapons, filling out forms, setting out bags in the appropriate spot, packing a bag for 72 hours (which is how long we might stay here waiting for a flight out), and giving our ID's to the local Qatari customs agents. That last part is what took the longest. We sat around for about 3 hours waiting for them to give us back our ID's. Once we did, we all got on a bus to take us to get our bunk assignments. From there, we got our linens and then went to drop off our stuff at the bunk. For the transients here, we stay in huge tents with about 50 bunk beds in them. I then went to go eat, then showered, then took a nap. Now, it's just a matter of killing time until they tell us when our flight leaves.