1 May

Tuesday was an uneventful day but my night was anything but restfull. It seams my air conditioner has stopped working which has cause me to loose sleep. The lack of cold air has allowed the sand flee population to thrive in my room. The mid-night fliers have been making a meal out of me and the entire population in my location. We have found the best way to fend off the "bed-bugs," because they seem to only attack us at night while in bed, is to douse ourselves with bug spray prior to lights-out and pull the covers up tight around our necks and hope for the best. As I lay there trying to go to sleep I can not help but swat, kick, slap, or rub at the first inclination or perceived feeling of something on my skin. The problem is the sand flies are so small and lite that you do not really feel them when they are on you - their presence is only felt after they have left their mark. This is just another one of those small uncomfortable conditions that Marines and Soldiers must deal with everyday in a far off land. It could be worst - at least I am not sleeping on the ground with the ants. Have a good night and do not let the bed bugs bite.

30 Apr

Well its official - 5 months down and one more to go. I expect this month to go by pretty quick because it seams like it takes about 7 to 10 days for individual who leave my location to arrive back in the States. Therefore, I will probably leave my location around the 25 of the month - give or take a few days; which means I really only have about 25 days of work remaining until I head back home. For those of you who are thinking about sending packages I would recommend you send them in the next day or two to ensure I get them prior to my departure. There is a chance that if you send me a package after "Cinco de Mayo" I may not be here to open it but you will probably "make someones day" cause I am not sure the package will make it back to you if I am not here to receive it. That is about all I have to share for today - have a good day and have a great week.

29 Apr - Sunday

I think the Iraqi Army now understand the phrase - "Don't shoot yourself in the foot." I kid you not - tonight at 8:30 we get a call that one of the Iraqi Soldiers had been shot. Great - I have over 1500 Iraqi's Soldiers here from 5 different group - there is no telling what happen or how bad the injury. I have learned over the last 5 months that for the most part the 1st report of any incident is always wrong - to some degree. Well the call came in that an Iraqi Soldier was shot in the foot. Okay -was it from a fight, was he cleaning his weapon, was he really shot?
Within 12 minutes of the report a truck carrying the injured soldier came zipping around the corner to the check point. After a quick glance he was waved through and within 45 seconds he was on the stretcher in the Aid Station. Holy Holes Batman, sure enough he shot himself in the foot. This Iraqi Soldier - unlike last nights winner - was actually awake at a observation point about seven kilometer away (5 miles) watching for movement in the Eastern desert. He was bored and started playing with his AK-47 and with the weapon aiming for the top of his foot he pulled the trigger and BANG - instant Swiss cheese ala foot. Through the top and out the bottom - no doubt about it - a direct hit. Good thing there was another soldier with him other wise he would have had to make the call himself - a..yea...can ya send a truck and a replacement I shot myself. Not sure when he will return - maybe its best we do not get him back. But then again, at least we know he is a good shot at point blank range. Oh well I think I have had enough fun for one evening - have a good week.

28 Apr - Saturday

Up until now I was able to sleep good at night knowing that 40+ Iraqi Army Soldiers were standing guard duty keeping an eye out for the bad guys. Now I am not so sure I will be able to sleep at all. Above is a picture of the Marine Lt. who caught one of the Iraqi Soldiers "racked-out" on duty. At least he was ready - check out the neatly placed shoes next to the bed - to quickly react to that unexpected wake-up call from mother nature. I am not sure what kind of creative punishment I would assign to an American who I caught sleeping - no better yet pre-meditated sleeping - on duty but I am sure it would have involve digging holes or filling sand bags and 0200. The good news, this guy was not assigned to watch the perimeter or scan the desert for objects moving in the night...oh no, he was assigned to guard the Ammo Depot. But do not worry...had someone "snuck-by" our comatose guard the robber would still need a key to get at the ammo. I am not sure what they are going to do with this guy but I have no doubt he will not be "standing" anymore duty at the Ammo Depot. Have a good night.

27 Apr

Wow - I actually got an extra 30 minutes of sleep today - but the pace of the day quickly changed when, at 9:05, we were informed our new guest were to arrive in the next two to three hours vice later this evening. We were expecting about 750 soldiers to arrive around 8 PM but they showed up at 11 AM with 929 soldiers looking for beds at our "inn." The sky was overcast and the rain drizzled on and off all day while the wind blew from West to East. After about 3 hours of inspections and the collection of prohibited items, the soldiers made their way to the chow hall to get some food before settling into their rooms. My gut tells me these new arrivals will be more trouble then the group that just left less then 12 hours ago. The early arrival prevents us from fixing all the damage from the previous group - didn't they read the hand-out that said, "Check-in after 4 PM - no exceptions." Oh well - I hope then can live with curtains showers and sinks with no running water because we did not have a chance to fix the damaged pipes. As always the Iraqi's are on their own program. Ho hum - I am not going to loose any more sleep over these issues - speaking of sleep - I think it is time to check for holes in my eyelids. See ya tomorrow.

26 Apr

As the saying goes, "if it's not one thing it's another." As the visiting Iraqis were preparing to leave - thus alleviating my headache, a stomach virus caused me to stay close to the facilities. There is some type of virus going around our area; both the Iraqis and the Americans are getting sick - and we have been unable to determine how the bug is being spread. We have even taken steps to drain and refill all our water tanks fearing it might be something from the water despite the fact that we have been very diligent about ensuring the water trucks are checked before transferring any water into the tanks. I was fortunate in that I only experienced a mild case of the stomach cramps compared to the other Americans who were down and out for a day or two. By the days end I was feeling much better and as the clock struck 9 PM the "problem guests" had checked-out but there are some guest that will be remaining for a few more days. When I hit the rack I was well on my way to being mentally and physically recovered from the days events. Enjoy your evening.

25 Apr

Today I was recovering my the 90 minute workout. That 30+ league is looking more and more inviting. I had my usual 3 meetings Wednesday today and after many phone calls it looks like some of our temporary guest will be leaving our area - finally; talk about wearing out a welcome. In all fairness it is not the soldiers fault they had an extended stay, it was caused by failures much farther up their chain or command. If all goes as planned they will depart the area tomorrow - good riddance - and a new set of visitors will arrive in the next few days. That's about it from the Sands of Iraq - have a good night. Above is a picture of all the players from yesterdays game - enjoy.

24 Apr

Well some might call me a traitor - while others would call me loyal to my base; either way I chose correctly. Although far from the quality of play you would see in a World Cup, we did have an International Soccer game today. A few weeks ago we coordinated a soccer game with our new American neighbors that moved in just south of our main road. The game started at about 4:30 and we played two 45 minute halves. In the end the Iraqi team won - by a lot. It was a great event - there were over 35 players and there must have been about 150+ spectators from numerous different units lining the field to watch the game - that last time I played in front of a crowd that big was my last high school soccer game. We believe this game was the first of many to come. The Soldiers enjoyed the game and asked for an immediate re-match - we agreed; time TBD. There are five other units on our base that would like to challenge our team so I think there will probably be a competitive soccer game once every two weeks to generate team spirit and unit cohesion. Thanks goodness I will only be around for another game or two cause these "20 somethings" are not easy to keep pace with after 75 minutes; maybe its time to look for a 30+ league. Have a good night.

23 Apr

Another Monday down - about 5 more to go until I can have a real drink. The minute I step foot on a plane I am ordering a drink - cause I am going to need one after spending 6 months in Iraq. Nothing new today - just the same ole 4 meeting Monday. Have a good week :-)

22 Apr - Sunday

Well today was the big day - we had a 4 Star visit our base today. Needless to say we played the hurry up and wait game as we stood around waiting for his arrival. He arrived late and departed early and did not say too much in between. I guess when you are the man in charge you can do whatever you want. After he departed we all breathed a sigh of relief and went about our daily schedule. Nothing else to report today - have a good night.

21 Apr - Saturday

Today was a full of rehearsals and coordination for the big VIP visit. So as to not bore you with the details I will shed a little light on how I sleep at night. Here is my current situation. Although the temperature here is in the high 80's and low 90's I find I must run my air conditioner all day. Not that I need to keep my room cool but because I need to keep the bugs out of my room. You see, we have these sand flees that attack you relentlessly at night if your room is above a certain temperature. So, the secret to keeping ones room "flee free" is to run the A/C all day and night. Now, even though I have the AC on cold I have the fan on low to avoid the freezer like temperature in my room. Every night before I jump into bed I put on my long sleeve shirt and long flannel pants in order to stay warm - and some times even some socks...that's right I said socks. I only mention this because if you ask my wife I do not think she has ever seen me go to bed with socks on my feet no matter how cold the room. Oh it gets better. Since the A/C is running all night I get dehydrated. So to avoid the morning or mid-night dry mouth I drink lots of water before turning the light out. And as you can imagine this leads to a trip or two to the facilities in the dark - did I mention the bathroom is about 40 yards away. As you can see anyway you look at it one night of uninterrupted sleep is not an option. If it is not shivering, or dehydration, or a trip to the bathroom then I wake up with "battle scars" from the main course of the sand-flee banquet. This mid-night routine is just another one of those little things that affect what little creature comforts we have when in a war zone. Do not get me wrong - I am not complaining I am just explaining - cause I would rather make early morning walks to the toilets out here in the middle of nowhere then drive around Baghdad on a regular basis. Sleep tight and do not let the bed bugs bite.

20 Apr

UGH....this is the second time I had to do this post from scratch. Above is another pic from the school we visited a few days ago. On Friday we spent the day handing out some of our gear to fill the "absence of equipment" of our visiting guests. We will get back filled for all the gear we handed-out form our stock and it looks like we will get even more. A comment was made yesterday, "why don't we just overstock this place so they (meaning we) can fill any gaps that passing units have before they go to their follow-on assignment." Great...more work for an over worked staff. As a matter of fact it looks like they want to build another set of visiting quarter - identical to the units we currently have - in order to house even more troops in this area. This place is staring to become a "city in the sand." Actually this is good news because this means the Iraqi's will have the equipment and facilities to train their soldiers so the Coalition can hand-over the reins to the Iraqi Forces sooner than later. That is about it for now - have great day.

19 Apr

Today we had another high level visitor stop by our area. However, this visitor has made several trip to our location before and the purpose of his visit was to prepare for a "higher level" visitor who is slated to drop by in the near future - essentially this was a dry run. All went well but, as always with a rehearsal, we received some additional guidance for "game day." We spent about 5 hours discussing the upcoming visit and some of the gear issue problems that are associated with our current guests who are slated to leave in a few days. That is about all for today - have a good night.

18 Apr

Today was my final trip to see the local school kids before I depart Iraq. Along with delivering all the toys, crayons, coloring books, pens and pencils, notebooks, and clothing the Air Force tagged along to help fix a few of the broken items in the school. Since our "brothers in blue" are constructing the new neighborhood just south of my locations they wanted to pitch-in and try to make that school a better learning environment. We added two sets of shelves/cubby holes to each classroom and handed out over 160 packages that included some snacks, clothes, school supplies, various sports equipment, and lots of smiles. I hope you enjoy the pic of the Chaplin and some of the kids that received the gifts that you sent. Please know that even if was just for a few hours - you brought smiles to a school in a far off land. Have a great day.

17 Apr

Holy Girl Scout cookies Batman! Yes, a box - a large box - of Girl Scout cookies arrive today. They arrived from Connecticut, The Girls of Housatonic Council to be exact. First, I would like to thank the following girls/councils for their kind words and tasty treats; 5429, 7473, Alissa - 6452, Brittany, Kira, Kyra - 9328, Lizzie, and Victoria. Your thoughts, heat felt support, and cookies are much appreciated - thanks. On a different note - there seems to be some type of bug going around and many of us have been feeling a little under the weather. Unfortunately, we do not have a doctor on site; therefore, we are unable to get that "stay at home" pass to keep us out of the office. We have all been trying to survive hour to hour in the hopes the bug will pass. Some of us have been hit harder than others but overall we are all surviving. And for those of you who are thinking it was too many Girl Scout cookies that has caused our stomachs to become queasy - you are wrong 'cause we were queasy before the cookies were ever opened. I hope all of you in Internet-land are doing much better then we are. I am off to bed to get some much needed rest - see ya soon.

16 Apr

Another Multiple Meetings Monday in the books! I expect to see an e-mail in the next couple of weeks about my travel itinerary back to the States. It looks as if I will be flying back to BWI and then onto the West coast to rendezvous with the wife and kids.
One of the weekly meetings that I attend on Monday afternoon is the Command and Staff meeting in which the logistics staff briefs details of their section to the senior Iraqi Colonel. We have managed to turn a 75 minute question and answer session into a 25 minute all inclusive brief. My job is complete - in this department anyway; we will see how they do next week when I sit in the back of the room and critique the preparation process and the brief. The ability of the staff to be able to complete this "briefing task" may not seem like much of an accomplishment to you, but to a group of Iraqi's who never used Power Point before but are now briefing the Colonel from Power Point is a huge victory. Well that is enough for today - have a happy Monday.

15 Apr - Sunday

Today I had the pleasure of having a late lunch with a local vendor. Abu Rad is the owner and manager of the bakery and local cafe'. He can get me anything I need - should there be anything I need in the middle of the desert. He seems to be an honest and trust worthy man but as always I keep my guard-up cause you never know who will do what in a war zone. Well that is about all for now. Have a great week.

14 Apr - Saturday

Today I spent 4 hours with our Life Support contract managers today - man, what a fiasco. Its like dealing with a bunch of 5 yr old and used car salesman at the same time. First, I ask the manger a pointed question that has a yes or no answer and he responds with another problem. I am not sure if he is ADHD or the question was lost in translation. And when I re-ask the question I get the "slouched downward looking" no. Are you an adult or a kid? I ask them to follow the contract and they respond by saying - its not my fault - the company is not giving me what I need. Next we discuss what items and facilities need some attention and then we "negotiate" on how we are going to get the job done. By the end of the conversation we are all smiling and shaking hands like we are the best of friends. But as I walk away I can not help but think I am not getting what I paid for. Anyway, above is a pic of some of the workers from a local village who are working in the chow hall. Enjoy.

13 Apr

Friday is here; my day of rest - at least one extra hour anyway. Not so fast! The "unluckiness" of Friday the 13th struck early in my day. At 7:10 AM I hear a knock at my door - my first thought was not now...my air conditioner is working just fine. About once a month the local maintenance crew makes the rounds checking everyone’s heating and cooling unit. Most people are up at 0700 so that is when they come by and check other wise it is a crap shoot to catch you with your door open during the day. So I was surprised to see the LtCol. and the Lt. standing there in their full gear - my heart skipped a beat and I looked at my watch. Oh crap what did I forget - a meeting - a VIP visit - 'cause I did not hear any loud bangs or gun fire so I know we are not under attack. Neither, at "0'dark thirty" a shipment of helmets, armor and other equipment arrived at our location and the LtCol. and Lt. have been awake since about 0345 dealing with the trucks and equipment. My first questions were, "Did I miss the call - why didn't you wake me?" They replied that there was no reason to wake the entire group for a few trucks that are here to deliver equipment to our quests. Alrighty then - back to bed...not quite! They were handing the ball off to me and it was now time for me to ensure all the delivery paperwork was signed and sent back to my higher headquarters; so much for that extra 60 minutes of free time. The next time I looked at my watch it was lunch time and half the day was gone; and although the rest of the day was uneventful but I was still very busy dealing with logistics issues. Its time for me to go and recoup that 60 minutes of sleep I lost this morning - have a good night.

12 Apr

Well it seems I have another fan group living in the great State of Pennsylvania. Yesterday afternoon I received 27 letters from a 3rd grade class located in Laureldale, PA. I am always excited to receive letters but I have never received 27 at once - it was a great surprise. As directed by the teacher - I would never ignore a teacher - I handed out the letters to my fellow Marines and Soldiers. Hopefully in the next few days or weeks we will be able to respond to all the letter by answering all the great questions. Thanks again kids! Also, thanks to all those who have sent letters and pictures via e-mail and snail-mail - it really makes me smile when I see an "unread" message in my mail box or a new package or letter sitting on my desk when I return from a frustrating day with the Iraqi's. Have a good day and keep your chin-up - I'll keep my head down - the weekend is almost here.

11 Apr

April 11th - the day the ice cream ran out. As if the war is not sacrifice enough, I chose to give up ice cream for Lent. I figured if I could give up ice cream for forty days while living in the middle of the desert that may make-up for my lack of attendance at Sunday services. On the second of April I asked the restaurant manager if he could set aside one tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream for future use; he said he would and hid the ice cream where no one would find it. On Holy Thursday the chow hall ran out of ice cream except for "my" hidden carton of mint chocolate chip. After the Easter Sunday feast the manager pulled me aside and asked if I was saving the ice cream for a special occasion. I told him he was "free" to bring-out the stashed tub-o-desert. Sure enough, today a nanosecond of silence was observed as the last chocolate chip slid its way out of the 3 gallon Baskin Robbins container - never to be seen again. It was a great run - from Jan 20th to April 11th. If you ever wanted to know how long 240 gallons of ice cream will last 40 guys living in the desert - now you have your answer, about 110 days - give or take a few days. Have a good night.

10 Apr

The Crap is starting to pile-up...seriously the poop is backed-up. At least that is what was relayed to me over the radio on Tuesday morning. The new neighbors that took-up resident south of our location were preventing our "black water trucks," the trucks that suck-out the toilets, from reaching the dump site. In addition to all the new guest that checked-in over the last few days, a new group of Coalition soldiers has also moved-in across the street to occupy the buildings and facilities that were built over the last 30 days.
It is this new group of US Soldiers that is holding up the crap. After a few phone calls and a visit from one of the US Soldiers the situation was on it's way to being resolved. The problem stems from the fact that all three black water trucks are local Iraqi's who are hired by the Life Support Contractor here at my base. So...when three these medium size "tanker" trucks show up at the front gate and ask for entrance to a new US check point it raises a red flag especially when guarded by new gate guards.
There is no other way to get to the dump point as of right now, so the trucks must enter the front gate and exit the back gate in order to deposit their loads at the designated site. We only have three trucks so I expect it will take a couple of days for the gate guards to feel comfortable about letting the crap in; but like they say it will pretty much be, "the same crap but different day." I know...I know but I could not resits. Anyway have a good day.

9 Apr

Another Monday down - that leave about 7 more Mondays if I have anything to say about it - who am I kidding - I have nothing to say about I am at the mercy of Uncle Sam. Anyway, we spend many hours trying to solve the training problem but it looks like our options are limited until some gear arrives at our doorstep. So now the question is - how do we get gear to our front porch? We were expecting some gear to show-up yesterday but that was put on hold until we established exactly what is needed to get all the Iraqi Soldiers fully equipped for duty. It looks like the new gear will not arrive until some time next week. Oh well I guess the Iraqi's will just have to practice with blanks until the helmets and body armor arrive. All the phone calls and office discussions on the gear/training issue and my "four meeting Monday" keep me pretty busy but like I said only seven more Mondays to go. Speaking of which - I must go. Have a great week.

8 Apr - Sunday

Happy Easter to all; I hope the Easter Bunny has was able to drop off a few treats for you and your families. As luck would have it an Easter package arrived today from my parents; it was full of Jelly Beans and other treats for some of the local school kids.
For those of you who are wondering I never did make it to the 6 AM service but there was one scheduled at 1000 at my location, and since I was up at 0800 conducting the daily logistics meeting I figured the 1000 would work just perfect. With all our new guests checked-in it was time to get them into training; but not so fast. So...here is a new one - the unit that has been here a couple of days - it seems they departed their home location, drove 8 hours along a dangerous route and arrived to our base with no helmets or body armor. Thank goodness they did not run into any problems on the way to our location - if they had encountered any skirmishes or IED's many of the soldiers would have been hurt or killed. The gross failure of leadership aside we started looking into "work-arounds" in order to get these soldiers at least some training during their stay at our facility. It looks like we may either lend them some of our equipment or try to get some delivered in the near future. But until then it looks like they will have a few more days off. Better safe than sorry - not ideal considering their next stop but definitely the right call - we do not want any injuries that could have been prevented had the soldiers had the correct equipment. Oh well...have a good night and Happy Easter.

7 Apr - Saturday

Well another week is coming to a close - but that does not mean I am without work. As a matter of fact a second group of visitors will be arriving sometime today, tonight, or early in the morning - it depends on traffic and IED's (Improvised Explosive Devise). Who knows, maybe I will make the 6 AM Easter Mass - not because I am going to get up early but because I will already be wake.
And sure enough our guest arrived at midnight but the size of the party was much smaller then usual so after a few hours of corralling the troops we headed to bed. It was another long day but we are making progress; I say this because each time a new group arrives the Iraq Soldiers here at my location continue to take on more and more of the responsibility of leading, inspecting, and organizing the arrival of the troops as I stand in the background ready to provide guidance if the need should arise. That's all the action for today...

6 Apr

Friday April 6th - our new guests are taking the day off - as is accustom to some units on the designated religious day of the week. Good for them, this might be one of their last chances to relax and pray before they get very busy. That is just fine with me because I have plenty of other issues I can focus my energy addressing. Thus far I have we have not had a large problem with our new guests using their cell phones - part of the success for such a low number of violators is due to the fact that this unit sent an advanced party to receive a pre-arrival brief. This allowed us to ensure the leadership of the arriving soldiers knew the rules and procedures prior to the wave of soldiers entered our camp. With one less headache for today I was able to refocus my attention on more pressing issues with our local food service contractor - but since the food service contractor issues are on going I will save those adventures until tomorrow. Until tomorrow - have a great weekend.

5 Apr

After a long morning of receiving Iraqi Soldiers we took a couple of hours in the afternoon to regenerate our batteries. Today is a recuperation day for our visitors after their long day on the road to our location. Other then a few meetings and some brief orientation of our procedures the new Soldiers spent the day relaxing. All seemed calm and quiet until about 8 PM. Just after 8 o'clock there was a report that some members from one of our schools were injured and on there way to the aid station. To be honest I did not think anything of it and continued my meeting with the Iraqi Logistics Civilian at my location. When we finished our conversation I headed to my desk to check my e-mail. I was side-tracked by the events that were taking place at the aid station - the aid station is co-located with my office. I will not get into the specifics of what happen but, in short - three local Iraqi Soldiers were injured by some bad guys and left on our back door step. We treated them for bruises and sprains, and sent them away via medivac to a hospital that could check for internal injuries and provide around the clock observation and attention for the next 24 hours; they soldier were rough-up but they will be fine. Sometime, amongst all the building projects and logistic issues, I forget I am in a war zone - this was a reality check. If this is the worst that I see in my 6 months in Iraq I will be very thankful. Life is too short to worry about the small stuff - I agree. Stay safe.

4 Apr

Our guest finally arrived but five hours earlier than scheduled. Just as everyone was settled down for the night - in preparation for the EARLY arrival of our visitors we received a call that they were about 1 hour away. So, about 55 minutes later we passed the word that our visitors would be arriving in the next 30 minutes -figured they would be late so I let the troops sleep as much as possible before we woke them. Needless to say we were jumping through hoops to get the reception party in-place prior to the Soldiers entering the front gate and sure enough they arrived about 40 minutes after the troops were given the reveille call. The reception, inspection, and movement of visitors to their rooms only took 3 hours - much better then the 6 hours from the previous group. All in all it was not too bad - we all got to bed around 3 AM so at least we had some rest before the gobble of our local turkeys woke us up. Another long day but much smoother then our previous "check-in" experiences. Have a good day

3 Apr

We continue to make preparations for the arrival of our guests - maybe they are coming today...maybe tomorrow...maybe not at all. While we are awaiting their arrival let me share Iraqi Lesson #11 - at least I think it is #11. With all the constructions that has taken place in the is area we had the opportunity to build a few new toilet facilities. Two 10 person facilities were built back to back and they both run off the same 10,000 liter water tank. The facility has been in place for about a month and today I was told the units are "no good." No good - what do you mean - are they broken? No...they are in perfectly good working order but - and I am not kidding - they are facing the wrong way. WHAT! What do you mean the WRONG WAY? Well it turns out that it is forbidden to use the toilets that are facing the same direction in which one would pray or to use a toilet that places your back to the direction you would pray. Holy Crap - no pun intended - are you kidding me - is this a joke to play on the American Major? My western" mind would never have thought "the man upstairs" would care which way you were facing when you let nature take its course. As far as the toilets - I am not sure what we are going to do about them - it will not be easy or cheap to turn or modify the facilities. Oh well they should have told us this was an issue when the toilets were being built - at least we know for next time. Speaking of next time - until the next time I write have a good day.

2 Apr

This week started off with the normal "four meetings Monday." We are knee deep into the planning and preparing phase for our incoming guests; however, it would be nice to know when they are expected to arrive so we can ensure we have a proper welcome in place when they pull-up to the front gate. The arrival time of our new visitors continues to change but since we are about 80% ready I do not expect any significant problems if they arrive tonight. That's about all from the land of the desert - have a good week.

1 April - Sunday

Above is a picture of me and one of the hard working Iraqi Army Soldiers that works in the Base Logistics Section. Today was a somewhat busy day; I spent about two hours helping coordinate the movement of several tons of cement, and had a total of five meetings scattered throughout the day. Our new guest will be arriving in the future and in addition to their arrival it looks like another new facility will need to be built at our location. And the time line for these new buildings is very compressed - the project needs to be completed within 2 months and the plans have yet to hit the drawing board. Oh well - its just one great idea after another. I am sure I will be heavily involved in this project but at least I will not get bored. Maybe I should go and get some rest while I have the chance - I think I will do that. Have a good day.