21-23 May - My morning walk

When not on the flight schedule I join the Maintenance Department for a morning walk across the flight line known as a FOD walk. FOD stands for Foreign Object Damage - essentially FOD is anything that could be sucked-in the intakes of the engines and cause damage or thrown around the flight line from the 100+ MPH wind created by the helicopters rotor wash. Therefore, every morning after the sun rises the squadron conducts a FOD walk to ensure all loose items - small and medium - are removed from the flight line. Enjoy your weekend.

19-20 May - Two for one...

that is what it looks like my blog is coming too. As the third in command of the squadron my days are being consumed by flying and overseeing the daily operations of my unit. Therefore, I am going to reduce my blog load by half. Essentially, I will likely be combining two or more days together so I do not fall far behind in my entrees. I will make all efforts to keep the blog interesting but bear with me - when the wind and sand start blowing there is not much to write about cause we are just sitting around watching pirated DVDs of in-theater movies like Iron Man but with out the wife or good popcorn. Have a great week and stay safe.

17-18 May - Weekend duty

For those who are wondering what we do on the weekend in Iraq - we work. Unlike my last tour in Iraq I do not have 2 half days off. We work 24/7, from when we take over the mission to when we hand-off the mission to the next guys. However, I was able to sneak away and attend church on Sunday morning. There is something strange about attending church with a weapon on my shoulder and having armed guards standing outside keeping watch. Despite the armed attendees it was good to have a change of scenery and get lost in the priest message; if for nothing else to have a few moments to reflect on the days readings with out the phone ringing. I did not get the opportunity to attend weekly services last time I was in Iraq because of my austere location - luckily I have that opportunity this time around. Have a great week.

15-16 May - We got a break...

in the weather so we took off. We have been able to conduct a few flights in the last couple of days - we are starting to get back on track. Above is a pic of me flying in the left seat of aircraft on a mission over the desert. The temperature has been holding in the 80's and 90's - really nice for this time of the year but I suspect by the beginning of June those 90's will be long gone as the weather experts are predicting 105 to 115. Have a good weekend.

12-14 May - Weathered out

Over the last several day our flights have been delayed or cancelled because of the ongoing sand storms. We conduct many hours of planning and maintenance in order to get the aircrew and aircraft ready but when the weather rolls in we just sit and wait for better conditions to launch the mission. When the visibility is too bad to fly but I can still see 300 feet in front of me I try to run a few miles to stay in shape and break-up the day. Thus far I have run 15 miles - not too bad for guy in his late 30's....wow that sounds old. No soccer teams to join so it's either running or getting fat - so I run. That's it for now.

11 May - Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to all the mothers back in the US. I am not sure the Iraq's celebrate Mothers Day and since I am located in an area that is void of Iraq personnel I can not confirm their acceptance of a day dedicated to mothers. As you can imagine the phones were very busy and the line to use the phones were much longer than normal. However, I was able to get a quick call to the two mothers in my life and all seems well on the East and West coast. To all the Mom's out there - enjoy your day.

10 May - Game face

Here I am with my 'game face' on and hard at work flying over the sands of Iraq. The weather here has been very nice - mid 80's. But we all know that will not last much longer. Stay safe and enjoy your weekend.

9 May - Quick! run for cover we are...

under a sand storm 'attack.' Okay maybe I should not joke about being 'under attack' but as you look at the incoming wall of sand the result is the same. Everyone is darting for the nearest cover just like cockroaches when the basement light flicks on. These storms happen several times a month - some with a clear defined 'front' as pictured, with others the heavy winds kick-up the sand and bring the visibility down to a 100 yards or even a 100 feet. Anyone want to come see for themselves?

Here is a pic of our area before the winds:

And here is a pic during the wind storm:

Any questions?

8 May - Mission #2

For the second time in two days I flew a mission in our Area of Operations (AO). This mission like the last was successful and uneventful. Despite the fact that I can "get-out" of the office for a while there is still work piling up waiting for my return. By the end of the day I am physically and mentally exhausted. However, the time seems to be moving rather quickly as we are already one week into the deployment - so far so good.

7 May - One down...many more to go

Today I flew my first combat mission in Iraq. Obviously I can not discuss the mission or any of the details but the mission was successful. I have included a picture of our aircraft conducting some refueling operations with a US military truck. In the near future I will post more pics of our aircraft.

6 May - Too many pilots in the cockpit

Hopefully in the near future these guys will pack their bags and vacate the area so we can start getting down to business. Do not get me wrong, the outgoing unit has done an incredible job over the last 7 months but our unit is well trained and since 70% of the squadron has not deployed to Iraq we are eager to settle in and start running the show.

5 May - Monday...ugh!

Mondays are always rough – but they are rougher when you wake-up with sand in you bed. I can not wait to move out of these tents…only a few more days. We are continuing to learn the area and the early mornings and long days at work will eat-up most of my time here in Iraq but it will also make the time go by faster.

4 May - day one

With several hours of restful sleep under our belt we jumped in with both feet today. Several members of the squadron went outside the wire today as we prepare to assume our duty here in Iraq. Everything went well and the missions were successful, its always good to start-out on the right foot. The one thing I did notice is the sun rises at 0502 and as you can see from yesterdays picture the walls are not very think so once your eyes get a glimpse of the bright walls and your ears start hearing the movement of your 31 roommates’ there is no going back to sleep.

3 May - living it up!

Here we are in Iraq getting settled into our living spaces. And I though growing up with my brother as a roommate was tough – it would be nice to have only one roommate now. As you can see we are living like kings! That’s right 32 kings and all our stuff under one piece of cloth to protect us from the Sands of Iraq. It would not be too bad except for the fact that about half of these guys snore. To be honest this squad bay is temporary housing for us until the unit we are replacing moves out of their living area so we move into their spaces. None the less we will spend 5 or 6 days in this canvas palace until our “cans” ready for our arrival.

2 May - We are in country

We arrive into Iraq just after the break of dawn on Friday morning. Forgive me for taking a day to get this info on the blog but it was a long day of traveling. We had been up for 31+ hours trying to get into Iraq so needless to say I was in no shape to sit at a computer and recount the hurry-up and wait games that we played over the last few days. In addition to our long trip we had 4 brief to attend prior to getting the opportunity to hit the rack. Today we will finish adjusting our body clocks and start getting acquainted with our work spaces. Tomorrow we will begin flying. I will try to post some pictures in the next few blogs so keep checking in on my progress as the days go by. The weather here today is beautiful, a cool 70 degrees and a light breeze out of the west - its only going to get hotter from here on out. Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend.