Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

Woke up a bit early this morning. There was this very loud noise all around me. Sounded like I was trying to sleep inside a popcorn machine. As it turns out, sometimes they get some very big thunderstorms here in Iraq. When I got out of bed and looked outside, we were actually getting some small hail! The sky was scary dark. Looked like it does back home when it's threatening tornadoes. By the time we got out of breakfast, it was almost nighttime dard again outside. Very spooky. Looks like it's supposed to rain for the rest of the week.

You would think that living here in the desert, a rain storm would be a welcome relief. Not so much. As it turns out, the dirt here has some interesting qualities. There is a lot of clay and stuff in it. So, when it gets wet it turns into this very thick, very sticky kind of glop. Sticks to your boots, then attracts gravel. By the time you walk from the car to the chow hall or something, your boots weigh about 50 pounds (OK, I'm exaggerating, they only weigh about 49 pounds!). Then it gets tracked all over inside all the buildings. It's just a big chocolate mess. It did however cool things off a bit. That's a nice change.

Oh the humanity!

"Fighting" a war from the staff is quite different than actually being on the battlefield. We have different things than bullets that we have to dodge. Around the office, what I try to dodge most of the time around here is email! My inbox is never empty. I normally average anywhere between 80 to 100 emails a day. For example, I left the office last night at about 10:00 pm. When I got into the office this morning at 8:30 am, I already had 15 emails waiting for me. Granted, most of these emails are informational only. I still have to read them all, glean the information out of them to see if they are relevant, then spread that information and file the emails and attached reports. It eats up much of my already long day.

The rest of my job isn't that bad. I spent a good deal of time with scheduling. I am responsible for the headquarters schedule. That's all the meetings and the watchbill. I also schedule all our VTCs (Video Teleconferences). That requires two things. Reserving the room and requesting the bandwidth so that we can have the VTC. The worst part of that is the constant changes to the schedule.

We are also very involved in the Electronic Warfare targeting process. We sift through the intel to see what the enemy is using to kill our troops and develop counters against that. Then, of course, the enemy shifts and we have to counter that. A never ending game of chess. I will say this about who we are fighting. They are smart, which makes our job tough. I think we're up to it. We've got a smart bunch of guys here with lots of Electronic Warfare experience.

But mainly, I'm the guy behind the scenes that makes the headquarters look as if it runs smoothly. It's a very challenging and rewarding job. I'm still having fun over here.

Added a few things

I've decided to get some more work done on the blog. I've added a few links to some other bloggers. Jen's blog will link you to the Roundy Family blog where you can read all about what's happening with my daughter Jen and her husband, Troy, and of course my super-cool grandson Dylan! Stolli, Grease, and Barbie are all guys I'm working with over here in Baghdad. Those aren't their real names, of course, but I know them all by their "callsigns" and it's easier for me to refer to them that way. Following those links will give you some other perspectives and anecdotes about what's happening in the war over here. Hope you enjoy them.

Rocket Damage

Hey Ya'll,

Well, the other day it seems we had a rocket attack. They are actually fairly common around here, but this one was close. It really rattled the windows in our office. So, of course, being trained military officers, we ran outside to see if we could see any more. As it turns out, the rocket landed in one of the living areas and hit a trailer. Luckily it was during the day, so no one was home and no one was hurt. We went by today and got some pics of the damge. Enjoy.

Uniforms!

OK, so I'm trying to add some pictures, but I guess I have some more to learn. Give me some time. In the meanwhile I'll regale you with "Tales of the uniforms".

As you can see in my blog picture, I am currently wearing the Army's ACU, or Army Combat Uniform. As I was preparing to leave, all the instructions we (this applies to all Air Force people over here doing this job) were told that we would wear the ACUs. Now, these instructions came from Air Force A3 up at the Pentagon. So, even though I was issued Air Force DCUs (Desert Combat Uniforms) I only brought one along because we were told that we weren't allowed to wear the Army uniform on an Air Force base, so it would be wise to have one along just in case.

So, I show up at Camp MacCrady for the Army combat training. That's where we learned to shoot very well and other combat techniques. While there we were all issued the Army ACUs. I had already ordered the proper Air Force name tags and everything so I was set. We wore the ACUs during training and while in transit to Iraq. Everything was going well, or so I thought. When we graduated from the JCCS-1 class that we all have to take, The Deputy Commander of the 732 Expeditionary Squadron (the Air Force squadron that has Administrative control and Operational Control over us) came down to "welcome" us all to Iraq. I put that in quotes because what he really came down for was to mark his territory. He spent almost an hour showing us powerpoint slide after powerpoint slide showing us in no uncertain terms that we belonged to him. It was all so very impressive.

After his little spiel, he then went on to explain that we were all wearing the wrong uniform and that we were not allowed to wear the ACUs and had to wear the DCUs. We explained to him the situation, the instructions from the pentagon and the fact that all the Navy personnel we were working with were wearing the ACUs. He would have none of it. This even got as far as getting our local squadron commander (a Navy O-6) involved with our group commander in Balad (an Air Force O-6, or Colonel). They went round and round over the phone and it basically ended with the Navy Captain saying that if we wore DCUs he would send us home, and the Air Force Colonel saying that if we wore ACUs he'd send us home. There followed a flurry of emails between the Deputy and me (I'm the ranking Air Force guy at JCCS-1 Headquarters) telling me that we all needed to have our DCUs sent out, and in the mean time, we were to wear the one set of DCUs we had whenever we could.

We've been in contact with Mary at the Pentagon. She's the one that gave us the information about the uniforms to begin with. She, like us, feels that this guy is next to certifiable and shouldn't be in the position he's in. As it turns out, this guy is not only not a front line combat guy (he's a contracting officer) but he's not even an active duty guy. He's a reservist! So, this is what happens when you have a rear echelon type reservist put in charge of a bunch of actual warfighters. He's more concerned with the tiny little details instead of letting us do what we were originally told to do, and something that makes us much more effective in fighting the war.

So, before you think I'm just a big whiner, let me explain a bit. I personally don't care which uniform I wear. In the big scheme of things, I'm not going to go "outside the wire" so the camouflage protection offered by the Army uniform isn't really a factor. The Army uniform is a bit more functional in that it has many more pockets than the Air Force uniform (more like the flight suits I'm used to). What upsets us all about this is the way it's being done. This guy, who we will only see once a month or so when he comes down to welcome the newest Air Force guys in theater (and figuratively urinate on them to mark his territory) is threatening us with action if we wear the uniforms that we were told to wear, that our squadron mates are wearing, and that the Army trusts when we wear them. Oh well, the soap opera that is our lives. "like tons of desert sands through the hourglass, so are the day of our deployment". Or something like that.

Some pictures

This is the Al Faw palace. One of Saddam's summer places.
This is me sitting in a chair that Arrafat gave to Saddam. The white is mother of pearl.
Sunset on the lake that Saddam had built for his palace and the homes of his friends. That is one of the houses. We use it as an office building now. We call this one "the juicer" because of the top.
This is a picture of myself and a good friend of mine, Major Mike Stoller. Don't try to figure out the sign he's holding, it's an inside joke for some of our Air Force buddies.

Learning the job

My turnover is going well. It's kind of fast and furious with a lot to learn and remember. I think I'm getting it. I am working as the Operations Officer for JCCS-1. We are tasked with a portion of the anti-IED fight. The IEDs are the Improvised Explosive Devices that you hear so much about. The road side bombs. It's a Navy outfit, but they are beginning to get an influx of us Air Force people to help with the job. Not that the Navy hasn't been doing the job, they've been doing an outstanding job. But they could always use a few more hands to help out. This is a link to our website: http://www.nrotc.umn.edu/JCCS-1/ .

This is an important part of the war here and I feel a very rewarding one. We are saving lives. Our equipment and the training we give the troops actually has saved many lives. I like that. We are working hard at it also. Our average working day is anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For all my family and friends; things are going great. As you can guess, I'm very busy, but I enjoy the work. When I get this all figured out, I'll post some photos here of the local area. You might be surprised what you see.