FINALLY ... another Entry! (grin!) ... 2 MONTHS DOWN!Nov 11, 2007
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A few construction shots for those civil engineers reading (we're really building...
How many boards DOES it take to hold up a ceiling?
Picture of the week! ... captions for this picture will be taken...
Movie Clips - Playback Requirements - Problems?
(WMV - 1.16 MB)
One of my first Blackhawk flights ... BTW, my hootch is in...
(WMV - 1.40 MB)
Second part of the flight
(WMV - 1.22 MB)
More of flight (can stop watching these when you get bored!! grin!)
(AVI - 7.07 MB)
EID celebration - Iraqi band
| First, let me thank everyone with being so patient and understanding of my lack of comms over the last couple weeks (month or two?) ... although time has flown by, it certainly has been because of learning so much and actually getting to go out and start seeing first hand some of the things we are doing, building, and fixing. . The last couple weeks I have been able to learn all about the right (and wrong!) way of buckling myself into Blackhawk helicopters, the waiting time for a C-130 is somewhere between "15 minutes ago" and "sometime in the next 3 days", and that the word 'Sherpa' is not just for some group of folks from the mountainous region of Nepal ... it's also an Army plane that reminded me distinctly of a couple rollercoater rides I've been on before ... without the roll bars ... and have also learned the very important political ramifications of how to not giggle while drinking out of small little tea cups with Iraqi Generals. . I have added some more pictures from over the last many weeks. Some of the highlights have been of course the construction site visits, both within the Baghdad area (over at Camp Victory and a place called Old Muthana) that I take PSDs (personnel security details), and outside the local area, which brought up many fond memories of watching the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"!! . My biggest trip was last week, with a trip down to Basrah, and then a few days later a trip up to Mosul (added to the map). Was able to meet many of the Army folks that we are supporting, and their Iraqi couterparts that are working hard to get their country back on the right track. Was actually both encouraging and frustrating at the same time. It's good to see everyone starting to pull in the same direction, but there still seems like so many obstacles in the way to get a smooth process moving. $s are always a problem, and now that we are moving away from US-funded construction efforts to Iraqi-funded, it is a bit more complicated to get things approved and started. Supplying food has also become part of the problem for many of the troops since the country is moving to institute local contracted vendors (within their own system), rather than a country-wide contract that the US has had in place for a couple years. . Of course, we also made it through Ramadan, and the Iraqi's had many events to celebrate the occasion. One such event Johnny Wolfe, Jim Scrofoni and I were able to spend some time together, swapping 'Sand Stories' (... "there I was, on the construction site, my hammer was broken, done run out of nails, and we had a deadline to meet!!" ... grin!) and enjoying some good authentic Iraqi food. . The next couple months will be fairly busy as we wrap up many of the US-funded construction projects that were started at the beginning of the year, and award/start all the new Iraqi-funded projects ... currently for me I've got almost 30 projects to try to juggle, ranging from Battalion-level Army bases, to the ISOF Commando bases, to the Navy pier project down at Umm Qasr. Although quite the amount of stuff, it does make the days just fly by!! . I also have been blessed tremendously by everyone with all the care packages, emails, and phone calls. You guys are amazing! Please know that I appreciate the support, the prayers and the well-wishes. Can't wait to thank everyone in person once I get back home. Hope everyone has a great upcoming Thanksgiving and Holiday season. Please know that there are many folks over here who, although would rather be home with friends and family, recognize their need to be here and are willing to do what needs to be done to make this area better, safer and healthier. I have been so impressed with the quality of folks over here, and the fortitude to do what is required. . God bless! . Steve |
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