Ok, I take back almost everything I said about loofahs being incompatible with a macho warrior culture. Apparently, many current and former military men came forward to inform me that a loofah is an indispensable way to stay clean and hygienic. The loofah helps "clean your pores". After a few days of getting grime from being in 100+ degree heat and humidity, I think I agree.
What I should have said then, instead, is that the modern soldier loves to be clean.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Day 14-16: Kuwait purgatory
Sorry for being out of touch for awhile - as expected, connectivity can be a challenge out here. A lot of troops are here now, packing the gym, the chow halls, training, flights out to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the internet options. There are a few free ones, but the wait is atrocious and I haven't figured out the paid wireless. I finally broke down tonight and paid for one of the internet cafe-type stations and at $5/hr, it's not cheap, but not too expensive either. But, pages are crawling because of the demand, I think, so I'll write a quick update and post my previous entries and be gone.
The past few days haven't been hard. On the contrary, I have lots of time on my hands. But, that's the opposite of what I've been used to, and it sucks to just be waiting. Initially, I expected to go through about 2-3 days of training and then catch a flight out of here to Iraq. I knocked out most of the training (including cleverly, or so I thought, infiltrating my way into one of the coveted Humvee rollover training simulator slots). All I had left was one single class of the MRAP (Mine Resistant Armor/ambush Protected) rollover training and I could punch my ticket. I arranged to get a ride out to another base where I could then catch a flight to Southern Iraq. Packed everything up and said good riddance to my dusty tent and cot.
We made it there in about an hour, during which I got to see some of the bunkers that were destroyed during Gulf War 1 (the Kuwaitis never rebuilt them for some reason). My LNO tour guides also pointed out the flag pole at the Kuwaiti base (now Ali al Salem airbase) where supposedly the Iraqi invaders strung up the Kuwaiti commander, used him for .50 caliber target practice, then left him up there as a warning. Guess that's why the Kuwaitis were a little upset.
Turns out that signals were crossed and the flight ops people said there were no more flights out that day and possibly one the next. I got on the phone and found out that I could either take my chances waiting there, or the Division Air Ops guy could bump someone off a rotary wing flight (helicopter) on Fri. I decided to take the bird in the hand and returned back to the same crappy base I thought I wouldnt have to see for another six months.
So, with any luck, I'll next update you guys by the end of the week once I hit Iraq and actually start what I came here to do. I've got some photos to put up too. Great to hear that some of the Dartmouth staff are reading this -- Dave C. mentioned that Dartmouth has a lot of history with the 10th Mtn Div, so I'll have to read up on it.
The past few days haven't been hard. On the contrary, I have lots of time on my hands. But, that's the opposite of what I've been used to, and it sucks to just be waiting. Initially, I expected to go through about 2-3 days of training and then catch a flight out of here to Iraq. I knocked out most of the training (including cleverly, or so I thought, infiltrating my way into one of the coveted Humvee rollover training simulator slots). All I had left was one single class of the MRAP (Mine Resistant Armor/ambush Protected) rollover training and I could punch my ticket. I arranged to get a ride out to another base where I could then catch a flight to Southern Iraq. Packed everything up and said good riddance to my dusty tent and cot.
We made it there in about an hour, during which I got to see some of the bunkers that were destroyed during Gulf War 1 (the Kuwaitis never rebuilt them for some reason). My LNO tour guides also pointed out the flag pole at the Kuwaiti base (now Ali al Salem airbase) where supposedly the Iraqi invaders strung up the Kuwaiti commander, used him for .50 caliber target practice, then left him up there as a warning. Guess that's why the Kuwaitis were a little upset.
Turns out that signals were crossed and the flight ops people said there were no more flights out that day and possibly one the next. I got on the phone and found out that I could either take my chances waiting there, or the Division Air Ops guy could bump someone off a rotary wing flight (helicopter) on Fri. I decided to take the bird in the hand and returned back to the same crappy base I thought I wouldnt have to see for another six months.
So, with any luck, I'll next update you guys by the end of the week once I hit Iraq and actually start what I came here to do. I've got some photos to put up too. Great to hear that some of the Dartmouth staff are reading this -- Dave C. mentioned that Dartmouth has a lot of history with the 10th Mtn Div, so I'll have to read up on it.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Day 12-13: Hello Kuwait!
A long day of waiting. I thought that we'd be flying out early in the morning. Instead, we had so much time that my roommate left his entire packing until this morning. We staged our bags for loading, got final signoff, turned in our rooms, and then were ready to go at about noon. The loading of bags and people onto the buses was to put it mildly, a colossal goatscrew, with a free for all as 400 people simultaneously tried to load bags on and get the hell out of Dodge with 4 or 5 large duffel bags. Now I think I know what it is like to be in a refugee camp.
After all that rush, we sat on the bus for a half hour before moving to Freedom Hall, a final staging area from where the flights depart. The schedule was an unknown target, which is typical and necessary to maintain operational security (see, Ken, I do use words besides "tactical"). Despite this, I'm surprised that they let everyone use their cell phones up to the very last minute. I took advantage of the time to do some last minute financial stuff that I won't be able to take care of from downrange.
(Day 13)
We just arrived in Kuwait after a 24 hour trip, starting from when we bussed out of CRC. Guys who have done this trip before said it wasn't all that bad time-wise.
After about 4 hrs of waiting and (sort of lame) farewell speeches at the staging point, we loaded a charter plane and started on our first leg. We stopped in Ireland to refuel and then continued on to Kuwait. By the time we saw the lights of Kuwait City, I had finished reading through 6 reports on southern Iraq and a case study of 30 British soldiers who responded to an ambush in Basrah in 2004 by fixing bayonets and charging the enemy. Although this was the first time in 22 years this had been done (not since Battle of the Falklands), the tactic took the enemy completely by surprise and resulted in 35 insurgents dead with only 3 British soldiers wounded. Takeaway was not that we should start carrying bayonets, but that doing the unexpected often yields good results against an unconventional foe.
I also watched Slumdog Millionaire. I had been holding off because I had heard how great it was, but honestly, it was a little bit of a letdown after all the hype. Good, but not magical and didn't leave me with any lasting impression, the way a Mystic River or Million Dollar Baby did. I loved 28 Days Later, another Danny Boyle movie, so was hoping this would be as good. Maybe if you've never watched a Bollywood movie, it would be really special.
Anyhow, arrived at Kuwait Intl Airport, loaded buses, swapped around, and then drove to another camp about an hour away. There, we got a ridiculous brief which was unintelligible because the briefer had a really thick twang and my Southern sucks, and the two TV screens didn't help because the PPT slides were loaded with text. All we really needed to know was when the bags were coming, where to rack out, and when the next hit time would be.
The bags did show up and we formed a human chain to offload them. Some confusion about bus times for the ride out to Camp B, so a buddy and I just got a spot in the transient tents for a few hours and then some breakfast since it was dawn by then. That was the right move -- the lesson almost always in the Army (heck, probably all institutions) is that moving as a single individual will always be faster than as a group.
Predawn breakfast was kind of surreal. The DFAC is huge and puts most other chow halls to shame with it's big selection of food, including bizarrely a soup and pizza bar running in the morning. There were a lot of Aussies around. Caught a few hours of much needed rack time in the tent, then got up to make the bus. I walked outside and hit a wall of heat. Temps had risen maybe 30 degrees in 3 hrs, from a comfortable low 70s to over 100. Not only hot but bright, so I put on my shades. It's not even May yet and where I'm going, southern Iraq is supposed to be even hotter. Lordy lordy. The bus to Camp B took about an hour. Again, we traveled in blackout mode, shades drawn and lights out. I took a look out and that's when it really hit me that I was really here. The area around was a vast expanse of featureless and flat desert. Here and there were metal carcasses of what appeared to be cars. Fortunately, we had not gone with the main body 5 hrs earlier. They apparently took that long to offload bags and get the same briefings and signin that took us 20 min. The 10th MTN LNO showed up and although he didn't have a head's up that I was coming, he really did take care of me more than he had to. SSG G slotted me in for training, helped me with my bags, got me billeting, even showed me around the camp. The plan is for me to knock out training and then catch a chopper directly into Basrah. I had an option of taking the bare minimum training -- just the rollover drill, but I figure that if I'm going outside the wire a fair amount, I owe it to the patrol I accompany and myself to be as prepared as possible. It's one of those things that if you don't take care of before you start your job, you'll never get to. My tentmate is a LTC who I had met at CRC, so it's just the two of us. Very plain, cots, no linen, no lockers, but at least there are some hanging lights, and it's sheltered from the elements.
After all that rush, we sat on the bus for a half hour before moving to Freedom Hall, a final staging area from where the flights depart. The schedule was an unknown target, which is typical and necessary to maintain operational security (see, Ken, I do use words besides "tactical"). Despite this, I'm surprised that they let everyone use their cell phones up to the very last minute. I took advantage of the time to do some last minute financial stuff that I won't be able to take care of from downrange.
(Day 13)
We just arrived in Kuwait after a 24 hour trip, starting from when we bussed out of CRC. Guys who have done this trip before said it wasn't all that bad time-wise.
After about 4 hrs of waiting and (sort of lame) farewell speeches at the staging point, we loaded a charter plane and started on our first leg. We stopped in Ireland to refuel and then continued on to Kuwait. By the time we saw the lights of Kuwait City, I had finished reading through 6 reports on southern Iraq and a case study of 30 British soldiers who responded to an ambush in Basrah in 2004 by fixing bayonets and charging the enemy. Although this was the first time in 22 years this had been done (not since Battle of the Falklands), the tactic took the enemy completely by surprise and resulted in 35 insurgents dead with only 3 British soldiers wounded. Takeaway was not that we should start carrying bayonets, but that doing the unexpected often yields good results against an unconventional foe.
I also watched Slumdog Millionaire. I had been holding off because I had heard how great it was, but honestly, it was a little bit of a letdown after all the hype. Good, but not magical and didn't leave me with any lasting impression, the way a Mystic River or Million Dollar Baby did. I loved 28 Days Later, another Danny Boyle movie, so was hoping this would be as good. Maybe if you've never watched a Bollywood movie, it would be really special.
Anyhow, arrived at Kuwait Intl Airport, loaded buses, swapped around, and then drove to another camp about an hour away. There, we got a ridiculous brief which was unintelligible because the briefer had a really thick twang and my Southern sucks, and the two TV screens didn't help because the PPT slides were loaded with text. All we really needed to know was when the bags were coming, where to rack out, and when the next hit time would be.
The bags did show up and we formed a human chain to offload them. Some confusion about bus times for the ride out to Camp B, so a buddy and I just got a spot in the transient tents for a few hours and then some breakfast since it was dawn by then. That was the right move -- the lesson almost always in the Army (heck, probably all institutions) is that moving as a single individual will always be faster than as a group.
Predawn breakfast was kind of surreal. The DFAC is huge and puts most other chow halls to shame with it's big selection of food, including bizarrely a soup and pizza bar running in the morning. There were a lot of Aussies around. Caught a few hours of much needed rack time in the tent, then got up to make the bus. I walked outside and hit a wall of heat. Temps had risen maybe 30 degrees in 3 hrs, from a comfortable low 70s to over 100. Not only hot but bright, so I put on my shades. It's not even May yet and where I'm going, southern Iraq is supposed to be even hotter. Lordy lordy. The bus to Camp B took about an hour. Again, we traveled in blackout mode, shades drawn and lights out. I took a look out and that's when it really hit me that I was really here. The area around was a vast expanse of featureless and flat desert. Here and there were metal carcasses of what appeared to be cars. Fortunately, we had not gone with the main body 5 hrs earlier. They apparently took that long to offload bags and get the same briefings and signin that took us 20 min. The 10th MTN LNO showed up and although he didn't have a head's up that I was coming, he really did take care of me more than he had to. SSG G slotted me in for training, helped me with my bags, got me billeting, even showed me around the camp. The plan is for me to knock out training and then catch a chopper directly into Basrah. I had an option of taking the bare minimum training -- just the rollover drill, but I figure that if I'm going outside the wire a fair amount, I owe it to the patrol I accompany and myself to be as prepared as possible. It's one of those things that if you don't take care of before you start your job, you'll never get to. My tentmate is a LTC who I had met at CRC, so it's just the two of us. Very plain, cots, no linen, no lockers, but at least there are some hanging lights, and it's sheltered from the elements.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Happy Birthday Sarah!
Just wanted to wish my wonderful wife and best friend Sarah a very happy 25th birthday!
I've lost track of how many birthdays, anniversaries, and other important days we haven't been able to be together over the years, and yet somehow it still "works". Every day I wonder how I got so lucky.
Happy birthday dear.
Days 10-11: Ranger Joe's is evil
It's our last night stateside before shipping out tomorrow and I spent it shopping like a kid in a candy store at the uber super mega military surplus store called Ranger Joe's. That and stuffing myself with piles of red meat at a Texas Roadhouse. Kevin was sort of my chaperone and chaplain attending my last rites. I am in a state of food coma now, so please pardon gaps in logical thought or if I don't finish.
Why is Ranger Joe's evil? Because it's like a friggin IKEA or (for Californians), Fry's Electronics. You cannot leave there without buying something and the longer you stay there, the more you end up spending. It has a massive amount of miliary footwear, clothing, accessories, holsters, knives, sunglasses, tactical flashlights, etc for a primarily military and law enforcement clientele. The pistol holster that the Army issues us is pretty crappy (rides on your belt, which is very uncomfortable), so I needed to get a new rig to replace it. I ended up with a quick release holster that fits on my chest. Then, of course, I needed to check out tactical sunglasses, sunglass holders, knives, even a sleeping mask. I walked out of there $150 poorer, but at least I got good service.
Other than my moments of weakness, today was actually fairly light. We were up early to draw weapons for weapons familiarization and qualification. They were popup targets, which is always fun and I did pretty well, hitting 29 of 30 targets. Was the top shooter, until some upstart lieutenant shot 30/30 -- must have cheated! :) Unfortunately, the tornado from last week had damaged the situational training lanes for us to do the assault course. Everyone was happy, but I like that stuff and would rather train it now than do it for real.
Why is Ranger Joe's evil? Because it's like a friggin IKEA or (for Californians), Fry's Electronics. You cannot leave there without buying something and the longer you stay there, the more you end up spending. It has a massive amount of miliary footwear, clothing, accessories, holsters, knives, sunglasses, tactical flashlights, etc for a primarily military and law enforcement clientele. The pistol holster that the Army issues us is pretty crappy (rides on your belt, which is very uncomfortable), so I needed to get a new rig to replace it. I ended up with a quick release holster that fits on my chest. Then, of course, I needed to check out tactical sunglasses, sunglass holders, knives, even a sleeping mask. I walked out of there $150 poorer, but at least I got good service.
Other than my moments of weakness, today was actually fairly light. We were up early to draw weapons for weapons familiarization and qualification. They were popup targets, which is always fun and I did pretty well, hitting 29 of 30 targets. Was the top shooter, until some upstart lieutenant shot 30/30 -- must have cheated! :) Unfortunately, the tornado from last week had damaged the situational training lanes for us to do the assault course. Everyone was happy, but I like that stuff and would rather train it now than do it for real.Yesterday was chock full of classroom instruction on IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and how to recognize indicators that one has been placed along a route used by coalition forces, is in a vehicle, or is borne by a person (suicide bomber). There was a pretty shocking video probably taken fom an extremist website showing an insurgent stuffing a dead animal with some device and then a US truck traveling by and getting hit.
That was followed up by good first aid training ranging from basics like evaluating a casualty, which is similar to first responder training I had before from diving, to treating open chest, abdominal, and head wounds. We went through a lot of techniques, but another classmate, a captain who has seen ad treated casualties in Afghanistan told me to focus on the most important takeaway: if you can stop or stem massive bleeding, enable breathing (clear airway), and summon medical evacuation quickly, you have increased a casualty's chances of survival by 75%.
Tomorrow we fly out into theater so combat and hardship pay, family separation, and all the other nice allowances kick in. It may be awhile before I am able to post again, but stay tuned...
That was followed up by good first aid training ranging from basics like evaluating a casualty, which is similar to first responder training I had before from diving, to treating open chest, abdominal, and head wounds. We went through a lot of techniques, but another classmate, a captain who has seen ad treated casualties in Afghanistan told me to focus on the most important takeaway: if you can stop or stem massive bleeding, enable breathing (clear airway), and summon medical evacuation quickly, you have increased a casualty's chances of survival by 75%.
Tomorrow we fly out into theater so combat and hardship pay, family separation, and all the other nice allowances kick in. It may be awhile before I am able to post again, but stay tuned...
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Real men loofah
Whoever thinks that there are no new age, sensitive American fighting men take heart...
Last night I went to the showers and came upon this scene that shook me to my very core.
A loofah.
Yes, not a small camoflauge sponge, or a pumice stone, but a large, poofy loofa. The type that comes in a kit with body washes like "strawberry seduction".
As it sat by its lonesome self in the corner, I was struck with two immediate thoughts.
1. Why had it been abandoned by its owner? Was this person a closet loofaher and upon threat of discovery, jettisoned it, hoping that the other person entering the open shower bay would not notice it or that he could pass it off as being the secondhand discoverer ("dude, check out what i found -- how totally gay!")? Or, did this person just tire of his loofah and had moved on to more titillating pursuits?
2. Of all the things a guy could bring to war -- an extra travel size bottle of Head & Shoulders, extra set of boxers, another uniform undershirt, DVDs or CDs, rubbers (ok, well, this one probably not useful) -- why a loofah?
Do any of you guys out there loofah?
Day 9: Readiness Processing
Woke up with my arms so sore, I can't even reach the opposite shoulder with each hand and hurts to lift things. Guess that's the little anthrax virii (from yesterday's immunizations) saying hello.
Today, we sat in a room and got a lot of briefings on getting our affairs in order: will, power of attorney, financial entitlements, employer obligations, etc. Most interesting were the different combat zone entitlements including hazardous duty pay, tax exclusion, and the savings plan which allows you to earn a flat 10% interest on up to $10k.
That all took until early afternoon. I finally set up my will, which for someone without kids, is essentially useless if you want to leave things to your wife, which is the default in the US. It was a bit sobering to look at the will in its black and white harshness, its own little sealed contents sitting there like a time bomb.
For the rest of the afternoon, we drew more equipment. This time uniforms, more body armor, boots, etc. Fortunately, I was able to decline a lot of it, including the NBC gear (nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare defense), which is really bulky. Since that is no longer a threat in this theater, others advised against drawing it. I just hope our enemies cooperate and are considerate enough not to drop a chemical gas Scud on our asses. I did get 3 additional sets of boots that I probably will never wear and can add to the little farm of retired boots that I keep in the guest room. Sarah will love the new additions.
Drawing our weapons took the longest time for unknown reasons (civilians). I was assigned my new best buddy, the Beretta 92F 9mm pistol, just about the only piece of equipment that hasn't changed since my last deployment! I'm pretty good with it, it's a very simple weapon, and will be really convenient to not have to lug an M16 or M4 (carbine) around while I do much of my work on base. I will draw a rifle from the unit for when I go outside the wire though.
Spent the rest of the evening putting gear together and starting to organize all this stuff. I think I'll manage to have 1 duffel bag less than most other soldiers, which will be nice.
Today, we sat in a room and got a lot of briefings on getting our affairs in order: will, power of attorney, financial entitlements, employer obligations, etc. Most interesting were the different combat zone entitlements including hazardous duty pay, tax exclusion, and the savings plan which allows you to earn a flat 10% interest on up to $10k.
That all took until early afternoon. I finally set up my will, which for someone without kids, is essentially useless if you want to leave things to your wife, which is the default in the US. It was a bit sobering to look at the will in its black and white harshness, its own little sealed contents sitting there like a time bomb.
For the rest of the afternoon, we drew more equipment. This time uniforms, more body armor, boots, etc. Fortunately, I was able to decline a lot of it, including the NBC gear (nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare defense), which is really bulky. Since that is no longer a threat in this theater, others advised against drawing it. I just hope our enemies cooperate and are considerate enough not to drop a chemical gas Scud on our asses. I did get 3 additional sets of boots that I probably will never wear and can add to the little farm of retired boots that I keep in the guest room. Sarah will love the new additions.
Drawing our weapons took the longest time for unknown reasons (civilians). I was assigned my new best buddy, the Beretta 92F 9mm pistol, just about the only piece of equipment that hasn't changed since my last deployment! I'm pretty good with it, it's a very simple weapon, and will be really convenient to not have to lug an M16 or M4 (carbine) around while I do much of my work on base. I will draw a rifle from the unit for when I go outside the wire though.
Spent the rest of the evening putting gear together and starting to organize all this stuff. I think I'll manage to have 1 duffel bag less than most other soldiers, which will be nice.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Day 8: CRC Medical and Equipment Draw
Today was pretty painful, mostly because past TODs reported being done by 0900. We actually didn't finish up until 1400. The day started very early - I had planned to sleep until 0500 to make breakfast and the 0545 formation, but my roommates decided that 0400 was a good time to get up.
Health care providers, females, and senior NCOs, warrants and officers had priority and went first. When we got to the medical clinic, however, we waited almost 2 hours before we actually started getting screened. The first thing they did was to give us a test to baseline mental acuity and emotional response. The military has started doing this before and after deployments into combat zones mainly because so many soldiers were coming back with undiagnosed brain injuries, mostly from concussions and explosions. Then, we started going through stations for HIV test, DNA, vision, dental, etc. Since most of us had already gone through this, much of the process was just verifying paperwork. I did, however, get blood drawn, and 5 different immunizations - lucky me, that was the maximum allowed in one day. I am pretty damn sore in the shoulders now.
More waiting, then we went to draw equipment. Today, most of the stuff we drew was recoverable, meaning we could use it, but then will have to turn it in after we get back. A lot of this stuff was pretty neat because it had changed since I last deployed in 2001. The helmets are much lighter and don't inhibit hearing. No more LBEs -- these are all modular harness systems to be worn with body armor. Finally, the cold weather clothing and sleeping bag system is all synthetic and modular, so light and packable. I had a memo allowing me to decline a lot of this, but drew everything except the large rucksack, because I expect to go on missions outside base and want to have stuff just in case.
I was hoping to link up with Kevin O, who is still down here, but he was still spending time with Laura until 5pm, so I caught up on a little sleep. At dinner, I spotted a rather portly and cheery MAJ wearing the patch of the unit replacing the 10th. Turns out that MAJ BS had been recalled for his second tour and normally teaches school. He told me about the status of the transition, which was useful. It was also nice to meet another guy going to Basrah.
That evening we had more briefings on laws of war, sexual harassment, and all the other good stuff that JAG lawyers like to talk about. Very painful 3 hours during which (while listening with 100% attention), I managed to write today's blog. So thank the lawyers for today's news update.
Health care providers, females, and senior NCOs, warrants and officers had priority and went first. When we got to the medical clinic, however, we waited almost 2 hours before we actually started getting screened. The first thing they did was to give us a test to baseline mental acuity and emotional response. The military has started doing this before and after deployments into combat zones mainly because so many soldiers were coming back with undiagnosed brain injuries, mostly from concussions and explosions. Then, we started going through stations for HIV test, DNA, vision, dental, etc. Since most of us had already gone through this, much of the process was just verifying paperwork. I did, however, get blood drawn, and 5 different immunizations - lucky me, that was the maximum allowed in one day. I am pretty damn sore in the shoulders now.
More waiting, then we went to draw equipment. Today, most of the stuff we drew was recoverable, meaning we could use it, but then will have to turn it in after we get back. A lot of this stuff was pretty neat because it had changed since I last deployed in 2001. The helmets are much lighter and don't inhibit hearing. No more LBEs -- these are all modular harness systems to be worn with body armor. Finally, the cold weather clothing and sleeping bag system is all synthetic and modular, so light and packable. I had a memo allowing me to decline a lot of this, but drew everything except the large rucksack, because I expect to go on missions outside base and want to have stuff just in case.
I was hoping to link up with Kevin O, who is still down here, but he was still spending time with Laura until 5pm, so I caught up on a little sleep. At dinner, I spotted a rather portly and cheery MAJ wearing the patch of the unit replacing the 10th. Turns out that MAJ BS had been recalled for his second tour and normally teaches school. He told me about the status of the transition, which was useful. It was also nice to meet another guy going to Basrah.
That evening we had more briefings on laws of war, sexual harassment, and all the other good stuff that JAG lawyers like to talk about. Very painful 3 hours during which (while listening with 100% attention), I managed to write today's blog. So thank the lawyers for today's news update.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Day 7: If I have to write my name, date of birth, and social security number one more time...
The roommate that sleeps at 8:30am, as expected, wakes up at about 4am. He does not believe in tiptoeing or using a flashlight, but prefers to turn on the megawatt fluroescent light instead as he rearranges his entire locker as part of his morning activities. I am kicking myself for not having brought one of those wussy sleep shades I always throw away from the free packs on international flights.
Damn, I hit the snooze and woke up 15 minutes before first formation. I briefly thought of trying to wolf down some chow, but didn't want to be late on the off chance that yesterday's 90 minute wait was an unusual occurrence. Like the name of this blog says and as most of my buddies know, I don't like to miss LD and am pretty anal about being on time (actually, except when I meet friends to go diving, right guys?). So I bailed on breakfast and went out to make formation. I ran into someone coming the opposite direction who said that formation was postponed until 8:30am. Got to the chow hall just in time to see them lock the door.
The 8:30 formation was strike two for CRC. Half the group went to get fitted for their uniforms and body armor and the other half was supposed to do another task. Instead, the second group waited for 2 hours in the bleachers. Fortunately, I was ready this time and had my Amazon Kindle 2 out and was enjoying today's newspaper on the e-reader while others were sitting around bored. The Kindle got a lot of questions and attention. Some people got it right away (one guy loved it as an alternative to carrying a Bible), while others rolled their eyes and said they'd stick with their paperbacks.
All that wait was just for us to get fitted for more uniforms. These are fire-retardant versions of the regular ACU (Army Combat Uniform). I gave my regular size and surprise, surprise...what i've been wearing for the past 17 years is still the right size. That was expected, but what ticked me off was that the improved body armor vest did not come in S or XS. Same for the neat, soft wicking undershirt. I saw a guy about 5'8", maybe 160 or 170 fit in a medium and didn't even bother trying it on. This is the only "hot" deployment center and they can't get body armor to fit small guys or most women?? It was the only time I got a little pissed off all day, even more than waiting hours to receive duplicate briefings. I hope to draw this stuff in Kuwait, but am not holding my breath.
In the afternoon, we got box lunches and went to main post to get some repetitive briefings on conduct and transportation and to fill out more forms. Guys who had finished their SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) could leave early, so I was finished up by 4pm.
Trip down memory lane look at airborne school training... NOTHING seems to have changed there in at least 15 years.
Damn, I hit the snooze and woke up 15 minutes before first formation. I briefly thought of trying to wolf down some chow, but didn't want to be late on the off chance that yesterday's 90 minute wait was an unusual occurrence. Like the name of this blog says and as most of my buddies know, I don't like to miss LD and am pretty anal about being on time (actually, except when I meet friends to go diving, right guys?). So I bailed on breakfast and went out to make formation. I ran into someone coming the opposite direction who said that formation was postponed until 8:30am. Got to the chow hall just in time to see them lock the door.
The 8:30 formation was strike two for CRC. Half the group went to get fitted for their uniforms and body armor and the other half was supposed to do another task. Instead, the second group waited for 2 hours in the bleachers. Fortunately, I was ready this time and had my Amazon Kindle 2 out and was enjoying today's newspaper on the e-reader while others were sitting around bored. The Kindle got a lot of questions and attention. Some people got it right away (one guy loved it as an alternative to carrying a Bible), while others rolled their eyes and said they'd stick with their paperbacks.
All that wait was just for us to get fitted for more uniforms. These are fire-retardant versions of the regular ACU (Army Combat Uniform). I gave my regular size and surprise, surprise...what i've been wearing for the past 17 years is still the right size. That was expected, but what ticked me off was that the improved body armor vest did not come in S or XS. Same for the neat, soft wicking undershirt. I saw a guy about 5'8", maybe 160 or 170 fit in a medium and didn't even bother trying it on. This is the only "hot" deployment center and they can't get body armor to fit small guys or most women?? It was the only time I got a little pissed off all day, even more than waiting hours to receive duplicate briefings. I hope to draw this stuff in Kuwait, but am not holding my breath.
In the afternoon, we got box lunches and went to main post to get some repetitive briefings on conduct and transportation and to fill out more forms. Guys who had finished their SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) could leave early, so I was finished up by 4pm.
Trip down memory lane look at airborne school training... NOTHING seems to have changed there in at least 15 years.
Day 6: Travel to CRC at Ft. Benning, GA - First impressions
Now at the Conus Replacement Center (CRC) at Ft. Benning, Georgia, which has the mission of certifying, equipping, and deploying all soldiers headed overseas.
I left Ft. Leavenworth before dawn with the main objective of not hitting a deer, which the previous TOD had done. This was not an easy task since I hadn't slept all night and had no breakfast. I did see one young deer making a run for the on-ramp, but he thought better of it and veered away.
The flight to Atlanta was smooth and I got on the Groome shuttle bus from ATL to Ft. Benning without any problems. The flt was 3 hrs and the shuttle took about 2.5 hrs. With waiting time and layover, the whole process took about 8 hrs from the time I left the KS hotel to the time I was signing in at CRC. The main thing to remember is to plan everything to arrive before the 1800 evening brief. There are 3 briefs a day, but you have to be there by the last one.
CRC is an isolated, self-contained little "camp" on Ft. Benning. It is mostly for individual augmentees, one-offs going to support units, and civilian contractors. There were a LOT of contractors - probably about 2/3rds, and included a lot of translators, which was my first exposure to them. This was nice in a way, because everyone was in the same position, no cliques. Military tended to be slightly rank heavy, with lots of MAJs, LTCs, and COLs running around.
Re: interpreters, I had always assumed that they found local Iraqis who spoke English, but apparently, many are US citizens. At dinner, I sat down next to a nondescript guy with close cropped hair and noticed that he had a Mass State Police shirt on. We started chatting about MA and turned out that he lives in Framingham! Then I found out that he was going as a translator. I asked him where he was going and he said that he didn't know. Apparently, they give some preference here and then they get a pinpoint assignment. I mentioned that the area that was "hottest" in terms of insurgency was in the north. He seemed surprised and then said that he was actually from there, from Mosul no less, which is where most of the unrest is. I asked him whether he would request to be posted somewhere else because of threat of reprisals to family members still in the area and he indicated that he was still deciding. Apparently, he wants to see his old neighborhood and see family, and perhaps feels he might be more effective with local knowledge. It was a short conversation, but meeting Marwan helped me realize that interpreters are just like us soldiers in many ways - they may be serving for more than just another paycheck. [Note: I later learned from someone in my class company who is going over to Basrah also to manage all of the translators in southern Iraq, that the mix is about 60% local, 40% naturalized US cititzens. Also, that the locals are all Level 1, who have no security clearance and are used say, on checkpoint operations, and US citizens are either Level 2 (secret clearances) or Level 3 (Top Secret, which I don't even have).]
After dinner, we formed up and then waited for an hour and a half before starting briefings. This was the Army I know and (don't) love. Briefings covered what activities would occur during the course of the week, standards & behavior expected, transportation and baggage allowance, and then the form filling started. We filled out probably about 20 different forms that night alone all needed to deploy in some way or another. The cadre did a good job moving through the material as quickly as they could, I'll grant them that. The best feeling of the night is when they asked for people who had a memo of training completion and I (with about a quarter of the people) was able to sign out on that training requirement. Still it was 3 hours before we got out of there. If nothing else, it was a reminder of how good the Army teaches patience.
At night, we had a couple hours of downtime before racking out. We stay in a simple barracks, 4 to a room, with bed and wall locker. My roommates are a logistics reservist major and a contractor. Neither is much of a conversationalist, so we just mostly grunt greetings. That is, until nightfall. The civilian guy was sleeping by the time we got back (8:30pm), so I tiptoed and used a flashlight. Silly me. The other roommate wasn't even back when I slept at 11:30pm. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night by what sounded like a buzzsaw mating with a meat grinder. Both of the guys are volume snorers and the earplugs barely helped. Please God, don't let my roommates in Iraq be the same way....
I left Ft. Leavenworth before dawn with the main objective of not hitting a deer, which the previous TOD had done. This was not an easy task since I hadn't slept all night and had no breakfast. I did see one young deer making a run for the on-ramp, but he thought better of it and veered away.
The flight to Atlanta was smooth and I got on the Groome shuttle bus from ATL to Ft. Benning without any problems. The flt was 3 hrs and the shuttle took about 2.5 hrs. With waiting time and layover, the whole process took about 8 hrs from the time I left the KS hotel to the time I was signing in at CRC. The main thing to remember is to plan everything to arrive before the 1800 evening brief. There are 3 briefs a day, but you have to be there by the last one.
CRC is an isolated, self-contained little "camp" on Ft. Benning. It is mostly for individual augmentees, one-offs going to support units, and civilian contractors. There were a LOT of contractors - probably about 2/3rds, and included a lot of translators, which was my first exposure to them. This was nice in a way, because everyone was in the same position, no cliques. Military tended to be slightly rank heavy, with lots of MAJs, LTCs, and COLs running around.
Re: interpreters, I had always assumed that they found local Iraqis who spoke English, but apparently, many are US citizens. At dinner, I sat down next to a nondescript guy with close cropped hair and noticed that he had a Mass State Police shirt on. We started chatting about MA and turned out that he lives in Framingham! Then I found out that he was going as a translator. I asked him where he was going and he said that he didn't know. Apparently, they give some preference here and then they get a pinpoint assignment. I mentioned that the area that was "hottest" in terms of insurgency was in the north. He seemed surprised and then said that he was actually from there, from Mosul no less, which is where most of the unrest is. I asked him whether he would request to be posted somewhere else because of threat of reprisals to family members still in the area and he indicated that he was still deciding. Apparently, he wants to see his old neighborhood and see family, and perhaps feels he might be more effective with local knowledge. It was a short conversation, but meeting Marwan helped me realize that interpreters are just like us soldiers in many ways - they may be serving for more than just another paycheck. [Note: I later learned from someone in my class company who is going over to Basrah also to manage all of the translators in southern Iraq, that the mix is about 60% local, 40% naturalized US cititzens. Also, that the locals are all Level 1, who have no security clearance and are used say, on checkpoint operations, and US citizens are either Level 2 (secret clearances) or Level 3 (Top Secret, which I don't even have).]
After dinner, we formed up and then waited for an hour and a half before starting briefings. This was the Army I know and (don't) love. Briefings covered what activities would occur during the course of the week, standards & behavior expected, transportation and baggage allowance, and then the form filling started. We filled out probably about 20 different forms that night alone all needed to deploy in some way or another. The cadre did a good job moving through the material as quickly as they could, I'll grant them that. The best feeling of the night is when they asked for people who had a memo of training completion and I (with about a quarter of the people) was able to sign out on that training requirement. Still it was 3 hours before we got out of there. If nothing else, it was a reminder of how good the Army teaches patience.
At night, we had a couple hours of downtime before racking out. We stay in a simple barracks, 4 to a room, with bed and wall locker. My roommates are a logistics reservist major and a contractor. Neither is much of a conversationalist, so we just mostly grunt greetings. That is, until nightfall. The civilian guy was sleeping by the time we got back (8:30pm), so I tiptoed and used a flashlight. Silly me. The other roommate wasn't even back when I slept at 11:30pm. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night by what sounded like a buzzsaw mating with a meat grinder. Both of the guys are volume snorers and the earplugs barely helped. Please God, don't let my roommates in Iraq be the same way....
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Days 4-5: Last days learning the mission
In 90 minutes, I'm off to the airport to catch a flight to Atlanta to start the third leg of my trip -- the CRC or Conus Replacement Center -- which is the gateway for all soldiers (and civilian contractors) from the continental US heading to Iraq.
The 5 days spent here with the CALL team went by pretty quickly, but in truth, like many things Army, it was 3 or 4 days of training crammed into 5. By Friday, some of the briefings started to overlap and blur together. I also found myself standing pretty often to avoid falling asleep during these one-on-ones, which would be pretty embarassing.
Part of the reason I'm tired is that at night, I've been spending my time knocking out required computer-based training that are prerequisites for deployment. There were about 18 course modules, taking between 3 min to 3 hours each to complete. Some of these I could speed through without even really listening to all of it, since they are aimed at the lowest common denominator -- courses like Equal Opportunity, Sexual Harassment, Heat Injuries, Army Values etc. But, I paid more attention to the stuff like SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), which was new to me and is about techniques and principles of what you need to do if you become missing/separated/captured. I also paid attention to the cultural awareness and tribal history materials. Did you know that the word "Kurd" means "warrior" in the Kurdish language and that they have been basically screwed over and betrayed by all of the major powers in the area over history? From the Ottomans to the Brits to the Sunnis to Bush Elder, they've always gotten hosed, so knowing this is helpful when negotiating or working with them. Since they're primarily in the North, I probably will not be dealing too much with them.
The other thing that has been sucking up my time is migrating files and settings to my new computer, a nice little Sony Vaio that only weighs about 3.5lbs. I would gladly pay money (and probably should have) for someone to do this process for me. Instead, it's taken literally hours and in the end I still feel like shooting myself and the computers. But, done or not, I'm shipping the work computer out tonight so I don't have to deal with 4 separate laptops (I get two military ones -- one for unclassified use and one for confidential communications).
I got my collection plan today after giving input to my analyst on Wednesday. I need to look through it, but I think it has a little of everything that I asked for.
I picked up a bunch of books and pamphletts to demonstrate CALL's value and which was also interesting to myself. That has made my baggage now weigh a ridiculous amount, but at least I still only have 2 bags -- a computer bag + a big parachute bag (about 50 lbs). Next week, I'll be drawing about 4 more duffel bags' worth.
The 5 days spent here with the CALL team went by pretty quickly, but in truth, like many things Army, it was 3 or 4 days of training crammed into 5. By Friday, some of the briefings started to overlap and blur together. I also found myself standing pretty often to avoid falling asleep during these one-on-ones, which would be pretty embarassing.
Part of the reason I'm tired is that at night, I've been spending my time knocking out required computer-based training that are prerequisites for deployment. There were about 18 course modules, taking between 3 min to 3 hours each to complete. Some of these I could speed through without even really listening to all of it, since they are aimed at the lowest common denominator -- courses like Equal Opportunity, Sexual Harassment, Heat Injuries, Army Values etc. But, I paid more attention to the stuff like SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), which was new to me and is about techniques and principles of what you need to do if you become missing/separated/captured. I also paid attention to the cultural awareness and tribal history materials. Did you know that the word "Kurd" means "warrior" in the Kurdish language and that they have been basically screwed over and betrayed by all of the major powers in the area over history? From the Ottomans to the Brits to the Sunnis to Bush Elder, they've always gotten hosed, so knowing this is helpful when negotiating or working with them. Since they're primarily in the North, I probably will not be dealing too much with them.
The other thing that has been sucking up my time is migrating files and settings to my new computer, a nice little Sony Vaio that only weighs about 3.5lbs. I would gladly pay money (and probably should have) for someone to do this process for me. Instead, it's taken literally hours and in the end I still feel like shooting myself and the computers. But, done or not, I'm shipping the work computer out tonight so I don't have to deal with 4 separate laptops (I get two military ones -- one for unclassified use and one for confidential communications).
I got my collection plan today after giving input to my analyst on Wednesday. I need to look through it, but I think it has a little of everything that I asked for.
I picked up a bunch of books and pamphletts to demonstrate CALL's value and which was also interesting to myself. That has made my baggage now weigh a ridiculous amount, but at least I still only have 2 bags -- a computer bag + a big parachute bag (about 50 lbs). Next week, I'll be drawing about 4 more duffel bags' worth.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Days 2-3: Learning more about the mission
* Met the Director of CALL today -- COL F. Also an Armor guy, so there's always a little bit of a connection and play the name game. I'm not always the best judge of character based on first impressions, but he struck me as being a sharp cookie. On yesterday's weekly status meeting (50 people calling in from around the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and even the Philippines -- we have one person embedded with counter-insurgency forces in Mindanao), he asked some questions that indicated he really understood the theater and challenges of bringing troops and material back home.
* Met the Research guys. These are the guys who will make money for me. One of the best ways us TODs can help out a unit is to assist them in getting the latest and greatest information about any topic. Let's say for instance, that a unit commander has just received a tasking to provide border security but his men don't have much experience doing this. He might turn to me and ask me to help find the best practices and lessons learned from past units. I would first look up in the system myself to see if any products exist, then pass it on to the research group back here at Leavenworth, who would scan a variety of sources and databases and send results back to me. As short as a day later, I could provide that commander SOPs, unit handbooks, after action reviews, and even tactical procedures that are so new even the training centers haven't gotten them yet. The funny thing is as I spoke with the research guys, I completely understood their concerns about needing to understand my context, what form I wanted the results in, the urgency, etc, because I've been in their shoes with my civilian day job and have also been in the requestor's shoes.
* Everywhere I go, people keep saying, "We've been expecting you." It's a really weird feeling, especially in the Army, where you are usually just another social security number. With so few TODs and each one needing to get as much training as possible in 5 short days, there is a litle more personalized attention I guess. And most are higher level -- LTC on the average. I went to see the Joint Operations guys (essentially our counterparts, but focusing on the interaction between Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and local host nations) today and there was a Chinese navy Lieutenant Commander! 3 seconds after meeting him, he was speaking to me in Mandarin, and for a second, I wondered if he was perhaps some sort of exchange officer. Nope, US Navy, but he was born in Yunnan province, has an MBA, and speaks perfect English. Nice to know that that someone born in the country our nation considers one of the next global rivals can rise to that position of authority. He also said that he had been waiting a while to meet me.
* Finally sat down with my analyst to talk about my collection plan. The relationship between a TOD and his analyst is an important one. The analyst is kind of like the shooter -- the brains creating the master plan. Meanwhile, a good TOD is necessary to bring back the data the analyst needs to draw the bigger picture. One way of thinking about it is that each TOD's observation is like a little BB hole. By itself, it doesn't make much difference or say much. But, taken as a group, patterns become apparent.
JW is a retired colonel, has deployed to numerous combat theaters, and has been doing this job since CALL was founded, over 19 years ago. Obviously, since he has all that experience, I tried to say as little as possible and just listen. He started by wanting to know my background and civilian experience more. He asked me if there were any collection target areas I was interested and I told him there were three:
1. Tactical or maneuver-oriented small unit observations that would get me out of the divisional operations center and around in sector outside the wire. I'm here to observe firsthand, not to just parrot what others tell me and if I learned anything from consulting, it was that it's easiest to understand a problem when you see it for yourself.
2. Interactions with the local Iraqi security forces or population. I sort of sold my background in Asia working with other cultures, but personally would consider it a lost opportunity if I came all the way here and didn't try to understand what the Iraqis themselves feel. I also want to see if we are really doing a good job really arming the Iraqis to govern themselves, or if it's lip service and we are just letting them be the face on the patrols and the ones stacking boxes, but not learning principles of leadership or logistics systems for instance. I read a really interesting comment from one of the other TODs yesterday. He observed that one golden rule is to not fraternize with the common soldiers of the local host nation. That seemed counterintuitive to me becauseI've always operated on the concept that if you want to test ground truth, go to the lowest level where policy gets put into action. But, the logic here was that it causes your host officer to lose face, it makes you look less important, and that the ground truth was not always ours to have -- that is, we do have to go through the lens of the leadership.
3. Success/failure of equipment fielding. Simply, I like cool stuff. Although not a technical person by trade, I do like to offer concrete, actionable assessments on stuff and this would be something I could really get my hands around. How the newest body armor feels on the average infantryman, how remote bomb sniffing robots could be repurposed to do other things...
He was surprisingly open to all of them and then asked me if I was open to one more: assessing the success of our information operations campaign. This is all the flyers, psychological operations messaging, and interactions to win the hearts and minds of the locals. I told him I was if it's something I can manage.
* Met the Research guys. These are the guys who will make money for me. One of the best ways us TODs can help out a unit is to assist them in getting the latest and greatest information about any topic. Let's say for instance, that a unit commander has just received a tasking to provide border security but his men don't have much experience doing this. He might turn to me and ask me to help find the best practices and lessons learned from past units. I would first look up in the system myself to see if any products exist, then pass it on to the research group back here at Leavenworth, who would scan a variety of sources and databases and send results back to me. As short as a day later, I could provide that commander SOPs, unit handbooks, after action reviews, and even tactical procedures that are so new even the training centers haven't gotten them yet. The funny thing is as I spoke with the research guys, I completely understood their concerns about needing to understand my context, what form I wanted the results in, the urgency, etc, because I've been in their shoes with my civilian day job and have also been in the requestor's shoes.
* Everywhere I go, people keep saying, "We've been expecting you." It's a really weird feeling, especially in the Army, where you are usually just another social security number. With so few TODs and each one needing to get as much training as possible in 5 short days, there is a litle more personalized attention I guess. And most are higher level -- LTC on the average. I went to see the Joint Operations guys (essentially our counterparts, but focusing on the interaction between Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and local host nations) today and there was a Chinese navy Lieutenant Commander! 3 seconds after meeting him, he was speaking to me in Mandarin, and for a second, I wondered if he was perhaps some sort of exchange officer. Nope, US Navy, but he was born in Yunnan province, has an MBA, and speaks perfect English. Nice to know that that someone born in the country our nation considers one of the next global rivals can rise to that position of authority. He also said that he had been waiting a while to meet me.
* Finally sat down with my analyst to talk about my collection plan. The relationship between a TOD and his analyst is an important one. The analyst is kind of like the shooter -- the brains creating the master plan. Meanwhile, a good TOD is necessary to bring back the data the analyst needs to draw the bigger picture. One way of thinking about it is that each TOD's observation is like a little BB hole. By itself, it doesn't make much difference or say much. But, taken as a group, patterns become apparent.
JW is a retired colonel, has deployed to numerous combat theaters, and has been doing this job since CALL was founded, over 19 years ago. Obviously, since he has all that experience, I tried to say as little as possible and just listen. He started by wanting to know my background and civilian experience more. He asked me if there were any collection target areas I was interested and I told him there were three:
1. Tactical or maneuver-oriented small unit observations that would get me out of the divisional operations center and around in sector outside the wire. I'm here to observe firsthand, not to just parrot what others tell me and if I learned anything from consulting, it was that it's easiest to understand a problem when you see it for yourself.
2. Interactions with the local Iraqi security forces or population. I sort of sold my background in Asia working with other cultures, but personally would consider it a lost opportunity if I came all the way here and didn't try to understand what the Iraqis themselves feel. I also want to see if we are really doing a good job really arming the Iraqis to govern themselves, or if it's lip service and we are just letting them be the face on the patrols and the ones stacking boxes, but not learning principles of leadership or logistics systems for instance. I read a really interesting comment from one of the other TODs yesterday. He observed that one golden rule is to not fraternize with the common soldiers of the local host nation. That seemed counterintuitive to me becauseI've always operated on the concept that if you want to test ground truth, go to the lowest level where policy gets put into action. But, the logic here was that it causes your host officer to lose face, it makes you look less important, and that the ground truth was not always ours to have -- that is, we do have to go through the lens of the leadership.
3. Success/failure of equipment fielding. Simply, I like cool stuff. Although not a technical person by trade, I do like to offer concrete, actionable assessments on stuff and this would be something I could really get my hands around. How the newest body armor feels on the average infantryman, how remote bomb sniffing robots could be repurposed to do other things...
He was surprisingly open to all of them and then asked me if I was open to one more: assessing the success of our information operations campaign. This is all the flyers, psychological operations messaging, and interactions to win the hearts and minds of the locals. I told him I was if it's something I can manage.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Day 1 - First day of training at CALL
I have to admit that I was a little worried that only a week's training anywhere would not prepare me to do my job while deployed since I haven't been to this theater.
Today's training has gone a long ways to putting those fears to rest. These guys here at CALL have their stuff together. When I reported in at 7:30am, there was someone to greet me and the whole team knew I was coming. After initial meet and greet with the four ops guys (mostly all former battalion commanders and retired COLs), I got my training plan, which packed every hour for 5 days with essential briefings and activities. Some of them were admin, like inprocessing personnel and finance. Even these weren't bad because my ops guy had an appointment set andpersonally brought me there himself. I'd never had this, but if I were with a unit, any of these half-hour long sessions would probably have taken several hours.
More informative were the sessions on what CALL is, how to introduce myself and my mission to the unit commander, and how to generally be successful in the job. The folks here at CALL have a lot of faith in us, the TODs (Theater Observation Detachment) and our ability to be creative, adapt to the situation, get along with others, and suck out critical information to pass on to the rest of the Army. And, for the most part, it works.
What jazzed me up the most I think was learning that I'd have some say in creating a collections plan and deciding what I would be focusing my attention on. Since I'll be a division-level TOD, I was worried that I'd be isolated from the troops and play powerpoint jockey. Not so. The plans person who briefed me said that I needed to let the analyst know that I was more interested in tactical lessons learned and observations and also perhaps cross-cultural interactions with the Iraqis -- something he thought I could sell based on my time in Asia.
It was a full day -- but I definitely have a good vibe based on the professionalism of the people I've met here so far, the training they've got set up, and the quality of my fellow TODs elsewhere in theater. There will be just a handful of other observers in Iraq, which is both a challenge and also an opportunity to really play a part.
Today's training has gone a long ways to putting those fears to rest. These guys here at CALL have their stuff together. When I reported in at 7:30am, there was someone to greet me and the whole team knew I was coming. After initial meet and greet with the four ops guys (mostly all former battalion commanders and retired COLs), I got my training plan, which packed every hour for 5 days with essential briefings and activities. Some of them were admin, like inprocessing personnel and finance. Even these weren't bad because my ops guy had an appointment set andpersonally brought me there himself. I'd never had this, but if I were with a unit, any of these half-hour long sessions would probably have taken several hours.
More informative were the sessions on what CALL is, how to introduce myself and my mission to the unit commander, and how to generally be successful in the job. The folks here at CALL have a lot of faith in us, the TODs (Theater Observation Detachment) and our ability to be creative, adapt to the situation, get along with others, and suck out critical information to pass on to the rest of the Army. And, for the most part, it works.
What jazzed me up the most I think was learning that I'd have some say in creating a collections plan and deciding what I would be focusing my attention on. Since I'll be a division-level TOD, I was worried that I'd be isolated from the troops and play powerpoint jockey. Not so. The plans person who briefed me said that I needed to let the analyst know that I was more interested in tactical lessons learned and observations and also perhaps cross-cultural interactions with the Iraqis -- something he thought I could sell based on my time in Asia.
It was a full day -- but I definitely have a good vibe based on the professionalism of the people I've met here so far, the training they've got set up, and the quality of my fellow TODs elsewhere in theater. There will be just a handful of other observers in Iraq, which is both a challenge and also an opportunity to really play a part.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Enemy Returns as GIs Leave Iraq Cities
According to this article, one of the results of the drawdown of US forces in Iraq has been the return of some of the undesirable elements -- some of whom we released from prisons ourselves. Guess I'll see pretty soon how true this is.
Day 0 - Last Day as a Civilian (Ft. Leavenworth, KS)
After what's seemed like weeks of preparation, I am finally formally kicking off my adventure tomorrow morning which is my official reporting date to come back onto active duty. It's not Iraq yet, but it's the trainup phase at Ft. Leavenworth, which is home to the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL), the unit I will be representing downrange.
My first impression of KS, unfortunately, was not a good one. It's cold, about 42 degrees, wet, and windy. All the trees are stripped of leaves, the terrain is pancake flat, and there aren't a lot of people around, creating the overall impression of a desolate place. On-post housing wasn't available, so the CALL guys set me up at a place about 30 min south of Ft. Leavenworth, which is in the middle of nowhere off the highway.
The past week since I've been at home has been a whirlwind of seeing friends and family, prepping my gear, and repeating why I'm going to Iraq and what I'll be doing. The first thing I did was to meet up with 3 college buddies for our annual roadtrip. We've done this male bonding ritual for the past 2 years and this time we had a little more reason to get-together. Not only was I going away, my buddy Anton is getting married, so this was also a bachelor party. We drove up to Tahoe for 3 nights and got 2 good days of skiing in. Sadly to report, the affair was fairly tame, because we were all a little tired, either from the skiing or jetlagged from having flown in from Asia, NY, and Boston, but it was great to see these guys. Anton's still running his two restaurant/wine lounges though the economy is taking its toll, Jaime is doing the IT thing with the same law firm, and Joe is proving to be the excel geek at the pharma company he works at.
After that, I headed down to Mountain View to stay with my brother, his wife and my darling niece. They live in a little apartment, which is cramped with 3, not to mention 4, but it was great to be able to play with her and catch up with Loren. "L" hasn't grown too much in the past 5 months since I last saw her, but her face is capable of a lot more expression than just hunger and delight. She is such a happy baby and is a good "role model" for us long-time married hold-outs without kids. The last night I was there, Loren and I practiced a little brazilian jiujitsu moves (he used to train a lot and got me into it and I've been training in Shanghai). What was supposed to be just reviewing a couple moves somehow turned into 3 hours after which the little room we were in looked like a tornado had hit it and felt like a sauna.
While I was in the Bay Area, I also got to catch up with Evelyn and Esther, two old high school buddies I hadn't seen in years. It was really nice to spend some time with them. Also, I visited cousin Karl and his wife Jennifer and their two button-cute kids Eli and Willow in their huge new house. They are both really getting the hang of the parenting thing.
Flew down to S. Cal and spent 4 days with the folks. Both were same as always except that Dad needed rotator cuff surgery. The timing was good so I could accompany him to the hospital. They apparently reattach the muscle to the bone by inserting small anchors, all with just a tube in a 2 cm incision in the shoulder. Amazing... On the last night, I got to meet up with San Jiu and Xiao Jiu and all the kids except Allison. It was amazing that as they've aged, those two uncles have grown almost indistinguishable -- like twins. Wai Gong's hearing is nearly gone, but he is as sharp as ever. We had a discussion where he talked about his favorite US presidents (Washington, Lincoln, FDR) and why we were in the financial mess. He really does read a lot. He also thinks it will be another 10-20 yrs before Chinese business mentality can change sufficiently to reduce all the different scandals and corner cutting that go on all the time now.
My first impression of KS, unfortunately, was not a good one. It's cold, about 42 degrees, wet, and windy. All the trees are stripped of leaves, the terrain is pancake flat, and there aren't a lot of people around, creating the overall impression of a desolate place. On-post housing wasn't available, so the CALL guys set me up at a place about 30 min south of Ft. Leavenworth, which is in the middle of nowhere off the highway.
The past week since I've been at home has been a whirlwind of seeing friends and family, prepping my gear, and repeating why I'm going to Iraq and what I'll be doing. The first thing I did was to meet up with 3 college buddies for our annual roadtrip. We've done this male bonding ritual for the past 2 years and this time we had a little more reason to get-together. Not only was I going away, my buddy Anton is getting married, so this was also a bachelor party. We drove up to Tahoe for 3 nights and got 2 good days of skiing in. Sadly to report, the affair was fairly tame, because we were all a little tired, either from the skiing or jetlagged from having flown in from Asia, NY, and Boston, but it was great to see these guys. Anton's still running his two restaurant/wine lounges though the economy is taking its toll, Jaime is doing the IT thing with the same law firm, and Joe is proving to be the excel geek at the pharma company he works at.
After that, I headed down to Mountain View to stay with my brother, his wife and my darling niece. They live in a little apartment, which is cramped with 3, not to mention 4, but it was great to be able to play with her and catch up with Loren. "L" hasn't grown too much in the past 5 months since I last saw her, but her face is capable of a lot more expression than just hunger and delight. She is such a happy baby and is a good "role model" for us long-time married hold-outs without kids. The last night I was there, Loren and I practiced a little brazilian jiujitsu moves (he used to train a lot and got me into it and I've been training in Shanghai). What was supposed to be just reviewing a couple moves somehow turned into 3 hours after which the little room we were in looked like a tornado had hit it and felt like a sauna.
While I was in the Bay Area, I also got to catch up with Evelyn and Esther, two old high school buddies I hadn't seen in years. It was really nice to spend some time with them. Also, I visited cousin Karl and his wife Jennifer and their two button-cute kids Eli and Willow in their huge new house. They are both really getting the hang of the parenting thing.
Flew down to S. Cal and spent 4 days with the folks. Both were same as always except that Dad needed rotator cuff surgery. The timing was good so I could accompany him to the hospital. They apparently reattach the muscle to the bone by inserting small anchors, all with just a tube in a 2 cm incision in the shoulder. Amazing... On the last night, I got to meet up with San Jiu and Xiao Jiu and all the kids except Allison. It was amazing that as they've aged, those two uncles have grown almost indistinguishable -- like twins. Wai Gong's hearing is nearly gone, but he is as sharp as ever. We had a discussion where he talked about his favorite US presidents (Washington, Lincoln, FDR) and why we were in the financial mess. He really does read a lot. He also thinks it will be another 10-20 yrs before Chinese business mentality can change sufficiently to reduce all the different scandals and corner cutting that go on all the time now.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Birth of a blog
I've always kept a journal ever since I was a kid. Whether "Dear Diary" records, field notebook scribblings, PalmPilot entries, mini travellogues, or my now 180 page running Work Journal, I've always felt the need to capture my thoughts either because I want to refer back to them, or probably because I don't trust my own memory. Kept on different formats, these scraps of memories are scattered everywhere and I've always wanted one place to combine photos, thoughts, articles, and obviously a blog has been the answer. The kick in the pants to do something though, was having a reason to do so.
This deployment to Iraq was that trigger. Not only did I think it would be something I'd like to look back at (I kept a journal when I was last deployed 8 years ago in Kosovo), it would really make it easier to stay in touch with everyone and hear from them. I'm not a Facebook kind of guy, but this wouldn't be very hard to do.
So, I did a little research on the web, asked around, and it seemed that Blogger and WordPress were the two best free options out there. Because I've heard that WordPress occasionally gets censored by our friends in China, I decided to go with Blogger (since Google has made its peace with the powers that be).
Choosing a name was unexpectedly tough. I wanted something that would represent what I was facing right now with this deployment, but would also provide a theme to characterize my path going forward.
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