Long trip to iraq last night, but finally arrived with 45 military policeman in a heavily loaded chinook chopper. It's the first time i've put all my body armor together and in total, the thing weighs about 35 lbs. at least i'm not carrying a crew served weapon or other heavy machine gun. I'm familiar with a blackhawk helicopter (much smaller and mobile), but not the chinook so I was surprised by how stable the thing was. In fact, when it touched down, I wasn't even aware -- it was just that smooth. The prop blast is pretty wicked though. To simulate it, turn the oven on broil, stick a fan in it, then open the door and stick your head in.
My first memory of Iraq will be the smell. I looked down and saw dots of fires in the darkness, then as we got closer, I smelled burning. it could either be the oil fires (visible even in daylight) or maybe smell of burning trash.
This place is definitely not a mature base camp -- the brits didn't do much to improve it, so the conditions aren't great, no gym, no soldier facilities, no MWR, no playing fields. just motorpools, operations space, an army airfield, dining facility, laundry, and a small shoppette. oh well, could always be worse. at least there is a/c. worst, there is no internet outside of work, and at work, they block blog access. so, i will try to figure something out. On the plus side, one of my two roommates is a iraqi full bird colonel who asked me to call him aladdin, "like in the disney movie". we haven't talked too much yet, but he seems to be a nice guy, is fluent, and i'll be very interested to share thoughts and stories with him. imagine preparing for and then fighting in a nightmarish war against an enemy that kills you before you can even see them, and then working side by side with them just a few years later.
I had forgotten how big a division headquarters is. Lot of people to meet here. I haven't figured out my daily battle rhythm yet so don't know what my hours will be like. Good news is that I finally got a mailing address that should work for the duration of my tour.
There are some good tips on mailing at this USPS site: http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/ The main things to note are that although I can mail letters to you guys (in the US) free of charge, you have to pay regular domestic (as if you were sending to a US address). The $11.95 flat rate box for military, however, is 50% larger than a regular box, so that's the only price break. Things I always would love -- korean type seaweed (with sesame oil and salt), beef jerky, letters, photos, magazines, mai4ya2 tang (the maltose in a jar that we used to buy in chinese grocery stores for 99 cents -- with pink or orange top), spicy or bbq pork rinds, hot fries, DVDs from china.
What I don't need -- toiletries, heavy stuff, basic foods, anything requiring refrigeration, crocs (bought a pair already), any civilian or military clothing, eggs of any type (my mom once sent me some salted eggs to germany and they broke and stank up the mailroom for weeks while I was out in the field...)
I'll send out a mass email soon (if I can ever get my computer up on the net) with the address, but in the meanwhile, if you'd like it, shoot me a comment with your email address, and I'll send it but not post the comment, so no one will see it.
My first memory of Iraq will be the smell. I looked down and saw dots of fires in the darkness, then as we got closer, I smelled burning. it could either be the oil fires (visible even in daylight) or maybe smell of burning trash.
This place is definitely not a mature base camp -- the brits didn't do much to improve it, so the conditions aren't great, no gym, no soldier facilities, no MWR, no playing fields. just motorpools, operations space, an army airfield, dining facility, laundry, and a small shoppette. oh well, could always be worse. at least there is a/c. worst, there is no internet outside of work, and at work, they block blog access. so, i will try to figure something out. On the plus side, one of my two roommates is a iraqi full bird colonel who asked me to call him aladdin, "like in the disney movie". we haven't talked too much yet, but he seems to be a nice guy, is fluent, and i'll be very interested to share thoughts and stories with him. imagine preparing for and then fighting in a nightmarish war against an enemy that kills you before you can even see them, and then working side by side with them just a few years later.
I had forgotten how big a division headquarters is. Lot of people to meet here. I haven't figured out my daily battle rhythm yet so don't know what my hours will be like. Good news is that I finally got a mailing address that should work for the duration of my tour.
There are some good tips on mailing at this USPS site: http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/ The main things to note are that although I can mail letters to you guys (in the US) free of charge, you have to pay regular domestic (as if you were sending to a US address). The $11.95 flat rate box for military, however, is 50% larger than a regular box, so that's the only price break. Things I always would love -- korean type seaweed (with sesame oil and salt), beef jerky, letters, photos, magazines, mai4ya2 tang (the maltose in a jar that we used to buy in chinese grocery stores for 99 cents -- with pink or orange top), spicy or bbq pork rinds, hot fries, DVDs from china.
What I don't need -- toiletries, heavy stuff, basic foods, anything requiring refrigeration, crocs (bought a pair already), any civilian or military clothing, eggs of any type (my mom once sent me some salted eggs to germany and they broke and stank up the mailroom for weeks while I was out in the field...)
I'll send out a mass email soon (if I can ever get my computer up on the net) with the address, but in the meanwhile, if you'd like it, shoot me a comment with your email address, and I'll send it but not post the comment, so no one will see it.
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