Ceremony Day

I got so excited about Thanksgiving that I neglected to share with you some exciting news—something that we were all thankful for…  We were able to hold a little ceremony the day before Thanksgiving to frock (promote) one of our team members and to re-enlist another.  This is good stuff.  And, the re-enlister happened to be a new chief—so, we were able to sneak in a little gift to commemorate that happy occasion also!
The flag pole comes in handy for the pomp and circumstance—something that I dearly love…
Anyway, here is the re-enlistment, a simple ceremony where the sailor is unceremoniously discharged (honorably) only to be sworn back in for an extended sentence, I mean, period…




In this case I am administering the oath.  Note that I put some effort into memorizing the oath so that I could administer it without reading a little cue card.  The memorization actually went well—had the thing down!  Then HMC decides to repeat the words back to me slightly differently than I am saying them—this throws me off for a minute—I paused, mostly for dramatic effect.  But, I think every else assumed I had forgotten what the heck I was supposed to say—patently false, I assure you.  But, the whole episode was a bit unnerving—hope I don’t look nervous in the picture!






So, here is the gift to HMC—this is very cool.  GI Joe has finally put out a tribute to Navy Chiefs action figure set—he comes with three uniforms:  dress whites (chokers), working khakis, and dress blues.  Very sexy!!!  Thanks to Rod for organizing that bit of happiness.






Lastly, we made a new HM2.  Another fine moment in another fine Navy career—I am a lucky guy to be able to be a part of these goings on and am very proud of this crazy bunch of nutballs we call a team!

Trip to Al Asad

I have been in communication with the fine folks that are relieving us out here.  And I was thinking about their upcoming trip to Iraq (note: they actually have already made the trip to Kuwait—we expect them here at Al Asad tomorrow!!), and I realized that I had neglected to tell you all the story of our trip out here…
Traveling with the military is always an exciting, edge of your seat experience where the big question is “How long do I have to sit in this hard plastic chair before they tell me the plane is broken and I have to spend the night here?”  This is why we were quite happy to leave San Diego on a commercial aircraft—we deployed on Southwest Airlines—not too bad—even get credit towards a free ticket!  Flight was on time, comfortable and didn’t break down.  Unfortunately, that only gets us to Baltimore where we are to get on the government (contract) bird to Qatar.
Now flying commercial is nice in that respect, but it does have the drawback of not being real user friendly to us military types that are trying to bring our weapons on board—you might imagine that it always goes smoothly when you try and bring a dozen pistols onto a commercial airliner post 9-11; you might also imagine that it doesn’t always go smoothly—enough said.  Eventually, we got our people, our luggage and our weapons all in one spot in Baltimore International Airport and headed over the AMC (air mobility command) terminal.
As we walk over to the AMC terminal we see a line—an amazingly long and thick and unmoving line of hundreds and hundreds of people…  But we are 4 hours early—this cannot be our line—surely this line must be for some other flight—wrong!!  This is our line and it isn’t moving because they don’t know if the plane is working yet or not…  So, we wait in line for about three hours—we did get some nice cookies from some Girl Scouts—and finally find out that, indeed, the plane is broken, but it will likely take off tomorrow.  Our line is now not a line to check in but a line to get onto a bus (with luggage) and drive 30 minutes south to some restaurant that can handle the mass influx of people—that might be OK.  But, after dinner we get back on the bus and drive for an hour NORTH to the motel.  This is one of those high class Motel 6 joints where you can watch all manner of commerce and activity happen right in the parking lot outside your room window—capitalism at its best—these are the very democratic freedoms we are hoping to instill in the Iraqi national psyche…
Several members of the team took advantage of the unplanned layover to partake in a last beer or two…
The motel did include a nice free breakfast—a cup of coffee and a doughnut from the Dunkin Donuts next door—tasty…
The bus was supposed to pick us up at 5pm to take us back to the airport, but instead showed up at 3pm and we were whisked off to the airport.  Short line, check in, we are on the plane!!!
Pit stop in Germany—plane breaks down—again!!!  This time the nice folks at the AMC terminal supply us with frankfurters and a soda—wonderful meals in the airport…  At the Duty Free shop there was a 20 gallon bottle of whiskey that seemed to catch everyone’s eye—that is my memory from my first foray to Europe:  a sausage and a huge bottle of Johnny Walker.  Four hours later the plane is fixed and we are on our way!!!
As we are flying the captain of the plane gets on the loudspeaker and announces:  “It is 10:35pm local time and we have just entered Iraqi airspace.”  A huge roar erupts from the collective—you see, it is June 30th and if you spend ANY part of a month in a qualifying area there are certain tax breaks and special pays (hazardous duty/imminent danger) that you get for the ENTIRE month.  Interesting system….  So, everyone on the plane was sweating making into theater prior to the 1st of July—what with the multiple breakdowns we were pushing the limit, but we did make it.
We land safely in Qatar about 1230am.  It is dark, we are tired, we have to sit and listen to an hour and half briefing welcoming us to this, the middle of nowhere—a big flat piece of sand and rock—the most desolate thing I have ever seen—I have driven over the Great Salt flats, through Death Valley—they got nothing on this place…
Finally, released to fend for ourselves—we need to find a flight to Al Asad in Iraq.  We have on 0600 showtime for a flight later that morning—nothing to do but hang out for four hours…  a big orange sun at 0430 in the morning…  a shower.. a very fine breakfast—this isn’t so bad…
We bundle ourselves onto a C130 Hercules for the flight from Qatar to Al Asad—now that was uncomfortable!  It must have been 120(F and we are wearing all our battle rattle (flak and Kevlar) and are completely unacclimated to the heat and are packed in like sardines (no tomato sauce)—brutal!  I passed out after a few minutes on the plane—it was the only way to make it through that flight
It felt so damn good to get off of that plane—I was so happy to finally, after four days of fun and excitement to be here.
So, that is the story of how we arrived here—hopefully our replacements have equally exciting escapades during their trip to Al Asad!  Just so they show up!!

A Few More T-day Pics

Just so you see what else they had in the way of decorations apart from the animal theme. Here is an interesting ice scultpure that doubles as a vase!
They had a cake--or something that looked a lot like a cake--that was bigger than big. This thing was at least 5 feet long and 4 feet wide--that is a lot of frosting. It may have been made out of cardboard, but that wouldn't make it any different than their normal cakes, except, of course, for being quite a bit bigger.
Lastly, another ice sculpture--this one with leaves--plastic ones, I believe...

More Thanksgiving Pics

As promised, here is a picture of the roast pig made from bread--interesting concept... Lot of pitas in this area of the world, but not much pork--I wonder how a pita pig would be taken???

To continue the animal theme... Here is some sort of sculpture--at first glance it looks like a big water pitcher--I think it is actually supposed to be a turkey, but it is displayed upside down. You make the call!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, well, well… Looks like it is that time again… I haven’t put up an entry for a while—sorry about that—but be thankful, here is the latest installment!! Just in time for the Thanksgiving festivities that abound here in Iraq and back home in the States.
First, there was, of course, a special meal today at the chow hall—look at the happy expressions below…


We had roast turkey breast (which was a million times better than the normal turkey loaf roll that they serve—that stuff is NASTY), ham, rib eye roast and a big old hunk of meat known as a steamship round—I had never heard of this, and if you say “steamship round” real fast it sound like something that belongs in the fort-o-potty, but evidently it is good. The side dishes were quite traditional: cornbread stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes (never enough garlic!), sweet potatoes and green beans, cranberry sauce, and plenty of bread.
So, with my plate loaded up, I made my way to the back of the chow hall where there was a table for eight open—we were eating in shifts—some one has to stay on watch at the building!
The food was rather tasty compared to our normal fare—I think the Diet Coke was a poor substitution for a nice glass of red wine though… Alas…

You probably noticed in the above pics that the place was decorated beyond belief—normally those walls are plain as plain can be—but the entire chow hall was done up—I will post more pictures later. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Thank You Falk School!!!

If you read the last post, you know that the USMC birthday was last Thursday the 10th of November. The following day was Veteran’s Day, amazingly enough, not celebrated as widely on this USMC base as the big 230th birthday… But, that date was also important because it was the day the packages arrived. It really was like Christmas when I walked into my office and found 6 big boxes chock full of surprises, snacks and signs from Ms. Coughlin’s classes at Falk School in Pittsburgh!!
So, I want to take this blog post to let the fine students there know that we received their good wishes and goodies and wish to send a big swooping THANK YOU right back at them!!!
Any students that have questions are more than welcome to e-mail me or post a comment on the blog

USMC Birthday!!

Today is the United States Marine Corps’ 230th birthday.  The USMC was founded in Tun Tavern located in Philadelphia, PA (read about it here:  http://www.usmcpress.com/heritage/usmc_heritage.htm).  So, the USMC flag flew from our flag pole this day.
But, the day was also notable in that it was the second time since being in Iraq that I was able to see my breath!  That’s right—it has gotten cold enough here in the last three days that two mornings ago and this morning, on the way out for my morning constitutional, I have been able to see my breath…  It may have been colder a couple of weeks ago, but the humidity was so low that there was no chance to see any breath vapor.  But, the conditions here are ripe for it now…  Plenty of clouds, an occasional rain drop and drastically cooler nights…  So, when people tell you that it gets cold in the desert, they aren’t making it up.  It is still in the 80s during the day, but that often feels chilly as the wind cuts right through and we are used to it being a good deal hotter…
Happy Birthday USMC, now put a jacket on…

Capitol Improvement...

We here in Iraq never tire of improving our little corner of the world… But, in this case, the improvement came from a FOU (Friend of Unit) across the street. A fine Army gentlemen that we occasionally have over for BBQs and bartering—he has some skills that are quite useful for keeping our little building running smoothly and we have lots of stuff…

Anyway, the other day he comes over and asks if we want a flag pole… Well, what group of patriotic people that are far from home (that’s us) are going to turn down that offer?? Behold the new FDPMU flag pole….Thanks Woody!!!!

Insurgent Chicken

"You are hereby warned that you are eating crows that have feasted on infidel flesh"!!

This is what my dear wife wrote to me when I told her about the chickens. She was sure that this was the meaning of the indecipherable (to me) words on the side of the chicken. Perhaps I should start at the beginning...

What are you to do, what are you to think, when a man stops by your office and gives you a few frozen chickens out of the back of his truck?? Clearly, he wants something. That being established, and having given the man what he wants, one is still left with the problem of what to do with eight frozen chickens. These aren't any chickens--there is writing all over the plastic that coats these chickens--one can imagine that it says how delicious these chickens are--much like the tasty chickens that come from the factories in the Southern United States where workers are locked into the work spaces during the day so that they don't run screaming form the factory line out into the clean fresh air (I digress)--the writing is clearly Arabic. Or, perhaps I should say the writing is clearly not English, not American fer sure... So, local chicken, wrapped in local plastic with local writing all over it--what's not to like. These things are crying out "beer can chicken"! You can practically hear it now--the clucking... Of course, we don't have any beer cans... But, Sprite-can chicken doesn't sound too bad; not as bad as near-bear chicken anyway...

You know what my wife said when I told here about the chickens and their colorful and wordy packaging (see above). I am somewhat more adventurous than my wife--after all, I am in Iraq and she is in San Diego taking care of the kids and dogs and cat and fish and house and having a baby--hardly a challenge! Anyway, being somewhat adventurous AND having an advanced microbiology lab at my disposal, not to mention a hefty stock of antibiotics, I decided that I could chance it... Think of it as a public health inspection—for the good of the people….


So, a few of the chickens were thawed, washed lovingly, dried tenderly, rubbed vigorously with various spices, and placed ever so gently on a can of lemon-lime soda and a bed of warm coals... I should mention that there was some discussion over the amount and placement of the coals; the relative merits of using Iraqi charcoal (hotter and faster) versus Kingsford (longer and slower) were also discussed at length and was the decisive factor in the final amount and placement of both the coals and the chicken...

Eventually, more of the "right" coals were added and the chicken cooked to a perfect golden brown on the outside and a tender, juicy (well, it was juicy--tender may not be an entirely appropriate descriptor in this case) inside...

You can see the immediate results here...Shortly after, this was all that remained... Anyway, this is what the chickens looked like when we got through with them...
What did we learn? Iraqi Fried Chicken isn't the same as Kentucky Fried Chicken, but it is much better than a kick in the teeth...