finally a good meal

Today J (my battle buddy) and I had the best meal since we've came out here. We were down in the bat cave (my home the bunker) and I finally opened up the package of Kasilof Fish Company Smoked Salmon that my dad sent my way and the box of hickory farms goodies. Everybody else on base is in the MRE eating mode, so I felt the smallest feeling of guilt while partaking of this feast. We spread Hickory Farms Sweet-hot Mustard on MRE crackers, put garlic cheese on it then topped it with smoked salmon. For beverage we had hot tea (I've purchased a electric tea kettle) with honey that I got from the local vendor. Mmmmm, it's funny how much pleasure you can get from an act this small. I have been sharing 95 percent of the goodies I've been receiving in care packages, I do get my fair share but I did hold back the salmon and some of the cheese and don't regret it a bit. Thanks dad and the person that sent me the hickory farms! And thank you Jennifer and Allen from Monroe MI for the care package.

Dear Anonymous Guy

Don't you think I know what Baghdad Burning and Salam Pax's blogs say? Salam has been posting since before the war and he was very pro American. Check out his archives, what I'm trying to give is a round viewpoint of whats going on around here. Do you see anywhere on this blog that tells where we are? Or on the fotopage. Read a bit more before judging.

the other jungle

Back home in the US, man reigns supreme of the jungles of his own creation. While here in Iraq it seems to be an eternal fight against nature, the desert seeps in no matter where you're at. My base is an oasis with a wasteland stretching in all directions, you fly towards Syria and you might see a palm tree outside of a house and it's just a dot on the landscape. There are little depressions in the sand where the dew gathers and the infrequent rainfall gives life to green grass shoots. It's like something out of Dune or Star Wars. Fly towards Baghdad there's civilization, fields, roads, suburbs. You look down from a helicopter and you see the blocks go by underneath you and you think for a second it could be any midsized town in America, till you notice that whole portions are blacked out. We complain about electricity being out for a couple of days, wonder how long these guys with nice houses have been without power? Even after a couple of days with out power or showers you notice your veneer of civilization dropping away. Not a nice way to live.

We've bent over backwards trying to get basic services back on and the bad guys take it out. Don't they know that they're hurting their own people? Summer's coming soon and this place is going to be boiling. These jokers are trying to make everyone cranky and blaming it all on us. We're too stubborn and just keep going back and fixing the problem. The whole place is a tinder box and it's hard putting out all the fires. This is no longer an offensive war for us, it's turned into a defensive war. The regular Iraqi on the ground is getting closer to the snapping point and we're trying to keep the good guys calm while getting rid of the bad guys. The bad guys out here must love chaos. As usual there's no easy answer.

Welcome to Baghdad, at night there's hardly a flight that there's not someone shooting at you. They can't see the aircraft (hopefully) but as soon as they hear one coming they come out and shoot into the air. Mainly they're hoping to get a lucky shot in. A tracer flies by a window and we're banking and rolling which is kinda like gambling, they can't see us but we can't see them either, a great game of battleship in the sky. Wish sometimes the bet wasn't my life. In any case I'm glad I do not have to fly through Baghdad every day, I'll stick with the lonely desert.

Care package thanks,
Pop, thanks for the two 220 volt soldering irons, already using them!

Chad from Wake Island, the baby wipes just came in, thanks again.

Mary Ann Merritt, Women Marines Association and Girl Scouts from Romeo, MI sent a great box of goodies with Girl Scout cookies, toiletries and some great snack items, mmmm, thanks.

update on life

Life has been heating up for being a CASEVAC Corpsman, I hear the Corpsman at the forward operating bases are seeing quite a bit of action. Me I've been playing electrician to the unit (since today I'm not at a forward operating base right now). We wired up the tents to a generator and wired up all the shops to a switch that goes to another generator in case of power loss. The start of my hitch as electrician happened when I wired the lights and plugs to my new work space. Then the base started moving out all the tents in our area except for ours, taking the huge generator that was powering them in the process. No warning to the people that were living there, we just went without power until acquired the generator and me and Sgt C wired it up. It hasn't gotten really hot out here yet but we have night crew that sleeps all day. 90 degrees isn't that bad but it does make it hard to sleep. So that has been my life, haven't had much time to get on the internet.

Care Package thanks
If you have a loved one out here, send them a solar shower. We've lately ran into some water problems and people have been taking showers by holding bottled water over their heads, it's wasteful and cold. Yet with a solar shower, it uses less water and you get a hot shower. You know who you are that sent it to me, thanks! And thanks MEW! She sent my unit 4 huge care packages, over a hundred dollars in just postage! The package's contents have been handed out to my Marines and they all wanted me to pass my thanks. Chad from Wake Island sent me a huge package full of baby wipes, q-tips and insect repelling sun screen, very big thanks too. If you're sending something my way and leave an email address (I'm horrible at snail mail) I'll be happy to send emails in your direction. These packages mean the world to my guys, just to know there's someone out there that cares.

more fun in the sun

I watched CNN for the first time in a while yesterday, guess there's more going on then I know about. We're constantly being told about OPSEC, but if you're looking to get information off someone out here that's writing a blog, forget it. We usually don't find out anything that's happening until we see it on the news, someone from home tells us about it or several days after it happens in Stars and Stripes. We just don't know. Of course we can put down what we're feeling and nice little stories about what we're doing that day, tell a bit what war is like the people back home. But we're in a basic communications blackout. I was amazed at what was going on when I saw CNN, I can tell you that's not the war front that I'm on. People are going nuts out there. Hope what our guys are doing right now works, what those Iraq's did to those contractors in Fallujah was asinine. I'm sorry there should be a few rules on basically being included in the human race. Are these the types of people we want running any country? I know history shows us that it's happened time and time again but maybe it's time to stop these kinds of people? I would understand it more if we were doing horrible atrocities like the former regime was doing but if we catch our guys doing evil and mean stuff, it's an automatic ticket straight to jail, do not pass go. Well if you'd been watching the news, there's much action happing right now. We lose all of our un-secure contact with the outside world whenever someone dies, usually for a day till the family is notified (good idea) or if we're implementing some big plan. Personally I think it's a good idea, myself I don't say anything till its old old news. In retrospect, the average Joe on the ground isn't told anything, just told to do things. Does the pawn know the big plan?

Found another blogger out here by way of Salam Pax, she takes on a very anti-war attitude and though I respect her views, but how dumb can you be? Check out the places she's going, madness! Fiona (I can't help thinking of the girl in the movie Eurotrip) keep your head down silly girl! She's going to places where I wouldn't dream of going with out a platoon behind me in light of the news this week. Keep your head down silly girl!

a little post about my welcome out here, old news

I wrote this the morning after I arrived at this airbase a couple of weeks ago, so enough time has passed so that I'm not the one letting the cat out of the bag....

We have finally arrived, touched down at 10:00 they gave us the brief of the base, do's and don't and they told us, quote/unquote "we never get hit out here." We headed out and picked up our bags, go to our new hooches with padded bunks and start stowing our gear when the suddenly the there's booms all about and the duty rushes in and yells "GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND MEET AT THE COC!", so much for my warm welcome, within 10 minutes I was on a patrol to the flight line to find some AVI guys that were troubleshooting an aircraft when the action started. Maybe I'm bad luck, the base hasn't seen this much action since we took it over last year. We gathered back at the COC, the crew that we were sent to find had laid rubber making it back to the unit so our trip was just a patrol around the aircraft. Nice little rush to get the blood pumping and get everybody in the proper mindset of combat. Before I go on, other then a strained ankle and some of us new comers running into constantine wire (yes me), all of my guys are okay. This morning there was a fire fight somewhere off base and we had to go through another rude awakening, we gather our stuff and set up the perimeter and laid low looking in all directions. Dawn came and we relaxed a bit, now we're back down to a lower threat level. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the internet soon to upload all of this. Take care I'm off to go catch a nape while it's quite.

On a side note, I received clearance to post my pictures on my fotopage, so family members out there, check em out. Peace!

Over the last week

Sorry about the breaks in my posts, I'm trying to go the legal route by going through the base Public Affairs Office here before posting pictures and I want to clear up legal issues that could arise, so I haven't down to the internet cafe as much. I have the approval from my Old Man and my home base PAO (they use my pictures in the base paper), but out here it's an entirely different story. Actually the clearance is more towards my photo blog, this blog I'm not so worried about. It's better to take care of it now then have it come back and bite me. Also one of the rules is I can't tell you where I'm at exactly, sorry.

Anyhow, We arrived with a bit of action happening, first out here for a while I guess. I'll post about it later when it's been cleared but all of my guys are alright. Only medical problems with my guys are scratches from laying constina wire (sp?), blisters from new boots, this cold that is now dying down and one really sprained ankle. Second day here the mail guy finally caught up to me and said he had a huge stack of mail, so I'd like to give a Big thanks to everyone for the care packages, letters and post cards from all over.

Here's a list of some of the people, I'll be sending out emails soon and there's sure to be people missing but not forgotten.

Janie W. and the employees of Jane's Daycare in Seattle WA(yes I did email you!)
Kelly B. of Rhode Island
World Prep Inc. of Toledo
Kathleen A. of Davie Fl
Marge S. of Orland Park IL
Rebecca T. of Mesa AZ
Tracey R of Mary Ester, FL
Rachel W. of Mentague MI
Barbra S. of Buffton IN
Linda R. of Irwin PA
Jane G. of Overgaard AZ

It's amazing the amount of support I've been receiving from the home front. I've been sharing all the goodies with my Marines and they're all very thankful. And people that have been sending letters to Any Marine, I've passed those out too.

What can I tell you about the base? Can't complain about the food, it's great so far, everything is a bit of a walk but if anything I'm adaptable. I've been the night medical guy, a bit more laid back then the day crew. BX has a bunch of stuff, prices aren't bad. Our showers are usually out of water every other day and power is always an issue, the local grid is harsh to electrical appliances, could be because we buy the power converters from the locals. Their goods aren't the best. All and all it's better then I expected. Let me clear up legal issues with big brother and I'll be posting more. Thanks for reading.

I'm in Iraq now, will be posting more about it soon

Forty of us have been hanging out in this hanger in Kuwait that was bombed out by the US in the first Gulf War for the last eight hours, it was announced last night that we were to have our bags staged at 730 and we would head over here to be flown out around noon, well noon came and went 5 hours and 15 minutes ago, guess the C130 got set back till 6:30 PM (1830 to you military folk). So what to do all day? Wandered around these hangers that as the story mill goes, was built by a French company for the Kuwaitis and supposed to be able to withstand 2000 pound bombs. All well and good, wish I had a house that was as stout as these hangers were, well the Iraqi's invaded in 1991 and we drove them back including evicting them from this base which these 2000 bomb proof hangers are built on. Somehow the Kuwaitis found out that we were blowing the hell out of their hangers that were guaranteed to 2000 pound bombs with 1000 pound bombs and there's a lawsuit in the works to sue the French company to rebuild these hangers and most of this air base. I've been checking out the damage and taking pictures, we ordered 20 pizzas from the local pizza shop and I'm just chilling back now, since I'm not doing anything of importance, might as well toss a blog entry in to go with the pictures taken. Should be out of here soon, by the time you read this I'll be in Iraq at the airbase that I can't announce without the skipper approval. Take care all.

Care package Ideas

Things we're short on up here.. Powered external speakers, we've become quite the movie watching bunch. It's impressive how many people brought laptops with them but no external speakers. There's been a number of people that have fried their electronic gear plugging it into the 220 volt/50 hz power supply, not so bright people thought powerstrips that we plug our computers into are also power converters (if you look on the cords of laptops it says input 100-240volts,50-60hz, output 16v 4.5 amps they're built to be plugged in anywhere), so far these not so bright young Marines (not me) have lost a number of speaker power supply's, battery chargers, clippers and power strips. I'm not sure how I became the expert on this, I'm the doc (but could be my electronics degree, the flight surgeon has a degree in electrical engineering, we're not your average medical folk). In the US the power is at 110-115 volts at 60hz. 60hz which for some reason isn't as harsh on the heart, out here we're using 220 volts at 50hz, half the time when you plug something in out here it kicks up sparks. These guys come to me saying their charger for their gameboy PS or battery charger hasn't worked since they brought it out here. And I say "hmm, you plugged in at the tent to charge it right?" and they say "yeah Doc", and my common response is you need to buy a new power supply and a power converter, that toast, you let the smoke out of the box. The power grid just doesn't seem stable. 50 Hz is one of the frequencies the heart is most sensitive to, so at anytime I expect to run to one of my guys that was fiddling with the plug and has knocked himself out. So things in care packages that would make our life extremely cool, external speakers, power converters, electronic gear that can run at different voltages, dvd movies, games, books (specially Robin Hobbs new book Fool's Fate or maybe The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger) drink mixes, beef jerky always goes well, flashlights, homebaked goods that will survive the trip, the BX out here isn't too bad but there's still big holes in the inventory. A projector that hooks up to a computer or dvd player would be way way cool but I'm trying to talk to O's into sponsoring that, I'd feel pretty guilty if I received one in the mail (Bill Gates if you're reading this, that's on my wish list, heh).

Kuwait, take one

I've begun distributing my "Kuwait Take One" windows media player slideshow/movie to the troops to send back home to the families, the reception has been great. The big release of the CD was yesterday afternoon and I've been hearing the soundtrack playing somewhere in the tent consistently since. It's a nice little job on the side since I'm the picture taking fool might as well put it all together in a good package. It has footage of packing up, our trip and what we've been doing since we've been out here overlaid with appropriate music. I think it will do what I want for the target audience back at home. I don't then many of them have followed my links from my fotopage to the blog but it should be in the mail soon, key wives get the tissues out (heh heh, evil laugh). Well I'm running into no shortage of anybody that wants their picture taken, just in how much time I have to upload the pictures.

Babylon

One of the reasons that I'm excited about this trip is the Mystery. This is the cradle of civilization, Babylon one of the seven wonders of the world is out here. Flying CASEVAC and being with a unit that by nature will be all over the map could give me the chance to actually see some of these sights. So if there is any possible way, if I have to sacrifice my small ugly pinky toe, I'll find my way there. From what I've heard from other military people that came around on the first go, there were trips set up going out there. It's someplace that I've always wanted to see since I was a kid, Alexander the Great launched his empire out of this area. This area was referred to as the fertile crescent, there used to be farm land as far as eye could see, now it's just flat desert, what happened? Now's my chance to see it by a birds eye prospective and I take better pictures then the average bear, unlike the measly pictures that my friends took. Mark my words now, other then keeping my Marines and my self alive and keeping the home fires burning, Babylon here I come.

The Rise of Milblogs

Hat tip to Janie for pointing this my direction. Huge Hewitt from The Daily Standard does an excellent article on Milbloggers, troops like me on the ground that are telling it like it is. Some of my favorite milbloggers are mentioned there, Sgt Hook, Lt Smash, Chief Wiggles, Blackfive and Grayhawk. These are the father figures to the rest of us young buck milbloggers. We all had to start someplace, Lt Smash has always put a nice shiny spin on a dusty and dirty war, when he came back he had some of the best reporting on the southern California fires around and he's become good voice for the center. Just because you're in the military doesn't mean you're stuck on the Right side of the political spectrum. Chief Wiggles has shown us that one person can make a difference through his toy drive, after trying to keep his name low profile, the person that tells the world who he really is with words of praise is President Bush, how cool is that? Sgt Hook always gets down into the nitty gritty of the mundane aspects of Army life and I always enjoy his take on life, plus he sends a lot of traffic my way. Blackfive (the paratrooper of love) is no longer in the military but he's a great advocate and has quite the following, good stuff over there. Grayhawk is a great military writer out of Germany, he brings us all together through Milblogs. Milblogging is showing the world that we're human just like the rest of you, we have our fears, gripes about being stuck in a dust bowl, missing our families but without these blogs all we would be are faceless storm troopers. Blogging has become my big release, between my two sites and the feedback I've been receiving, I don't have time to feel lonely and depressed (I was never much into that anywhere). There's definitely an addictive aspect to all of this. Hopefully my writing will improve over time.

Didn't make it out (sigh)

Wow, that was a big jump in my paycheck! All of the combat pay for the entire month of February and the tax free status kicked in today. bills are going to be caught up quick. We tried heading north today but there was an electrical problem on one of the birds, 2/3's of the unit has already arrived and from what I hear they are sleeping at the work center because the Army hasn't moved out yet. Does't look like I'm missing that much. It would have been nice to be one of the first people on deck so I could set up all the contacts with the local medical department but instead I will sit here on my thumb. I'm easy, everything with come together. It's a problem that is out of my hands.

Life for this past week has consisted of waking up, taking a shower, chow, going to the hanger, sickcall of sorts, taking pictures, chow again, hanger, back to hooch. During this time I've been stopping by the internet cafe, posting pictures, MWR tent sometimes (found the audio unabrigded version of Robert Jordan's novel New Spring, I was just going to send out for the book!), BX, reading and trying to find anything of interest to do on this base. Thanks to the family members back at Edwards, my fotopage is now #1 at fotopages.com, hopefully I'll be out of here in a couple of days and start some real work, till then it's just fun in the sun.

Still in Kuwait

Most of the squadron is already in Iraq, one of our birds had a problem and I got picked for being on chase crew staying back with the bird. Hopefully the C130 farrying us up there is going to pick us up in a couple of days. Sorry for not posting more, for one thing nothing of interest has happened in the last few days and the internet cafe has been going through blackouts. Could say I was busy but have been mostly slacking off taking pictures and just hanging out. We're already starting to have people getting homesick, one of my Sgt's was talking to his four year old son last night and his son asked him to come home and he almost broke down. I'm not feeling it yet but then again I have a lot of things to fill my time with. Yeah I miss home but I'm able to keep those feelings at an arms distance and not let them become me. Walking around mopping only makes the time stretch. Trying to talk my Doc into starting a blog, he's a pretty good writer. If he does don't worry I'll put up a link. Peace out.