What to wear

Leaving the confines of the FOB requires wearing certain equipment. In this shot, I'm wearing most of the required uniform components. You can clearly see the eye protection, ear plugs, gloves, body armor, 9mm pistol attached to the armor, and radio. What you don't see is my M4 rifle and my helmet, but don't worry...I never leave home without it.

Living conditions

So, it's not the Sheraton, but it's better than some have it here in Iraq. I live in a building with 12 rooms and bathrooms on both ends. I am lucky in that I don't have a roommate. The FOB we live on was originally the Olympic village when Iraq was trying to get the Olympics here back in the 70s. The American contractors working here in Iraq have made some great upgrades, and it isn't that bad of a place to live.

I had the satellite guy out here the other day installing my dish. He's a local guy that has curious methods in getting the dish to line up with the satellite. It involves banging on the dish until it's in the right position. Hey, at least I'm getting a signal. Unfortunately, I'm only getting Arabic stations. The movies are in English, but there are Arabic subtitles and Arabic commercials. I can actually say that I miss American commercials.

Some of the contractors live in little, one-person trailers. The advantage is that you have your own bathroom, and you don't have a roommate. However, you have little protection from mortars and rockets. Here is a comparison of the "trailer trash" vs the courtyard at my building. You decide.

On top of the world?

As I might have mentioned before, we travel to the Ministry of Interior to protect advisors. This building (pictured below) offers a great view of the city on a clear day. Recently, I had a chance to go up on top of the building as part of my job.

I've been busy, OK?

I guess I'm not keeping up with my blog as well as I was during my last deployment here. Unfortunately, I've been trying to learn my job, and get ready to replace my boss while he's gone for a couple of weeks.

Because I work in the Force Protection cell, we get tasked with lots of duties in addition to providing security. Sometimes, we are required to show up at the LZ (landing zone) and pick up VIPs (Generals). Below, you'll see a picture of me passing the time while waiting.

Other times, we are responsible for ensuring that the perimeter of our FOB is secured. The good news is that we have many towers manned by a private security firm. The other good news is that the FOB is protected by concrete t-walls that are generally 12 feet high. These walls are also protected by protective wire, and monitored 24 hours a day by cameras.

Recently, we were required to move some walls around. When we did that, some local Iraqi children were on the other side. They were extremely friendly and acted like typical boys do.

Normally, the days just blend together. Fridays are normally our "down" days because it's the recognized as a holy day by the Iraqis. This day gives us time to take care of other things. Here is a view from the front door of our office as well as a picture from the t-wall move mentioned above.

Let's get to work

Yesterday was my first day to get off of the FOB and start working. I can't go into specific details about the location and responsibility. However, I can say that I am the XO (executive officer) of a team that has responsibility for Force Protection (protecting coalition personnel while they do their job) and Convoy Security (protecting coalition personnel during movement).

Luckily the weather is nice this time of year, however, it is starting to warm up more each day. I would guess that the temperature today was in the mid-70s. We are expecting dust storms the next few days. Hopefully I can get some good pictures of that.

Home sweet home

I finally arrived at my duty station, here in Baghdad, the day before yesterday. The FOB (forward operating base) that I'm assigned has almost all the comforts of home...that is if your home is a military installation here in Iraq. It has a DFAC (dining facility), an MWR (morale, welfare, and recreation) center, lots of T-walls (concrete walls put in place to minimize blast damage), and lots of security. I feel better already.

My room and my bed...

Random shots of our FOB

Finally...in Iraq

After a short flight in a military C130, we arrived at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport). As soon as we got off the aircraft, we were taken by armored vehicles to the IZ (International Zone or Green Zone). There I spent about 5 days going through the in-processing procedures, and waiting for transportation to my final destination.

Kuwait

I arrived in Kuwait and was gone in about 24 hours. The weather here is cool at night, and very nice during the day. However, there was large amount of dust in the air due to some dust storms. Next stop...Iraq.