The last day of the month before going to the last day of the year! Seems like time is flying by. Believe me, I'm not complaining. I have a pretty good story about our mission today and I would like to share it with you. It's a dirty story so prepare yourselves!
We were leaving the compound that our Iraqi counterparts are stationed at. We received a lot of rain yesterday (read the post before this one) and there is a lot of flooding in the city of Baghdad.
Now, the Iraqis do not know about crowning roads or creating gutter systems in their cities, but that isn't the problem when it comes to flooding in this city. The reason this city floods after a big rain is because their sewer system absolutely sucks and cannot hold all of the rain water that enters the system. Hence, when it rains a lot their sewage backs up and it spills into the streets. You still can't imagine how bad it is. When I "spills into the streets" I'm talking about enough spilling to create lakes of raw sewage - three-foot-deep lakes that stretch for a good 600 - 700 meters wide and 1000 meters long. It consumes houses, cars, donkey carts...everything.
The great thing about the US forces is we like to make our military vehicles big. The MRAPs are the same height of a semi truck. We can basically go through anything - 52,000lbs of armor and machinery. The weight can also be a detriment. When we were leaving the Iraqi Compound we were in this "lake" (we call it Lake Beladiyat when this happens). It's almost a feeling of riding a gondula through the streets of Venice, Italy, but the water is sewage and we're in a truck, not a boat. You can see hints of where the road should be, but you have to guess and then pray that you don't end up in the mud where the 52K# truck will get stuck. We cruised out of the gate, our 4 truck convoy, and were making good progress. There is a part of the road that requires us to cross the median because the side of the road we're on ends into a wall. The median is compacted earth so it's normally not that bad to cross. The key to making it across is to keep speed going through the mud and DON'T STOP. If the truck stops you're done. Well, I was the first vehicle to cross - no problem, then truck #2 crossed - no problem; truck #3 - no problem, truck #4 - slowed as it hit the curb and STOPPED! Oh great. It started to move and then that's when it started to turn bad - the back end of the MRAP started to sink. At that moment the whole patrol knew we were going to be sitting for a while.
Now, the MRAPs have winches on the front bumper for just this type of predicament. The problem, someone has to get out to hook the winch onto the back bumper of another truck...the key to this - someone has to get out. So, after about 10 minutes of trying to shimmy their way out of the mess they put themselves into the TC (Truck Commander), Viper 7, reluctantly decided he had to get out of the truck and hook up the winch. Truck #2 went back to get in front of the downed vehicle to assist and one of their soldiers got out of their truck, Viper 8. So, Viper 7 & Viper 8 are standing in the raw sewage directing vehicle movement and hooking up the winch...this is when it happened.
Viper 7 was directing one of the MRAPs while walking backward. You can't see through the shit water so you don't know what's at the bottom. What Viper 7 was unable to see was a giant pothole under his next step. BAM! At that moment, from my vehicle looking through the side mirror, all I could see were arms flying and body immediately disappearing! Viper 7 had fallen chest deep into the raw sewage water!! Did we show concern? HELL NO!! Everyone in my truck who could see the incident started busting out laughing. Viper 7 was now covered, literally, head-to-toe in shit water.
To add insult to injury, about two weeks earlier Viper 7 had accrued a nickname for himself. On the way to the same compound (a different route) I was in his vehicle and we were passing some Iraqis cultivating some land near a canal next to the road. Viper 7 asked a general question "What do they grow over there?". One of the interpreters in the back, Charlie, stated "Dey grow vegables". When that is said fast it can be mistaken for "They grow fish bubbles". I know that doesn't make any sense but that's what make it so funny; that is what Viper 7 thought he said. "They grow fish bubbles? How the hell do they grow fish bubbles?!", he asked. Charlie, now annoyed, said "Man, I said dey grow vegables!". Understanding what Charlie said I told Viper 7 "I think he's saying veg-e-tables, not fish bubbles". Once he got it we all started laughing and I told him his new nickname is "bubbles".
So, combining the two stories and utilizing his last name, Brown, it's easy to come up with a new, even better nickname for him - "Brownie Bubbles". I hope you liked our funny day today. Viper 7 wouldn't think it was so funny, but everyone else does!!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Crazy Days in Baghdad
I don't know what's up with this place. It has rained more here in the past 2 months than it did my whole first deployment! It rained more TODAY than it did the whole last deployment! I got up a little late today because we didn't have any missions today. I got up and was hanging out on my bunk reading my wife's email when I started hearing these big booms through the walls of our barracks. You can only imagine what I was thinking! I ran to the upper floor to look out the window to see where the rockets were dropping when it realized that it wasn't rockets at all...it was thunder! The sky was all ominous and dark. Thunder storms are so much different here than back at home. Thunder back home rumbles; thunder here are just loud bangs without the rumble. I'm not sure why that is - maybe because of the different soil or because there is nothing for the sound to echo off of here. Whatever the case may be it sounds very different. There wasn't any rain yet when I looked outside, but about an hour later it started to downpour!! I'm talking Louisiana monsoon rain! It continued to rain for about 2 hours in this heavy sheet of rain. Before you know it the streets on our compound were flooded and the sidewalks were starting to become flooded. The sand is so hard here that it doesn't have a chance to absorb the heavy rain. Plus, the streets here aren't crowned like they are back home because they don't expect rain here that often. There are certain places on the roads of my compound that the water comes up to mid-shin. This is just after two hours of rain! What's crazy is that this water on the compound is moderate compared to what we're going to see when we leave the gate tomorrow to go on a mission. There will be water all over the place out there because not only will standing rain water be everywhere, but the sewage system here sucks and will be overflowed. The last rain we got here about four weeks ago caused a major sewage back up and most of Baghdad was flooded for about two weeks! The bad thing about the flooding is that you know most of it is raw sewage. You know this because you can see "things" floating in the water that shouldn't be there. Also, the smell will be horendous tomorrow when we leave the gate. This country normally smells but it isn't that bad because everything is dry and the "true" smell can't escape because it's not wet. Well, tomorrow everything is going to be wet - trash, sewage, dead animals and rotten vegetables. I can't wait to smell the stench!! Yeah, right. I would have taken pictures of the weather today and posted them, but it was raining so hard that I didn't want to mess up my expensive camera.
It's also gotten colder here but there's nothing to write about that. We're all happy it's colder now. It sure beats the shitty heat that normally consumes this place 9 months out of the year!
It's also gotten colder here but there's nothing to write about that. We're all happy it's colder now. It sure beats the shitty heat that normally consumes this place 9 months out of the year!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Gravity...
Oh, the meanings this word has right now in my life. Yeah, it has plenty of meaning for me in the "pilot" sense of things. I fly an aircraft that defies the meaning of this word. This word can also be a furocious enemy to me if something happens to my aircraft. That's not the context of the word that I'm thinking about right now - more of a metaphorical than a literal sense of the word.
I hear this word and many things come to mind. The first one is an emotional dilemma that recently just happened to me. For the past couple of days I haven't been on the this place we call earth. I was in my own little island of craziness. My team had been gone for six days so I was stuck in our barracks for that duration in solitary confinement. Yes, confinement. It's not like I can leave this compound by myself. I started thinking about too many things and getting away from the real sense of reality. It didn't help that I was sick, not getting sleep caused by my bunk/bed that is comprised of portruding, sharp springs that like to draw blood on my back in every sleeping turn. What I'm trying to say is that it helps during a deployment to have your friends around you. It's easy to get sick of them when they're around you all of the time, but when it comes right down to it - they are what keeps you sane and firmly planted on earth - metaphorically speaking. The soldiers you serve with in a combat zone are your gravity.
I also see gravity as a force that brings everything to the center. For me, that center is my family. In these six days that I was in 'solitary confinement' I had time to think about my 'center'. There are two main circumstances to this in my life prior to the deployment and, now, during the deployment itself - both of them tie into each other.
The first circumstance...During my first deployment there weren't too many dilemmas that I was faced with - the "what if" dilemmas that always strew in the brain when a soldier starts to think about something bad happening to him. Yes, I had thought about what my wife and my immediate family would do and picturing things without me there, but it didn't cross my mind as often as it does now. The main reason for this is because of a three-year-old little boy that is my flesh and blood and the center of my 'gravity'. I lost my father when I was eight years old. Looking back to that time and age I have a hard time remembering things about my dad. Sure, I remember moments in time like wrestling on the floor with him when he came home from work and drawing on each other's arms while watching TV. I also am remembered by moments with my father because of stories told by family members. These are things that I'm not referring to. I'm referring to his facial expressions, the smell of his clothes while sitting next to him in church, the gate of his walk, the sound of his laugh...these are things that are lost forever in time. I was eight years old then. My son, JGS, is only three. What will he remember of me if something were to happen to me over here? Will he remember my laugh? Will he remember my mannerisms? These thoughts constantly haunt me. They also keep me firmly planted on the ground -gravity - and make me very alert when I go out of the gate on a mission - putting my life in harms way for another country.
The second circumstance...I started to realize the first circumstance while I was still home; before the deployment. Through my life I have been able to take problems in stride and move on; deal with feelings internally. I was having a hard time with this one because it's one very unique. During my time at home I secluded myself so I could try and deal with the emotions. I did this by hiding behind a golf club - golfing by myself everyday. I wasn't spending time with my family as often as I should and, more importantly, imprinting lasting memories in my son's little mind. Through one circumstance it led to the creation of the other. I wasn't thinking about spending time with my family and was more focused about the issues that were internal to me. Why did I do this? I did this because I had taken my family for granted. It's easy to see it now, but during the actual moment I didn't know I was doing that. A deployment really lets you know how good you have it back home - at least in my life. I wish every person could deploy, not necessarily to a combat zone, but to a place of hardship for a year and then come home. Their view on family and the importance of 'gravity' in the household would be much greater. I hope I never have to deploy again in my career, but I have 10 years remaining in my career so the likelihood is probably high that it will happen again. I can say right now that taking my family for granted...in life...will never happen again. I think that happens to often in life because we see our family every single day.
On a lighter note...talking about gravity...this deployment has really changed my view of the "ground pounder". Gravity, in my career, has brought me from the skies of Army Aviation to the ground of the Infantry soldier. Life on the 'ground' is a completely different realm than that of the Aviation community. It's a lot more chaotic and disorganized. I'm still trying to determine if it's a self-inflicted wound or if it's because of the action that goes outside the walls. I'm leaning toward self-inflicted. There are coordination meetings for coordination meetings - meetings, meetings, meetings. I now know why we never get anything done over here - everyone is in a meeting and not 'doing' anything. I'll give it to the ground guys, though, they live a much more hardened life than that of the aviation community. I always wondered why the ground guys gave us so much shit about our beauty rest (fighter management) and our cushy life. I thought I was busting my hump over here in OIF-1 when I was flying 10-hour missions. I was, but not to the extremes of these guys. Sleep is something of an afterthought for these guys where as I was forced to take 8 hours of time off . Caffeine is a way of life for these guys because sleep isn't always an option. Also, driving an MRAP through the narrow streets of Baghdad, looking for IEDs along the side of the road is as stressful and mind boggling as flying a night-aided mission in the heat of battle. I know this because I'm now that guy in the MRAP as the lead truck commander of my team. I have grown a respect for the infantry and other ground units that I would have never had before if it weren't for this assignment. This has truly diversified me as a soldier, aviation and leader in the Army.
So gravity, I think, in my life has played and is still playing a big part in my life. A word that once meant nothing but bad things for me is now a word that provides self-reflection, moral values and respect.
I hear this word and many things come to mind. The first one is an emotional dilemma that recently just happened to me. For the past couple of days I haven't been on the this place we call earth. I was in my own little island of craziness. My team had been gone for six days so I was stuck in our barracks for that duration in solitary confinement. Yes, confinement. It's not like I can leave this compound by myself. I started thinking about too many things and getting away from the real sense of reality. It didn't help that I was sick, not getting sleep caused by my bunk/bed that is comprised of portruding, sharp springs that like to draw blood on my back in every sleeping turn. What I'm trying to say is that it helps during a deployment to have your friends around you. It's easy to get sick of them when they're around you all of the time, but when it comes right down to it - they are what keeps you sane and firmly planted on earth - metaphorically speaking. The soldiers you serve with in a combat zone are your gravity.
I also see gravity as a force that brings everything to the center. For me, that center is my family. In these six days that I was in 'solitary confinement' I had time to think about my 'center'. There are two main circumstances to this in my life prior to the deployment and, now, during the deployment itself - both of them tie into each other.
The first circumstance...During my first deployment there weren't too many dilemmas that I was faced with - the "what if" dilemmas that always strew in the brain when a soldier starts to think about something bad happening to him. Yes, I had thought about what my wife and my immediate family would do and picturing things without me there, but it didn't cross my mind as often as it does now. The main reason for this is because of a three-year-old little boy that is my flesh and blood and the center of my 'gravity'. I lost my father when I was eight years old. Looking back to that time and age I have a hard time remembering things about my dad. Sure, I remember moments in time like wrestling on the floor with him when he came home from work and drawing on each other's arms while watching TV. I also am remembered by moments with my father because of stories told by family members. These are things that I'm not referring to. I'm referring to his facial expressions, the smell of his clothes while sitting next to him in church, the gate of his walk, the sound of his laugh...these are things that are lost forever in time. I was eight years old then. My son, JGS, is only three. What will he remember of me if something were to happen to me over here? Will he remember my laugh? Will he remember my mannerisms? These thoughts constantly haunt me. They also keep me firmly planted on the ground -gravity - and make me very alert when I go out of the gate on a mission - putting my life in harms way for another country.
The second circumstance...I started to realize the first circumstance while I was still home; before the deployment. Through my life I have been able to take problems in stride and move on; deal with feelings internally. I was having a hard time with this one because it's one very unique. During my time at home I secluded myself so I could try and deal with the emotions. I did this by hiding behind a golf club - golfing by myself everyday. I wasn't spending time with my family as often as I should and, more importantly, imprinting lasting memories in my son's little mind. Through one circumstance it led to the creation of the other. I wasn't thinking about spending time with my family and was more focused about the issues that were internal to me. Why did I do this? I did this because I had taken my family for granted. It's easy to see it now, but during the actual moment I didn't know I was doing that. A deployment really lets you know how good you have it back home - at least in my life. I wish every person could deploy, not necessarily to a combat zone, but to a place of hardship for a year and then come home. Their view on family and the importance of 'gravity' in the household would be much greater. I hope I never have to deploy again in my career, but I have 10 years remaining in my career so the likelihood is probably high that it will happen again. I can say right now that taking my family for granted...in life...will never happen again. I think that happens to often in life because we see our family every single day.
On a lighter note...talking about gravity...this deployment has really changed my view of the "ground pounder". Gravity, in my career, has brought me from the skies of Army Aviation to the ground of the Infantry soldier. Life on the 'ground' is a completely different realm than that of the Aviation community. It's a lot more chaotic and disorganized. I'm still trying to determine if it's a self-inflicted wound or if it's because of the action that goes outside the walls. I'm leaning toward self-inflicted. There are coordination meetings for coordination meetings - meetings, meetings, meetings. I now know why we never get anything done over here - everyone is in a meeting and not 'doing' anything. I'll give it to the ground guys, though, they live a much more hardened life than that of the aviation community. I always wondered why the ground guys gave us so much shit about our beauty rest (fighter management) and our cushy life. I thought I was busting my hump over here in OIF-1 when I was flying 10-hour missions. I was, but not to the extremes of these guys. Sleep is something of an afterthought for these guys where as I was forced to take 8 hours of time off . Caffeine is a way of life for these guys because sleep isn't always an option. Also, driving an MRAP through the narrow streets of Baghdad, looking for IEDs along the side of the road is as stressful and mind boggling as flying a night-aided mission in the heat of battle. I know this because I'm now that guy in the MRAP as the lead truck commander of my team. I have grown a respect for the infantry and other ground units that I would have never had before if it weren't for this assignment. This has truly diversified me as a soldier, aviation and leader in the Army.
So gravity, I think, in my life has played and is still playing a big part in my life. A word that once meant nothing but bad things for me is now a word that provides self-reflection, moral values and respect.
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