A new year, and a new country to explore. Well, not much exploration going on, but it's a whole new ballgame up here compared to Kuwait. It's not that far north of where I was for the first 3 months of deployment, but the feel of this place is not quite as relaxed. Compared to the wide open base, clean white sand everywhere, and a double-wide trailer to live in, the tents we live in now and the razor wire surrounding every square inch of the place make this feel about as hospitable as a prison. I've gotten into a pretty good routine since arriving about 3 weeks ago, so even though it's not the most friendly place in the world, it feels like "home" enough to last another few months.
The only problem with this place so far is that aside from my LAO (Local Area Orientation) flights have been really thin. I only have .5 flight hours since arriving, and while I hate wishing for MEDEVACs... I really want to fly! Hopefully more flight stories next time.
Highlights so far:
1. The move up here 2. The first 5k of the year 3. New Years Day dinner 4. Sunsets from our lookout 5. Beer in the DFAC (just kidding) and 6. Navy's Bowl Game Win!
1. Pictures below tell more of the story than I can, but it was a pretty fun flight. Knowing we were in for a change of pace made us a combination of nervous and excited, but either way, knowing we had friends waiting for us in Basrah made it much easier. Justin was in the lead aircraft with Kuwait's OPSO, and I was in trail with Zach. Flying low and fast over Iraq, especially while following another helicopter, was definitely the highlight of the trip, and for the next 4 months, we'll get used to that method.
2. First 5k of the year had a much different feel than the ones in Kuwait. Rather than a holiday to celebrate, this one was a memorial 5k for 3 fallen soldiers. T-shirts were still printed, but all donations went to fund a memorial for them in their home state of Minnesota. I can think of worse ways to honor someone than a 5k. They even had the traditional rifle and helmet display up at different checkpoints. One for each honored soldier. The good news for this one was that I finally broke the 20 minute mark! Finished just shy of it at 19:58. I was no match for the Ugandan runners ahead though. My best guess for my finish place was about 8th of almost 200. Still good, but over 3 minutes behind the winner!!
3. We got up here on the 28th, so after a couple of days to get settled, one of our first dinners was the New Years Day feast. It happens on most if not all Saturdays, but to have steak, shrimp and lobster as the first meal of 2010 seemed pretty lucky. So what if the lobster wasn't "fresh"... it's Iraq and I'm eating steak and freakin' lobster!
4. There's a concrete bunker outside our spot at work that is just big enough to set a few chairs on top of, and luckily, it looks west out over the airfield. The oil fires keep the "sunset" look going through most of the night, but at sunset, it gets rather beautiful here. While it may not be the place I'd choose to do it, being able to sit and watch the sun go down every now and then is pretty nice. But once again, the pictures below can tell you that better than I can.
5. Beer is served every day at the DFAC - of course, it's Coors NA, but if you close your eyes and wish really hard, it almost tastes like the real thing! ;)
6. OK, so Navy's win over Missouri was awesome, don't get me wrong (once again, Navy proves they're better than they should be!), but my story about is the one you're going to get. It was New Years Eve, so of course there were other things going on besides the game, and given that the game started around 11:30pm in Iraq, midnight was rapidly approaching. Unfortunately, nobody really cared enough to stay up for "our" new year. People celebrated the Guam new year, others made calls home at various midnights in the US, but the TOC was empty except for the 2 guys on watch and me... the lone Navy fan watching the game, writing my last journal entry of 2009. I'm pretty sure Navy scored a touchdown right at midnight, which seemed a rather appropriate tribute to us out here, but I can't be sure becuase I looked at my watch about 12:05 and realized I had missed it. I turned around to wish the watchstanders a happy new year, and they missed it too. We managed to eventually open a bottle of fake champagne (tasted horrible) to celebrate, but it lasted about 15 minutes in all. Exciting times we have out here, eh!
Those are the stories I can come up with... Enjoy the pictures!
1. The move up here 2. The first 5k of the year 3. New Years Day dinner 4. Sunsets from our lookout 5. Beer in the DFAC (just kidding) and 6. Navy's Bowl Game Win!
1. Pictures below tell more of the story than I can, but it was a pretty fun flight. Knowing we were in for a change of pace made us a combination of nervous and excited, but either way, knowing we had friends waiting for us in Basrah made it much easier. Justin was in the lead aircraft with Kuwait's OPSO, and I was in trail with Zach. Flying low and fast over Iraq, especially while following another helicopter, was definitely the highlight of the trip, and for the next 4 months, we'll get used to that method.
2. First 5k of the year had a much different feel than the ones in Kuwait. Rather than a holiday to celebrate, this one was a memorial 5k for 3 fallen soldiers. T-shirts were still printed, but all donations went to fund a memorial for them in their home state of Minnesota. I can think of worse ways to honor someone than a 5k. They even had the traditional rifle and helmet display up at different checkpoints. One for each honored soldier. The good news for this one was that I finally broke the 20 minute mark! Finished just shy of it at 19:58. I was no match for the Ugandan runners ahead though. My best guess for my finish place was about 8th of almost 200. Still good, but over 3 minutes behind the winner!!
3. We got up here on the 28th, so after a couple of days to get settled, one of our first dinners was the New Years Day feast. It happens on most if not all Saturdays, but to have steak, shrimp and lobster as the first meal of 2010 seemed pretty lucky. So what if the lobster wasn't "fresh"... it's Iraq and I'm eating steak and freakin' lobster!
4. There's a concrete bunker outside our spot at work that is just big enough to set a few chairs on top of, and luckily, it looks west out over the airfield. The oil fires keep the "sunset" look going through most of the night, but at sunset, it gets rather beautiful here. While it may not be the place I'd choose to do it, being able to sit and watch the sun go down every now and then is pretty nice. But once again, the pictures below can tell you that better than I can.
5. Beer is served every day at the DFAC - of course, it's Coors NA, but if you close your eyes and wish really hard, it almost tastes like the real thing! ;)
6. OK, so Navy's win over Missouri was awesome, don't get me wrong (once again, Navy proves they're better than they should be!), but my story about is the one you're going to get. It was New Years Eve, so of course there were other things going on besides the game, and given that the game started around 11:30pm in Iraq, midnight was rapidly approaching. Unfortunately, nobody really cared enough to stay up for "our" new year. People celebrated the Guam new year, others made calls home at various midnights in the US, but the TOC was empty except for the 2 guys on watch and me... the lone Navy fan watching the game, writing my last journal entry of 2009. I'm pretty sure Navy scored a touchdown right at midnight, which seemed a rather appropriate tribute to us out here, but I can't be sure becuase I looked at my watch about 12:05 and realized I had missed it. I turned around to wish the watchstanders a happy new year, and they missed it too. We managed to eventually open a bottle of fake champagne (tasted horrible) to celebrate, but it lasted about 15 minutes in all. Exciting times we have out here, eh!
Those are the stories I can come up with... Enjoy the pictures!
Justin, Zach, and Me. Getting set for the flight to Basrah.
Just in case we needed to rob a bank on the way, we brought our bandanas.
Justin's fine photography of a section of Blackhawks heading out just before our flight.
AWS1 Billy Price looking especially excited to get up North with the rest of the 25 crew.
View of our aircraft from lead.
Zach's and My bird with a whole lot of nothin' behind us (and Kuwait)
View of Safwan Hill on the way northbound
Believe it or not, there are a lot of farms in the desert. It gets greener up north
Beautiful Basrah International Airport. If only we could just hop on a big jet plane.
View of my aircraft on short final. We're officially here.
Pulling into "Hotel Line" - our parking lot for the next 4 months.
BEER! Oh wait... NA Beer. Oh well.
Justin's and my room as it was upon arrival. Something had to be done.
A little creativity, and it started feeling a little more like "me"
The final product - for now.
Looks cozy, right?
second pod from the right. Home sweet Home.
Sunset view right outside the TOC. See what I mean about the razor wire?
The sunset lookout for the first sunset of 2010 - Not sure what the spider has to do with anything, but it's there too.
First dinner of the year - Not bad for a war zone, eh? The lobster wasn't nearly as good as the shrimp, but it's still shrimp and lobster, I suppose.
Mark's promotion ceremony. Another LT in the mix. Cool that the skipper let me read the oath. It was a first for me.
Congrats LT Mark Wallis!
First good sunrise in Iraq. On the way in for the alert - good view of the blimp too. We like to think it keeps us safe.
The British troops that turned over to us left us a little note back at the tents. Not sure about why they chose a concrete brick, but it's still there, so I'll give them credit for that much.
3 comments:
Love the pictures!
Great photos, Dan. And awesome time on your 5K. Sheesh.
If you get tired of flying you could always snap photos. . . except there's not much money to be made. Great work, Dan!
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