It's amazing what a little rain can do...

So here we are in our posh living area in what would equate to the Beverly Hills Hilton if compared to everyone else's living conditions over here. Yesterday we were living large, metal sidewalks to keep the dirt out of our CHU's, a nice office building with six separate offices and an open area to use as our tactical operations center (TOC), Armed Forces Network Television and internet service. What more could you ask for? All these amenities did not come easy. Every one of those sidewalk sections weigh in excess of 80 lbs. and DC (Sergeant First Class Colon) and I had to carry them 50 to 100 yards to put them in place. We had to fight to get the CHU's for housing, and had to accept the generous offering of our previous parent unit for the "slightly used" CHUs we received. We've moved the darn things at least three times, twice across the countryside and once across the compound. Lot's of sweat, scrapes, bruises, tired bodies, etc., went into building our little oasis in the desert.

So I'll bet you're probably wondering "What exactly is a CHU?" To borrow from globalsecurity.org:

CHU stands for: Containerized Housing Unit (pronounced “choo”) - Aluminum boxes slightly larger [22’x8’] than a commercial shipping container, with linoleum floors and cots or beds inside. This insulated CONEX shipping container has a door, window, top vent, power cabling, and an air conditioner. One version houses four people, while another is split into two, two-person rooms. The version with a shower and toilet shared between two rooms is called a "WET CHU", which provides less crowded latrine and shower conditions than tents. The CHU gives soldiers a lot more living space than tents.

So back to my story of how a little rain can turn things upside down. Yesterday we received the weather report that there was 100% chance of rain today and early tomorrow. That, coupled with expected wind, sent us scrambling to ensure satellite dish receivers and transmitters were securely weighted down, antennas were properly moored, the back window in our Nissan SUV, which we lovingly call our FOB Runner, was covered with a trash bag, since it was destroyed about two years ago by a mortar round, etc. And then the rains came!


I told Ray that mopping up the water was probably futile.

We’re not talking about a torrential rain storm here, nothing as severe as I have seen in Michigan or especially Texas. It was just a nice steady rain with a little lightning and thunder thrown in to add ambience. Now I know why God chose to have the flood begin here! Within five minutes of starting, the flood waters started rising! Did you know that an 80-pound, flat slab of metal floats? I sure didn’t. The sidewalks started to rise and float away as the water got higher. The water started entering the CHUs through the ceilings, openings for the wall-mount air conditioner, holes cut into the walls to allow Air Conditioner Cables, you name it. It even came down through screw holes in the galvanized roofing. So much for American standards of construction. Thank God the CHUs are on legs too high for the water to reach the bottom or they might have floated away as well. I added the pics above looking out my CHU so you can get a small feel of the devastation less than one inch of rain caused.

I do not want to imagine what would happen if this place experienced one of the gulf's hurricanes or just a typical Texas thunder storm. Anyway, we have our CHUs and the office cleaned back out. It only took a couple hours. I am no worse for the wear, except for the cold I am trying to beat before I head home on R & R (rest and relaxation). And if they haven’t done so before my return from R & R, I will go to work raising the sidewalk to above the flood level. Take care y’all.

You know you're kind of busy when.....

You know you're kind of busy when.....

There are several reasons I haven't been keeping up with my blog:

1. After conducting an 8-hour mounted combat patrol (MCP) and coming back to write reports for two hours, it just doesn't seem that high on my list of things to do
2. Our internet access has not been that reliable, as some of you can attest after receiving some of my garbled phone calls.
3. I get lazy sometimes.
4. We just moved to our new location and all of my stuff is still in duffle bags.
5. Etc.

At this point I imagine you are all thinking of Charlie Brown's teacher (Wah, wah wah wah waaaah. All I can do is say "I'm sorry."

Anyhow - - - now to the news portion of the blog. As some of you may know I came out on the list of people who will be promoted this year. Well the day has come. As of Monday 1 December 2008, I am now Major Aaron Wentworth. Scary huh.

PLEASE NOTE THE NEW ADDRESS:

MAJ AARON WENTWORTH
MiTT 55/17, COP MEADE
TF 4-27 FA
APO AE 09322

Also we recently relocated to COP Meade (COP and for Combat Out-Post). I must say we have the best living conditions of anyone on this little base. We were equipped to self sustain when we were setting up our patrol base. But when we received orders to cease operations and move here, we brought everything with us. So, we have enough room to house probably 30 to 35 Soldiers, but only 15 are living here. I know it doesn’t seem fair for other Soldiers to live in lesser conditions than others, but we have to remain mobile.

In other words, if we received the word to move out next week, we would be able to pick up our living quarters, called CHU’s, and headquarters building, which is basically a double-wide trailer that would never pass code in the US, and move, lock, stock and barrell, to our new base. Nevertheless, things are pretty nice. I have my own room, a bed with a mattress that leaves the spring’s markings on my arms when I get up in the morning, bought a local satellite receiver and dish so I can bring in some TV. (Of the 439 TV channels in found there are only about 30 that are English speaking.) Yes, compared to the living conditions I had in Bosnia or during Desert Storm, I am living in Saddam’s Palace.

Today is Thanksgiving, and I want to thank you all for the support and love you give me. I appreciate everything you are doing. I am also thankful for the fact that sometime next week I get to go on R & R to see my loving wife and children. It’s a long trip back to Hawaii but worth every mile. I am not going be there for Christmas but at least we will be able to spend some time together. God willing, I will be able to stay long enough to see Holly, who flies in from college around the 19th of December. Tonight I will add a bunch of pictures from the past couple of months to my picture site. Internet is getting ready to be turned off so I have to cut this short. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

Love to All

Aaron.

I Got a Day Off!!

You might have been in the Army too long when everywhere you go, you run into a former colleague. I was at the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) Complex, a bustling hub of logistics activities, major unit headquarters, and more Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines than anywhere else in the Iraqi Theater. And low and behold I ran into a good friend of mine, Rob Ozanich. He is actually working for one of the agencies that maintains oversight of the MiTT program, the group I work for. I just ran into MAJ Sheldon, one of my Training and Counseling (TAC) Officers from Officer Candidate School. I haven't seen him since I was commissioned back in 1999.

I've been on FOB Falcon for about two weeks now, and have been going for about 10 days straight. We finally have a day off, so I spent it going to the first mass I have been able to attend since deploying in Early August. I ended up serving as the Lay Eucharistic Minister, which gives me a little sense of home. The hiatus from church was regrettably due to the shortage of priests. Father was on mid-tour leave and since there is a shortage of Catholic Priests in the Theater, just like in the Military Forces stateside and in general, there is no back up on the post.

I also spent a couple hours cleaning my Baretta 9mm pistol, and my M4 Rifle. We dust them off every day, but with the dust over here they need a good cleaning at least once a week. I played four games of darts (cricket) against Seergeant First Class Brian "Too Easy" Parker, our NCOIC and won three of them. He's getting a lot better, seeing that he just starting playing about 5 days ago. We acquired some steaks and baked potatoes from the Dining Facility, and grilled them ourselves outside the barracks. It was really nice to have a day off.

Everything is going well; we said goodbye to the team we replaced and are now in the driver's seat, you could say. We've met our counterparts in our partner Iraqi brigade and have already begun doing some good work to getting them off their feet and running. I will attach a picture me with of my S2 counterparts to the blog when I get to a faster computer connection. I must say the Iraqis are famous for their hospitality and our partners are more than making us feel welcome. During the first meeting, the Iraqi Brigade Commander had a large meal for us. The meal included some of the best chicken, lamb, beef, rice and something that resembled pierogis. Wow I was stuffed. The unit is doing very well for having just ben formed and being in limbo with regard to their permanent dut location, and there is room for improvement. One good thing is that they are showing great enthusiasm for completion of their formation. I am enjoying working with them.

The MRAPs are proving to be a comfortable ride, except for the gunners. Since the vehicles are so tall, the gunners get thrown around a bit. We have been sweating to death in our MRAP for the whole two weeks thinking it is just our lot in life. The system was only able to cool the air down about 15 degrees from the outside air. However we received a visit from the maintenance contractors today who informed us that our system is not operating correctly. So tomorrow our vehicle will get an air conditioning overhaul and we'll be riding cool in no time. I am a very happy camper.

Being on a team of only 11 guys is a very different experience than commanding a 150-man company. It's kind of like growing up at home with eight brothers and four sisters. The guys are always picking on each other; sometimes they get a little miffed at each other; but don't mess with any one on the team or you mess with the whole team. We definitely got lucky with our team members; it's nice to know you can trust everyone on the team to have your back when the time comes.

We have been taking some ribbing for our callsign, JEDI. Case in point: I called a unit to let them know we were entering their area of operations (AO) and announced our callsign: "Unit X this is Jedi." I could hear the chuckling in the background as the operations officer asked if we had the force with us. You can't win them all.

Right now I am watching the Dallas Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns. GO BOYS!! And I just watched Brett Favre win his first game in a Jets uniform. I can't believe Detroit lost to the Falcons!!!!! What the heck. I wish the Lions would get a real quarterback. Thank God for the Armed Forces Network (AFN) playing the football games. AFN is a military run TV network that has several TV stations which play US sports and television programming. The only drawback to AFN is the really cheesy public service messages that AFN runs instead of commercials. It really makes you wish you could see the regular annoying commercials back in the States. I am happy that I do not have to miss football season, but the games start at 9 PM and 11 PM.

Well, I will end this one and write more later. I wish you all the best and I thank you for all the support. Thanks.

Aaron

New Address !!!!

All,

I just received a new US Mail address. Do not worry if you already used the old one, it will still get to me. The new address is:

CPT Aaron C. Wentworth
MiTT 55-17
Unit 0645
APO AE 09361

I am no longer a vagrant!!! I have a temporary home, with a bed and everything. I finally arrived at my Area of Operations (AO) and am on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Falcon. We should be here for a while and even if we move to a new base, this should remain our "business hub," you could say. Every thing is going well and I am happy to report that I ran into two of my very good friends that are also here at Falcon.

CPT James Umbarger is here; I was the best man at his wedding in 2003. He got married at Big Nose Kate's Salloon in Tombstone (Shotgun Wedding complete with role playing Dancing Girls and gun toting cowboys and deputies). You may rmember the Salloon from the movie staring Kurt Russell. Big Nose Kate was Doc Holiday's true life mistress /girlfriend. It was one of the funniest events I ever attended. Also, my good friend Major Kurt Geise is here on the same FOB. We have known each other since I was stationed in Arizona.

Be sure to update your addresses for me. Thanks for all the support.

Aaron

So Training is all but complete...

Wow, it feels like we've been in training for years instead of months. We've learned everything from the Iraqi Language, Culture and History, to new weapons and protection systems and equipment. We have learned and developed ways to operate in a Counter-Insurgency Operations (COIN) role and are very proficient, if I do say so myself. But it is definately time to get to the work we came to do.

Our training has included briefs from many different experts on US Army and Iraqi Army operations, to include: General David Petraeus, the senior Coalition Commander in Iraq and a very intelligent man, and the Sergeant Major of the entire Iraqi Army. Soon we will leave Taji, our third training base, for our permanent base of operations, just south of Baghdad. I am definitely ready to get started.

Please do not expect our team to assist the Iraqi Army in becoming completely proficient in just the one year we are here. After all it took the 13 original states 13 year to establish an effective constitution and our Army hundreds of years to become a world class power.

Now for the lighter stuff. Things are going well. I am trying to not come home at 250 lbs., but the Dining Facilities to this point have more food choices than the food court at the Post Exchange Mall. I have been eating way too much Baskin Robbins. And the cheese cake . . . . So please do not send tons of goodies. I am already spending over an hour and a half a day at the gym to maintain my weight.

My mailing address is:
CPT Aaron Wentworth
MiTT 5-4-6
Unit 0645
APO AE 09361

We should be able to start receiving mail now. Please if anyone has questions, post them. I just made it easier for people to post comments, as you no longer have to have a google account in order to post. Sorry I am new to this blog site.

Did you notice the blog looks different. I have a slide show on the right side with sme photos of me and the team. By posting the photos this way, it keeps the size of the blog down allowing for a faster download. You can double click the thumbnail and it will open up my web album at Picaza. I plan to add some family photos a bit later.

I also have added links to the other blogs of my fellow teammates, a Baghdad weather link and temperature converter, and of course since we were assigned the Jedi Callsign, i added Yoda's Quote of the day at the bottom. Please tell me what you think.

Well, I have been on the internet long enough today, with talking to Kyle, my brother, on Skype and setting up thechanges to the blog. Please keep us in your prayers and God Bless you All.

Aaron

Hello from Iraq

Deja Vu! Today is August 21st, 2008. It is a few days more than 18 years since the last time I arrived in the Middle East. The last time was for Operation Desert Storm and we landed at Dhahran Airbase in Saudi Arabia. I was a Specialist in the US Army then, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. There was a Dust Storm blowing so hard we couldn't see 200 yards when the air crew opened the cargo plane's doors and we were blasted with a 138 degree heat.

About one week ago, I stepped off a plane at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Airfield (thank God no dust storm), and as I sat there in the 119 degree heat, my thoughts as they often are, were on my wife and children. The worst part of being deployed again is not the heat or the 250 pounds of gear each of us has to tote to a new location. It’s the “Bye Honey, Take Care of the Kids” and the “Don’t worry, I’ll come home safe.” It desn't matter what I say to them, they will still worry until the day I come back. I talked with my five year old daughter, Mackenzie, yesterday. She almost brought me to tears when she said, “Daddy I miss you so, so much.”

I am a Soldier, enlisted as a Private over 20 years ago when Michigan’s economy took a turn for the worst. I first came is as a "four-years-and-out" guy. You know, someone who comes in just to get a degree or some training, maybe to get a new start. I had no intention of staying in for the long haul at that time. I am a Captain now, and could retire today, if I wanted, and if the Army would approved the retirement. But I am still having fun in the Army, and love the comraderie. The job is hard sometimes, but worth it.

I am a Military Intelligence Officer, assigned as the Executive Officer and Intelligence Trainer for a Military Training Team or MiTT. A MiTT is an 11-man team whose sole purpose is to train and assist an Iraqi Army unit in becoming an efficient military force. We just completed 10 weeks of training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and are on our way to Baghdad to begin training a brand new Iraqi Army Brigade; a brigade that has never worked with a US Advisor Team. Our Iraqi Brigade will be stationed in Southern Baghdad and to the South of Baghdad.

The Iraq Army’s (IA) success is vital to making sure the country is stable enough for the coalition to pull out troops, and not risk a destabilization similar to what Afghanistan experienced during the 1980s after the Soviet Union withdrew its army, creating a condition ripe for the formation of groups like Al Qaida and the Taliban. Since the US Military began the Combat Advisor or MiTT effort approximately three years ago, the IA has made leaps and bounds. Now my aim in writing this Blog is not to preach about the pros and cons of our current situation in Iraq or make any kind of political statement, but I do personally believe we, both the coalition and Iraq, are now on the right track for success.

We are only one of the hundreds of teams assisting in the IA’s reformation. My team’s job is to help professionalize this new brigade, and in the process aid the Iraqi army to gain legitimacy in the eyes of Iraqis. This will aid the Iraqi Government in preventing an insurgency and help it establish the infrastructure to stabilize the area. It will also give it the tools needed to stop the foreign fighters, such as Al Qaida, from disrupting its democratic process. If you would like to get an in-depth view into the situation in Iraq and what it takes to defeat an insurgency, I suggest you read a book called, “Learning to Eat a Soup With a Knife” by retired Army Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl.

So here I go again, another year away from the loved ones. Don’t get me wrong, I volunteered for this, and it was also my turn to deploy. I’ve deployed several times over my twenty year career, but not during this conflict. Things have changed a lot since I last deployed, fot the better. I have air conditioning in my tent. It knocks down the heat from 120 to the high 80s. The internet has opened up this area far more than when I was here in 1990 and 1991 for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I just had lunch at a McDonalds. The sign under the arches may have been written in Arabic, but a Big Mac is a Big Mac wherever you go.

I am wearing about 50 pounds of armor plates and protective gear, a vast improvement from the flak vest I wore during Operations Desert Shield/Storm and Joint Endeavor/Guard in Bosnia. The trucks are tougher too. We originally were set to receive the up-armored Humvee (or as it is spelled in the Army, HMMWV, which stands for Highly Mobile, Multipurpose, Wheeled Vehicle). We were just informed that we will receive the new MRAP (pronounced Emm –RAP) which stands for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protective vehicle. Depending on who makes it, the vehicle weighs in between 30 to 40 thousand pounds and a V-shaped hull that is very effective at deflecting the blast from mines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Yes we are much better off than when we first started. These improvements, along with the Iraqi populace’s improved support of the IA, are resulting in significant strides forward in this conflict.

Over the next twelve months, time permitting, I will send several articles, anecdotes and stories of my team’s exploits in Iraq. I should be able to send some photos and plan to keep the topics light, focusing on the day-to-day experiences of a Soldier. I do not consider myself an expert in any field, especially politics, and therefore will likely not cover those issues. If you would like to contact me with any questions (please no political opinions or requests for operational specifics) I will gladly answer your quetions as I have time. Please feel free to contact me through this blog.