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