500 Feet Above the Ziggurat of Ur

Today I will upload images from flying above the Ziggurat of Ur on Thursday afternoon. This area, Ur, is the hometown of Abraham. People call this place the birthplace of civilization. If civilization was born here, it has had a very complete change of address. Jared Diamond's most recent book Collapse chronicles other places on our planet which are on the way to becoming arid ruins.

Two Helicopter Rides Today

This afternoon I flew on a short mission on Blackhawk helicopter. A film crew was in to shoot pictures for a documentary on the Ziggurat of Ur, just north of our Base. They had an open seat and, better yet, left the side doors of the Blackhawk open so we could see out and down much better. It was also cool to be able to stick my left foot out at 500 feet and hang it out the door opening. I will post pictures tomorrow. They are on a different computer, but I have some good shots of the Ziggurat. That flight was at 2pm.

At 7pm the Brigade photographer (a real photographer), brought video camera for a 3-hour (in the air) round trip to Kuwait on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter. On the way down we had 25 soldiers who were going on leave in the plane, so they were a happy group. On the way back we had five guys returning from leave--a more subdued group.

I had never ridden in a Chinook before last night so it was very exciting for me to ride 200 miles and into another country on my first trip on the Army's Heavy Lift helicopter. The Chinooks only fly at night, because they are big, slow compared to an airplane, and make tempting targets in the day time.

USA Today--Today

The cover article on today's edition of USA Today was about troops killing time and what they do to fill the hours. One of the people quoted at length in the article was me. The reporter talked about the two book groups I lead and even provided links to CS Lewis, Dante and Virgil. Here's the article. Meredith will be calling me an ink slut again--but somebody has to do it.

New Office--Great Discussion

This is my new office--the top of the line in trailer living. I thought you might like to see my new digs.
Last night's CSL group book discussion was great. We talked about the Affection (storge) in The Four Loves. In describing each type of love, Lewis follows an arc taking us to the highest and best expressions of love, in this case domestic affection, then dropping us like a Six Flags roller coaster with descriptions of Mrs. Fidget, Mr. Pontifex and Professor Quartz. Two members of the group are counselors and another is a negotiator, so the love gone bad section of the chapter was very useful for them. Next week Friendship or Philia.

Who Fights This War--Flight Surgeon

Lt. Col. David Doud, 42, returned home to Gettysburg last week at the end of his tour as flight surgeon for the 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion. Doud joined the battalion in 2006 after serving as the Medical Company Commander for the 728th Maintenance Support Battalion.
He has nearly 18 years of service in the Army National Guard as a doctor. Doud deployed to Kosovo with the 56th Brigade in 2003-4 as the Brigade Surgeon. On this deployment Doud had the opportunity to fly with the Nebraska MEDEVAC Company attached to the 56th. After deployment he took the training course at Fort Rucker to be qualified as a flight surgeon then moved to the 2-104th.
The day Doud remembers most clearly on this deployment is June 10, when a suicide bomber in Al-Batha killed and wounded many civilians. The Tallil Medical facility asked Doud to help their staff with the emergency surgery patients that were being flown in. Doud said, “I treat car accident victims and gunshot wounds in the States, but the damage to the human body by high explosives is beyond anything I had seen.” Doud and his team
treated five patients.
Two had non-survivable injuries and were made as comfortable as possible. The other three were critical, but Doud was able to perform surgery that kept them alive for evacuation to a larger medical facility. “The three critical patients lived. We made a difference.”

First 50-mile Day in Iraq

From the day we arrived here it was so hot and dusty that I limited my riding to early morning and late afternoon. The dust hangs in the air at night sometimes, so I did not relly consider riding in the dark until recently. But now with my new way-cool bright light I have been riding more in the dark.

And last night I took the long way home from work at midnight so I would get 50 miles in one day here. Next target is 63 miles (100k) and maybe when it gets even cooler I will try for a Century!

Speaking of bike milestones, there is a chance I will be able to ressurect the bicycle race in the form of a biathlon: 5k run, 15 or 20k bike. The run-bike format will eliminate the mass start. Of course, running 5k will also eliminate me from contention, but it's probably better that the organizer doesn't win.

I will let you know more as the back-channel negotiations proceed. Tentatively, Thanksgiving is the day. The Tallil Turkey Trot Biathlon (it would be great alliteration if we could set up a triathlon, but the sand swim would be difficult.)

Jumble of News from Home

I just checked the on-line box score and my oldest daughter's college soccer team lost again today. Not a great season so far and it's almost over. I haven't talked to Lauren today, but she is a tough competitor, always fights to win, and won a lot of games from Junior High School through graduation. Defeat will give her a chance to learn the grace that only loss can teach, but I wish she were learning this grace another way.

My other two daughters were home last weekend, Iolanthe brought her boyfriend Devon to Lancaster and they went to the Renaissance Faire as did Lisa and her Mom. I am looking forward to going back next year. While they were home, Lisa and Iolanthe both tried to play a new drum riff that Nigel had learned. Neither could play it so Nigel demonstrated how to do it. He was happy to show them his new skill and they were very entertained by their brother and his increased ability.

My wife, Annalisa, is working with three different contractors to insulate the house and make it more energy efficient. It is a huge project and it should be completed by the holidays.

I am already making plans to go back to work. I am going to register soon for the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) annual meeting in February (President's Weekend) and will will travel to Orlando two weeks later for an instrumentation conference. I will go to Church in the morning with 75 people armed with automatic weapons so I am not home yet, but it is getting closer. New Years Day here, but most of the New Year in America.