Monday, December 28, 2009

For Nigel--Blackhawk Banking Left


Yesterday I was on an all-day flight that lasted into the night. It was the first time I flew in a Blackhawk at night. I flew in a Chinook at night, but I was up inside the fuselage and could not see out very much except through the tail door.
I was sitting right behind the door gunner on the Blackhawk and could see all the countryside on the final leg of our trip. The desert is prettier at night than in the brown dusty day. The shallowest ripples look deep in the dark and trace out shapes that are much more interesting than simple sand ripples and ditches.
The trip went from here to Kalsu for hot fuel (with the engines running and rotors turning) then to Baghdad and a visit to one of Saddam's bombed out palaces. I'll try to put a few more photos up soon.
After Baghdad we flew up to Joint Base Balad, where we should have gone back when we got here. It's a beautiful base. Oh well.
Then Back to Kalsu in the fading light, then back to Tallil in the dark. I was not told till the night before I had to go. I had a lot of work to do the next day and asked the commander if he really wanted to me to go. He said, "This is a war Gussman. You're going." So I went.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Who Fights this War--Coach on the Range

During the two days Echo Company ran the marksmanship qualification range on COB Adder in November, Sgt. 1st Class Jason Guinn, 30, strode back and forth on the dirt mound where the shooters were firing. Guinn adjusted a body position here, made a suggestion there, pushed in an elbow, all to help soldiers to qualify with their M16, M4 or M9 personal weapons.
Guinn served for four years on active duty as a Marine before joining the Army National Guard. “We don’t spend enough time on PMI (Preliminary Marksmanship Instruction),” said Guinn, NCOIC of Operations for Task Force Diablo. “In the Marines we moved out to the range for two weeks every year. We would a full week just practicing different firing positions.”
Guinn serves full time in the Army National Guard and is planning to work as a Readiness NCO in 28th Combat Aviation Brigade after this deployment. He currently has the additional duties of Master Weapons Instructor and Master Marksmanship Instructor for the 28th CAB. During his service with the Marines from 1997 – 2000 Guinn was a Master Marksmanship Instructor. “In the Marines, marksmanship can be a primary duty. In the Army it is always an additional duty,” said the Enola, Pa. native.
In addition to weapons training in the Marines, Guinn has received six months of advanced weapons instruction from several Army schools, including the five-phase Master Weapons Instructor School which he completed in 2004. He is currently on his third deployment. He went to East Timor with the Marines in 1998. He went to Kosovo with Bravo Company (Attack) 1-104th Aviation in 2005-6 before his current tour with Task Force Diablo.
Guinn says “practice makes perfect” in marksmanship as in many areas of life. He practices partly through competition. He has earned the Governor’s Twenty tab for marksmanship and competed in international events. He is especially proud of being a member of the team the beat the highly rated Italian Special Forces team.
Later this week, on December 3, Guinn will be conducting a marksmanship class for his staff in operations. “It’s a full day just to go over the fundamentals of shooting,” he said.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

For Nigel: The Best Picture



One more sling load photo because I did not include the best one. This is the one of the ground crewman setting the hook.

For Nigel: A Chinook Sling Load

A few days ago, three Chinook helicopters hovered 20 feet above the north runway waiting for the signal to fly over to the south ramp and pick up sling loads. The Chinook can haul a container with thousands of pounds of stuff underneath and fly. These pictures show some of the views I had. It was tough to get some of the pictures because Chinooks are named after the near 100mph wind in the mountain west. For the picture looking up under the Chinook with the sling load, I laid down on the airstrip 100 meters ahead of the Chinook as the sling was attached and took the shot as it flew over me.



Thursday, December 24, 2009

Who Fights This War? A Father and a Son


It’s a very proud Dad who has a child that follows him into his profession, so Sgt. First Class Gary Williard of Delta Company, Task Force Diablo, is a doubly proud man. Williard has two professions and each of his two sons has chosen to follow Dad into one of those professions. Williard is a retired police officer and Army National Guard aircraft maintenance platoon sergeant. His older son, Gary Jr., joined the Tower City police force where Dad retired in 2006 as chief of police. His younger son is Sgt. Joshua Williard, of Bravo Company, 628th Aviation Support Battalion. Joshua worked in the next hangar over from Dad during much of the deployment and is currently completing his deployment with final processing in America.

“I pinned on Joshua’s sergeant stripes when he got promoted here on August 27,” said Gary Sr. “That was quite a moment for me.” Joshua said he plans on a career in aviation maintenance with the Army National Guard.

The Williards are a close family. Gary Sr. and Joshua managed to get the same day off, Friday, through most of last summer here in Iraq. They watched bow hunting and deer hunting videos and football together on their day off. Gary Jr. worked for his Dad for five years in the Tower City police department before moving to the Pennsylvania State Police where he has worked for seven years. Williard and his wife Dina ran an automotive repair business together. Now they have apartments which they rent. “Dina runs the apartments while I am away,” said Williard. “With Joshua and I deployed and Gary Jr. busy with work she’ll be very happy for us to come home.”

Gary Sr. began his military career in 1976 as a prop and rotor mechanic for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and remained with the Guard through his entire career. He had an eight-year break in service from 1982-90 and after returning to the Guard has worked in maintenance on many aircraft. Gary Sr. previously deployed in 2003-4 to Kuwait in both aviation maintenance and security roles. “Even on deployment, I was still a cop,” said Williard.

Who Fights This War? And Just Keeps Going

I have mentioned my roommate before. Sgt. Nickey Smith joined Echo Company with a dozen other guys from Connecticut at the beginning of the deployment at Fort Sill. All the other CT guys in our company are fuelers and have mostly been assigned to remote bases to refuel aircraft. Nickey was the only CT guy assigned to the motor pool. And from his first day he was put in the squad with the squad leader who was already showing signs of being overwhelmed at Fort Sill. More and more as training progressed, Nickey found himself in charge of a team and picking up the slack as his squad leader fell apart. Shortly after we arrived in Iraq, Nickey got assigned to as the maintenance sergeant at one of the fueling bases. Life is a lot more Spartan on these bases, but one of Nickey's best friends was there and he was away from the drama of his squad. He was very happy to go and not so happy to be back.
When he got back, his squad leader fell apart completely and was assigned to another company doing and enlisted man's job. Nickey took over as squad leader and as a maintenance team leader. For a while he was the only sergeant double assigned that way.
Despite all this, he was rated as just average when he got his NCOER (NCO evaluation report). When many other sergeants, myself included, took jobs at battalion or somewhere else, Nickey stayed in the motor pool, worked at a job a pay grade above his own, and did everything necessary to continue the mission. When the PT Test loomed before us, and the maintenance soldiers had to report to the motor pool at 0600, Nickey was getting up at 0300 to work out at least three days per week.
Two nights ago when I came back from my work he was sitting on his bed surrounded by papers making sure all of his squad got good evaluations for the work they did here in Iraq. Earlier in the year he made sure they got awards when that ball had been dropped by his predecessor.
Nickey fits no definition of average. I encouraged him to appeal his NCOER. He was told it was too late and he would have to wait until we return to America. Nickey deserves better. There's a lot of things I will miss about my year in the Army when I return to civilian life, but I won't miss the way paperwork crushes reality.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Who Fights This War--Col. Newell and The Battle For Fallujah




I wrote the following form published reports about Col. Newell at the Battle for Fallujah. This is a sidebar to yesterday's post. 

The Battle for Fallujah, November 2004 The battle for Fallujah in November 2004 was the biggest operation in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad at the beginning of the war, an assault on the city that had turned into Iraq’s nastiest nest of insurgents. Commanding the lead battalion of the Germany-based Task Force 2-2 was then Lt. Col. Peter Newell. He said the battle for Fallujah was, "as pure a fight of good vs. evil as we will probably face in our lifetime." Newell said he never doubted his troops would win the battle “It was [over] before the fight started,” he said. “It was just a matter of how long it was going to take.” The 550 soldiers of Task Force 2-2 fought for 12 days in Fallujah, killing 330 insurgents and foreign fighters including the No. 2 man in the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musabal-Zarqawi terrorist organization. Nine men earned Silver Stars for valor. Five of them — including Newell’s and his three company commanders’ — were for bravery at Fallujah. Newell’s 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment earned a Presidential Unit Citation, the Army’s highest unit honor. Lt. Col. Newell’s Silver Star Citation: Newell deployed a 550-soldier mechanized task force on 72 hours’ notice to Fallujah in November 2004, leading a continuous 12-day attack in the heavily fortified Askari district. His forces overwhelmed resistance in the first 14 hours, ultimately killing 330 enemy fighters, capturing 48 others, destroying 38 weapons caches, two roadside- bomb factories and one car-bomb factory while becoming the first battalion in the division to achieve its objective. On Nov. 12, Newell was caught in an ambush following an 11-hour night attack. Narrowly escaping enemy fire, he left his tracked vehicle and personally assisted in the evacuation of a mortally wounded officer. From published reports in The Stars and Stripes and The Rolling Stone.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Who Fights This War? Warriors Reunited from 2004

Col. Peter Newell







Making new friends and saying goodbye to comrades in arms is a regular part of Army service, but sometimes chance and circumstances can reunite soldiers in new assignments after years apart. 

Just such a reunion happened in May when Alpha Company 1-106th, part of Pennsylvania-based Task Force Diablo, was assigned to support the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division commanded by Col. Peter Newell. In 2004 Alpha Company deployed to Joint Base Balad for 15 months as part of an Illinois-based Army National Guard Aviation Battalion. Part of their mission was support of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, commanded Newell, the lead Army unit in the Battle for Fallujah. 

Because National Guard soldiers can often serve in the same unit for their entire career, sixteen of the 53 soldiers in this Air Assault Company deployed with Alpha in 2004-5. Alpha flies daily “Adder” missions in support of Newell and the 4-1. “Our mission is to support the ground mission,” said Capt. Jason Henderson, the Alpha Commander. “The Adder mission gets Colonel Newell and [Lt. Col.] Callahan and their staff out where they need to be.” Lt. Col. David Callahan is the Deputy Commander of 4-1.

When the Adder mission began Henderson would adapt the mission schedule to Newell’s needs. Initially there was resistance from aviation brigade headquarters “but they came around,” said Henderson. Chief Warrant Officer Herb Stevens said flying for Newell is easier than for many senior commanders. “Many commanders want dedicated aircraft. Colonel Newell will free up the Adder aircraft for other missions when he does not need them,” Stevens said. “He’s all about helping soldiers. If there is an empty seat, he will take soldiers waiting for flights on his missions.”

“The support provided by Alpha Company is essential for my brigade to operate effectively across three provinces in southern Iraq,” said Newell. “I’d fly with these guys again on any combat tour; and, consider them part of the Highlander Brigade’s family.”

“One Day Colonel Newell said a 4-1 patch would look good on the nose of his aircraft and we made it happen as soon as possible,” said Henderson.
Col. Teresa Gallagher, commander of the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade—the former headquarters of Task Force Diablo—was initially against putting unit patches on the nose of aircraft. “But when I heard about the depth of the relationship between Alpha Company and Colonel Newell, I was in favor of it,” she said.

“Several books have been written about the Battle for Fallujah,” Stevens said. “We are proud to be flying Colonel Newell again.”

Together Again in Iraq
Of the sixteen members of Alpha Company who deployed in 2004 and are back in 2009, eight are in new jobs. First Sgt. Tom House was a platoon sergeant in 2004. Chief Warrant Officers Ashley Higar, Damien Germscheid, Thad Simpson and Nate McKean were enlisted in 2004, with Higar working in maintenance. McKean, Simpson and Germscheid were crew chiefs. Sergeants First Class Daren Cagle and Mike Simard moved from crew chief to platoon sergeant and Staff Sgt. Garath Mills to assistant platoon sergeant.

Eight are in the same seat they occupied in the previous deployment. Chief Warrant Officers Pat Schroeder, Herb Stevens, Dave Hammon, Greg Calvin, and Scott Wiley were all pilots on the previous deployment and are still flying with Alpha. Sergeants Robert Kulage, Joe Seitz, and Craig McGuire served then and now as crew chiefs.
Although not among the sixteen who were actually in Alpha, Staff Sgt. Mike Maass was a fueler and crew chief in 2004 in Headquarters Company and returned this tour as a door gunner. Henderson was a member of Alpha Company in 2004, but was at flight school during the deployment.

When a unit has this kind of continuity many procedures that other units must develop over time are already in place. Alpha uses a “Push Crew” system. Crew chiefs and door gunners who are not flying get missions ready to go, bringing weapons and equipment to the flight line, removing doors and windows in the summer and performing maintenance checks while the flight crews are going through briefings and planning. Alpha developed the system in 2004 and adapted it to operations at COB Adder.

New members of Alpha Company join a band of brothers, men who have served together for many years, rely on each others strengths and share a bond that only years of service and sacrifice can forge.


Monday, December 21, 2009

Who Satirizes This War?--PT Belt Facebook Fan Page Tops 6000


Spc. Jason Guge of Delta Company, Task Force Diablo, has attracted more than 6,000 fans to his Facebook page dedicated the Army PT (Physical Training) Belt. He almost certainly will have 7000 fans by the year’s end. Guge has added an average of more than 60 fans every day since he created the site on September 5 of this year. In fact, he has added more 100 per day in the last month. He topped 1,000 fans in the first month then added 3,000 more in the last six weeks.
Asked about his method for success Guge said, “I promote it within Facebook at other pages, and I send out messages within Facebook. I also rely on word of mouth. My wife tells people back home about the site. She has even written on the site a couple times as Mrs. PT Belt.
Typically, more than 100 fans leave messages every day , most trying to be more silly than the last:
“My PT Belt keeps me safe in combat. It is my "DO NOT SHOOT" Profile, so the enemy knows not to shoot at me.”
With a philosophical twist: “If you don't wear your PT Belt in the Forest and there is no one to see you without it, will a Command Sergeant Major still hit you with a Gator?”
“I didn't know what I was missing out on when i was in the Navy until I joined the Army...now I'm in the PT belt circle!”
“I read that the only reason Apollo 13 made it back was because all three astronauts had PT belts.”
As of late November, the top countries where fans live: United States 2,805, Iraq 415, United Kingdom 165, Germany 123, Kuwait 92, Canada 79, Hong Kong 74.
It is not surprising that Canadians would be PT Belt fans, but why would there be nearly as many PT Belts fans in Hong Kong, one big city in China, as the entire country of Canada? So many PT Belt questions to answer! Other countries with more than 10 PT Belt fans: Afghanistan, Italy, France, South Korea, Serbia, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Lebanon, Japan, and the Netherlands.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Clarissa Landeros is a fan with seven PT Belts and three more on order from the states. “They are all different,” she said sitting in Coalition Dining Facility with a group of soldiers and airmen. “I’ve got pink, basic white, orange with a stripe, checkered—Wait, look at that lime green one,” she said pointing to an Air Force Staff Sgt. with a lime green PT Belt. She was clearly thinking about her eleventh PT Belt. “You can’t have too many.”

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Who Fights This War--Mother and Daughter


Sgt. JoAnn Wevodau, a technical supply sergeant and technical inspector
in Delta Company, joined the U.S. Marines in 1977 when her current
company commander, Capt. Michael Girvin, was just four years old.
Three years later, in 1979, Wevodau finished her enlistment and returned
to civilian life.
Then after 20 years as a civilian, she re-enlisted in the Army National
Guard in 1999 along with her daughter Sgt. Amy Torres, who is now 28.
Wevodau and Torres work together as technicians at Fort Indiantown Gap,
Pa. She will return to her technician job and rejoin her daughter after
this deployment is complete. This is Wevodau's second deployment. She
served at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in 2003-4. She is eight years
from retirement and expects to have one or two more deployments before
she reaches 20 years of service.
A resident of Jonestown, Wevodau is the mother of five grown children
and has three grandchildren. She is married to Mike Wevodau, Command Sergeant Major of the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

TODAY--40th Anniversary of My Driver's License!!!

Among the many milestones I reached in Iraq is one I have celebrated for more than a quarter century--my driver's license anniversary. On December 19, 1969, after a one-semester delay while my grades got better, I went to the Registry of Motor Vehicles office in Woburn, Mass., and there took and passed my driver's test.

I had already bought and sold my first car--a Black 1963 Dodge Dart and so did not have a car on that wonderful day. But my Dad let me drive his car--a 22-foot-long 1965 Chrysler New Yorker. I was in Heaven. I had wanted to drive as long as I could remember and the day finally came. With my license my obsession with cars moved from wanting cars to owning cars.

In three weeks I had a 1964 Opel Station wagon. A month later it was a 1963 Chrysler Newport. Back then I thought I liked working on cars, but really, all I wanted to do was drive. I wore cars out. I broke them. I am the same with bicycles, although with bikes I know I do not want to work on them. I just want to ride.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Meeting Mrs. Mullen at MWR



On Friday, December 18, Deborah Mullen accompanied her husband, Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, on a visit here at COB
Adder. Sgt. Monique Usher NCOIC of MWR (Morale, Welfare & Recreation)
for the Garrison Command asked me to meet Mrs. Mullen as part of her
tour of medical and MWR facilities. I have led two book discussion
groups since July. The six books we have read are by authors who have
been dead for half a century to two millenia.
Mrs. Mullen walked straight up to me and introduced herself, then asked
why I limit my book choice to dead authors. I told her that you know
dead authors are good by the judgment of history, that's never true with
living authors. She said I should try reading live authors which led to
a discussion of who and what I should read. In the end she is sending
me a copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary
Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
The choice shows how gracious and funny Mrs. Mullen is. The book has
two authors. Mary Ann Shaffer died last year. Annie Barrows is very
much alive. A charming compromise.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

5000 Miles In Iraq


At 6:30 this evening on Perimeter Road, I passed 5000 miles on the bike in Iraq. I need 99 more miles to have 7000 total for the year. I should make it by Christmas.
That makes more than 400 times around the Perimeter Road. I am a hamster!!!

Screwtape Loves Creation Science

Screwtape: The Devil as a mid-level bureaucrat.

We are currently reading Screwtape in the CSL group here in Iraq. I wrote this a few days ago. It's how Screwtape would look at Creation Science. 

If you haven't read The Screwtape Letters, this won't make much sense--and if you had to choose, it would be better to read a the real Screwtape Letters than my imitation. 

My Dear Wormwood, 

Very true, I did tell you in my very first letter to keep your patient away from science, but I meant real science based on math in which theories are the best current description of observed reality. And the theories are not absolute: the latest discovery can make last year's greatest theory obsolete.

Of course you should let your patient immerse himself in Creation Science. That ridiculous pairing of words is one of the many recent triumphs of our Infernal Marketing Division. 

Real science is wretched for us. The Enemy has made the material universe so complex that the deeper the humans penetrate reality the more surprised they are at what they find. And He made it so vast that in time and space that no one can fully comprehend it. 

We know he did this for the sophomoric reason that he wants the human vermin to be free to choose to Love Him, or not. The universe is so complex from the micro scale to the galactic, that no amount of mere facts can convince anyone of the Enemy's existence. All this disgusting beauty is more of what He calls Love. 

Creation Science does away with all that. It says Einstein was wrong, Darwin was wrong, Mendel was wrong, Watson and Crick were wrong, and an Australian biology teacher who built a museum with saddles on dinosaurs is RIGHT! 

All the messy reality of life, the universe, and everything is tied up with a bow in Creation Science. All of modern science that does not conform to their particular literal view is wrong. Wormwood, it is wonderful. I could show you cages full of proud fools who watched a four-hour Deep Science video series and from that day were able to look down on the millions of people who have held science PhD degrees in the last hundred years. 

Pride, Wormwood. It is the best path to Our Father's House and who could be more sneeringly proud than a man who cannot solve the equation that describes a falling rock yet believes he knows physics at a deeper level than Einstein. If we spirits had lips I would kiss the man who dreamed this heresy up. 

Your Affectionate Uncle, Screwtape

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Blogging Blackout!

The following is from David Marron, editor of The Thunder Run www.thunderrun.us blog:

Wednesday 16 December 2009,

Many if not most, fellow milblogs -- including This Ain't Hell, From My Position, Miss Ladybug, Boston Maggie, Grim's Hall, and those participating in the Wednesday Hero program -- are going silent for the day. Some are choosing to go silent for a longer period of time. This blog will resume operations on Monday December 21, 2009.

The reason for this is two-fold.

First, milblogs are facing an increasingly hostile environment from within the military. While senior leadership has embraced blogging and social media, many field grade officers and senior NCOs do not embrace the concept. From general apathy in not wanting to deal with the issue to outright hostility to it, many commands are not only failing to support such activities, but are aggressively acting against active duty milbloggers, milspouses, and others. The number of such incidents appears to be growing, with milbloggers receiving reprimands, verbal and written, not only for their activities but those of spouses and supporters.

The catalyst has been the treatment of milblogger C.J. Grisham of A Soldier's Perspective. C.J. has earned accolades and respect, from the White House on down for his honest, and sometimes blunt, discussion of issues -- particularly PTSD. In the last few months, C.J. has seen an issue with a local school taken to his command who failed to back him, and has even seen his effort to deal with PTSD, and lead his men in same by example, used against him as a part of this. Ultimately, C.J. has had to sell his blog to help raise funds for his defense in this matter.

An excellent story on the situation with C.J. can be found at Military Times: While there have been new developments, the core problem remains, and C.J. is having to raise funds to cover legal expenses to protect both his good name and his career.

One need only look at the number of blogs by active duty military in combat zones and compare it to just a few years ago to see the chilling effect that is taking place.

Milblogs have been a vital link in getting accurate news and information about the military, and military operations, to the public. They have provided vital context and analysis on issues critical to operations and to the informed electorate critical to the Republic.

On Wednesday 16 December, readers will have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it. Those participating are urging their readers to contact their elected representatives in Congress, and to let their opinions be known to them and to other leaders in Washington.

Some milblogs will remain silent for several days; some just for the day. All have agreed to keep the post about the silence and C.J. at the top of their blogs until Friday 18 December.

The issues go beyond C.J., and deserve careful consideration and discussion. We hope that you will cover this event, and explore the issues that lie at the heart of the matter. Contact the milbloggers in your area or that you know, and hear the story that lies within.

A Partial List of Participating Blogs:

This Ain't Hell
Boston Maggie
Blackfive
Miss Ladybug
Drunken Wisdom
Grim's Hall
From my position
CDR Salamander
LL

Two cartoonists join in!

Private Murphy
Delta Bravo Sierra

Check them out as well...

If you wish to donate to CJ's defense fund, please use the following address, or click the link below. He's in a serious battle against a serious foe. Read the article to find out all about it.

Grisham Legal Fund
c/o Redstone Federal Credit Union
220 Wynn Drive
Huntsville, AL 35893

Please write "Grisham Legal Fund" in the memo line if you use this option.

Milblogs have been a vital link in getting accurate news and information about the military, and military operations, to you. Today, many milblogs are gone and others are under attack from within and without. Today, you have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it. Make your voice heard by writing your congressional representatives and others, and by making donations as you see fit.

The battle for freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas is fought on many fronts and in many ways. Without your help, the battle may well be lost.

Monday, December 14, 2009

For Nigel--Blackhawks at Sunset, Big Trucks in Iraq



Dust Clouds

Tonight I rode through clouds of dust to get to my office. I went to the office after the CSL book group. The night was absolutely beautiful when I left our living area. You can only see up where we live. Twelve-foot-high blast walls surround our trailer homes. So I looked up and saw Orion's belt and sword so clearly I almost thought the mythical warrior could step out of the sky and come to our base. So I looked up at the blue-black sky till my neck hurt then rode south to my office. On both dirt stretches the air was brown from long convoys raising dust. The front of the convoy was stopped and the back closing up to the front as they stopped and waited. Dozens of flatbed semis waiting to load with containers and drive to the port. It's strange how the sky can be clear and beautiful just a mile from where it is choked with a stagnant cloud of dust.

At my office I am trying to copy all of my photos off the hard drive of the computer I am using. The computer is cheap and sometimes quits. It is a PC and I am a very committed MAC user. Every time I use a PC I become more convinced that I love my MAC. I did not work very much. I have been up early and am too tired to work effectively late.

Eleven days till Christmas.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Flat Out of Luck

Not me for a change. David, my riding buddy got a flat on Wednesday, fixed it. Broke a spoke on Friday which warped his wheel right away. So he dropped his bike off with Larry the Bike Guy who was kind enough to give him a loaner. Today David wanted to ride 100km before he goes home on Tuesday--just to do it.

This morning the weather was cold but better than it has been, maybe 50 instead of low 40s. But if the weather was good, David was not. He is a former body builder and has been dong P90X along with 9-mile runs and biking about 50 miles per week. He hurt his back.

But he decided to go anyway this morning. About three miles into the ride as we passed the burn pit, it was clear this lap would be his last. He asked the shortest way back, then got a flat. One of our Apache pilots was driving to the other side of the base and picked David up. So I decided I could at least pass some solo milestones. I rode 50 miles today--enough that I am within 100 miles of 5000 in Iraq and within 200 miles of 7000 for the year. And no problems with the new bike. I went to the gym and did enough sit-ups so I am over 11,000 for the year, 9,000 pushups and 800 pull ups. I guess that means the shoulder surgery worked out well.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

You Win!! Too Bad

At chow tonight I was sitting with a sergeant who just won NCO of the month. The prize is two days at Camp Victory near Baghdad, actually an interesting trip to see Saddam's palace and some other sights of the old regime. I am in aviation so I congratulated him. He didn't look so happy. He said he would rather have two days off here. I started to say how many of my friends thought Camp Victory was cool. He then said, "I'm infantry. If I take the prize I go in a convoy." Great!! He gets to roll for hours in an armored truck hoping he does not get hit by an IED.

He's right. If I were him, I would take two days in my room at Tallil before I took my prize-winning trip to Baghdad in the back of an armored truck. We were trying to think of a civilian equivalent. Maybe a trip to Florida by bus stopping in every major city from Boston to Miami--and never being allowed out of the bus.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Two Bikes Down, One to Get to 5000 Miles

Today the fifth spoke broke on the rear wheel of my single-speed mountain bike. The wheel is twisted. I put my last mile on it. So both of the bikes I brought here broke beyond my ability to repair them after 2700 miles each: 2721 on the road bike, 2767 on the mountain bike. So now I have a Giant mountain bike to ride until the end of December. I only need 162 more miles to get to 5000 in Iraq and 265 to have 7000 miles for the year.

And I have a buyer for the mountain bike at the end of the month. At this point I am not sure exactly when I will be leaving, but it should be sometime in early January.

This Sunday is my riding buddy's last day before he goes home on leave. If he is stuck in Kuwait for any more than a day, I may not see him again. He wants to ride 100 miles Sunday. I may go 100km. Either way, I will have most of the miles I need before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I am going to be the emcee at the Christmas music night they will have here on Christmas Eve. It will be good to have something to do on Christmas Eve. Christmas will be just another work day except the lines in the DFAC will be longer.

And to continue on with yesterday's post on music--sometimes I ride for a mile or two with no hands, just to do it. Last night I was riding the 29er in the dark with my super bright light and singing as I rode with no hands for three miles. It can be boring riding here, but turning corners with no hands keeps my concentration up.

One more month and I should at least be in America.

Not So Supreme: A Conference about the Constitution, the Courts and Justice

Hannah Arendt At the end of the first week in March, I went to a conference at Bard College titled: Between Power and Authority: Arendt on t...