63. Syrian Delegation

Written: Thursday, June 19th

Woke up at 10:45am. I am flying with CPT Cushwa and CPT Smith tonight just to keep them current in night vision goggles. Our plan is to preflight at 8pm tonight then take off at 2am. The moon will be up by then and I think it will facilitate their training a bit more than trying to take off right at sunset here (actually to fly NVG’s you have to take off about 45 minutes to 1 hour after sunset or it is too bright).

Left the tent to exercise at noon. I went into the hangar and did some push ups (29), sit-ups (54) and pull ups (5). I weighed in at 170 pounds and then ran for 2 miles (took me 16 minutes which is very slow but it was mid-day). The push ups hurt pretty bad.

Heard that an enemy vehicle convoy was destroyed while heading to Syria. The reason it was destroyed was because the US intercepted cell phone conversations from Saddam’s body guards. They believe that Saddam and his 2 sons were in it.

Also heard that 3rd Battalion was called to fly out towards the border early in the morning to search for convoys. They launched, got out in the desert and went into a search pattern. They found a large convoy of SUV’s with tinted windows. They flew right next to them at 10’ and the vehicles would not stop. One aircraft flew ahead and put some infantry soldiers on the ground and then hovered over the road with one of it’s machine guns pointed in the direction the cars would come from. The other helicopter stayed behind the convoy. The convoy approached the ambush site and stopped. The driver got out and was pretty pissed and yelling in his native tongue. It turns out that they were a Syrian delegation that just left Baghdad and was heading back to Syria. They were doing nothing wrong. Funny.

Filled 15 water jugs at 2:45pm. Drove to the water point to fill the Company’s water jugs. There was no line and I rolled right in. I filled the jugs and drove around the perimeter to return.

Received a package from Eric that had some mac-n-cheese, candy, magazines and drink mix! It was sent on May 27th so it only took 3 weeks to arrive. Not too bad.

Saw Kamran in Flight Operations and I heard that his Dad was here. Kamran grew up in Iraq until he was 6 or 7 and then his family fled to Iran. His father lives here in Iraq. He found out that Kamran was here and made his was to the gate. Jokingly, I said I will get Stefanie a plane ticket and have her show up at the gate too!

62. Shaken Out of Sleep

Written: Wednesday, June 18th

Was shaken out of sleep by the sound of something exploding. I felt the shock wave compress my chest and to me, it felt like it was close by. I jumped out of my sleeping bag and was moving to the floor when I heard another, closer explosion. Thinking it was a mortar attack, I jumped up and grabbed my helmet then moved to the door to get out of the tent. I could envision pieces of shrapnel ripping through the tent as we moved out. I heard another explosion but this one was farther away. I went outside and saw everyone standing around doing their normal thing: shaving, brushing teeth etc. No one was alarmed but the 4 of us who busted out of our tent. Weird.

I sat down on my bed and began going through the files in my computer. I heard a truck horn and stopped mid-breath. I was intently listening for a total of 3 beeps signaling a chemical attack. It never happened but everytime I hear a horn I stop to see what is next.

One of the universal alarms for a chemical attack is 3 blasts of a horn. While we were in Udairi and in our first few weeks of being in Iraq, we spent a lot of time in chemical protective gear after we had suspicion of being attacked by chemical munitions. Ever since the days before the war began I have been very alert when I hear a horn of any sort. I am always counting to hear if it is 3 beeps. It’s a weird, eerie feeling that causes you to reflect every time it happens. Eventually you become complacent after it repeatedly happens. Just a commentary on how, after 2 months since we were last in our chemical gear, the sound of a horn will still bring a peaked response – I am sure that it will still hold a similar significance for years to come.

Today we received the flying hour stats since we left Europe and headed here. Our company has flown the most in all modes of flight.

At 1pm we all went to the hangar and listened to Sam give a class on the stabilator and the mechanical mixing unit. Good class. After the class I went to Battalion and talked to CPT Cushwa and turned in some changes to my total flight hours for Flight Ops to fix.

Got a Humvee and drove over to the other side of the airfield to see Matt Brewster and Glenn Siegrist. I gave Matt some pictures that Stefanie sent me (of his kids) and then left because he was pretty busy.

Went to Glenn’s tent and hung out outside talking for about an hour. Their power was off and it was too hot in the tents. When the power (and a/c) came back on, we went in his tent and played Counter-Strike! I played two rounds and barely won both of them. One round was against Sobel (a guy who lives in the tent next to Glenn) and the other match was against Glenn! We had fun playing.

Drove back home and talked to Fred who had just stumbled upon some award worksheets. He found that 90% of the officers from the S-3 section were being put in for the Bronze Star Service Medal. This is totally wrong, especially if you knew some of the characters that worked there. Sam came outside and we told him about it too. He was livid. There is one case of a Captain who was cheating on a written emergency procedures and limitations test that we gave him. He was caught by Fred. That guy has been nominated for a Bronze Star. This is total crap and disgraces those who really did something to deserve such an award.

Received a small package from Stefanie today. I knew right away that it was something I have been waiting for! It contained 4 items to share with the people living around me. I stopped everyone from doing what they were doing and presented the items. In my package were 4 pillow cases. Each pillow case had a different design/theme on it. Kenny’s had New Kids on the Block on it. LT Camp got one with Barbie on it. Fred got Bugs Bunny and Pals and I got Fred Flintstone. We all had a laugh and took pictures of our newest comfort items. They were a real morale booster!

Watched, “Old Skool.” We laughed so hard at this movie. It had Wil Ferrell in it and was basically about 3 guys who are in their 30’s who end up moving in together and starting a Frat house. It is hilarious!

Went to bed at 1am after playing hockey with Kenny for about an hour after the movie.

Tomorrow, Kenny is going to Baghdad to see Kid Rock and Wayne Newton in concert and Fred is going to Doha to get training on the Command and Control Blackhawk. Fred will be there for 4 to 9 days. I gave him a list of a few things to buy for us: Coke, Friend’s DVD set; and Easy cheese (spray cheese).