The Anti-Climax

Well June 30 has come. June 30 has gone. Tomorrow will be July 1, which has been declared a national holiday by the Iraqis.

We still have to work (It's OK...there at still three seasons of Scrubs that I have yet to watch on our entertainment drive...).

We didn't get to have a parade either. Yes, I asked. I just figured we could drive around Balad in our NTV's, honk the horns, flash the lights, and maybe fire wildly in to the air out of respect for the local customs.

I'd even completed PMCS on one of the vehicles to make sure it was ready. And it becaues it was my turn. I didn't wash the car even though it was on the checklist. I said I wasn't going to wash it.

I forecasted a dust storm.

We got it.

The car looked dusty before. It looks dust now. The clean cars all look dusty now too.

I win. Or I thought I did until one of the senior NCOs pointed out to me at dinner that last summer's weather guy kept the dust away. My award was in danger of not being approved. This led a warrant officer to jump on the bandwagon and mock me for briefing the boss the other night that he would not need to choose between hot and dusty because he would get both over the next few days.

I just asked the warrant officer to describe the weather for me at the moment. Hot. Dusty.

I win.

And in case any one is worried, the Senior NCO was just giving me crap. Last summer actually set records for dust in Iraq.

This particular Senior NCO continues to be a font of wisdom. He was telling some hysterical stories from working as an evaluator at the last phase of one of the SOF training courses.

His conclusion: "Being on the clippie side of the clippie board is much better than being on the non-clippie side."

Oddly, we all knew exactly what he was talking about.

But back to the local news... some one here was complaining about the coverage on CNN. I agreed. It was confusing. I keep hearing about withdrawals and draw downs, but we're all still HERE.

The JOC director told me to ignore the news. I'm not going anywhere.

So one day, apparently, this JOC will be all mine.

Perspective

Maybe it's because I'm the weather guy and my specialty straddles the Action Guy/Support Guy line, but I have a hard time getting too caught up in how cool Special Operations troops are. I have the utmost respect for what my peers have accomplished and what it takes to join these units. Admittedly, I kind of slid in the back door.

All that said, it doesn't change the fact that we have specialized missions but we aren't the only ones facing risks and killing bad guys. One the guys I was eating chow with made a comment about everyone trying to be special. It is one thing for a support troop to claim to be a Special whatever as opposed to either taking pride in what they did to make missions happen or manning up and trying out to be a Special whatever. It is another to forget that conventional forces do longer tours, ran the convoys, and did it without all of the specialized support.

I had to point out that a lowly transportation troop probably has multiple combat rotations, has run thousands of convoys, been blown up mulitple times, and probably been a few fire fights. Meanwhile, we have made some slides.

This isn't to minimize what we are doing, as tedious as it seems sometimes, but a reminder that just about everyone here is doing their job to get the missions done. Just becaues their job won't ever be featured in a movie, it doesn't mean it isn't vital to the war effort.

Though the odds of me using all my cool guy training to do something other than refine my powerpoint skills, I'm still collecting cool guy toys just in case.

I got two Army Combat Shirts from supply. A new pair of glasses (not cool, but I needed a new pair since my others broke). A second set of prescription inserts for my ballistic goggles. I may be getting issued a flight suit so I can travel home in comfort--if I actually fly anywhere in theater I'd rock the Combat Shirt since it is also fire-resistant and fits better under my armor.

I also have many cases of MREs at my disposal. Nice to have that problem pretty much solved.

Unfortanately I lost whatever cool points I had. My sister baked us some wonderful chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. Awesome. But the crumbled up in transit... less awesome. Once we ran out of chunks I resorted to eating the crumbs with my spork.

Not even a folding titanium spork can make that cool.

I don't care cause the cookies were good.

Tangible Accomplishments

We were walking by some construction when one of my friends said that he should be a carpenter. Keep in mind he spent over two years getting trained for his current specialty in a course with a very high attrition rate. Because we are all becoming friends, we made fun of him.

But we also all sympathized. Here we are, highly trained and motivated troops, editting powerpoint slides. I'm fortunate in that I get to make my own slides. We do this with the knowledge that we are enabling the teams in the field to get the job done. We also look at the guys working in the summer heat fixing things and are envious of the feeling of accomplishment they must have.

We decided that we should be able to make something. Nothing fancy. Maybe just a T-barrier. It will be our, the JOC Staff's, lasting legacy to Joint Base Balad. We can write our names or initials in the barrier before the cement dries.

The carpenter-wannabe mentioned our plan to another friend of his. She's in too.

It probably won't happen. But why dream small?

It also looks like my food issues will be resolved. I got a call from supply giving me a point of contact at the Chow Hall who should have everything just about set. Hopefully more to follow on that.

As for the choice between hot and miserable or cooler and very dusty, I'm not sure which I prefer. I think hot and miserable, but variety is nice.

If you can make a panini 24/7...

A few days ago at chow we were discussing a certain individual that has since gone home. During his tour here a health and welfare inspection of his room discovered multiple water bottles full of pee.

Apparently the walk to the flushing toilets was too much at night. Or so we like to assume. I guess there could be other motives but we don't want to know. And why did he keep them?

Anyway, it was agreed that if there are flushing toilets and running water for showers, you don't need to pee in a bottle.

If you have a room with four walls, electricity, air conditioning, and cable TV then you don't need to be peeing in bottles.

If there is a functioning chow hall with regular hot food and a sandwich bar complete with panini maker 24/7, then you have no excuse for peeing in a bottle.

We could go on. If you have a Green Beans coffee down the road, if you have large PX's, etc.

For the record, I do have cable in my room, but I do not have a TV and have no need for one. I enjoy the break. I work. I PT. I eat. I read. I get my news on-line during work and there are flatscreens in the JOC w/AFN News. So I get all the news the internet and the worst of cable talk shows on demand while on duty.

The crazy array of comforts on this post led to a similar talk of the situation off post on our way back from chow today. One of the guys misses being on a team where they could go out into the towns, stop in the souk, get tea, and just be with people. In all reality, we could probably grab one of the SUVs, drive it right out the gate here and stop in a market. Maybe get a cold soda, maybe tea, and just chill with Iraqis.

The most dangerous part would be trying to get back through the base security checkpoint in a beat up old SUV. Not that they'd ever let us off post in the SUV in the first place, but that's besides the point.

There are definitely places where we couldn't do that. But there are places back home where we wouldn't want to do it either.

It's not perfect here, but I'm not exagerating either. Especially if we could go out of uniform so it was clear we were just people out to spend a few bucks and enjoy the 118F/48C weather and not there to monkey stomp their cousin the terrorist, it would likely be fine.

If we made a habit of it we'd probably be targeted by some nasty kidnapping cell.

Babysteps.

And in other news, the group rifle buy is moving forward in a hilarious manner. Since my neighbor is the coordinator, the rest of us in the row have become his agents. People come by with questions, we take messages or have the answers.

Today we counseled an SF troop on caliber options, configurations, and the terminal ballistics of the calibers for which upper receivers are available for either AR-15 or AR-10 lowers.

He is looking for a hunting rifle for his children that is lightweight and can be configured as either a small caliber plinking/practicing gun and also as a larger caliber deer gun. His kids are already experienced hunters but there are ergnomic advantages for them to exploit here.

I think we helped.

Yes, it is an evil-black-super-innocent-people-die-just-by-being-in-its-presence-assault-rifle. Not that it matters. But it's fun to poke some times.

Flaming Pile of Dog Poo

Hypothetically...

If you give yourself an arbitrary internal deadline to push a product, but as the deadline approaches you know that the product does not work, do you:

a) Push the product anyway
b) Delay the release
c) Delay the release and check with the end users to make sure that the product is something desired in the forst palce
d) Push the product anyway without consulting with the enduser, do it in a way that undermines the functionality of various products without warning, and then ensure that systems crash in order to divert attention from the bad product to the bad service... all while fighting wars on multiple fronts

Guess which one the Air Force chose?

My computer just about melted due to the use of various phrases that are not in spellcheck in my initial response to the new products.

Then I took a few deep breaths. I ascertained the grid coordinates of the people responsible and began filling out a 9 -line request for an airstrike.

I decided that would be too impersonal and might negatively impact some friends I have that work in the same buildings.

So I wrote a professional but scathing critique and sent it up the chain like a good little staff officer. I continued to creatively distort the English language in ways that did, in fact, disturb some old sailors. Well, I got some funny looks anyway. But on the record I was a professional.

It was less than satisfying.

I did, however, close the Level 1.5 Gripper with both my right and left hands. It is entirely possible that I will be physically capable of crushing the thick hollow skulls of the eggheads who prematurely pushed these stupid products with my bare hands.

I don't actually want to crush their skills with my bare hands. It would be really gooey and their special brand of stupid is probably contagious. But to be able to do it...

Waiting...

My knee is feeling better again so I'm trying to ease back in to my PT routine. Have to fous on form and be careful, but it'll be fine.

I think the reduced PT schedule contributed to my going a little stir crazy. That and the relatively slow pace of things.

I'd say that there is this Waiting for Godot quality to our routine but that would be really pretentious and I've have to punch myself. We do show up everyday trying to believe something is going to happen, and--unlike the existentialist drama of some silly play I read in high school--things are happening, but we are too removed to feel it most of the time.

I often complain that news coverage of the wars is usually behind events on the ground. Oddly, it seems our development and withdrawal of complex headquarters structures/infrastructure is simply out of phase with the state of the war.

Now that we are withdrawing from the cities, and preparing to drawn down in numbers period, we have multiple layers of sophisticated command centers in place. Whether that is ever a good thing is a bit of an open question due to the temptation and technological capability to micromanage to an unimaginable degree. Here, however, I think it is just becoming an inefficient use of manpower.

The good thing is that at least the lesson is being learned, even as bigger gyms are being built for smaller numbers of troops. Technology will enable us to do certain command and support functions from the rear without having to build up and maintain as large of a fielded presence.

It is like being witness to a revolution of sorts. We are grappling with how best to implement new technologies and networked command capabilities.

Of course, while the volume of information and the speed with which it can be available is new, there is still something timeless about the end result.

People back home can see incredible footage from aircraft video feeds and satellite broadcasts. In the end, as in generations past, it is still only made possible by a bunch of exhausted, dirty, and scared kids holding that ground.

It would be familiar to and soldier that has ever had to march on tired feet, carrying an every growing load, and fight. Only we may have UAV's in overwatch, death from above on call through the radio, we haven't had to play a home game in almost 150 years.

And our toys are better now. Almost got more free stuff. Apparently we are authorized two combat shirts from supply. Combat shirts are one of those nifty innovations that involves a hybrid of a moisture-wicking t-shirt with the sleeves of a uniform jacket; all made of a flame resitant material. Wear one layer rather than a t-shirt plus uniform jacket. I may also get a flight suit.

Sweet.

And... I got a giant package today.

The cookies won't last long. Some people were complaining that many of the cookies broke into small pieces and crumbs. Those same people have yet to let me put the bag away.

I had two cookies and decided to eat an apple. I love cookies. But I'm trying to be a good boy too.

It also has lots of food and mulitiple issues of The Economist. Those are at least as a big a hit as the cookies. The best part, as was pointed out, is that once you are through with the cookies, or more properly, once the cookies are through you, you then grab The Economist and do your business.

The circle of life in a USPS box.

The box also contained lots of very nice notes from friends back home. That was a really nice touch.

Thank you, everyone.

Now, the other thing I learned courtesy of the box was that one of the new guys is an Ohio State graduate (as you can see, the strain of these wars has forced even SOF to lower our standards).

He saw that a copy of the Michigan Alumnus magazine was included in my care package and declared that I'd have to be sent back as if going home early would be a punishment. Like I said, an Ohio State grad.

As a new guy, we are hazing him appropriately. At the chow hall a note was left on his tray by my neighbor. The note, chicken scratch on a napkin, said we hate you and want the current guy to stay. The current guy had a good laugh.

The new guy had a good laugh too, so he should fit in fine. We aren't too worried about him because, aside from the OSU thing, he meets the prerequisite for his job.

His last name starts with "B." That is three straight guys that have sat in that seat that have a last name starting with "B."

Marking Time

One of the people I was coordinating with was excited because he has less than one month left until he goes home.

One of my the guys on my team asked me how long I've got left. It was more rhetorical since I flew in with him and I'm flying out with him.

I said I pretty much am here until I leave. I mark time by events. So certain people leaving are milestones.

My wife leaving for Peru was a milestone.

Her staring to work on the clinic there is a milestone.

Her coming home is a milestone.

Oddly, kind of like last time, the big events I use to mark time are what my wife is doing.

Anyway, the other guy on my team handles it similarly. He doesn't bother paying too close attention to the calendar until the last month. If he actually leaves on time, great. If not, so it goes.

So as long as Iran doesn't completley implode or North Korea doesn't get too frisky and we don't get extended/stranded, then we'll be home roughly on schedule.

Whatever.

In the mean time, my wife starts work on the clinic next week.

And I hate sand fleas.

Catching Up

So I was perusing our pile of gun magazines with my SEAL buddy here discussing equipment and joking about what movie or TV show to watch from the Entertainment Server when I mentioned that deployments are the time to catch up on movies and TV shows I've missed. Strangely, it's become kind of true.

Last time I was idealistic and resisted it. This time I have no qualms about having some silly movie on in the background or taking a quick break for a commercial-free episode of Scrubs or Robot Chicken.

As for the pile of gun magazines... we may be on some kind of watch list. They just kind of multiply. Courtesy of internet networking, I "know" some of the authors now and "know" the designers of some of the equipment being reviewed. Actually, some the folks I've met in person.

Besides, we must be true to stereotype.

In an effor to feel useful while my wife dealt with a minor infection on her finger I consulted the local experts in dirt medicine. He told me to keep it clean and apply anti-biotic ointment, oral anti-biotics if available. And use clean drinking water to wash it off, not the local tap water or whatever.

So nothing earth shaking. Nothing she wasn't already very on top of. But I was trying to feel useful.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad and all the other Dad's out there in the real world. I may have accidentally ruined a surprise about desert for him tonight. Oops.

As for out here, I was a little surprised that they didn't have a cake or something for Father's Day. They had a cake for the Army's birthday. They had a cake or something for Mother's Day.

It's also a funny holiday here because a lot of the guys here are fathers and so rather than kids calling home it is the dad's calling home. Yeah, a similar thing happens on Mother's Day here but it is less pronounced.

Workwise, as the lead weather guy for SOF here, my attitude is that it is more important that we--the SOF weather forecasters--be coordinated than that we be right. Being right is obviously important. But if we are not coordinated and are all saying something different, then the planning process breaks down and resources aren't allocated optimally. And if we are coordinated then it is likely we will have collaborated on the forecast and will enjoy some type of synnergy leading to a better forecast anyway. However, I prioritize all of us saying the same thing over any one of us being perfectly accurate by ourselves.

Usually we're successful. Every now and then the system breaks down. When all the weather folks aren't all repeating the same thing then a weird game of telephone happens. Some dude will remember whichever of the various forecasts that he liked. He will then repeat it to his buddy, who will repeat whatever he remembered, and so on until the commander is making decisions based on a mix of our briefs and rumor. If we are all repeating the same thing, this is less likely to happen. Nip it in the bud.

I am happy to report that the Chow Hall is stocking Health/Protein Shakes again. I am building my own stash. I know that if everyone is hoarding things from the chow hall then we will all run out faster. I know that by hoarding it that I contribute to this. But I also know that if I don't hoard them, then I will run out faster than everyone else who is hoarding them.

There is a lesson in there.

Besides, I'm sure the limit of 2 drinks applies to each pocket, not to each person.

Shameless Self-Promotion

I wrote up my citation and my partner's citation. He shoud edit it and then we'll finalize it and turn them in. I tried to put in what my goals were for this trip but ground it in what we've already done. The citation the last guy wrote for himself listed some grandiose plans for the future that may have seemed plausible when he was drafting it early in his rotation but none of which seemed to have happened. So yes, he got an award that has fantasy and dreams for its official narrative.

If I was feeling lazy, I would have just swapped out my name for his and called it a day.

Hopefully, everything I listed comes to some sort of fruition. If not, then what I have is a bit overstated, but still valid. If so, well then it will be slightly understated. Not to be too cynical, but the award will be same either way and I'm not doing any of it for the oak leaf cluster on my Joint Comm anyway.

I had dinner with some SEALs. They have their own unique culture. I was more observing than participating. They were telling stories about a Platoon Chief that had all the new guys so scared that they literally hid in closets. Or about some big dude that was told he was no longer allowed to wrestle with new team mates because they were being found semi-conscious in the team room and it was disconcerting.

It was also interesting because a good chunk of their officers were enlisted SEALs before getting their commissions. They were commisserating with a senior NCO about new young officers that don't realize that they are no longer NCOs and that their jobs and relationship with their men has changed.

Officers that still think they are NCOs are probably a bigger pain for the other NCOs and Senior NCOs than anyone else. The guy ends up micromanaging the NCOs or trying to do their jobs for them. Meanwhile the higher level admin and top cover functions don't get done or fall on the Senior NCO, who then doesn't have time to run the day to day ops they way he should.

I'm off to the gym now. Knee is feeling better. We'll test it out on the rower, work our way up to the treadmill again.

Networking

I went to visit the lead conventional weather team here at Balad today. Nominally it was to pick up some paperwork but really it was to put faces with names. Internet chat and email are great but nothing beats an actual personal relationship.

The Senior NCO there has done a great job. Last time that unit caused us all sorts of headaches. He saw some of the issues from the sidelines and vowed to fix it if he was ever over here. Well, he's here and he mostly has.

I just hope it continues when his replacement takes over. Continuity too often is lost from rotation to rotation. Unlike SOF, where we will go and go and go, many of the conventional folks tend to go once and not go back for a while and probably won't hit the same place twice. There are exceptions, but that seems to be how it goes in big Air Force Weather.

My knee is recovering nicely. I stubbornly gave the elliptical another shot. A little less weird. Well, less jarring, but still weird. I don't know what kind of motion it is, but I got a rhythm going. I'm sure I accomplished something since I was tired and sweaty afterwards.

Tonight is my night off of PT and tomorrow night I think I'll test out the rower again. We'll see how it goes.

Biblical Dust

I had to take my "Biblical Dust" comment out of my breifing slide. The JOC Director nixed it.

However... as soon as I briefed my slides, the wall of dust hit and the visibility outside was reduced to ZERO.

When I saw myself in the mirror after walking from the JOC to my hooch I saw what I will look like with gray hair.

If you're curious, I will look distinguished. Of course.

Somehow I got motivated to go back in to the dust to hit the gym and try an elliptical machine. I won't try that again. The motion is nothing like my natural stride, the controls are weird on these machines, and IT IS NOTHING LIKE A NORMAL MOTION.

I'll go back to the rower or a bike for low-impact work while my knee recovers.

I also sent a picture of the satellite image of the dust to some of my troops back home that are headed this way. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Anyway, once again I have to say that having a SOF-only chat room for weather coordination is a life saver. It doesn't change the weather or anything, but provides a nice steamvent. We all know each other. We can joke. We can complain. It's nice.

Also, to freak out my mother (and maybe my wife, but I likely talk to her soon and she will have already vetoed it--as she should), one of my buddies here has organized a group buy for AR-15 parts kits. You have to put it together yourself, which is a good experience anyway, but then you have a fully functional rifle at an incredible price. It's very tempting because the price is incredible.

We all enable each other's bad habits. We all have overlapping if not the same interests and way too much time spent eating internet bandwidth.

Oops.

I learned a great way to annoy a Texan. When they have a Texas flag either in their yard or hanging from their rear-view mirror or on a sticker on their truck (one of the three is almost guaranteed), ask them why they are flying a Puerto Rican flag.

For my more sensitive readers, this is not to say that there is anything wrong with the Puerto Rican flag or that all Texans are racist (and I'm guessing that any reader who immediately wondered what was wrong with flying the Puerto Rican flag is also the kind of person who assumes all Texans are racists of some kind). But the two flagg look just enough alike to plausibly be confused for each other and Texans, especially those flying the flag, are particularly proud of being Texan. And there are a lot of them in the military--be they natural born Texans or those who claim the residency for tax purposes.

I was also reminded by a doctor that I am, at the most basic level, an idiot as well. It fits well with the Scott Admas theory of humanity. I went in cause my knee was bothering me. I probably hit the treadmill too hard, too fast without letting my body adjust to the impact. He asked how long it had been bothering me. I told him.

Then he asked what I'd been taking for it. I told him a mix of naproxen and Vitamin M (Motrin... the military cure-all). He asked if I'd been taking them together. I said no. Gee, I'm not THAT dumb. Then he asked how often I'd been taking them. I told him periodically, and neither one consistently, usually whatever was at hand.

So he, the wisened old doc, shook his head and told his aid to go grab some naproxen. They have pre-measured baggies with the direction cards all set. They see a lot of pulled muscles, over-training injuries, etc. here. Too many hooahs with too little to do but hit the gym.

Anyway, he admonished me to stick with the one medication, take it regularly, and ice my knee. He even gave me an ice pack.

I know better. I've been through this before. I'll be through this again. Lesson learned.

This time.

He also told me to hit the pool and use the eliptical for a while. I've been meaning to hit the pool. Now I really need to. Fortunately, the SEALs go pretty regularly. All goes well, I'll hitch a ride with them. They'll laugh at me, do mulitple laps for every one of mine, and maybe I'll pick up some tips.

The other incentive to recover so I can PT hard again is that I am rapidly collecting sodas. I'm not much of a soda drinker, but they make a simple currency for bets. I was having a chat room "discussion" with one of the other weather guys about a forecast. I disagreed with him, my peers in SOF disagreed with him, but he owned the official airfield forecast (as opposed to the mission forecasts, which he doesn't need to know). Finally, since it was getting circular, I cut off the discussion with a Coke bet. If we're right, he owes me a Coke. If not, I owe him.

Getting into a prolonged internet fight seemed unprofessional. We'd stated our positions and reasoning. He wasn't going to budge. As the lead weather guy for my element I made the decision to end it for now with a face-saving friendly gesture, lest it get out of hand.

Anyway, I haven't lost a Coke bet yet.

In other news, today is fat pill day. First, one of the guys has a friend who works for Utz Potato chips. This friend shipped us a box full of a variety of flavors of chips. I've got one snack bag of BBQ and one Natural Gourmet Medley.

Then one guy got cookies from his sister. So we all had cookies.

Good day.

I also hit the PX and got a new battery for my super cool giant Suunto watch. This will allow me to finish recharging my super cool giant Casio solar-powered watch.

My big accomplishment for the day was closing the Level 1 Captain of Crush grip strength spring thing. 150 lbs of pure crush in these fists. I may end up buying the Level 1 off my neighbor when he leaves so that we can continue the circle of crush. In time the level 1 will become easy and I will need the 1.5 or the 2 and will sell the 1 to my neighbor's replacement when I leave.

And to see if people are paying attention, I put "Biblical Dust" in my powerpoint slides. I guess people do read what I put out because I've gotten a few laughs.

But I just got here!

So, I'm past the one quarter point here. Things are slow but time is passing quickly enough. In fact, time is passing so fast that I've already been told to submit my awards package for this rotation with a deadline in the next few weeks.

Maybe I'm cynical but I think it cheapens the tour award if it is requested and approved by the half-way point of the term. Granted, unless you cause a major international incident or really really screw up, you will leave my job with a Joint Service Commendation Medal. I knew that going in.

They hated the guy I replaced here and he got one. The liked his partner. He got one. I guess that ruins the suspense of whether the award will be approved.

It's in stark contrast to how the folks here rate their troops. For actual career-affecting performance reviews, they enforce the standard. They do it hard.

One guy, apparently a complete dirt bag, just got his performance review. It was a career ender specifically drafted to stunt him at his current rank because he was over-promoted in the past and is apparently a horrible troop.

Well, to make sure the point got across, one of the senior NCOs here called a buddy of his that runs the bad troops career field just to make sure he knew how much of a dirtbag this guy is.

It may sound vindictive, but really it's restorative. This bad troop was coddled for many years. He ended up in his current position because rather than fire him, his last unit took the proverbial dead squirrel and tossed it in to our yard. This had probably gone on for many years.

That's not how these guys play here. They like to solve problems and aren't shy about telling people what they really think.

Though planting rumors among the dirtbags peers to tell him not to sign his performance report may be a little over the line. If he signs it then he can later appeal to have the bad report removed from his record. If he doesn't sign it, he can't appeal and so it will weight him down for a while (history says this guy will likely earn future bad reports if his command has the guts to write them... unless he learns and fixes it). It is a little funny too.

After a series of screw ups and over all bad behavior a Senior NCO called down the office the dirtbag was working in. The dirtbag answered the phone. The Senior NCO hung up. The Senior NCO then called again. Dirt bag answered. Senior NCO hung up. Finally, the third time, the dirtbag answered the phone yet again and the Senior NCO thundered through the line: "[Dirtbag's name], put a real soldier on the phone please."

At least the dirtbag was answering the phone.

Meanwhile, while I was checking my email real fast in the MWR hooch last night and calling home, some contractor came in wearing perfume. I also saw a soldier in the chow hall looking clownish with make up. Maybe they want to feel lady like, I don't know. But, really? Really?

As for un-lady like behavior... a new female officer here has, in a few short days, discussed in detail her bowel movements, a drunken injury, and the finer points of a certain type of movie in Korea that you won't find in foreign film festivals.

Not much to say about that. Definitely nothing that can be said in this venue.

So I'll close with this... my neighbor's wife is pregnant. We've been getting regular updates and ultrasound images.

It looks like a person now.

Laugh or Cry

So there are some things here that just leave me befuddled.

One of them is a new officer at another post that has to coordinate some things with my neighbor. This young officer is either incredibly lazy or incredibly dumb... or both. He claims that his troubles are based on the fact the he is inexperienced with computers. For some people I can sympathize. For an officer in the modern Army and a recent college graduate, I find it hard to believe. Even the guys majoring in "Mario Kart" (OK, technically they were majoring in Sociology, but they spent much more time playing Mario Kart while high) in my dorm had a basic computer competency. Every military specialty relies on a basic computer competency these days. In short, the basic level of computer competency to check email and do work processing that he has demonstrated is all he should need to do his job. That this is the kind of person who probably used wikipedia for most of his research projects in his bogus liberal arts degree program (I'm not saying liberal arts degrees area all bogus, but I do know that no engineering or science grad would ever use lack of computer skills as an excuse) means he definitely has the basic internet skills to do his job. It's pitiful.

There are also some odd breakdowns in accountability that seem to have developed as an unintended consequence of all the mini-headquarters that popped up everywhere. Instead of supervising they micro-managed. These various HQs startd doing some basic administrative tasks that should have been done at the lower levels in order to justify their own existences. This has allowed some lower level units to get sloppy with things.

This feeds back in to the issue with that young officer described above. He is an apparently lazy guy who lacks the knowledge to seek information from the lower levels at the HQ he works at. This means a breakdown below him won't get fixed because he hasn't taken the initiative to discover it in the first place. This creates a bigger mess that leaves the next level up too busy cleaning to correct the issues below. At the bottom, they don't care that they aren't communicating the needed info up because it gets fixed for them.

Then new people rotate in, everything switches over, and some of it gets passed on properly and some doesn't. What is passed on properly is maybe fixed or maybe ignored since the last team must have been stupid and the new team will do it all perfectly.

It's way out of my lane and I have no ability to influence this particular situation at all. But I can watch from the sidelines with a mix of shock and amusement. I can listen to buddies complain about it. And I can make a snide blog posts about it.



Nothing major, but in the long run I don't think it does anyone any favors.

Hilarity Ensues

I will begin with the greatest headline I've ever seen: Is Jewish the New Black?
Came across it while reading the news, had to read the story.
http://www.theroot.com/views/jewish-new-black

As for local comedy, this morning I am going about my business, prepping my daily products, when I look over and notice that my SEAL buddy is doing push-ups. A litle odd, but not so odd. But it does gather a few looks from the others in the JOC as well. OK. He finishes his set. Nothing crazy.

But he didn't get up. He just stayed down at the front leaning rest (the starting up position of the push-up). So we have to ask. He says that he got a message on his computer that said drop.

He is pretty fresh from BUD/S and SEAL Qualification course where he would be told to drop pretty regularly until the instructor got tired. When he got to his team, he was the new guy and so there was a little bit of extra PT there too. So at this point he's been told to drop so often that, well, when a random computer message that appeared to be from a Senior NCO told him to drop... he did. And waited to be told to recover just as if he was still in a training environment.

While this was happening a Senior SEAL NCO watched and pretended not to notice. The young SEAL officer assumed that it was this particular NCO that dropped him for some unknown error. After a few minutes the Senior NCO walked out to do something without acknowleding his tiring officer. He came back. A smirk broke the surface. Then a smile.

The red-faced officer got up. We're still not sure who it was that actually sent him the message to drop, but we know it wasn't the purported sender.

A few of the other Senior NCOs took pity on him and explained that he isn't in a training environment anymore. An enlisted man, even a Senior NCO, will not drop someone who outranks them in the real world. In the real world, push-up may work as correction for young lower enlisted. If an Senior NCO or Officer screws up to that point, then a firm word in private or paperwork is in order.

He was getting kind of bored at his desk so the push ups were probably good for him anyway.

Dinner was also funny because I ate with some of the senior NCOs, warrant officers and one of the senior officers. It was both an enlightening and hysterical griping/planning session.

I did not get ice cream today but I did yesterday. One scoop. But it was one KBR scoop. None of the KBR employees would last long at an actual Baskin Robbins. They are very generous with the scoop. Two scoops here is a quart back home.

I don't know why everyone is so down on KBR.

That said, I just got my first case of Kosher MREs. Finally. One case is only good for about a week, but the gears are now in motion. What I really need to do is get the point of contact that our Chaplain uses and go directly to that person.

The other good news was that I've been cleared from my higher headquarters to really gather information on future plans here and set things up/make recommendations for how we'll support it.

I have to be careful because the good idea fairy and I are very close friends. This can get me into trouble. Fortunately my partner is a little more comfortable speaking freely to me about his ideas and input and I have some other people here I can bounce ideas off of.

The only problem is differentiating between rumors and actual plans.

As my Marine friend here said, life can be a giant game of telephone sometimes.

To avoid the silly miscommunications, face to face meetings are often helpful. So I went over and met my counterpart at the SOF Air Component last night. Walked over after my shift to say hi. Chatted for about two hours. She was nervous, her first time here, a little overwhelmed. I realized that although in my seat I'm not necessarily that busy, it gives me time to sit back and monitor how things are for the other weather folks. So I shared some stories, had some ideas on how she could find some new efficiencies, and work with her partner better. One of my "Captain" moments.

Hope I helped.

I guess we'll find out.

In Awe

My military career has been far from conventional. It is not what I planned. Very frequently I wonder about this whole weather thing.

All that said, I look around here at the people I get to work with, I talk to my current boss and troops back home, and I see what the people I've worked for in the past are doing and I consider myself to have been very lucky.

A lot of names are being thrown around for the new leadership structure in Afghanistan. I'm not sure any of them would necessarily remember me beyond recognizing a face should we cross paths again (as happened briefly in the halls of the Pentagon this past summer) but I will always remember working for them and learning how things are supposed to be done.

In addition to being great warriors leaders and some having already inspired movies with their actions, they are truly great leaders. I have seen firsthand how they foster and direct healthy debates among subordinates.

Here, the work continues. Slow, steady, and a little repetitive.

I stopped by the Chaplain to check on food. May have a few cases of meals soon. Hopefully not more Passover food. I just can't eat those. They are not good. I'm a SERE graduate. But I can't eat those. Just way too heavy, greasy, and yet strangely unfilling.

Oh well.

I also put my most recent shipment of M&M's in the community candy basket. I'm trying to maintain my figure here.

My new armband and protective sleeve for my iPod came. I'll be testing those out tonight. A few nights ago I tried the rowing machine for a bit. It proved to be an excellent warm up for the treadmill. Tonight I'll find out if that was a weird night, an ice cream fueled super workout, or my new routine.

Fortunate Son

So the little video of some recent operational highlights they showed us was set to the classic Fortunate Son. I think it's a great song. I'm just not sure they listened to the words before choosing it as the soundtrack for a movie about an all-volunteer force being trained by an all-volunteer force.

In a karmic moment that would make Earl proud (I wonder if that reference will make any sense in a few years...), the video crashed.

The commander was disappointed. He's a Credence Clearwater Revival fan.

I am too. Except their cover of "I heard it Throught the Grapevine" just doesn't do it for me.

I guess tonight's theme will be music. While I was waiting for the computer the contractor who runs the MWR hut was singing to himself again. It sounds a little like a Chinese Opera. That would be fine except he's not actually singing a Chinese Opera and, well, it sounds like a Chinese Opera.

My key accomplishment for the day was finishing the silly computer-based training modules for my Air Force class. Now to do the readings and take the tests and be done with it.

In work related news, while we as a community botched a recent forecast, we've been able to turn it in to a good learning experience. In addition to identifying some features that we missed, I and one of the other Senior NCOs in the country made a concerted effort to see if this experience revealed other deficiencies.

We both worked together to stop any useless finger pointing that was going on. Then we did identify some broken processes and came up with solutions. Some of them have already been implemented and will be tested the next time the weather goes to crap.

Working with this one particular Senior NCO is a great experience. We aren't in the same command but coordinate a lot of our efforts to get things done. He is very professional, very dedicated, and very smart. If he doesn't retire at the top of the enlisted rank structure then we are promoting the wrong people.

Back in the groove

Well, I think we're back in a good groove. The weather threw us for a bit of a loop there but I think we were able to figure out what we missed and learn from it.

We'll find out soon enough.

Not much new to report. Stephen Colbert is in Baghdad. But I am not and streaming video is blocked on our work computers to save bandwidth. And Comedy Central's page is blocked, because, well I'm not sure. The policy is kind of random. But now I'm trying to play it on an MWR computer.

It is really great that he came out here. Apparently he couldn't get a kosher meal on the flight in either.

Family Foibles

Gen Odierno requested that everyone read President Reagan's 40th anniversary of D-Day speech. Wow. You can find it here: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/reagan-d-day.htm

RLTW

I'd also like to direct my readers to Fareed Zakaria's piece in Newsweek echoing Friedman echoing my frustration with the Obama speech. So it's not just that I'm biased because I'm sitting in Iraq and feeling neglected.

Anyway, today's theme seemed to be guys talking about their parents and grandparents. I'm not sure what started it but it kept coming up.

In some ways the chats were more about a way of life that is being lost. Their grandparents could make anything they needed with their hands. Even some of the older guys, their parents could make anything they needed with their hands.

One guy was telling the story of being on a satellite phone with his dad to ask about setting up some plumbing and wiring for their team house during one of his deployments.

My neighbor here was talking about how his wife's grandparents, who moved from Montana to Alaska cause it was getting crowded (OK, so really her grandfather got a job up there, but I've met people like that), keep everything. When one shed got full, they'd build another. Never know when you'd need it.

So I was telling stories about my Grandfather as well. I'm not sure how many people's families he managed to support by jotting down brilliant ideas on the backs of envelopes and napkins and then giving them away, but it wasn't just ours.

I'm not sure if those skills were the product of the depression, of shared military training from WWII, or just necessity in the days before hardware stores. All I know is all of us here, despite having our own mix of skills, are a little jealous when we talk about it.

Hank Williams Jr. and my SERE instructors were right: a country boy can survive.

At lunch one guy was telling crazy stories about his family. I guess they are a little, um, closed-minded. When he brought the woman who would become his wife to meet them they heard her last name and asked if she was a, well, they didn't use the word Italian. His mom;s only comment on his future wife's ethnicity was that her father (my friend's grandfather) had fought against the Italians in WWII. To this day his parents send a Christmas card addressed to him and family.

When they went to visit him once at his on-base house, there just so happened to have been a domestic dispute across the street that ended with a wife stabbing her husband. His parents arrived soon after the police. So they are all looking on the scene and apparently taking it all in.

My friend was going to comment on the crime scene across the street. Before he could say anything his dad, looking at another couple that was gawking at the scene, asked if that was really a white woman with a black man. My friend, stunned, just looked at his parents and shook his head.

He hasn't talked to them in six years. It's sad, but he doesn't really have much nice to say to them.

I almost had a really proud moment today. I picked up what I thought was the next level up in the grip strength trainers I squeezed it. I got it. YES!!!. So easy. Then I checked the label. It was still the beginner one.

I'm getting closer though. My soon-to-be-crush-skulls-with-my-pinky-strength courtesy of Captains of Crush.

I received my pelican case for my iPod. Nice.

My neighbor and I also showed each other pictures from our iPods. We both have pictures of ourselves with our respective wives from Destin, FL. I guess it should be expected that guys working in this community will have pictures from Hurlburt Field.

As for my actual work, I remarked to my neighbor today that I felt like I was missing something in my forecast. I was looking over the data and computer model output and something just didn't sit right with me.

I also mentioned that to another forecaster that I work very closely with. I told him the story of how last time I was here there some days like this where we got surprise thunderstorms. At the time my partner on the day shift (I was working nights) had 25 years of experience and his response was to just shake his head and say that it happens. Technology is only so good I guess.

Well, lo and behold, it happened today. Nothing major but some unexpected storms and light rain. I was surprised in the sense that it wasn't in the forecast I put out but not surprised in the sense that I had a gut feeling that something weird would happen.

So it goes.

Lies. Damn Lies. And Bad Reporting.

First. Read Tom Friedman's piece in today's NY Times. I can scream it from this narcissistic internet soap box, but his soap box is bigger and more credible. Read it again. Embrace it.

So an embeded reporter has a responsibility to tell the truth. That truth may make us proud or it may shame us. But it will make us better.

When a reporter miserably and intentionally fails in that duty, it hurts the whole program. It breaks down the already frail relationship between the media and the military.

Sadly, a reporter for a popular left-wing magazine has done just that. A cover story coming out is a collection of myth, action-movie stereotypes, and negative spin.

I'll burst a couple bubbles here. When a mission is launched, weapons are supposed to be "locked and loaded." Even American SWAT missions are performed with weapons ready to fire. This isn't misplaced agression. This is being ready to instantaneously react to a lethal threat.

We don't first chamber a round to show we are serious. We don't then pull the hammer back to show that we are really serious. We point the weapon to show we are serious. If the suspect (we are more in a police-type advising role than a war role now) doesn't get the message, we shoot until the suspect becomes more compliant. It is the preferred option to getting shot.

The goal really is to arrest, interrogate, and put on trial. Dead men tell no tales and tend to undermine the rule of law.

When a mission to capture a terrorist is carried out, it is a good thing for them to surprised and suddently tied up before they know what is happening. That means the team is well-trained and carried out the raid properly. Potential threats to the team and to the suspect were eleminated without resorting to deadly force.

I am disgusted at how this reporter chose to cherry-pick semi-accurate facts to tailor his story to what his likely audience wants to believe. In doing so he disrespected the sacrifices of the Americans and Iraqis he wrote about.

He disrespected the role of US Special Forces in El Salvador, veterans of which I have had the honor of learning from. It is a common refrain among those Lenin called useful idiots that we trained death squads there and supported massive human rights violations. The facts remain that units with US advisors were professional and responsible. Atrocities did occur and were performed before US advisors were involved or by units without advisors. As part of the peace agreement, the rebels requested that US advisors remain because our efforts were seen as beneficial and our Special Forces were considered honest brokers and honorable fighters.

In short, I think the author is the worst kind of lowlife and he hurt both us and his profession. As for the readers, it is sad that they will eat this up unquestioningly. Too many people will either get all their news from Fox and The National Review or from MSNBC and The Nation and never know the real world.

Sadly, I pretty much expect Olberman to host the author of this story. He used to be funny.

Fortunately, on a lighter note, I've almost watched the entire first two seasons of Robot Chicken. It is immature, innapropriate, and satirizes every cartoon or action figure I watched/wanted/had growing up. It is brilliant.

My wife would hate it. Especially the skit about The Never Ending Story.

I called back to my home unit to check in and say hi since it is a drill weekend. I have a guy who will be mobilized soon and want to learn his goals for the trip. I know my goals for him. Once we're on the same page I can start precoordinating things for him with the unit he'll be working with.

Editted to add (8 June):
The story referenced above, Iraq's New Death Squad by Shane Bauer, can be found at this site--
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090622/bauer

I want to thank my neighor from back home for not only taking time out of her very busy schedule to read my silly posts but to provide valuable input. She is right that the post wasn't grounded without a way for the reader to both see my critiques and see the story that inspired them.

Although some of the points that I made about operations were direct responses to the article, the whole issue of surprise raids with loaded weapons pops up fairly often.

They are supposed to be surprises and of course our weapons our loaded...

Quick Update

So I've thought more about and decided that I think the big Cairo speech was a really happy and flowery mix of strategic incoherence and flawed comparisons.

Fortunately, the Muslim world, in as much as there is a single entity that can be called "the Muslim world," knows this as well and is waiting for actions to clarify the vague fog of soaring rhetoric that descended upon them.

The non-Muslim world is probably waiting too.

I also hear we are working on ending the genocide in Darfur. That probably means high level talks but no big speeches yet. I guess we'll be leaving the engaging with Omar al-Bashir to the ICC for now.

I guess I'm just cynical because I suspect that the coming change will involve mostly polishing the turd that is the status quo.

Otherwise, things here are good. I was getting tired during my morning PT when my Marine buddy started heckling me from a spin bike. I'd be tempted to tease him about being on a bike but I bike a lot back home and he'll be retiring with just about 100% disability due to the abuse his joints and back have taken over the years in the Infantry. In any case, I was re-motivated and banged out another three sets.

During my morning briefs I am finding that sarcasm and wit help mix things up. On a particularly good day weather wise I promised no impacts to operations due to weather and said that if I was wrong they could take out my neighbor and shoot him.

He wasn't amused. Something about betting his life on the call of a weatherman made him nervous. But I got a few smiles and laughs. I was amused.

On dusty days I try to brief the color the world will appear. Just a little hazy? Brown? Orange? Martian red? Or dark dark black because you'll have to close your eyes to avoid being sandblasted...

It's a beautiful country though. Really. It's just a bad location. It's neighbor Syria only exports dust and suicide bombers.

Is it wrong that a common joke here is that Syria is so stunted in its development they the only business is the import and re-export of foreign Jihadis? And that business is nowhere near what it once was from what I read in the papers.

Two Worlds

I'd like to make another light-hearted posting about the silly goings on here. I would talk in detail about the horrible but hysterical things the female JAG officer said at lunch. Well, not in great detail, since this is a public site for families to read, but you get the idea.

But really I'm struck again by these incredible disconnects between the flowery words of our leadership over a whole host of issues and the real world.

It came out when I was on Gmail chat with a very close friend who will be working on the staff of what should be a key sub-committee in Congress. Rather than share the joy of a great new opportunity, I reacted rather cynically.

I do believe that the signature acheivement of that particular committee is an expensive boondoggle that will achieve all of its goals provided that the goals solely involve making the members feel good about themselves. I don't believe that that it will achieve much beyond the obvious "unintended consquences."

I guess anyone with a pet issue would and probably should be disappointed with our leadership. I can't help but use Iraq as a bit of a metric for how I measure the realism and seriousness of the public debate.

Today Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army units are operating throughout the country with their faces exposed to the public. In most places they really are trusted. They serve arrest warrants that must be approved by a judge. Evidence is collected so as to put those captured on trial for their crimes.

There are still terrorist attack. Recently there was a car bomb driven by an 11-year old boy. Really. And I am unashamed to say that I have a deep seated hatred for the particular brand of evil that will use a child to target innocent people. No, Mom, if we had only been nicer and offered the planners and bomb makers a better education they would not all be good citizens. Sorry. People were nice to Sayyid Qutb when he came to Colorado fifty years ago to get a degree... he used his education to start a movement. We began advanced SERE training in preparation for this trip by watching videos of what his movement's current members would do to us if captured (to know that beheadings occur is one thing, to see how it is done truly focuses the mind). Harsh, but it isn't discussed enough in polite company and I think this fear of honesty corrupts our own debates. Also, meat doesn't come from grocery stores.

Back on topic, there are many common criminals. There are many corrupt officials. And yet, I'm fairly optimistic that soon this will be a much better place to live than Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, etc. Yemen, sorry, Yemen is rough. The UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar have their issues, but it'll take Iraq a while to get there. But in many little ways Iraqis are making this country their own in ways that they never could before. For all it's imperfections, in the end, it is the Iraqis who are and have to do the work.

Last time one of the defining moments for me was when a group of Sons of Iraq arrived as a Quick Reaction Force in support of our soldiers. This time it is too early to tell. But already I'm wondering if June 30 will be an anti-climax. What will the elections bring? Will the Arab media continue to snub these elections even though they are more open and fair than any in their home countries? Or are the sectarian elements just biding their time? I think some may be but they've been overcome by events. I'll find out. Maybe some people back home will find out too since the big events are all scheduled during re-run season.

Now, a massive invasion and poorly planned follow-on is definitely not the best way to foster these advances. But neither is pretending it isn't happening and treating Iraq 2009 as is Iraq 2006 in the grand curative speech. The speech was not the place to celebrate the accomplishments of Americans in Iraq, but it was the time to force both regional governments and populations to acknowledge the accomplishments of the Iraqi people and to support them--especially if all people do have aspirations of a responsive and accountable form of government as President Obama claimed. I am disappointed that Iraq was treated soley as something to apologize for and wish didn't happen.

In the end, yesterday was just a speech. Although it wouldn't surprise me if they tried and sold one as such, a speech can't cure cancer and a speech won't actually reset anything. But a campaign promise was kept and Cairo street vendors got to make a buck selling unlicensed t-shirts.

The Muslim world was treated as a monolith. Despite the grand concept of one Ummah, it is no more a monomlith than the communist world was twenty years ago. A speech alone won't mark a break from the continued policies of that bygone era of supporting any autocrat any our side, and I'm pretty sure that the continued disconnect between the freedoms we preach and the dictators realpolitik compels us to support is a bigger source of continued frustration than the Israeli-Palesitinian conflict (true courage would have condemned poor treatment of Palestinians throughout the region rather than just within territory controlled by Israel... but this was editorial courage). So, we'll see.

I do think the current team has the potential to be much more competent than the last one in redoing our relationships with this region. But they are blinded by their own arrogances as well.

I apologize for the disjointed nature of this post. I don't really have time to go back and edit and reorganize it.

Pavlov's Laser

Pavlov's laser is how one of the warrant officers is summoned for meals by the ranking officer in the JOC. This warrant officer sits far away. Rather than shout, the senior officer just points a green laser at the front wall and swirls it around. If something comes up and they have to wait, he uses a red laser pointer.

At one point he also used the green laser to call the warrant officer over for work issues, but the warrant officer was strangely hungry each time and so they stopped. Instead they shout.

One of the other warrant officers warned them this would happen.

Happy Birthday!

This post is a dedicated Happy Birthday! message to my grandmother. Unfortunately it is late back home while I write this, but I didn't get a chance to log on last night and so could not right or call at a reasonable hour.

There are many things to be admired about my grandmother, but one thing that stands out is her strength. At 15 she escaped from Germany and fled to England with her sister and young cousins. At that age most of my friends were talking about our learner's permits to drive and staring to think about college, my grandmother was working and acting as the guardian for her family in a foreign land. She survived closer calls with larger rockets than I have during two trips to Iraq.

Seeking a new start after the War, she once again left what she knew and came to America. This was an excellent decision because it led to her meeting my grandfather, which led to my mother, which led to me. But I digress.

Despite all spending much of her youth working and raising her cousins and then coming to American where she raised her own family, from my earliest memories until now, I can never remember her asking for anything. Everytime she asks what we want, what she can do for us, what she can get us. Everything she has done is an embodiment of an inner strength, perseverance, and the value of family.

I continue to learn from her.

Special Recon Mission

So a SEAL came back with vital strategic intel affecting planning and support for the entire staff here. Given his extensive training and dedication, it should come as no surprise that he brough back copious amounts of evidence.

Yes, it is true. I have now seen it with my own eyes. The chow hall has a new beverage refrigerator that is full of Shock lattes and mochas. I've discussed these before but just in case you missed it, Shock Coffees are like the canned Starbucks espressos. I guess Shock is to canned coffee what Green Bean is to coffee shops... the deployed answer to Starbucks.

Although I've never gotten anything at a Green Beans at any of our bases here, I think I would frequent them over a Starbucks if it was an option back home. It's very presence here, crazy and absurd as it is in some ways, gives it a little soft spot in my heart. And yes, I know, having a Green Beans franchise here for a coffee-addicted captive population was a brilliant business decision not motivated by altruism.

Also in the new glorious super fridge of enabling are these Gatorade protein shakes. I've never seen them back home, but they are pretty good. I used to have one post PT in both the morning and evening last time. Those will go faster than the Shocks so hopefully they can keep them stocked.

Now under the theory that the sooner we eat all of my the cookies that were mailed to me, the sooner I won't have cookies to eat and the healthier I will be... I broke out the cookies a few hours after lunch. I offered one to my neighbors. One of them took me up on the offer and grabbed a particularly large cookie.

As he looked at it in shock I told him that is was a man cookie. We then paused. We don't really know if that is slang for anything, but it sounds like it should be. So we then proceeded to offer man cookies to passers by.

We are highly trained leaders of professional warriors.

I was also asked how hot it was outside this afternoon. I told the guy 106. He said that he knew it was hot. I told him it's summer and he's in Iraq. Yes. It is hot.

I've been debating about making up numbers when people ask me how hot it is or what the daily high is. Usually it is just for gee whiz knowledge anyway.

Really, if there is a mission that has to go out in the heat, then the teams will go out in the heat. They will train and rehearse in the heat, in the cold, and in the light, and in the dark.

It's what we do.

Cookies!!!

I got another surprise package today, this time from my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Inside were home made cookies, granola bars, and another few thousand calories of M&Ms.

The cookies are great. Everyone here loves when someone gets cookies. We share.

As for the M&Ms, I will share those too. It will hurt but I will share most of them. I have put on weight here, but it has been the good kind. I'd like to keep it that way. M&Ms are an addictive and delicious threat to that progress.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but little grip strength gadgets have become a bit of a craze in the JOC. They are like the normal grip strength things you can get at any sporting goods strore with two handles on a spring that you squeeze together with one hand, but on a much stiffer spring. One of the old SF guys has been working his way through the different levels and my neighbor has been taking the hand me downs. Then I kind of leech of those.

So our SEAL buddy came over and tried it. Didn't fair too well. I told him he needs to make the two ends click together, and proceeded to demonstrate a few times. I also told him he shouldn't let the weather guy show him up. In all fairness, I've been playing with the grip thingy for a bit and he hasn't. I'm sure he could catch up, since we're starting from about the same place.

He's a better swimmer. And a fully trained SEAL. I'm still a partly quailifed Special Tactics guy.

We both have a mouse as our primary weapon right now.

Work here continues. I'm making progress on my PME class. I'll probably finish the computerized portion in the next week or two. Then it will just be a matter of scheduling and taking the tests here. Not a big deal. I'm a weather forecaster so I should be able to tell a few days out when I'll be able to escape for a little bit.

I also have my super Patent Bar iPod in hand. This course really does seem to have been a good purchase. Unfortunatey it was followed by a terrible purchase.

The armband/iPod case I picked up the PX was horrible. But it was the only one that fit the iPod classic that they had. I had to put some thin foam in the case to keep the iPod from bouncing around inside the ill-fitting hard plastic. I also had to cut some thin plastic wrap I found to create a hillbilly click-wheel protector. Technically, it stayed on my arm while running, but it was very uncomfortable and I'm not sure I trust it.

So now, throwing good money after bad, I hit up my friendly neighborhood internet retailer and ordered a new armband and a silicone case.

I also ordered a Pelican i1010 iPod case for storage and protection during travel.

Meanwhile, in South America, my wife is hopefully too relaxed to cause herself permanent damage when she reads about the (inevitable) iPod gear and rolls her eyes. We will soon find out how effectively I can call international cell phones through Skype... found out it works. Sweet.

In other local news, I saw yet another sight that can only be seen and appreciated on a large FOB in Iraq. While driving my NTV (non-tactical vehicle... an old beat up 5-speed SUV from back when they really were SUV's and not glorified station wagons) to the PX to make the terrible terrible purchase described above, I saw a soldier on a single speed bicycle with his slung rifle almost dragging behind him. He was wearing a helmet, a bike helmet (I should specify), but not any type of reflective belt or vest. I guarantee that if anyone were to stop him and correct him, it would be for the lack of reflective outerwear and not the very loosely slung weapon.