Over Here – Day 195
Well, finally. Sorry for the extremely long delay. The Internet connection has been pretty lame here for the past month and a half. I haven’t been able to get on for very long, and uploading anything is out of the question. Ever since a new unit took over the Wireless Internet, it’s been absolutely terrible, and only works 20% of the time. But I don’t have to deal with those bastards anymore, because I have wired satellite internet for around $45 a month. That’s pretty sweet, considering that the internet cards for the wireless internet are $20 for 10 hours. The connection isn’t spectacular, but it is pretty decent.
Now for an update of things that have been happening over the past month and a half. First of all, it has been a little over three months since I have been in Baghdad. Time sure has flown! I only have around a month or so before my mid-tour leave, which I’m really looking forward to, because I get to go to India for my cousin’s wedding. My whole family is going to be there, so it should be a whole lot of fun.
Towards the end of January, I got to roll with 1st platoon on one of their missions, which was pretty neat. They actually had me ride along for a… well… for lack of a better term, a “tech support call”. The Iraqi colonel’s computer wasn’t working and they needed me to fix it. We headed out at about 8 in the morning towards an Iraqi Juvenile Detention center. We basically hung about there for a while chilling in the Humvee. We bought some freshly baked bread off this Iraqi guy and ate that for breakfast. Usually people bring along stuff to munch on, but since this was my first time, I hadn’t brought anything, so I went ahead and got some bread. While we were waiting there, I saw something that made my whole day. It was pretty much the sweetest and cutest thing I saw. A little girl, who couldn’t have been more than two or three years old, was walking with her mother. She had a pink sweater on and pigtails and as she walked by us in our Humvee, she smiled shyly at us. We waved and smiled at her. Then as she was walking away, she turned around, flashed a huge smile and blew us all a kiss. It was a Kodak moment, and I wish I had my camera. The children here seem to like us. But I feel a little worried at times because they run so close to the Humvees, and I am afraid that they may get hit. The soldiers toss them candy and toys. They’re always cheering at us and waving to us when we drive by.
After leaving the Juvenile Detention center, we headed to the IZ (International Zone) and had lunch at the Al-Rashid hotel. I bought a few DVD’s there – there is a huge market in bootlegged DVD’s – you can get movies and entire boxed seats for ridiculously cheap prices. The Iraqis love to haggle, so you can even talk them down a few bucks. I’m sure the RIAA and the MPAA are gritting their teeth. Or probably not, they’re too concerned about American piracy – maybe if they changed their outmoded and dicatorial business practices something would change, but they’re too stupid to do that. Anyway, enough of that, I feel a rant coming on.
After lunch, we headed over to the place where the Iraqi Colonel is at. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there and so I couldn’t fix his computer. I figure I’ll go there again one of these days, I’m not sure when. Eitherway, it will be a change from what I do normally.
The other interesting thing I did was escort duty. We have Iraqis and TCN’s (Third Country Nationals) who come into our base and work here. They need escorts when they move around base, and as a result we have Escort Duty. The first duty I had was escorting this kid around from one contractor site to the other. He didn’t speak much English. But he would say “America Good! America Zain! Saddam Muzain!” (“America Good! America Good! Saddam Bad!”) from time to time. I also escorted this other kid who actually spoke excellent English. In fact, he used to work as a translator. I asked him why he didn’t go to school, and he told me that his father was killed when insurgents bombed a mosque he was praying at. He’s the oldest son in the family, so he has to forgo school to make sure his sisters and younger brother can go to school, and also to put food on the table. Everyone has their opinions on this – I don’t like to talk about mine because I feel that one’s political views are irrelevant, especially if one is in the Military. I am here to do a job, and that’s what I’ll do, regardless of what I think. But at the very least I feel that the “freedom fighters”/insurgents are hardly doing anything for Iraqis. On the other hand I can see coalition forces doing things to rebuild Iraq. So whether you agree with the reason for this war, or whether you disagree – I’m just stating what I can I see here. I guess people want to know what Iraqis feel about us being there – because I do get asked that a lot. Just from my brief drive around, I saw a whole spectrum of reactions. From complete support, to indifference, to open hostility. It never is black and white. The few Iraqis I have talked to, support the coalition effort in rebuilding Iraq, but look forward to the day when they can take over and run their country on their own. But that is just my experience.
Other than that, not much is happening. The rains have finally stopped, and it hasn’t rained for over a month now. Everything has finally dried up, but it also means that it’s dusty all over again. But I’ll take that over the mud. It’s also slowly starting to warm up, but the weather right now is perfect – like Phoenix in the winter. Oh yeah, and it looks like my promotion is coming through and so hopefully, I should get my stripes soon. I’ll be a Sergeant (E-5) now.
My job is just the same – each day is not much different from the one before, and they all just sort of blend together into one. We work long hours, at least 12 to 12 and a half hours a day, but it’s not so bad because it makes the day go by quicker. We get one “down day” a week, where we get to sleep in, and just relax in general. I look forward to those.
I’ve been keeping myself busy and entertained by watching movies and reading books. I also acquired a guitar from a buddy of mine a month ago and I have been teaching myself. I wish I had more time to play, but I try to do a little bit each day. I think I am getting better. Since I know how to play the piano, I can apply some of the theory here. So it helps a little bit.
Oh yeah, and I did get my new computer – a new Alienware laptop and it totally rocks. The other one started dying on me – hard-drive failure – because of the dust, I think. Umm… yeah… so Chip… I know you’re reading this… I’ll uh… be needing a new laptop when I get back… I hope it’s not a problem! Write this one off as WIA (Wounded In Action)!
Oh and check this out. So we spend a lot of time watching movies, right? I wanted to rent some somehow, so I figured I could try and use Netflix. I mean, we have an APO AE address, which is physically located in New York. They just route the packages from there. So theoretically, it should work. I tried to use Netflix to sign up, but the website complained that the address was invalid and wouldn’t let me go any further, which was totally lame because the address is a valid one. So I figured I’d try Blockbuster, and although the website claimed the address could be invalid, it accepted it anyway. Within a week and a half, I got my movies! Pretty sweet, huh? I wonder if they know that they’re shipping to Iraq! It takes anywhere frome one to two weeks for a movie to get here and around the same time to get back, so a round trip of two to four weeks. Which really isn’t all that bad. But anyway, I think it’s pretty sweet that I got Blockbuster to ship to Iraq!
What else… well, I can’t think of much else. There really isn’t much else to talk about actually. I am keeping well, eating well, taking care of myself, and all that good stuff. Oh yeah, and Keerthikutty, thanks for your care packages and the Nutella! Thanks for sending it all over! Also acha, amma, aniyammama and ammayee, thanks for all the stuff you sent over from India! All your care packages made me really happy! The simple pleasures mean a lot here, and thanks a bunch. And of course, I can’t forget Michael for shipping my sweet new laptop over and all my home videos. Thanks a bunch buddy! It’s much appreciated!
Oh, and an update on my mailing address. Our parent unit has changed and so there is a slight change in my mailing address. It is as follows:
Vivin Paliath
372nd MP – HHB 1/180th FA FWD
APO AE 09344
That’s pretty much it for now. And as promised, here are some pictures:
Grant and I by our Humvee at the Iraqi Juvenile Hall.
Inside the Humvee.
Sunset at the Motorpool.
Iraqi Sunset.
Iraqi Sunrise.
I met this friendly doggie at the KFC we have here. He was very playful.
I didn’t take this picture. I actually found it on one of the computers at the Internet Cafe. But I thought it was a really cool picture, so I’m putting it up here for all of you to see.
Update:
I have a Skype number that you can call me at. I’m usually available between 9 am and 2 pm and 8 pm and 9 pm Arizona Time. If you can’t reach me, you can leave a voicemail too. The number is (602) 281-4616.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Over Here – Day 143
It’s been a while since I posted, and that’s because I’ve been pretty busy. I had some pictures to post, but unfortunately my external hard-drive fried because of a power-surge. Maxtor is sending me a new one, but they won’t restore the data from the old one, which really sucks. When I was talking to the representative, they asked me why I didn’t backup the data. Which was pretty funny, and incredibly irritating at the same time, because they market that particular brand (the OneTouch) as a backup hard-drive. Pretty stupid, if you ask me. But I guess it’s better than nothing. My buddy has the latest pictures I took, and I need to get them from him so that I can post them here.
Things have been pretty boring here. Our New Year’s and Christmas celebrations weren’t too spectacular. I was actually on the Nigh Shift during Christmas, which kinda sucked. But we did have a Christmas tree. On New Year’s day, I didn’t actually realize that it was the New Year until somebody told me. That’s because all the days are pretty much the same here. You don’t even know (or care) what day of the week it is.
Other than that, not much at all. I’m doing alright – I pass my time by watching movies or reading. Speaking of reading, I’ve been doing that a lot. I’ve been through about four books in the space of a month. The first two are by Neil Gaiman – Neverwhere and Stardust. Both are light, witty reads and typical Neil Gaiman – imaginative and expressive. I enjoy his works very much and you might too, if you’re into fantasy, witty prose, and typical British humour. The third one I finished, is Edenborn, a novel by Nick Sagan, Carl Sagan‘s son. It’s set in a dystopian future where a plague has wiped out almost all of humanity. Genetically engineered survivors are in two factions – one dedicated to preserving humanity as it was, and the other dedicated to genetically engineering better humans that can survive the plague. I found it pretty interesting. The one I’m currently reading, and have almost finished, is Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I’ve been meaning to read it for quite some time, and I made sure I bought it before I left the US. It’s an amazing book and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
Other than that, not much. I have the day off today, so I’m enjoying it. Previously, we had a day off every nine days. Which was pretty terrible. But now we have it set up so half of us (in Maintenance) are off on one day, and the other half on the next. That way, we get to be off once a week, which is good.
I’m just hanging in here. I am getting my mid-tour leave in May and I will be going to India, so I’m looking forward to that. What else – oh yeah, you can always hear stuff explode around here. A week or so ago, we were getting hit by mortars all through the morning. It wasn’t anywhere near us, although one did hit close enough to set the walls vibrating. But the insurgents can’t aim worth shit and usually end up sending their mortars into the lake. So we really don’t have much to be concerned about.
As far as the weather goes, it’s pretty chilly here. It rained over the past week which made all the dust here turn into squelchy, sucky, sticky mud. Mud that almost sucks the boots off your feet. Mud that gets everywhere. Mud that looks like different consistencies of chocolate ice-cream. But it’s starting to dry up, so that’s a good thing.
Other than that, not much else. I’ll keep posting here from time to time, and maybe next time I may have something more exciting.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Over Here – Day 114
I guess this would be my first post from Iraq. I am in Baghdad right now, but I can’t get more specific than that. If I told you, I would have to kill you. God… I’ve always wanted to say that! Right, so I’ve been here from the 6th of this month. We left our camp in Kuwait and drove for about an hour to the airstrip. On the way, we went through the desert (no way!) and saw wreckage from the first war. It was pretty neat. After we got to the airstrip, we unloaded all our stuff, and then loaded it into a C-130. It was my first trip ever, in a C-130. I guess now when we sing cadences of going on a C-130, I will be saying the truth now. Like almost anything in the Army, the C-130 is not made for comfort. It is completely utilitarian and only serves to transport troops without any regard for comfort or aesthetics. In fact, it almost seems that the seating was added there as an afterthought. The flight was very cramped, and very loud. To get an idea of the experience, squeeze yourself and five people into a garbage can, and then have someone bang on the outside for one and a half hours. We touched down at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport, or “bye-op” as it is known and pronounced here) and proceeded to unload our stuff and then load it into the back of a truck. My first view of Baghdad was the airport and the bombed out bunkers at the airport. It was rapidly getting dark, and so I couldn’t see much on the way to the barracks. We had no idea if we were “inside the wire” (in a safe-zone) or not, and so we were saying how much it would suck to get hit by an IED. Typical Military Black Humour. Once we reached our barracks, we got the keys to our rooms. I was only going to be there for one night since I would be leaving with 2nd platoon to another FOB (Forward Operating Base) the next morning.
The next morning the unit at the other FOB came to escort us over to our new location. We travelled through the red-zone to our destination in the IZ (International Zone). It is hard to describe the feeling of being in a combat-zone and of being in imminent danger. I didn’t feel scared, but only highly focused and alert. I mean, this was the real thing. I might have seen movies before about being in a war, but now I was in one for real. Our journey was pretty uneventful, but exciting. In Iraq, the military pretty much owns the road. A good analogy would be ambulances and fire trucks back home. You know how we move out of the way when we hear a siren? It’s pretty much like that here. The civilian vehicles move out of way when the convoy passes through the road. The gunners wave the cars out of the way from their turret. It’s pretty funny at times – some Iraqis don’t move at all, and then suddenly they notice the convoy almost on them, and you see them swerve out of the way. We are actually authorized to push cars out of the way if need be. You might think that’s not a “nice” thing to do, but niceness has nothing to do with it – it is a question of survival. We get hit by VBIED’s (“vee-beds”, Vehicle Borne IED’s) and IED’s, so slowing down only increases our chances of getting hit and also increases the damage, which is why we stop for nothing. If need be, we even cut across curbs and go on the opposite side of the road, against the flow of traffic.
We finally got to our new location and found out that there wasn’t really any room for us. So there were 28 of us cramped into a little bay. I was a little disappointed, but I figured I could hold out for a couple of weeks. Being in the IZ was interesting. I got to drive around and see a lot of landmarks, like the Ba’ath Party Headquarters, the Crossed Sabres, the Al-Rashid Hotel, and the American Embassy in Baghdad. The IZ is a huge fortified zone, and I guess it would be the safest place in Baghdad. It was a pretty neat place to be stationed in, but unfortunately it wasn’t for us. In typical Army fashion, our mission changed and we had to come back to our original base to join the rest of the company. However, the day before we left, we got to do some weapons qualification. I got to fire the M2 and the M249 and qualified well on both of the weapons system. Oh yeah, while we were at the range, we saw a mortar hit in the distance. But that’s part of the usual flow of things here. On the way back from the range, I got to drive. It was pretty exciting. We were going along at a really fast clip, and had to cut the curb and jump over the median a few times and go against the flow of traffic. Definitely an experience.
The next day, we convoyed back to our original location and joined the rest of the company. I was also detached from 2nd platoon and re-attached to Headquarters. I was happy to be back with my old friends, but I have to say that being in a line platoon was pretty exciting and that I did enjoy the experience immensely. In addition, I was with the best line platoon in our company – they have a bunch of good soldiers, and learnt a lot of stuff from them. After I came back, I found out that I had a room, but no furniture. In fact, it’s been like that for about four or five days now. I have been sleeping on the floor, with my sleeping bag. There were some cots for me to use, but they were full of dust and dirt, missing poles, and didn’t seem very stable. But the floor isn’t that bad. Anyway, I alerted my leadership to the shortages and so now I’m just waiting to get my furniture. But it still sucks and I’m a little annoyed. I’ve been living out of my duffel bag for about 3 weeks now. Oh well – it’s what we’re trained to do anyway.
Right now I’m doing what I’m normally supposed to do; working in the motor pool. It’s not too bad, since I’m with my friends, but it’s not exactly the most exciting job either, especially when you’ve been out driving like a maniac on the streets of Baghdad. But it’s safe, and that makes my friends and family happy. I also have a free reign of the operations in the motor pool and so I can streamline and structure the operation the way I want. The Army’s current logistics software, called ULLS-G, written sometime before the extinction of the dinosaurs, is about as smart as a retarded house-plant. So I’ve taken the liberty of automating different processes. I’ve been able to use SDI (another tool made by the Army, but this one is actually pretty neat) program to talk to the database and dump the data into text files. After that, all I need is some Perl (of course!) magic to transform it into an Excel Spreadsheet (using the Spreadsheet::WriteExcel module). My section chief was pretty impressed with what I was able to do. Now I just need to find a way to actually write to the SAGE database files. The data is either encrypted or packaged into some binary format and so I can’t seem to access it. If I could, I could make changes really quickly instead of using the brain-dead ULLS-G interface. I’m not sure if anyone out there knows the file-structure of a SAGE database file, but if you do, please let me know.
Oh, and by the way, since I moved back to my original FOB, my address has changed back to what it was originally. So here it is again:
Vivin Paliath
504th MP – HHB 1/180th FA FWD
APO AE 09344
That’s about it for now. Here are some more pictures, and a video. I have the video for download using BitTorrent. I don’t want to offer a direct link because my server only has so much bandwidth, and I don’t want to clog it all up. If you want to download the file, download the BitTorrent client from the link I just provided. The client is a small download, and trust me, it will be faster than just download the file directly. I won’t tell you what the video is, so you’ll just have to watch it. I made it myself, and I hope you like it! I’ll post more videos here as I take them.
Loading our stuff into the trailers, in Kuwait.
Inside the C130.
That’s me, inside the C130.
The C130 Hercules.
The Ba’ath House.
The Crossed Sabres.
This is the pedestal that Saddam’s statue used to be on.
This is where Saddam used to stand, brandishing his rifle.
This kid was trying to sell us DVD’s.
This was right after a mortar hit a little ways from us.
That’s me with some 50 cal rounds.
Update: I have fixed the redirection and caching problem. To ensure that you are able to access the latest entry in my blog, please clear your caches now. My page instructs your browser not to cache, and so whenever you access my website, you will be brought to the latest journal entry.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Over Here – Day 99
Hey everyone, this is just a quick update. Nothing much is going on here, things are pretty slow and we’re just waiting to go up north. The only major development is that I’ve been switched out of Headquarters into 2nd platoon. It was pretty sudden, and the reason is that they need someone to do the administrative work there. In the words of my First Sergeant, “You’re smart, and you can take care of yourself”, so that’s where they need me. I’m asking you all not to be worried, because I won’t be doing anything dangerous. The people in 2nd are pretty good soldiers, and I’ve worked with them before. They’re good guys, but I’m going to miss all my friends in Headquarters. Over the last three months, we all got pretty close and now it’s pretty sad that I have to leave them. But that’s how things happen in the Army, and you just have to learn how to deal with the new situation.
Due to this move, my address has also changed. So if you sent anything to my old address, I am hoping they will somehow forward it to me. Here is my new address:
Vivin Suresh Paliath
HHB 1/180th, 49th MP
APO AE 09348
I’ll let you all know if this changes.
That’s about it for now. No new pictures really – hopefully I will have some next time. Until then, take care.
Update: I have finally fixed the “redirection” bug. Like I suspected, it was a caching problem, which is why you had to clear your caches to access the latest entry. I have now updated the code so that it tells your browser not to cache my page. That way, you will always get the latest entry. But before it starts working for you, I need your to clear your browser cache now. After that, try accessing http://vivin.net again. It should take you to the latest entry (it isn’t this one!).
Popularity: 2% [?]
Over Here – Day 92
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, hope you all had a blast. Things have been pretty slow over here. We’re essentially waiting to get to Baghdad, and I really can’t wait until we get there. That’s because once we do, I can start doing what I’ve been trained to do. Thanksgiving was interesting. The day started with us going to the range to fire our pistols and rifles. They asked us to keep an eye downrange in case camels or bedouins came into our field of fire. In the event of that happening, we were supposed to yell “Cease Fire!”. I didn’t do too well on the pistol qualification the first time around, because I have never fired a pistol before. But on the second try, I did pretty well once I figured out what I was doing wrong. After the range, we got back to the base. They had held the DFAC (Dining Facility) open for us, so that we could enjoy the Thanksgiving dinner. The food wasn’t too bad. They had the whole deal there – Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Sweet Potatoes, and so on and so forth. I ate until I was stuffed!
Today we didn’t do much other than weapons maintenance. Being out in the range all day, filled the weapons with sand. That’s one thing I’m going to have to deal with for the next year – cleaning the sand out of everything. So as you can see, things have been pretty slow so far. We have some more training coming up, but other than that, it looks to be a waiting game. I’ve been around camp some more, but the landscape doesn’t change significantly. However, there are really pretty sunrises and sunsets here. The flat land makes for good viewing.
Oh I also have my address in Baghdad, so you guys can start mailing me. The address is going to change in a month when the unit we’re attaching to leaves, and a new one comes in. However, the APO should remain the same. I will let you guys know when it changes:
Vivin Paliath
504th MP – HHB 1/180th FA FWD
APO AE 09344
That’s about all I have for now, and here are the pictures I promised. There are some pictures from my visit to Phoenix as well:
L-R: Josh, Naima, Me, Suraj, Rachna, Sadhana, Shareen
L-R: Josh, Keerthi, Me, Rachna, Sadhana, Shareen, Naima
L-R: Anjali, Me, Keerthi, Rachna
L-R: Vibha and I
What Phoenix looks like, with slow shutter speed.
L-R: Josh, Naima, Me, Suraj, Rachna, Sadhana, Shareen
L-R: Ortiz, Greene, Kramp, Smith, Me
Outside our barracks at Ft. Louis, singing along to SSG Lopez’s “Bear Song” to pass time
Waiting to board our plane at McChord AFB.
In the plane…
How often do you see a person with an automatic rifle, on a civilian aircraft? SGT Cook is either flashing the peace sign, or the donkey sign. I suspect the latter.
Our barracks in Kuwait
A picture of our camp.
Another picture of our camp.
One more picture of our camp.
Greene and I at Baskin Robbins.
Kroney with his new ride.
That’s me in full battle rattle, minus my rifle.
Relaxing in the desert in the afternoon.
Top L-R: SFC Bottemiller, SPC Greene, SGT Laning, SPC Kronemeyer, Me
Bottom L-R: SGT Dahlseid, PFC Smith, SSG Lopez, SPC Ortiz
Top L-R: SFC Bottemiller, SPC Greene, SGT Laning, SPC Kronemeyer
Bottom L-R: SGT Dahlseid, PFC Smith, SSG Lopez, SPC Ortiz, Me
Camp Sunrise
Camp Sunset
Popularity: 1% [?]
Over Here – Day 88
Finally, I – we, are here. A landscape foreign, yet familiar. A desert of a different kind. For me, the sight meant a little more since it reminded me of where I grew up. It’s funny how when you fly, your entire period of travel stretches out into one long day. My wake-up at Ft. Lewis doesn’t seem that long ago. Our last day there wasn’t too eventful, well, if you don’t count to whole “going to war” thing. We packed up our stuff and staged it outside before we had a “GI Party” (Army euphemism for cleaning things up) at the barracks. That took a few hours, since we had to sweep and mop, strip the floors, wax them, and finally buff them. We waited around for a while with nothing to do, since we wouldn’t get on the buses until 22:30. Our unit was split in two, with one half taking off earlier than the rest of us. So after we said Good-Bye to them, we sat around watching movies, listening to music, and talking to family and friends. I called up almost everyone I know and bade farewell to them. I also had the opportunity that evening to meet someone I had met during AIT at Ft. Lee. It was another Malayalee in the Army. It was actually pure luck that I got in touch with him. While I was at the Soldier Processing Center, one of the stations I went through was the Chaplain’s station. I noticed his last name was “Joseph”, and his features looked South Indian to me, and so I was pretty sure he was a Christian-Malayalee. I proceeded to ask him if he was from India, and if so, if he was from Kerala. He replied in the affirmative, and we proceeded to talk some more. I was telling him how he was the second Malayalee that I’ve met in the US Army. When he asked me who the first was, I told him, and that was when he told me that he knew who I was talking about and that the soldier had been here for the last four years. He gave me his number and I was able to get in touch with him on my last day at Ft. Louis. He said it was a pity that we couldn’t get in touch earlier, since he could have introduced me to the other Malayalees on base. Apparently there are at least 20 on the base, and there is a sizeable Malayalee community in the vicinity of Ft. Louis. In addition, had we met earlier, I could possibly have even celebrated Onam there. But eitherway, it was good to get in touch with him again.
Our departure from Ft. Louis was pretty uneventful and we made it to McChord Airforce Base pretty quickly. There, we waited for a while since our flight wouldn’t be leaving until 2:30 am. My buddies and I got some dinner from the USO and then I took a nap until it was time for our flight. To get to our flight, we had to walk to the plane. It was a decently long walk at a brisk pace, with all our gear (minus the ruck and duffel bags) in really cold weather. Once I boarded the flight, I felt rather incongruous. The flight was a civilian flight, but here I was, walking down with my rifle slung in front of me, and a pistol strapped to my thigh. You don’t get to do that every day. The flight was pretty comfortable, and I was pretty tired, so I slept most of the way to our first stop, which was the town of Gander in Canada. Gander happens to be in New Foundland, which as I learnt, is pronounced “Noo Funland” and not pronounced how it is spelt. The town is also in the middle of nowhere. The landscape looked pretty desolate and seemed to have been through a controlled burn except for the occasional evergreen. We were in transit at Gander for almost on hour. During that hour, I got to brush up on some French by trying to read the signs and understand them. I also got some real chocolate from the duty-free store. We got back on the plane and flew to Budapest. During this flight, I slept some more, listened to some music, and watched the end of The Italian Job, watched Fantastic Four, and saw most of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life before they stopped it in mid-show because of our arrival at our destination. We weren’t allowed to deplane at Budapest and so sat around for about three hours while they changed crews and refueled. I couldn’t see much of Budapest since it was night, and the city lights outside made it look like pretty much any other city at night. For the next leg, I listened to more music, finished Contact by Carl Sagan for the second time, and started on Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Soon, I heard the pilot announce over the intercom that we would be coming into Kuwait International Airport in about 20 to 30 minutes. People pushed up the window shades, and sunlight spilled into cabin. Once we were at a lower altitude, I could make out the landscape. It reminded me a lot of Oman, and also of Arizona. Once we landed, we secured out gear, and waited around for instructions. Somebody came onto the plane and in true military fashion, barked out instructions for us. We got out, made our way to a bus and headed to the staging area where we waited for two hours for more instructions. After waiting around, we finally got an escort to our base. It was supposed to take us an hour and a half to get there, but it took us three because apparently, our escorts got lost.
We finally reached the camp, which is in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing as far as the eye can see, and the land is completely flat. There is absolutely nothing around here. The camp looks like it’s in a permanent state of construction. The landscape is dotted with white tents in the shape of ellipsoid half-cylinders. This is what we live in. There are also other forms of housing that are either other forms of tents, or pre-fabs. The placement of the buildings seem to be pretty haphazard, but I think there is a method to the madness. I haven’t seen a single living thing (other than us, and I did see one fly) around here. The land is devoid of any vegetation and frankly, looks like some sort of lunar or martian outpost. However, it’s not all that bad. They’ve done a good job of making the place habitable. The food here isn’t that bad – it’s actually better than what they had at Ft. Louis, and there are more choices. Also they have Taco Bell, Burger King, and Baskin Robbins here. Oh yeah, and Shawerma shops too! I don’t feel that this place is all that bad, and I’m not disappointed to be here. I’m looking at everything as a new experience, and so far, it has been pretty interesting. We’ve had this entire day off, and I haven’t done much other than eat, sleep, and play computer games. It’s been a slow day. Tomorrow, we start training. I don’t know how long we are going to be here, but our time started the moment we got here. So I’m hoping that I’ll be back in the United States a year from now.
That’s all for now. I’d put up some pictures, except the upstream speed here is pretty slow, and it’s taking a while. I’ll try and do it next time, if I have more time. Until then, take care and keep in touch.
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Over Here – Day 85
Well, it’s finally here. I’m leaving for Iraq. I guess the question on all your minds is “How do you feel?”. To be very honest, I am excited. I can’t wait to get out of here – this place with it’s cold and wet weather, and get to Iraq and get my job done. The sooner I get there, the sooner I get back, right? I think we’ll do a good job out there. I have a lot of pride and complete faith in my fellow soldiers. I think we’ll do great.
Nothing much is going on today. We’ve packed all our stuff and staged it outside. We’re currently cleaning the barracks right now, to make it ready for the unit that’s coming over next. I don’t leave until much later today, so I’m just playing the waiting game. Our flight is going to be long, but I have a bunch of books, and my MP3 player with me, so I think I have enough to pass the time. Plus, I’m hoping they have some sort of in-flight entertainment or something. Who knows…
Anyway, that’s it for now. The next time I post, it may be from Kuwait or Iraq. It may be a couple of weeks before I get in touch with you guys again. I’d like to thank you all for your continuing support and your prayers for my fellow soldiers and I. It means a lot to us. I miss you all terribly and love you even more. Take care, and I’ll be back safe and sound among you all, in a year.
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Over Here – Day 75
This is going to be a bit of a long one, with a bunch of pictures too! I’ll start off with where I left off last time. We got to Yakima on the 21st, which was a Friday. It was good seeing everyone in my section after a week and of course, they were giving me crap about having an easy time back in the barracks. The maintenance section didn’t have much going on other than Weapons Guard, it seemed, and the shifts were six hours long too. The rest of the week was pretty slow. I didn’t have much to do than updating some Excel spreadsheets, and driving around Humvees. We weren’t allowed any alcohol at all, except for three nights where the commander let us have some at the Oasis Club that’s on base. The last two days were a little hectic, with us having to pack all our stuff up, clean vehicles and equipment and turn them in. Yakima reminded me of home, because the weather was cool and dry and the area was essentially a desert. Never have I been happier to see desolation. I had been getting sick of trees.
While we were at Yakima, we were informed of a new “Leave policy”. Apparently we wouldn’t be getting any leave at all to go home, before we left for Iraq. Needless to say, we were pretty bummed out. However, things in the Army change by the minute, and so the next day we were informed that we would be getting a four-day pass, where we were authorized to go home. I booked my ticket that same night.
Once we got back to the barracks, we unloaded all our equipment. That same night, we were driven over to the airport. There, Sergeant Eagleman, PFC Silva and I first checked out the USO, but decided against staying there. We actually decided to get a hotel since it would end up being pretty cheap with the cost being split amongst the three of us. We left all our stuff at the hotel room, grabbed something to eat, and then headed out to Downtown Seattle. The first club we headed out to was closing down, so we headed to another bar across the street. We had a couple of beers, met some pretty ladies and then took the “Party Bus” back to the airport. From the airport, there was a free shuttle to the Hotel. We took an hour-long nap, and then headed to the airport to take our flight to Phoenix. I’d say about 50-60 people from our company were on that flight. The pilot even welcomed us on the plane through the intercom since they could tell we were from the Army by our distinctive haircuts.
I reached Phoenix on the morning of the 31st, and my sister was there to pick me up. It felt absolutely great to be back home. The weather was just gorgeous and it was just nice being in good old Arizona again. My dog Honey was elated to see me again, and she was going crazy with happiness. First we ran some errands, and then headed home. There, we got ready to go to Josh’s place in Tempe, so that we could all go to Mill Avenue for Halloween. I didn’t have a new costume, so I wore my Star Trek costume from last year. We met up at Josh’s had a couple of beers, and then headed over to Mill. Mill was crazy as usual, and there were some pretty neat costumes this year. One I saw, was a pretty good imitation of Johnny Depp‘s character in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow. We headed to The Tavern, where more beer and shots of Tequila were had. The night was pretty crazy, and I ended up crashing at Josh’s place. The rest of my trip in Phoenix was pretty hectic – my sister and I had to take stuff at the house our parents just bought, and then I had to run around and meet all my friends. The days went by pretty quick, and before I knew it, I had to go back to Ft. Louis. The entire trip was bittersweet, because I knew that going to Phoenix meant I would have to leave. However, it was completely worth it. I got to hang out with my family and friends and got to see Arizona one last time before I head out to Iraq. I had a really great time, and I was very happy while I was there. I want to thank everyone for showing me a great time, and showing me that I am loved and missed.
The trip back home was alright, and I spent most of the time watching the in-flight movie, and listening to music. I got back to base to be greated by really unpleasant wet, and cold weather. It was a complete letdown from the gorgeous weather in Phoenix. In fact, yesterday was the only day it didn’t rain. It rained for every single day since I got back until the day before yesterday. I’ve been bundling myself up in all sorts of cold-weather gear to get through this absolutely disgusting weather.
The training we’ve been going through for the past few days has to do with Detainee Ops. This means anything having to do with handling Detainees, such as your interaction with them in a Detainee Camp, searching detainees, Riot Control, and things of that nature. The Army has put a lot of time and money into this program to train soldiers so that another Abu Gharaib doesn’t happen. The training is pretty good, and I probably wouldn’t mind it as much if it wasn’t for this beastly cold.
The other major information that I have right now is our date of departure. I found out about this barely a few hours ago. I’m leaving on the 19th to Kuwait. We should be there for a while, and after that we’ll go to Iraq. We should be there for about a year, and then head back about the date we left, next year. Mark your calendars! I’m actually pretty excited because the sooner I get there, the sooner I can get back. I’m pretty sick of Ft. Louis (the terrible weather doesn’t make it any easier) and I just want to go downrange and get my job done. I’m not sure when we will get internet access, or access to phones and such, so I’m not sure when I will be able to contact you all again. Rest assured, I will contact you as soon as I can.
Oh yes, and I have to say this. I’ve got Mysql, PHP and Apache installed on my laptop, and I took a complete dump of my website and set it up on the laptop. So I can continue to develop even if I don’t have internet access. Woohoo! Oh yeah, and if you’re wondering about the ungodly time of the journal entry, it’s because I’m on guard duty.
This is all I have for right now. The next time I write, it will probably be from Iraq. Take care, and as always, here are some pictures. I will be adding some more to this entry since I haven’t downloaded them all from my camera yet, but this is what I have for now:
Motorpool in Yakima. The hill in the background is called Squaw Tit. No joke.
Headquarters leads the way HOOAH!
1/180th FA Roughnecks!
That’s me, holding a 240B.
The next few shots are my, ahem, “artistic” shots.
Pipedream: Clear
Pipedream: Cloudy
Pipedream: B&W
Pipedream: Sepia
Rochelle and I in downtown Seattle
L-R:Me, Nasser, Shareen, Yasmin, Keerthi
Rachna and I
L-R: Me, Sakeena, Johanna
My sister and I
Hemina and I
L-R: Josh, Loretto, Me, Daniella
Daniella and I
Loretto and I
Top L-R: Laura, Michael, Carlos
Bottom L-R: Lance, Keerthi, Me, Jenny, Andreas
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Over Here – Day 54
Firstly, there are lot of pictures in this post, so be patient while the page loads, and secondly, sorry about not having written in a while. We’ve been pretty busy over the last three or four weeks, and whatever free time I got was spent in talking to friends, hanging out with my buddies here, or just relaxing. So I really didn’t have the time to update my journal. We’ve only had two major things going on since I last wrote, and one of them is still going on. The first training event we underwent was “Force Protection”. Here they taught us different things like searching vehicles, personnel, and reacting to incoming mortar fire, and small-arms fire. On the final day of our excercise, I was in the CCP (Casualty Collection Point), listening in to the Radio and relaying the information to the First Sergeant. It was a pretty good experience, and it isn’t my normal job, so it was pretty cool doing something different for a while. You get to listen in on the entire battle and know what’s going on.
The exercise was pretty realistic. We had civilians dressed up as Iraqis, and even some Middle Easterners too. While I was operating the radio at the CCP, we would have casualties come in. Sometimes it got pretty hectic, with the floor packed with wounded or dying (simulated, of course) soldiers. We would then have to radio in for a MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation). Once the chopper landed, they would have to pick up the casualties and carry them to the chopper. At one point in the excercise, they killed off our entire leadership (Commander and First Sergeant), and then blew up the Operations Center. The point was to see how we’d react in adverse circumstances. Of course, nothing like that is remotely going to happen in Iraq, so you can quit your worrying!
After Force Protection, we got a day off because the Commander was extremely pleased with our performance. That night we didn’t have curfew, so my buddies and I hit up a karaoke bar. That was a whole lot of fun. We didn’t get back until 2 am! The next morning, even though we were off, the HQ platoon had guard duty (luck of the draw). I had duty from 9 am to 1 pm, so it wasn’t so bad. Later that evening we had a barbeque where we had lots of beer and cooked Bratwurst. A welcome change from the chow-hall food. The next training event was more of the same, although this time the line-platoons got to fire weapons. HQ didn’t do much other than co-ordinating the attack and things like that. The first day, I was at the CCP, but the second day I got to run around with the Commander as his Radio Operator, which was also pretty cool.
Right now, most of the unit is at Yakima, which is a base about four hours from here. I was originally supposed to go, but then I was told that I have an ULLS-G class, and wouldn’t be going to Yakima for another week. I wasn’t too disappointed because I’d rather be here! But what sucked was that my stuff was already packed, and it looked like I wouldn’t be having my clothes for a while. However, I ended up getting them that night. We pretty much had the weekend off because there are only eight of us here from the whole unit. I was able to sleep in, which is always good. Classes started on Monday, and they have been pretty easy. We also get off somewhat early since we can leave after we finish our practical excercises. It has been a good week so far, and I think I’m going to be a little disappointed when it’s over. Oh well. However, time has been going by pretty fast. We should be leaving for Iraq sometime between the middle and end of November. Once we leave the US, our year starts. So hopefully, I should be back no later than December of next year.
Well, that’s about it for now, but here are a few more pictures:
Me with some hotdog buns
This is a prank we played on a guy in our bay. We made a “sacrificial lamb” out of a towel, complete with blood drops (red cough-syrup) and hung it in front of his bunk. Although it’s not clear, the rocks at the bottom of the picture are arranged in a pentagram
Rucking Up before heading out to train
Marching out to train
The Wounded and Dying
Doc Eagleman
Reading you loud and clear
A foggy morning at the range. I had to turn the flash off for this picture since the fog was so dense. You could see the droplets if the flash was turned on, which gave the picture a splotchy appearance. This one turned out surprisingly well. Very surreal.
On the way to our Operations Center in the woods
We found this little fella by some trees. Anybody know what kind of snake it is?
The Commander and I. I was his radio operator for the day. Hence the “phone” strapped to my head.
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Over Here – Day 34
The past few days have been pretty easy. Once we finished MOUT training, we had about 9-10 days off before we start any new training. I was able to get a 3-day pass to fly out to LA to see my parents before they left for Oman. The timing worked out perfectly with everyone being there, including both my cousins.
I got there on the night of the 21st, at around midnight. My sister let me in, and hearing the noise my doggy Honey walked out to see who it was. She stopped because she didn’t know who I was at first. But once she recognized me, she ran out to greet me. She was rolling on the floor, jumping on me, and licking me all over. My sister told me that Honey was pretty depressed after I left Phoenix, so she was really happy to see me again.
It was fun hanging out with my family, even though the days passed by really quickly. I just sat around and chilled, and ate some nice home-cooked meals. On my last day there, we had a barbeque, which was pretty awesome too. Though I felt like my time with them was too short, it was better than nothing so I’m glad I was able to spend time with them. I left on the 24th back to Ft. Lewis. It was hard for my family to see me go again, but I did my best to put them at ease. It was pretty hard for me too – but I know that each second that goes by only brings me closer to when I can see them again.
Since I’ve been back, things have been pretty easy here. We’ve been getting time to relax and chill, so that’s pretty good. The other major development was the removal of all four of my wisdom teeth. It was a mildly unpleasant experience. The parts that sucked were the numbing (when they stick a needle into your gum, and roof of the mouth) and the part where they used to drill to cut up my lower teeth – their roots were intertwined with the teeth in front of them. Once I was done, they gave me Percocet and Ibuprofen for the pain. The combination is pretty good – makes you feel mellow and chilled out, and helps the pain. Right after I got done, I was sorta miserable because my mouth was completely numb and I was unable to swallow. As a result, the blood and saliva were pooling in my mouth. Since I wasn’t allowed to spit it out anyway (because spitting can cause dry socket), I could only let it dribble out. It was pretty gross. Once the numbness went away, I was able to swallow. Towards the middle of the day, I felt much better, and the bleeding had stopped for the most part.
I’m on quarters for 3 days, and I am also on a no-PT profile for a week. It’s kinda cool, because I get to sit around in the barracks and chill. Today I was able to sleep in, and part of that was due to the Percocet, which completely knocked me out. Other than that, nothing much is going on. But I’ve been rather pensive recently, and especially when I was travelling out to LA. Everytime I see a civilian now, I feel how I am not part of that world anymore. I feel detached and separate – a sense of “us” and “them”. I imagine how they are able to go home after work to their families. It is not a sense of regret. I should say it is more of a sense of longing. There are simple things that you miss, like some of your freedoms. The freedom to go anywhere you want, and to do anything you want. There are things that you have to give up. I have even realized how simple my needs have become. A soldier has very simple needs and wants. A good bed, a nice meal, a few words from home – these are all a soldier needs to make his/her day. These are also things that I used to take for granted, and their importance is only evident to me in times like these. Well, that’s about all I have for now. Take care.
I have updated my blog. If you are still seeing this entry, it’s due to a bug I have in my redirection. I haven’t had the time to devise a new algorithm yet. What you want to do is clear your browser cache and reload the page. It should redirect to the latest entry. The best way to know if I’ve updated my blog or not, is to take a look at the calendar. If you don’t see anything new, jump forward to the next month to be sure.
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