Happy New Year

We are hoping we do not have to spend our new year's eve and day away from our home away from home. Traveling and conducting inventories is our main focus until we can get them done. We are complete here, but not scheduled to leave until tomorrow. We will try to get Space A tonight.

Merry Christmas

Holidays here are pretty much just normal days. Because of our mission we are business as usual for the most part. We did do a BBQ and a gift exchange late this afternoon. We have a ceremony tomorrow morning to do a mass reenlistment and an award ceremony. We are supposed to have some "Special Visitors". We'll have to wait and see who they might be. Change of Command inventories start in a couple of days. Hope we do not get delayed too much because of the weather. It is stays like it has been for the last couple of days it will be nice. We have had highs around 70 and lows about 45.

Day to Day

The time is flying by. I can not believe it is the middle of December already. Not much going on except preparing for the change of command and normal day to day mission stuff. The current date for the change of command is 12 January. I suspect it will move again. I am not worried about it. I have had a good command and there comes a time to move on to something else. I will miss it. We are planning a BBQ and gift exchange for the 24th. It should be fun. Everyone is looking forward to spending the holidays at home next year, but until then we just have to work with what we have.

Catch-up

It has been a while since I have posted anything. Let's see what has happened... We went to the range again. More of the same except a little less qualifying and more pistol close quarters stuff. It has gotten chilly here. It has been in the mid 40 for lows and 70s for highs. We have gotten lots (for Iraq anyway) of rain lately. We have started sending Soldiers home for R&R. It is a little early, but someone has to fill the early slots. I will be leaving command on 5 JAN 10. At least I think that is the date. Nobody has said for sure, but that is the last day in our change of command inventory schedule. The incoming commander will need to spend the last two weeks of December and the first 3-4 days of January inventorying all of the company property, so that she can sign for everything before we change out. I will be moving to the Brigade Intelligence shop where I will be the assistant Brigade S2 (Intelligence Officer). I had a good birthday. We had a PT test that day, so I decided to do the run to determine how much time I had gained since we got here. My First Sergeant and I have been running quite a bit. I ran the 2 miles in 1240, so it has paid off. One of my goals when I got here was to get back under 13 minutes. Maybe I should shoot for 1200.

Range

All available Soldiers went to the range yesterday to shoot 9MM and our M4s. I shot expert with both weapons. 40/40 with my pistol and 38/40 with my M4. I also shot left handed with a simulated broken trigger finger (used my middle finger) and shot 36/40, but I was shorted 2 rounds in one of my magazines. I think it was more difficult to use my non-dominate eye than it was to use the other hand. Also much better since I had my eye surgery. We also did some transition and close quarters marksmanship drills. We had fun. We are trying to get to the range at least once a month while we are here, just to keep the skills sharp.

No Second Command

I got confirmation this week that I will not be taking the second command. Kind of relieved. It was going to be alot of work. Hard to explain the difference, but much different than what I am doing now. Since it is a headquarters it is the Company that all of the Brigade commander and his staff are in. I would not have really been in command of anything since all of the staff Majors run their sections and all I would have done is been responsible for their property. I also would have been held responsible for all DUIs and discipline issues once we return to the states. With a company of 240 Soldiers that have been deployed for a year there was certain to be lots of late night phone calls. It was determined that since I am so close to Major that the second command would not have been beneficial. More beneficial for me to work in an Intel job instead. I will move to the BDE intelligence office to be the assistant intelligence officer. I am trying to stay in Bravo Company until MAR or APR, But it looks like it will be more like FEB.

New Contract

Well KBR has been fired as the NTV contractor and it is being taken over by AIT. We took the truck to them and they think they may have it fixed today. We were not going to hold our breath, but the guys went to check on it today and the starter was done and they were working on the flywheel. However, we got confirmation today that all of the NTV are going to go away in a couple months. That only raises one question.... How is everyone going to get to the chow hall?! Barracudas are forbidden from taking the NTVs to chow because it is only about 400 meters from the CP (Command Post) and about 800 meters from the LSA (Life Support Area). You may or may not be surprised about just how lazy most people are. It has been raining here off and on for two days. It has made it nice and cool and also very muddy.

Contracts

We should be able to go back in the records here and find out who drafted contacts for certain things and then track them down and make them pay back all of the money their contract has wasted over its life time. Our NTV (Non-Tactical Vehicle) contract doesn't allow us to buy parts from any other source except KBR. However nobody can tell me if there is anything in the contract about speedy service. One of our Ford Expeditions has a bad starter and fly wheel. They are telling us that the parts are on order and will be here in a about a month. No telling how much they are charging for the parts. I found the same parts online for $80 and could have them here in about a week except putting those parts on would void the contract. So we will continue to spend 5 minutes getting the vehicle started until the parts are completely tore up. I do not think they will last another month.

Groundhog Day

All of the days have started to run together. PT, eat, work, eat, work, eat, meeting, sleep repeat. I know it is the weekend when football is on TV. About a month ago I was anxious to get into a routine so time would start going by fast. Well that time has arrived and time is flying by. I can not believe we are 2/3 of the way through October already. I have seen several e-mails about change of command time lines, but nothing official yet. Looks like I will leave Bravo Company in the middle of December. Stepped on a scale this morning and it said 175.

Still Hot

Our highs are still in the low 90s. The low in the mornings has been about 60-65. I think we have had more sand storms in the last month than I remember the whole time I was here the first time. I am looking forward to the 60s and 70s in NOV and DEC. I am not betting on white Christmas. It did snow last time I was here, but that was the first time it had snowed in Baghdad in like 20 years. I remember someone told me that it never snowed in the south. When we came out of Pat Obrien's in New Orleans there was two inches of snow on the ground!

Chow Hall

Most call it a Dining Facility (DFAC) these days. COB Speicher has one of the best. It is not quite as big as the one at Camp Victory (BIAP), but not too bad. The food is good and it is always very clean. I can always find something that I like. I am a big fan of the Healthy Bar. It usually has grilled chicken breast, baked fish (Trout or Salmon), Vegetable lasagna and some sort of vegetable. They have the fast food items like burgers, fries, corn dogs etc. There is a wrap/sandwich bar that I hit every other day or so, usually for lunch. I get the chunks of chicken with a little bit of chicken salad, lettuce, tomato, and provolone. The chicken salad by it self has too much mayo for my taste, so adding the chicken makes it just right. I am trying to stay away from the desserts, but I have a weakness for the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and the ice cream bars. They also have pies and cakes. Breakfast is good. I usually get some hard boiled eggs, Sausage, Cereal, and coffee. They also have crapes about twice a week. The best part is that we get paid $3.50 cents a day to eat it. We do not pay for it. Unless you count spending a year away from family and friends-paying for it. When we get back to Riley and file our travel vouchers we will end up getting about $1,200 for per diem.

Routine

We have settled into a routine. Up at 0515 to run (most mornings). Shower, walk to breakfast, to the office to check email, check in with all of the platoons to make sure they do not need anything and that the missions are going well. Lunch and then some e-mail to BN and BDE to answer questions, dinner, bed. Something always comes up. Reading through the schedule above made it sound very simple. We have meetings to attend. Every Wednesday we have a command and staff at Battalion. We hold a company meeting on MON, WED and FRI at 1900. We have duties/details to cover. Hoping some of those get cut soon. We have had to pull some Soldiers out of their normal jobs to pull guard at the entry control point. Yes... MI Soldiers on guard. That is what happens when they put us under Operational Control (OPCON) to a support unit that does not understand our mission. 1SG and I are having fun fighting that one right now. We like making people mad! It is so much fun.

Second Command

I got confirmation today that I will be getting a second command. I will be taking over Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 4 Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), 1st ID. The time line will be quicker than initially expected. I may change as soon as the mid/end of November. I suspect that I was chosen because of my demonstrated ability to maintain accountability of property. With over 200 Soldiers and 3-4 times the amount of property it will be a challenge. The Army is all about change. Officers do not stay in the same job very long. We move from job to job quickly to expand our experience with different situations. That can work to both our advantage and disadvantage. I have had a fantastic time as the Bravo Company Commander and will miss the Soldiers. I will not be moving far and will still get to see all of them and the results of their hard work. The new command will bring new challenges and will allow me to have influence over an additional group of Soldiers. I am honored to continue to have the opportunity to lead American Soldiers.

Almost Done

TPE inventory is just about done. We made it out of FOB Bernstein on our second attempt. We were supposed to go straight to FOB Summeral to wrap things us, but ended up at Speicher. We got lucky yesterday and caught a flight to Summeral that went up in the morning and returned in the afternoon. All that remains is for the other unit to submit some paperwork to adjust some of the serial numbers. They are trying to get that done today. Leadership (especially theirs) is anxious for me to sign. I am taking my time and will not sign until everything is correct. All of our systems are set up and operational. We are being slow getting all of our other stuff set up. SSG Mertens described it best when he said "I feel like I just bought a house and I am trying to move in, but the old owners still have all of their furniture there and are still living there". Needless to say we are ready for them to go...

Stuck

Maintenance issues with our Chinooks last night prevented us from being way ahead of schedule on the inventories. We found out at 0300 this morning that we would not be leaving for our 0100 departure. We should be able to get back on schedule today. The inventories went much better yesterday. The SSG that owns everything now had the location of every item listed on the paperwork, so even though the equipment was scattered in three separate locations it was easy to go down the list. He also had everything that was not in use lined up in order. That made the inventory last only 2 hours instead of the 4 hours it took at the other location for the same piece of equipment. Only one more location left to inventory the rest of the items. We have already identified items that we will not need, so we can start turning them in.

Update 19 SEP 09

Well the inventories continue. They are not going as well as they could, but could be alot worse. We have plenty of time to get the paperwork in to fix the issues before I sign the books. That is the outgoing unit's responsibility. They have motivation to get it done since they can not leave until I sign for everything. The Relief in Place (RIP) has not officially started yet. Still plenty of time to get it in order. I hate inventorying commercial of the shelf equipment. Everything that came with the item is listed on the hand receipt for it right down to the warranty card! That makes the inventories last forever. One of the Navy guys that works with us mentioned that the ARMY is crazy when it comes to inventories. In the navy I guess everything is attached to the ship and that it becomes part of the ship. It is not inventoried separately. He says we make it too hard. I would agree. Must maintain accountability of the equipment that tax payers pay to provide us with. We just take it a bit far. The weather has started to break a bit. We got here at a good time.

CP Discription

Our Company CP (Command Post) is in the projection house for an outdoor movie theatre. It is a two story structure with the orderly room and supply down stairs and three offices upstairs. Me, 1SG, and the XO will be up there. We have two windows in the office that face the movie screen. So we are in the projection room. Not too bad. Not a whole lot of space, but plenty for us. The movie screen is a large brick wall that at one time was nicely painted white. It is in rough shape now. There is a good sized patio/deck area outside the front door that has benches and a very stout picnic table. It will be a nice place to hang out once the weather cools a bit. Still not bad in the morning. It has shade over. Right now the office space has lots of clutter. We are making the other unit take all of their junk with them, so we can have everything nice and tidy. I will take pictures at some point.

Arrival at Speicher

We left Tagi late last night and after a tour of central Iraq finally arrived at COB Speicher. Yes it is now COB not FOB. It is now a Contingency Operating Base rather that a Forward Operating Base. Lots of changes since the last time I was here. Our BDE TOC is located in the building that used to be the G4 and Property Book Office the first time I was here. I did not even recognise it at first. Lots of new construction. I got settled this morning about 0230 and was up at 0600 to get breakfast and to get a Relief in Place (RIP) briefing from the Company Commander of the company we are relieving. We are ahead of schedule already and have not even started yet. There is plenty of time to get everything taken care of. After that we went out to the UAV facility at the airfield to see how they are set up. Speicher is a HUGE place, so it was about a 10 minute drive to get to their location. They will also live there and they have all of their own facilities. (chowhall, PX, MWR) Speaking of facilities the chow hall is very nice. I better do lots of PT or I could come back weighing about 250! Spent the afternoon and evening giving guidance and signing some paperwork. Looking forward to getting a good night sleep.

Tagi

I am currently attending the COIN (COunter INsergency) academy in Tagi. I have not been able to post because I could not find a computer that did not have all of the buttons for the blog in Arabic. This one is working, so I figured I would post my activity. We arrived a few nights ago on a CH-47 Chinook. The flight from Baghdad was uneventful and went well. I will be moving on shortly. We have been attending long hours of PowerPoint classes, but have received some useful intent and guidance from numerous commanding generals at all levels. I think my latest count was 13 stars all together.

Baghdad

Arrived last night via crowded C-17. Felt a little cooler here than in Kuwait. The time is already flying by, I can not believe it is Friday already. When we got to BIAP, there had not been any arrangements made to move everyone and our bags to the transient area. We had to hang out for about an hour at the terminal to wait on a baggage truck and a bus. Not too bad considering it was midnight. The MWR facilities are great here. This computer room has 40 computers in it. Much better than the 20 that were here last time and the 8 or so the first time. Soldiers that stay here probably hardly ever have to wait to use a computer. Even if it is busy they probably only wait a few minutes. Speicher should have similar facilities.

Hot

Today is going to be a hot one. It should start to cool down in another month or so. Everything is going well. My jet lag is complete, but I started having the nasal infection coming on this morning that I have gotten every time I have been in Kuwait. The fine dust is nasty. My eyes have been fine so far. Not having any dryness.

Up early... again

Second morning in a row that we have been up early 0400 yesterday for our range and 0300 today so that we could run a close quarters marksmanship range for a couple of the other companies. It went well except for one heat injury. The Soldier from a sister company had not been drinking enough water and the heat finally took its toll. He got an IV and drank some water. He was stable when we brought him back to Buehring. He will be fine, but he had a strange uncontrollable shaking in his arms. We are to the point where we are going to have to start making up training to do. Soldiers can not just hang out and relax before they head north... there must be something else they can learn! We will cover escalation of force, weapons safety, and cultural awareness just to name a few.

Training Complete

Zero confirmation went well this morning. Looking forward to heading north to get into a routine.

Kuwaiting

Mandatory training is going well. Yesterday we conducted rollover training in the HMMWV simulator. It was fun. In the afternoon we learned the latest and greatest about IEDs. Today we are conducting roll over training in the MRAP simulator. Tomorrow we go to the range to confirm our zero on our weapons and then we will be waiting to move on. We are conducting PT daily and I slept most of the night last night. I should be over my jet lag in the next day or two.

Good Rehearsal

Well... we went through the motions today only to get delayed for 6 hours and then until tomorow. Since we had weapons, other sensitive items and had already been manifested, we planned on staying at Camp Funston on Riley over night. We were directed to turn weapons in and spend another night at home. I do not mind, not a big deal for Sabrina and I, but the guys with kids have to go through the leaving process all over again. I came home and helped Sabrina mow. We will try again tomorrow.

I'm Off

OIF VII starts tomorrow. I will be posting updates when I can. The year will fly by and I will be back home soon.