Time Flies

I apologize to everyone that has been reading this blog and trying to follow everything that I have been going through while deployed overseas. I have not been doing very well trying to keep up with and maintaining a routine of posting new stories and information about what is going on over here. The last post I made was over 2 weeks ago and in that span of time an incredible amount of things have taken place. The best part about being incredibly busy is that it makes time fly and go by really fast. The worst part is that being busy, along with the ridiculous heat and the tedious tasks I deal with as platoon leader, make me very tired. Therefore, time to come over to the computers and get on to access the internet and in essence the blog become very limited to say the least.

Let me start off by saying that in the last 14 days we have had about 11 missions that have taken up most of the day if not the entire thing. On the 3 days we have had off we once were on "Standby QRF Duty" which means that we had to have our vehicles geared up and all personnel ready to roll out the gate on a 20 minute notice in case something happened to any of the other patrols that were out that day or any other incident that would need American support. Its annoying because you cant go and do anything and you have to be prepared for the entire 24 hour period of time. The other 2 days we had off were our maintenance days so we really did not have off and they actually are worse days than when we have missions. They suck really bad because our guys have to sit around the motor pool working on the vehicles and or waiting for the mechanics to be ready to take us into the bay. Whats crazy about it is that at this exact point in time I have 8 M1151's or HMMWVs and 3 MRAPs that I "own." But at any one period of time only 4, maybe 5, of my HMMWVs actually are operational. The MRAPs have had absolutely no issues so far except for the fact that they are huge and we can't roll them into downtown Basra because the power lines in the city hang down too low and will get destroyed by the MRAPs. Brilliant right?!

Now you all get to hear about the best part of the past 2 weeks. I will call it "Iraqi Sabotage." So just like most Government contracts, multiple companies bid to try and win the right to honor the contract and serve it for a specific period of time. Well there is a company on this base that is pretty much responsible for servicing everything from electricity to housekeeping. One contract covers everything that needs to be done here. Well, the company that has been handling everything for the past 2 years just lost the bid on the contract to a new company. In retaliation, the old company sabotaged almost everything. Im talking destroyed generators, cut circuits, damaged circuit breakers and boxes, rerouted power lines and switching stations, cut water lines, removed piping and tubing, all kinds of nasty horrible things in order to set the new company back and make them look bad. The result of all this was felt by us, the American Soldier, nobody else! At first it took a while for the effects to hit the system so we went about 3 days where the power went on and off and fluctuated somewhat regularly every few hours. It was annoying but tolerable. Then the shit hit the fan literally and the whole base shut down. Everything went out and cut off, Im talking power, air conditioning, and water. Most places we back up and running within the day, well mainly the important places and places with important people. Of course that did not include the whole camp that 1-68 is living in. Our tent was without power, air conditioning, and running water for almost 4 straight days. On the third day it went on and off a few times and then cut off completely again. The worst part about the whole thing is the air conditioning. I can deal without having any power because thats not that big of a deal, we all have flashlights. I can deal with no running water because we have water bottles and tons of wet wipes. No air conditioning sucks! Picture 120 degree heat all day long wearing all of your gear getting to come back to a tent that is close to 100 degrees itself, no relief, and the lowest that the temperature drops at night is still in triple digits! Not fun, just not fun at all. Plus, we had no cold water or gatorade to drink so everything was just a complete disaster for those days. A total mess to say the least. Luckily everything is fixed now and working again. We have all utilities and electricity back online and functioning so we have not had any problems recently. Lets hope that pattern is the one that keeps up for the future.

To end with some positive news, today I lead a high priority and VIP mission which went very well from our end. Although we did run into a few hicups, who doesn't, everything at my level and the platoon level ran well and went off without any problems. We took out a 1 Star Brigadier General, 2 full bird Colonels, and a US Ambassador with us today to meet up with the Iraqi equivalent of the head of the Port Authority. It was very interesting to say the least. A young up and coming 1LT leading a patrol with all these seasoned veterans in it, I might easily have been the youngest guy in the entire patrol too. Its funny to think about but an honor to get the opportunity to lead them all and have their faith in my guys.