Three months...what on earth has been going on here....

It's been awhile since I've been able to update this, and it pains me to realize just how many of my blogs have begun with sentences similar to this one.  The 1st of June was the last entry, and much has happened since then - I've been home to the States and even managed to be back here for awhile now.  Ah, June...it seems you were just a moment ago...

In June we found ourselves in Basra still - a detachment of a platoon, working hard to build some structures for some of the guys that inspired the movie "The Hurt Locker." The work was long, hot, arduous even.  There were  soldiers on site from generally, well, 24 hours a day.  There may have been a few hours that we let the tools cool down, took a break, stared up at the sky and wondered what sorts of strange things would fall from it that day - dust, rain, sand, or more sinister divine winds.

We made fun where we could, but mostly rejoiced in the little things.  Little things like our element had been dropped many miles from the rest of our entire chain of command and had, within a few days, acquired two humvees for our use, nearly unlimited Class 1 (gatorade, fatty cakes, soda), unlimited ice, contacts on post with contractors and other military capable of scrounging materials and supplies that we would need, as well as acquiring free wifi courtesy of the Iraqi IT guys.  We had become a self contained, self-sufficient, force unto ourselves.  And since we're lean, mean, building/fighting machines - we didn't even throw our shoulders out patting ourselves on the back.  As you've all been made well aware of in the past, mail was the one thing that we couldn't miracle to ourselves whenever we wanted - it became the only thing we relied on the company for with some few exceptions regarding building materials.

We worked our butts off to complete our projects on time, and along the way I was able to finally sit down and learn a thing or two about electricals, the strange things that are found everywhere, but when filtered into their concentrated form at the electrical distillery can power things like lights, laptops, and AC.  I might still have a few things to learn about them, but I can do the basic required things now, run wire, read a schematic and not be completely lost, wire up ballasts, switches, outlets, breaker boxes, and I even played around on the generator connection for awhile.  It made for longer hours on some days, but I came here to learn, and I'm happy that I'll come away from this deployment with a better, more well-rounded understanding of the Corps of Engineers.

I actually learned a lot while I was out there, and others learned a lot about me as well.  Some things that were learned:
When exhausted I suffer from vertigo.
I can lead soldiers unfamiliar with a power tool and/or concept of construction to successfully (and safely!) use the tool and complete their assigned tasks.
I can design and build my own things from scratch in an appropriate length of time.
the M249 SAW is a dust MAGNET.  Never have I witnessed a weapon get so dirty so fast with so little use.
My command (and mastery) of the English language, both for proper grammar and vocabulary suffers for every minute that I am around the Army.
I really miss working an Explosives Detection K-9.
I can make a really cool sniper screen for an RG-33+ MRAP.

Once we'd completed the project we waited with bated breath for the thank you that the Nighthawks had put together for the Destroyers of Hope.  We'd heard rumors of a BBQ, and a ceremony where we'd heard we might be awarded their unit patch because they were that thrilled with our work!  The day arrived, and the BBQ had to be moved to another day, but the awards ceremony went on almost as planned.  All of their brass was there, and we were profusely thanked for our work, and praised for the rapidity things were constructed as well as the attention to detail and high standards that we set for ourselves (and achieved) while maintaining the break-neck pace.  Each of us received a Certificate of Achievement and a challenge coin from the Nighthawks but sadly when it came time to receive the unit patch - quite an honor - we were told that our Company leadership had disapproved the idea, and refused to sign off on it.  Still, knowing that everywhere the Destroyers of Hope went the different units wanted us to wear their patch during this deployment is high praise and speaks well of us.

We looked forward to a few days of rest before heading back to rejoin the main body of our company, and to the rescheduled BBQ!  Sadly we were informed that a decision had come down from Company level to hurry us home now that our task was completely, and we were unable to make the BBQ.  Instead, we prepared for the final patrol home - as it would turn out - our final patrol in Iraq.

On the way to Basra my sun-shade had decided it no longer wanted to be attached to my turret, and had blown away, so it fell to me to to create a replacement.  I borrowed some 550 cord, and found some camo netting that the Brits had abandoned when they left our little base some time before.  After securing some zip-ties, I was ready to get to building!  Once I was finished, I felt like I had a tree house.  I was giddy as a kid who had just finished his first tree fort.  Unlike that little child from my past though, my tree fort had a 7.62 machine gun in it :-D happy days!



I think that I broke everything down pretty well in the video - night vision, sniper screen/canopy, machine gun, good times!  And I was loaded for bear...nearly 600 rounds linked for the M240b, and then a pork chop in my itty bitty SAW in reserve, and then another 1000 rounds boxed for the two down below.  The convoy home was uneventful, though I did discover that Night Vision goggled for prolonged periods of time really gives you a headache.

Life back at our main base was trying.  I've already written to the Pope to see about having most of 3rd Platoon sainted for putting up with the sheer, unadulterated stupidity that ruled the day down by the shipping conexes.  Inventory, as I've discovered, is my least favorite task in the Army.  I've talked with enough people in enough units to realize that although inventory is dreaded everywhere, many other platoons, and companies, have streamlined the process.  Marking boxes in ways so as to know if they've been opened since the last inventory, thus ensuring that only the security bands/padlocks need to be checked to know everything is there, rather than dumping out the entire box.  Establishing clear labeling systems to ensure that people know which box is theirs.  Creating positive control over ownership of items, as well as keeping current inventory sheets on-hand so that if it looks like something is missing, you can check.  I digress.  But know this gentle reader - 3rd Platoon has grown weary of inventory, and doing it over, and over, and over, and over again as new information is put out, procedures are discovered to be wrong, paperwork is discovered to be outdated, box ownership is disputed.  Inventory is truly an invention of a diabolical being, and for some people, may be proof enough for the existence of the Devil.

Once the inventory was completed I discovered that my leave date had just about arrived - it was time to go home for a couple of weeks!  I packed up what I thought I'd need - travel light, it helps you get an earlier flight out of Atalanta back to Chicago - and began the exhausting trip home.  First a flight from our base down to Ali, then a two hour bus trip to AJ.  Some down time.  Then a two hour bus trip back to Ali.  Down time.  A two hour trip to Kuwait International.  Load up.  A few hours to Germany.  A few hours in Germany.  A bunch of hours from Germany to Atlanta!  And then the hurry up and wait of going through customs (which you go through while you're still overseas to hurry up the process at home) and then being told when to come back, that you should come back, that you really, actually, MUST come back when your two weeks is up!  Then the mad dash to the United terminal to try to get an earlier flight.  Then the sad discovery that all of the earlier flights are completely full, and that we're all just out of luck on that.  More waiting.  More waiting.  Finally a plane to Chicago!

Leave....leave is a story of it's own, with it's own triumphs and tribulations, and it will be a story for another day.