The Thanksgiving Dinosaur

So when the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock deep in the cargo hull of the boat underneath the spices and salted meat they brought from Europe was the Thanksgiving dinosaur. I don't have any clue why but in the dining facility they had all these decorations to include the famous Thanksgiving Dinosaur. It was so out of place with the pictures and decorations I had to take a photo of it. A 7 foot bright green dinosaur definitely says, "Family and Friends come together to celebrate and be thankful."

Next year if I am home I am going to get one for the house. I will hang the Christmas stockings and dinosaur by the chimney with care. Welcome to Iraq!

We said goodbye to a bunch of doctors and nurses again today. These were the rest of them that get to leave after 6 months. Some of them actually cried which I found funny. I know they were crying because we all bonded but it was still funny. They should be home in about 10 days. I will miss them. I hope the new crew is as much fun. I can't wait until it is me getting on the bus.

Thanksgiving

It has been years since I haven't cooked on Thanksgiving. Usually I get to make the meat and macaroni and cheese. I also get to make the bloody mary's or pop open the beer. Not this year. I get to work the chow line today for a little bit. In the Army it is a tradition to have the senior officers and NCO's serve food to the juniors during the holidays. It is somewhat fun and who can resist their smiling faces.

We work on their spirits around this time of year. There is no proof that suicides are higher during the holidays but you become more aware during this time. Some of these guys and girls it is their first holiday away from Mom & Dad or their families. I hope they do fine. I think they will.

I hope everyone has a great holiday and remember to enjoy every moment.

Stuff

Today I went to the mailroom and I had a package from "The Buzz." Thanks ladies. The turkey centerpiece is already up in the office.


I had an attack of insomina this morning and woke up at 3am. I decided to go the office to see if I could find anyone asleep. I didnt! Everyone was awake and doing work. SO I went on a 20 mile bike ride. It was chilly and windy so I had to really push to get a decent time. Needless to say, by 2pm I was exhausted. I should be asleep now.


I am down to somewhere around 60 days before I get my mid tour break. I will go nuts for those 18 days!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!

Goodbye to the 1st 180 day rotators.

Some of the doctors and the nurses only have to do a 6 month tour. We said goodbye to the 1st set of docs and nurses. Here are some of the people I hung out with here in lovely Iraq.

Here is Major Travis Richardson. He is a doctor stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I think his specialty is internal medicine. He was my spiritual guide. He hosted the bible studies I attended. He is a good guy to have on your side. He is level headed and funny.




LTC Irene Rosen and Major Hays Arnold. Rosen is stationed at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. Arnold is stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. They were both alot of fun and excellent doctors. I have a bet with Irene that if I stay the whole 15 months she will owe me a bottle of wine. If I leave before 15 months I owe her a bottle.


LTC's Tina Clements and Larry Leventhal. Tina is a nurse practicioner at Fort Sam and Larry is the Emergency room doctor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Larry was the bike guru over here. He is the leader of the bike crew. Tina and I worked closely because she was in charge of the medicine inside the prison. She has a great sense of humor.



I am going to miss these folks.

finally off my ass and updating the BLOG

Here I am flying up to the Taji again. Actually, I think this one is of the flight back from Taji. I got to sit up front again so I was able to get some good photos on the trip. Look at this picture. We were flying back to where I live. Look at how close the other helicopter is to ours. I think this was a great shot.

You can also see what Baghdad homes look like. It is a little hazy but you can see how they are living.

I couldn't pass by this sign when I was on Taji. I think I mentioned the new clinic they are building is on top of a dumping area. It is where all or many of the tanks that were blown up by the coalition forces. So there are piles and piles of scrap heap and crap. This sign is about 1/2 mile from my new trailer.

Do I want to move to Taji

Many of you have emailed me and asked if I am excited or do I hate moving to Taji in a few weeks or months. I have thought about how I wanted to answer that question. I went to port-a-potty this morning and now that it is a little chilly in the am the port-a-potty seats are cold. As I took a squat to drop the kids off at the pool my butt was freezing. I was thinking it would be nice to have a warm toilet seat. Then I thought about it, would I rather have a cold seat freezing my butt off or would I rather have a warm seat which usually means someone was just there taking a squat? The port-a-potty's are sucked out 2-3 times a day but still I think the damn things are nasty. Anyway, moving to Taji is like deciding between putting your ass down and freezing or having the seat be warm but knowing someone else just got off the can. They both suck because you are in a port-a-potty. Taji or where I am at now?- I am still in the port-a-potty. Does that help? Later, time to run.

another attempt

Stupid kid in our unit made an attempt to commit suicide. He was witnessed placing a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. Luckily, there was no firing pin. The crazy thing is he is here with his wife. I guess they are having issues and this was his way to show her that he loved her. There must have been a TV show I missed on MTV or some strange station that taught these stupid kids that suicide was cool? Did anyone see the program? A permanent solution to a temporary problem.

I am still amazed at the number of the attempts that happen here. We recently had a guy headed home the next day after 15 months and he decides to take pills. He delayed his own trip home. I wonder how bad it is at home you would rather stay in Iraq?

Well it is Wednesday at 04:45 and I am awake. I took an Ambien last night so I could sleep 7-8 hours. It worked. I feel better than I had been the last few days. I sleep like shit here. I think it is a combination of 1) the helicopters and planes landing at the airport about 2 football fields away from my trailer, 2) the twin bed they have me sleeping on, 3) the amount of water I drink all day so I have to piss all the time, 4) and the explosions that happen at all these random times. Iraq is bound to make the hottest destinations list any day now. When I am out flying around I am constantly searching for a vacation home. Anyone want to go in half? I think we can get a good deal.

Forgot to add Happy Veteran's day to everyone reading the BLOG and has served. It is a call to duty, and honor to serve, all for country. (Duty,Honor,Country)Be proud.

Missing the NBA season

I can't believe another season is here and I am missing it. I think I am such a fanatic about basketball because I wanted to play. My 15 minutes of fame are really adding up. Here is a photo of me and "the Doctor." this was at a conference San Diego. Anyone know how the Heat are doing this year? I can see the scores on the internet but I wonder how they look as a team. Busy week again as I prepare to move to Taji. It has been delayed again so it loooks like I wont be leaving until January right now. I am hopefully that it gets delayed again (smile). I have too much crap to pack up. The unit appears to be really ready to do their job I hope they aren't disappointed.

My mom sent me a package this week. It was the movie, "Happy Feet." The kids in the office were laughing but they tell me I have to see it. I will give you all the 4-1-1. The election night coverage was pretty exciting. The speech President -Elect Obama gave was incredible. I need to learn to speak like that. I know I have the gift of gab but I can't speak like that to inspire a crowd. It is a skill. I am sure he has writers but he had to speak it the right way too.

7 mile run yesterday and a 18 mile bike ride today. I had an active weekend. I will need to add in a few more miles. It is fun running again. Only two sirens this week. No big injuries this week either. So it was a good week. All the Soldiers have started their mid-tour leaves. That is a good sign because I will be getting mine soon. I only have 39 more weeks of Iraq left. Sounds good when I only say it in weeks. The great thing is I only have 14 weeks until I come home on my mid tour leave. I have been trying to decide my first meal...I think it will be sushi. Although, I am looking forward to a large shower and flushing toilets too. I can't wait.

views of Baghdad

So there I am leaning out the door firing the machine gun yelling, "Get some, get some!!" ...er, wait...that is a scene from the movie Full Metal Jacket. I was sitting in the helicopter flying to my new place called Taji. These pictures are of Baghdad. As we fly over the city the door gunner must look out to make sure no one is targeting us with a rocket or shooting at us. I thought that picture was worth 1000 words. If you look a few posts back you can see me in the helmet and vest and this door gunner is helping to protect me. I carry a 9mm on me but you really need a rifle at these distances. Needless to say, I am thankful for my door gunner.

Look at the houses or as we call them mud huts (smile) talk about zero lot lines. We land frequently, like every 10 minutes or so. On this flight when we took off a few times they let out flares. I think most of this is standard procedure but it makes you think, did they get a "blip" on their sensors that said we were being targeted? You set off the flares to divert the rockets that are typically heat seeking.

Fun thoughts so early in the am.

Ouchie!!

OUCH!! Bobbi got into a bike wreck this weekend. She is fine although my bike friends that witnessed it are still in shock. Notice the dry blood on her helmet. She left the Tour de Gruene with 3 stiches, and the lovely scars. The people who witnessed it said things like, "I thought she was dead." "We thought she did a Christopher Reeve." I am happy to say she is strong as ever and is already thinking about getting back in the saddle again. I am proud of her for having the guts to get back on it. As I always say, "You just have to come to an understanding with pain." I think Bobbi has for sure.

My new place

I forgot to post pictures of my trip to Taji. This is a picture of my new trailer. Maybe not that one in particular but one of these for sure. The good news is they are new and clean. It will be a better place to live than where I live right now. I get my own room again so that is good. The rooms are bigger so that is good too. A big improvement is I will have flush toilets. I havfe been using a port-a-potty so long I won't know what to do.


The Ugly ---this is my view. What they did was clear out a trash dump and put the new prison in the center. Here is my view. Yes that is a wonderful view. I hear they plan to bet rid of it all but that is what it looks like now.

Pictures from the lake house

There were alot of people promoted this month. For all my non- Army friends, the 1st of the month is the time you get promoted and there were alot of people I know promoted 1NOV. In my office there were 2 Soldiers promoted. Anyway, with all these promotions there are ceremonies. Like my friend Deirdra in the previous post everyone has someone put their new rank on and a formal declaration is made of the new rank. It is a big deal or at least it should be a big deal. Bobbi likes to say make each one special.
The general rule is you can get promoted anywhere you want and have the rank placed on you by anyone you want, as long as they outrank you. One of the ceremonies I went to was in the back of Saddam's palace or more accurately on the balcony in the back.

Here are some pictures from that balcony. I wonder how many times Saddam had this view? Ok not with all the military stuff (we occupy the whole area) but when it was all his?









Isn't this a good view?






They said all these little houses on the "lake front" were guest houses for his friends. Although I am thinking since he would kill you as soon as look at you so I dont think I would have been on his list. The regular folks got electricity 2 hours a day because the rest was to keep his castles up and running. That was one thing the Americans did when they arrived that paid big dividends. Creating a powergrid so people could have power anytime they needed. Especially in the rural areas.

It is still not as beautiful as the Republic of Texas.