Fair Winds and Following Seas...

Although I am surrounded by the Army, today's post begins with the traditional farewell for departing Sailors. Today I sent home one of America's true heroes and a great friend, my Chief. He's finished his tour (plus a voluntary extension) and it is with mixed emotions that I took him to the airport today. I will miss him dearly but I am very happy that he is heading home.

Chiefs are the folks that really get things done in the Navy - the bridge between the Officers and the Crew. Chief often told me that his measure of success was not the accolades he received, but the honors afforded to his officers and Sailors. I can tell you without hesitation, he's the finest Sailor and friend with which I have had the pleasure to work in my 19 years of service. The things he was able to accomplish were phenomenal and everything he did was with a smile and a helping hand. No kidding, on his last day here, he was still teaching things his comrades. I could create an entire blog devoted to Chief with his anecdotes, antics, and depth of knowledge, but that would not be his style. He's been all about mission accomplishment, not praises and honors.

Well, Chief, you stand relieved. You have earned your trip home to family and friends. We have the watch.

Cheers, Pearl

Chief receiving his Bronze Star Medal for meritorious combat service.

I told you Chief was resourceful. On danger of losing some sympathy points for being in Iraq, here is a picture of Chief's farewell cookout of steak and lobster. How and where he was able to have such a feast I don't know. When I asked him such questions his usual response was, "Are you asking me a direct question?" I learned that some things are better if they are just enjoyed.

Stars and Stripes

When I was home on leave, a fair number of people, when hearing my stories from Iraq said, "Well, we certainly aren't getting that in our news." And, it's true. As I read my online news sources, they are for the most part only about the tragedies in military and civilian deaths. If you want to get the stories that don't make CNN Headline News or the Fox Report, might I suggest "Stars and Stripes."

The same Stars and Stripes that has been around for generations during war and peace is still published daily overseas. With the advent of the Internet, now anyone can download the same paper we have access to here (truth be told, I read my copy on the computer anyway). I'm not trying to say that Stars and Stripes has better news than AP or Reuters and the editors make a big point that they are not run by the military and therefore don't have to print only approved stories. But, one thing Stars and Stripes brings the other news sources don't are a group of reporters who are here with the military writing stories about the military. Sure there are the reports about death and destruction, but there are also stories about mud, reconstruction, civil affairs projects, etc - the kind of story that wouldn't even make the bottom of the 7th page in newspapers back home, but are all about what we are doing here.

So, I don't mean to endorse the Stars and Stripes as the be-all-end-all newspaper, but I think you might find something you haven't seen before to give you a complete picture of life here in Iraq and elsewhere.

(Here's the link http://estripes.osd.mil/ - click on the edition you'd like to read and wait for the download in PDF format)

Cheers, Pearl

Mud

I was a little premature on the sun drying things out this week.

You may remember this photo from a previous post:



Here's the same scene after it rained twice this week:



When I first arrived here I was fascinated by all of the dust everywhere. I thought that all this place needed was a little rain to clean everything off and it would be so much nicer. I was wrong. A little rain makes this place even less enjoyable than it already was. I think the only rain that would make a difference would be something only Noah would appreciate.

We haven't had a normal, everyday torrential downpour to beat back all the dust, but rather two days (Wednesday and today) of light steady, all-day-long rain. Given the volume of dust and dirt here, plus the hard strata under the dirt that doesn't allow the rain to soak in, all we get is some of the most amazing mud I've ever encountered. If you'd like to recreate this at home here's what you'll need:

Normal dirt
Finely ground dirt
Water
McDonald's chocolate milkshake
A five-year-old
Magic

Give the first three ingredients to the five-year-old and let him at it for about 30 minutes or so. Once you have some world class mud, spread it out and then pour a generous layer of the milkshake on top so you have a mucky, nasty layer with a covering of slimy goo. Now comes the magic. Somehow, you have to give this stuff a coefficient of friction of zero (a little physics lesson here) so it is slicker than, as my wife's grandmother used to say "goose grease," and also give it the most remarkable adhesive capabilities so that it sticks like glue to anything it touches. Here's the part that puts things into true perspective: We have it nice here because there are actually some paved roads and sidewalks. I talked with one of my subordinates who's off at a remote location. He said being there is like living on the set of M*A*S*H without the martinis!

Cheers, Pearl

Happy Birthday, Son!

Today is my son's birthday!

My "baby" is thirteen now and my daughter got her learner's permit to drive while I was home on leave. I am now the father of two teenage children - how did that happen?! In addition to the other presents I sent home, I also told him this would be the last birthday I'd miss (I've been gone for two of the last three years in addition to other deployments). While nothing in the military is 100%, I'm pretty confident this will be the last time I have to call home from deployment and sing the out-of-tune birthday song over the phone.

He seemed pretty excited about the gifts he's received so far. As is the custom at our house, he got one present this morning with his breakfast (pancakes with festive sprinkles) and will get the others tonight with his cake and lousy singing. Well, I know there'll be cake; I don't think my wife and daughter will do the off-key "Happy Birthday" but that's okay because he got it from me this morning and I'm sure he got it at the large family gathering over at my dad's.

So, a good day all around. My son is growing into a fine young man and the sun came out here for the first time in a couple of days to begin drying the mud from yesterday's rain (segue to my next post).

Happy birthday, Little Big Man - Love, Dad!

Cheers, Pearl

Tigers Move to #1

GO TIGERS!!!

NEW YORK (AP) -- Memphis replaced North Carolina as the No. 1 team in college basketball Monday, the Tigers' first appearance in 25 years at the top of The Associated Press poll.

Kansas, the nation's only other undefeated Division I men's team, moved up to No. 2 while the Tar Heels dropped to fifth after their loss to Maryland. Drake and Baylor were two new entries to the rankings, joining the Top 25 for the first time in a long time.

Memphis' only other appearance at No. 1 was as short as possible -- a one-week stint in 1983.

"We've got one extra day than the last time," Memphis coach John Calipari said. "That team went to No. 1 on a Monday and lost that night. We get to enjoy Monday and Tuesday and until we play at Tulsa on Wednesday night."

North Carolina was ranked No. 1 in preseason and for the first 10 polls of the regular season. The Tar Heels lost 82-80 to Maryland at home on Saturday and Memphis (17-0) moved up one spot with 49 first-place votes and 1,777 points from the 72-member national media panel.

Kansas (18-0) advanced from third to second with 23 first-place votes and 1,751 points. Tennessee and Duke moved from sixth and seventh to third and fourth. They were followed by North Carolina (18-1).

Drake, which came in at No. 22, is ranked for the first time since the final poll of the 1974-75 season, while No. 25 Baylor was last in the rankings in February 1969.

Although this is Memphis' first No. 1 ranking since that 64-56 loss at Virginia Tech on Jan. 10, 1983, Calipari had his teams at Massachusetts there for a total of 14 weeks over the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons.

"My 1995 team had the same camaraderie and synergy this team has but this team has it with more guys because we'll play 10, 11 guys where that UMass team was basically five guys," Calipari said. "It'll matter to these guys. I've coached at UMass and here and at those kind of places, non-BCS schools, most of those guys were not silver-spooned not McDonald's All-Americans and they take pride in it because it's a notch in their belt to be able to say `You guys didn't think I was that good."

Calipari was honest that there is a bigger target for him than being No. 1.

"For me as a coach the only rating I worry about is April 7," he said, referring to the date of the national championship game. "If you said to me I could have the No. 1 ranking or a No. 1 seeding, I'd take the seeding every time. For your players and the school, though, this is huge."

Simple is Often Best

PROBLEM - Vehicles are speeding past your compound and are a hazard to Soldiers.

Well, there are a number of possible solutions to try and get folks to slow down. You can post a speed limit sign with a safe speed. But then again, the drivers who are speeding are likely to ignore a simple sign. You could put MPs out on the road to direct traffic. But that would be an inefficient use of manpower. Ohh, I know, this is the Army, we have a creative solution right at hand.

SOLUTION - Take two worn out tank treads and drag them across the road. Instant speed bumps! (The second one is down the road and barely visible in the picture.)



Cheers, Pearl

Returning to Normal

Remember my post about how "dusty" didn't even begin to describe this place? Well, that fine dust makes an incredible gooey, sticky mud after it rains. I'm almost pining for the dusty and hot days again! Well, perhaps not the hot part, but this mud is unbelievable. There's a rock hard strata a few inches under the surface that prevents the water from soaking in so all the rain gets to do is sit on top of the dirt and bond with the moon dust to create some very impressive mud.

I've been here a few days now and am back into my routines. In some ways it seems like I never left here but there are enough changes that I've been on my toes lately. The biggest change is that my Chief's relief is here and we are all sadly getting ready to send him home. It's not that we aren't excited about him being able to get out of here and get back where he belongs with his family. But, he's such a part of normal life, such a wonderful friend and coworker, that life here just won't be the same after he redeploys. But, that's a few weeks away so no need to borrow that sorrow just yet.

One great thing about being back was seeing all of the Soldiers again, the guys I work with and see every day that make this place bearable. I've really come to know quite well a bunch of the NCOs and Troopers around the unit and I admit sharing stories and finding out about how they've been has been such a boost to make up for having to leave home again. While they'll never take the place of my wife and kids, they are my family here and being back "home" with them is, in many indescribable ways, comforting.

Cheers, Pearl

Back in Baghdad

Well, I'm back now. The travel part of leave almost makes one enjoy being here in Iraq but there's a big part of me that is going through the same reaction as Martin Sheen's character in the opening of "Apocalypse Now" - "Baghdad. Sh@%, I'm still in Baghdad."

In some ways it doesn't feel like I ever left. In others, I was hoping I just wouldn't have to come back. It has been nice catching up with friends here, but still, it's hard to beat being at home.

Things have changed a little. First, it is COLD! I mean, icy windy cold. And wet and muddy to boot! Apparently as I was traveling they had a real rain that turned into the first snow in Baghdad since 1976. The snow didn't stick at all but the mud it made sure does...to everything. Just walking over to the DFAC to eat was an experience. I hate to say it, but I kinda prefer dry and dusty as sad as that sounds.

I'll do some more catching up later but right now I'm just bushed tired. It's been a long couple of days getting back and the only enjoyable part was thinking that the next time I have to go through this will be to head home for good.

Cheers, Pearl

The Waiting Game

The good news is I'm manifested on the flight today. The bad news is we had to report to check in at 1130 and the flight doesn't board until 2045. Not only do we have to wait for just over nine hours to board the flight, we're waiting nine hours so we can go sit on a plane for 17 hours. Whoo hoo!

All of that aside, there have been some real positives today I need to share.

First, the volunteers at the USO here in Atlanta are fantastic. They were all very supportive, extremely helpful, and when it came time to lead us out, they shouted out, "Let's hear it for America's heroes!" and began a round of applause that followed us as we moved to our ticketing counter. Again, like when I arrived for leave, it was an emotional experience to walk through and hear applause and cheering.

Also, as we've moved through the terminal, TSA routed us straight through the security check (we still had to go through but they moved us to the front of the line and moved us along faster than I've ever been through security). Just walking down the passage people would come up, shake my hand, and say some variation of, "Thanks for all you do - good luck and God bless."

Well, some of us are headed down to the gate to begin the closer waiting process. My next post should be from back in my trailer "home" away from home. The counter keeps moving.

Cheers, Pearl

Happy New Year!

My apologies to my faithful readers for the long absence from posting.

I did finally manage to make it home on Christmas Eve in time to get some last minute shopping finished and make our evening church service as well. I had every intention of continuing to post during my leave period but as I hope you’ll forgive, my time was spent enjoying my family and entertaining guests. It was a wonderful leave period and while in retrospect seemed a little short, was still a great time well spent just being back home.

To bring you up to date…

I really don’t have the literary skills to describe the process getting out of Kuwait. It was an unimaginably long, painful ordeal. As a matter of fact, in a conversation with one of my fellow travelers, he said, "Do you think you could intentionally design a more agonizing and inefficient method to get us out of here?" Bingo! I understand they were processing through many hundreds of us, but good gracious, just as things looked as if they couldn’t get any more difficult, they did! The customs inspection was quite thorough including an airport-like x-ray of our bags, a metal detector wanding of us personally, a search table after the x-ray where we completely emptied our bags for inspection, and then, after we’d repacked everything, one last airport x-ray of our bags. There were countless hours of waiting in cramped spaces including a three hour wait on our busses outside the airport waiting for our flight to land (they’d been delayed but we still rode to the airport on schedule). Finally, there was the flight itself, seventeen hours jammed into a completely full MD-11 with close to 400 other Soldiers.

For all of that hassle though, I have to add the processing in Atlanta was a well-oiled machine. We zipped through customs (imagine that) and they had everything ready to stamp our leave papers and get us moving. They even had ticket agents ready to go to get us on the earliest flight possible out of Atlanta (I was able to get home two hours early which was a welcome, early Christmas present). One other thing I have to add, as we were walking through the customs area, one of the customs agents standing alone to the side clapped and said, "Welcome home" to the entire line of 400 or so of us as we filed by. She was as genuine and enthusiastic as she could have been for every Soldier (and Sailor) coming through. After all we'd been through it was an emotional experience and a great way to come back into the United States!

My leave was fabulous of course with much celebrating, playing with the kids' new toys, and enjoying variety. I was quite surprised at the number of people back home who stopped me when they saw me and said, "I want to thank you for what you're doing and I'm a regular reader of your blog." Really, I had no idea there were than many folks outside my family who check most every day to see what I've been up to. It is quite humbling and I want to thank all of you who wrote e-mails, stopped me to talk, or read anonymously. It is wonderful to know how many of you are supporting us while deployed.

Finally, today is the big "heading-back" day. While there wasn't the sadness and emotion of my first leaving, it was still difficult to pull away one more time. But, as I told my kids, this last part is the run to the finish. I have much less time to go than I've already completed and the next time I'm in the Memphis airport will be to run up to them for my last deployed welcome home.

Well, actually, not finally. There's always a twist. I arrived in Atlanta and went to get processed to head back to Kuwait. A bunch of Soldiers were called in groups and led off for processing. As my group was waiting, we were called back into the USO. I turned to a buddy I met up with and said, "This has all the feeling of a problem." Eighteen years in the military gives one that sixth sense I suppose because as soon as we filed in there was an announcement that the plane was full and we were going to have to spend the night here in Atlanta. So, we waited around for vouchers, caught the shuttle to our hotels, checked in (complete with room mates - the Army certainly isn't going to pay for single rooms) and should fly out tomorrow evening for Kuwait. I can only imagine what the processing to get us back into Iraq will be like.

Ah, yes, I'm back in the Army!

Cheers, Pearl