Monday, December 10, 2007
Typical Day in Iraq
"Woke up this morning to the sound of thunder...." - Bob Seager
Actually, I woke up this morning to the sound of a very large explosion followed by several small explosions, all big enough to shake us out of bed. Waking up on the floor face down in full body armor is always a great way to start the day.
Instead of going back to sleep I dressed and left for work. My roommate and I missed our ride to the FOB, so we walked. Ignoring the giant mushroom cloud rising from across the river, it was a beautiful and cold morning.
Walking down the main drag we came across our friendly neighborhood Iraq Policemen trying to push-start their Police pick-up truck. They had drained the battery listening to the radio all night with the engine turned off. As if it were a normal occurrence, or something we did every day, we walked up behind the truck, joining the three Iraqi Policemen in pushing the truck down the sidewalk while the driver popped the clutch.
After a round of thank-yous from the cops we continued on down the road.
The walk gave me time to think about the weekend, and how f'ing insane building an Air Force is. We often complain about how frustrating it is working with some of the leadership in the Iraqi Military, yet the hardest battles we've fought have been with organizations back home that don't know what they're doing. A chain of mistakes by one office alone caused us an overage of $60,000,000 on a contract to buy helicopters. $60M!!!! How do you screw up that badly?
Even worse, we're the ones standing in front of the Iraqi Government telling them why we screwed up and how we're going to fix it. We end up looking like idiots to the Prime Minister or the Iraqi Air Force while the folks back home simply punch the clock at the end of the day and drive home, not caring about the chaos they repeatedly inflict upon us out here.
Chaos. Chaos for us, but we'll never whine about it. We can't. It's only money and time wasted. We're not driving convoys or flying Blackhawks around the AOR. No matter how bad things get for us, there's always someone who's got it much worse than we do.
But it was nice to walk to work today. Mushroom cloud and all.
Just a typical day for us in Iraq.
posted by El Capitan at 7:21 AM
3 Comments:
Coffeypot said...
Same comment as last posted. Also, KPic is one of my favorite country singers. She does seem real and not a diva like some we have heard of.
Congratulations, again, Major Dude.
Southern (in)Sanity said...
Well, mushroom cloud or not, I'm glad it was a pleasant walk.
Stay safe over there.
said...
From the local idiot civilian:
Thanks for your service. My family and My KATELYN appreciate it. Merry Christmas to y'all.
I'm an USAF Enlisted Brat & IT grunt at a Defense Contractor: I see the upper management always trying to find new ways to 'polish the cannonball'. It's frustrating on this end too. I've had a few opportunities to poke holes in their oblivious theories and ideas, but it never seems enough. Y'all keep up the good fight & stay safe: we'll try to keep the corporate jackals inline over here.
! Aim High ! ...or is it "Into the Blue!" these days. :)
- Steve_Ronin@yahoo.com