This morning I went on a site visit to an Iraqi Army (IA) compound on the west side of Mosul. One of the local Military Transition Teams (MiTTs) requested some engineering assistance. A MiTT is a team of US Army advisors assigned to work with an IA unit. Periodically we oversee construction projects to renovate IA facilities. So the MiTT asked if I could have a couple of Engineers take a look at the Combat Outpost (COP) occupied by their newly assigned IA unit. I tasked Alda and Mo to visit the site with the MiTT, and then I decided to tag along.
We rode with the MiTT in their up-armored HMMWVs (humvees). Two of my security team members also came along to get a look at the compound for future visits. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Unfortunately, things got much worse as we took a closer look. The IA Battalion Commander was very excited to have us assess his compound in the hopes of getting some assistance in fixing it up! He walked us through his unit area pointing out his key concerns. The biggest issue is that the septic system is completely backed up. But that’s enough bad news. He was very proud to show us his battalion store.
It makes me appreciate the PX on Diamondback that much more! Of course, we ended the visit just like we started the visit, sipping a cup of chai in the commander’s office.
Once again, the TV was never turned off.
Josiah had been haphazardly preparing over the last month for the ACSI district spelling bee that he attended on Friday. He had to study the spelling words from the 5th through 8th grade lists, because the last round included all the words from each grade level. The study list of words was misplaced several times and given up for lost for awhile until I insisted that he look once again in his school locker. I would quiz him with the dictionary close by and would make several attempts to achieve the correct phonetic pronunciation. On the way to school, Abby would quiz him in the van, but since even I was having a difficult time pronouncing the words, her attempts were even less effective. Gabe would eventually pipe in and offer his phonetic interpretation. I would listen to Gabe and Abby’s attempts while driving and try to deduce what word they were asking Josiah. Josiah would then spell the confusingly pronounced word, and be told that he was incorrect and then Abby would give him the correct spelling. At which point, Josiah would declare what the correct pronunciation for the word should have been. It wasn’t exactly the most effective studying method. You would think I would have given up on this drive along testing, but I made them continue on. I did give up on the grade 8 difficult words as insurmountable and attempted to get through the rest of the lists in the hope that he could make it through the first rounds. The night before the District Bee, I told Josiah to get the study list so we could go over some words that he had previously gotten wrong. He looked in his backpack, his room, and every other room in the house but the list was no where to be found. So, I told him, “You’re not completely prepared for this Bee, so there are no great expectations or pressures. When you are standing up there respond like you would if I was typing on the computer and asked you how to spell congratulations.” I figured that he wouldn’t be immediately eliminated, but assumed he wouldn’t get very far. The middle school principal handed out copies of the study lists on the bus for the ride north. Josiah decided to spend some time cramming. In the afternoon, I received a call from Josiah. He said, “Hi Mom. I won.” I then let out a hysterical unbelieving laugh. “You won? You won? Congratulations, son. That’s great! I can’t believe it, but that’s great!” He has qualified to attend the ACSI Regional Spelling Bee in Atlanta, Georgia on April 5th. That night we went out to Jimmy the Greek to celebrate. He got his menu, opened it up and pointed to “Moussaka”. “That’s my favorite word from my list,” he said. He doesn’t recall the word he won with, but he remembers that his favorite word is Moussaka!
We had a thunderstorm on Thursday night. I was in my trailer about 2100 that night working at my desk. I saw a bright flash followed a couple of seconds later by a very loud boom. I assumed it was another IED. We probably hear on average about 5-6 IED explosions per day in Mosul. The small explosions, we just hear; the larger explosions actually shake our trailers. I had felt larger detonations previously, but I had never seen a flash before. About 30 seconds later, it happened again. When I walked outside to see what was happening, it started pouring. It rained all night Thursday and into Friday morning. The roads were extremely muddy on Friday, so I wore my old running shoes for my run that afternoon. I still haven’t worn a new pair yet because they’re too clean.
We grilled steaks at lunch today to celebrate Presidents’ Day. I got to sleep in until about 0900. At 1030 I went to chapel, which lasted exactly 1 hour. Obviously this wasn’t the gospel service! After lunch, I watched Mike decimate Glenn in a thrilling game of horseshoes. Toward the end, Rick walked over smoking a cigar.
I quickly departed since even the smell of cigars makes me queasy!
Today is a great day. In spite of anything else that has happened today, I’m happy because I got my new running shoes in the mail today. My new favorite running shoes are the New Balance 826. I ordered my first pair at the end of November 2007 and have enjoyed running in them from Day 1. I have had that pair for about 2.5 months now. In that time, I have run 46 times for a total of 228.3 miles. That’s an average of 4 runs per week at 4.96 miles per run. The longest run was a 13 mile run one Saturday afternoon. They’ve taken quite a beating.
Gotta run!
Soldiers tend to have an odd sense of humor. Sometimes they’re amused by seemingly insignificant things. Since all of my security personnel have been in the military prior to becoming contractors, they act just like soldiers most of the time. On our vehicles, we have signs warning civilians to stay back. I noticed this “unauthorized” patch on one of the team member’s uniforms.
I guess the custom patches attracted a little too much attention. Within a couple of hours after returning from the mission where I took that photo, then team leaders were reminding everyone that only official patches are authorized on their uniforms.
If you click on the photo above, you’ll notice that I’ve added an image popup tool to load a fullsize version of the image.
In an email today, I was reminded by the Editor that I haven’t posted in the last few days. I’ve started and deleted about 4 different posts today. This was the best I could come up with today.
I did get a new mattress today. Maybe I’ll blog about that tomorrow!
