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Today I visited one of our current projects rebuilding the police headquarters near the town of Makhmur. The original site was devasted by an SVBIED (car bomb) in May 2007. The project includes two buildings, the police headquarters building and a traffic police station building. The project is managed out of the Erbil Resident Office, where Gary York is the Resident Engineer running the office.

Gary has been with USACE in Erbil since March 2005. We farewelled Tiffany in Mosul on Friday night. I sent out a picture of Tiffany with her embroidered Engineer flag, our standard departure gift. Gary replied to the email saying he liked the flag and that he was jealous. I told him he could get one of his own if he ever actually left Iraq!

On the way to the project, I snapped a picture of a field of sunflowers. I know it’s blurry, but I didn’t think the security team would like it if I asked to stop to take a picture of some flowers.

The project engineer, Engineer Nawzad, gave me a tour of the ongoing construction, along with Gary. In the photo below, I am leading, followed by Engineer Nawzad and Gary. We are in the courtyard of the main police headquarters building. From the look of the photo, I appear to be saying something really insightful like “Look at that dirt”.

The quality of the construction and the professionalism of the contractors are very high in Erbil and Dahuk. I always appreciate the opportunity to visit their projects. Earlier this week, I went to a new project in the Sommer neighborhood of Mosul. We went early in the morning before the contractor had arrived to get a look at the foundation work. After we returned to FOB Marez, the contractor called Nazar, the project engineer, to tell him that the Iraqi Army wouldn’t let him work on the site that day. We had to make numerous calls to get things cleared up for the contractor to get back to work.

That’s why it’s so nice to visit Erbil and Dahuk. We generally don’t encounter the security problems there. But on the other hand, we do have to worry about picking out paint colors.

Earlier this month, I took a trip to the town of Rabiyya. Rabiyya is an Iraqi town on the Syrian border. We are involved in an upcoming project to improve the border crossing in that area, also known as the POE (point of entry). In the picture below, taken from Google Earth, you can see the stark contrast between the development on the Syrian side of the border compared to the lack of development on the Iraqi side of the border.

Our project is to build a new immigration building. So we drove up to Rabiyya in our REVAs to take a look at the project site. In the past, this same drive would take approximately 4 hours because we had to avoid most of the major routes heading west out of Mosul. But because the security situation has improved, we were able to take a much more direct route and arrived in Rabiyya after driving for only a little over 2 hours. Unfortunately some Iraqi government officials from Tal Afar were killed by insurgents on this same road earlier this week. So the improved security comes and goes right now.

To get an understanding of the project, we basically walked the route an Iraqi would take if he were crossing the border into Syria. Here we are heading into the first check point for border crossing processing.

In addition to my normal security escort, we were supported by Eagle Troop, 3/3 ACR. They live at COP Heider right on the Syrian Border. It was pretty quiet this day because the POE was closed. Notice the lack of any traffic in the photo below. The large yellow arch is the actual border looking from Iraq into Syria. Compare how empty that is with the number of trucks lined up to cross the border in the first picture.

After spending about 30 minutes on the ground, we went back inside COP Heider, used the latrine, drank some GatorAde, and got ready to head home. We discussed the project with LTC Preskitt, the US Army Officer who runs the POE Transition Team (POETT). The POETT is a group of US Army personnel who advise the Iraqi Army unit responsible for running the POE. Unfortunately, the project is currently on hold while the Iraqi commander of the POE tries to get more funding to increase the scope of the construction project. After that discussion, we had the fun of another 2 hour drive in the REVAs to get home.

I have a dream. In this dream a construction project goes smoothly from start to finish.

I spent a few days this week visiting projects in Dahuk and Erbil. COL Pfenning, my boss, is due to return to the US next month. So he is making his last visit to all of the USACE offices in GRN, which he commands. On Thursday, we had lunch with Governor Nawzad Hadi, Governor of Erbil. I was intrigued by the invitation he extended because he told us to bring our swim trunks if we were interested in swimming.

The lunch venue ended up being the Hawler Water Park. Erbil is also referred to as Hawler by most Kurds. The water park is a public park owned and operated by the government in Erbil. The main attraction is a giant pool with water slides. Fortunately for everyone around, I did not bring a pair of swim trunks.

We arrived at the park a little early. So while we were waiting for the governor to arrive, the park operator showed us his bowling alley. How many people do you know that have gone bowling while deployed to Iraq? Maybe the Army will have to take back my Hazardous Duty Pay (HDP) and Danger Pay (DP) for that day. Since I get $100 per month for HDP and $225 per month for DP, I stand to lose about $10.83 for one day. I definitely prefer the danger pay the Aussies receive!

It took me a little while to get warmed up. But I blame that on having to use an alley ball. It didn’t fit right and kept slipping off my thumb! COL Pfenning looks like he has spent some time in bowling alleys in the past. After the governor arrived, he and COL Pfenning bowled 5 more frames together. Governor Nawzad uses the brute force approach to bowling and slings the ball down the alley as hard as possible. He reminded me a lot of Jeff!

Today, Dale and I celebrate 18 years of marriage. It is usually the one celebration day where there is always a conflicting activity. Dale’s in the field, I’ve just had a baby, we’re moving, Dale’s TDY, we have to attend a school function, Abby’s never ending birthday parties, or Dale’s deployed. Something always interferes with the celebration. We did spend one anniversary at a hotel on Waikiki. It was quite lovely and courtesy of the US Army as it was our lodging prior to leaving for our next assignment. When we were first together, Dale’s gift giving was a bit hit and miss. One time he gave me a purple velour track suit. Although I do love to wear sweats, I had not yet moved to Florida and turned 70. Dale usually purchased gifts the night before as he wandered dazedly around Walmart or the Mall. After awhile, I began to direct his search more clearly as I realized it really wasn’t something he could figure out on his own. Kind of like me trying to figure out how to upload pictures to the blog. I gave him lists of item choices with sizes and colors and directed him to particular jewelry stores. To his relief and mine, he discovered proflowers.com. Amazingly, after 18 years of marriage, he has figured it out. Since he has been in Iraq, the kids and I have received very nice gifts. All the gifts have been unique and arrived well in advance of the occasion. Abby’s birthday gift and my anniversary gift arrived last week. Abby received an imitation designer pink clutch bag that she loves, and I received perfume. I do not like very many perfumes, because their scents have a tendency to overwhelm me. However, the perfume Dale sent is lovely. I find it remarkable that he entered a perfume shop, smelled the scents and chose one I would like. I, on the other hand, have been dreadful lately with gift giving. He was home for his birthday, but the gift I got for him did not arrive in time and he won’t receive the anniversary card I sent until tomorrow. If I continue down this path of negligence, I fear Dale will soon receive a purple velour track suit of his own. With it, he could wear the gold chain that his sister Tami sent him years ago. Then I’ll know he’s ready for retirement. Although, that will probably force us to move to Florida on a future anniversary.

I visited some project sites in Mosul today, east of the Tigris River. Chris Johnson and his 1-8 Infantry Battalion are responsible for the neighborhoods I visited today. The Iraqi Operation Lion’ Roar is still ongoing; however, the curfew has been relaxed a little. So there were people and cars out and about this afternoon. It was nice that most everywhere we went, the residents were smiling and waving.

Rick was once again able to coordinate for dedicated air coverage for our entire move. The 4-6 Air Cavalry unit provided two OH-58D Kiowa Warriors. Having eyes in the sky gives me a good feeling. We traveled today in the REVAs again. I was glad that today’s move only lasted for an hour, not like the 9 hour days in Sinjar and Rabiyya!

Our record for today was 1 win, 1 loss, and 1 tie. At the first site we visited, the contractor has done really good work. The construction is progressing well. That was the win. At the second site, a different contractor seems to have done no work at all. The pump station is in total disrepair. That was the loss. The tie was at the third site. At this location, the contractor is still finalizing his design and has not broken ground yet. I knew that before the visit, but I wanted to check the site before construction starts.

All in all, it was a very good day.