Nov 18 2007

Flat Stanley in Iraq

Posted by Dale @ 8:17 pm in Deployment, Outside the Wire

I recently hosted the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) at MAO. As it says in his bio, Mr. John Paul Woodley, Jr is responsible for the supervision of the Army’s Civil Works programs, including programs for conservation and development of the nation’s water and wetland resources, flood control, navigation, and shore protection. While in Mosul, I took Mr. Woodley on a helicopter tour of the Mosul Dam, the Badoosh Dam, and the Aski Mosul Drinking Water Treatment Plant. Additionally, he had the opportunity to tour the Mosul Airport Passenger Terminal which we recently renovated for the upcoming Hajj flights to Mecca. CNN recently ran a short report on this project. You can see the online video at CNN.

We also flew to Erbil and visited several other projects, including the ongoing construction at the Erbil Police Academy. This project is a joint effort between USACE and the Kurdistan Regional Government. One of the other dignitaries on the visit was Mr. Bruce Smith, the Assistant for Interagency International Affairs. Mr. Smith brought with him Flat Stanley. This Flat Stanley belongs to the great-grandchild of one of the administrative assistants in his office at the Pentagon. In the picture below, Mr. Smith is explaining Flat Stanley to one of my Project Engineers, Mo Dadkhah.

Flat Stanley in Iraq

Mugs will be very happy to know that I received a coin from Mr. Woodley to add to the collection!

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Oct 10 2007

Columbus Day on Diamondback

Posted by Dale @ 7:16 pm in Deployment, FOB Life

This past Sunday we had a day off to observe Columbus Day. In the US, Columbus Day is commemorated on the second Monday in October, but not in all states. I’m not going to get into the issues surrounding this holiday here. Maybe Michael and Howard can have a huge discussion about it in the comments!

Anyway, the CG for GRD has mandated certain holidays that USACE personnel in Iraq must observe. This is really a force protection issue. Since we work 7 days a week here, it’s too easy to never really step away and wind down at all. I’m constantly flat out like a lizard drinking, as Brad taught me to say. So about once a month, we have a day off. At least for one day, we sleep late, watch videos, and just relax.

Sarah and Glenn decided it would be a great idea to play Bingo on our day off. I actually believed them. Mugs will tell you that I’m exhibiting classic symptoms of becoming a Lieutenant Colonel. I now believe that people do enjoy mandatory fun. Fortunately, I didn’t make it mandatory! Unfortunately, we only had 1 more player join us, Jeremy. Two others stopped by for a few games, Alex and Demeril. But they didn’t last long.

In the action packed photo below, I’m presenting Glenn his prize for winning a game of Bingo, a duck-shaped bar of soap!

Glenn wins Bingo

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