The deployment countdown shows that I’m at 100% done with my time in Mosul. Sometime tomorrow I’ll be on a C130 headed to Kuwait. COL Burcham is in Mosul for a command visit, so this evening, we had a mandatory dinner in the VIP room at the DFAC. She agreed to present Sarah’s end of tour award. If you haven’t heard the big news, Sarah is going home to Texas in September. She’s been here in Mosul for the past two years. Before that, she was in Kuwait starting at the end of 2003!
Sarah's Award
After that, COL Burcham presented my end of tour award. It’s always humbling to stand up in front of a group of people while someone else says nice things about you. For my gift from the office, they had a printout of me in my Kurdish uniform framed. This evening everyone signed the picture. Sarah has promised to mail it home for me; it wouldn’t have fit into the footlocker anyway.
COL Burcham Presents GRN Coin
After the official business concluded, COL Burcham was treated to another Iraqi custom. Each person wanted to have his picture taken with her. Here she is with Nazar, one of one hundred separate pictures she had to pose for!
COL Burcham and Nazar
For the past 363 days (not that I’m counting), I have been fortunate to work with the personal security detachment from Aegis under the leadership of Ronnie, the Aegis Detachment Commander in Mosul. The Aegis team members in Mosul are true professionals in every way. One thing has always stuck in my mind. Before every mission outside the wire, the Aegis team leader for the move gives a pre-mission brief to the clients just before loading the vehicles. As part of the standard briefing, the team leader says “In the unlikely event of an incident…” That phrase, spoken in the proper Queen’s English, is burned into my mind, thanks to Andy H.
At the barbeque, the night before Rick left, one of the Aegis teams presented us each with a hand carved eagle. In our thanks, both Rick and I expressed the same sentiment. We and our families are extremely grateful for the care and concern demonstrated by the Mosul Aegis teams on each and every mission. Every time I left the wire, I trusted Aegis with my life without hesitation.
I’m also thankful that they presented the eagle carving before I mailed my footlockers!
Aegis Gifts
This past Monday morning, Mike F and I visited the Mosul courthouse. Mike is managing a project at the courthouse to provide some improvements to the physical security. In addition to providing blast walls along the street, the project includes a new screening building, floodlights, and a security system. We’ve driven by the front of the courthouse several times in the past week on our way to other sites.
Mosul Courthouse
Each time, I’ve noticed that construction on the new security building has not progressed, so I wasn’t expecting to see much else happening during this visit.
Screening Building
However, when we walked through the courthouse to the back side, I was pleasantly surprised. The contractor has installed the two new trailers for the security personnel, 38 out of 40 new floodlights, and placed the concrete pad for the new generator. The contractor’s on site supervisor, wearing the red keffiyeh on his head, was eager to talk to us about the project. His English was pretty good, and he was definitely proud of his work.
Contractor's Supervisor
Mike seems to be able to resolve any issues that come up for this project relatively quickly. I think he must threaten them with his hook, but I can’t prove it!
I visited a new construction project this morning. According to the project packet, it is officially called the Baghdad Police College – North (Mosul). I’m not sure why Baghdad has to be in the name, but I’m not the one paying for it. Anyway, this was an early morning visit; we hit the road at 0430. I made sure to get in a cup of coffee before departing so I wouldn’t be so grumpy. The project has just started, and the contractor is doing a lot of foundation work at this point.
Foundation and Columns
This facility will eventually house 1000 police recruits and 100 instructors and provide classrooms and other training facilities. Today we saw a lot of cement, blocks and rebar. The contractor awarded this $18 million contract is an Iraqi construction company. So far, I’m very impressed with the company. It’s nice to see an Iraqi company with the resources to handle such a large project. I think Mugs’ Dad would appreciate all of the labor involved in tying the rebar.
Rebar
As we were walking around, Mike F stopped to light a cigarette. The sun was rising above the horizon, and I thought it looked like a Marlboro Man advertisement.
Mike F - Marlboro Man
Don’t tell his wife he’s smoking again. He’ll probably get in trouble.
Yesterday morning, I visited a healthcare clinic we are building on the west side of Mosul. Since the summer of 2007, USACE has built 8 healthcare clinics in Mosul. Four of these clinics are fully operational and receiving patients on a daily basis. Three of the more recently completed clinics are not yet staffed, and the last clinic (the one I visited) is still under construction.
This clinic is in the Hai Nablis neighborhood, which has been a very unstable area for the last few months. Just recently the clinic was damaged by a VBIED. The explosion blew out numerous windows and damaged the ceiling tiles. Fortunately, there was no structural damage. Yesterday, everything seemed pretty quiet. I guess you can expect that when you visit at 0600! The construction contractor has a security guard stay on site to make sure no one breaks into the clinic at night. He was happy to show us around, even though we woke him up!
I’m not sure I would have been as cheerful as the guard was if I was woken up unexpectedly by an unknown armed individual. I know I wouldn’t be happy if I had his sleeping arrangement.
Obviously there’s no Super Wal Mart in Mosul to run down to and buy a new pillow at any hour, day or night.
