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One week ago today, on 2 May 2008, MAJ Rick Biddle walked over from the Operations trailer and told me that SET 8 had been hit by an IED. SET 8 is based out of COB Speicher in Tikrit. The team had taken some USACE personnel on a project site visit along the Bayji to Baghdad Pipeline Exclusion Zone north of Tikrit. Among the personnel was Jim Lockard, a Project Manager working at GRN. At approximately 1000, Jim’s vehicle was hit by an IED and came under small arms fire from insurgents. The Aegis SET repelled the attack, pushed the insurgents back, evacuated the USACE personnel, and returned to COB Speicher. Jim died at the CSH as a result of his injuries sustained from the IED blast.

When I arrived in Mosul in August 2007, Jim was the Project Manager for the GRN healthcare clinics. For a couple of months, I spoke with him every Sunday during the weekly healthcare clinic conference call. I finally had the pleasure of meeting Jim in October 2007 when I went to COB Speicher for the Engineer Conference. I immediately liked Jim as everyone did when they met him.

On Wednesday, I traveled to COB Speicher for a memorial ceremony in honor of Jim. COL Pfenning spoke of his admiration and respect for Jim. Several other of Jim’s colleagues also gave remarks during the ceremony. They each consistently mentioned his love for his wife Maria and his two teenage daughters Danielle and Nicole. They also shared stories of his sense of humor. One of the speakers shared Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. In this passage, the Preacher says:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

I reflected on those words of Solomon as the bugler played Taps at the end of the ceremony. I along with everyone else that had the pleasure of knowing him will miss Jim dearly. Each night my kids pray for the safety of everyone deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other places around the world. They mention me by name as well as others we know that are deployed. In Mosul, we will continue to honor Jim’s sacrifice every time we go outside the wire.

Rest in Peace, Jim Lockard.

On my three trips outside the wire this week, I visited six different project sites. Before I deployed, I was advised by Woody, a friend from church, to watch out for the construction contractors. Each day brings a new twist. For one road project, the contractor submitted pictures of him beginning construction. The pictures didn’t look quite right. We eventually determined that they were of a different road in an entirely different province of Iraq. We’ve been keeping a close eye on that project since then!

One of the sites I visited this week was the Qayyara drinking water treatment plant. Qayyara is a town south of Mosul on the Tigris River. This project is another one of my problem children. As one of my Iraqi Engineers reported one time, this contractor is only good at “devising the excusing”. I think the contractor on this project is making it up as he goes along. Tiffany, the project engineer, has her work cut out for her. During our visit, some kids came out on the roof of the house next door to watch us.

For some reason, Mugs seems to think everyone is bored with my FOB Life postings! I have been out and about, but I knew you would all much rather read about my new CHU. I guess I’ll change it up today and post about today’s site visit to the Gogjalee neighborhood of Mosul. The Iraqis get a huge kick out of hearing me try to pronounce the names of Iraqi towns, so I won’t bother with a phonetic description of Gogjalee.

After passing over the Tigris River heading east, we drove through one of the gates of Ninevah. Remember Jonah 1:2? “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” (The Message) The picture below is actually us heading back through the gates on our return to the FOB, but I wanted to include it first!

At the pump station, there is a family living in the operator’s building. When we arrived the women and one of the sons came out to talk to us. The father and the other sons were away, but we saw them returning as we were leaving.

I was finally prepared for the boy. I bought a pouch for my body armor to hold a stash of goodies. So I was able to give this boy a dum dum sucker and a tiger finger puppet.

After the site visits were complete, I kept my camera ready to take a picture of a particular mosque I had seen on the way out. This is the Nebi Yunus mosque, or in English, the Prophet Jonah mosque. Reportedly, in one of the rooms is a shrine to Jonah complete with whale bones.

The trip itself was very uneventful, thanks to the soldiers of the 3rd ACR. Chris Johnson’s unit, 1-8 Infantry Battalion, is part of 3rd ACR. In my trips outside the wire lately, I’ve noticed a much increased presence of US troops throughout the city. Over the last couple of days, we experienced a huge blast that leveled a three-story building followed the next day by a suicide attack that killed the Mosul Chief of Police. The Governor of Ninewa put a curfew in place, so there were no civilian cars on the road at all today. He must have seen the news reports on the TV in his office!

A good pair of sunglasses is essential to survival here in Iraq. Actually, I have found that 2 different pairs of sunglasses are better. I prefer one type for day to day FOB life, while I use a different type for going outside the wire. I have a pair of the Uvex XC that I was issued while preparing for deployment at Ft. Benning, GA. I wear them everyday in and around the FOB. But when I head off the FOB, I switch to the WileyX which I bought at the military clothing sales store at Ft. Belvoir, VA. The WileyX sunglasses have a much tighter, closer fit to the face. They also have more of a goggle-type setup, while the Uvex XCs are a single lens system. So the WileyX pair does a better job of keeping out the blowing sand. Both pairs of sunglasses came with interchangable lenses. In limited visibility, I can put in the clear lenses, so I can still have some eye protection even when it’s dark outside.

Here’s a picture of me wearing my WileyXs while flying in a Blackhawk.

In the comments for a post, Janice asks “What is it like when you go to a job site with your security?” To answer her question, I’d like to describe USACE’s approach to construction management in Iraq. As I’ve mentioned previously, I never leave the wire without my personal security detachment (PSD). I have two types of teams that work for me. The team that takes me to site visits is a security escort team (SET). As the name suggests, the SET’s mission is to escort USACE personnel on missions outside the wire. The other type I haven’t mentioned before is called a reconstruction liaison team (RLT). The RLT visits sites without taking USACE personnel with them. They check out the security situation at a project site to see if it is safe for me to visit. More importantly, the RLT also attempts to establish a relationship with the locals that live near the projects as well as with the contractors working on the projects.

You may not realize it, but the contractors working on my projects are not Americans. As much as possible, we hire Iraqi construction firms to build Iraqi construction projects. While this is the right thing to do for the local economy, it does make communication with the contractors very difficult. On the RLT, I have interpreters. They are a key asset.

For the Al Shura site visit I posted previously, first I sent an RLT to the site to check out the area. When I received the RLT report, it said that the area was safe, but it also mentioned that the water treatment plant operator had some questions about the project. So I planned a site visit with my SET and requested to have the RLT team leader and interpreter on the visit as well. Since they had been there and talked to the operator, I knew they would be a big help on my site visit. For a site visit, when we arrive on site, the SET members get out and secure the perimeter. Once they establish that there are no immediate threats, then the USACE Engineers are able to get out of the vehicles to conduct any necessary project inspections.

In the picture below, Gene, the Project Engineer, is talking to the water treatment plant operator with the help of the RLT interpreter. A SET member is providing security in the background.

The key to success on a site visit is constant communication. I hope this answers Janice’s question!