First Day Viewing Training

Today I finally got to do what I was sent here to do...advise and assist.  Well, mostly, I told this guy that speaks Arabic what I thought, and he told it to the Colonel, who in turned told this guy stuff in Arabic, who then told me something in English.  We could have been having two completely different conversations for all I know.  I have learned how to pick out numbers and days, pretty much...so I know when they are talking about those things...kind of, anyway.  Their days of the week sound a lot like numbers, only one off from what you would think they should be.

I did take Rosetta Stone Level I Arabic through unit III, only to find out that Arabic is a level IV language, and, according to my DLAB score (an army test to see if you have the ability to learn languages) I am not even capable of learning a level II language (like Spanish).  Tomorrow should be a fun day...will tell more about it after it happens.

Later all.

Finally Arrived at Camp Savage

I have finally arrived at Camp Savage at the Shaibah Training Center.  I will be the senior advisor to the training center.  Finally got a room that I can spread out in.  Not sure if I will be in this room for two weeks or two months, but will only have to move a few CHUs (Containerized Housing Units) down if I do move.  Still do not know what I will be doing in two months, but will make the most out of my time here.  Food is excellent, anyway.  Internet is slow, but free.  At least I will be able to write a little each night.  Got to get some rest, have to be paraded around to meet everyone in the morning.  Later.

Well, Basrah is...well, pretty bad.

So far, this is the worst place I have been. I am not even considering the fact that the put a Lt Col up in a 50 person tent for two days, because that doesn't bug me to much. While I am on the subject of bugs...lots of them here. For some reason there are flies and mosquitoes in the millions flying around. Good thing for the moth balls, eh? Did you know that moth balls come in many colors? Neither did I. Kinda fun to watch after you flush, though!

The PX is kinda close, but everything else is about a 15 minute walk from where I am staying. Dining Facility is average. Lots of overcooked food. So far I have found that the smaller the size, the better the food.

I am becoming quite the traveler of the theater. So far I have been to Ali al Salem in Kuwait, Victory Base Camp, Camp Stryker, BIAP (Sather Air Base), Phoenix Base, Union III, and now Basrah in Iraq. Maybe now I can get to where I am going?

Anyway, it is now time for dinner and I have a long walk ahead of me...later!

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Test to see if I can upload pictures...no jaegerbombs with this new haircut...
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Moth Balls?!?

OK, so who remembers the way that our grandmother's clothes storage used to smell?  I know that I remember that faint smell of moth balls...I thought that for some reason all of the moths had either stopped eating our clothing, learned to not worry about moth balls, or we (as a nation) just decided not to use them anymore.  After a week in Iraq I now know a few things about Moth Balls.  1)  If you put about a dozen of them in a urinal, the flies won't bug you when you pee (nor would ANY instinctive animal), 2)  My grandmothers closet didn't smell all that bad (A dozen moth balls per urinal with about 3 urinals per latrine trailer smells so bad you feel like the moth balls are in your mouth), and 3)  We must have shipped all of the US's supply of Moth Balls to the Middle East (They seem to have an endless supply).
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While I am on funny smells...At most of the Baghdad locations they do not have potable water except in the dining facility and medical stations...so what do you think that we shower with and wash the floors with?  I think that they actually take the shower run-off water and use it to mop the dusty floors.  They have this obsession with keeping the floors from getting that "dusty" look, even if it means using some rather dirty water to mop it up with.  One slight problem:  IT STINKS!  The hallways (which get mopped every day) stink like the latrine should stink (which it doesn't, it stinks like moth balls)...and our rooms smelled fine (which only get mopped...well, I never saw them get mopped).

I am currently at Camp Stryker.  Home of one of the largest eating facilities I have ever seen.  Food was only average, but was it HUGE!  Building was about the size of EGHS Field House, or any High School Field House, for that matter.  PX and shops were pretty big too.  I picked up a bunch of bootleg movies to keep me entertained on this odyssey.  I am one of two officers in a 24 person transient tent.  Other guy is a doctor. Oh well, better get to watching "The Lovely Bones."

Later