On my way to Victory Base

15 Oct 2009 Thursday - Tent City; Air Force Base Kuwait

Earlier today (about 7AM) I wrote, “I am ready to go to work in Iraq” and “Today, I hope to be transported to another Kuwait base for a flight out but I am not optimistic; maybe tomorrow and then on to Iraq on Saturday or Sunday.”

Two hours later I was told to pack my stuff. I would be chauffeured to my apartment to check out and then to the villa across town to be picked up for a ride to the Air Force base. On arrival at the base, I checked in, submitted my passport for processing to obtain authority to leave, and assigned luxury accommodations in a hot, canvas tent with 15 other guys and no running water.

I am back in Tent City, that I wrote about on 3 Oct, with the same luxury I experienced last week on my previous stay. Just like the Boy Scouts or Camp Wood. The price is right – free room, meals, air transport, and luggage transfers. I also get to wear my body amour on the flight. Whoopee!!!

My authorization to leave will be issued in the morning then I will check in at the travel counter to be listed and scheduled for a flight to Baghdad International Airport. 

Visit the following web sites for more information about Iraq, Victory Base, and life on base:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Victory
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,96060,00.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/abu_ghurayb-cc.htm
http://honeymooniniraq.com/
http://yogiiniraq.blogspot.com/

All my best,

James

Breathe
Energize
Stabilize
Transform

Recruiting IT Engineers - Middle East

15 Oct 2009 Thursday

I am the Operations Manager for a regional operations and network center near Baghdad in Iraq and I need help. I am looking for IT Engineer/Specialists with four or more years experience as a Network and/or System Administrator and security certifications.

For Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait we are looking for qualified, experienced IT specialists and engineers for systems, networks, telecom, and security. The pay is good, no taxes on the first $90,000, the living conditions are decent, and the people you would be working with are excellent.

The work is fast-paced, dynamic, and never routine. You will work, workout (first class fitness center), and study for certifications. You will support the military effort, increase your skills, enhance your resume, obtain certifications while earning a high pay. The primary customer is the US Army.

Certifications are desired but not required for all positions. They need to be obtained with in the first 6 months.

If you have IT experience, a positive, can do attitude with high customer service aptitude, please contact me.

Applicants must be able to possess a secret clearance and pass medical examination.

Please refer the following web sites for more information about Iraq, Victory Base, and life on base:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Victory
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,96060,00.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/abu_ghurayb-cc.htm
http://honeymooniniraq.com/
http://yogiiniraq.blogspot.com/

All things considered, these are great jobs with a lot of variety and then don't include carrying a weapon or going outside the military base on a daily basis.

If you are interested, please contact me for more information.

James

Ready to go to Iraq

15 Oct 2009 Thursday

I am ready to go to work in Iraq. I have spent the last 4 days in the central network operations center and the regional operations center for Kuwait. The central network center for the Theater has responsibility for the entire area of Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and few surrounding countries. The regional center has responsibility for Kuwait.

Forward bases and camps have Information officers (IMO) and Network Service Center (NSC). Technical problem (incidents) for systems, networks, and circuits are recorded in Remedy and solved at the lowest level possible. If incidents, problems, service requests cannot be resolved or completed at the local level they are escalated to the regional centers. There are regional centers in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait. As needed, problems are then escalated to the central operations center in Kuwait.

For the last three weeks I have in-processed, trained, watched PowerPoint presentations, been briefed and watched other people work. Now I am ready to go to work. I continue to be enthusiastic and energized about the position in Iraq.

The Iraq team is working short-handed so one of my top priorities will be to recruit more people.

Logistics and transportation take time. Today, I hope to be transported to another Kuwait base for a flight out but I am not optimistic; maybe tomorrow and then on to Iraq on Saturday or Sunday.

All the best,

James, Yogi In Iraq

From canvas, dust, and no A/C to marble, high rise, beach front, cool comfort

08 Oct Thu

Yesterday (07 Oct Wed), I was moved to an apartment with a view of the Persian Gulf in the Indian Ocean. I was told that less than 6 years ago this area was desert. Today, it is booming with apartments, shopping malls, homes, a luxury Hilton hotel, and new building construction.

The apartment has two bedrooms, two baths, full kitchen, and large living room on the 8th floor of a 13-story apartment building. I have this spacious apartment all to myself. The building includes a workout room with sauna plus an outdoor swimming pool. There is a Starbucks on the front side. Out the back door is a small Indian restaurant and a small grocery. About a mile along the beach is a large shopping area with exclusive indoor malls that include a larage grocery store, product market, fish market, and meat market. There a many US brands in Kuwait City including US cars, fast food restaurants, franchises, food products and clothing.

On Monday I was staying a 16-bed canvas tent with no electricity and no air-conditioning. On Monday night the generator was fixed so my last night the light shone brightly all night but I was cool. By Wednesday I had moved to a spacious apartment and no roommate. Wow!!!

I will be in Kuwait for a few days for training then on to Camp Victory in Baghdad.

First Days In Kuwait

06 Oct 2009 Tue

It is hot, dusty, and windy again on the 2nd day at the base somewhere near Kuwait City. Mid afternoon, in the dusty haze the sun looked liked a full moon on a cloudless night. A few hours later after the sun set, a full moon appeared. The dust is everywhere. I woke with dust in my sinus and mouth. I am glad I brought my neti pot and I know yoga breathing techniques to clean it out.

It is hot for us but cool for the locals in the nineties Fahrenheit.

For two nights we have no had electricity. Tent City is powered mostly by huge Caterpillar generators but there are a few of another brand. Only one generator broke down. It must not have been one of the Cat generators. The is still electricity and air conditioning else where on base, just not in our row of tents.

The heat does not bother me so much. I practice Yoga daily throughout the day with brief sets of meditation, postures, and breathing techniques. I work out once or twice a day on the elliptical when I have time. I drink lots and lots of water; it seems like a gallon every hour. There are water bottles in refrigerated cabinets every where. At night, I take the natural hormone melatonin and sleep like a baby through the night even with no air conditioning and people coming and going all night long.

On Tue Oct 6 (the third day) at 5:15 am we meet to eat breakfast then leave the base and travel to the company's villa for all day company orientation and training until about 1830 (6:30 pm). Once again we were briefed on safety and General Order Number 1. GO #1 generally states that we must follow the laws of the county we are in. It is a crime to have in your possession or to drink alcohol. You can be thrown in jail. It is against the law to show affection like holding hands or kissing in public. One women was thrown in jail for kissing her boyfriend in public. The jails are not very nice - very crowded conditions, no air conditioning, limited bathrooms, and no food. Someone has to bring you food every day. No pornography. This is very strict. One man had his camera confiscated because he had a picture of his wife in a bikini. No prostitution. Any one engaging in sex for money is considered to be in violation of international human trafficking laws so the penalties can be severe. No animals as pets on base. And, of course, no drugs. Like any other country and every city of the US all of this is available on the black market. However, if you are caught you may be thrown in jail and fired from the company.

I was happily surprised when they told me I would be staying in the villa and staying in Kuwait for another week of training. I no longer had to stay in Tent City. All of us were transported back to the base. While every one else turned in their passports for processing so they could leave the next morning for their assignments, I packed my bags for the villa.

Remember, one duffel bag of 60 - 70 pounds with all my equipment, another duffel bag with all my clothes and personal times about 50 pounds, plus my back pack at about 25 pounds. I was carrying 135 pounds in three bags on my back with the strap of my personal bag broke. On the first day I purchased and set of sheets and a bath towel. This little bit of extra weigh caused the strap to break??

The villa is a beautiful, fully furnished, two story home. Two large rooms for group training, a fully equipped kitchen, three bathrooms, laundry, three large bedrooms with 4 - 6 single beds. No bunk beds, than you. Upstairs balcony. There were 6 guys staying there. Large living where we watched the newest Star Trek movie on DVD. It is really good. I had watched it at the movies. It was good to see it again.

Arriving Kuwait

03 Oct Sat - Kuwait

After 18 hours of travel time from Ft Benning, GA with two stops, we finally arrived at the Kuwait city airport on Saturday. We could not leave the plane until all of us (nearly 400) were checked for flu symptoms to ensure no one enters the country with the H1N1 flu. We were also checked at Ft Benning before we could board the plane.

An hour later, I walked down the ramp and breathed in dry, hot, dusty air. The air quality in Kuwait is 7 times worse than California. This is definitely the desert. Fortunately it was not too hot - in the nineties.

I placed one boot then the other on Kuwaiti soil for the first time. We quickly boarded buses for a short trip to a break area with port-a-potties, bottled water, and picnic tables under a cloth screen for shade. We had a nice view of the desolate desert on the other side of the bunkers. We had to stay inside the bunkers and, of course, wait.

None of us knew why were waiting. Probably to process and clear our baggage through customs. We watched the sunset through the dusty sky. After an hour wait, we boarded buses and waited again.

I am here to serve the US Army and therefore serve my country. While I am here in theater, I am on Army time, not my time. When I have to wait, I wait.

We finally arrived at the base and met the company representatives. There are 30 of us. We sat through another briefing - a short one about the rules and General Order Number 1. Then another formation - three lines behind each of two trucks. I am not sure what the Army calls it but I would call it a bucket brigade; a very efficient way to unload the trucks with over 1,000 bags.

Then I saw it - Tent City. Every residential and many other buildings are tents. The living quarters are tents with 8 bunk beds for 16 people. They have electric lighting and air conditioning but no plumbing (no running water). There are separate building for the Latrine and Showers. Inside the tents. the lights must stay on all the time since people are moving in and out all day and all night. All contractors and military to and from Iraq and Afghanistan come to this base before they are transported in or out. Tent City is for transients only.

The living conditions in Tent City remind me of a modernized Camp Wood in Elmdale, KS only much bigger. In Baghdad I will have better accommodations. I hope?!?!

On Friday, Oct 2, the day we left Ft Benning. We had to turn in our bedding/linens before 6 am. Then at 7am we had to be in formation with our bags. Contractors are allowed only two duffel bags; one for our personal stuff and one for the body armor, helmet, and gas mask. Plus we could have a carry on that fit into a measuring box. If yours did not fit, you had to ship it back home. The Army is very specific to ensure the plane can take off safely with full passenger load and excessive baggage weight for all the soldiers and their gear - equipment and arms.

All four hundred of us waited on buses until all the bags (about 1,000 duffel bags) were checked and inspected by the dogs, then loaded into trucks for transport to the plane.

After 11 hours of flying and a stop over in Maine, we arrived at the airport in Germany. The differences between the Maine and Germany airports were stark and distinct. In Maine, we were welcomed by about 50 representatives from the Maine Troop Greeters. They were there to shake our hands and give us encouragement. An enclosed concourse walkway connected the plane to the terminal building. We waited in what appeared to be the general terminal area but on retrospect it may have been a separate part of the terminal building. This airport was very nice, comfortable, and convenient. It was as nice as any US airport with free wireless, shops, and a restaurant serving Maine lobster.

In contrast, the German airport was not comfortable starting with an outdoor walkway to the ground and a bus ride to a separate terminal area. The plane parked way out on the tarmac away from all other gates and planes. We seemed to be on the back side of the airport out of the way from other passengers. The floors were stone, not carpet and the chairs were not padded; the ceilings were uncovered; the walls bare except for a couple soccer (football) pictures and a art display of paintings about angels. No free wireless; the cost was .13 euro per minute.