Today is Monday November 1, 2010

Today is Monday November 1

I have been in the Middle East for a year and one month – 8 months in Iraq, 4 months in Djibouti and a week in Afghanistan plus a week here and there in Kuwait.


Today, I am flying from Bagram Air Force Base to Kuwait City by way of Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Dubai, United Arab Eremites (UAE). The flight from Bagram to Kandahar is short. The layover in Kandahar is planned to be about an hour on the plane. DFS airlines, a commercial airline (not military), is used by many contractors to fly in and out of Afghanistan. The plane was full on the flight into Bagram and this flight out was full.

I had to leave a day early because the next day’s flight was totally booked. Flying commercial is much better than flying military. There are no reservations for contractors on military flights – only stand by. It may take days to obtain a seat on the plane. On military planes in Iraq and Afghanistan, all the passengers must wear full body armor and Kevlar helmet.

On Bagram, I slept in the attic of a warehouse. Todd and Mike who work in the warehouse arrived early today – about 4am. Todd’s pickup truck’s license tag expired the day before. He needed to be off the streets before the Military Police saw him. The MPs start their day at about 5:00 am.

Without a sink or running water, I brushed my teeth, shaved, and washed my face from a bottle of water. Although I did not like it, I realize that most of the people in the world live day by day, every day without running water or electricity.

Since I planned to leave today, I packed up my stuff in three bags - a suitcase, a small backpack, and a larger backpack. I left the large backpack in the warehouse attic for my return trip. It contained some dirty clothes, bed sheets, and a towel that I will not need until I return. I cleaned up my living space as best as I could and left the warehouse to walk the mile or so to the office.

I learned that the laundry service does not use soap to wash the clothes. They boil them. No wonder the clothes shrink and come back without being totally clean. The best tip is to sprinkle soap powder in the laundry bag with the dirty clothes. Better yet, do the laundry yourself. In Iraq, I shared a washing machine and dryer with only 4 other people. The machines were right outside my door. It was very convenient. In Djibouti, the camp had a free laundry service, a free self service laundry, and for a fee a dry cleaning service. Generally, I washed my shirts and pants myself and gave let the laundry service do the rest.

I left the large suitcase and backpack in the warehouse expecting someone to take me back in a truck to pick it up and take me to the airport. However, all of the vehicles had expired license tags and no one from our group could drive anywhere on base. We had missed a deadline to renew the tags the day before. The Military Police do not issue tickets when they see a driving violation. Instead they confiscated the vehicle and suspend driving privileges for any violation like speeding, no seatbelt, or invalid license tag.

Anyway, this was a problem for me. How could I get my bags from the warehouse to the air terminal more than a mile away? My big bag has wheels but have you ever tried to pull a roller bag on a path of rocks or gravel?

INTERRUPT – I am sitting on the plane on the tarmac of the Kandahar airport and I am hungry. It is 2:00 pm and the airline does not serve any food; not even peanuts. We are waiting for the military fuel trucks. Of course, a plane load of civilians is not a priority to the military. I did get a meal from Kandahar to Dubai and again from Dubai to Kuwait.

So back to the suitcase saga……

I walked back to the warehouse, expecting to drag the 50 pound suitcase for a mile to the passenger terminal. Fortunately, I met Jay who was looking for Fred to sign a digging permit. Jay had a truck!! I did not know Jay and I did not know Fred but I knew Fred’s boss. I took Jay to Fred’s boss to sign his dig permit and in exchange Jay took me and my to the passenger terminal. The company Jay works for is building an expansion to the airport – additional run ways and more fueling stations. They needed to dig permit to dig a trench for a new fuel line. They needed to make sure they did not cut any communications lines when they were digging.

I write mostly about the living conditions and what I do when I am not at work. I work 10 – 12 hours per day 6 days per week. On the 7th day, my off day, I work half a day. I cannot talk about or write about most of what I do. Most of it is classified. I have to have a Secret Clearance classification to work where I work. I explained to Jay a little bit about what I do, nothing classified, but he did not want to hear in case it was “secret stuff. A Google search will provide a lot of information about TNOSC, RNOSC, JOC, and military communications. The information that is classified or confidential is about daily operations and activity plus operational plans.

The company I work for operates and maintains the communication network to ensure that military personnel have reliable voice and data communications that is always available. Instead of using companies like ATT, Verizon, Sprint, Southwestern Bell, Bell South, the military has it own networks and circuits for communications including land lines, radio, and satellite.

On Bagram, I work in a compound call the JOC – Joint Operations Command. The JOC compound includes an office building, a medical facility, a gym, laundry service, showers, and living units. I work in the office building monitor and reporting on the communications network. The room looks very much like the operations centers you would see on TV shows like the Unit or a Tom Clancy movie.

COMSEC is an acronym for Communications Security. A major responsibility of the team that operates and maintains the communications network is to defend the network against attack so the information stored on the network or passed on the network is confidential and available and is not changed by an attacker. The military networks, the systems and networks of corporations, and even the Internet connected system you use at home is under constant attack by intruders who would like to deny your service, steal your information, steal you identify, or give you false information.

Every day there are briefings to the commanders who lead the military groups that are responsible for the networks. A few days ago I heard about a small camp of about a dozen soldiers that came under attached by an enemy force nearly 4 times bigger. They had to retreat from their position leaving behind two vehicles with secure communication gear. The US soldiers communicated with a larger base nearby requesting help. Helicopters flew in dumping “some stuff” that killed the enemy while saving the vehicles and the COMSEC equipment. No US soldiers were injured or killed. Available and reliable communications were vital to saving these Americans lives.

Potential outages or degradation of services is the major problem faced on the job. Network availability, reliability, and confidentially are the primary goals.

On the personal side, the biggest problem living in the Middle East on a military base is celibacy. Many Yogis practice celibacy as part of their Brahmacharya ethics. Literally Brahmacharya means “Walk with God”. The most common interpretation is controlling one’s sexual energy on the pathway to being closer to God. Other interpretations say it means to “not be promiscuous” while others believe that sexual union is a spiritual event. I prefer the latter interpretation. Nevertheless, celibacy is not for me. That is probable enough on this topic.

All my love. I will be home soon.