marty's Blog

Its hard to believe I am half way through the deployment. Time goes fast over here however there is still a long road ahead.
Currently I am in Basrah for a two day Break and change of pace from Bucca. It is nice to have a day or two to finaly not have to worry about work. the change in mess halls is nice too as no matter how good the food is after months it all seems the same so a change in mess halls is welcomed. last night I had steak that was grilled outside, it smelled just like griiling at home and actually tasted close to beef. I still think the beef in Bucca is really camel.
It was also nice to see and talk to people I know and was deployed with.
It is also time for the fourth shot in the series for anthrax. not looking forward to that as I hate shots with a passion.
Things are getting tougher in Bucca as we have been attacked two days in a row. No one was hurt but I sure hope it is not an indication of things to come.
My project should be comming to an end by the end of October, well except for some modifications to the contract that are in the works. I am hoping to be moved back to Basrah around this time frame. the plan right now is for me to return to basrah and work as the opperations sergeant.
I also have my four day pass comming up in about a month. a friend from Norh Dakota that is deployed with me are going to Qatar together for four days of rest and relaxation. It should prove to be fun and exciting to see yet another country. Travel however there and back almost make it not worth it.
Traveling over here is very difficult not to mention dangerous. which brings one other thing to mind, my leave time back to the states for two weeks is getting closer all the time. that will be a welcome relief, now once again if it was not such a hassle to travel.
All in all things are going fine and the care pachages from family and freinds is great and a nice treat i might ad.

July 11

wow it has been a long time sense i have updated this site. I now have internet in my office and my room so that is a good thing. I also got my hard drive for my personal computer thanks to my wonderful wife. I now have the computer up and running after working on it for four days. some of the driver took 13 hours to download.
my quality of life has improved to as now I have a fridge, TV, DVD player and satelite TV in my room. the satelite TV kind of sucks as there are only ten chanels in english and only two worth watching. one is a movie chanel that plays old movies and the other is a British news chanel. but its better than nothing.
the projects are moving along pretty good now. we are still haveing touble getting material accross the Kuwait border which is funny that it is so hard to get shipments to this base as we are only about 1000 yards from the Kuwait border. I can see the border from my living quarters. We are averaging 120 degrees here now and they tell me soon it will be 140 to 150 degrees, can’t wait for that. lol
I cant post any pic’s because the two projects I have are secret, but i do have a couple of myself I will post that show me smiling beings how people tell me I never smile in pictures.
We are currently trying to build a Corps of Engineer complex on Bucca because there are going to be projects down here for a couple years. which will be nice because the contractor provides our office and living quarters. so as the contract ends for one and starts for another we have to move. if we have our own complex we won’t have to go through that hasle. The last thing I want is to move into a tent again until the new contractor gets there man camp set up.

June 01

I still do not have the ability to update my blog very often, once internet connection is made at the man camp things will improve. this should happen in a couple weeks.
I have finally moved out of the tent and into my quarters at the man camp, this is a nice change as now i have a private room with my own bathroom and shower. This is a big deal here in Iraq, some thing one takes for granted in the states.
We are still haveing major problems getting the contractors equipment and materials to Bucca. Kuwait border just does not play well with others. We did get 20 semi trucks through Wednesday night with mostly man camp equipment. The trucks hit the gate here at the base at 6PM, It was 4 in the morning by time we got them on to post. Drivers names did not match the list, truck numbers did not match, manafest messed up, drivers with fake passports and the list goes on. I worked a 23 hour day when all was said and done.
The second contractor for the second contract of expanding the prison was awarded and they are now on site setting up. I am the gov rep for that contract also so my work load just doubled, if that is even possible, is have to be in five places at the same time most of the day now. All I can say is “come on Sept” as this is the scheduled completion date for both projects.
It actually rained today, something that does not happen in this part of the country very often, a whole ten drops fell I think. It sure can lightning here though, what a show.
So far I have lost my bulistic sun glasses, and have no lighter. these are two big problems, no sunglasses means you can’t hardly see, the sun is extreemly bright and the sand is blowing all the time. I walk around half squinty eyed, but more sunglasses are on the way. the second issue, lighters, the px here has been out for two weeks, this is raising heck with my favorite bad habit of smoking. actually we are about out of everything here due to the border crossing closeing. convoys are backed up and activity has exculated in the area. these are two bad combinations. we were eight hours away from closing the chow hall and eating MRE’s, as well as generators on there last bit of fuel, eight trucks of food and fuel made it through and we were saved, now food and fuel convoys are a priority and so all other trucks are also held up, like the ones i need for my projects.

May 26

I still have no earth shattering changes here in Bucca. I am still in a tent as my office and quarters are still not ready. So of course that means no internet to speak of yet.
We are promised 30 trucks of equipment in the near future, i sure hope so as that will allow the project to begin.
I had a pre construction meeting today with another contractor that was awarded the second project of building another 13 compounds. So both projects will go on at the same time. I will be the gov rep for both projects, and both will be running 24 hours a day, two reasons for this is 1. to meet the 30 sept deadline and 2. we can only pour concrete at night as the heat will not allow concrete to be poured durring the day. When the projects reach the concrete stage it will be between 140 and 150 degrees here, I can hardly wait for that.
On the bright side it has been over a week since and rocket, mortar or riot incidents. Basrah were I came from to work this project is being rocketed about three times as bad as when i was there, this was predicted and the prediction held true. Now if they get the overhead cover built by time I go back there things will be much better.

May 15

Tuesday the 8th of May.

Well I have made the move to Bucca. And of course Monday night we got hit all night long in Basrah with rockets. So not much sleep that night. What a nice send off from the enemy. Bucca is nice in that aspect as no mortar or rocket attacks, not yet anyway. So it is safer, just have to worry about a prison break or riot. I will be housed on the very outside corner of post behind the prison once the contractor gets my office and the man camp set up as that is were the project to expand the prison is. So security will be a little less but all should be fine. Bucca is safer but what a hole, it is way hotter here and is dirty in the way of garbage (mostly from the local nationals) and the wind never stops blowing sand around. We are only about 17 miles from the Kuwait border so we are close to the coast which contributes to the wind problem. Being here the heat feels like you are in an oven and the wind feels like someone holding a hair dryer in your face. And the worst part is it is not even the hot season yet. They tell me 140 to 150 degrees, I can’t wait that will be real special.

So far since no construction has started yet I have been running around working issues with the contractor on getting people and equipment here and then sending up reports to my higher up. It is a night mare to move the contractor’s workers here. They need visas, border passes with back ground checks each time. To make matters worse they are closing the border crossing that is closest to us. The contractors are reluctant to send workers here by ground convoy because of the risk is so high. They are use to flying there workers to the bases but no air port on this base.

Wednesday 9 May. Last night we had a shipment of four living quarter trailers come in at 5 pm. A crane was lined up to off load them and one of the contractors and myself lead the trucks to where they are to be offloaded. The crane never showed so after awhile the contractor went back to find the crane and I stayed to watch the two drivers as they are local nationals that can not be left alone on camp. Oh and they speak no English, at least they don’t let on like they do. So me and two of them in the middle of no where with nothing to see but sand and camp a half mile away and the sun going down. This made me uncomfortable but I made sure they see me lock and load my weapons. That’s a big deterrent for most of them. And luckily no incidents happened. I probably would not have been so concerned but only two days ago two of our local national that go to project sites we can’t get to because of the threat level and take pictures and report how the job is progressing got killed on there way home from our office, and the secretary that works five desks down from mine was captured on her way home and they beat her so bad she almost died, she is in the hospital now. All of this because they work for us and the insurgents doesn’t like that.

The big problem is you don’t know who your friend is and who your enemy is. We have local nationals working in our base but you just don’t know and don’t dare trust any of them. About the time you think you can trust one he is caught trying to steal secret information or is one that is killed the night before because he was launching rockets at us.

Tuesday 15 May 2007

Still no quarters or office and I am looking at two weeks yet before any internet connection to speak off. On the bright side I do have a cell phone now and received my company pickup today. Of course now that I have those two items I am even busier because I can move around faster and to more places. Last night we had five prisoner compounds rioting at the same time. It got kind of hairy for awhile but the CS and OC gas put the bad boys down in a hurry. Temperature wise it has been averaging 115 degrees. People are still telling me that come July and August it will be 140 to 150 degrees here, I find it hard to believe but time will tell. Oh and when someone tells you that it’s a dry heat so it isn’t as bad (they are full of shit).

May 02

not much to report today. the temp hit 110 degrees today. I have been busy working my Bucca project doing coordinating and paper work geting design features approved. otherwise not much to ad. with in a week I will be moved to Bucca.

April 28

today I convoyed to Bucca for a pre construction meeting with the contractor for my project. Bucca is 60 miles south of where I am now not 10 like I mentioned befor. The trip was un eventfull as we put it meaning we did not get attacked. It’s about an hour and forty minute drive with most of it across country to evoid road side bombs. There is no describing the ride as it is wide open and all over the road. we own the roads here so we travel down the highway on the wrong side against traffic, crossing deviders, you name it. For the most part when the civilians see us comming they pull over and stop to let us by, if they don’t they get a weapon pointed at them and a warning before an exculation of force is used. I also got my third anthrax shot today while at Bucca. Five minutes after getting back to Camp Blackadder we got attacked with inderect fire and then hit again with rockets about an hour after that. we have been taking on average five rockets a day here. Once we move out of the palace at Basrah it is anticapated tha t the attacks will double here because we will be the only base close to Basrah. So it is a good thing I will be moving to Bucca sometime this week. Bucca has not been attacked in over a year. The Project I am working is scheduled to last 130 days so I am guessing I will move back to Camp Blackadder in early Sept. Because of the moving around I am doing I still have no mailing address but once i’m in Bucca I should be there long enough to get mail.

April 26

Things are pretty good here in basrah as far as creature comforts however we did get attacked two more times last night. The second time the air force launched planes and took care of the problem, no more attacks acured after that. Once again I may be moving to Bucca this time which is about 10 miles south of Basrah/camp blackadder. I wish they would give me a final destination to stay for the year so I can at least settle in and actually unpack some bags of gear instead of living out of a ruck sack. I have added some pics of my living quarters here at Basrah.

April 25

I am now in Camp Blackadder, Basrah. It is nice here as far as living quarters, I have a nice big room with my own bathroom, TV, internet, fridge and dressers. The chow hall is small but only for us Corps of Engineer people. The food is awesome and cooks make about anything you want to include eggs to order in the morning. The people seem nice and work looks like it will be quite a challenge. The only problem is they still don’t know if I will stay here as Maysanyh NCOIC or go to Buka and manage the prison construction mission. Either way it sounds like I will be taking a lot of helicopter flights to the construction sites as it is too dangerous to go in on the ground. My first meal here was supper tonight and right in the middle of it we got attacked with rockets. They hit about 500 meters away so no damage other than my food got cold. The office I am in took a round about 20 feet right outside the building last week, shrapnel went through the walls and blew shit around inside but no one was hurt. This base has been hit with forty five rockets in the last 10 days. We all carry radios and there are sirens that warn of incoming. We take cover in bunkers or on the floor if in the buildings as they are all fortified with protection now. So it really isn’t as bad as it sounds, the enemy is a terrible shot. Last week on guy was lucky as hell, he stepped out of his room to make a phone call and a rocket landed right in the middle of his room. God was on his side that day. I have no pictures of this place yet as I just got here.

Carisa the plane ride was a short on only an hour so not to bad.

April 22

Today was a full day of breifings from everyone and their dog. Only good news is I finaly got told were I will be going. of course subject to change. As of now I will be going to Basrah. My first priority will be to oversee the construction as quality control of a 25,000 man prison being built. I was scheduled to leave tomorrow morning by ground convoy with four up armor ford excursions and a security team of australians but do to securtiy issues if we get hit and lose a vehicle they would not beable to protect all four of us so there will leave tomorrow and I will go on thursday.
I finaly got all the pictures uploaded to my web shots page. and the video uploaded to.