Future Operations

I had been assuming that I would be going on R&R sometime in November. Well, I finally asked what my approved dates were, I was a bit surprised. AS it happens, my R&R dates are in early February. I would get back into theater about a month before demobilizing and going home for good. I am not sure that I understand that, but I told the Master Sergeant that I would take whatever was left after everyone else since I didn't have a pressing need to get home, like a child's birthday. For a minute I even considered skipping it all together, but now I think I will take it anyway. The timing is pretty good for getting arrangements in place for when I come home for good a month later.
I got an email from a coworker a while back to updated me on changes at work. I have been thinking about whether or not I should return to my former employer. The company has changed a lot since I started there, and I am not sure that it is a good fit for me anymore. It may finally be time to move on. If so, this little trip to the Middle East could be a convenient way to make a clean break with enough of a nest egg to get me into my next job. If anyone from work is reading this, please dont take it personally. It is just something that I am thinking about now.

Some Welcome Changes

The weather seems to have changed for the better. The Heat stress condition didn't go to RED until 1100 yesterday. Two days ago, I made the 10 minute walk to a contractor's office for a notice to proceed meeting on my first project and barely broke a sweat. I hope this means that fall is here now. Of course it also means that, sooner or later, the walk to the showers in the morning is going to get cold.
We also reorganized our office space not long ago. There are fewer people in my office now, so the air conditioning can actually keep up with the bodies that are left.

A Word From Our Sponsor

I just found out that the Division Public Affairs Officer and Media Operations Group have put up a blog site to talk about what is happening in Basrah. Their job is to make things look good, but it is easier to do when things are good. In his second post, he writes that his first time over here, the first thing he did after stepping off the plane was hit the deck for a rocket attack. I have heard the alarm only three times in the six weeks that I have been here and heard the explosions only once, so things are much better. Anyway, even coming from the division media spokesman, it is another source of news about the area. Maybe you will find it interesting.

Brought to you by Multinational Division Southeast - The Basra Blog

A Few Links For Yesterday

We must always remember

11 September 2008 8:46:40 AM -- American Airlines-Flight 11

11 September 2008 9:03:11 AM -- United Airlines Flight 175

11 September 2008 9:37:46 AM -- American Airlines Flight 77

11 September 2008 9:37:46 AM -- South Tower Collapse

11 September 2008 10:15 AM -- United Airlines Flight 93

11 September 2008 10:29 AM -- North Tower Collapse

Seven Years

Today we had a minute of silence at 1546, 0846 in New York. Lacking a US chaplain, one of the Brits stood in and said a prayer. This is one of those events that you will always remember, if you were old enough to know what was happening. It has been a long and sometimes uncertain road so far and will be into the foreseeable future, but that has always been our way of doing things. Jumping into an adventure without knowing the way, at least gets the work started, instead of being paralysed into inaction by doubt. Somehow, after much milling about, we manage to strike off in one direction mostly all together, and more often than not, it is generally in the right direction. I think that we have managed to leave things better than we found them. All this really needs a much longer post to cover completely, so it will have to wait for another day.

I Spoke Too Soon

In my last post, I said that Basrah doesn't have sand storms like Baghdad. That turned out to be only partially true. Last night, there was a huge storm. There was only a little rain, but the wind really tore at things. We heard that several power line were down around Basrah, and a pontoon bridge over the Shatt Al Arab was torn up. There was some local damage in the camp, too, but the biggest problem was the blowing sand. There wasn't the suspended dust that you see in the picture of the palace, but it wasn't pleasant to breathe and it got into everything. There was a pretty good lightning show too. When the rainy season starts, I think the only difference will be the amount a water coming down. People are saying that basrah turns into one huge mud bog.

In other news, if you know any Luddites who just aren't happy unless everyone is miserable, the Large Hadron Collider was started up yesterday. No black holes were produced, so the end of the world will be delayed yet again. It is supposed to discovery the Higgs Boson, which among other things, is suspected of being the reason that matter has mass. I read someone today who said that, if it is found, it might provide evidence that "ether" really does exist, at least in the sense that there is something that completely pervades the universe and touches everything in it. Isn't it funny how, the more science advances, the more closely it seems to approach where religion has been all along. Can someone recall who said that true science and true religion are never in disagreement. I have also heard and thought myself, that all truth, whether it comes from science or revelation, is a part of the Gospel. The only difference being that on some things we depend on for our eternal welfare and others only for our temporal welfare.

Breathing Sand

I never did get the original post fixed, so here are the pictures again, just to show the difference between good weather and a sand storm in Iraq. This storm wasn't even a bad one. The pictures were taken at the same location and at about the same time of day. I haven't seen sand like this since I have been in Basrah. The wind doesn't usually blow from a direction that would bring in sand like this.