Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Hello,

I just hit my three week mark. Only 155 days more to go until I catch that happy plane home. Today was one of those days where I wish I did not have that much time left. My mother said there would be days like this. Anyway, in order to pass the days such as this, I always look for something or someone to laugh at. Today was no different. There are times when everyone does a double take at either a stupid decision made by one's boss or just at something on the street.

In the army we have our own alphabit, where each letter is assigned a name. As you can see from the title (or not) W is for whisky, T is for Tango and F is for foxtrot. You can probably see where this is going and that is okay. Every day I find something either at work or as I am walking and from my tent where I say "Whisky Tango Foxtrot?" For instance the other day I saw this truck, or as I call it a haji mobile (see new entry in the Hajicon lexicon below). It is this Kia looking truck thing. Most Americans (e.g. Army soldiers) call it a bongo truck. This truck had about 10 or so Haji, all wearing man dresses of various colors. There had to be six in the cab including the driver and about ten in the back of the truck. Anything at 5 AM in the morning can cause me to say Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. This particular sight caused such a reaction. At work I find myself doing it all the time, both on some of the stuff I am reviewing and by the antics that go on in my office. What makes this more amusing to me is that I work with four other Captains. There were only three of us for a long time. The fourth captain joined us a week ago. The three of us each took the call letters of Whiskey Tango and Foxtrot. They gave me Whiskey. (I have no clue why I should have been given that name :)) My Friend CPT S took Tango and my friend CPT N took Foxtrot because he cusses a lot. My fourth CPT Friend, CPT Sm does not yet have a name. I call him the chosen one because he was a by name request to join our office. We were formally called the triumvurate of fun. Before we arrived fun was forbidden. We all made a pack to bring fun back. The Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is but one element in our quest to bring the fun back to the office. The moral of this rambling, I guess, is whenever you see something that is not right, you now can say Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

And now for the definition of Haji mobile

Hajimobile (hawgee' mow'bill) N. 1. A truck or large vehicle used to transport the haji from Baghdad to Camp Victory. 2. A bongo truck driven by haji.
Seamus said Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and laughed when he saw the hajimobile carrying so many hajineers to fix the systems network at the Palace.

My House is a Very Very Fine house

Happy Friday,

It is another fine day here at Camp Liberty Iraq. As for the title, I do not have two cats in the yard. I am however, settling into a routine here at Camp Liberty. It is pretty much Ground Hog Day everyday. You mix in two Haji Days and a 1/2 on Friday and life is not bad. I went to a USO show on Sunday night, featuring Kathy Griffin and Michael McDonald from Mad T.V. along with that chick (who is hot) from JAG. Kathy Griffin was surprisingly funny. I have posted a couple of pictures, which include my lovely tent and my veranda view of the sunset. (I hope to be moving into a trailer soon. How white trash, or as they say in West Virginia, how Apalachan American is that? ... War is hell. :))

As for the lexicon, and naughty Haji, I intended to use the mortar example for illustrative purposes, until a couple of nights ago. There was a mortar that landed near (1/2 mile or so) from the tent city. It sounded like one of those loud cartoon whistles followed by a thud. Luckily no one was hurt. I am not sure if it exploded. I hope it blew another naughty haji or his little haji buddies making nice with a donkey in the nearby field!!! It was a little freaky, but it is no scarier than driving on I-5 in Seattle behind a Haji truck driver from Canada. We also had another sand storm on Wed. This time of year it is not a bad thing because it drops the temprature about 10 degrees into the 70s, which is nice. I am currently enjoying my 1/2 day off. I may go take a latin dance lesson or the Lambada this evening. We'll see though. Tommorrow it is our office cook out day as well as Haji day. As I would say to my co-workers, Happy Haji Day Eve.

Happy St. Belated Patrick's Day

I know it is a day late but Happy St. Patrick's Day anyway. There has been lots of movement here at Camp Victory. They always say be careful what you ask for because you may just get it. As you know, I have been whinning to get on a convoy to downtown Baghdad. Well my wish came true. I have been re-assigned so to speak in the office. I am on a new team. This new team travels to the Embassy at least once a month into the International or Green Zone. I am very happy with the new work I will be doing. I cannot really discuss what I will be doing for security reasons, but it will involve extensive interaction with the Iraqi Embassador and the Commanding General of the Multinational Forces Iraq, General Casey. All I can say is one Captains screw up is another LTs gain. I will have new pictures posted soon. My wireless connection is down in my tent. (I know war is hell). I am going to get a thumb drive so I can download pictures at the computer lab. I am also very glad to see that the Hajicon Lexicon was enjoyed by all. I have a new entry to add. Here it is:

1. Naughty Haji (naw'tee ha'ji). n A haji who is hell bent on shooting, mortaring and otherwise destroying himself and inocent persons in the name of Allah.

That Naughty Haji launched a mortar at Seamus's tent, making him very angry.

That is all for now. Take care.

Hajicon Lexicon (dictionary)

In Honor of Magglio and Teddy Ballgame of the Diablo Nation, I have decided to make a Hajicon Lexicon/Dictionary. This list has grown out of my limited interation with the locals who work at Camp Victory, where I am stationed. This list will likely grow as it is a new and emerging language. Here are the first few.

1. Haji: (ha'gi) n: 1. One who makes a pilgramage to Mecca. 2. Phrase used by military and others for the locals who work at Camp Victory.
"Wow that Haji does a great job cleaning my office."

2. Hajineer (ha'gi near) n: 1. A Haji, who fixes complicated things, such as phones and things.
The hajineer did a great job on getting the network up and running.

3. Haji Day (ha'gi day) n: 1. A day of joy enjoyed by one and all when Haji come to clean the offices from top to bottom, allowing for a much needed break for haircuts, PT (physical training) and calling home.
Haji Day brought a smile to Seamus's face as he was able to get all of his errands done as well as have a clean office.

4. Hajimart (ha'gi mart) n. 1. A place to go and celebrate Haji day. 2. A place to buy various Haji goods like a Dish dasha (man dress see below) and bootleg DVDs of all the new movie releases.
I can't wait to go to Hajimart to celebrate Haji Day and buy a man dress.

5. Mandress (man dress) n. 1. Dish dashi worn by Iraqi Men that military aged men and others refer to as a man dress 2. Robe like clothing worn by most Haji.
I can't wait to go to the Hajimart to buy a mandress, gray in color.

Expect the list to grow. If I offend you, I am sorry and I guess you won't be reading anymore. All I know is that it is a little over one more day until the next Haji day. I can't wait.

Bombs Over Baghdad

I survived my first week here in lovely Baghdad. The temp has been relatively pleasant, except for the sandstorm. It is one of the very sureal things about being here. The other sureal thing is how relatively quiet and peaceful somethings appear to be. As you can see from the pictures I have posted I work at a very safe Disneyesque setting. I am settled into the fact that I will likely not get to go "outside the wire." I am very bumbed about not being downtown but I am currently figuring out a way to get on a convoy. I know it is an Army and guy thing to want to go confront danger and see who my "customers" are but until then listen to me ramble. Just as I think that this is a non war zone, and as I returned from dinner on Thursday, lost in my own thoughts, I was jolted back to the fact that there is a war going on. No sooner had I started to walk than I heard a thunderous boom followed by the ground trembling and a plume of black smoke rising off in the distance, sillouetted by a mosque. Right as this happened, small arms fire broke out in roughly the same spot as the explosion. At this point I was reminded that I am in a combat zone. It also made me a little more anxious and antsy about about leaving the wire. I still have a lot of time to make that happen.

Today was Haji cleaning day. To some this may sound un PC and even rude but to me it is an extra couple of hours out of my day where I am not at work. Every Saturday and Tuesday, the Haji come to clean our building, which means that we lock all of our material away, which is classified, leave the building for a couple of hours while they clean. Our enlisted soldiers keep a watchful eye on them with their M-16. Ahh, the little things in life that I get to look forward during my never ending weeks.

From Bliss to Baghdad

Well I finally made it to Baghdad Iraq. It only took three stops but I made it. I have been working about 12 to 14 hours each day with a break for fine food, brought to you by KBR. My work was not as I expected but it is very interesting nonetheless. I cannot go into specific details because then I would have to kill you. Once I get my camera charged again, I will post pictures of the palace and other stuff. Instead of being at the Embassy and Green Zone, as originally thought, I am working at a place called Camp Victory. It is on the grounds of the Al Faw Palace, which used to be an old Ba'ath Party Palace and hunting resort. I call it the I will fall palace because the first thing I noticed about it is the bombed out bridge in the front of it. The interior closely resembles Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas, only here you cannot knuckle up to the players club table and be comped with the presidential suite and the all you can eat steak and eggs breakfast. My office is one of Sadaam's guest quarters.

Anyway so instead of being directly fired like I proably would be at the Embassy, I usually wake up to small arms fire outside the walls followed by the occasional mortar. I am working on getting on a convoy to go down the green zone and downtown Baghdad to check things out. I am confident that this will happen before I leave. The sick and twisted part of me hopes that a mortar will land near my tent. I am surrounded by about 12 to 16 foot Jersey Barriers and would like to see if they "really work." I have also experienced my first wind storm this morning, with a sand storm on the way. I am living in a tent but hope to have a trailor soon. Again I will post pictures once my camera is up and running again. That is all for now.

The Stars at Night, are Big and Bright Deep in the Heart of Texas

I thank Ute girl in Colorado for helping me on the above mentioned title. I have spent the last week here in lovely El Paso (The pass for those non Spanish speakers who are reading this). Anyway I have survived CRC. That is Army talk for CONUS Replacement Center. CONUS stands for Contential United States. All of the folks going "down range" (yet another Army term for going to war) process through the CRC. Here I have recieved four shots in the arm, a duplicate dentist exam, some really "hi speed" (that is also Army for really good) gear and hi quality instruction in desert combat and I qualified on my weapon, which is a hand gun, along with what seemed about sixty billion death by Microsoft Power Point presentations. All and all it has not been a bad time here in El Paso. I was also issued four new ACUs (this is more Armybonics or alphabet talk) for Army Combat Uniforms. For nostalgic purposes I have included a picture of me in my BDUs. (yes more of that Armybonics stuff coming through BDU= Battle Dress Uniforms.) These are rapidly coming a Cold War thing of the past.

I have also gone from one duffel bag to about three with all of the equipment I have been issued. You can look at my room picture above and see how much stuff I have accumulated over the course of one week. I also have body armor, which is that thing that looks like a very heavy fishing vest below. I can be be shot with this stuff in the chest and other middle body portions and about all it will do is make me very angry at the person who shot me and want to kill them!!! I will be going to Iraq about a day sooner than I expected, but that is okay. I am very anxious and ready to head out.