Reflections

Well, I just returned from another trip to Seattle. It was pretty uneventful. Some pretty days. I was there for a class on handling contracts. Contractors have a bad rap in theater. some well deserved, others, not. Working with Iraqi Army we had both US/UK contractors and Iraqi. Anham is a company from Dubai. I'm not sure where to put them. sitting in the class I remembered the one Iraqi contractor, a company ran by...get this...A woman. I never met her, though I did speak to her over the phone. I was told she was a very attractive woman, and she was charming over the phone. She had an engineer and workers. For several reasons it was decided to terminate the contract. shoddy work and a host of other dramas. Ms. Charming was playing a game and not paying her workers. What happened...A day I will always remember due to the FOB getting hit hard with 120mm Mortars...We tracked the engineer down, he was running from us in the Iraqi contractor camp. We cornered him, us from the Depot and the Air Force advisory to the IA Base MPs. We kicked him off the FOB. He was back a month later. Ms. Charming never got another contract.

There was another woman though, an American. I can't remember her name. I did meet her once, a big woman. I first heard of her because she ran a kitchen that other US/UK contractors would go to on the Iraqi side of Taji. She had been a dog handler for I think maybe Blackwater.She later did some work for us, a carpentry job. The last thing I remember was that she was gone and CID was looking for her. She was barred from all FOBs (in good old hostile Iraq)and if we did see her we were to detain her and hand her over to the MPs. It ad something to do with a large sum of money. Around a million, I think.

I know I've told you about sleeping through a rocket attack. I'm still not sure how I did that. In those days I was spending allot of time on the hot pavement and it did get me tired. I was eating with some friends right after my return and there was some thumping against the walls on the far side of the restaurant...it sounded like mortars walking in. I was judging the distance and direction. One of them had been in Vietnam, and I think he could tell. But, sometimes...When I least expect it...A big bang, if it has that deep sound will make me jump. And, it has occurred to me, I will the rest of my life.

God save the angels of Oconee.
The Appalachianist