The Sky

I find nothing pretty about this part of the world but the skys. They can be so clear and blue, the moonless nights and the plathora of stars...Though the richest starry nights I've saw were in Appalachia, and many in what is now my Ex's yard, others from mountain balds. In the land that I dearly call home the sky's are small, with trees and mountains lording around you. The sunsets are mixed with mountains while here, it's flat with little to no trees, it's just the sky...The sky alone in it's vastness. The sky owns the moment.

I seperate the land from the people in this view. I've known them in their gentle kindess and witnessed their brutality. They love the land, but don't respect it. They see nothing wrong in littering it for to them a man made garden is far prettier than the open land. And as I don't see it that way, it's the same as the Bride dressing to her finest, she's not pretty without the dress and make up. And in one manner you find them uncuthe, in the other you admire their customs. It's a brutal land and in order to survive you have to be brutal as it is, and to survive together, you have to have the thoughtful kindess of friendship pure. I've left them, but some I still see as my friends. I know that now some may no loger live, and I try to think otherwise.

I saw the skys that David Lowery looked at when he wrote this song and being a fan of his as I am, every time I hear this song, I think of the Iraqis and I wish them the best.

Tomorrow is Chistmas and I miss seeing the bare branches of the hardwoods and the sweet smell of wood smoke as well as the cool air that carrys it. Jesus loves you, Peace on Earth.

The Appalachianist

Sherman IB

I'm sitting on a Sherman Tank with a 105mm gun on it. The tank was made in the U.S, but, U.S tanks never had 105mm guns on them. British Shermans did however. This is not the first time I've seen this tank. The first time was at Taji in a warehouse in 4th ID's area.

As the story goes, it was found in a junk yard and two Army Mechanics were given it to fix up when they were not bolting armor kits on to HMMWVs. It was recognised as a British varient, a Sherman IB. There was a lend lease program. As well, the Israelis used them into the late 60's, and even early 70's.

Somewhere along the line this tank ended up along the Tigris River. It may have went through Briish chanells, and then...A farther possability, the Iraqis got it in one of the wars with the Israelis, the 6 day War or Yom Kippur. But one would think if an Israeli crew abandoned it or were captured they would have set the thermite to it. And it would have been hauled all of the way across Jordan. I will lean towards the Brits.

It officially belonged to Iraq, and the Iraqis must have signed it over to us. I was glad to see it again. One other thing that I saw in the heeps of Military scrap that littered the place was a German 88. That was a gun that every Allied Soldier feared and it's rusting away just yards from the Tigris.

The Appalachianist

This Ain't The Pisgah National Forest

It's a little cool and breezy today. The sky is crystal clear except for a tan haze towards the ocean. The other day I mentioned a dust cloud hanging towards the ocean. It could have very well have been smoke and I suspected that it was. Well, it turns out I was right. I believe it was the day before yesterday that I saw a dark cloud of smoke emitting from the horizon and blowing towards the west. Once I got onto a high spot I could see it was coming from two smoke stacks. So...It's smoke.

Yesterday I made a trip to Camp Virginia and "K-Crossing". I've been to Camp Virginia before. I passed through there as I left Iraq in June of 2007. K-Crossing is where U.S. Convoys cross the border into Iraq. The land out there is wide and open, it's like the moon. It's bare, blah and ugly. The land slopes gently, there is nothing abrupt to it. This ain't the Pisgah National Forest.

At Camp Virginia I got the treat of McDonald's. Not that I am a huge fan of McDonald's, I barely went into the one in Buttholeville until my lovely Step Daughter started working there and then less when she left. It was just different and anything different is a treat. I think the biggest treat I've had here is when I went to Qatar and got to sleep in a real bed.

From K-Crossing I stared back into the abyss...AKA Iraq, not much there to look at. It wasn't iconic.

But, all along the highways going there was plenty to look at. Kuwaitis love to camp and from the roads toy can see their camps going into the distance. It was like KOA Kuwait, except allot less organized and their tents are not the North Face variety. They more resemble General Purpose Mediums (GP Medium), something about every Veteran can identify. Except their tents are cream colored or a dark brown with a cream stripe. Several tents are grouped together and sometimes there is an elevated water tank. Their there for a duration. Many of them have a little fence blocking off a square and even some have lights around the little compound. In a country of open land, everything is blocked off it seems. Of course the roads here are littered with trash and the remnants of obviously fatal wrecks. Hulks of bent and twisted cars sit along the road. They are always by them self and had to run into another, but it's only the one...It makes you wonder. Also, we drove a way down Hwy 80. That was the infamous "Highway of Death" from the Gulf War. It was once littered with the destruction that was the Iraqi Army of Occupation. It's gone now. When I came to Kuwait in the summer of 2006 there was some of that left sitting out near the Ali Al Salem Air Base. That was gone when I came back through a few months later.

"And the moment that you lived for it doesn't live for you..."
The Appalachianist

Dust

We’re leaving Iraq. Allot of the roads on this camp are dirt and gravel. Unlike the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys they’re not clay, but actual sand. The ground seems to have lime stone in it. It’s hard, with spots of loose sand on it. It can be dusty, but to me, not as dusty as the Baghdad area. At Taji, they sprayed the roads almost constantly with water to keep the dust down. Now, suddenly with the draw down coming out of Iraq, with all of the convoys rolling of equipment, it’s becoming very dusty.

Today a strange tan colored haze hung out towards the gulf. It was like suspended dust, but hung like smoke. It might have very well have been smoke. In Iraq you could always spot a FOB, look for the smoke of the burn pits. The Iraqis burned too, but not like us. They wanted it out of their way, piled outside of their domains, littering the roads. We wanted it gone, we piled it up in a huge pile and burned it. If you ever hear the Southern Culture On The Skids song, “My Neighbor Burns Trash”, well, that was us. Now there is a study going on about the effects of the burn pits on troops. Personally? I don’t know.

I know this…Looking at the news back home, all eyes are on the Occupy (insert name here) Movement and a child molestation scandal (that has not been proved in court). While we, the Military, are now pulling out of that shit hole Iraq. And, honestly, right now, it would be an unglamorous news story and that story ain’t wrote yet. A story has broken how our own, the Air Force, cremated our war dead and dumped their ashes in a landfill. Obviously, and for allot of reasons I can’t fault, the majority of the American public has wanted us out of there. I will say the same thing I would say…And did, when I was weeding through translations and 130 degree heat in 2006. Getting out of Iraq is no easy thing. And now, with it actually happening…Half of which, the Department of State will still be there…It’s largely going ignored.

I don’t hate the Iraqis. Despite how I would grit my teeth with them…I would turn around and laugh with them just the same. I wish them the best. I hope they can live in peace and prosper. I sincerely do. But, they won't.

The Appalachianist

This Week

It's Friday, the 11th of November. Yeah, Veterans Day. So, let's get started with a little something to get your blood pumping. The Punk Rock is optionalTotaly optional man.
...

Veteran's Day
Yeah, Veterans Day. You can ask allot of school kids what day it is nad they will tell you. I don't think allot of them can tell you where it came from. The 11th of November 1918, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month...Today is 11/11/11.

He was our enemy, but the charctor of All Quiet on the Western Front, was killed on the 11th of October, 1918.

There is something bad though. You may have seen it in the news, maybe you've not. But there has been somewhat of a scandal at Dover Air Force Base. Dover is where he deceased have been taken from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was reading in The Stars and Stripes that some of the Service Members killed were cremated and then their ashes were dumped in a land fill. I won't make any further comment...

November 10th 1775
Yesterday was the Marine Corps Birthday. They really get into it, and that's good. But, where I want to talk about it is in a significant context to us as a Nation. The year is 1775. That's our year, still we don't have the Spirit of 76, but that was the year the American Revolution was coming to surface. We had a fledging Army since June of that year*. We were'nt going to compeat with the british very well if we could not engage their Navy. So, on October 13th, the Continental Navy was born. I imagine that that was no small feat. It would take quite a bit of material and effort to equip a Navy. Eventually John Paul Jones was in Command of a borrowed ship from the French.**Roughly a month after the Navy started being formed, the Marine corps was born. The Navy needed Marines to protect it, and to be an assault force for it. Well, after that, we didn't have much in the line of ships, but we had a Navy with Marines to support them.

The Royal Navy, despite holding it's gains from the Seven Years War against the French, was not all too prepared for delivering more troops across the Atlantic and the Gun Ships to support that. For them it was not just a war against the rebellous Colonies, but, the French and the Spanish. They had allot of water to cover...And the timber they had been using for heir masts came from the forests of New England.They were stretched thin.

Stretched thin or not, they had a Navy, and we didn't. When who ever it was went into Tung's Tavern and recruited the first Marine, well, as poorly equiped as either of them may have been, they had the most important thing...A person. It was sloppy, at times hap hazard, but we were compeating.


Arifjan Kuwait
Now, back to the future. Allot of people here are getting sick. It took a little longer than usual for it to start going around. It takes about a month or so and it's been about two months. It alread hit me. I went to Qatar for a week with one mean head cold.

Admenastrative Note
I'm taking on the daunting task of tagging all of the posts from my blog, over 600 of them. I never did it before. But, over time, as I found people doing searches for information on my stats, it started to make sense that I do.


*Trivia question! When did the first Commander of that Army, the Continental Army, take command?

** I get tired of French jokes, though we owed the French monarchy more than the post French Revolution Government, we owe allot to the French, Marquis De Laffayette, being one of them.

I've said enough.
The Appalachianist

November 6th Notes.

Something is up with my different browsers. The only one out of the three that I use that will let me manipulate the controlm buttons for Blogger is Internet Explorer. I went as far as un installing and re installing Mozilla. I imported book marks to Google Chrome, and it was the same there. I might just un install and redo the both of them.

I have the day off, so I somewhat slept in this morning. Despite being woken several times by one or two of my many room mates, I woke around 7 to the sound of rain. For a brief second I wondered what the sound was, but then realised it was rain...."Our crops are saved!" Like the happy ending to a sharecroppers drama. It only lasted but a minute, wetting the sand and getting soaked up quick. That's unlike the two river valleys in Iraq where it turns to a sticky mud.

Well, we're pulling out of Iraq. We're not out of there yet though. There is allot of people and stuff to come out of there still. And then...There will still be the Department of State. There is allot to think about there. ALLOT.

I got word my oldest Dog, Rebel, got hit by a car. I've no details other than he is fine. It was not a catastophic hit. It most likely happened on a race. If the bear crosses a road, then so do the dogs, like little kids running after a ball. Then if the race falls apart or a dog drops out and makes it's way to a road, it's at risk. Fewer Hunting dogs get ran over on the hunt than pets do around the neighborhood. There are allot of threats to hunting dogs, what ever it chases, bear, coons, even deer, can fight them. They can be mistakenly shot, which everyone takes great care as to not to do. Then, there are cars, trucks, four wheelers and horses. But if you were to ask me what the biggest threat there is to one, I'd tell you it's the three kinds of people that will take your dog. A dog thief, someone bent on messing with a hunter, and someone that believes they know whats best and out of some moral better than though "rescues" your dog.

My last note: I've read little bits here and there on the Occupy(insert name here) movement. As I see it, they are ineffectual, just like the Tea Party. That's good, because, they don't know what they are talking about. The Tea Party got side railed by a bunch of republicans. I knew when I started seeing them dressed up like paul Revere, it was going to get real hoaky. The Occupy movement was clueless to start with. Or, at least some were. Deep in any group like that you are going to have your Marxist at heart types. There far too militant than the Tea Party. By far, the Tea Party has smarter people, more class and a genuine complaint. The Occupiers are just complaining.
Their most famous news shot in Oakland was when the Police tried evicting them. Now, Oakland has a reputation for being a pretty left wing town. I read that the Mayor of Oakland days before marched with them. The reason the Police were called in, was the sanitary problems. It reminds me of John Lennon's lyrics from "Revolution"..."But if you go carrieing pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow".

That whole song comes mind.
The Appalachianist

So What's It Like?

We've got crappy plumbing over here. Yep, you read me right, we've got crappy plumbing. It was that way up in Iraq, and, it's that way here. Oh, it works, it's just shoddy work. Pipes laying on top of the ground with a ply wood fame over them is one example. A little hose that pushes water in a stream hanging over the side of a urinal is another. But again, to give it credit, it works. Nothing is leaking out onto the ground. Pipes getting baked brittle in the sun is more of a threat than freezing and busting.

Back...Way back, when I was an adviser to the Iraqi Army (a slave with two masters)the Iraqi shower and latrine was a filthy trailer with a rotten floor and leaking plumbing oozing sewage into a ditch, that if I remember right was dug to collect what was leaking. It was a matter of concern, but, primarily the Iraqi's problem. They wanted us to solve the problem. We couldn't do that. The whole idea was to ween them. Stepping into an Iraqi porta-john was a safety hazard. You could trip over all of the water bottles on the floor.

Which reminds me of another problem. At the time the Iraqis were only issuing their guards two little bottles of water, one to drink, the other to wipe their ass with. If more water was near a Jundi didn't have to worry as much, but spending hours out in a tower with one little bottle to drink and bowel movements beckoning put him in a predicament.

I don't know how many times I saw muddy boot prints on the seat of a western toilet where they tried using it in the eastern fashion. Or how many times one was stopped up. I never saw that problem with an eastern. And here, some porta-johns are marked "Eastern" with a picture indicating it.

What brought this all to mind was a beautiful marble floor. They like marble floors over here. So, here was this beautiful, shiny floor and a urinal with flexy pipes twisted around going into the wall and some plaster daubed around them.

Every building I've ever been in over here was like that.

It's 6 AM in Eastern US Time Zone, time to get out of bed.
The Appalachianist

ArifJan, Kuwait

I'm now at Camp Arifjan Kuwait. We flew in last night and after a short trip we were at our destination. I keep comparing everything to my trip to Iraq. That was very different. This is very different.

I had been writing my posts on Word and pasting them to the blog. Last weekend I dropped my netbook and the screen went out. So, I bought a new lap top, an HP Pavilion. That's what I had my first tour. Anyway, the deal is, I don't have Word on this thing, so posting was a little harder. To be frank, internet on Ft. Bliss sucks rotten eggs.

More to follow. I'm on a Replacements kick, so I leave you with The Replacements...It won't let me do it... But then it did.


The Appalachianist

Pink Unicorns

I21 August
Today is Sunday, the 21st. It won’t be long before we’re in Kuwait. To tell you the truth, I’m ready to get it over with.
22 august
This is too much like a diary. I feel like a little girl and I like the color pink and unicorns… Right now, I like sleep. I sleep, but it ain’t the best sleep. We are doing an exercise of some kind. There are imaginary players and events, we handle them. I work a 12 hour shift at night. Then I come home, crash and wake up, and go shower not so much to be clean but to just feel good.
I packed all my music CDs into a foot locker that is going over on a boat. My room mate is a Metal fan, so he plays some music from his computer sometimes. All I have is a mix on my phone of Drive By Truckers, Old 97s, Son Volt and a Drivin N Cryin tune…Scarred But Smarter. I keep listening to the same songs over and over. And, sad thing that it is, I’m heading to a life of Groundhog Day.
Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) are little cities withen them selves. Everyday you get up and walk to work, same way, you can take the long way, but it’s just more of the same stuff. You eat at the same place, unless you eat at one of the fast food vendors serving out of a carnival trailer. You wear the same thing every day. You get used to that, but it’s just the primer. Everyday, you deal with the same stuff. Same people. And, being the middle east, the weather pretty much stays the same through summer and fall. An ugly kind of beautiful.
Honestly, Arifjan, the Capital of FOBs in all of Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan is rightly plush from everything I gather. It’s close to the ocean in Kuwait, people get off work and wear civilian clothes. In Iraq, you might have a t-shirt and pair of shorts used for relaxing in your hooch. Civvies are not authorized. But at Arifjan, you go to the PX in civvies.
Taji was a mud hole. Everyone that was in Taji jokes about the dump it was. It was Saddams Maintance hub and some interpreters told me they were trained there during their stint in the Army. The Iraqi maintenance system was cannibalization out of junk yards, so, there were quite a few junk yards and armored vehicles were scattered everywhere. There were craters, some 20, 25 foot deep. I found all kinds of old weapons rusting under a layer of dust. A Martini Rifle once. The barrel was bent as it had been burned. Gutted buildings. Saddams face painted on walls and litter scattered everywhere. A Security Contractor asked me if I knew what the Iraqi flag was. His answer? A black garbage bag caught in Constantia wire. He was right. It was a place that was one of the dirtiest things I ever have saw. Just to think, it had been worse before US occupation. But, it was interesting. I’ve been in T-55s, T-62s, BRDMs, BMPs. I’ve seen air craft missiles dug up from the ground.

I say occupation because we occupied the place, We called it “coalition”, because there were other nations there as well. Estonians, Macedonians, and one or two others on the place. There was the Coalition and Iraqi side which was like the wild west.
24th August
After I got transferred I almost fell out of contact with my old Company. I checked up on them and turns out one of the guys that had been in the Company got hit by an IED in Iraq. The story is by trying to get another guy out of the vehicle he got third degree burns on his hands and arms. Another boy got killed. This happened last month and no one got word to me. They thought I had already headed across the water. He’ at Sam Houston. Now he has the medal no one wants but everyone that has one is the proudest of…A Purple Heart.

Pink Unicorns Out
The Appalachianist

At Last I post

11th August
I can now manage to write. It’s been two weeks now that I’ve been on Active duty. In some ways the time has gone fast, mostly. In others it’s not. Things have gotten a little more organized from what they were in the beginning and, as time goes it gets a little better. There are allot of moving parts to this thing. It’s to be expected. But…There’s always a “but”…As my Ex pointed to me about how people would say “I love you/him/her but…” The clause to the statement, the clause to the feeling. But…There are allot of interjections. Changes, information being placed in the wrong context. And, believe it or not, I’m guilty of it too.
It’s a little after 0500. Most everyone has gone to a Combatives class. There is a storm east of here, maybe it’s in Mexico, after all, I hear Juarez has been a violent place the last week. I’m not with them because I hurt my back Monday night lifting some over loaded foot lockers. Tuesday I could hardly walk, yesterday was better. I was very stiff after standing up for a minute or two. It wasn’t feeling like a boot in my back. I went on sick call and was asked if I could tough it another day, that they were all filled up for the day. I could, so, I took it for the team and toughed it out. I claim no bragging rights. I can count the number of times over 25 years that I’ve gone on sick call and have fingers left. The word has a bad connotation. People ride it, like people that ride welfare or any other program. But, people know who those people are. However, it’s more common for someone to not take advantage of it. Guys…And gals, will avoid if they can for a number of reasons. Peer pressure, not wanting to be poked at in a gruff Military medical clinic, not wanting to be taken form their duties. The list goes on.
It’s raining now and I can hear a train. Someone mentioned yesterday that it was muggy for Ft. Bliss. Maybe this is why.
I’ve not gotten allot of opportunity to call home, or get online. It’s been a little late when we’re done. Most often the folks back home would be in bed. I can’t help but wonder about home either. Not in a worrying fashion, just a curiosity. I’m mortal, the sun rises and sets without me. Where ever I go, it comes up and sets the same. It's just not the same.

The Appalachianist

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

Me Going Off On The Media.

It's nice to be home, at least for the meantime. I'll be back in Seattle this time next week. I'll be going back out for 7 days, I have to attend a class.

That's news on me. Now, about the news. I have this belief, that if you are paying for news, your are getting ripped off. My time in Iraq convinced me of that. Take this end of the world thing. Someone is always predicting the end of the world, it fascinates people. I think it's a little cocky, and well, people closest to me call me cocky, so, it must be cocky. Why was it news? We have three wars and they are reporting on that? Yes, three wars, count them.

While I was away good ol' Buttholeville made the national news. Some Police Officers were arresting someone when a woman threw lighter fluid or something on them and then tried throwing a flaming cotton ball on them. Now, that's not funny, but it is. How do you throw a flaming cotton ball? Well, not too good, because it didn't reach the cops. The carpet caught fire. The Police got up and put it out the old fashioned way, they stomped it out. Word is there was a meth lab in the place, I don't know. The cops ain't saying. It started out a drama arrest. The guy had misdemeanor warrants ad was acting crazy, not like it was murder, but it ended in attempted murder. Go figure.

Well, back to Iraq. Allot of my experiences the last few weeks have made me reflect on that time. One reflection being that I never saw the media do anything in depth enough to get a grasp on the real situation. Later, I was able to read between the lines on such issues. They blew allot of stories. They went on canned State Department tours, in some cases came on the Muslim Holy Day (Friday)or asked a couple of questions, smiled, snapped some pictures and whisped back off to a cozy place in the IZ. Allot of the time, they didn't grasp what was taken place. If the reporters did get something, in my opinion, it gets messed up in Big Media...Lost to the "industry standard". I would sit, well, actually stand and listen to the S2 dump (intel) almost every day. The violence would be sporadic at times. At times it was the big ticket stuff you saw on the evening news. But, what you saw,( hey, notice how coverage has nearly disappeared?) was a very small part. Honestly, allot of it would not have made sense to you anyway, but, if you contemplate our Military Endeavor, if you got your information from the news, you didn't get much.

I do enjoy the sight of a pretty lady reporter...
The Appalachianist

Speaking Of Easter

First and for most, Happy Easter. The spring's first full moon came finally. I managed to see it in Seattle, that doesn't always happen. So, once it's here, it's Easter. Easter is a funny sounding word, but it's a sweet word. It can mean allot of things for allot of people. But we all know it's about Jesus and not rabbits. I wonder how rabbits slid into the picture? Oh, well, that's no concern. They're cute and taste good, we'll leave it at that.

A short while ago, on recommendation of my roommate here, I saw the movie Conspirator. Interesting drama. Speaking of Drama, foolishness has given that word a bad name. It made for some good viewing, however. It had a moral, though I can't attest to it's accuracy, that Mary Surratt, owner of the boarding house where the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln was to have been plotted was railroaded by a Military Tribunal. It made me want to learn more.

Speaking of learning, I've been learning more about Daniel Boone. Daniel Boone was a man, he was a big man, but, his debts were bigger than he liked for them to be. As well, there are more fables of Daniel Boone out there than there is truth. He never claimed to have killed more than four Indians in his life and took no pleasure in it. He did travel far, he was born in Pennsylvania, moved to the Yadkin River country of NC, trapsed the Blue Ridge, got lost in Florida, stomped what is now South West Virginia, West Virginia and the eastern half of Kentucky,as a prisoner of the Shawnee's was taken to Detroit. There he feigned loyalty to the Crown in an effort to save his skin and the skin of his kin. I'm yet to finish the book, he's just making it to Missouri, but, I am enjoying the read. I can say this, he was a man, a real man and he lived a rough life and made the best out of it as he could. As a quote from T.E Lawrence I read in Boilerplate over at the Barnes and Noble (killing time so I wouldn't drop a phone call on the folks back home in Easter Dinner) that no one ever writes the truest form of History. That's true. Daniel Boone was an exploited character apparently. And, by the way, I'm reading the biography "Daniel Boone", by John Mack Faragher. An Author with local ties, Robert Morgan, (The Morgan's are the only Welsh family in Transylvania County) wrote one on him too, and I intend to read it as well. Check several source.


Today is cloudy and it drizzled this morning. The last two days were beautiful here in Seattle though. Not a cloud in the sky. I'm listening to Drive By Trucker's "Southern Rock Opera, Act I"

Know the Lord is coming, the South will rise again
The Appalachinist

Lazy Terp's and Things That Spin

The “Ladies Man’s” hand is swollen up like a boxing glove. Something has bitten him. There is no such thing as a passive insect in Iraq.

The Iraqi’s use Uaz jeeps. I like the things in general. I told Twister while I was home they would be great for Bear Hunting. He shot me down though by asking what kind of heater they had. At that time it was in the upper 90’s here. Well, the other morning it was cold and raining and I was riding with one of my counterparts (that could be a funny story of it’s own…every day could have a story) he went into his caravan and I sat in the jeep. I stuck my hand down near the heater and they had taken the cover off. I stuck my finger into the fan. I yanked it back awfully quick. The heater works pretty decently. It would be easy to replace. It sits right under the dash.

Yep, that’s me, stuck my hand in the machine. Every time I have it’s cause I didn’t know what I was doing. It was dark and the fan was turning fast, I couldn’t see it.

I don’t think we’ll ever have one any how. My New To Me Toyota will do just fine.

At the time it was colder here than back home. It frosts here some. As soon as the sun goes down, so do the temperatures. There’s no reason t lament how muddy it is here.

I had a new interpreter today. I aint ever worked with him. He’s new to us. Darn that boy is lazy. I had to prod him all day. “OK, let’s go”. “Come On”. “Let’s get going”. Some are not so lazy, they will volunteer. I had one digging for a hidden cell phone one time. Some will tell you that someone is blowing smoke at you. “Trust me, I’m Iraqi, He’s lying. He doesn’t intend to do it”. I was inventorying their weapons today. The boy just stood there like he’d rather sit down.

“Come on, contribute to the common good here”…They are worried about themselves. “Me first…me first…” We have to remind them they will get theirs, just deal with the situation at hand. They have this look on their face like a twelve year old that had their video taken away.

Well, we still manage to laugh and cut up.

Like the winner of a John Doe Look alike contest…
The Appalachianist

The T55 Of Love

Everyone who has been to Taji knows this place. As I've said before the place is scattered with discarded equipment from the past. It's now all covered in American Grafitti. The Bizarre on Taji sells the paint...You can emblazing the name of your sweetheart on the side of a T55. I've climbed inot some of these. The commo equipment is in English.

Today was hot...Kulish Harraa...very hot. Then later in the day a big cloud cast a shadow. A couple of us looked at it with welcome eyes. But, I knew what could happen. Aboob. It's a dust storm spurned by storms miles away. It was an Aboob that contributed to the failure of the Iran Hostage Rescue. The Marine Helo's were caught in a very large Aboob. All was calm though. Before it had passed me and one of the guy's from my section were on the other side of Taji when I noticed the air was brown on the road ahead of us. Every thing turned brown as a gust blew through. It only lasted ten minutes then turned calm and hotter than before.

My AC is out tonight. My first night on Taji was spent without it. I've had three more nights since then. The people of Baghdad get four hours of power a day. If they have a generator gas is $5 US per gallon. If the guy doesn't come and fix my AC soon, I'm going to sweat all night, but, I'd best not complain.
Well, he's here to fix it. I would say it's 90 or 95 outside here at 2030 hrs.

I'm going
The Appalachianist 

Sunrise

This morning the sun was egg shaped, hanging in the sky with a bright yellow at the top and orange below. It looked almost as if a painting except the piles of discarded trucks from the old Regimes Army laying under it. The other morning I thought I saw clouds in front of it, two little wafer thin clouds. Maybe some fog over the Tigris...But, more than likley it was smoke from some burning trash somewheres.

There have been some changes to my Section. Some good, some plane old changes. There have been some changes here at the Depot, and most of them good. I swear if the American Army is showing the Iraqi Army anything, it's to have meetings. Communication is a good thing though. I'm going to try to get more time to write even if a couple of minutes in the morning, like now. Even if it's talking about the irony of a sunset.

The Appalachianist

I'm here. Nothing has dropped in on top of me. A big "Crump" woke me up yesterday morning though.

I've been meaning to hammer out a new post, but, havn't gotten around to it. My apologies. Without an Internet connection of my very own it's not as easy. I have to select my buisness when I get online. I ussually stay on line for 10 to 20 minutes. It depends. Now, I know I've mispelled words and everything. The darn spell check messed up my grammar in my last post, but, anyhow folks, I'm here. Right here in lovely Taji, a place with a little something for everyone.

The Appalachianist...

Laugh Dammit'

Funny things happen. A few day’s ago, one of my Junior NCO’s had a close encounter with an IED. He calls me on my cell phone. “I have to show you something”. He sounds serious. “OK, what is it?” “I found an IED”. It’s possible, very possible. If a Afghan Guerilla can hide out in an American Base after escaping from it’s jail than an IED can be planted here on Taji. He comes and gets me, he’s as white as a ghost. We have a Marine Major with us and he drives up as I was going to check this out. I informed him of what was happening and he gives me a direct order not to get killed. “Hey, you’ve got Bino’s, right? Take your Bino’s”. I was forgetting about the things. So, we go and look at this thing. I had to look at it from a couple of different angles, but, sure enough, there is artillery round with wires taped to it and we are in more than killing range. Heck, they would get our body parts confused. It’s sitting next to one of the many ruined buildings on Taji, where some GI would get on it while poking around, like my Joe did.
We backed off from it. I pull out my cell phone and try to call EOD(Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and can’t get through. I try again. The damn phone won’t get through. I wasn’t going to say IED over the air on my radio and cause folks to get into a panic. We go back to our area where I inform the Major that the boy wasn’t crying wolf and I couldn’t get through to EOD. We called the Base Defense Operations Center on his phone, which was working better. “Come and get us and take us right to this!” So, it’s going to be time consuming, I go to the latrine real quick before heading out. The Major comes and gets me and my NCO who had found the thing. BDOC had called back, it was a training aid, several people had called it in before. My young NCO’s 21 year old heart is pounding out of his chest, he’s white as a ghost and his eyes are as big as a deer’s. “That’s fucked up!” he say’s. I laughed.
Really, he did good. I had to get onto him about something the other day. He’s still a work of clay. I told him the same thing I told my Stepson. “Be glad God is teaching you your lesson’s while you’re young”.

As I’ve said in some e-mails, I slept through a rocket attack a while back. Lot’s of our people heard it. They usually come in onsies and twosies. My building has pretty thick walls and my window is sandbagged, plus my air condition runs constantly (Except for the couple of nights it tore up on me). “You didn’t hear that?!” I slept like a baby.

Speaking of my sand bagged window (one of ye faithful knows of my project) I’m coving it up with pictures of home, post cards (that one of ye faithful has sent) , a news paper clipping of my newest little cousin, wildlife and girls out of magazines. Stuff like Stuff, Maxim, etc. The ones we were told we couldn’t bring over on the plane that is sold here in the PX.

As you may gather from a earlier post, the other night there was a show put on my five dancing girls. One a former Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, a couple had posed for the above mentioned magazines and a Vegas Show Girl. They really put on a show. A couple could sing. I didn’t intend on going, but, found myself obliged. That’s another silly story.


The Appalachianist

CENTCOM asked me to post this...

July 13, 2006

BAGHDAD – Iraq witnessed a historic event today with the transfer of security responsibility in Muthanna Province from the Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) to the Provincial Governor and civilian-controlled Iraqi Security Forces. The handover represents a milestone in the successful development of Iraq’s capability to govern and protect itself as a sovereign and democratic nation. Muthanna is the first of Iraq’s 18 provinces to be designated for such a transition.

As Prime Minister Maliki announced on June 19, 2006, the joint decision between the Iraqi government and MNF-I to hand over security responsibility is the result of Muthanna’s demonstrated abilities to take the lead in managing its own security and governance duties at the provincial level. The transition decision also reflects a joint assessment of the overall threat situation in Muthanna, the capabilities of the ISF there and the provincial leadership’s ability to coordinate security. Transition teams are in place to smooth the transfer process and multi-national forces will stand ready to provide assistance if needed.

With this first transition of security responsibility, Muthanna demonstrates the progress Iraq is making toward self-governance. Several other provinces are close to meeting the criteria necessary to assume security independence. The Iraqi government and the Multi-National Force will continue to transfer security responsibilities in other provinces in Iraq as conditions are achieved.

Australian, Japanese, and the United Kingdom forces have assisted Muthanna authorities as models of international cooperation, providing economic and humanitarian assistance as well as security and stability. As Iraq develops and its needs continue to evolve, so too will the nature of international assistance to Iraq in Muthanna and elsewhere.

The United States will provide $10 million in order to enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Muthanna as they take a bold and courageous step forward in the country’s movement toward an independent and secure nation. This event represents significant progress by the Government of Iraq to achieve a constitutional, democratic, and pluralistic Iraq which guarantees the rights of all citizens.


I havn't posted these in a while. It's usually old news when I get the mail.
The Appalachianist.

Only will the US Military have someone get up and sing the National Anthem before some girls shake their ass for you in a morale show.

Yep, The Appalachianist