December '08 to March '09

March 31, 2009, 8:54 pm

Hello friends and neighbors,

I have been in Iraq for more than a month now and have finally settled in. I would like to share my new life here with you, serving literally half a world away for our beloved country. I have certainly gained much more appreciation of the little things in life that we take for granted.

I would love to hear from you as well. Please send to my personal email at ottolee@gmail.com – though internet connection here can be quite unreliable sometimes and download time for attachment is at 1kB/second.

THE BEGINNING

I was notified about this active duty mobilization back in early November 2008. Since then, I have been training hard and gained a lot of new experiences. As I have been with the U.S. Navy Reserve for almost twenty years, five years ago I was called up for active duty and served at the Navy Aircraft carriers headquarters in San Diego during Operation Noble Eagle for about six months. But this time, I was selected and activated by the U.S. Army, who has been recruiting various talents in other military services. This is my first experience working with the U.S. Army and serving overseas in an active combat zone. So far, this has been a long, interesting and unforgettable journey.

Southern California - 1 week

In late December, I reported to the U.S. Navy Headquarter base in San Diego for a week of routine medical exams and a series of many vaccinations, including tetanus, small pox and anthrax. The vaccinations were far from pain free – with the small pox vaccine causing an open wound that takes three weeks to heal, and also anthrax shots that hurt for days – definitely not fun….

Fort Jackson, South Carolina – 3 weeks

I was then sent to Fort Jackson in Eastover, South Carolina to attend army combat training for three weeks with other sailors to learn the “Army” way.

Training typically started by waking up at 4:30 a.m. for a 14 to 16-hour day, six days a week. Training occurred in full body armor, weighing over 60lbs; with weapons, bags and other gear. The total weight a typical soldier like me would carry is around 80lbs!

Training in body armor with an M16 rifle and a M9 pistol, while being yelled at by Army Drill Sergeant, is challenging, especially since I’m no longer 19 years old……and learning about HOOAH (Army’s most frequently used word which means practically anything and everything, except NO), hurry and wait, dealing with “white space”, and FRAGOs (ie. Change) and SEMPER GUMBY (Always be flexible).

Oh, the good Army chow - at least the breakfast is good – only if they give you time to actually eat. Sometimes we only have a few minutes to gulp down our breakfast –“eat now, taste later.” I had to learn fast.

If training went past the cafeteria hours, we would eat MRE’s (“Meal, Ready-to-Eat”), a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging. Subsequently, with all the training and limited time for dining, I lost about 5 lbs during my three weeks of training – so it’s not all bad!

Every morning, we would march in the dark hours before sunrise. I slept with 39 other battle buddies in open barracks, so making friends and building camaraderie came quickly (and earplugs are must have at night!)

KUWAIT – 1 Week

After three weeks of training in chilly South Carolina, we made our way to Kuwait.
Army training in Kuwait was to prepare us for military combat in the desert, allowing us to also adjust to the heat and sand and to mentally prepare ourselves for operating in a vastly different combat environment.

Kuwait is dusty and the air quality is not good. The little things in life we take for granted are even more precious here. A hot shower is a luxury and we are not allowed more than 5 minutes in the shower. Water is a scarcity - this is a desert after all! Surprisingly, the food is better than Fort Jackson with lots of varieties, and we even had a Starbucks on this base.

In our final combat training, I had the honor to say that “I’ve slept with five women….” AND forty-three men in a classroom, eating MRE’s in the remote desert for three days. Sand got into everything and everyone learned quickly to pack things in Zip-locked bags. No shower facilities… just baby wet wipes. When we got back three days later, everyone hit the showers and that felt great!

IRAQ - Month 1

From Kuwait, we made our way to Baghdad to Camp Victory. Camp Victory is literally a mini-city of 30,000 people, with more contractors and civilians than military. Just to give you an idea how big the base is, it literally takes me 45 minutes to walk from where I sleep to where I work. Trailers are set up as offices, and my trailer office is shared by 5 colleagues.

My home is a “CHU” (Container Housing unit) – and I am fortunate to get a bathroom shared with only one neighbor. Unfortunately, the bathroom was initially pretty gross -mold with a very nasty shower and curtains. It took me many hours of elbow grease and LYSOL to bleach the showers.

Although the news from Iraq has been increasingly more positive over the past year, since the beginning of the surge, this place is not safe. There are still frequent mortars, rockets, IED (improvised explosive device) and suicide bomber attacks daily in this country. Within my first week of arrival in Baghdad, there were two mortar attacks in Camp Victory which landed about a half mile from my work. Fortunately, there were no injuries. These attacks typically occur in the evening allowing the insurgents to hide under the cover of darkness. There is very little warning, but sometimes warning sirens do go off a few seconds before mortar hits the base.

I am assigned with the Headquarters, Multinational Forces – Iraq, Logistics Directorate. I now serve as Chief - Drawdown Material Disposition Division (in the Iraq Theater of Operations), working on issues relating to all the military and non-military equipment and supplies, whether it is shipping back to the US, to Afghanistan, or left behind in Iraq, during base closures and the associated policies and legal issues. Being trained as an attorney, it certainly helps me understand the nuances of the numerous federal regulations.

The “normal” working hours are from around 7:00 am to 8:30 pm Monday through Saturday AND another 5-6 hours on Sunday as well.  Given the heavy workload, I sometimes stay as late as midnight (many 16-hour shifts.) At the moment, the weather is generally not too bad at this time of the year, except for the occasional sandstorm that is very strong and dusty. It rarely rains, but when it does, the sand turns into clay and it is nasty to walk around.

With everyone working these long hours, I’m getting used to the flow, and I’m finally settling into the routine here. In a strange way, I feel like I’m living in paradise - I work in a palace (Saddam’s second daughter’s palace) right next to many of the lakes, so it’s very scenic here. Every meal is a free buffet with a large variety of choices. We don’t pay any tax. We don’t pay for water, trash, electric or gas. As in heaven, there will be no bad stuff, and we have the General Order #1 which prohibits - alcohol, sex, and watching others having sex (porn).

When I arrived, I was replacing two to three people in my role as a logistics officer and had to quickly come to a deep understanding of the logistical issues here in Iraq, trying to remember the gazillion army acronyms and base locations throughout Iraq, etc. Having gone through the training and being BOG (boots on the ground), I’ve gained an even greater sense of respect and admiration for what our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have to deal with.

There are LOTs of acronyms to learn and it is mostly Army. The pace here is quite intense since we are supporting people out there literally fighting for their lives. During the first few weeks, the learning curve was very sharp. I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose!

My job is focused on the drawdown efforts to move the gear and equipment out in an accountable manner - and there is a LOT of stuff here that needs to be moved from all over Iraq. As you have probably heard in the news, our President and Commander-in-Chief’s timetable is to end America’s combat role in Iraq by Aug. 31 in 2010, making sure that Iraqi forces take full control of their own security. So now, I am directly involved in President Obama’s timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Who would have ever thought that I’d be in the middle of all this?

Skype is the de facto service that many in Iraq use to try to stay in touch “face-to-face” with loved ones at home, which can be challenging due to the poor bandwidth in internet connection. I’m lucky if I can talk to my family once a week, but I continue to try…. When I call home, I remind my family not to take things for granted and appreciate those who served and their sacrifices which made it possible for us to enjoy our lives at home….

As for the fine dining at Camp Victory, I have gotten used to it… The food is quite good, especially since there is a huge variety, so I try to rotate and eat different things. It gets old very fast. When they serve Chinese food, I stay far, far away - General Tso would roll over in his grave if he saw those chickens named after him here. I try to eat lots of veggies, and the dessert is very good here - cheese cake, bread pudding, apple crisps, six flavors of Baskin Robbins ice cream… one could easily get fat here if one tried.

I’m scheduled to stay in Iraq for a year unless my stay gets extended, but I’ll be eligible for a two week vacation after six months.

My wife, Sally, keeps busy by maintaining a busy routine with our 4-year old daughter - Aubrianna and one-year old - Hillary. The military does provide literature and videotapes to families with young kids to help try and explain why their loved ones are away and how to manage. The kids do have a hard time understanding why daddy isn’t home. Any help that any of you could extend to Sally and my toddlers would be greatly appreciated. I have to admit, leaving my family behind is the hardest thing I have to bear.