Daily Life at AAAB

There's not any one thing that shows my typical day here. I am the Facilities Engineering Division Officer...but should more accurately be called the Construction Management Division. I manage all the Construction on the base, mostly by contract. I contract with "Troop Labor" (Red Horse and Seabee Battalions), Construction Companies from Iraq, Turkey, Norway, India, and the US, and a program called LOGCAP with KBR. There's a real initiative to go with "Iraqi First" in contracting, giving Iraqi companies the contracts in order to develop their economy, build their management and construction skills, and to establish an industrial base.
These contracts usually require A LOT of oversight, direction, and re-work! It's labor intensive to build even the most simple construction because they are not learned on US National Electrical Code (NEC), Fire and Safety Standards, Concrete Strength Requirements, etc etc. I have my work cut out for me!!

Sunset in the desert. Actually taken in the Udari Range in Kuwait. I love my M9 pistol. I'm thinking of buying one when I get home. I've already gotten rid of the "boonie hat" though...not my style, dude.

The two busiest guys on this base! Dave runs the Power Grid and Water Distribution System. I run construction. We easily touch every person on base with our services, and there are dozens here just to support our operations. It's nice to be needed, but it's already proving to be a lot of work. We're up to the challenge!

Here's me at my first "building acceptance" inspection and turn-over. This is "Boz" - his real name is Adnak- Herzgbra-something or another...he's from Bosnia, so we call him Boz! He works for KBR and is a real professional. KBR executes a lot of work here for us. It costs a good bit more for them to do it over a contractor, but they generally do it right and I don't have to worry about the details so much with them. This was "job complete" on an old Iraqi Army headquarters building that KBR performed a complete rehab on, bringing it into the 21st century.

My walk to work each morning. Maybe a 1/4 mile if I take the scenic route. I live right across the street from work pretty much.

Aerial view of only a small part of the airfield. The main part of the base is the dark area at the top of the picture. Running around the entire fence line is 27 miles...I plan to do it while here!

Some rescued art from an Iraqi Wall Mural. There's alot of history here...not all is good, but interesting nonetheless.

One point of friction here on the base is the waste management "program". They just burn everything! The base is constantly smothered in smoke smelling of burning plastic...air quality is awful. I have a couple projects to bring some incinerators with scrubbers online and to build a landfill on the base. This seems to be a problem that has a lot of visibility at all levels because I read about it in "Navy Times" too.

It's hard to enjoy running here when the air chokes. The garbage smoke, mixed with all the generators' exhaust and vehicle exhausts makes for a toxic mix.

There are old MIGs all over the base. Remember during Gulf War I & II when Saddam was trying to hide his jets under other planes, inside caves, and way out in the middle of nowhere? That was here. I found a MIG way up on top of a mountain in a quarry...we wonder how it got there. These litter the landscape here. They're "off limits" because some still have active ejection seats or ordnance. Plenty of people have been injured (even killed) messing around with them.

The old Iraqi flag on the tail of a MIG. The Iraqi flag has had many variations. The one seen here has the Arabic writing on it...the official flag had the writing in Saddam's own hand. The words are "Allah Akbar," meaning God is Great.

Here's a picture of my "courtyard" in my can city. My can is right behind the person in the picture. We have a palm tree and a couple other niceties. We are extremely fortunate...the bathroom is only about 20 yards away from our can.

Just a random picture of a site on the base. There's lots of sand, and lots of sun here!

Until next time, I miss you all and hope you are doing well. I'm fine here and plenty safe. I will make sure to blog my church experience here, my living quarters, the food, some crazy construction projects, and all the things to see eventually. I have to pace myself, I still have nearly 6 months here still. Meredith's keeping a count on her page. This place is ideal for the older couple without grown kids...both could work for a contractor and make lots of money and have no expenses. Otherwise it's pretty lonely.