Well.... Camp Liberty isn't really my second home. It seems that way though. I've returned for yet another mission. Keep in mind that there are a lot of soldiers based out of this compound. Part of my team arrived here early Saturday morning. I flew in this morning with my two Coast Guard personnel and another soldier. We came in at almost lunchtime courtesy of our friends at Catfish Air. This time we're supporting a unit from the Puerto Rican Army National Guard. They are a great bunch. Spanish is their primary language. Some of their soldiers speak very little English. There's no language barrier though. They are taking very good care of us. Camp Liberty is much nicer than FOB Warhorse. We're staying in billets that are right next to a DFAC, gym, and MWR. That's all I need to stay happy in my off time. Our mission doesn't actually start until Monday. Once we got checked into Billets we decided to go sightseeing around the Camp Victory compound. Several of my new team members had never seen the Al Faw Palace - home of Multi-National Corps HQ.
Kids will be kids. Once we arrived at Al Faw my soldiers started running around snapping pictures of everything. It's a large palace, surrounded by a man-made lake that's teaming with carp. It's impossible to see the entire inside of the palace due to the labyrinth of temporary office walls and cubicles that compose the various staff sections of MNC-I. However, you can't miss the giant chandelier in the middle of the place. There's also a big goofy chair that has probably seen the asses of 200,000 Joes. Every one of my team members had to get a picture sitting in the chair. I've never had mine taken there and wasn't about to start. However, I did allow a team photo with the chair. I stood to the side. The photo came out pretty well. Once we got back outside we marveled for awhile at the size of some of the carp. I can say quite confidently that some of them were a meter in length or larger. My guys kept throwing rocks to see how quickly the fish swarmed in hopes of food. The fish were obviously used to having food thrown to them.
Something that I found to be an interesting contrast was the difference between the MNC-I HQ and the Iraqi Army HQ. While MNC-I enjoyed the biggest, nicest palace around, the Iraqi HQ was a much more austere building. It looked more like it was a palace annex at one time. I guess at some point we'll hand Al Faw back over. It definitely isn't happening very soon.
A couple of hours after supper I walked to the gym for a late-night workout. I was once again astonished at how many Joes workout so late. The place was packed. I made it a quick workout and headed back to the hooch. Thanks to the paper-thin walls of the CHUs, I had to sit and listen to the noisy conversation of the female soldiers next door to me. The entire conversation was in Spanish. I could only make out bits and pieces of what they were talking about. Based on my limited Espanol, the girls had come from the MWR where they had Salsa Night. Apparently, there was a Joe that kept asking one of them to dance and wouldn't leave her alone. She finally told him she was headed to the latrine and went back to her room instead. The guy started asking her roommate where she had gone and how he could get in touch with her. Sounds like a broken record playing the same sad song. It could've happened in anytown USA. Instead it happened at Camp Liberty.
I guess the story is told in all languages too.
Kids will be kids. Once we arrived at Al Faw my soldiers started running around snapping pictures of everything. It's a large palace, surrounded by a man-made lake that's teaming with carp. It's impossible to see the entire inside of the palace due to the labyrinth of temporary office walls and cubicles that compose the various staff sections of MNC-I. However, you can't miss the giant chandelier in the middle of the place. There's also a big goofy chair that has probably seen the asses of 200,000 Joes. Every one of my team members had to get a picture sitting in the chair. I've never had mine taken there and wasn't about to start. However, I did allow a team photo with the chair. I stood to the side. The photo came out pretty well. Once we got back outside we marveled for awhile at the size of some of the carp. I can say quite confidently that some of them were a meter in length or larger. My guys kept throwing rocks to see how quickly the fish swarmed in hopes of food. The fish were obviously used to having food thrown to them.
Something that I found to be an interesting contrast was the difference between the MNC-I HQ and the Iraqi Army HQ. While MNC-I enjoyed the biggest, nicest palace around, the Iraqi HQ was a much more austere building. It looked more like it was a palace annex at one time. I guess at some point we'll hand Al Faw back over. It definitely isn't happening very soon.
A couple of hours after supper I walked to the gym for a late-night workout. I was once again astonished at how many Joes workout so late. The place was packed. I made it a quick workout and headed back to the hooch. Thanks to the paper-thin walls of the CHUs, I had to sit and listen to the noisy conversation of the female soldiers next door to me. The entire conversation was in Spanish. I could only make out bits and pieces of what they were talking about. Based on my limited Espanol, the girls had come from the MWR where they had Salsa Night. Apparently, there was a Joe that kept asking one of them to dance and wouldn't leave her alone. She finally told him she was headed to the latrine and went back to her room instead. The guy started asking her roommate where she had gone and how he could get in touch with her. Sounds like a broken record playing the same sad song. It could've happened in anytown USA. Instead it happened at Camp Liberty.
I guess the story is told in all languages too.
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