The first thing that greeted all of us when we walked outside this morning was the dreary return of another sand storm. It was bad. I couldn’t see more than about 200 meters in any direction. My immediate reaction was, “I guess we’ll be in Taji another day!” Our prospects for flying back to Balad didn’t look good. Regardless, we came to train and that was our priority. We’d get back home eventually.
The next challenge was the water tank feeding our plumbing went dry in the middle of everyone’s morning routine. It didn’t affect me, as I had just finished shaving when it happened. However it was almost catastrophic on the two female officers. This made for a humorous moment. The latrines were situated next to one another and we could hear the conversation on the female side. One of them (I believe the XO) was in the shower when the water ran out. She had just put conditioner in her hair. The other officer (first lieutenant on her first mission with us) had to run grab a few bottled waters so the XO could rinse off. Although I can’t remember the conversation word-for-word, it was definitely a slapstick series of events.
Having survived the water catastrophe, my team marched on. After breakfast I met with the mobility warrant of the brigade we were training. He addressed some issues he was having with his computer system. I immediately got my soldiers working on the problem. It turned out that the bad weather was to our advantage. The training was originally supposed to take place the day before. A lot of the soldiers we were training were pilots and had specifically arranged their schedules to be present. Since the training was pushed back a day they weren’t going to be available and would miss the classes. However, since the weather sucked they couldn’t fly. That meant despite the delay everyone would be present. Our classes were to start at 1300.
Everything from that point went smoothly. We had a huge turnout for our classes. I was pleased at how proactive the brigade is in getting ready for their eventual redeployment. It will make my team’s job much easier. They asked a lot of questions. Almost everyone requested a copy of our training materials when the classes ended. From an internal perspective, the event went well for my team. The lieutenant asked if she could teach on our next mission. I told her absolutely. We had another newer soldier who also taught for the first time. He had some rough edges but did well. I’m extremely pleased with the eagerness of my entire team to be involved. On a side note – I noticed that the XO played soduko the entire time we were giving classes.
Good news was there to greet us as we left the conference room. The skies had cleared and helicopters were flying again. We’d fly back to Balad after all. I told my team to stay close at hand until time to return to the pax terminal. While at supper I ran into one of my old cadets (now a Captain). He’s the first one I’ve encountered this entire time. He told me of several others in country and where they were based. I’m sure I’ll run into some of them. After supper I returned to the billets to find most of my team watching TV in the dayroom. I joined them and we proceeded to watch some fat guy from Arkansas win $400 on “Deal or No Deal.” While watching the news I learned of an online interview O.J. Simpson had done where he took questions from callers. We all laughed heartily when we heard that one caller had asked, “O.J. which do you consider your bigger accomplishment, rushing for 2000 yards in one season or slicing two necks in one night?” I guess that’s what he gets for being so arrogant. Unfortunately, the news didn’t stick with the story long enough to let us hear his response to the question. It was funny though.
At about 2300 we returned to the pax terminal. It’s not really a terminal, but rather a couple of gazebos surrounded by jersey barriers. From our seats we could see the flight line. It was extremely busy. Every twenty minutes or so, a UAV would fly overhead on its way to land. Nearby I noticed a lot of soldiers gearing up. It turned out to be a platoon of soldiers about to leave on a night air-assault mission. We watched them in silence as they filed out to three Blackhawks. Shortly afterward two Apache attack helicopters took off and flew by. All three Blackhawks took off as one and followed the Apaches. They arced across the sky. Each helicopter silhouetted itself against the moon before going to blackout and disappearing into the night sky. Long afterward we were still staring in silence. I said a prayer for those soldiers. Then I turned to my team and said, “That’s why we do what we do. When all’s said and done there’s nobody that’s earned the right to go home more than soldiers like that.” About twenty minutes later the Blackhawks returned empty. They’d deposited the soldiers somewhere outside the wire.
Our ride arrived shortly after that. We loaded up and returned to Balad. It was close. Another sandstorm had kicked up north of Taji and our flight was almost cancelled. Fortunately, we made it back. It was a “quick-strike” mission. We were there and back in 24 hours.
The next challenge was the water tank feeding our plumbing went dry in the middle of everyone’s morning routine. It didn’t affect me, as I had just finished shaving when it happened. However it was almost catastrophic on the two female officers. This made for a humorous moment. The latrines were situated next to one another and we could hear the conversation on the female side. One of them (I believe the XO) was in the shower when the water ran out. She had just put conditioner in her hair. The other officer (first lieutenant on her first mission with us) had to run grab a few bottled waters so the XO could rinse off. Although I can’t remember the conversation word-for-word, it was definitely a slapstick series of events.
Having survived the water catastrophe, my team marched on. After breakfast I met with the mobility warrant of the brigade we were training. He addressed some issues he was having with his computer system. I immediately got my soldiers working on the problem. It turned out that the bad weather was to our advantage. The training was originally supposed to take place the day before. A lot of the soldiers we were training were pilots and had specifically arranged their schedules to be present. Since the training was pushed back a day they weren’t going to be available and would miss the classes. However, since the weather sucked they couldn’t fly. That meant despite the delay everyone would be present. Our classes were to start at 1300.
Everything from that point went smoothly. We had a huge turnout for our classes. I was pleased at how proactive the brigade is in getting ready for their eventual redeployment. It will make my team’s job much easier. They asked a lot of questions. Almost everyone requested a copy of our training materials when the classes ended. From an internal perspective, the event went well for my team. The lieutenant asked if she could teach on our next mission. I told her absolutely. We had another newer soldier who also taught for the first time. He had some rough edges but did well. I’m extremely pleased with the eagerness of my entire team to be involved. On a side note – I noticed that the XO played soduko the entire time we were giving classes.
Good news was there to greet us as we left the conference room. The skies had cleared and helicopters were flying again. We’d fly back to Balad after all. I told my team to stay close at hand until time to return to the pax terminal. While at supper I ran into one of my old cadets (now a Captain). He’s the first one I’ve encountered this entire time. He told me of several others in country and where they were based. I’m sure I’ll run into some of them. After supper I returned to the billets to find most of my team watching TV in the dayroom. I joined them and we proceeded to watch some fat guy from Arkansas win $400 on “Deal or No Deal.” While watching the news I learned of an online interview O.J. Simpson had done where he took questions from callers. We all laughed heartily when we heard that one caller had asked, “O.J. which do you consider your bigger accomplishment, rushing for 2000 yards in one season or slicing two necks in one night?” I guess that’s what he gets for being so arrogant. Unfortunately, the news didn’t stick with the story long enough to let us hear his response to the question. It was funny though.
At about 2300 we returned to the pax terminal. It’s not really a terminal, but rather a couple of gazebos surrounded by jersey barriers. From our seats we could see the flight line. It was extremely busy. Every twenty minutes or so, a UAV would fly overhead on its way to land. Nearby I noticed a lot of soldiers gearing up. It turned out to be a platoon of soldiers about to leave on a night air-assault mission. We watched them in silence as they filed out to three Blackhawks. Shortly afterward two Apache attack helicopters took off and flew by. All three Blackhawks took off as one and followed the Apaches. They arced across the sky. Each helicopter silhouetted itself against the moon before going to blackout and disappearing into the night sky. Long afterward we were still staring in silence. I said a prayer for those soldiers. Then I turned to my team and said, “That’s why we do what we do. When all’s said and done there’s nobody that’s earned the right to go home more than soldiers like that.” About twenty minutes later the Blackhawks returned empty. They’d deposited the soldiers somewhere outside the wire.
Our ride arrived shortly after that. We loaded up and returned to Balad. It was close. Another sandstorm had kicked up north of Taji and our flight was almost cancelled. Fortunately, we made it back. It was a “quick-strike” mission. We were there and back in 24 hours.
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