Moving right along...

Well, here I am again, another month behind us - thank the Lord for that. Everyone is still busy, 24/7 rotating schedules, etc. The weather has certainly changed...these days are like late September, early October at home...about 65 day and 40 at night. It sure feels more comfy to us. Kind of funny to see the way people are dressed. The Hawaiians (our B Co.) - most are wearing long underwear. The Ugandan guards at the DFAC are wearing winter gloves, heavy stocking caps, and tan ski jackets. Then us MN folks show up in line and we are wearing PT shorts and T shirt...go figure? Then there's the Europeans, working for the many different contractors...they are dressed somewhere in the middle. Interesting...

About the contractors, there are a lot of them here. Our DFAC (dining facility) is 1/3 contractors at meal time. When you see how the military moves, how we are all outfitted and equipped, and see all of the special equipment, it's easy to see how the war on terror is so expensive. For those who may not know, here is what the contractors do. Every piece of equipment is built by its manufacturer, but the special equipment that comes with it is built by someone else. In our case the helicopter I fly is built by Sikorsky, but the avionics (radios & flight instruments) are built by someone else. Weapons systems, sighting systems, etc., are all built by private companies. So, we have special people here to fix things as rapidly as possible to get us back in the fight. There are specialists here for our aircraft engines, transmissions, weapons, etc. The Apaches have all of the folks here to keep up with the hi-tech night vision and sighting systems it has. All in all, it works well to keep everyone functioning, but it is expensive. Most of all of the contractors are paying way better than the military. In fact, a few of our folks are interested in returning here to work for them.

Flying is going well, our company is doing very well, especially in maintenance. I believe we are staying at 85% or higher operational rate. The requirement coming into this was that we were told we had to maintain at least a 75% rate...so we're doing well. As I'm typing here, we are getting some real live rain...we had some sprinkles in October, but this has been some thunder and lightning, and enough to make things really wet. Man it sure smells good, like a spring rain at home. When I get near a computer, I pull up MSNBC and check the weather at my zip code...man its really cold at home! That's ice making weather. I checked some of our DNR Enforcement reports, and sure enough, some folks have already gone through the ice, what little ice there is. We all know how important it is to be the first one out there to get the good bite! Ya, uh huh.

Couple of nights after finishing at the AMR cell, I would go out the flight line and sit as close to the taxiway as I could and watch aircraft for a couple hours, hoping to have the F-16s take off the runway closest to me so I can get a picture. You wouldn't believe the 30' white flame coming out of the tail as they race down to runway in full after-burner, then pull up quickly at the end to get up high as fast as they can to avoid possible ground fire. Absolutely breathtaking, and wonderfully, groundshakingly noisy. I have always enjoyed being close to airplanes, while they are landing and taking off. I've sat at the end of the runway of a few airports in my day. I really like watching when the jets get up high enough, the turn off the after-burner, they disappear into the night. All of the aircraft here fly with night vision devices, so no one has any external lights on that you can see with the naked eye. It's cool to listen and watch as huge jets are making their approach to the runway, and you can't see them until they turn on a landing light at about 100 ft. They suddenly drop out of the inky black night and touch down. It's great to see how the night operations continue as we keep taking the fight to the enemy. While sitting along the taxiway, I did see what looked like a rabbit running around in the ditches. Do you suppose it was a "waskowy iwaki wabbit"? Sorry...we were warned by those before us that we would start to get complacent in our duties after about 90 days. Well, we are talking about that, and trying to be aware of it. It's easy to fall into that - missions are going well, and not a lot of damage to report. They also said we would go through that cycle again about 100 days before we leave. So, we will keep being careful and paying attention, and watching out for the bad guys.

Mortar attacks were down a bit for November, at least the ones I was here to witness. I counted 17 times. One recently was really a blessing from God -- a mortar landed in one of the trailers in the pod next to mine, about 300' away, but did not explode. Two soldiers were there but weren't hurt. It ripped through a wall locker and down through the floor. I'm glad they(insurgents) have old and outdated ammo that sometimes fails to detonate.

Shifting gears a bit, we have flown a lot of VIP's lately...a number of senators and congressman, John McCain came through here, and the Sec of Defense. More importantly, before Thanksgiving, we had two visits from famous cheerleaders - The Washington Redskins and New England Patriots ladies were here and did a show at the east side MWR center. After that we had Carlos Mencia and some guys from comedy central (I don't know of any of our folks who got to got to a show). My Thanksgiving day stared out kind if lonely, it's the first real time at home when we slow down a bit to remember our blessings. It's always a special church service and time with relatives, then it ramps up for Christmas. I was flying all day and was down in Baghdad. We dropped off some folks at a FOB, then shutdown and had time to go seek out the DFAC to get something to eat. After a lengthy wait, it was a Holiday after all, we got inside the small building. Much to my surprise, behind the counter serving all the soldiers was a 2 star General, a number of Colonels, British and Australian Colonels, and a Navy Admiral! How cool I thought... I recognized some of the names as customers we flew a number of times. It was then I realized that this was truly unique, a once in a lifetime for me, a chance to have a turkey dinner in Baghdad in the green zone, celebrating our US Holiday. We ate rapidly, took our customers to the next few sites, then had to return to that same FOB. We were delayed a bit from landing, hearing the need for an "urgent medivac" landing there. There had been a rocket attack in downtown somewhere shortly after we had been there to eat. Never heard the extent of injuries, though it brought us back to reality quickly, to our duties at hand.

I'm finishing this up at 1:30 am our time...got to hit the shower, wash the dust out of my ears, and try to get to bed. That's one of the worst things about this place, the lack of indoor plumbing. I try not to drink anything after 7 pm, so I don't have to get up and do the 140 yard dash to the nearest ACP (air conditioned porcelain). That really messes up my sleep cycle. There are lots of porta-potties around (within 75 yards of my trailer), but those are getting to be like a cold October camping trip at home. Ah the blessings of indoor plumbing...someday... Okay, TMI, TMI...

Must be time to go, I seem to have drifted off into meaningless dribble. I'm praying for my upcoming leave, I hope to be home by Christmas. My little princess really misses her dad. I plan on spending as much time as possible with her while she is out of school. Should be lots of fun. I ask for Gods Blessings for all of you this Holiday season. Take some extra time to be with loved ones. Thanks again for all the prayers and support you've shown us here. We will continue to be safe here, you be alert and safe at home... Thanks again.