Spring has sprung...

We appear to have survived the rainy, cooler (winter) season. The mud has all but disappeared and left hard unusual shapes to walk and drive on. They will remain that way until it rains next winter. The ground is very hard, and being mostly clay-like, the rain runs right off. The last of the puddles are finely dried up. Now we have the dust storms and winds to deal with. This flour-like dust is truly amazing...it blows into every crack it can. In our rooms, the dryer sheets we lay on the front of our A/C units are full in just 3 days...they help collect extra dust we would breath or settle in the room. Normally the dryer sheets last about a week before they are full. When the storms are from Syria, the dryer sheets turn a reddish brown color. Our own local dust is a darker brown. We are often grounded for a day or two because of the storms - visibility of only 1/8 mi and very strong winds. Pretty ugly. Then the real fun is, it will rain for about a minute during the storm and make a real mud mess on the aircraft windows, etc. Pretty tough to clean off to go fly. I've never seen anything like this before. I have to wonder how this dust affects us long term? I guess we'll see later. As far as the temps, it's around 60 at night and getting into the 80's during the day. The only good thing is that the hotter it gets, the closer we are to going home.

This last time I was back with my Company to fly, I was able to see a couple of different places. I finally got to see FOB Echo at Diwaniya. It's a mostly Polish base...very interesting. I got pics of all the Soviet built helicopters I was trained to attack and shoot down back in the 80's. My how things have changed. They can serve alcohol in their DFAC after hours, which of course made a lot of our crew members drool and want to stay around for the vodka slushies after supper. But...you can guess the outcome. Pretty cool to see those Soviet built helicopters up close. Did you know there are soldiers there from Mongolia? This truly is a coalition effort with countries from around the world taking part in the war on terror...(except for stupid France). I also flew out west to a couple USMC bases, to drop off soldiers and gear. Enjoyed seeing how the Marines are living in the desert...pretty much like we are. Same kind of DFAC (dining facility) and lots of dust and dirt. It's cool to see the Marine soldiers in the refueling area - they give us lots of salutes as we roll in and out for fuel in our Blackhawks. On one of my flights the other day, we picked up Admiral Fallon (Centcom Cmdr, all the Mideast). It was his last trip from Balad before leaving the country to move onto his next assignment. Just recently whilst back in the AMR planning cell, I was one of the planners for the whole entourage for Vice President Cheney, Senator McCain, US Emb Crocker, and a bunch of others. We had to jockey around all our mission sets and leave some items blank, as you would guess for security reasons. It all came off without a hitch and the VIPs enjoyed their visit to my base here, Balad. I was unable to attend the early speech the following morning. I was working on my crew rest, fighter management (AKA - I was sleeping). If I'm working nights, I don't get to bed until 0200 or later.

I'm still enjoying flying during the daytime the most. I love seeing all that I can in and around Baghdad. The level of traffic and people out and about has steadily increased in the last 5 months. People in the open air markets, lots of traffic jams on the roadways, and seeing kids playing outside at school. Some of the schools, the children are wearing colorful blue uniforms. It's too bad the city is still plagued with an occasional bombing of some type, but for the most part the insurgents have been driven out of the Baghdad area, except for some radicals in Sadr city. I read an article by a military journalist who has been here for a year and is now leaving. He says we are winning...we are making a huge difference to many people, and we are winning the hearts and minds of the people. We have helped so many with medical advances, water treatment facilities, roadway improvements, and even getting their railroad back on track (sorry). Then there is the improvements in the military. Iraq now has a small Air Force again, and are training more pilots all of the time. Many areas are slowly being left in charge to the Iraqis. I'm optimistic that things will continue to improve over the years. It will take a long time, but what we are doing is a good thing.

While flying around, I will occasionally see a convoy of large semi's headed up and down the highway MSR's (main supply route). Sometimes the delivery of supplies to our DFAC gets delayed and we are missing some regular items, like fruit and some veggies. I've had to make a salad sometimes with all the fixin's but missing...lettuce. It was okay without the iceberg lettuce (nutritionally poor). I found a nice patch of green grass...sure looks bright compared to the desert tones of everything else. That reminds me, there are 2 things (and more) you won't find in Iraq: a lawnmower, or deer. I found a poster showing common animals here and the largest mammal here is a jackal, like a small coyote. I thought that was interesting. Also, I have yet to see much for grass anywhere, even near the palaces (don't worry, I'm still watching for machine guns,rockets, etc.).

Our flying is going well, we are keeping up a stiff pace. Not much for enemy activity to report, and that's good. We still prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. It's tough some days not to get a little complacent, but then we talk about it and remind ourselves what we are here for, then keep going. We are all counting the days, and grateful every time we get back safe inside the wire. Although, it actually hasn't been all that safe inside the wire lately. February, I counted at least 26 attacks I was here to hear the alarm for. That is the most I've heard/seen thus far. We recently had a multiple attack and our Taco Bell had minor damage, along with the hospital (both over on the east side). There were some injuries outside of the hospital. No tacos were damaged in the incident.

When I'm able to attend, maybe twice a month, I am still enjoying be able to go to the contemporary worship service on Sunday night. It brought me to tears a few times last fall realizing while I was in church in a combat zone, my wife and daughter were in church on Sunday morning back at home. What a comfort it is that God knows us and watches wherever we go. The last time I attended, we had a baptism. They set up a tall metal stock tank outside the chapel, filled it with water and there we were. What a memorable experience for soldiers to write home about.

Time to go...but not without saying thanks for your prayers and support. We have about 4 months left here and then the out processing, turning in of equip, etc. We hope to back in St. Paul by about 7 August (?). We will continue to be safe here, and all of you be vigilant at home. Everyone must be alert, the feds are still foiling plans by terrorist groups who still want to do us harm on our own soil. Thanks again...God Bless you all.