Saturday, May 20, 2006
Habbaniyah
I got up early this morning to catch a ride on a helicopter to my new home, Habbaniyah. We flew to Al Taqaddum first, then made the short trip to Camp Habbaniyah. The camp was an old British base, so there are some hints of colonial architecture. While TQ (Taqaddum) has almost no vegetation, like Al Asad, Habbaniyah is heavily vegetated. The camp is divided into an American and an Iraqi side, with a wall of dirt-filled Hesco containers separating the two. Since Spicoli (another ANGLICO JTAC) and I work for a Military Transition Team that is advising an Iraqi Army brigade, we live on the Iraqi side of the base. The MTT and ANGLICO Marines live in a building known as the Alamo, next to the Iraqi brigade headquarters.
Although there aren’t as many creature comforts as Al Asad, the environment is much more relaxed here. It’s no secret within the military that the nicer a base gets, the more it is occupied by officers and senior enlisted with nothing better to do than dream up stupid rules to make it more like a Stateside “garrison” environment. These are almost invariably people who spend little to no time outside the wire. In previous wars they were called REMFs. However, since the term Forward Operating Base, or FOB, became vogue in Iraq, the term REMF has been replaced by “Fobbit”.
During the afternoon, we took a short boat trip across the Euphrates River to visit a nearby Combat Outpost (COP). The COPs in this area are generally home to a battalion of Iraqis and their respective MTT teams. This is who I will be supporting in just a few days - one of the battalions occupying a COP across the river. A COP is similar to the A-Camp where I spent two months during my deployment to Afghanistan, so it will be a pretty spartan lifestyle. I ran into the Marines from my team this afternoon, and they say they are really enjoying the COP life. The MTT teams are a little better equipped than the Special Forces team that I lived with in Afghanistan - they have internet connectivity at the COP, for instance.
The next few days are likely to be busy as I prepare to take over my team and step into MSgt B’s shoes. It’s nice to finally be out here, another step closer to making a meaningful contribution in this war. ¶ Saturday, May 20, 2006
I got up early this morning to catch a ride on a helicopter to my new home, Habbaniyah. We flew to Al Taqaddum first, then made the short trip to Camp Habbaniyah. The camp was an old British base, so there are some hints of colonial architecture. While TQ (Taqaddum) has almost no vegetation, like Al Asad, Habbaniyah is heavily vegetated. The camp is divided into an American and an Iraqi side, with a wall of dirt-filled Hesco containers separating the two. Since Spicoli (another ANGLICO JTAC) and I work for a Military Transition Team that is advising an Iraqi Army brigade, we live on the Iraqi side of the base. The MTT and ANGLICO Marines live in a building known as the Alamo, next to the Iraqi brigade headquarters.
Although there aren’t as many creature comforts as Al Asad, the environment is much more relaxed here. It’s no secret within the military that the nicer a base gets, the more it is occupied by officers and senior enlisted with nothing better to do than dream up stupid rules to make it more like a Stateside “garrison” environment. These are almost invariably people who spend little to no time outside the wire. In previous wars they were called REMFs. However, since the term Forward Operating Base, or FOB, became vogue in Iraq, the term REMF has been replaced by “Fobbit”.
During the afternoon, we took a short boat trip across the Euphrates River to visit a nearby Combat Outpost (COP). The COPs in this area are generally home to a battalion of Iraqis and their respective MTT teams. This is who I will be supporting in just a few days - one of the battalions occupying a COP across the river. A COP is similar to the A-Camp where I spent two months during my deployment to Afghanistan, so it will be a pretty spartan lifestyle. I ran into the Marines from my team this afternoon, and they say they are really enjoying the COP life. The MTT teams are a little better equipped than the Special Forces team that I lived with in Afghanistan - they have internet connectivity at the COP, for instance.
The next few days are likely to be busy as I prepare to take over my team and step into MSgt B’s shoes. It’s nice to finally be out here, another step closer to making a meaningful contribution in this war. ¶ Saturday, May 20, 2006
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Fell asleep on the couch tonight and just woke up. Decided to see if you had posted anything before I crawled into bed and was thrilled to see two new postings from you! Happy to see you are pleased with your role over there and looking forward to the job you have been tasked with! We miss you and love you very much! Love, Sis
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