Tidbits

Thursday 11/2/06
2015

Today was a normal day, so just a few tidbits rather than my usual wordy dissertation. :-)

John Kerry’s comment is all over the news (well, all over Fox News, at least). This photo was getting forwarded all over the place here in theater. I imagine everyone’s seen it by now, but I wanted to save it in context for my future self:


Brevity is the Soul of Wit
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.

I sat at lunch with a sergeant who was mobilized from the National Guard to come here. She has two mechanical engineering degrees, but is over here doing this job, making less than she could at home. I can tell you she didn’t appreciate the snide remark, nor did most of the other people I heard talking about it. He is not held in high regard, to say the least. At least these soldiers (whoever they are) have a sense of humor!

One of the traditions I remember from when I was an active duty officer before is the expectation that we do not publicly express partisan political views, and certainly do not lend the uniform nor the authority or prestige of our position to any particular political candidate or party. We serve the USA and defend the constitution, and the political authorities chosen by the democratic process are our leaders, regardless of whether we agree with them or not.

I remember this really bothered me as a young officer, particularly during election season, and especially when the choices were as stark and clear as they were in 1980 and 1984.

Now it doesn’t bother me as much, even though I feel no less strongly. But you won’t see any overtly political remarks here, or discussions of this candidate versus that one. Frankly, I’ll be glad when the election is over, because a lot of the commentary I have been hearing on the war is just inane. You don’t get results overnight in this kind of war. But that’s all I’ll say on it for now.

I do think, however, that it’s appropriate to post something like that photo – when someone (anyone) disparages the intelligence and professionalism of the military, I think we have a right to respond publicly. I think the picture above speaks volumes, and makes extensive comments superfluous. Seeing the soldiers in that picture with their sign reminds me of the compliment that the famous orator Edward Everett (who spoke before Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address) paid to him in a letter afterwards: "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

Other tidbits from today:

I had several packages delivered to me – two holsters and some magazine pouches I had ordered, as well as some things I had packed beforehand to have sent to myself (vitamins, toiletries they don’t sell here, etc.). Also my chiropractic pillow. I sorely miss my memory foam bed, but at least I’ll have my pillow. (If you didn’t think I had it soft before, now I’m sure you think I’m a total pogue).

This morning we played volleyball as a unit. I ran to the gym beforehand and made sure to stretch thoroughly, including a good three minute bridge and some behind the head leg lifts. I was concerned about all the jumping around, since playing softball at CAX last summer really did a number on my legs for several days, with seriously pulled muscles and the concomitant pain. Volleyball was a lot of fun, especially since our commander was using it as a kind of low-key professional development opportunity. According to him we were playing by Sun Tzu principles – find the weakness and exploit it. Teamwork, communication, and a “push forward” orientation were emphasized.

It’s fun to play a game like that in the company of people with shared values and a shared professional orientation, because you can make jokes that everyone understands. It’s been a long time since I felt that kind of professional camaraderie. Having worked by myself for three years (and for many years before that in the company of people I neither understood nor could really relate to), it's a breath of fresh air. I ran back to the billets afterwards as a warm-down. I was pretty stiff all morning, but by afternoon everything was fine.

I have watched two really wonderful movies in the past two days – “Wimbledon”, a happy-ending story of love and athletic achievement, and “Million Dollar Baby”, a not-happy-ending story of love and athletic achievement. Both are well worth watching.

And finally: apparently it’s “Native American Month”. Someone drew a picture of an American Indian on the mess hall menu board announcing this fact, and underneath was written:

“Homeland Security since 1492”.

Mood: Happy
Music: North Sea Gas – "Hector the Hero"

Censored

Tuesday, 10/31/06
2100

On Sunday, an article ran in the Stars & Stripes newspaper about how military authorities are looking closely at internet postings by service members, including blogs. They mainly concentrate on official sites, but also look at blogs when they pop up on the radar.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=40129&archive=true

The main concern is operations security – they naturally don’t want people giving away information that would be potentially useful to the enemy. They don’t prohibit blogging, because it has positive effects of keeping people on the home front informed and giving them insight into what’s happening here. But they want to make sure that the information that’s posted isn’t so specific that that it could be used to plan attacks on U.S. forces.

The article appeared on Sunday, and today I popped up on their radar. A message came through my chain of command identifying my blog and alerting them to the potential of OPSEC violations. (Even though I don’t have anything but my first name in there, I have been very specific about my duty position so it wasn’t any problem for them to find me).

I’ve been aware since I started this that OPSEC was a concern, and have been being careful not to identify anything specific that could relate to our operations. Nonetheless, there were a few things that crossed the line. I was concerned that they might want me to take it down completely, but they were very reasonable and fair about it. While the article mentioned some concerns that soldiers were being unduly pressured to remove blogs or to excessively self-censor, that was not my experience at all. But it’s quite clear that I have to be very careful what I put up here.

I went back through my previous postings since I’ve been here with a critical eye, and edited out some information that probably would best have been left out in the first place, and will have to make sure I’m vigilant in the future.

While in civilian life I’d seriously resent and resist efforts at censorship, in this context it’s a good thing. We all are concerned about security, and nobody wants to provide the bad guys with information that would help them. When you look at the censorship exercised in previous wars, we actually have quite a lot of freedom. In WWII, I wouldn’t even have been able to say exactly where I was, much less give any detail about what I was doing. Back then people received letters from soldiers overseas that were full of cutouts where censors had removed sensitive information. And I don’t imagine they could send photos, either. (I’ve been as careful as I could about not posting photos of anything militarily significant – it probably hardly looks like a military base from most of my pictures). Anything you can see here, the enemy can see, too, so that’s why there aren’t any pictures of the cool stuff I see every day.

So it was an interesting day, but it turned out alright. It’s entirely possible that the military may eventually change its policy on blogs, and of course I’d have to comply. But for now I can continue to post my experiences and keep you in touch with what I’m doing. (If this disappears suddenly one day, don't worry - I'm still here, but the policy changed. Email me and we'll communicate in a less publicly visible way).

Even before this, I was already thinking that my blog was likely to start to get boring before long (assuming that it isn’t already!) Up until now everything has been new and different for me, but now as I tackle my job in earnest I am starting to settle into something of a routine, and will probably have less to write about. But I still hope to be able to find things that will be of interest, and to keep my sense of humor and perspective intact by writing about them to the extent that I can.

Speaking of which, this is probably a good place to write about something I’ve noticed quite often since I got here, and have intended to write about when I had a chance.

For security reasons, I am not allowed to take a camera inside the place where I work. I’ve often wished I could, because I’d love to take photos of the wall decorations there. All over the facility, the workspaces and walls are decorated with letters and drawings sent by kids to the soldiers here. They are nearly all individually handmade and so each is unique, but there are some common characteristics that many of them share.

They are mostly made of construction paper and drawn with crayons. There are lots of pictures of American flags, soldiers, churches, eagles, and other patriotic images, along with pictures of people, houses, trees, and other ordinary things. The messages say things like “Thank you soldiers”, “Go Military”, “Win the battle”, “We love you”, etc etc. If you take the time to look at them, it’s enough to choke you up every time you walk down the hall.

One in particular caught my eye the other day – it was from a group of Girl Scouts. They had asked people during their cookie sale if they’d like to donate cookies to the troops in the Middle East, and had gotten a large response. Their letter included a picture of the girls in their uniforms standing proudly by their big pile of cookie boxes before sending them off. I could hardly look at it without my eyes tearing up. :-)

So if anybody back there thinks the people over here don’t appreciate the support they get from home, they are sadly mistaken. The outside of our buildings and vehicles are necessarily bare and utilitarian. But inside are many, many treasured reminders of home and loved ones, and they are posted for everyone to share.

Speaking of home and loved ones, Happy Halloween! This is the first time in several years that I won’t be making my crockpot full of hot buttered rum for the parents of trick or treaters (and for myself!). It hardly seems like Fall. One Sergeant Major had a bunch of leaves spread out on her desk that someone had pressed and sent to her. That and the scattering of paper pumpkins and bats here and there are about the only things to remind you of the changing season (although today I did actually feel a few drops of rain for a minute or so on the way back from lunch).

Well, I guess I’ll go out trick or treating now, before all the candy’s gone… ;-)

Clausewitz and Roosevelt

Last night I was in the office late trying to make some progress on my maintenance management system. I had some ideas of how to set it up, but have been frustrated by the lack of materials available through the supply system, and the difficulty of even identifying what I need, much less actually ordering and procuring it.

Since I had had a day which also involved some bureaucratic infighting and other various obstacles to progress, I was reflecting on how to handle it when a couple of familiar quotations came to mind. They helped me to break free of my frustrations, drive a stake in the ground, and get something put together that will work.

I know everyone will recognize Theodore Roosevelt. For those who may not recognize the other name, Carl von Clausewitz was a Prussian General during the Napoleonic era. His book "On War" is as close to being the standard text on war as anything ever written.

One of his principles of war was the principle of "friction". The idea was that what seems easy in theory or in training will be harder in war due to various factors such as fear, fatigue, lack of communication, etc. It was some of his thoughts about friction in war that came to mind yesterday:

"Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult….Perseverance in the chosen course is the essential counter-weight, provided that no compelling reasons intervene to the contrary. Moreover, there is hardly a worthwhile enterprise in war whose execution does not call for infinite effort, trouble, and privation; and as man under pressure tends to give in to physical and intellectual weakness, only great strength of will can lead to the objective.”

- Carl von Clausewitz

The other thought that helped to free me up from focusing on my limitations and to get on with the job was a familiar quotation from one of my favorite Presidents:

“Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

And that's just what I'm doing. :-)

More "Life at Arifjan"

Sunday 10/29/06
2000

Well, getting that last blog entry published with photos has been a great example of “Life at Arifjan”. I started it Wednesday, and finished it Friday, and have been trying to get it uploaded ever since. It’s a perfect example of a standard feature of life here – it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to do anything – even the simplest things.

Last night after work I made it over to the zone with the most reliable internet connection (after long delays on the bus ride), only to be met with a sign: “Internet Down – 3 hours”. That would have made it too late, so I went back to my room.

Today I had a long, lazy day – I got a few phone calls and did a couple minor things, but for all practical purposes I didn’t work. I even slept a little in the early afternoon. Then I came back over here to try to upload it again.

I got the photos uploaded to Flickr OK (I think maybe that website is just inaccessible from work, even though it didn’t come up with the standard “Blocked IAW Command Policy” notice that you usually get.) After that I got them uploaded to Blogger OK as individual entries. But then when I tried to integrate them into my previous blog entry “Life at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait”, I got error after error. Just when I was getting ticked at the internet people here (it seemed like a network error from the messages), I got a message from the Blogger website – “We are having trouble with a server and are looking into it.’

So the one time this week I was actually able to make it over here and successfully get a connection, another problem elsewhere prevented me from accomplishing my goal.

Welcome to Camp Arifjan. :-)

Since I couldn’t go to the mess hall for dinner (no bags allowed in the DFAC, and I’m nowhere near anyplace I could leave my computer), I decided to buy a pizza at Pizza Hut. This is the first commercial food I’ve bought here aside from a few coffee drinks. I got a Mountain Dew with it, and thought a photo of the can might be interesting:


Mountain Dew
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.

Now that I’m done with my dinner, I’ll try again to go make my blog entries. If you’re reading this on Sunday, I was successful!

Today was a good day, despite these minor annoyances. While I was standing in line at Pizza Hut, I heard some people talking:

“What have you been doing?”…”Oh, about the same as usual. A week of kicking in doors and then a week of gun truck runs. We lost a few guys. How have you been?”…”Ok. I hurt my knee so they sent me down here. They gave me Motrin and a knee brace. Motrin and a knee brace! It hurts more to wear it than not to.”…”I’m heading back up to Iraq again tomorrow.”…”Where are you going?”…”I don’t’ know exactly, but this place is great! We’ve been eating MRE’s for nine months. Some Armor guys came through one time with hot chow, and we got what was left over. But nothing like this.”…”Well, take it easy”….”Yeah, you too. See you.”….

Being around guys like that makes my little frustrations getting internet access seem petty and insignificant. And it makes my job here of keeping the air conditioning running and the buildings in good shape seem like it belongs in a whole different world. I think this must be a lot like Saigon was during the Vietnam War.

Anyway, I had a nice relaxing day off (I think I needed it) and tomorrow it’s back to the war.

Life at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

Life at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

Friday, 10/27/06
2200

I thought I’d write a bit about life in Kuwait (or at least here at Camp Arifjan). It’s kind of a double entendre – I intend to write about what *my* life is like here, but also about the other life (as in flora and fauna) that I have seen.

Here is a photo of a plant growing outside of the building where I live:*Life at Camp Arifjan #1

This is quite literally the only growing thing anywhere in sight for about a quarter mile in any direction (and a lot farther than that in most directions!). I don’t know if it took root by accident or if someone planted it there, but a wider view will give an indication of why it is possible for it to grow here:*Life at Camp Arifjan #1b
If you look closely, you can see there’s a slight leak or dribble out of the red pipe. As they said in Jurassic Park – “life will find a way”!

The only other green things anywhere on post that I have seen are a few sickly-looking cultivated palm trees growing here and there near building entrances, the lawn in front of the Third Army (Forward) building (rich and green due to copious watering), and a small forest of some kind of palm trees in front of the permanent buildings on main post (also green, for the same reason). There’s also a lounge area outside of the main PX building called “Cathy’s Garden”. As near as I can tell, it’s somebody’s hobby that they just maintain for us to have a place to go sit and relax in the shade around some greenery. I haven’t spent much time there, but I saw it as I walked in one day and it looked interesting.

*Life at Camp Arifjan #2

*Life at Camp Arifjan #4
Other than this I’ve seen a few houseflies, one fruit fly, and a very few birds here and there. I have yet to see a mammal, although somebody told me they once saw a mouse. There are all kinds of posters warning us about spiders and scorpions, but I haven’t seen any. The book I bought about Kuwait says there are about 400 species of plants and animals here, but they must be someplace else...

It’s not surprising, since there’s really nothing here but sand. Even the rocks and gravel seem to have been imported and laid down to provide a more substantial surface in the areas that aren’t paved but still need to be heavily traveled.

So much for “life” in the sense of flora and fauna. What about my day-to-day life? It’s settled into somewhat of a routine, so I can describe it with some level of assurance that it won’t change significantly for awhile.

The weather is starting to cool down a little, and doesn’t feel as hot to me. On Wednesday (the day I started writing this) I went outside with a digital thermometer at about 1:30 PM, and it was “only” 105.3 degrees F. (That’s not a joke or tongue in cheek remark – 105 feels fine, and relatively cooler than it often gets here, even compared to when I got here a couple weeks ago. I’m not sure how much cooler the days are (it may just be that I’ve gotten used to it), but the nights really are starting to cool down, and that provides some relief. I think it makes a huge difference that it’s so dry here. The heat does not feel as “close” as it does when it’s humid. It dries you out rapidly when you walk around in it, and it’s important to pick up a bottle of water wherever you go, and drink it before you start back. I gave up on carrying my CamelBak on about the third day, since there’s so much water everywhere. I’m actually more comfortable without it, since it made my back all sweaty. Now the wind (hot and nearly incessant) can cool me off as I walk. (Well, dry me off, which amounts to feeling cooler or at least more comfortable). I’m sure the CamelBak would be very valuable if I was deployed further forward, but it’s superfluous here.

I have been getting up in the morning at 0500, although I’ve slept in until 0600 a few times. Thursday at 0515 it was about 74 degrees F, so it really is cooling off at night. They say that in the summer it doesn’t cool off much – it just stays hot. (I can hardly wait.) I go out and do PT – sometimes right here in the area, and sometimes over at the gym, depending on what I feel like doing. I’m done by 0545 or 0600, shower and dress, and head for breakfast around 0630 or 0700.
I’ve been getting in to our office between 0730 and 0800, which gives me a little prep time before the phone starts to ring. The “office” is really a storage room, more or less, filled with a jumble of tools, parts, and supplies for building repair and maintenance. One of the first things we did when I got there was clean out one side and put our desks up against the wall. There’s still a lot of cleaning and organization to do. I am still assessing my people, (one permanent and one temporary) but it’s already pretty clear that they need some guidance and supervision. More on that later, perhaps.

There aren’t really any regular meetings that I have to go to, so my day is driven by a combination of phone calls reporting infrastructure problems (malfunctioning A/C, leaky valves, burned out lights, etc.), other requests for service (modifications or additions to the buildings), and self-initiated projects attempting to impose some structure and organization on what is essentially a chaotic mess.

There are some special projects that demand my attention (such as redesigning the cooling system one of the buildings to give the people more control over the temperature), but mainly it’s a struggle to perform maintenance and repair on mechanical systems that are overstressed and failing.

My predecessors in this job took a very hands-on, low-level approach to it. They were basically “break-fix” handymen who just did the work themselves rather than try to work the system to get it done. So they bounced from crisis to crisis fixing things as they broke, and did not have any sort of systematic preventive maintenance program or really any management at all.

The first organizational thing I did was to start using a staff duty log (DA Form 1594) to track all our calls. Before, whenever the phone rang, someone would grab whatever piece of paper was handy and scribble a note. Something may or may not have gotten done, but in any case only that person knew about it. If another priority came up, there was no real way to check that things hadn’t been forgotten or overlooked. Now there’s a written log of all calls and requests, as well as their disposition. Today at the end of the week I was able to go back through the week’s logs and see what hadn’t gotten done. Tomorrow morning’s task will be to make sure we follow up on those things so they don’t fall through the cracks.

I’ve started a maintenance tracking system and a status reporting system that will help us to keep track of what’s been worked on and what’s down because of parts on order, etc. This should enable us to follow up on critical systems that need more attention, and also to spot trends and get ahead of them. The next step after that is systematic preventive maintenance. If things like cleaning the air filters and coils, checking Freon levels, and changing the belts on the compressors were done regularly, these A/C units wouldn’t break down so much. Same thing with all the other systems.

My BC is big on “BWT” (his acronym), for “Broken Windows Theory” – the idea that small things can make a difference. He loaned me a book to read called “The Tipping Point” in which this theory is explained. I haven’t read it yet, but I gather that the idea is that if you fix the little stuff as it breaks, people have a more positive attitude about their surroundings and things don’t deteriorate.

There are other things I am trying to do, such as procure a scissor-lift machine for the technicians to work on the A/C units (instead of perching on ladders), and some other things. But everything takes so much effort to get done. I can’t even get a piece of clear acetate to cover my map of the area, or card stock to print the maintenance records on. Nobody has it or knows where to get it. The comment about “permanent institutional uncertainty” at Camp Arifjan that I had read on someone’s website before I came here was really very valid.

I think we are in a really strange twilight zone between the high-speed, low-drag, no-nonsense, go-to-war mentality of 2001-2003 on the one hand, and a permanent, steady-state, garrison mentality on the other. There are definitely aspects of the garrison mentality creeping in, and unfortunately there are people who thrive in that environment. I’ve love to just blow them off, except that everything I do in my job revolves around fixed installations and the people who support them. So I am spending a lot of my time right now just figuring out who does what, what the process is, and how to navigate the bureaucracy to get anything accomplished. I still don’t know for sure, but I think that a lot (maybe all) of our work orders that get sent in to the supply system for parts orders just die right there because of funding disputes. I have several in that I am tracking through the system, and I won’t be a bit surprised to find that nothing gets ordered the way it’s supposed to, and stuff just stays broken.

I have to deal quite a bit with civilians (bad) and military bureaucrats (sometimes even worse). Many (in fact nearly all) of the civilians are TCN’s (Third Country Nationals) who usually speak little or no English. They have extremely divergent work ethics depending on where they are from, and totally different ideas of quality. It’s really something. Just getting a work order phoned in and recorded properly is a huge task (for example, “calibrate and adjust setback on all thermostats” became “check thermostats”, until I walked him through it word by word and made him write each one down). There are other cultural differences as well. We had a generator mechanic show up last week who you couldn’t stand downwind from without choking – I don’t think he’d had a bath since he was born. It was really extreme. I was tempted to quote Cartmann from South Park (“Dude, it’s called deodorant - it’s not expensive”). But I just stood upwind instead.

Most of the agencies and activities are closed on Thursday and Friday, since that’s the Muslim weekend (Friday is their holy day). I’m still not used to that, although next week I think I may remember not to plan on being able to get anything done on those days.

Back to my day – around 1130 I go to lunch. This is the most crowded meal of the day, since all the DA and DOD civilians and contractors eat, in addition to the military personnel who live on post. It’s a zoo. Then back to the office for more work. It’s kind of odd because I live, eat, and work inside air-conditioned buildings, but when I go outside it’s like stepping into an oven. My job causes me to have to walk around a lot to check things, so I am in and out fairly often. I’m not sure if the heat doesn’t bother me because I already used to it, or because I’m not really out in it for extended periods. It actually feels kind of good to get out and walk around in it, but I sure don’t mind stepping back inside!

We knock off officially around 1700 or 1800, although I’ve stayed later than that some evenings just to get a few things done. Someone has to be on call every night, so we rotate that duty. If someone trips the circuit breaker in their room, we may get a call to open the electrical box and reset it. That happens all the time in the laundry room. The other night we had a fire alarm go off due to aerosol spray in a room (another big offender is illicit microwaves and popcorn). That kept me busy for a couple hours afterwards restarting air conditioners and investigating why the cable TV was out (short circuit in the A/C mechanical room lighting system).

After work is when I get all my personal stuff done like laundry, haircut, PX shopping, blog writing, etc. It used to involve getting on the shuttle bus, but now I have a driver’s license and our section vehicle to use. My NCOIC wasn’t too happy when I said I wanted the key left in the office instead of in his pocket all the time, but fair’s fair, and that way we can both use it when we need it, both for work and also when off duty. It’s a lot faster to be able to drive up to the PX. It also makes it possible to run an errand during the day from time to time, such as going to the post office.

In the evening after any of that kind of personal maintenance work is done, I try to relax a little by watching some TV or a movie, or reading. It takes a lot of effort just to get the basic things done, but I’m gradually beginning to figure out a rhythm that will work for me. Now I just need to work in when I’m going to do my Army education (I haven’t done another course module yet since I got here). But it’s really only the end of my second week, and even though I’ve started working on things I’m still getting oriented.

I’ve been getting to bed between 2300 and 0100, and so getting 4-6 hours of sleep per night. That seems to be enough, although I start to feel tired in mid-afternoon and need a stretch. Often when I feel tired it turns out I’m just dehydrated and a bottle of water or Gatorade will pick me right up.

As far as our weekly work schedule, by Saturday afternoon things slow down, and Sunday is a very slow day. I will probably take some time off to relax, but I also think that will be a day that gives me a chance to get ahead a little. I don’t mind that it’s Friday night!

That’s the cycle of life at Camp Arifjan for me so far. I’m finding my footing and I think I got off to a good start. But it’s like pushing on rope, and it’s going to take a lot of work to get where I want to go.


Mood: Optimistic
Music: Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers (credits)