Still at Mortaritaville

Greetings everyone,

Here's one advantage to Iraq- plenty of hot water in the shower. Cold water is such a novelty that you'd walk an extra mile to find the cooler that actually chills the water down to a refreshing temperature. Speaking of, I wish I wore a pedometer for this trip- we are logging the miles!!!

We are in the airlift shuffle right now- waiting for a flight to our next locale. We were supposed to be there by now and if that were the case, I could tell you where I am... well, you know where I am now... but you know what I mean!

Our new billet is right next to the flight line. This place is incredibly busy, as the fighters that leave her patrol Baghdad and beyond and the airlifters are ever present as this is a huge logistics location. Sleep was not happening last night.

I'll have pics to show everyone when I return, but loading and unloading gear into trucks and vans is a daunting process, but not as difficult as palletizing (placing it on the pallet that loads directly into the aircraft) our gear onto a pallet on the back of a truck. We had a bunch of TCNs trying to help but it made it more difficult, bless their hearts. We did this in total darkness last night without a hitch. Getting gear correctly palletized is important, for the loadmasters of the aircraft can refuse to take a pallet on board if they deem it incorrectly loaded. This means we could theoretically get on our plane and fly away without our gear!

By the way, if I haven't yet explained TCNs, they are third country nationals that do most of the jobs the military doesn't- cleaning, etc. They are not Iraqis but mostly from Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.

As far as "coalition of the willing" partners, many of the internal control points (places they check your weapons and id's before entering buildings) on this base are guarded by Ugandan soldiers- men and women. These soldiers are very thorough yet very nice and have absolutely striking features. I tried to get my picture taken last night with a Ugandan soldier, but she was too shy and said she cannot have her picture taken while on post. Most are multilingual, they seem to work very long hours, and their uniforms are always immaculate.

By the way, despite the bad haircut, my morale meter rates around an 8 or 9. While the novelty of being here has worn off, it's still exciting to experience these things, both good and bad. As we waited to gain entry into our gig site the other day, we watched gunners load their weapons in their Humvee turrets and head out on patrol outside the wire. The images of soldiers awaiting evacuation to Germany and those soldiers heading out on patrol keeps it all in perspective and makes me realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to teach and play music for a living- even here in Iraq.

Best wishes to all and I hope to be able to update you all from points beyond Balad.

J-