Pat,

It IS scary here but it is similar to my experience in Viet Nam.  Things that
are initially scary eventually become part of the background noise of a very
structured routine.  We are at our desks for 11-12 hours a day for a total of 72
hours per week.  Some work 11 hours for 6 days a week and then 6 hours on
Friday, our normal day off.  Both here and in Dubai, the office took Friday off
as it is the Muslim holy day.  Either way we get paid for 72 hours a week with
uplift at 1.5.  So for every hour worked, you get 50% in addition to your base
pay.  Newer contracts have raised that to 1.75 due to an increase in the danger
pay. No matter what anyone tells you, civilians are here for the money and
that's all.  There is no life outside of the office to speak of, so no way to
spend any money there.  Everything is provided free, which includes food, a room
about the size of a jail cell, laundry, medical and dental (Army Hospital).
Mail is free, you just write "Free Mail" in the spot where the stamp would go.
It does cost a little to mail packages, but you only pay from New York to
whatever US destination you are sending the package to.  Bottled water is
provided liberally because of the heat and the danger of dehydration.

I work in a former Iraqi Museum building.  I have a Google map that I customized
that shows where I live, sleep, eat, the Embassy, the Tigris River, etc.  I'll
try to attach it.  You can use it like you do any Google Map, left click and
hold it down and you can move the map in any direction that you move the cursor.
Double left click and the map zooms in, double right click and the map zooms in.
You can also tilt the map with a small bar that is in the upper right hand
corner.  Click on the right side of the bar repeatedly and the map will flatten
out.  If you go too far, the scale is way off, or in other words, the height is
not in proportion to the horizontal distances.  But when looking at the map from
about a 45° angle, you get kind of a perspective of the landscape or cityscape
from a bird's eye view but not just looking straight down.  Give it a try.  You
will probably have to download Google Maps software, but it is free.  If you
search for Google maps on the internet, there is a download button right there.
Of course they will try to sell you an enhanced version, but just ignore it.
Let me know if you can open the map.  Actually it is fun.  You can go to the
search part of the program, type in your own address and then see your own house
with pretty good resolution.

We are collocated with the Corps of Engineers Headquarters Gulf Region Davison
here in Baghdad.  The Corps of Engineers has been tasked with the entire
rebuilding program for Iraq and Afghanistan.  Although the government is never
efficient and I really don't like the military's way of doing things, I have to
admit that I think they are doing some good.  After all, we bombed this country
back into the stone ages, twice.  Most of the cities only have electricity for a
few hours a day.  There is really no potable water, even where we live, and the
sewage is dumped into the river.  The Corps of Engineers is rebuilding all of
the infrastructure in the county but it is a huge job.  Up until now, the US has
paid for most everything.  There is one notable exception.  When the first
provisional government was set up over here under Paul Bremmer, a top guy in the
Department of State, it was just about the time that the troops discovered all
those rooms filled with cash.  One hundred dollar bills in bundles which totaled
somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  That money was used first to
pay contractors to establish facilities to provide basic needs.  Contracts were
paid in cash and so you can imagine the temptation and the opportunity for
theft.  The US is just now getting around to prosecuting some of those cases
where people stuffed a few wads of bills into their pockets.  Anyway, now that
the rebuilding program has some momentum, and the oil wells are up to about 50%
production, they are looking to the Iraqi government to pay their share.  What
they had to begin with wasn't the best, but what they are getting is the latest
technology and new buildings.  So I think the US is doing a lot over here to
improve the life of the average Iraqi, since during Sadamm's reign, most of the
wealth and convenience went to him and the people around him.  For instance, he
always had air conditioning even though the people didn't.

Now the insurgents are using their power in the outer provinces to destroy new
sewage treatment plants or new electrical substations, to make it look like the
US government can't protect them.  Sometimes it is simply a case of taking out a
newly built high voltage transmission line so that power remains available to
the area that the insurgents protect.  Politics by use of violence and
destruction.  They learned from us I suppose.

We see lots of small convoys of troops coming through our area.  I am working in
the International Zone (IZ) which is also called the Green Zone.  The only
vehicles I recognize are the Humvees, the military version.  But even at that it
is hard to recognize them.  They are armor plated, with a machine gun turret on
the top, a long extension sticking straight out in front of the vehicle low to
the ground, with some sort of box on it.  I'm told that the box is intended to
cause the IEDs to explode before the vehicle actually gets over it.  They travel
in groups of four and they really look like they mean business.  I think they
have been given an impossible job. 

There are several other vehicles that I have never seen before I came here.  The
"Rhino" is an armor plated bus of sorts.  It looks kind of like a UPS delivery
vehicle but the glass is all bullet proof, and the vehicle is armor plated all
around including the underside.  That's what they used to transport us from the
area around the airport to the IZ.  It was a convoy in the middle of the night.
You are issued an armored vest with a Kevlar flap to protect the crotch, and a
helmet.  You have to sign up for the Rhino ride prior to 8:00 PM and then wait
because they will show up unannounced.  In my case, they showed up around 2:00
AM.  Everyone throws their suitcases into the back of a truck, then you board
your assigned Rhino.  In between Rhinos is one of those Humvees I told you
about, with one in the lead and one bringing up the rear.  Two helicopter
gunships fly overhead for protection and to respond to any attack.  Everything
is loaded in about 15 minutes and then the convoy rolls out.  They travel at a
pretty high rate of speed and the trip takes about 30 minutes.  After all, it's
only 10 miles through the heart of Baghdad.  Seems like a lot of security for
such a short ride, but they claim there are horror stories about ambushes,
mines, IEDs, etc.  

Because of the randomness they are trying to achieve, it takes almost all night
for this short trip.  I was met in the IZ by someone from our company and he
took me to my temporary quarters, a two-man dry trailer.  In other words, a
small trailer with two beds and no bathroom, no water at all, no TV, no fridge,
no closet, just a bed.  It did have a window air conditioner that wasn't quite
up to the task.  The bathroom/shower room sites across a soccer field from the
trailers.  There is a large hole in the ground where a mortar landed about three
weeks before I arrived.  The Army has excavated to make sure there is no more
metal or explosive in the hole, but they never backfilled the hole.

One night when I was walking across the field to use the bathroom, I stepped on
a rock or a dirt clod and twisted my left knee.  I stopped for a moment and it
seemed to be OK so I continued on.  Men my age need to use the bathroom at least
once in the middle of the night.  Over the next three days, I continued to walk
to and from work, a trip one way of about ¾ mile, and over time my knee became
swollen and finally locked up.  Our HR person convinced me to go to the
emergency room, and I really got a check up.  I have had an irregular heartbeat
first diagnosed in 1975.  Probably had it long before that.  Anyway when a
doctor notices that, his attention immediately shifts from whatever the
complaint is to the heart.  So I had a complete physical on the spot, blood
work, EKG, etc.  Once I convinced them that I wasn't going to keel over, they
got back to the knee.  End result, I walked out of there with a large Ace
Bandage around my knee, one crutch, and some pain medication.  It's been four
weeks now and I am finally off the crutch but still wrapping my knee.  I guess
I'll live.  Because of the twisted knee, I was moved from the trailers closer to
the office into Motel 6, the name the Army has given to our quarters which
resemble a motel.  The people who live there call it Motel 3, meaning it has a
long ways to go before it could even be a Motel 6.

Life has become a routine.  There isn't any work for me yet, just cleaning up
some old projects that had some problems.  I am supposed to lead a design cell
but so far I only have two employees assigned to me.  I haven't figured out what
they do yet.  I had only planned to stay until the end of the year for tax
purposes, but then my wife got an offer to come over here with the government.
She can smell the money.  The government pays a lot, but not as much as the
contractors.  So it looks like we will be together for the first time in a year.
We have seen each other on my short trips back to the US from time to time, but
we have basically lived apart for a year.  We will try to get adjacent rooms in
Motel 3, that's the best we can hope for.  There are no accommodations for
couples.  At least the rooms have a twin bed, fridge, TV with DVD player,
bathroom w/ shower, and a place to hang clothes.  They are nicely air
conditioned but the rooms are so small.  Maid service is provided twice a week
and it's a short walk to the dining facility.  Excellent laundry service for
free, but office attire is very casual so you don't need a lot of clothes.

The real war doesn't really come up much.  You see the troops roll through the
IZ but it really isn't on the way to anything.  So when they come here, it is
for some reason, maybe to go to the Embassy.  The fighting is out in the
provinces and the cities in those provinces.  We are told here not to discuss
the war or politics with the local people.  We have local Iraqi employees so we
avoid those topics.  Most of the employees live here in the IZ for safety
reasons.  It isn't safe for them to live outside if you work for the US
government.  This is a military society so you can imagine the attitude about
the war.  The military by and large believe they are doing good things and that
things are improving.  I do see a lot of good things being done, but then again
I live in the safest place in Iraq.  We get some rockets and mortars fired into
the IZ so we have lockdowns almost daily.  Once in awhile you can hear an
explosion, but otherwise, life and the routine just go on.

I have probably worn you out with my stories, so I will stop here.  If anything
interesting happens, I'll write an e-mail.  I have spent a lot of time looking
at the website for NDR61 and commend you on the job you have done.  Hope to be
back in the US soon, but if my wife does come over, it will be for six months,
so I will probably stay until the end of her six months.

Later, Ken

My response to his email

----Original Message-----
From: NDR61 Alumni [mailto:alumni@ndr61.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 8:27 PM
To: Olmsted, Kenneth E. GRD Contractor
Subject: Re: Staying in Touch

Hi Ken,

Wow you take 'retirement' to a whole new level.  Isn't it pretty scary there?
Back home, as much as we support the troops, we want them home NOW and out of
danger (of course, I can't speak for the whole country, but the polls are very
anti-war/Irag). Now we will worry about your safety. It has to be culture shock
(even from DC).  How long will you work before you REALLY retire? Do you have a
contract there?  I give you a lot of credit. I don't think anything could take
me so far from home, not to mention where a war is going on and everything is so
uncertain. Can't you telecommute? LOL Your vacation plans sound great. Joe,
Gloria and Connie left yesterday for the UK (England, Ireland and Scotland) so
I'm anxious to hear about their trip.  Your letter is giving me incentive for a
new updated Jester. I have asked and asked for help, articles, etc. but to no
avail, so it's pretty hard to come up with things on my own. If you have any
spare time, maybe you could give me some ideas or articles. I so want this site
to be NDR61's but it's difficult to do with such a mobile society. I hope you
enjoyed the pictures from the 2006 reunion. We are hoping to put together a 3 or
4 day cruise for the 50th , but with the new requirements for passports, it
might not be that easy. I have some things to do today, but maybe if you look at
the site in a couple days, you will see your letter posted in the Jester.

Meanwhile, I'll be thinking of you and praying for your safety. Thanks so much
for writing

Pat

9/26/07

Hello to All:

I'm kind of excited.  My wife and I have been planning to meet in Egypt in
November for two weeks of R&R.  I finally got the company to approve the travel
and they will fly me from Baghdad to Amman, Jordan on November 7th.  I just made
a reservation from Amman to Cairo on the same airline, Royal Jordanian Airlines,
for November 7th. 

We will stay in Egypt together until the 21st when she leaves to return to
Virginia to start processing for her move to Baghdad for work.  She will travel
to Fort Benning, Georgia for the start of her journey to Baghdad, Iraq.  She
will be assigned to Iraq for 6 months working for the Joint Contracting Command
- Iraq in the same building where I work. 

I will leave Cairo to return to Amman, Jordan.  I will stay about 3 days in
Amman doing some tourist stuff, I want to visit Petra for sure and maybe see the
Dead Sea.  Then I will return to Baghdad and back to the routine.

Once my wife arrives in Baghdad, we will get sleeping rooms that are next to
each other so we should be able to make it to the end of her 6 month assignment.
At the end of our six months of work in Iraq, I will retire for good (I think)
and my wife will return to her job in the Pentagon.  We plan to travel back to
the USA on a freighter.  These large container ships rent out cabins for about
$80 a day, room and board, and the one I am looking at follows an interesting
route for 41 days including stops all over the place plus a transit of the Suez
Canal.  I think it will be fun. 

So except for the boredom and sometimes scary times over here in Bagdad, we
should be living a few adventures over the next 6-8 months.  Then it's back to a
nice quiet life in Virginia where I can just relax.

Once I get back I am thinking of a trip through California to visit my son's
grave in San Diego, and I will also come up to Sacramento for a visit with my
cousins and all of you.  Hope to see you in 2008.

Ken

Click here to email Ken directly

 

I asked him to send pictures but they aren't allowed....