Out to the amphib

Met up with our team at 700, then with some other military and contractors and were en route via CH-53 Sea Stallion out to the amphibious assault ship (BHR) by 800. The primary mission of the BHR is to embark, deploy and land Marines by helicopter, landing craft, or amphibious vehicle. Because of this mission, although it is a Navy ship, it is Marine Corps in character. Hot, as usual, on the airstrip, but the 53 gets up high enough that when it's 120 on the ground, its a cool 80-90 in flight. This helo is powerful and muscular for heavy-lift missions. The first picture here is out the back of our helo as we are landing on the ship in the central Arabian Gulf. As we debark, we rush through the ship and into the hangar bay where a rope ladder is waiting for us to climb into a Coastie speed boat to take us out to sea.

Hunters Lodge

Hunters Lodge at the Adhari Hotel is in the heart of the Suq here in town. Other hotels in the neighborhood are off limits to military for various reasons, so this is about the only place to cool off with a couple beers after wandering around the dirty market paths in the triple-digit temps looking for deals. Its longevity may be due to its decor - that of some kind of early 70's Navy dive-bar in Vietnam. It's dimly-lit with dirty wooden floors, warped pool table and dart board, and menu items named for military operations. Its walls are completely covered with Navy weapons parts, decades-old unit photos, graffiti, and anything else a Sailor might think to donate. Dusty rocker patches with names like Forrestal, America and Constellation, and retired rating badges like Radioman add some more historical decor behind the bar. Two Filipino bartenders serve customers that are mostly the somewhat less-than-wealthy Saudi crowd. On a recent visit, our attention was divided between the spectacle of a group of deaf Saudi men in a drunken signing argument, an 60-ish British man trying to teach English to a Chinese prostitute (Chi-Pro?)), and another Saudi sitting next to me who kept failing at come-ons aimed at the bartender. He had been drinking there all day long and told me that if he got caught drinking at home, his head would be chopped off, drawing a slice with his finger across his throat. It's unfortunate that this place doesn't sell t-shirts.

Interviews

Reporters on board wanted to get footage of specific jobs performed by Sailors. Started with a Chief Warrant Officer who heads the kitchen ops talking about the tons of food that gets processed on a daily basis. They also interviewed cooks, people cleaning and asked a couple females what it was like to be a woman on a carrier. Later, during a break in the wardroom having some lunch, one of the foreign reporters saw a female in a flight suit and asked, "what does she do?" He was shocked to hear me say that she was an F/A-18 pilot. "You let women fly your planes?" he asked. He wasn't opposed or anything - just surprised - and he was pretty intrigued, so I had to go find one to talk to. Found a Marine, pictured here.

And one sign of the times, the reporters wanted to interview female Sailors studying in the library. In the library were a few bookshelves, naturally, but they were pushed to the side to make room for a 60 inch plasma TV with a movie playing in surround sound and Sailors kicking back in recliners. No one was reading an actual book, but the connecting room was packed with computers hooked up to broadband internet and a webcam at every seat.

F/A-18 Super Hornet Launch Video

I think I just figured out how to load a video on this thing, just when this blog will some to an end in a short bit.

Sunset Over Iraq

Flight Deck Ops

Here you see the launching and recovery of Navy and Marine Corps FA-18s that provide security in the Gulf and air support to ground forces operating in Afghanistan and Iraq. Enterprise, commissioned in 1961, is the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. This ship was built for duty in the north Atlantic and the 46 year old air conditioning really isn't the greatest everywhere on board. By "not everywhere on board," I mean "in my stateroom" most of all, which sits directly under the flight deck. There were lots of flight ops going on all night when I got there, and the steam powered catapults that shoot the planes off the deck kept a steady pulse of heat into my room, which hovered around 100 all night. Adrenaline takes over when you are tired though, especially when you are in the middle of one of the most dangerous working environments in the world with aircraft launching and recovering every few minutes. These young Sailors, many only 19 or 20 years old, are a lot harder working than me - but I guess that really isn't saying much.

"Thanks for flying Rawhide"

First picture here is just before we boarded the COD (Carrier On-Deck Delivery) for a flight out to the carrier under way in the Gulf (no, the skinny guy is not me). You face backward in a three point harness, usually with no view, and its well over 100 with no ventilation. Never been sure if it's because the pilots like flying a little crazy or if its the nature of these planes, but on approach to landing on the big deck, they bank so hard that you think you're going to roll completely over. Since you can't see what's happening outside or know when you're getting close to landing, you you learn to watch the crew in the back to see when they wave to each other - then you know you better brace yourself several times as hard as any roller coaster you've ever been on, because you have about 5 seconds as the pilot guns it to shoot into one of the on-deck arresting wires and come to a stop in less than 400 feet. "Thanks for flying Rawhide," the crew member says, referring to his squadron name. Last picture is the view of the flight deck as the rear doors open to let you bail out.

Tree of Life

Because I know everyone's been sitting on pins and needles over whether or not I ever make it here (see earlier post from May), you will be relieved to know that I finally made it to the Tree of Life where Eve took a bite out of that apple and then figured out she was naked. A friend was going out there and I hitched a ride. It's really in the middle of the desert with nothing around it but trash. There's graffiti all over it and it looks like people have tried to set it on fire before. Whatever. It's a national treasure and I can cross it off my list.

Christmas Shopping

Today I went shopping, so heads up to the family to expect cheap bootleg ripoffs of real products under the Christmas tree this December. Came out of a shop and these ninjas were following me, so I ran as fast as I could to get out of there. Probably could have taken the little one though. I was on a shwarma kick today and stopped at a few places between stores. Last was on the way home at a great place called Iskenderun, which some guys on base turned me onto. Got two more shwarmas and a drink for only 800 fils, which equates to about $2.10 US - and it was a "sitdown meal," as they say in Tennessee. My mother in law definitely would never eat at this place, by the way. They wipe sweat off their faces, then make the shwarmas with bare hands. Adds a bit of spice to the meal, but would not pass muster in the good ole US of A.

Trader Vic's

Shot this photo standing real still without a flash inside Trader Vic's after I finished my big plate of macadamia nut pasta with pesto cream sauce. This pretty much captures the atmosphere of the place: polynesian-themed with vacationing Arabs, Philipino talent, and Western military and expats. I usually just have a Red Stripe there, but ordered a mai tai for the first time because I wanted one of the little rubber Hawaiian girls on a stick that they put in their tropical drinks. Wow - best damn drink I've ever had. The bartender must have an "S" on his chest, be married to three supermodels, AND have spent the night at a Holiday Inn.

Rust at sunset

Pretty nice sunset view of KAAOT from my RHIB, but I could really could have used a cold beer or six at the moment. Makes the place look like a resort, I think. But when you look at it up close, it's an OSHA heart attack waiting to happen. The earlier Waterworld reference is accurate and this thing would just collapse but for all the rust holding it together. I'm thinking when we are done giving these guys democracy and freedom, we can make KAAOT the newest celebutard drug and alcohol rehab facility.

Al Basra Terminal

We rode out to Al Basra Oil Terminal (ABOT). With Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT), they both provide about 90% of Iraq's GNP and pump $11,000 worth of oil a second into tankers. Given their importance, they are central to the task force security mission. When you arrive, you are greeted by a big hand-painted sign that said, "Welcome to ABOT" with the US and Iraqi flags as well as another sign on some guys shack that welcomed us to the ABOT Marriott - a room with a view." There was a bunch of cargo containers retrofitted to be barracks. American Sailors and Iraqi Marines stay there and train together. On the door of a big green tent serving as their common area, was a sign that read, "Welcome to Little Italy, on the Outskirts of ABOT." Inside was comfortable couches, food, a/c and a 50 inch plasma tv. The American officer in charge of training reported significant progress in readiness of the Iraqi Marines.

Aussie Sailors

Aboard an Aussie frigate, I once again witnessed the friendliest bunch of sailors in the world. Many of them have very "nautical" looking beards and they're all smiling ear to ear. They probably all want to be pirates and they love Americans. The crew was celebrating Christmas (just because they can) and were wearing festive decorations on their uniforms and the females had little mistletoe crowns on their heads. The girls in the kitchen seemed to be having the best time of all, with wild colored aprons and hats, both of them tending to a huge vat of chicken curry that smelled delicious. One of the men said that if I could get a picture of one of the girls, the rule was she would have to buy a round of drinks for the whole crew next time they had liberty. She proved very adept at avoiding the camera. Their helo squadron is the "West Coast Seahawks," with the name emblazoned on a big "West Coast Choppers" type cross on side of the helo. When I grow up, I'm joining the Australian Navy.

McDelivery

Although almost all local food can be delivered, I've mostly been ordering chicken footballs and shwarmas from the local Arab food kitchens. The McDonalds near the base recently started 24 hour delivery service and I've been looking forward all week to calling on Saturday morning to get a whole mess of greasy Big Breakfast-type grub delivered. When I called this morning to order, the guy didn't know what I was talking about. Turns out, they haven't heard of breakfast at this Mickey Dees - only hamburgers and McArabias. Very sad that these people don't know the healthful benefits of a sausage McMuffin with egg and hash browns to start their day. So - Ric' s again. Ordered up a stack of blueberry pancakes, three scrambled eggs & sausage, 32 oz black coffee, and paired it with microwaved freedom fries from last night.

Dhow difficulties

These traditional Arab fishing vessels, called dhows, are everywhere in the Gulf. Sailed by men from all the regional countries, most of them are fisherman, and others ship traded goods from port to port. They are often victims of the rampant piracy in the region, or of some coming from the direction of Iran, to rough them up and take what they have. Coalition forces providing security see these all day long, as we did here. At night, bunches of many dhows often gather together as close to Coalition ships as allowed because it makes them feel safer.

Nice guy from the Himalayas

Carna works at my flat. He's a pretty nice guy and I usually talk to him when I can. He's lately been very much looking forward to returning home to see his wife and kids in Nepal for the first time in two years. He said the guy who brought him here made him sign a contract to work at least two years before he would be allowed to go home. He's not permitted to work anywhere else and his passport has been taken so he doesn't disappear before his obligation ends. He said is supposed to be on a plane tomorrow, but he has not heard from the man who's holding his passport and supposed to buy his plane ticket. Apparently there's no work in Nepal and he says he's happy with his job at my building working 7 days a week. Waiting to see if he's lucky enough to be gone in the a.m.

UPDATE: Carna made it.

Making progress

Here, Iraq Marines are being interviewed aboard a small ship during training with Coalition forces. Media are not permitted to photograph their faces to protect their safety. Hence, I obscured their faces. I found them very enthusiastic, happy to be working with us, and eager to learn.

Coasties too

Coastguard is here too, and doing a hell of a job. They don't just do counter drug ops off Key West any more. They are experts in in boarding other vessels and enforcing maritime security, so very valuable here. Small boats, but well armed. Here they are watching a movie on plasma just after we had a bunch of sliders (greasy cheeseburgers that slide with ocean motion on the grill), ready to hit topside in about 2 seconds if needed.

Terminal ops

Approaching the older of the two Iraq oil terminals, the aged mass of rusted steel resembles something out of Water World. The two pump oil into giant tankers, piped from Iraq's southern oil fields, worth about 90% of the country's GNP. They have been attacked by suicide bombers in the past - and successfully repelled by multiple layers of coalition security. There is a huge sunken steel crane just within sight of here, and barely inside Iranian waters. They have a constant presence on that structure, trying to keep an eye on us.

Hard Core

A Marine I know with another blog put this on his site. But he's not from the IE. At first I thought these were clips from the trailer for that Salton Sea movie or Less Than Zero. Then I thought for sure these were from Cajon, the parking lots of Del Taco, Wooden Nickel or outside the Music Room. Turns out it's in Montana. Hard core public service ads they have up there. Heck, it would even scare the hell out of me. Much better than the old "this is your brain on drugs" ad - that just made me hungry. www.montanameth.org/View_Ads/index.php