Bittersweet Farewell

With less than a week left "in country", I've been face with the bittersweet task of saying farewell to my fellow soldiers and co-workers. You may think it would be easy to say goodbye to Iraq, and that may very well be true, but I can assure you that it is not at all easy to say goodbye with the good people that have become my friends over the past year.

Two days ago, my office put together a farewell ceremony for me that included a slide show entitled "The Story of Bill". A civilian co-worker of mine named Anne narrated this entire presentation from memory and based it mainly off of my blog. Everyone got a big laugh when my "half moustache" was projected onto the big screen.

As Anne went through all the highlights of my year over year, I started to realize just how many significant events have occurred while I've been deployed. I have worked so many great professionals (military, DoD civilians, contractors, and local nationals) and have found the work to be equally challenging and rewarding. Its hard for me to put to words how much I appreciated the fact that Anne and the rest of my office forced me to sit down and realized how much I have grown in the past year.

After Anne was done, several people got up and presented me with tokens of their appreciation and humbled me with their praise. The event was capped off when my lieutenant presented me with a beautifully engraved Iraqi knife mounted on a plaque to cormenerate my time here. The knive has a handle made of camel bone and silver and will be proudly displayed in my office back in Atlanta.

Like I said...its hard to put into words how appreciated these people made me feel.

Pimp My Ride...In Iraq

One of the perks of being a Lieutenant Colonel over here is that I have my "ride". In this case, a Toyota Land Cruiser that was "donated" by the surrendering Baathe Party a few years back.

To be honest with you, I don't drive it very much becuase I'm tied to my desk most of the time and also: where the heck am I going to drive to? I'm sure not going to go outside the Green Zone!

Now that my time is drawing down over here, I've been looking for ways to leave my mark in Iraq. To assist me in that effort, my good bud Drew sent me a few stickers from Delware to annoint my car with. If you look closely enough you'll see a University of Delaware sticker in the side window and a "DANG" bumper sticker. That's DANG as in the Delaware Air National Guard.

All is well.

Buried in the Sand

Look at what I came across during my last trip to Basra.

This mint condition Soviet Made T-54 Tank was apparently found buried in the sand. The story is that the Brits were doing construction work and came across it. I was surprised by the fact that it was in such good condition. When I climbed inside of it, even the gunner's sights were still in tact.

During my deployments over the past 18 years, I've been able to crawl around in many "top of the line" Soviet armored vehicles and have been amazed by how cramped and small they are. I'm convinced that if the Cold War ever did get hot, and these vehicles started heading through the Fulda Gap in Germany, we would have been able to stop them in their tracks.

All is well.

Bunker Buddies

Another trip to Basra, another (several) trip to the bunker.

This photo was taken while I was in Basra and our dinner was interrupted by some incoming rounds. One good thing about insurgent attacks, you get to spend some quality time with your officers inside a bunker as you wait for the "all clear" signal to be given.

11 Months Down....1 To Go!

Hello all,

well as of today I have exactly one more month to go on my deployment.

I will hit my 365 BOG (boots on ground) day on 04 April and at that point I will be clear to leave Iraq and travel down to Kuwait for a short stay and then on to Fort Bliss, Texas for a few days and then I head home to Newnan.

If all goes well, I ought to be hugging Mara and the kids at the airport on April 11th.

I'm sure as this month progresses I will start to have a mix of emotions. It will be great to leave Iraq but I have to confess I will miss the satisfaction that this job gave me and I will certainly miss the good people that I was able to work with.

I will try to put into words my overall observations of this past year and post them on my blog throughout the coming days.

See you SOON!