Well, here I am finally on my way to Iraq. My team and I loaded up on an Air Force C-130 and left Kuwait for Al Asad, Iraq.
Here is a mosque that is on the base at Al Asad. I never saw anyone going in or out, but I heard some of the TCNs (third country nationals) that work on post who are muslim use it. TCNs are usually from the Phillipines, Bangladesh, or other Asian countries. They come here to do work that US soldiers don't do like give haircuts, work in the chow halls serving food, clean the latrines, trash service, etc...
Here is the ramp we used at Al Asad. My unit is based out of and flying in Southern Iraq. Al Asad is in Western Iraq. The reason my team and I came up here is because all of our helicopters were being flown in Air Force cargo jets (C-5s) to here. My job was to pull the helicopters off the C-5s, put them back together, then send them down to our bases in Basra and Tallil. It was a crazy 3 weeks worth of work. There were several days with no sleep, but my longest was 52 hours straight. We had no tools or parts. We had no place to sleep and no transportation. My job was figuring all this stuff out so my guys could fix the helicopters to get them out of Al Asad. I spent a lot of time just driving around the base finding the right person who could help us with the current problem. There was no help directory or 411, and most the base was Marines and Air Force, so they weren't too eager to help the Army guys.........................until they found out who I was. Everyone knew that some Apaches had been dropped off, and when they found out I was the Apache Guy, they bent over backwards to help. I traded tours for favors, and before we knew it we had ice chests with cold water, transportation, etc... I became known around Al Asad as the Apache Guy. Since I didn't have an office there, if anyone from our Battalion or elsewhere wanted to get a hold of me they had to call Base Operations and they would call me on a 2-way radio they gave me. My call sign was "Apache Guy 06." (06 is the number in the Army that signifies command) Besides the tours another reason they wanted to help out was a lot of them had been outside the wire and had been attacked. They knew that when they call for support and the Apaches show up the shooting stops. Most insurgents just stop fighting and run when Apaches show up, and those who choose to keep attacking, don't get the opportunity to do so for long. Several Marines even confided in me that they were way happier when Apaches show up than when their own Marine Super Cobra attack helicopters show up.
This is sort of what the helicopters looked like coming off the C-5s. The main blades were folded and the stablilator and wing store pylons were off. On this one we had already put on the stabilator and pylons. After we unfolded the blades we had to do track and balance test flights. While most of the aircraft "woke up" ok, some had other maintenance issues we had to deal with such as bad gearboxes, hydraulic problems, etc... Again we had no Apache parts or tools due to some logistical issues (our logistic guys are not very squared away), so fixing these problems required cross country coordination with a bunch of other apache units, etc... Like I said, I was pretty busy, but I learned a ton.
Once we got things figured out and started rolling we got hit by a Shamal. It is a sandstorm caused by strong winds. Another type of sandstorm is a Haboob, which is like the one from the movie "The Mummy." You see a huge wall of sand coming your way with heavy winds, but it only lasts a few hours. Shamals can last for days, and this one lasted about 3 days. This was the beginning of it.
When the Shamal gets real bad the whole world turns orange. This is not a special effect from my camera. Behind this helicopter is a hangar and other helicopters, but you can't see any of them. At this point sand gets into everything. You have a rag or balaclava over your face and keep you mouth shut and sand still gets into your teeth. It is miserable. Sand is literally everywhere! You can imagine how dirty the aircraft were after.
This is Spaceman Bob during the Shamal. Before we left Fort Hood a few of us were eating at TGIFs, and they had this little 3 foot astronaut in the restaraunt as decoration. We thought he was awesome so we told the waitress we wanted to take him to Iraq with us. She talked to her manager who called corporate and they called us a few days later and said it had been approved. We are just supposed to take a bunch of pictures so TGIF can document Spaceman Bob's deployment to Iraq. During the Shamal it looked like he was on Mars. We shipped him over sitting in the front seat of one of our Apaches.
Here are the last two Apaches finally leaving Al Asad. It was good to get them out of there. While in Al Asad our motto was "No tools, no parts, no problem." My guys worked very long hours with no break from the 115 degree heat except for a 30 minute lunch break at the chow hall. My best soldier got a rare and cool reward.
Here is the aerial view of Al Asad as I was leaving it in a Blackhawk helicopter. The hawk took me straight down to Tallil where I am currently, and I started flying real missions........finally.
Well, here I am finally on my way to Iraq. My team and I loaded up on an Air Force C-130 and left Kuwait for Al Asad, Iraq.
Here is a mosque that is on the base at Al Asad. I never saw anyone going in or out, but I heard some of the TCNs (third country nationals) that work on post who are muslim use it. TCNs are usually from the Phillipines, Bangladesh, or other Asian countries. They come here to do work that US soldiers don't do like give haircuts, work in the chow halls serving food, clean the latrines, trash service, etc...
Here is the ramp we used at Al Asad. My unit is based out of and flying in Southern Iraq. Al Asad is in Western Iraq. The reason my team and I came up here is because all of our helicopters were being flown in Air Force cargo jets (C-5s) to here. My job was to pull the helicopters off the C-5s, put them back together, then send them down to our bases in Basra and Tallil. It was a crazy 3 weeks worth of work. There were several days with no sleep, but my longest was 52 hours straight. We had no tools or parts. We had no place to sleep and no transportation. My job was figuring all this stuff out so my guys could fix the helicopters to get them out of Al Asad. I spent a lot of time just driving around the base finding the right person who could help us with the current problem. There was no help directory or 411, and most the base was Marines and Air Force, so they weren't too eager to help the Army guys.........................until they found out who I was. Everyone knew that some Apaches had been dropped off, and when they found out I was the Apache Guy, they bent over backwards to help. I traded tours for favors, and before we knew it we had ice chests with cold water, transportation, etc... I became known around Al Asad as the Apache Guy. Since I didn't have an office there, if anyone from our Battalion or elsewhere wanted to get a hold of me they had to call Base Operations and they would call me on a 2-way radio they gave me. My call sign was "Apache Guy 06." (06 is the number in the Army that signifies command) Besides the tours another reason they wanted to help out was a lot of them had been outside the wire and had been attacked. They knew that when they call for support and the Apaches show up the shooting stops. Most insurgents just stop fighting and run when Apaches show up, and those who choose to keep attacking, don't get the opportunity to do so for long. Several Marines even confided in me that they were way happier when Apaches show up than when their own Marine Super Cobra attack helicopters show up.
This is sort of what the helicopters looked like coming off the C-5s. The main blades were folded and the stablilator and wing store pylons were off. On this one we had already put on the stabilator and pylons. After we unfolded the blades we had to do track and balance test flights. While most of the aircraft "woke up" ok, some had other maintenance issues we had to deal with such as bad gearboxes, hydraulic problems, etc... Again we had no Apache parts or tools due to some logistical issues (our logistic guys are not very squared away), so fixing these problems required cross country coordination with a bunch of other apache units, etc... Like I said, I was pretty busy, but I learned a ton.
Once we got things figured out and started rolling we got hit by a Shamal. It is a sandstorm caused by strong winds. Another type of sandstorm is a Haboob, which is like the one from the movie "The Mummy." You see a huge wall of sand coming your way with heavy winds, but it only lasts a few hours. Shamals can last for days, and this one lasted about 3 days. This was the beginning of it.
When the Shamal gets real bad the whole world turns orange. This is not a special effect from my camera. Behind this helicopter is a hangar and other helicopters, but you can't see any of them. At this point sand gets into everything. You have a rag or balaclava over your face and keep you mouth shut and sand still gets into your teeth. It is miserable. Sand is literally everywhere! You can imagine how dirty the aircraft were after.
This is Spaceman Bob during the Shamal. Before we left Fort Hood a few of us were eating at TGIFs, and they had this little 3 foot astronaut in the restaraunt as decoration. We thought he was awesome so we told the waitress we wanted to take him to Iraq with us. She talked to her manager who called corporate and they called us a few days later and said it had been approved. We are just supposed to take a bunch of pictures so TGIF can document Spaceman Bob's deployment to Iraq. During the Shamal it looked like he was on Mars. We shipped him over sitting in the front seat of one of our Apaches.
Here are the last two Apaches finally leaving Al Asad. It was good to get them out of there. While in Al Asad our motto was "No tools, no parts, no problem." My guys worked very long hours with no break from the 115 degree heat except for a 30 minute lunch break at the chow hall. My best soldier got a rare and cool reward.
Here is the aerial view of Al Asad as I was leaving it in a Blackhawk helicopter. The hawk took me straight down to Tallil where I am currently, and I started flying real missions........finally. 
I love Spaceman Bob!!! That is awesome Chris! Paul and I have really been enjoying your blog, keep it coming! You are also in our prayers every night. Stay safe!
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