Hello All... A THC Refugee Here!

[dstauffer]

Though I posted a brief introduction on another thread, after reading some introductions here, I thought it would be best to post my introduction as a new topic.

First, for those who wish, you can call me Doug – I don’t mind.

Currently, I am a government contractor working in Iraq and have been here since October 2004 – some 16 months now. My location is called Camp Echo and is adjacent to the city of Ad-Diwayniah, which is roughly 120 kilometers south, southeast of Baghdad.

Prior to Iraq, I spent three years as government contractor in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 2001 – 2004. My time in Bosnia certainly left an impression on me and it will remain forever in my mind.

I am a veteran and served as a Military Policeman in the Army (81-85) and as a Data Systems Technician in the Navy (87-96) – guess I was a glutton for punishment. Though I am technically considered a veteran of Operation Desert Storm (awarded the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal – Kuwait), I feel as if I am not since my time was spent on an aircraft carrier (U.S.S. Nimitz, CVN-68) piddling around the Persian Gulf.

Politically, I consider myself to be somewhat a moderate and I do not associate myself with either the Democratic or Republican Party. I consider issues and politicians on a case-by-case basis and own their own merits – or lack thereof. To me, people are entitled to their opinions and beliefs; I respect that and all I ask is for some consideration in return – at the very least, we can always agree to disagree on a particular topic and move on from there. Nothing irritates me more, politically, then the partisanship and polarization that has consumed so many on other boards vis-à-vis THC.

A little personal background: I have two wonderful daughters from a previous marriage and a great, loving step-daughter (I treat her as if she were my own daughter) from my current marriage. My wife is Romanian and we have a nice, quaint apartment in Bucharest, Romania. She has had her first experience in the States this past December and is looking forward to living there – she is now a full-fledged Starbuck’s junky. We will be moving to Washington State once I have completed my current contract in Iraq.

Well, that pretty much sums me up. As I mentioned on the other thread, I am looking forward to having some pretty good discussions here. Take care all!

It's nice to be in a "Moonbat-Free" zone!

[Merceditas]

Hi!

I sure worry about you guys who do the type of work you do, in Iraq. Stay safe. How is it where you're at, at Camp Echo, pretty quiet?

[dstauffer]

Hello Merceditas!

Yes, it is pretty quiet where I am at -- we've had only one mortar attack and one rocket (RPG) attack since I've been here -- neither attack caused any significant damage and no one was injured, thankfully. In fact, the rocket attack didn't even strike anywhere inside the camp as the rockets flew completely over the camp and struck an empty, barren field outside the perimeter.

[tankcommander]

What kind of contract work are you doing? Since you're there, I am interested in your opinion, what's your overall assesment of what's going on? Is it doable, or are we just spinning our wheels?

[dstauffer]

tankcommander -

I am a network administrtator/engineer. At my camp, we provide services to the Coalition Forces as well as the American.

I do not know if I can give an overall assessment since I am relatively confined to one area. I have spoken with some of the local Iraqis, who work on our base, and they feel we are doing the "right thing." As one Iraqi put it: "Right now, US is best friend for Iraq!" Though almost all of them are Shiites, they are deeply concerned about the undue influence the Iranians may have on their government.

Do I think the situation here is "do-able"? That's hard to say. I have seen a lot of good things happen but I think the reconstruction effort may be dragging behind. Personally, I think the U.S. and Coalition Forces should stay and see this thing through.

[MARIO]

Welcome aboard, dst.

My name is Mario, but you probably know me as the always wise Mr. Conservatism.

Take care, buddy.

[dstauffer]

Thanks for the welcome, Mario; I really do appreciate it. Yes, I remember Mr. Conservatism.

A few hours ago, I read what wikipedia has listed for American conservatism; it was a pretty interesting article. For those who are interested:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_conservatism

[Remey688]

Hi Guy! I'm Remey688 on THC, here, and everywhere!

[dstauffer]

Hello Remey688! I haven't seen you around THC, but I do limit myself to just two boards there: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Current Events. In fact, I will more than likely be departing THC permanently -- it's getting harder and harder to suffer the partisanship and polarization; if I don't leave soon, I am afraid that I will succumb and end up like others there.

[tits]

What firm are you with, are you provide data systems work?

Have you met many GS employees with USACE & USACHPPM? Those are my old haunts. I am a medically retired environmental toxicologist and have had several close former colleagues providing environmental chemistry and two environmental engineering.

Arbor just signed up for his third tour as a chemist working out of Baghdad.

Bill (an engineer) told me when he got home in July the conditions that you civilian types have to work under, you probably have it worse than the active duty.


Like Merc, I have sons who've been in theater, both with the navy. A cousin flew Blacks for 16 months and retired from ANG and now his wife is to report in two weeks for her tour. But Kathy is a LDO LT in USNR supply so, I am guessing that she will be in one of southern ports.


You offered the best intro I have read.

[dstauffer]

Tittus -

Thanks for the compliment! I work for ITT and our contract provides many services to the government. The portion of the contract I work under provides voice and data services to the Coalition Forces. Camp Echo is the headquarters for Multi-National Divsion - Central South (MND-CS) and is under Polish command. We have troops here from many different countries: Poland, Ukraine, Denmark, Mongolia, El Salvador, etc. Some countries provide large contingents of troops while others provide a smaller contingent.

Yes, we have a contingent from USACE here, but I have not met many of them so, unfortunately, I could not tell you their names.

I really have no complaints about our living conditions here, but each camp is different so I can't speak for the others. There are four of us here and we live in a 40ft shipping container that has been modified -- we even have our own shower. It sort of reminds me of living conditions on back on the ship.

Your cousin's wife, Kathy, may end up anywhere here. Navy personnel are not restricted to locations that have port facilities. In fact, the G-6 (Signal) Liaison Officer (LNO) here is a Navy Ensign (LDO) and we also have a Navy EOD detachment here as well as some other Navy personnel.

[tits]

dstauffer said:

Your cousin's wife, Kathy, may end up anywhere here. Navy personnel are not restricted to locations that have port facilities. In fact, the G-6 (Signal) Liaison Officer (LNO) here is a Navy Ensign (LDO) and we also have a Navy EOD detachment here as well as some other Navy personnel.

Yes, I know IT, are you working under an 8-A or are you subbed to an 8-A?

EOD, yes, I know that line too well. My first extended tour with USACE was EOD chemical weapons. I can recall briefings from the Kuwait boys back in 92-93 about finding UXO and OE wastes all over. My EOD work was with the domestic people out of Ft. McClellan (since moved to Fort Leonard Woods. We worked all over the US in some of the most unexpected places.

I can recall two incidents that were tragic.

One occurred at the old Sante Naval Arsenal just outside of San Diego. The DOD had sold the property to commercial developers back in the 1970s after performing just surface sweeps of the 11000 acre property. A developer had built this exclusive neighborhood along one of those scenic valleys. Five young boys 12-14 years of age were camping in the valley with a camp fire. Somehow they had found an old M61 type grenade and threw it in the fire. Killed one maimed two wounded all. That was a federal mess and a half.


The second occurred on the old Raritan Arsenal in Edison, NJ. Once again the DOD sold off the property back in the 1950s without doing much of a sweep because the sight was a swamp. Anyway, a community college had been built on part of the sight and commercial property on the rest. While digging to expand the Administration offices, an excavator uncovered a small pile of threaded pipe. USACE was doing remediation of some chemical ordnance found elsewhere on the site when they called us over. The small stack of threaded pipe turned out to be 82,000 5.565" bursters for the old Stokes Mortars. That too was an expensive mess. Throughout the 10 year remediation of that sight we found Soviet WWII 152 mm chemical artillery rounds, Weimar Republic chlorine gas mortar rounds, some French garbage and over 120 tones of explosive ordnance. One mishap occurred when a local found an old 8" artillery round with fuse attached. He took it home, used a mechanical wire brush to clean it up, painted it black and placed it on his fireplace hearth. The home and family were destroyed one cold winter evening.

Doug, keep up the faith. My cousin both sent home photos of the container lodgings. Cuz said that they had a small air conditioner to keep it livable.

If you wish to share more about your life, try to private heading under THC Refugees. 101ABN can send you a private password.

[dstauffer]

If I can figure out how to post pics, I have a few from Iraq that I wouldn't mind sharing with you all.

As far as sharing more about my life, I haven't a clue as to set up something with a private heading (still figuring out this format since I am a novice at web blogging...lol).

Titus, I don't know the particulars about our contract to the extent of knowing if we are under an 8-A or subbed to an 8-A, so I really can't answer that question with any authority. Having said that, I don't think we are subbed to a prime contractor.

[cricket]

Doug,

Sounds like you have been away from home for a long time. Where is home for you? Stay safe!

[dstauffer]

cricket -

Yes, you could say that I have been away from "home" for quite awhile -- it's been almost 5 years. Trying to answer where my home is at is a little bit tricky, but I'll try: I am originally from northeastern Ohio; I used to live in the Pacific Northwest (the Seattle area) and that is where my wife and I will settle down once I am finished here; on top of that, my wife and I have a nice apartment in Bucharest, Romania which we are going to keep -- so, I will essentially have two homes.

Hopes this answer your question.