Stuk N' Irak!

Hey All,

First off, I would like to thank my wonderful wife for updating this blog so far during my deployment. I love her to death and want to say thank you! I think it's about time I add my two cents to this blog and what's been going on over here with me. I'm not quite the blog guru like Julie, so bear with me till I learn the ropes!

SPC Core and I waiting for another C-130 after the first one wouldn't cooperate...

I've been here in Iraq now for just about two months. The first two weeks here were completely insane. We arrived in a C-130 at 0300 on our "second" attempt (see above,) due to an avionics malfunction on our first aircraft that made us return to our original starting point. When we finally arrived, we were allowed four hours of sleep before we were off to our new air traffic control facility to start the training program. The normal training program is supposed to take a full four months, but a few of us with prior ATC ratings were "accelerated" to get done in two and a half weeks. Major brain fry....



I've been assigned to an ARAC facility, which is pretty much the military version of a civilian approach control. Read that as: I look at a radar screen all day. The work is intense (stressful some would say) at times, but overall a lot of fun to do. When asked what I do in the military and respond that i'm an air traffic controller, most look at me and say, "Oh! You mean those guys with the glow sticks that direct the aircraft on the ground?" hmmmm.... no. Our main responsibility is to control all aircraft at altitude with the intent to descend for landing, depart the airspace or transition the airspace. We issue vectors (magnetic headings) and assign altitudes to keep aircraft separated and to expedite the flow of air traffic in and out of the airport. I liken the job to a big game of chess in the air, but under NO circumstances are you allowed to lose the game. The blips on the screen cannot touch each other being at the same altitude nor come within a certain distance. Our airspace covers about 360 square miles and at times are controlling or monitoring 15-20 aircraft at any given time. The picture above shows the inside of our shelter where I work everyday. Small, I know... The box sits on the back of a Humvee and we have a couple of rooms that have been built off the back of the shelter (see below) so it appears we work in a nice place (yeah, right! lol)

Our front door! Looks inviting, eh?

I suppose I need to get this outta the way first off. You'll see a common theme in most of the pictures I'll be posting and that is the massive amounts of sandbags, dirt filled barriers or tall cement barriers that line the outside of EVERYTHING. The reality is we're still at war over here and unfortunately unpleasant things do happen from time to time. All in all, we're as safe over here as you can possibly be, so no worrying, ok?

I need to give a big shout-out to Ethan, Cana, Cailen, Aidan & Arden Hales, my new friends from Destrehan, LA! The Hales family have "adopted" me to be their soldier here in Iraq and I have enjoyed receiving packages and letters from them. I believe it's the small things like this that make the effort and sacrifice of being over here just a little bit more bearable. Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you soon.