Ryan's Iraqi Road

Rain in the Desert Spring

2009-02-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we had a bit of a torrential downpouring of rain. The first of its kind since I've been here in Bucca. Its always fun to get some interesting weather, unfortunately it only lasted for an hour or two.

Skin and bones...yeah right.

2009-02-07T13:19:00.001-08:00

Look at all my loose skin!!! I'm melting!!! 20 more to go...185-190lbs is the goal....we'll see...I like to eat too much darnit!

Just give me a camera....

Desert Fog...no I mean REAL FOG!!!

2009-02-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

The other day I woke up in a fog...real Iraqi desert Fog! Now I don't know if this is a wierd spring in the desert kind of thing, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Here is Bob's walkway. The small pieces of wood are intended to be illusions of a barrier, discouraging people to not take his rugs.

Bucca Poop Cloud

2009-02-07T12:42:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately the means of garbage and human waste disposal on Camp Bucca involves a large fiery furnace or incinerator. Usually once a week they burn the "waste". When walking home from work you can't help but notice a large dark plume, affectionately termed the "Bucca Poop Cloud". We always pray for a nicer easterly wind to blow it away, but when there is none the cloud settles down...all around us...into the nostrils...living up to its name.

Here are some pictures of the Bucca Poop Cloud contrasted against the setting sun...very dramatic.

"Bucca Poop Cloud is coming for you"
"Bucca Poop Cloud has you in view"
"Bucca Poop Cloud won't be denied"
"You better run and you better hide"

The Collector...

2009-02-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

My roommate or podmate or whatever you want to call him is a very nice guy, very courteous and easy to have as a roomie, HOWEVER, he likes to scavenge. He likes to collect. He likes to rummage. He tells me that everyday he takes a different route home from work should he come across something that has been cast aside that he might want to collect. And lately he has been collecting things to make a barrier in front of our pod to discourage passers-by to not step on our porch or walk on the gravel directly by our pod as that makes noise and makes it difficult for us to sleep.

Here you can see the corner of my pod, it has a walkway that would cause quite a bit of noise as people walked by (crunchy rocks/gravel).

The Great Wall of BOB. Here you can see how talented Bob is as a scavenger. He found a 4 by 4 piece of lumbar to block off the way. Then somehow he found a traffic cone? Are you kidding me? I asked him, "Bob, where did you find a cone?". His reply, "Oh, I found myself a cone." Well, if people didn't understand the message with a 4 by 4 blocking the way and the cone, BOB made it clear by taping on a sign to warn off intruders. Needless to say this thouroughfare has been shut down by Bob the Builder :). Now what to do about the crunchy rocks/gravel that wake us up when people pass..... stay tuned

As you can see from the first picture and this picture, Bob was able to come up with another solution to the crunchy rock problem. He was walking home and noticed that some carpets were in a dumpster...so he dove in! He scored some excellent rugs that he lined up down the walkway to muffle the sounds of footsteps, but there was one problem....

....People liked his dumpster diving rugs and someone stole one or two of them, which prompted immediate action. First, Bob posted signs to ward off potential thieves by appealing to their sense of Integrity. Even after the posting another one of his rugs was taken, but somehow Bob managed to find replacements while out on his meanderings or walk abouts. Most recently Bob has been collecting sand bags and stacking them on his rugs to dissuade those "rats" (said in his best Rhode Island accent).

Wall of Talent....from the Larson Youngin's

2009-02-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

Having artistic leanings myself, it brings me great jubilation to receive the artistic endeavors of my chillin's. Here is my wall of fame. I gotta say they are pretty talented (no bias whatsoever)

Lights, Camera, uh, you go boiiiiiiiiiiy!

2009-02-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

Occasionally I make small 30-minute DVD's of myself, reading children's books for the kids. Here is the studio....

And here is the motion picture camera!

THE GYM!!

2009-02-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

A big part of my life here at Camp Bucca is the Gym. I've been told that if its not the best gym that it surely rivals anything else out there. I spend about 2 hours a day (most days) here.

The Weight Room at the Gym...where magic happens

The place of reckoning...I probably weigh myself too much (everyday) I need to step back and "let it happen". Well luckily it's happened to the tune of 25lbs so far, just another 20 to go.

Pretty nice gym here with a lot of cardio equipment on one "annex" and the weight room in the other.

another shot of the cardio room. Take your pick of treadmills, ellipticals, stair stepper, recumant/upright bicycle, rowing machines. Then they have a back room where they offer aerobics classes (haven't got up the courage for that yet!)

Christmas Continued

2009-02-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Santa's Sleigh HEY HEY HEY!!!

We had Santa and his reindeer out in front of the Dining Facility. Amazing that they found us.

Christmas in Bucca

2008-12-24T23:51:00.001-08:00

A Merry Bucca Christmas to Everyone!! I had fun today Skyping with the family. It was Christmas Eve in Utah while Christmas morning here. I finally got to open that box that said "Do no open til Christmas". I'll admit it has been difficult being separated from the family, especially during this time of year, but I'm thankful that we are able to still have pictures and sound that can bring us a little bit closer together. I'm thankful for the Savior whose birth we celebrate and for His atonement, that can bring us together forever despite time and distance.

Here is the Christmas tree at the DFAC. They have a stereo blasting the Christmas tunes as well. Pretty Cool.

It's Christmas Day here at the TMC and we've had a few guests dressed in red come through. I just knew Santa would find me here in Iraq.

Home Sweet Home

2008-12-24T22:53:00.000-08:00

I live in a pod, but I'm not a pea. These are the neighborhoods here at Bucca, or Buccahoods as I like to call them. Rows of pods attached together. Some have a boardwalk between them, others on the outside have porches. People customize their digs to varying degrees.

Here is another row of pods. Every row is kinda different.

My pod is on the outside of one of the rows, so no board walk. We have a small porch, and someone at some point arranged a little canvas shade over our pod. Delta 85, thats me.

Here is my side of the pod. fairly simple. bed, side table, and lockers. I was lucky to find a better chair than the folding camping chair that was here.

Here is a view towards Major Bob Duprey's (my podmate)side of the pod.

There are a handful of "Hajji" shops that sell various goods and one night they were handing out little Christmas trees. So we were happy to get one in our pod.

I know I'm supposed to get in the pictures from time to time. Merry Christmas!

I grew tired of leaning over the small side table when using my laptop, so I got ambitious and went to the woodshop here on Bucca and made myself a desk out of some plywood. It turned out pretty good if I say so myself.

Here is the view looking out from the TMC front door.

Work and Chow at Bucca

2008-12-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

This is where I spend my days! A wide angle view of our Troop Medical Clinic (TMC) bunker. Beautiful, I know. Color scheme is amazing!

The warm welcome sign that greets all of the infirm.

The front door to the clinic. You can see the Barrel where all weapons should have safety checks performed or are "cleared". You point the weapon into the barrel and clear the chamber.

Here is my exam room. I've got a wobbly table that is adequate enough along with my supply shelves.

Here is my grand desk where the magic happens.

Here are some impressive cement walls that surround the Dining Facility here at Bucca. As dining facilities tend to have the largest concentration of soldiers and would suffer the most casualties if hit by mortar/rocket its got the best protection.

Lots of love coming from Bucca your way...watch out!

They have tons of banners hanging from the ceiling in the dining facility. I was happy to see that BYU was represented. Even though they didn't represent in the Las Vegas Bowl :(

Here is our post office. Thank you to all who have sent packages/mail. It is in a Connex and we beg a young specialist to open the container so we can get our mail.

These are the real enemy!! Apparently when it rains the sand becomes a sticky, slimy mess. So they cover 90 percent of the Camp with these rocks. Not gravel, but pretty good sized rocks that the soldiers have to walk around on. I see more people in clinic who have sprained their ankles or aggravated existing injuries because of these rocks. They shift underneath you and it feels like you're walking on ball bearings. There are these little pathways that form where people have pushed the rocks to the side to afford better traction. I guess when the rains come we'll be happy we have the rocks, but for know they're a pain.

Bucca Basics

2008-12-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

This is Camp Bucca's Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) tent. Its got some nice pool tables and ping pong tables and has banks of big screen tv's for all of the video gamers and some big screens for movie watching and it has quite a few shelves of books.

This is how we get our water. They have big pallets of boxes of bottled water that they place all over the place so one can grab and go. Usually you grab one and take it back to your pod

This is the shower facility. there is a row of 10 showers with a few sinks that we share. water tends to be hot when needed. We're instructed to take "Commando Showers" to conserve water; get wet, turn off water, soap up, turn on water to rinse off, done. but I've yet to see anyone do that!!

bathrooms are in a separate trailor. It works most of the time :)

Another shot of the MWR tent. I'm usually too busy to hang out here much, but its nice to know its available. they do have a little theater and a popcorn machine.

Interior shot of the chapel. We meet at 1630 every Sunday, we usually have between 12-20 people in attendance.

This is where we hold church every Sunday.

When visiting celebs or entertainers come through or for special presentations folks usually gather at the stage. We had Curt Schilling stop by a few weeks ago (he was throwing ipods into the crowd...at 90mph ouch!)

When the warning alarms go off we are supposed to run for one of these concrete bunkers. There is one of these set up within a few feet of most structures here.

Another shot of the ubiquitous HESCO barriers

The publication for the troops is the "Stars and Stripes", here is the weather forecast for our area. This paper has been in publication for the past 50 plus years, quite the military institution

One of the joys of deployment is getting all of the vaccinations. Small pox is an especially nasty one. They stick you 21 times in an area the size of a dime and then you get to sit back and watch as the lesion evolves into a large pus ball on your shoulder. After about 3 weeks or so it finally scabs over and heals up leaving a nice scar...my badge of courage.

These are "HESCO" barriers. They are everywhere at camp Bucca. Designed to protect from incoming mortars should they come in (none so far thank goodness). These are a little more practical than a 10 foot wall of sand bags.

Time to fly to Iraq

2008-12-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well the day finally came to head up to Camp Bucca. There was some debate whether we would be on a 3 hour convoy up to Bucca versus a 20 minute flight by Blackhawk helicopter. Luckily, we were able to fly. Here I am at the airport with some Blackhawk and Chinooks in the background.

Here is my best picture to date. The sun was coming up silohuetting the Blackhawk just right and....ooh la la...magic. I'd like to dedicate this photo to my beautiful wife Mindy and my sweet little rug burners and curtain climbers who support me in my photographic efforts among other efforts :)

We could only bring one duffle bag and a backpack on the bird and even then we were packed like sardines. You could wiggle your head a little bit to see out the window, which was pretty much desert anyway. Although they did have occasional stretches of tree nurseries on the Iraqi border, a green oasis in a sea of sand.

Looking out the window you can see our wingmen, flying in tight formation...pretty cool I thought.

We landed safely in Camp Bucca with all limbs attached, here are the 3 birds on the landing pad.

Here I am unloading my stuff. Finally made it to Bucca! Seemed like forever.

Wave goodbye to the birdie! Thanks for the ride.

Camp Beuhring Art Show

2008-12-21T08:44:00.001-08:00

At Camp Beuhring you couldn't help but notice the colorfully decorated large concrete barriers. As an artist of sorts I appreciated a few of these, so I included some here. Some of the art was quite good. Of course these are tough soldiers who need to convey lethality/power in their artwork so these pictures may not be suitable for small children (not really, I filtered the scary ones). They tend to have a variety of skulls accenting most of the pieces here...very intimidating. There were a few units from Tennessee that did stick figures which weren't worthy of this blog.

They gave us training on the same software we use everyday at my work at Ft. Irwin. Very redundant. That combined with some jet lag made studying the inside of my eyelids unavoidable. I thank Mark Devenport for this shot....Deep Meditation, you should try it sometime!

More artwork...Looks like a unit from Arizona. I threw that in there for Bobb-Oh

Dining Facility aka "DFAC"

2008-12-21T08:13:00.001-08:00

They have one of the nicest DFACs in Iraq down here at Camp Beuhring. Before I deployed I heard about these amazing DFACs in country and I'd have to agree most of them are pretty impressive. The sheer volume of food is amazing. They have all of the 50 state's flags hanging along the entryway so of course I got a pic with Utah's. There are red, white and blue banners everywhere and patriotic themed pictures aplenty. You would get the impression that they are happy that we are here. They hire a lot of people from India to work in these DFACs. They wear their sharp uniforms with pride and seem to be happy with the work.

It so happened to be Veteren's Day while I was in Camp Beuhring. They had a big production. Here are some of the Kuwaitis serving up the V-day cake. Pretty cool.

Here is picture of the cake after I got done with it :)

At the Kuwaiti DFAC they have a special Ice Cream Lounge section. With leather couches and rugs on the walls and some other things. The whole time I was in Camp Beuhring I never saw anyone using it so I had to lounge for a moment or two.

Behold the fine tapestries!!!!

Remember only eating or lounging! I quickly stopped loitering and began lounging after reading the instructions.

More Kuwait stuff

2008-12-21T07:40:00.000-08:00

The chapel at Camp Beuhring was pretty nice. We had a Mormon chaplain from Sandy there.

More of the concession connexes. They have these for all kinds of services

Shops and offices tend to be in these Connex containers that they retrofit for whatever purpose. They try to keep a lot of options available for the troops in way of comforts of home.

I find the written arabic very interesting. The word for "stop" really stood out to me as looking like 2 guys rowing in a canoe. Maybe at some point I'll learn the alphabet :)

In Kuwait we were stationed at Camp Beuhring for a few days for acclimation and trainging as we waited to get on a bird for Camp Bucca. I'm sure they named the Camp after some General or something.

Trained to Roll

2008-11-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

This is the Vehicle Roll-over simulator.

The goal is to learn to get yourself unbuckled and get the vehicle door open if you have a roll over. It is easier said than done when you are wearing all of you body armor and gear

Kuwait Kontinues

2008-11-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

We got up early one morning to head out to the firing range. Finally in the daylight the vastness of the desert was obvious. Nothing but small shrubby-lookin' things, certainly nothing that you would think could sustain a herd of Camels or humans for that matter, but I guess I was wrong, because on the way to the range we passed multiple camel herds near the road, each had a tent-like bedouin-looking structure nearby. Humans are pretty resilient making homes out of such inhospitable climes.....

Behold the vastness.....

I was looking for some "CamelBoys" (middle-eastern cowboys) to keep them doggies rounded up as they wuz gettin' close to the road. Must be easier being a Camelboy as you can try and rope two targets, head and hump. Just watch out for those camel pies.

Camels! Camels!

Here we are at the firing range somewhere in the desert, always a dangerous proposition with a bunch of healthcare providers toting weapons with live ammo. This was more of a weapons check as opposed to qualifying, just squeezed of 5-6 rounds. The 9mm is pretty fun to shoot actally and I'm told it has good stopping power to boot! The range next to us was using full automatic machine guns and the tracer rounds were pretty cool to watch, my Star Wars lovin' kids would've enjoyed it.

I'm wearing IBA or body armor and sporting my warrior pose.

Kwazy Kuwaiti

2008-11-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

First morning in Kuwait found me shaking loose the jet lag fog. Before crashing in the cot, the big debate was whether I should break out my sleeping bag or just use my poncho cover with my awesome Walmart fleece blanket, I opted the latter, it was chilly that first night.

Here is my tent while in Kuwait, large and spacious enough for a few close friends (30 guys) and it has an air conditioner that is very robust...brrrrrrrrr

This post has Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC and others, although I don't know why you would go pay there when you can eat at a very nice dining facility for free.

Here is the interior shot of our temporary abode. Lots of head space. You can see me here wearing one of the two approved uniforms for the next 6 months (my ACUs being the other, this is my PT uniform), it gives cause for reflection

I caught the Kuwaiti sun going down.....aw pretty.

Kuwait has some other cool stuff that I'll show you next time...stay tuned for camels!!!! Whahooo!

Up and Over!

2008-11-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

After through all the Georgia hoops we had jumped, twas time for a wee bit bigger jump across the pond. We were happy to finally get going (see smile below)

We flew into Bangor, Maine on our way to the middle-east. They have a fun tradition there of having a welcome crew out to welcome soldiers who arrive there for a layover as they get off the plane. I remember seeing newsclips about these folks that get up in the middle of the night to do this. Vets, boyscouts and various other organizations all participate. They take your picture and post it on a website so families can see their soldiers while they travel. They shook all of our hands whilst saying thank you. It made you feel downright good. It was fun to be a part of, just wish I had got a pic of them...

"Welcome to Bangor", so says the sign

We stopped in Leipzig, Germany after crossing the Atlantic Ocean. They had a little German goody shop with some pricey merchandise. I surely wasn't going to be lugging it to the middleeast and back. Twas tempted to get a mug however.

We finally arrived in Kuwait in the darkness. They had large buses there to take us to the nearby installation. Because Maj. Chris Yao and myself were sitting up front, we were in the "shooter" spots which required we carry live ammo and remain vigilant throughout the bus ride, while others slept. We did a great job keeping the vehicle secure. I did take a picture of the taillights of the bus ahead of us from my "shooter" perch.

Here is a picture of the brave protectors!! Imagine having bus security in the hands of a couple of doctors...scary. Although I did qualify SHARPSHOOTER with the 9mm! Chris and I had an interesting discussion on California's Prop 8 vote, his stance wasn't very compelling. The big things on my head are goggles with the cover over them...pretty goofy lookin'. There's a lot more goofy where that came from.

After a few briefings it was off to bed....our first night in the "real" desert.

Let's Get This Party Started!!

2008-11-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

Hello Family and Friends!

I thought I'd start a blog to help ya'll peek in on my deployment as it passes. I'm enroute to be a healthcare provider at Camp Bucca, Iraq. Of course there are some things that I can't show or talk about (else I'd have to kill ya....har har), but the interesting things both great and small i hope to present.

Best Wishes,

Captain Ryan J. Larson

On 1 November 2008 after a long hug and kiss from my beautiful wife, I flew into Fort Benning, Georgia to the CRC (the place where they train us up to go overseas. The weather in Georgia was peachy for sure :)

We were placed in these rickety barracks during our stay. I'll admit it had been a while since I had 3 roomies and slept on a bunkbed (ie Larson home circa early 80's). The Captain on the opposite side of the room snored like a freight train! I can hear him still.

The Army issued me a lot of stuff for this deployment and I had to cram it all into these lockers in my room. It was crazy finding stuff in there!!

Mindy would go crazy with this kind of organization!

The facilities. Very Impressive.

We did lots of fun stuff at CRC. We put the famous Army mantra "hurry up and wait" to the test and it came through with flying colors. Lots of standing in line, lots of doing redundant things, redundant things, redundant things...Lots of bus rides all over the place and lots of lectures. We did do some fun outdoorsy stuff like qualify with the 9mm Beretta at the range. I did pretty well and scored a "sharpshooter" mark, not quite an expert, but the next level down. The targets were pop up targets and you had to shoot them before they went down. Talking with others, I did better than most, but then I've always wanted to be a cowboy.

This way to the 9mm range!!

Go ahead, make my day! Look at the fear in the eyes of the man next to me.

I didn't tell anyone about my "special hand gun"

One of Ft. Benning's outdoor training areas. There are a lot of beautiful pine trees down south.

The wheels on the bus go round and round...........it was great to see a bunch of grizzled Army docs singing that song. J/K it didn't happen

We learned (AGAIN!) how to break down the M9 Beretta and clean it (AGAIN!)

More stuff to learn in the classroom....life is a classroom.

When I finished cramming all of my stuff into 3 duffles and a small back pack it was time for everyone to line up their stuff and wait. The duffle with my body armor was VERY heavy, I'm glad I could order some enlisted soldiers to come carry it for me! J/K We had to lug them ourselves.

smile before lugging! (The uniform "ACU's" make my belly look fat, its not my fat belly causing that, I promise)

Finally, got everything loaded and it is time to get on the bus to go the airstrip to fly outta here!

First Seargent Pemberton "SGT P", gives us some last minute instructions. For a small dog he had a loud bark!! He was a prior drill sgt afterall.

From left to right, Here is a portrait of Mark Devenport (the other LDS kid in our group and a pediatrician), myself and Lloyd Runser(FP doc from Alaska). We are excited to be on the bus.

The took us too an enormous hanger at the airfield where we ate some grub, had our bags checked and waited to get on the plane.

Here is a better picture of our fiesty SGT. P. Yap Yap!

Needless to say it was a long flight!!!!!!!!!!!

Next entry: Can't wait to get to Kuwait, I'm a Can'twaiti!