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.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas in Bucca
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Time to fly to Iraq
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.
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
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
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
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