Awhile back I asked my brother Jimmy to do a guest post on a day in his life in Iraq. He is a contractor for the military and a National Guard Soldier. He finally got some breathing room and sent me the following: (warning it is a bit long but full of detail and interesting insights into his life)
A day in the life,
Hello, my name is James and I am in Iraq. I have been asked by my oldest sister Jennifer to write up something about what I do here to continue the war effort in the Middle East.
I am a contractor working on a Hunter UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) team on COB Speicher in Iraq near Tikrit birthplace of Saddam Hussein, and north of Baghdad. Our Hunter UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) is a Government Owned Contractor Operated team (GOCO for short). This means that the Hunter planes we use are flown and maintained almost completely by us as contractors, with minimal army/government support. Of course we do have some army personnel that work alongside us because we cannot be completely autonomous here in Iraq without them.
A little bit about me and what I do here before I explain a typical day for me. As I said, my name is James and I am 26 years of age, born in Missouri and lived most of my life in Owatonna, MN. I have 5 siblings, 2 brothers and 3 sisters of which I am the oldest boy and a mother and father who have been together since they got out of high school. I am also currently engaged to Kelly the most beautiful woman in the world and we are getting married on July 19th, 2008 while I am home on leave. You can visit our website at http://www.mywedding.com/jimmyandkelly for all the details and gift ideas.
I graduated from Owatonna Senior High School in 2000 and sparing you from all the details, I ended up working at different jobs. I joined the MN National guard in 2003 and in 2004 I was called up to active duty as a Shadow UAS Technical Maintainer for almost 2 years. Still in the National Guard to this day, I was called up by a company that was looking for people with my skills to work on the Hunter UAS in Iraq as a Technical/Mechanical Maintainer for at least a year with other possibilities afterwards. I was hesitant at first to accept this job, but decided it was a good opportunity to make some dough, pay some bills, and get some more experience before life gets too complicated at home to partake in such opportunities.
So after a couple months of training in Arizona to get up to speed on the Hunter UAS, I ended up in Iraq near the end of January 08’. Things started out kind of slow here before I settled in enough to know how operations were conducted on a daily basis here. It also has taken a few weeks/months to get into a good flow of things and to get into a nice daily routine which makes time go by a lot faster. Now that I have gotten you up to speed on my history, I can give you an idea of what goes on here on a day to day basis with more details on exactly what I do here in Iraq without of course giving out any sensitive information.
I guess I can start out with a typical work day. Operations here are 24/7 which means there are 2 shifts of personnel each working 12 hours a day. I am on the night shift and work from 5pm to 5am which is actually 9am to 9pm back in the states where I live. Being on the night shift has its pros and cons of course. It’s nice to be up at a time when back in the states it is daytime, so communications and such can be conducted easily while I am on shift and before the end of the day after work. It’s also nice during the summertime to work at night because during the day it can get up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit at the warmest so nights are a bit cooler depending on the weather. Right now the nights get down to around 65 or so degrees, but as it warms up the lows with probably be around 80 or 90 degrees. It may not sound like it is very cool, but in comparison to the highs it is a welcome 80 or 90 degrees. On the reverse of that I like to get some sun every once in a while so I don’t look like a ghost. It sucks to be sleeping while I could be getting rid of my ever whitening skin especially when my wedding is coming up and I don’t want to look like a ghost in my pictures. I am going to have to figure something out so I can get a good tan going.
Another con is that at night almost everything is closed on base. The dayshift can go to the PX (exchange or store) to buy whatever they need, they can basically get everything done that they need to while they are on shift and have some downtime. On the nightshift, I only have a couple hours on shift before basically everything closes except for the essential things like the recreation center or MWR, the gym, and the all important (but not to me) coffee store. So sometimes I have to get up early or stay up late to say ship a package or go to the PX to buy something. This isn’t a big deal when we aren’t working on the planes right when we get into work, but it can be especially for things like laundry which is only open until 8pm.
Since I work at night, a good tool to have is a flashlight. When I first got here I needed a flashlight just to walk to work. Now that I know my way around I can walk almost anywhere that I have been to at least a few times before without it. However, I still need a flashlight for specific tasks that require good illumination for performing maintenance tasks and to see inside the porta-johns. While I am on the subject, the facilities here are spotty at best. There are basically 2 types of facilities I can use here. A short walk from where I sleep there are 2 small buildings that house the toilets in one building and showers in the other building with separate buildings for males and females. There are 6 or 7 toilets inside one of these buildings, all separated of course into stalls. These toilets are supposed to be low water use toilets, but they don’t work very well. Sometimes after I get done and flush the toilet doesn’t flush all the way, or the sides of the toilet don’t get cleaned off very well so a second flush can sometimes be necessary which defeats the whole low water use feature of these toilets. Also, the stalls are a little small which isn’t too big of a deal I guess but can be annoying. Aside from this, it is still nicer to use these facilities than to use a porta john that can vary a lot in comfort and cleanliness sometimes being way too cold or warm and be covered in dust or really stink, sometimes like cigarettes which is a very nasty habit that should be outlawed. Not that I care too much about comfort since I am usually in and out, it is sometimes more preferable to seek out facilities that aren’t made completely of plastic.
The showers that I use are housed in the building next to the toilets near my room. The showers here are all separate stalls with about 7 in a building. The floors of the shower buildings are the worst part about them. They are usually covered in water from people not drying off inside the stalls, and it can get muddy too if it has rained out recently. Even with mats on the floor, I find myself trying real hard not to drop my clothes on the floor, or get the inside of my clothes wet from when I put my feet with shower shoes on through the legs of my pants. The showers themselves are a bit small, but adequate with plenty of water pressure when the generators are working. Hot water can sometimes be a problem because people like to take long showers and only think about theirselves. So when too many guys have taken showers before me, the hot water can be all gone. This has only happened to me once so far whenever I didn’t have time to come back later to let the water warm up so it isn’t really that big of an issue. Both buildings have sinks in them. The things I miss about taking shower at home would be being able to walk to the shower with having to brave the elements outside and of course it is cleaner at home.
A little about what I actually do here as a technical/mechanical maintainer. My main job is to maintain the planes that we have so they are flight worthy. This includes many maintenance tasks that are performed on a routine basis according to the number of flight hours or days logged. Tasks anywhere from a simple oil change to changing out avionics equipment to changing engines are performed on a daily basis when flying a regular schedule. A regular schedule is something like 1 to 2 flights a day which include takeoffs and landings. I take a big role in takeoffs and landings as well.
Before each takeoff, the plane is required to go through checks to make sure it is flight worthy. While in pre-flight and landing mode and while I am in charge of the plane I am called a crew chief. My duties as a crew chief require me to make sure the plane is ready to take off by taking directions from the pilot while he is getting ready to fly. This includes rolling the plane out to a spot where we can perform tasks such as; checking flight surface functionality, making sure the flight termination system is operating normally, and while the engines on the plane are warmed up and checked. All this can happen in about 30 minutes or less as long as everything goes smoothly and the crew is operating efficiently. To launch a plane 4 of us will handle the plane, guiding it down the taxiway to the runway where an external pilot will fly it for the first few minutes of flight after which another pilot operating the auto-pilot software will take over and do their mission.
While I am not maintaining a plane, or otherwise occupied with work I am free to do pretty much anything I want. Lunch breaks are of course of the utmost importance to me because I like to eat. Mind you I try not to eat a lot since I am in weight loss mode while I am here in Iraq. Food is served at a big dining facility 4 times a day, 3 of which I make it to because at lunch I am asleep in my bed. The DFAC is easily reached by vehicle (we have 4 vehicles at our disposal pretty much to use for anything we need them for). A 2 minute drive to the chow hall as we call it can easily be replaced by a quick 8-10 minute walk which is the much healthier alternative as long as the weather cooperates, which it does most of the time. It is easy to walk everywhere that I need to go except to go to the PX. I need to take a vehicle to the PX because it would otherwise be a 50 minute walk there and back. The only downside to walking is that everywhere I walk there is either rock or fine sand with pavement on the taxiway and runway of course. Not that it is hard to walk on rock or sand, but I do miss walking on the grass or pavement at home.
In order for me or anyone to get into the chow hall, I have to show the guards my ID. IDs are required to get into most places around here including the PX, MWR and the gym. Then it is a good idea to put the hand washing station to use before walking into the main part of the chow hall. The chow hall is also a good place to use the facilities because it is not a porta john. So when you finally get inside, I notice it is quite spacious. There are 3 big screen TVs on each side of the building, one will have a movie, one the news, and the other will usually have some sports game on it. So, you grab a tray
, plate and utensils and go to any of the many stations of food that they have and grab whatever kind of food you want. It is basically a big buffet hall with many different options that vary from day to day in a weekly rotation. The different stations of food include: main line with the food of the day, short order, hot sandwiches, a taco, wings, or pizza bar, pasta bar, healthy choices, and salad and fruit bar and also with many different choices of drink. These stations vary throughout the day depending on if it is breakfast, lunch, dinner, or midnight chow. With midnight chow having the least number of options but usually have the healthy choices bar. I usually take most of my food from the healthy choices including sometimes salad and fruits and vegetable choices. So a normal meal for me usually is something like chicken breast, mixed vegetables, maybe spaghetti, some kind of fruit, yogurt (not always) and most of the time a bottle of water with some tang flavoring in it.
Food can also be had in our break room where all the goodies are kept. There is a pretty good variety of food in the break room that a person can gain weight off of if they aren’t careful. I try to only eat the healthy things like the beef jerky and water, but I have been known to eat some cookies here and there. Our break room is stocked mainly from 2 sources. The first source is from our company commander who orders “Class I” stuff like muffins and Gatorade and beef jerky. The other way is from care packages that people receive and share. If you would like to send a care package, you can reach me at jwharbal@yahoo.com. I will only except stuff from people I know just because it can be kind of dangerous to let anybody send a package if you know what I mean.
Another thing I do with my free time along with the guys is to take laundry in. The laundry service here isn’t the best at cleaning, but all in all it is nice to have. With 20 items or less per bag of laundry, the service can have it washed, dried, folded and back to me in 2 days time, I just have to drop it off and pick it up when I get the time to. Because I go through a couple pairs of clothes a day including my gym clothes, this laundry service works really well, and I haven’t had any problems with it. The only thing about the washing they do is that it is done in cold water, but the clothes usually comeback clean so I have no problems with this. Sometimes I miss doing laundry at home especially when it involves Kelly and me folding them and just being together.
After getting lunch and laundry time done, I finally have time for my computer. I am into computers and electronics, so I am usually on my computer when I am not doing anything else. I have internet at the office where I work, and in my room where I sleep so I can keep up on emails and basic internet browsing stuff. Other stuff I do on my computer include: watching movies and tv series like “Stargate SG-1”, playing a few games here and there mostly real-time strategy games, photo editing, website editing, programming, finances, shopping, basically a little bit of everything. I like to play games with my brother at home so that is when my computer is put to really good use.
We also have phones here to use for free, so i mostly call my fiancée Kelly every few days and also my brother Chris and sister Jennifer. I haven’t called my other family as much just because. I can’t think of much else that I do here on my free-time between maintenance periods. I work 6 days a week, and get Saturdays off. I basically do the same things on my days off as I do on my free time except I don’t have any distractions from work.
The weather here can have an effect on how much free time I get also. Like right now, we have lots of dust in the air and low visibility so we can’t fly, and since there is nothing maintenance wise to do, I basically get to slack off the whole time. Weather here can vary sometimes wildly from month to month and sometimes from day to day. When I first got here, it was winter so for most of the night it was quite cold, and got below freezing. Needless to say I had a lot of layers on and I was still pretty cold especially when I had to be outside to maintain the planes and get them ready for flight. Since then it has warmed up quite considerably and I have gotten to wear shorts a few times, thought as a maintainer it isn’t a great idea to wear shorts because of kneeling hazards and such but some of the guys still do. Rain can also roll in very fast, but usually for a few months out of the year. When it does rain it rains really heavy, and anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. When it does rain, the water will pool up really easy here, and it can get really muddy so it sucks for walking. Now that it is into spring and pretty soon summer, the dirt is drying up and it is getting warmer and warmer out. The dayshift guys will be wishing they were on nightshift like me. After all this free time there is still the mission.
After a mission is over the external pilot will again take over flying the plane manually when he can see it near the runway and lands it into a rope that stops it. With a couple other guys, I will get onto the runway to stop the plane from going anywhere to taxi it back to the hangar so we can do preventative maintenance on it and get it ready for the next flight.
After the work day is complete, I get 12 hours of me time. Usually I end up going to the gym right after work. I try to go to the gym at least 5 times a week. Sometimes more if I go more than once a day in a week. I usually end up weight lifting around 60% of the time, and cardio 40% of the time. This varies of course, and it depends on what I feel like doing at that time. I have been trying to go more now that the wedding is getting closer, and also keeping a closer eye on what I eat. I hope I can reach my goals before I come home on leave.
After I workout, I will always get some breakfast. I would have to say breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. It would be nice to actually have breakfast food at breakfast time; I have to have it for dinner which is another con of nightshift. After chow I go and take a shower and then try to get on the internet and chat with whoever is on for about an hour, usually with my fiancée. I’ve got internet in my room which is shared between everyone working with the Hunter planes.
My room is part of a larger building that houses about 14 rooms, 7 on each side of the building with a partial deck/walkway down each side of it. Each room has 2 people in it, and they are about 13ft by 13ft. Everything is made out of plywood so sound easily comes through the walls. This causes problems when one person wants to sleep and in the next room a person talking too loud or has the TV on too loud. I have headphones to use and usually don’t talk much with my roommate so I don’t cause these problems. My room, like most, has for each person a storage area for clothing and such, a desk and under my bed there are more drawers for clothes. I bought a fridge for my room from a coworker so I can have cold water to take to the gym and before I go to work. Also, each room has a heating/ac unit that usually works pretty well. Flooring is made up of a hodge podge of rugs and carpet remnants. Keeping it clean is not a huge deal, tidiness is more important than cleanliness here in Iraq. I do sweep out he big stuff every now and then, dust gets everywhere though when there is a dust storm.
After a long day I try to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep so I am awake for the next day. When I do get up the next day, I sometimes go and do cardio early, but not too much lately. Also I will do my personal care and hygiene stuff and get dressed and the usual morning stuff. After taking care of everything I need to do before work, I will pack up my computer stuff into my backpack and walk to work which only takes about 6 to 8 minutes. I usually like to get in early so I can setup my computer and check email and the usually daily things on the internet. Another must is to check mail call. Getting mail is probably one of the few things I look forward to while I am here. My fiancée and family will send me stuff every few weeks to a month. Usually it is just mail and can also be some goodies that I probably shouldn’t eat but do, and I thank them very much for sending me stuff it helps to be reminded that I have such a great family and loved ones at home that support me in whatever I do.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know it was kind of long winded, but it could have been longer. If you have any further questions you can email me at jwharbal@yahoo.com. I can’t wait to see everyone when I get home. I hope everyone is ready to have a great time with me and Kelly at my wedding on July 19th.
