Bad in Baghdad Biker Gang Blitz

Bad in Baghdad Biker Gang Outing

I survived! I survived my first outing with the Bad in Baghdad Biker Gang here on our little outpost. Not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to say that. We've had folks flip over their handlebars, break collar bones, flatten tires, disfigure bike frames, you name it. Thankfully I survived the outing with nary a scratch or even a cool story that will linger on in infamy (ie they don't have to nickname specific potholes in Baghdad after me). ;) Here's the lowdown--I started running again with the plans that I'll continue to run road races while I'm here in theater. Next one in the queue is the Army 10-miler--about a week from today. However, running on flat, rocky, dusty terrain can get rather boring and monotonous pretty quickly--especially to a trail runner such as myself. So the first couple of times that I saw the biker gang whiz by me at break neck speed with 'speed racer' intensity on their faces I knew I had to be a part of it. They were having a blast and were appearing to take mental vacations away from the doldrums here in our bizarre deployment circumstances. I knew the crosstraining approach would be a much welcomed break to my routine. So, I started to ask around and quickly figured out how to join. Here's a nice story about humanity and something that will rarely ever make the media back in the 'mainland' as it's a feel good story and not focused on death & destruction.

Interesting Vignettes of Individuals who Serve

We have some professional types here in theater who have shuttered their private practices back in the US to contribute back to their countries without any expectation of compensation or accolades. They're quite humble about it and won't even really let anybody in on their unique situations--unless you start prying for the 'true story' behind the stoic facades. Within the past week I've met four individuals whose situations have truly reconfirmed that some men are truly 'good people'. I hesitate to divulge specific details about their backgrounds so I'll try to describe their situations from a 'general' perspective so as to protect their anonymity--be assured, however, that these individuals certainly exist and appear to be genuinely participating in this effort with honest intentions.

Biker Gang Leader/Benefactor

The story behind the biker gang--a certain professional (#1) here in the area shuttered his private practice for a couple years and up and joined the military at an age really close to 60! He arrived in theater and noticed that the 'exercise scene' on the ground was pretty monotonous and repetitive. He wanted to add some spice to the situation and personally purchased a dozen high end bicycles and had them delivered to the theater so he could encourage Soldiers to get out, get some exercise, see their surroundings from a different perspective, and enjoy life a little bit. These bikes aren't just $50 Huffys--we're talking Gary Fischers, Diamondbacks, Treks, bikes that easily start above $500/each! They've developed a riding club system where individuals can sign up to participate in a ride 6 of 7 days each week. The workouts range from really high-tempo/long distance rides 4 days a week and then two slower paced, more leisurely, rides the other two days each week. Then they've developed a network of riding routes around the region that introduce you to some of the 'off-the-beaten' paths around this massive complex. It's really an ingenous solution to the monotony of living on a tiny little outpost. The coolest thing is the gentleman behind all this. He was doing well in his civilian life and wanted to contribute something back to our nation. He dropped everything to join the military for a few years--putting his practice on hold and to come support these 'young bucks' here in theater. His biker gang operation has been such a neat thing to witness and experience--it truly warms your heart!!!

Pro Bono Work in Support of our Nation

Professional individual number 2. Another person who dropped a successful career, a thriving private practice in one of the premier venues of our country, and I'm certain a very elevated income level lifestyle--to come spend a year in virtual squalor, to live in housing situations that make "Katrina cottages" look like custom-built, high end estates, and to participate in frequently dangerous convoys to contribute something back to his nation as a worker bee behind the scenes on developing the legal 'infrastructure' in birthing this new nation. I'm in total awe of this individual. He approaches his job with the excitement, passion and vigor as a child who enters an FAO Schwartz toy store. His face illuminates like a kid in a candy store when he embarks on the menial tasks of his job. He said he likes to be reminded of the important things in life and this is one way of doing it. From observing his abilities and the passion and zeal with which he approaches his work in his current position it is obvious that he is a very capable and successful professional individual. I can only imagine the income and lifestyle amenities that he is 'giving up' to spend a year over in this dustbowl. America has definitely birthed some very great individuals, indeed. Even ones who quietly go about their work--ensuring the 'behind the scenes' things are accomplished in master-level perfection.

Local National Determined to Rebuild his Fatherland

Local national number 3. On this big adventure of mine I've met several individuals who were born and raised in Iraq and at some point in the past thirty years they had fled the country out of fear for their lives. The first gentleman was on the plane with me from Kuwait to Iraq and only confided in me upon landing on the tarmac in Baghdad that this was his first time back in Iraq in 29 years! His personal story sent chills up my spine. Yesterday, I met another individual who returned to Iraq four years ago to help rebuild his native country. He is yet another person who has put not only his own, but his entire family's safety, on the line in an effort to help rebuild his fatherland. I can't go into details about it but his story is yet another reminder that there really still are people who are good at heart in the world. Reading the papers you'd rarely think that...

Soldier with a Smart Plan for Personal Finance

General Issue Soldier (individual #4). Ended up eating dinner with a Soldier (who else do you eat with in a dining facility crammed with 400 other individuals at any given time) yesterday. Spent some time discussing personal finance with him (anybody who knows me knows I have an interest in all things finance related). This young buck totally had his head on straight with respect to personnel finance. Normally I hear Soldiers here in this environment talk about the brand new truck or motorcycle they plan on buying when they return home from their deployment. This Soldier, however, wasn't talking about vehicles and loan payments. Instead he was talking about the job he plans to apply for when he returns home--something similar to the Alaskan King Crab fishing boat positions (a la Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch tv show) that nets (ha ha--all puns intended) some $250k/season. His goal was to go home use the money he's saved up during this deployment as a downpayment on a foreclosure property, pick up one of these fishing boat jobs for a couple of years, pay off his house as quickly as possible and then start purchasing additional properties, paying each one off at a time before buying another one. I was so impressed! The Soldier might have been all of 29 years old and he'd already learned one of the big lessons in life--to live within your means, set money aside for the future and to avoid debt! I was so excited to meet somebody with a similar philosophy in life! Pretty cool! I wish him all the best in his future pursuits.

Victory Over America Complex

Today I've got plans to tour this interesting complex here in Baghdad. It's my first complete day off since I left home in August. I hope to be able to use my camera and take some interesting photos. We'll see. I carry my camera with me just about everywhere around here but most places you're prohibited from snapping pictures. Hopefully, that won't be the case this afternoon. However, it might take a while to figure out how to upload pictures here as I'm using a 'common' area computer to access this blogging site--not some CPU where I can upload any documents to. We'll see--I'll try to get some things posted to site, somehow.

Learnin' Bulgarian in Babylon...

Interesting day. Spent some time in one of several dozen palaces. They obviously were built by Saddam. They have this ethereal 'plastic-ness' about them. Almost too perfect but crumbly and decrepit all at the same time. They remind me of something you'd find on Michael Jackson's ranch. Like they tried to create a perfect eden but missed the marked significantly. Saw a giant Great Blue Heron today. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any photos of it. Also saw several trees full of hundreds and hundreds of tiny blackbirds--something akin to Hitchkock's "The Birds". As for the Bulgarian, most evenings I wait in a rather long line for access to the internet. Whilst waiting I'm surrounded by Bulgarian nationals who are waiting with me. I finally got tired of not knowing any of their language and printed up a handful of 'useful phrase' sheets from www.omniglot.com So I'm trying to spend my wait time in a somewhat productive manner. Hence the Bulgarian. Here's the joke of the day...one of the 'useful phrases' on the list is "My hovercraft is full of eels!" Korabat mi na v'zdysna vazglavnica e palen sas zmiorki. In case you need to learn this very important phrase. Dobar vecer e dovizdane!

In the middle of Babylon...

Greetings from Mesopotamia!

Been here on the ground for a few weeks. This adventure has started off at lightnin' speed. 32 days after learning about my new 'situation'--(sandwiched into those 32 days..we moved our entire household into a new home (via SUV & Uhaul truck), cleared out the 'new to us' home as the previous owners left most of their belongings in it, we renovated one entire bathroom and bedroom and attempted to paint several other repairs and perform minor repairs on electrical things, etc.)--I departed home and spent a few days in Georgia (US) where I underwent some training and equipment issue. Then it was off to distant lands--with a little blitz in Europe before continuing on to Kuwait. Spent a whirlwindy, sandstorming few days in the middle of mid-100 temps and about 60% humidity. Then it was off to northern lands. I couldn't make much out from the tiny little window in the plane as we crossed the border but it was exciting nonetheless. Sitting next to me was a gentleman who hailed from the region but who had fled for undisclosed reasons some 29 years prior to his return on the same flight as me. This little personal disclosure of his gave me the chills and reminded me about why we were in this region in the first place.

Once we'd landed, I was whisked off to another region of the city where I was provided fairly nice accommodations. I was anticipating camping with limited access to showers and hot meals for a year but was pleasantly surprised with the 'modern' conveniences we were afforded.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to post any photos that I've snapped since arriving, but I'll attempt to post some descriptions of things.

Local Flora: Date Palms

About a week ago I stumbled upon some local gentlemen who were collecting dates from a date palm. I inquired as to what they were and they offered me a handful of them. They were absolutely delicious.

Local Fauna: tiny little fruit bats

Each evening I'm greeting by swirls upon swirls of fruit bats who circle about the spotlights that illuminate the sportsfields near our billets. They remind me of fish in an aquarium and I find myself mesmerized by their antics. It's very relaxing--I sort of consider them my 'birds' like I study my hummingbirds back in the US.

Local Weather Patterns: sand storms

One afternoon when I departed my workspace, I opened the door to the trailer and was absolutely SHOCKED by a blood orange red sky. A dust storm was passing through and had altered the color of the atmosphere to this bizarre mix of orange and red. It was really bizarre, eerie, but interesting all tied up together. The sandstorm dust lingered in the atmosphere for several days.

Gotta run...the internet powers that be have 'signed' for me to depart. I'll post more later...

Heading to the spa...

It's not very often when a parent departs for an entire year. Told the kids that I was heading to a Mesopotamian spa for a long while. We'll see. I figured it made sense--somehow I won an all expense paid vacation to an historical foreign land, special sand treatments for your skin and teeth (could it possibly be micro-dermabrasion?), mineral baths due to unique substances in the water, and the ever so often exposure to interesting wildlife & critters (camels??? or rather camel spiders???)--all not only free of charge but I'll be getting paid for it!!! ;)

This week has been quite hectic, spent much of it either studying new cultures, aiming at targets, receiving wonderful immunizations, learning how to treat injured folks, or improving my skills at surviving day upon day with limited amounts of sleep (probablyy totaled 10 hours of sleep since last Saturday). Should make for an interesting year. The children started school on Tuesday--their very first day in 'real' school! Not totally sure how it went as phone calls (and sleep) have been few & far between. It's definitely rather odd to not be homeschooling this year. At least we'll be collecting up unique experiences to inject into our curriculum for future years. Enjoy the adventure! I hope to find an opportunity to get back and post to this blog every so often over the next year. Blessings!