20 Sep 2005.
Wa Happa' Cake.

Trish took a cake decorating class.  We had just finished watching "A Mighty Wind" and we wanted to know, Wa Happened?

15 Sep 2005.
Last night in Iraq.

05 Sep 2005.
Counterstrike.

Watchdog Article

01 Sep 2005.
Aircraft maintenance records.

30 Aug 2005.
Predator overhead.

25 Aug 2005.
More mortar damage.

15 Aug 2005.
Progress on the house.

08 Aug 2005.
NBC News.

22 Jul 2005.
Mortar damage.

08 Jul 2005.
Victory over Iran palace.

08 Jul 2005.
Low over Iraq.

04 Jul 2005.
Fox News.

28 Jun 2005.
Hi mom.

17 Jun 2005.
New machine.

05 Jun 2005.
Saddam's air force.

30 May 2005.
Get some.

26 May 2005.
Dug in.

25 May 2005.
Wired Office.

24 May 2005.
Change of Command.

22 May 2005.
Into Iraq.

19 May 2005.
On the road again.

14 May 2005.
Briefing.

10 May 2005.
Construction site humor.

05 May 2005.
Housing Starts.

We're buying a house that had yet to be built.  The above photos show you where the house will be.  The photos below show you what the view will be like from the front porch.

10 Apr 2005.
Black Widow.

01 Apr 2005.
April Fools.

Trish took this water jug to work and put it in the cooler.  April fools hilarity ensured (much to the dismay of the kitty).

23 Mar 2005.
Flooring.

And the reason we went to visit my parents?  Why to install a laminate wood floor, of course.  You see, my parents live out in the countryside.  And Florida is a sandy place.  Even out in the back woods.  Combine all that sand with the six dogs, boot-clad horse people, and the occasional dog sheep (see 26 Dec 04 post), and soon the carpet is little more than a sponge for germs.  So we tore it all out and replaced with a nice laminate wood floor.  Sure there's more sweeping to do, but at least now you know you're getting all the dirt.

With carpet removed.

22 Mar 2005.
Get on the train.

Our next vacation destination was my parents house in Florida.  We decided to take the train all the way.  By booking well in advance we were able to reserve a sleeper car for a very reasonable fee.  We had a fine steak dinner in the dining car (included with the first-class ticket) and met some very nice people.  We then slept soundly as we rumbled down the railways.

What a ride.

21 Mar 2005.
I love to watch it (it's the Daily Show).

Jon Stewart is even more of a mensch than you might imagine.  One of the things I've been wanting to do for years is attend a live taping of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Seeing as I'm recently back from Iraq and all (and will be returning soon), this seemed like a fine time.

We e-mailed the web site months ago with no reply.  We called the number on the web site and were greeted with the message that no tickets would be available to see the show until July.  Ugh.  So in desperation, I packed my blues and on the trip and we headed down with the studio.  Maybe let me stand at the back or something, I thought to myself.  So how did the producer respond when she saw us coming down the street?

Only by giving us VIP tickets, is all.  In fact before we could even get into the standby line, one of the producers accosted us, gave us VIP tickets, and ushered us in out of the cold.  We were given a couple of the best seats in the house.  And how did Jon react when he came out to warm up the crowd, you ask?  Only by spending most of his time talking to me about Iraq.  And thanking me for my service.  And wishing me well on my next trip.  And doing it in a very funny and yet respectful way.  And the show was of course, awesome.  And on his way off the stage to a standing ovation, Jon shot me a personal gesture of support.  And on the way of the studio, the same producer who have us the tickets, handed me this token of Jon's appreciation:

If you've ever wondered what Jon was writing on his script during the show, now you know.

After that we went out for an enormous burger.

19 Mar 2005.
An Airman in New York.

We're in New York on Vacation.  We're staying at the fabulous Soldiers', Sailors', Marines', and Airmen's Club.  Man, what a deal.  The most expensive room in the place (which we're staying in) is $47 a night.  And this is mid-town Manhattan.  The next cheapest hotel is about three times that.  And it's five blocks from Times Square.  Six Blocks from the hottest shows on Broadway.  I recommend all military members visit New York and take advantage of this fine benefit.

Just look for the flag.

Trish at Trump Tower.

Honoring the New York Regiment in Central Park.

Our friend and NY native, Celia, took us to here favorite pizza joint.

We couldn't afford to have a drink here.

This former carriage house, on 44th St. between 5th and 6th. avenue, is one of the places where my dad worked back in the 50s (when they still had actual carriages drawn by actual horses).

Horatio Sans at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

07 Mar 2005.
Flying Doggie

During my Civil Air Patrol check ride, my check pilot brought along his little doggie.  She sat on his lap the whole flight and was very well behaved.

22 Feb 2005.
What's on My Treo.

A few days ago my good pal Fuzzy posted a list of the software he has on his Treo 600.  Here's what I have on mine:

Adobe Reader for Palm, which I use to keep a copy of pertinent Air Force regulations with me.

iambic Agendus 7.06, which is a fine Contact/To Do replacement for the Palm.  I'm sure they have some fancy new version out, but my old one works just fine.

CoPilot 5.1 by Laurie Davis.  This program is, without a doubt, THE finest flight planning program for the Palm.  Combine it with a waypoint database from Paul Tomblin's Copilot Waypoint Generator and you've got a powerful tool to plan all aspects of a flight in a small airplane.  The Treo 600 has enough on-board memory to allow me to keep a database containing every airport and nav aid in the world.  So with CoPilot I can construct a flight plan (and CoPilot allows me to create a profile for my aircraft so that I can make accurate fuel/true airspeed calculations), determine the weight and balance and graph it out, and print out a flight plan in FAA, Canadian, or ICAO format.  Best of all, it's Freeware (although I recommend making donations to both Laurie and Paul to help them maintain this great software).  What a deal.

iSilo 4.15 which allows me to read e-books.

pTunes, for MP3s.

Butler 1.62 allows you to customize your Treos volume buttons, LED, and other features.

Card Export 2.0 is great for connecting your Treo to a PC and using a memory card just like a USB flash drive.  It also allows you to transfer large files at a much faster rate than the normal hot synch

CelestNav 2.5 is a celestial navigation calculator and helps you use sextant for navigation without the tediousness of writing manual precomputations.

Flight Master 4.7.  The Companion to CoPilot, Flight Master takes your CoPilot flight plan and integrates GPS moving map functionality, including an HSI and a very simple GPS-based ADI.  Be careful though, as a GPS-based ADI shows only trend data while a real, vacuum-driven ADI show an instantaneous attitude.

HandMap 4.7.1 is a fine GPS/street map program.  As long as I'm carrying around a GPS (and I use a Garmin 12XL with a serial cable) I might as well be able to find my way around on the ground.

SkyChart 4.2 gives you a nice picture of the visual sky based on your location.  It's free.

Spaceward Ho! 1.0.4 for Palm, just like in college.

Formulas 1.41 is an excellent conversion program.

09 Feb 2005.
Low Level.

It was time to go home, so I hitched a ride on an Italian helicopter bound for Kuwait.  I caught the contract flight home from there.

The following photos are taken from an altitude of about 40 feet as we buzzed over Southern Iraq.

Goat herders.

We blew this airfield up during the first Gulf War and it's been abandoned ever since.

Oil well fire.

Everyone knows that there's a lot of oil in Iraq.  But did you know that in some places, all you have to do is did a hole and it comes bubbling to the surface?

In the middle of friggin' nowhere, this fellow was out for a stroll.

The desert is still littered with the burnt-out hulks of tanks from the first Gulf War.  These tanks are entrenched in fighting positions, for all the good it did them.

As we approached the Kuwaiti border, we had to climb.  This gave us a good view of all the Bedouin camps.

02 Feb 2005.
Sight-seeing in Iraq.

I came to Iraq three weeks ago as an advisor.  The Italians have set up there own Predator Remotely-Piloted Aircraft operation to conduct reconnaissance as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Since they've never flown combat missions with their Predators before, I was sent to help them through the process of becoming proficient.

We're based near the town of An Nassiriyah, in the mid-southern part of Iraq.  Things aren't quite as spicy down here as they are in Baghdad, but we still take plenty of precautions.  You'll notice that in most of the photos I'm wearing a kevlar helmet, flak jacket, and a 9 mm pistol.  This is the minimum gear required to go anywhere in Iraq.

The bunker we've turned into an operations center.

The way down into the bunker.

We share the bunker with the Italian helicopter pilots.  They've already left their mark.

Finally, the entrance into the operations center.  Note the dust on the chair.  It covers everything here.  It gets into everything.  At the end of the day, you're always covered in this fine, fine dust.  It clogs your sinuses and makes you cough all day.  Combine that with the constant waft of smoke and diesel exhaust (this base is a major way point for Army convoys) and it makes for a very unpleasant experience.

Just down the road from the hanger is a mechanical graveyard left over from the first Gulf War.  The Iraqis used to have many trucks and planes at this base.  We blew them all to bits.

Here's the old Iraqi Air Force Headquarters building.  Looks a little run down but not too bad.

The roof tells a different story.

The first bomb we used on this building was a 500-pounder.  As you can see, it didn't have much of an effect.

But the second attack, with a 2,000 pound bomb, did the trick quite nicely.  You can't tell from this photo, but the entire interior of the building is gutted.  Take that, Saddam.

This is one of the last pictures of Saddam you can find in these parts.  It's just outside the bombed building, and it promotes the glory of the Iraqi Air Force and the manner in which it brings peace to the land.  It's hard to see in the photo, but there are white doves of peace in the picture above Saddam's head.  Very inspiring.

The Ziggurat at Ur, the fortress which stands before the birthplace of Abraham, founder Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.  This important religious site is located about 1/4 mile from the headquarters building.

Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.

The Italian pilots and American advisors.

09 Jan 2005.
Gear.

Everything you need for an all-expense paid vacation to a fabulous, sunny, sandy destination.

Left to right: Flight suits; mess kit, poncho, and web harness on top of sleeping bag; all sorts of chem warfare suit components (shrink-wrapped in plastic); David-Clarke headset; knee board, insect repellent; first-aide kit; more insect repellent, magazine and grenade carrier; air filters for gas mask; gas mask; field jacket, Justin Desert Ropers; kevlar helmet on top of flak jacket; gas mask carrier on top of mosquito netting; back pack; desert sweater; squadron ball cap on top of leather A-2 jacket; and camel back.

08 Jan 2005.
Unusual Vegas Weather.

---

Previous Posts

Mar-May 2004
Jun 2004
Jul 2004
Aug 2004
Sep-Dec 2004
Jan-Mar 2005
Apr-May 2005
Jun-Sep 2005

---

©2004, 2005