QBLOG #12-Taji

BLOG 12 - Taji

Many of you on this list do not work for AAFES and know little if anything about who we are and what we do. AAFES is the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, the company I work for. We are part of the U.S.Government, under the Department of Defense. Our primary mission is to supply goods and services to soldiers and airmen where ever they may be and to provide funds for MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation). They in turn builds gyms, car care centers, day care, bowling alleys and other MWR services. Over 50% of our earnings are given to MWR.
I am in Iraq in support of that mission and for out troops.

As part of my job here, I and my colleagues are responsible for insuring that we are getting the right product to our stores and attempting to reduce a large inventory the was accumulated due to many factors that I won't go into. Thus, the title of this Blog, Taji. I am at our Distribution Center (DC) in Taji going through 300 containers and identifying merchandise that needs to be moved to our facilities. We chose Taji for a DC because it already had a warehouse and living quarters available and it is right in the middle of our two largest stores, Balad and Liberty. Unfortunately, after we loaded up the DC, the insurgents began hitting the roads hard with IED's and we were unable to move any merchandise out of Taji consistently or safely.

I flew out Friday afternoon on a Black Hawk helicopter. There are always at least two Black Hawks travelling. Ten of us were headed from Liberty to Taji. Eight of us were civilian. Five were assigned to each Black Hawk, which had crews of 4. A pilot, co-pilot and two gunners. We are 45 minutes away from Taji by car, but the roads are still too dangerous to travel. By Black Hawk, we are 10 minutes away.

As the ten of us hopped on board in full gear (kevlar vests and helmets), we were instructed to strap ourselves in and prepare for take off. The temperatures were already in the upper 80's and sweat began to pour down my face. There is no A/C in a Black Hawk, that is, no A/C other than open doors. Ours were soon shut. I watched as the gunners prepared the craft for take off. Each taking great care to saddle up with their head gear, checking communication with the pilots, looking over the aircraft and making sure each of us were securely strapped. Finally, they closed the pilots door, gathered up communication cords and crawled in behind their guns. Off we were! Before I knew it we were flying above Baghdad. This was my first opportunity to see this famed city. As we travelled on the outskirts of the city, one could see a distinct divide. Off in the far distance you saw groves of Palm trees with houses huddled in their midst. Then you saw the city, towers of Mosque's reaching to the sky. Most residential buildings seemed to be no higher the 4 or 5 stories and were what I would call pueblo style. Closer to us, the area was less green, Palm trees far and few between. Many of the buildings I could see were obviously damaged from the war. No windows. Parts of the building were crumbling.
Cars were abandoned and the streets deserted or with only very few people. Then there was the freeway, filled with cars, moving beyond the borders that we were now approaching and flying over; the green zone, in the center of Baghdad.

A few minutes outside of Baghdad we were turned sharp and began a quick descent towards a runway. In minutes we were down on the ground and out of the Black Hawk. Our ride was over. I was greeted by our store manager at Taji, Paula Manning. She welcomed me to Taji and said my bed was ready at the Taji Hilton. She informed me that there had been a major attack at the South gate and that minutes before we landed, two medivac helicopters left with the injured soliders on board.
No one was killed. We went about our business and I settled in for the night.

Now the Taji Hilton is no where near the standard of a regular Hilton hotel. But for Iraq, and with what we have, it was pretty darn good. I had a real bed, carpet on the floor, air conditioning and only had to walk downstairs to a shared bathroom. The Taji Hilton also houses ALL the AAFES employees working at Taji, to include the Distribution Center and Main Store. Everyone shares a room. Think of a Dorm room, but smaller. The Main Store is open 24 hours a day. This is to support the pilots and soldiers who come in off missions at different hours of the day. Our motto is, "We go where you go", and we do.

Work began early Saturday. As the heat rose, the containers we were working in became quite hot. This isn't even the first wave of heat they tell me! We finished up and joined a group for dinner at the DFAC. Afterward we went to the store to see how sales were. The store had just received 100 lap tops that many here have been waiting for. By the end of the evening, 75 of those 100 lap tops were sold. It was amazing! At 8:30 Paula asked if I wanted to go with her to the airfield to pick up Juan, her Loss Prevention detective. We went to the airfield. It is dark. You see the air field lights, blue and red, mapping out the runway. We are sitting in our Pajero SUV talking and waiting for the flight to come in. Just as two Black Hawks are landing we hear the rumble of two large supply trucks pulling in next to us. They park and quickly, you hear the gate fall down and the sound of people jumping, the clattering of rifles against armour and a feeling of RUSH and EXCITEMENT fill the air. Remember it is dark, and we only see the silhouette of soldiers with their helmets on and night vision goggles sticking out like some strange antenae for humans. Orders are barked and the soldiers rush away down toward the air strip. More orders are barked and you see the dark outlines standing in formation. We wait. We both are asking each other where are our cameras (not that we could take pictures, but the whole scene is just cool)! The Black Hawks take off. The soldiers are still on the runway. A few minutes pass and you hear a different sound in the distance. You can only hear. You cannot see. All military aircraft fly without their lights at night, until they are within meters of their landing site, and then the lights come on. Even without seeing the aircraft, we both know it is the sound of a Chinook. We had assumed it would be primarily because of the number of soldiers. A Black Hawk can only carry 10 passengers. A Chinook, is more like 20. Sure enough, two Chinooks suddenly appeared with their lights shining out of the dark sky. The whooomp! whooomp! of their blades and engines acknowledging their arrival.

We find out later that those soldiers were going out on a mission to find/raid a suspected insurgency hiding place. Earlier that day, several Black Hawks were shot at and hit. No injuries, other than the Black Hawks themselves. Because of this, many flights out of Taji have been cancelled for the next day. The one flight I am able to be booked on, I must decline because I needed at least another half day to work containers.

Tonight I am writing you from the Taji DC. The day has been productive and the temperature was pleasant. This evening there appear to be dust storms in the distance. You cannot see the horizon. The sun is peering through this dust, but it looks like the moon. The sky is grey, but their are no clouds. It is strange...and curious. It is the way things are here. Strange and curious. There is a war still being fought in the streets of Baghdad, Mosul, Fallujah and other places in Iraq. We hear of many civilians and Iraqi forces being killed every day. Car bombs and IED's and attacks on gates at the entrances to American and coalition force installations occur regularly. Yet, I feel safe here. You talk to others and they say the same thing. They feel safe. Strange and curious.

This Blog may be a bit scattered. My apologies. I had a whole different idea and topic in mind, but so much has occured in the two days I've been here that I felt I needed to write it down and decided to share it. So this is mostly how I write in my journal. Scattered thoughts that are joined by some little idea that pops into my head and leads me to the next thought, seemingly unrelated.

There is still so much to write about: my interaction with some of our local Iraqi employees ere and with our third country national employees. The incredible generosity they show in small but significant ways. The human touch, in a world torn by war-by greed-by power hungry people-by power hungry nations, is what we should always look for and always be ready to give. The human touch. Slow down, be joyful for the incredible things we have that don't cost a dime. Be thankful for the incredible things we have that do. The world is not America...and America is not the world. We should not expect either to be.

Being here, my faith in man kind is renewed. People caring about people. Not about what they are going to wear. Not about the car they drive. Not about the places they are seen or about money they make. It is About people. About relationships and giving and receiving humbly. Amazing things. Miracles if you will. Miracles every day and I am blessed to be able to bear witness.

Be a miracle in someones life. Reach out and love someone. Hug someone. Let one person know that you really care. Give them an hour or two of your time...uninterrupted by TV, Cell phones, radios or anything else. See what miracle you find and create.

Blessings from Taji, Iraq.

Choose Love, not Fear.

Robert