Deployment Update

Cheryl - Jan. 2009

Baghdad Bulletin
31 July 2009
Issue 8

In this issue, I promised I would respond to a dear friend's request to describe my day. While dated 31 July, I'm including some events that precede today. I have some new photos that I hope to send later. First, I want to mention the loss of a friend I told you about several weeks ago. Pat, a member of my home church, New Market United Methodist Church, Alabama, had been terribly injured in a car accident. Late last night I read an email that she passed away yesterday morning. While she's in the best place there is, it's very sad because she'll be missed by so many. As I write this, the Sunday morning service is going on at home. In my morning service here, I played something for the prelude with her in mind (It is Well With My Soul). She was the one in our congregation who mailed a bulletin to those who missed a Sunday and wrote on it that "we missed you". I took me awhile to figure out who was sending those to John during his deployment or to me when I missed because she never signed her name. She was a small lady but a tower in our tiny congregation - always thinking of others, and never complaining that there was too much to do. Please keep her family and our little church on your prayer list. We will miss her.
 
Also while I write this, I hear Muslim prayers coming through local speakers. Throughout the day, that's pretty routine. Sometimes it's louder than others.
 
So tomorrow is another day and it happens to be a Monday. Before I head to breakfast between 6:30-7, I'll check my work emails to see if there are any action items that need to be addressed from the night before or first thing in the morning. No two days are alike. Even if you have an agenda for the day, it can get off track very easily if something comes up unexpectedly. Some days start calm and become crazy, others I know will be stressful, and others, well, we just manage. That’s all. So far, I haven't told you anything unique to most of your own jobs!
 
I will have breakfast in the dining facility - probably a hard-boiled egg or scrambled eggs and chunks of melon. Sometimes, if there is no line, I'll request a small omelet with mushroom and cheese. It's never as good as the ones John makes, but it will do. Lately, they've had fresh pineapple, so I enjoy that. Sometimes I toast a bagel and put peanut butter on it. I had oatmeal a couple of times and cereal once for a change. There are little boxes of orange juice along with every imaginable kind of juice and milk for variety. I never had banana milk until I came to Iraq. It's tasty but very rich. Once was enough! Chocolate soy milk is good too. There is no decaf coffee, but I bring a cup of "light" coffee back to my office. I put lots of low fat milk in it! Speaking of coffee, I've become fond of their "iced coffee" at dinner. It's something I didn't think I would care for. But it's sweet and very good. It reminds me of the time my mother gave me my first sip of coffee when I was a very small toddler. She put lots of milk and sugar in it and I liked it!

Speaking of the dining facility, I had an experience at lunch today. I noticed lots of British enlisted soldiers. They were sitting not just at my table, but in large groups all around. Before I left, I said to the fellow next to me that I thought they had pretty much left Iraq. A very young (most people here look young to me!) said they were leaving this afternoon - the last were going. I thanked them for their service (as I do when I meet a U.S. military member about to return home) and shook their hands. What surprises me is that people seem surprised to be thanked. They do appreciate it. Anyway, a couple of them mentioned, "Thanks for the great food!" I asked, "Where to next?" and they said, "Afghanistan." More on food later. If I have laundry to be picked up, I'll swing by there and get it after breakfast and bring it back to the Choffice (chu/office) trailer.
 
My first meeting isn't until 9 on Mondays and that is a teleconference with my Boss and fellow ACOR colleagues located in other camps in Iraq. The ACOR is the Assistant Contracting Officer Representative. The COR is back at Ft. Belvoir, VA and those of us here in country monitor the government contract for linguists. I often schedule meetings here in my office or go to someone else's office and consolidate trips whenever possible. 
 
My workspace is a very simple desk in a corner between two unpainted plywood walls. It faces the door if anyone comes in. I've taped a couple of recent photos of John, some spectacular roses and a rainbow from TN, a sunset in NC, the grassy Labyrinth in Huntsville, and a wonderful photo of Mt. Kilamanjaro and giraffes (that we didn't take on our Feb trip!) where only I can see them unless someone sits next to my desk. There is a printer and a phone on a folding table behind me next to a small bookcase. Not a lot of room, but very very adequate. I have a conference table (another story for later) with 6 chairs, and another desk on the other side of the plywood in case someone else needs to use a desk when they visit here.
 
I have maps of Baghdad on the walls. I acquired a small table and a 4x6 woolen Persian rug (that can be bought for about $30 locally) that were going to be tossed away. The rug was pretty dirty but I was able to shake and brush a lot of it out. (There's more to the story for later). I was going to buy a refrigerator, but someone had one that I could have - so now there is always cold water available during meetings and when visitors arrive. The large plastic bottles hold about 32 ounces and they are stacked all over the camp.
 
My responsibilities including providing government oversight to a very large contract, to be sure the contractor and the military units are adhering to it. That means unannounced inspections at locations and in the contractor spaces. In my first month at this location, several issues needed attention. I encouraged the contractor to hold a Town Hall for unit POCs so that information could be disseminated, and questions answered before I have to issue deficiency letters. My ultimate goal is to be sure that the tax payers (us) are getting their money's worth from the program.
 
So my role as an ACOR is to be sure that the contractor and the military are working together to execute the contract properly. If they cannot work something out, then I have to get involved with facilitating the problem, stop a bad practice, or encourage a better one.
 
Most days are draining and I drop off to sleep with no problem. But keeping up with all the issues simultaneously is not like being an orchestral conductor. So many parts need to keep working together and moving forward. Every day, I learn more new things.
 
On Saturday (my self-declared half-day that never really happens because the work never ends) an Iraqi lady and her daughter will want to clean my choffice. I don't encourage it - they would do it everyday like the other trailers, but I only have them come every couple of weeks to mop the floor after it gets dusty. They seem to enjoy it. She's a widow of 12 years who raised 4 kids, all grown now. She's a beautiful woman with a great smile and very smart. She's teaching me how to pronounce some Arabic words I've asked for (good morning and hello, etc.) All I could say before was Thank you. She's the only person who says my first name "Cheryl" after she saw it written on a form I handed out to linguists.
 
She saw my little rug and offered to clean it and make it look new. I declined but she said she would clean it and put it in the sunshine. It's beautiful now. I gave her a few dollars and a handwritten thank you card for her efforts - it's hard to describe how grateful she was. I hope to get to know her better before I leave. But I don't want to get too close. I've missed her birthday. She and her daughter look like sisters. Her daughter wants to go to law school. 
 
It's a wonderful opportunity to finally meet some Iraqis. In my last office, I never got to meet many. The people who worked at Camp Victory were from many other nations. Here the KBR laundry has employees from India and the dining facility has people from Nepal. I'm working and living in a compound where Iraqis come to test for English so they can work as linguists. But I keep my distance from most people here (contractors and military) and especially from those who have not been hired yet. They still have to be screened and badged.
 
I'm moved that so many still want to work with U.S. forces. Many qualify for a Visa after working for a period of time, and it’s great to see so many Iraqis with plans to come to the United States.
 
The other day, I read a survey I got back from a young Iraqi who works for the contractor. He wrote that he didn't have any concerns but wanted to say this:

"I come to work with the U.S. Army because I believe this Army came to help my country. I love my job ... Thanks for everything and Big thanks for all units I work with because they change all my life for better."

He is not in the Visa program that I know of and he plans to remain here.

I'll close this issue of the Baghdad Bulletin here for now. More soon! Take care and thanks!

Warmly
Cheryl