Top 10 about my five days in the International Zone
1. Even better showers than Camp Buehring!
2. My own trailer room, with AC that worked quite well.
3. Easier internet access
4. My very own @iraq.centcom.mil e-mail address
5. Food. Plentiful, with great variety.
6. Found out what my job would be for the next 6 months or so.
7. No close calls with small arms fire, indirect fire (mortars and rockets), or improvised explosive devices.
8. Getting acquainted with my colleagues in Baghdad who will support me from afar while I'm out here at An-Numaniyah.
9. Hearing that I'll be much safer at An-Numaniyah when I get there.
10. Catching the bus rather than walking with all of the body armor.
Bottom 10:
1. Transition housing, transition workplace, transition relationships- still not "my" place.
2. Bags not coming with us. Why use all four of your duffel bags when one will do?
3. No clue when will get reunited with bags.
4. Daytime convoy with civilian contractors on way out of Baghdad to An-Numaniyah. They did a great job, but I would have appreciated a helicopter flight. Toyota Riva is something else, though- looks like a rhinoceros, with angry people in the turrets trying to keep the guys inside safe.
5. Military aircraft flying overhead for either combat or medical- either way, flying almost all night, rattling my trailer.
6. Continuing to hear about combat casualties- wounded or dead.
7. Sweating in the 50 plus pounds of body armor
8. Missing my family
9. Seeing people with weapons everywhere. Loaded. You're not in Kansas, anymore, Toto!
10. Seeing how much reconstruction remains to be done in the city. 4 years after the invasion.
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