Operation Banjo Blog 2011: Pickin' in Iraq
' Welcome to my random muses of being an aspiring banjo player, a Battalion Commander, a student of Army War College, and my admiring observations of Soldiers. It's all to the tune of yet another deployment to this country called Iraq.'
'All this being said, I've struggled a bit the past few days. That, in itself, has made it difficult to get back on to sharing my thoughts and observations. It's hard to go home and then leave home again. I miss home. We all do. But none of us can allow that pain to cause us to lose focus. Yet, there are times when we let our guard down and reveal that Soldiers are human too. Fortunately for me, I have Joe to put things back together for me. I was having a moment the other day where my human side was overcoming my Commander side. Just then I stepped into a latrine to find that Einstein Joe had given me the answers I was struggling with. On display before my wandering eyes were the Laws of Thermodynamics. I don't quite know how Joe could have known that I needed a refresher from one of the most painful college courses I ever took. But he did and it put a smile on my face. That's when it occured to me that we never leave a fallen comrade. I walked back to my HQ and shared my newfound smile with my Command Group. The post-R&R pain is still acute but it will fade. Work dictates our priorities and our focus is mission success. We'll all be sprinting to the finish line very soon.'
The Blog 'American Dirt' seems to have gone a step further in the world of concrete deployment infrastructure and began posting about painted traffic bollards to shield pedestrians on military bases.
'I have learned that photography of some things on base is strictly verboten, but I haven’t learned exactly what may compromise Department of Defense internal information—and it’s possible that something seemingly innocuous all of a sudden becomes classifiable when subject to further analytical scrutiny.
Which is why I’ve chosen something for my first real essay which is so mundane that you can find it anywhere in the US. And I’ve clearly always had a penchant for the mundane. The subject is bollards, and my most recent home base, Camp Marmal outside the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, has them everywhere.'
When you first arrive in Kuwait or Iraq, one thing that you immediately notice is the abundance of T-walls. These concrete barriers are everywhere, protecting people from the possible rocket or mortar attack. They are called “T-walls” because they look like an upside-down “T.” They have them in Baghdad as well, and the Iraqis use them to protect against blasts from suicide bombers or the like.
There are thousands of the T-walls all over JBB. I’ve heard that they cost about $600 each, which means there is millions of dollars invested just in T-walls on this base. I’d say it’s a good investment, because it does add a sense of security, and probably deters rocket attacks. T-walls are a cost effective way of protecting from explosions.
Only a tiny fraction of T-walls are painted. Most of them are painted with a unit symbol, naming the unit and the commander and senior NCO, and signed by the artists. These tend to be dreadful artworks. Some have symbols disclosing what sort of unit works at the place with the T-wall. Here is an example of one of the better such T-wall art collections (this building houses the chaplain, IG, EO, and Reserve Affairs offices, among others):
https://briannomi.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/t-wall-art/
Operation Banjo Blog 2011: Pickin' in Iraq ' Welcome to my random muses of being an aspiring banjo player, a Battalion Commander, a student of Army War College, and my admiring observations of Soldiers. It's all to the tune of yet another deployment to this country called Iraq.'
Iraq + Kuwait = Iwait
Fun part I came across: BACK TO WAR, BACK TO BLOGGING
'All this being said, I've struggled a bit the past few days. That, in itself, has made it difficult to get back on to sharing my thoughts and observations. It's hard to go home and then leave home again. I miss home. We all do. But none of us can allow that pain to cause us to lose focus. Yet, there are times when we let our guard down and reveal that Soldiers are human too. Fortunately for me, I have Joe to put things back together for me. I was having a moment the other day where my human side was overcoming my Commander side. Just then I stepped into a latrine to find that Einstein Joe had given me the answers I was struggling with. On display before my wandering eyes were the Laws of Thermodynamics. I don't quite know how Joe could have known that I needed a refresher from one of the most painful college courses I ever took. But he did and it put a smile on my face. That's when it occured to me that we never leave a fallen comrade. I walked back to my HQ and shared my newfound smile with my Command Group. The post-R&R pain is still acute but it will fade. Work dictates our priorities and our focus is mission success. We'll all be sprinting to the finish line very soon.'
The Blog 'American Dirt' seems to have gone a step further in the world of concrete deployment infrastructure and began posting about painted traffic bollards to shield pedestrians on military bases.
Afghansitan 2010 DUST: Never mind the bollards.
'I have learned that photography of some things on base is strictly verboten, but I haven’t learned exactly what may compromise Department of Defense internal information—and it’s possible that something seemingly innocuous all of a sudden becomes classifiable when subject to further analytical scrutiny.
Which is why I’ve chosen something for my first real essay which is so mundane that you can find it anywhere in the US. And I’ve clearly always had a penchant for the mundane. The subject is bollards, and my most recent home base, Camp Marmal outside the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, has them everywhere.'
More musings on deployment dust and mud-
DUST: Pedology 101, Part II – Just add water.
LIFE AT JOINT BASE BALAD – JBB – IRAQ T-Wall Art
Posted on September 13, 2009 by briannomi
When you first arrive in Kuwait or Iraq, one thing that you immediately notice is the abundance of T-walls. These concrete barriers are everywhere, protecting people from the possible rocket or mortar attack. They are called “T-walls” because they look like an upside-down “T.” They have them in Baghdad as well, and the Iraqis use them to protect against blasts from suicide bombers or the like. There are thousands of the T-walls all over JBB. I’ve heard that they cost about $600 each, which means there is millions of dollars invested just in T-walls on this base. I’d say it’s a good investment, because it does add a sense of security, and probably deters rocket attacks. T-walls are a cost effective way of protecting from explosions. Only a tiny fraction of T-walls are painted. Most of them are painted with a unit symbol, naming the unit and the commander and senior NCO, and signed by the artists. These tend to be dreadful artworks. Some have symbols disclosing what sort of unit works at the place with the T-wall. Here is an example of one of the better such T-wall art collections (this building houses the chaplain, IG, EO, and Reserve Affairs offices, among others): https://briannomi.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/t-wall-art/