At Fort Bliss (it was better in Iraq)

We just finished our time at Fort Bliss. But I wanted to put up a post discussing only Fort Bliss, so that you the reader will have a basic understanding of what de-mobilizing is like.
Every reserve unit has a “Mob Station” from which it mobilizes and de-mobilizes.  The 304th Sustainment Brigade’s was Fort Bliss, which [...]

The Road Home

Right now I am at Fort Bliss, Texas.   When you leave Iraq, you don’t just hop on a plane and go straight home.  You must follow a de-mobilization process, which is similar to (but much shorter than) the mobilization that you go through before getting to Iraq. The basic way to demobilize is to fly [...]

At Camp Virginia, Kuwait

My last day in Iraq was delayed for unknown reasons.  We finally flew out from Joint Base Balad to Kuwait on Sunday. 
 It was a strange last day.  The night before we left, there was a sudden, violent dust storm.  I was riding my bike, and ended up cycling right into a wall of strongly blowing [...]

My Last Day in Iraq

I’m not sure when we are flying out of here, but it is very soon. When I first arrived here, one of the things I saw was this old “Wing Gate” of JBB, greeting arrivals here since the base was built by the Iraqis:
 
It’s the end of a year in Iraq. I’ve been thinking of [...]

The Old and the New Places to Eat

Construction workers have started to tear down my beloved old DFAC #2. At the start of the job, the scene looked like this:
 
If you look closely, you’ll see dozens of stickers people had put up on the entrance wall. This was a beloved DFAC, and I must have eaten breakfast here 250 times until it [...]

T-Wall Art

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 [...]

Keeping in Touch With Home

Servicemembers here in Iraq have many ways to keep in touch with folks back home. Most soldiers have access to a work computer, and the NIPR on these computers NIPR (Nonsecure Internet Protocol Router Network) is used to exchange sensitive but unclassified information between “internal” users, but basically you can use it to access the [...]

A Day in the Life

This is a post to show what a normal day in my life is like here at Joint Base Balad Iraq. I don’t claim that everyone’s day is just like mine. But this is the only life I’ve got, and so one day I took a lot of pictures, depicting a normal day for this JAG [...]

Sports at Joint Base Balad

There are countless sporting and physical fitness activities here. There are intramural teams (sponsored by various units) that play soccer, softball, and rugby. A quick look at the bulletin board in any gym shows dozens of classes on things from Yoga to Spin to Step, as well as a nice exercise program I’ve tried a [...]

Activities on Joint Base Balad

There is a great many things to do here on JBB. Every day of the week there is something interesting going on. It would be impossible to go get photos, or even prepare a complete list of everything that happens on base, but here is a partial list of some of the things that happen [...]