My view from the bleachers….

I hope all is well fro everyone reading this.  The last few days have flown by and unfortunately the internet was down so I was unable to recount my stories.   Here are just a few of the highlights.

Lorraine, a friend who works at the Baghdad Police College, invited to attend a graduation for about 450 Iraqi Police Shurta.  The course is about 8 weeks long and at the end of the course, these policemen will patrol the streets, while also serving in various capacities like running road Check Points, performing vehicle searches and other police functions. 

I sat back to think about the environment these young policemen are entering.  On the first day, our commanding general showed us a graphic of a football field (Great sports analogy… I knew I was goign to like this guy) to demonstrate the relationship between military and police forces.  He said that in this environment, the military has the responsibility for moving the ball the first 80 yards.  But it’s the police forces who will eventually transition the society and move it the last 20 yards from anarchy and chaos to a rule of law abiding society.    These policemen are going to return to their home neighborhoods and work to bring the rule of law and enforcement of those laws to the country.  All the while, they will be risking their lives for a free country.  I know this sounds a bit idealistic, but I was moved by the ceremony (all in Arabic, so I didn’t understand a work) and the challenges that lie ahead for these young people.  As they passed the reviewing stand, they looked terrific.  It helps make this worth it –demonstrating these people want to be part of the solution.  They are willing to step up and be counted.  I was very impressed. 

The dining facility staff made an incredible Easter feast…. We had fresh eggs for the first time since I’ve been here.  Of course, I had mine over easy with White Toast (if you’re reading this Brandi….yes I am a creature of habit, but I did add some hash browns     They really went all out the whole day to make it a special holiday.  One of the cooks decorated a tiered triple layer cake.  It was spectacular.  I can’t wait for Christmas!!

Then today, we went to the range and I got to do some shooting — working to keep the skills up.  I’m generally a bad shot with the pistol, but I did fairly o.k. today.  I’m looking forward to the next time out.  The rest of the day was a blur of putting out fires and getting to know people.  That’s been my biggest challenge, with about 2000 people, it’s tough to meet everyone and get to know them on a personal level.  It’s just a work in progress. 

Tonight’s topic in the “All About Me Chrinicles” will be fears…

Things I fear: Heights, snakes (to a certain degree), failure, and needles…I can never watch them inject me with a needle.  It makes it hurt even more.

Most fearful moment: first jump at Airborne school when I had to be the guy standing in the door waiting for the light to say go…did I mention I am afraid of heights?

A sickness or disease I fear: Anything that will require others to wait on me.

My greatest fear about aging:  Refer to the previous question…I just want to be active the rest of my life. 

My greatest fear about marriage:  Divorce.

Have a great night!!!!

What a great day….

Today just reminded of the things I love about being an officer in the military!!!  I had a meeting to discuss Fire prevention, fire safety, and the employment/positioning of a fire department on a Forward Operating Base in Iraq.  In order to do this type of work in the US, they would expect that you have served as a fire chief on 3 separate occassions, been certified by some governing body,  studied the problem for weeks, and then make a recommendation.  I sat down with our site supervisor, and two of the senior fire fighters with a map and we developed several courses of action that will meet our needs.  We talked about everything….space requirements, response times, sleeping quarters, dispatching power needs…it was just point blank AWESOME!  

The rest of the day was pretty good… more real estate discussions… an idea to set up a shopping mall here on our little slice of heaven….the need to make other improvements to our existing buildings…every discussion was just fun!  It was about making things better for the people who live here and improving their lives while they are several thousand miles from home.  What a great job I have…..things could be much worse.  I am counting my blessing every day that I am getting to continue to serve soldiers (sailors, airman, marines, and contractors as well). 

I think that’s enough of the relishing in my good fortune.  I guess if you have to be away from friends and family, it’s great to be in a place you can continue to help people and serve the war effort in a positive way. 

A little more about me:

• A friend you lost for a reason other than death:  Rachel
• A friend with whom you would like to be closer: Tammy
• A friend you would name as godparent of your child: Dan and Katie
• A friend to whom you have something important to say, but have not yet had the courage:  I step all over my tongue about this type of stuff… but I said what I wanted to say a few months back… just not the way I wanted to say it.
• Your two closest friends and a trait you admire in each of them: Dan – Honesty; Katie – Her caring for others. 

 That’s it for tonight sports fans…. tomorrow I’m going to be out touring the area again and learning about the place I call home.  I’m still trying to work on this whole photo thing.  I’ve got some pics, but I’m not sure how to load them on this site…I can send them to you if you let me know. 

Have a great night and I’ll talk to you soon.

-Fred

Tomorrow is the day…

Well…2 months, almost to the day, after returning to active duty I am finally starting a permanent job. For those of you I’ve been in rountine contact with you know my ups and downs in getting to this point..so I’m not going to rehash the sordid affair. But that’s all behind me now and I take the proverbial “Conch” tomorrow morning. Unlike most units, where we pass a guide-on, I’ll be handed a cell phone to mark my transition. Just as the guide-on was a means to locate the commander on the battlefield, I will have a cell phone for everyone to locate me. It’s very “21st century.”

We’re still in the middle of inventorying property, but it’s only a few computers and we should see those tomorrow. The good news is, my property book (list of all the unit equipment I’m responsible for) is only 2 pages. That makes things remarkably easy when it come to holding people responsible for it. The other good thing is that it’s basically in a few places. It makes life much easier, aside from the fact that I had to climb 12 flights of stairs to count the computers in one of the offices.

I mentioned I was going to head into the “big city” to go shopping for our post exchange…It was a pretty tense trip (being my first trip out of the “wire”), but it was uneventful. Very interesting to see how parts of the country have such a high level of activity and others have next to no people on the streets. The good thing is that there are more of the former. We did our shopping and came home…. I may try to head out on some of these trips on a fairly regular basis, so I don’t get cabin fever here.

I had my first Mayor’s meeting tonight…yeah, it was a day early, but oh well. It was a lot of fun and I’m going to send out a survey to everyone. I want to find out about their wants and desires for our Morale and Recreation activites as well as any concerns they may have. I’m looking forward to seeing the results.

Here are the answers to some more questions from the “All about Me” Book:

A friend who makes you laugh often:

A friend to whom you can tell anything: Dan…nearly a life long friend and I trust him with anything.

A friend to whom you can go for advice: Gary, Brad, Dan, Meghan, Katie and Tenae.

A friend you can have adventures with: Again, this would be Dan. I refuse to incriminate either of us.

A friend you can flirt with: She knows who she is.

A friend you would like to kiss: I hope she knows who she is.

A friend you may lose soon: I hope this doesn’t happen.

Hope you enjoyed reading….here’s the email if you have any questions, and if you found this on google because you just got recalled from the IRR, drop me a note and we can talk.

Fred

It’s like peeling an onion…

As I continue my “right seat ride” with the current Mayor, my duties and responsibilities become clearer.  Today, I found out that I will be a retailer, responsible for oversight of a volunteer run store that does about $1.5M in revenue a year…. yes I said VOLUNTEERS.  I think it’s absolutely terrific!  A group of people recognize a need, are provided the resources (or coordinate for them) and they go to it.  We make runs to keep the stock level at their pars, we conduct all the transactions and accounting, and we perform all the customer service functions.   How many places would you see that kind of dedication and sacrifice?  Today, I found out the extent of my responsibilities….I’m responsible!  I am signing for the PX, lock, stock, and barrel.  We conducted a joint inventory and everything looked good.  I’m heading up to do the necessary paperwork to make everything official over the course of the next few days.   I think this just shows the flexibility required of a military officer….like Forrest Gump said, “…You never know what you’re gonna get.” 

I’m going to jump ahead a little in the book to answer some questions from the World section:

• Do you feel that most wars started because of religious conflicts?  No…I’m not really sure why they start, but I know they are all started by people who don’t do the fighting and finished by people who do.
• Does life exist on other planets?  How could it not? 
• Have they made contact with us?  Nope…only me and his name is Herbie.
• Do you believe we are descendants of Adam and Eve?  The jury is still out on this one.  I haven’t made up my mind.
• Do you believe in Evolution?  Yes
• Do you believe in astrology?  Yes…. I don’t fully understand it, but I think there is something to it.  I’m a Taurus and I can be very bull headed.
• Do you read your horoscope?  I subscribe and read it pretty much everyday.  It’s amazing how very vague generalities can be applied to almost any situation. 

If you have any questions, email them and I’ll try to answer them on here.  As almost all of you know, the email is my google account: fred.hockett@gmail.com.  Have fun, be safe, and have a great night!

Fred

Settling into my new home…

It’s been a few days here at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shield and I’m getting settled pretty well.  I’ve spent the last two days touring the camp and taking a look at all the improvements that have been made. 

The living conditions are really a mix of hard stand buildings and trailers that are double stacked, reinforced with sandbags and other protective measures.  Some of us have community latrines, but some of the trailers are “wet.”  In other words, they have a bathroom.  It cuts down on the living space, but makes the middle of the night run to the bathroom a lot more convenient.  I dont’ have one of these, but the extra space makes it a lot less claustrophobic. (I’m trying to figure out how to attach photos. I’ve got some great pictures of the FOB and where I live.)

We have an MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) facility that includes a sizeable gym and small movie theater to project DVD movies.  We also have the standard volleyball and basketball courts.  AFN (Armed Forces Network) Television is also available at various locations.  The TV shows are from last season, but at least the news is up to date. 

I’ve also been very impressed with the Dining Facility…or mess hall as they used to be called.  Because we are running all day and night, it’s open for four meals.  Very convenient….it’s like having a Denny’s.  Eggs to orders, short orders, full dessert bar (Terrific by the way!!), and a great selection.  The staff is also very good.  Most of them are third country nationals who are working for the contractors here.  They are very pleasant and hard working.  It’s really great to see them so motivated to do a great job. 

This FOB is really a ray of sunshine for soldiers coming through to visit and refit before heading back out to do the heavy lifting of the war.  They can get a hot meal, relax and get ready to head out again. 

So…. I pulled out my “All About Me” book and here’s the page of the day…Page 3. [The book has 86 pages in it, so I can take about 1/2 a page each day and that should last be through my mid-tour leave.]

• A color you like to wear… I think most people who know me know I like to wear darker colors…maybe it’s the slimming effect they have… not really sure why. 
• Regardless of size or circumstance, an animal you would like to own…I’m going to get a dog when I get home…probably a huskie.  I always enjoyed dogs and we had a great dog as a company mascot in Korea. 
• A flower you’d like to grow in your garden…. NONE!  I don’t have the patience to garden. 
• Your lucky number…I’d say it was 21 (since I’ve hit that in Roulette quite a few times), but 27 seems to be working for me now.
• A smell that makes you pause…. The smell of fresh baked bread and chocolate.

Make it a great day!

-FH

One week on the ground and all’s well…

Well it’s been one week since I left Fort Benning and traveled to Kuwait and then on to Baghdad.  So far things are going very well.  We all had a great welcome here by the our unit.  I’ve managed to make quite a few friends since arriving, including those of us involved in what we have lovingly called the “Fort Benning Hostage Crisis” – our 35 day processing to fly over here. 

I found out my assignment and I’m heading to a camp here in Baghdad to serve as the camp mayor.  It’s an interesting job where I’ll be responsible for security, working with contractors, and making sure everyone has a place to sleep…the room situation will probably provide the biggest headaches.  Just think of running a 1500 room hotel/resort in the middle of nowhere and everyone is forced to visit and they have to stay for up to a year.  I’m looking forward to the challenges and the people. 

I think my biggest surprise so far has been the food.  I am consistently stuffed at each meal. The food is aboslutely phenomenal and the staff is great.  Everyone is ensuring we are taken care of. 

Since I plan to use this as a way to get to know myself a bit and also as a therapy of sorts, I’m going to start posing a question to myself each day and answering it in an honest way….It may be a huge mistake.  I invite you everyone to share in the exercise.  It may be fun for us to get to know each other.   If you have some questions about life here, please ask them and I’ll do my best to answer them, or find someone who can. 

Have a great day….Talk to you soon.  I’m amassing a bunch of pictures and I’ll be sure to post them in the next couple of days. 

 Fred

I hope you enjoy my thoughts

I’d like to preempt this monologue (along with those in the future) with just a couple points… if you are expecting Shakespeare, you may…neigh…you will be disappointed.  I am, by no means a poet (my college English grades speak to this fact).  I have also never been very good at expressing myself (my friends will attest to this).  If you work in Hollywood and want the next Blockbuster movie, probably a good idea to look elsewhere.  However, if you are looking to stay up to speed on my uncut observations of life as a mobilized officer in the IRR, enjoy.

A few weeks ago, December 20th to be exact, I received a package in the mail from the US Army Human Resources Command…. Since I was in Phoenix, my mom called and asked if she should open the envelop.  I jokingly, and quite ironically, said “go ahead it might contain mobilization orders.”  As it turned out, it was a set of orders recalling me to active duty from the Individual Ready Reserves (IRR).