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20 Aug 2009
Fantasy Football Maneuvers

Fantasy football season crept up on me this year! It may have something to do with being deployed, having almost no Internet, and no TV to keep up with sports. For many, that’s no excuse! Like Major Jim Reis- he has been keeping up with his fantasy sports newsletters and was bugging me to get a good enough Internet connection so that he could do his fantasy draft! “OPI: Other People’s Internet.” Of course, not all fantasy leagues and software require the Internet to draft. [here comes the pitch!] PC Drafter is an application we developed with 4for4.com and Brandie Searle to give fantasy players a tremendous advantage on draft day. PCDrafter not only ranks players based your league’s particular scoring rules, but it also receives updated fantasy projections at the click of a button from the best forecasters in the league: 4for4.com . At this time of year, projections are being updated and released several times a week. What’s more, PC Drafter takes into account the makeup of each of your competitors’ teams, and overall league-wide need for certain positions. It makes each pick count because the software projects if you need to take the standout tight end now, or if he should be there your next go-around so that you can continue grabbing the star running backs and wide receivers.
There’s much more to it, explained at the pcDrafter website. Getting into the statistics and predictive behaviors of fantasy football is exactly what interests me: I couldn’t name 10 standout players right now, but I can draft a fantasy team that will grade out in the top 1 or 2 of even the most experienced league, just by using PCDrafter. Give it a shot if you’ve got the same warrior spirit as our military: it’s all about out-maneuvering your enemies!
 
ACI , Army Deployment , General
posted by  henry at  12:32 | permalink | trackbacks [381]



19 Aug 2009
Heat, Humidity, and Laundry
The wind changed on Tuesday. It brought with it the humidity of the Persian Gulf, so for the last few days, we’ve had 115 to 120 degrees, with 40% humidity. As one officer pointed out, we're surrounded by sand in 7 of the 8 compass directions, and wouldn't you know it, the wind is now coming from the one direction that carries the ocean humidity!
I know this first started Tuesday, because that’s when I went for a morning run and first noticed it...about 5 seconds after stepping outside my CHU! Normally, when I run I’ll sweat a little bit, so little that the heat often evaporates it before it dampens my shirt. Not Tuesday! As the photo tries to show, I was drenched after a 5K run around the COB at 5:30am.

In temperatures like this, there’s a critical laundry issue: it takes 2 days to get your laundry back, but if you’ve got a normal amount of t-shirts and underwear in your laundry bag, 2 uniforms in your bag puts you over the weight limit. Which means that if you’re going through 1 uniform a day, but only getting 1 back every two days, you’re destined to run out of uniforms! Some soldiers have two laundry bags, but not everyone. Not just any laundry bag will do, unlike other bases such as Adder. You have to have the official heavy-mesh bag, with a color-coded numbered tag. They started running out of bags as the base grew last April & May.
 
Army Deployment , General
posted by  henry at  11:37 | permalink | trackbacks [591]



14 Aug 2009
Internet Available in Basra living areas
After 9 months in Basra, I finally have my own Internet connection! The COB has awarded an Iraqi-based company, Al Dalham, with a contract for wireless and wired Internet service. They have several bandwidth options, but the common plan seems to be 128K for $70/month.
Several visits to their office, and lots of trying to connect, revealed there was just too much spectrum interference for me to use wifi. So the manager dispatched these two young men, who quickly set up a receiver, spliced the Cat V cable, and configured my IP addresses to have a wired connection.
I was impressed. But for my readers that are headed to Basra, be patient! It took about 2 weeks of me working with the Al Dalham team, showing them my problems, and patiently returning time after time.
They're on a learning curve, but I'll say this: they're learning fast. I expect it's already twice as good as when I bought in two weeks ago.
There was some give and take, too. I helped proof-read some of their marketing material, and I escorted one of their technicians out to the antenna that was giving me trouble.
So in the big picture, how does this mirror the growth and progress in Iraq? Very well, I think.
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ACI , Army Deployment , Family , General
posted by  henry at  04:30 | permalink | trackbacks [1283]



29 Jul 2009
Happy Anniversary, Lisa!
Today marks our 20th Anniversary. Lisa and I are enjoying a fantastic marriage, but certainly this deployment will be an interruption we won't forget.

On our 10th anniversary, Ethan was just 5 months old, so we mutually decided to postpone a celebration vacation until our 11th anniversary! So now on our 20th, the decision to postpone a vacation has been made for us.

There were two small things I could do to celebrate my wonderful bride. In Christiansburg, I rented the local flower shop's sign:

I sent her flowers, too, but I couldn't hang those on the sign!

In Basra, I made coordination back in June to fly my own US Flag over the Division Headquarters in honor of the occasion. They have a program for this, and Major General Nash provided a very nice certificate recognizing our anniversary. I coordinated to be the one to hoist it, so my day started at 7am, raising this flag over the 34th Division Headquarters, Coalition Operating Base Basra.

Notice I'm squinting: the sun's up at 4:30am, so by 7am, it's not only bright, but hot!

So, to Lisa,
It has been the best 20 years a guy good hope for- and more. It still feels like the beginning of our marriage, because there's so much more ahead of us. I love you deeply. and I owe you one heck of a great vacation! How about we go someplace with lots of water?
 
Army Deployment , Family , General
posted by  henry at  05:02 | permalink | trackbacks [387]



28 Jul 2009
Advisory and Assistance Brigades
I saw this article and recognized several important points:

  1. Secretary gates visited Tallil, where the 287th is headquartered.

  2. The Advisory and Assistance Brigade concept is the next step in both US withdrawal and Iraqi economic development.

  3. Artillerymen are more than just cannoncockers.





By Capt. John Landry 4th BCT, 1st Armd. Div.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates paid a visit to Soldiers of 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division. The "Highlander" Soldiers garnered the Pentagon's attention because they are developing future doctrine as the U.S. Army's proof of principle for the "advisory and assistance" brigade [AAB] mission, spearheading the transition of U.S. forces in Iraq to a full-time advisory and civil capacity role.

With Iraqi Security Forces in the lead, the Highlander brigade reorganized its artillery battalion into Task Force Pathfinder, a unit focused on developing Iraqi civil capacity with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams. The PRTs are staffed by civilian experts in governance, economics, culture, agriculture, education, engineering and law. The U.S. State Department operates the Maysan and Muthanna PRTs, while the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs manages the one in Dhi Qar.

The PRTs are not new to Iraq. They have been working in the region for several years. The difference now is under the "advisory and assistance" brigade concept, nearly 600 Soldiers are assigned to support their efforts and extend their reach into more remote, outlying areas across a three-province area.

To accomplish this mission, Pathfinder Soldiers have undertaken a new job they have not necessarily been trained for. In fact, a roster was created within the task force to identify anyone with "special skills" as an attempt to seek out those with previous expertise in a trade or academic field.

"Our Soldiers have adapted extremely well to their new roles," said Lt. Col. Mike Eastman, commander, TF Pathfinder. "While this is very different from firing artillery, it highlights the intelligence and flexibility in our ranks today."

During lunch, Gates sought information on how the new role of U.S. Soldiers is measuring up. He asked the PRTs how this new unit has been able to help their efforts toward utilizing the Commanders Emergency Response Program.

Dr. Anna Prouse, team leader of the Dhi Qar PRT, said trusting the Army was met with "initial skepticism," but after the short time they've spent working together, she "could only welcome this increased role of the U.S. soldiers, seeing how beneficial it has already been in yielding faster results."

The Secretary of Defense said he was impressed with accomplishments of the Pathfinder Soldiers. "These guys are a bunch of artillery guys who, with five months of training before they got here, are taking on new missions and having a big impact," said Gates.

Filling gaps like this enables the PRTs to focus more closely on current projects in development. Understanding the large undertaking this new mission entails, Gates commended the Soldiers of TF Pathfinder and conveyed the importance of their role on the deployment. "Thank you for your service," said Gates. "What you are doing here is the next phase of our progress in Iraq."
 
Army Deployment , General
posted by  henry at  03:06 | permalink | trackbacks [953]





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