Henry's Web Log

We're official graduates of the class of ... IRRegulators. So named because it's got "IRR" in the name, and Regulators were an old western gang of misfits. Stephen King wrote a book using them. So it works for us.

We fly out on Wednesday (the 17th) in the afternoon. I'll deactivate my iPhone on Tuesday, and hopefully will be able to leave a "don't call me until November 2009" message.

I have posted our unit's mailing address in the top left corner of the blog site. If there's any update (like I get transfered to another unit, or stationed at a different operating base), I'll keep the most accurate mailing address right there.

We're looking at about 32 hours of travel, going the Atlantic route, if you can believe it! Our first hop is to Delaware, then Germany, and finally Kuwait. 10 days or so of training in Kuwait, and we should be in Tallil, Iraq around Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho!

Where's Tallil? It's not quite halfway between Kuwait and Bahgdad, between the Biblical "Ur" and "An Nasiriyah".

The war stories are always better, and if you’re in a good bunch, they’re funnier, than the real thing. At least in training. Our culminating exercise at Ft Lewis was a HMMWV convoy through about a 6 mile loop, supposedly a recon to keep the main supply route safe, to meet a local farmer who had some intel, and meet with the mayor of a local village in order to improve relationships and offer an American medical assistance visit in appreciation for their support of our operations. 30 minutes before we departed, our convoy commander, a lieutenant, got pulled away for another mission! Mark Jadrich stepped in and did a great job briefing us all. Then Murphy took over, as he is want to do in war… Murphy of the “can go wrong, will go wrong” ilk.
On the way to the farmer, we were hit with an IED. While the first vehicle reacted, we spotted what we thought was a 2nd IED at the convoy tail (not a long convoy, just 4 HMMWVs!). So we couldn’t go forward to help. The lead vehicle’s radio went out, so they didn’t know what happened, the 2nd vehicle had been “hit” by the IED simulator, and the 3rd vehicle really froze because they knew our 4th vehicle had the recovery tow-strap…but we were separated by the 2nd IED. So we got gigged for not taking faster action. Turns out, the 2nd IED was really the 1st IED…just that it looked pristine because the simulated “boom” happened 10 yards away from it!
We got our act together, moved up, rescued the hit vehicle, fired up a sniper, and started moving out when the OC’s (Observer-Controllers) called a halt and we did a quick AAR (After Action Review, see my last entry). Mark had us switch out vehicles 1 (bad radio) with 3 (flakey vehicle commander) so that we could have good commo on our most important vehicle. The commander’s vehicle was #2, and I was in #4 for rear security and vehicle recovery.
We learned later that vehicle #1, in addition to bad commo, had an inexperienced gunner. She had worked out a few kinks with the machine gun during the live-fire, so we thought, “Surely she has figured it out now.” Nope. Every time she pulled the trigger, she jammed it up. And she didn’t have the strength or experience to clear the jam. Vehicle #1’s commander, Billy, has four years infantry officer experience and he did not tolerate this well, to put it mildly. On top of that, the gunner doubted herself. “Should I fire?... I see the sniper. I just don’t know if I should fire…”
Billy’s response, along the lines of “YES G## D##MIT! Waste the Mother F&&#%#!!!” was an attempt to motivate some action. Then he heard once again the “Bang! Click.” Yet another ammunition jam. He absolutely went ape, yanked the gunner down, and put a staff sergeant up in the gunner’s hatch. Then he had to listen to a barrage of “but I’m trained on the SAW [Squad Assault Weapon]. I passed the training course…the weapon kept jamming…”
After the gunner substitution, the weapon miraculously never jammed again. That was just the first of five little scenarios yesterday, and made for some hilarious stories last night. Our four vehicles were the last of 4 groups that went through the course, and it turns out that our little FUBAR wasn’t nearly as bad as the first group’s!

Over the last week, we’ve had a series of exercises and classes about all hazards in country: from camel spiders to suicide bombers. I had never heard of camel spiders, but the wikipedia entry shows them the size of a ping-pong paddle. They can be about lobster size! Search it on YouTube and the most popular videos are from soldiers in Iraq.
The Army has a program for senior NCOs to stay active-duty for 1-2 years after their deployment, ensuring they impart us newbees with their recently gained wisdom. They have also brought on Arabic-speaking actors, built a small Iraqi village, and run us through scenario-based training for manning the base ECP- Entry Control Point; manning a QRF– Quick Reaction Force; defeating IEDs – Improvised Explosive Devices; conducting presence patrols (connecting with the locals, no acronym for that one!); convoy operations; and an additional day at the range focused on SRM – Short Range Marksmanship. We’re combining it all together today, with a live-fire from our HMMWV convoy (HMMWV is the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, the Hummer. It’s more accurately called the M1151 because we’re using the new up-armored HMMWV’s). Live-fire means we’re using real bullets for our gunners. Tomorrow, we switch back to blanks and run through the convoy STX – Situational Training Exercises. That’s our culminating exercise where we put it all together, interact once again with both friendly and hostile Arabic-speaking civilians, and wrap this Ft Lewis training up.
The Army has a fantastic culture of continuous improvement: after every training event (or real missions), we conduct an AAR– After Action Review. Our emphasis is on “no thin skins” – every voice is equal, and no hurt feelings. It’s about saving lives and improving our mission performance. Organizationally, the Army has a better reputation for this among our sister services in the Navy and Air Force, so hopefully it catches on elsewhere. Certainly in the software-development world, our company has practiced close-out meetings as a required step of each project , or along each milestone for larger projects. No thin-skins, what went well and what ideas for improvement do we have, from the junior to the senior staff, everyone has equal input. Among process development and process improvement quality models, this is always a key component: who else knows better on how to improve than the folks who just did it? Moreover, the best ideas often come from the bottom. What better way to give junior soldiers or staff a real feeling of belonging as they make a positive contribution to the unit?

Our friends, neighbors, coworkers, scouts and school parents have been very supportive of this unexpected deployment, and two very common responses Lisa and I hear all the time are, “Oh. I’m so sorry to hear about your husband.” And “let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” While the former might be appropriate for a tragic accident or debilitating illness, it’s just the opposite: I’ve been called to serve my country with the skills and leadership the Army has trained me for. I’m honored to serve. And there’s not much I could want, except to be back with my family. The food, equipment, accommodations are all fine. The biggest issue is that I’m not there for my family. Because as intense as the Army is, it’s got nothing on the Bass family! Lisa expertly handles teaching several classes at the Christiansburg Recreation Center, Den Leader for 13 Cub Scouts, Cubmaster for the Pack of 80 Christiansburg Cub Scouts , organizer for the school “Reflections” creative art contest, organizer for the school’s “Just Run” morning fitness program, serves as the Red Cross’ only volunteer instructor, usually serves in some water sports work (she managed the Meadow’s pool for the last 3 summers, has taught water aerobics and baby aquatics for many years but gave that up when I was ordered to duty). She also substitute teaches, and she was taking a theater class to maintain her teaching certifications and add additional endorsements: Lisa recently took an incomplete so that she can finish some of these other events... Like the Lego contest: Lisa single-handedly coached a team of six 4th graders through the intricacies of programming Lego-NXT robots, plus a research-presentation project on climate changes, a mystery teamwork challenge, and technical judging.

Their team, “The Blizzards” did so well under her leadership that they were crowned regional champions, and darn it all if they aren’t going to the Virginia state competition now: December 6th and 7th at James Madison University in Lexington. It’s a great honor for Ethan, age 9, and the only team member who has competed before. A second team at Ethan’s school also won a spot at the State competition: 7 out of Southwest Virginia’s 30 competing teams were selected to move up, and it’s a great reflection that Christiansburg Elementary School owns two of those seven outstanding teams!
Speaking of honors, she also led the Pack to be top in Popcorn sales for the entire Cub Scout District, possibly the council, beating last year’s record sales by 50%. She’s raising our two magnificent boys, AND taking care of her Grandmother in a managed-care facility. Without a doubt, I’m super proud of her, and if we had a platoon of Lisas in Operation Iraqi Freedom, you would see Iraq as a global economic powerhouse within 6 months! I did nominate her for the “Freedom Team Salute” as a program that supports and recognizes the spouses, employers and supporters of our deployed forces. I understand that their certificate and recognition recently arrived and brightened her day!

The biggest challenge now facing Lisa is pulling off this state Lego Robotics competition. Lexington is 2.5 hours away, and the competition is an intense 2-day event amongst 70 teams dominated by top Northern Virginia/DC area schools. She needs to get the kids hotel rooms, keep them secure, fed and rested, then get to competition first thing Saturday, stress the day-long events, and repeat Sunday. I understand that several of the team parents either don’t want to pay for the event, don’t have the resources, or have schedule conflicts. And the big bombshell: our training unit was just approved for a 3-day pass, starting that Sunday. On a good night, Lisa gets 6 hours sleep. So that second phrase, the “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help” could be any number of simple things to just let her breathe. If I can be so bold, here are a few ideas I have. Ideas that give her time might be a 3:1 ratio to ideas that take time. Maybe you can add some thoughts in the comments?

Ideas that give her time--

• A freezable dinner


• A ready-to-eat dinner on a planned night.


• Invite Eric & Ethan to play at your house.


• Take Ethan & Eric to the new movies being released.


• Take Eric & Ethan bowling.


• Take the boys swimming at the Blacksburg Aquatic Center.


• Go with Lisa to visit her Grandmother.


• Pick up or drop off the boys at scouts, band or birthday parties ( thanks lots for those who do this already!!)


• Be the guest speaker/planner for the next Den meeting.


• “YouTube” the videos and photos Lisa has accumulated, and wants to share with me but gets bogged down in the subtleties of video transfer or Picasa upload.

Ideas that take time --

• Take Lisa with you to a day spa (a birthday present I didn’t get to fulfill before Uncle Sam visited)


• The long January weekend (5 day school holiday) is coming up- team up for a group vacation.


• Meet Lisa for coffee or lunch.


• Join Lisa for a workout before or after a class she teaches.

One of the other Majors with us actually manages an OfficeMax warehouse. So I thought it would be appropriate to tip my hat to him and use the OfficeMax "Elf Yourself" tool. We had fun with it last year, and this year they've got more features built in. Cool. But it just goes to show you can't leave Majors idle around an Internet connection!