A diary of my adventures 2006-07-07T20:31:44-04:00 Copyright 2004-2005 Ublog Reload 1.0.5 cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=44 2006-07-07T20:31:44-04:00 2006-07-07T20:31:44-04:00 2006-07-07T20:31:44-04:00

So, after a year of drawing hazardous duty pay, hostile fire pay and of the combat zone tax exclusion, it was good to get away. Mary Kate and I went to England and had a wonderful time on a hotel canal boat from Birmingham to Gloucester. We celebrated our first anniversary at a bed-and-breakfast in Kenilworth (near Coventry). The boat owner was also a Church of England minister and re-dedicated our vows at the Sailor's and Boatmen's Church in Gloucester.

See www.reedboats.co.uk - we offer an unqualified recommendation!

England offered a lot of peace and quiet - beautiful patureland, sheep and horses...wonderful to spend a week on the water with my wife!

We are now going Space-A to Alaska. A C-130 took us to Andrews AFB in Maryland (yes, we got to see Air Force One) and a C-5 is taking us to Travis AFB in California (San Francisco area). Then we go to Anchorage. It can get a little noisy but the price is certainly right.

Everyone wish my brother a happy birthday today!]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=40 2006-05-14T16:58:24-04:00 2006-05-14T16:58:24-04:00 2006-05-14T16:58:24-04:00
So, what's with the 3,100 people who have looked at the blog? Is it really THAT interesting?]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=39 2006-05-08T08:35:10-04:00 2006-05-08T08:35:10-04:00 2006-05-08T08:35:10-04:00
Families, friends, churches or other religious organizations who wish to send gifts for the visiting children send to:

Chaplain’s Office
Camp Bucca
APO AE 09375

The following guidelines apply:

- Recommended gifts include: small cars, small Etch-a-Sketch, stamp-and-ink sets, markers, solar calculators, T-shirts, pens, toy jewelry sets, ball caps, watches, hair clips and small picture books. School supplies are especially welcome. Your local dollar store should have everything.

- If toys require batteries, send extra batteries.

- Please, no used items.

- No toys that relate to violence or warfare such as toy guns or soldiers.

- No liquids. No food.

- Pictures colored by children with a greeting are also welcome. We will have the greeting translated.

- NOTE WELL: No stuffed animals or larger toys into which a small explosive would fit. The reason for this is that insurgents were putting explosives into things like Beanie Babies. The children were maimed or killed and the U.S. was blamed.

- Sending the toys in plastic container boxes about the size of a shoe box is helpful.

Many thanks for those who get involved!]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=38 2006-04-23T04:42:20-04:00 2006-04-23T04:42:20-04:00 2006-04-23T04:42:20-04:00
Mary Kate was at the mall yesterday buying sugar-coated pecans to send to me (it's considered very Texan to send pecans). She was talking on the cellphone with me and explained as much to the woman at the counter. She was moved to give Kate the pecans, gratis. We joked about trying the same thing with Kate at the jewelry store but neither of us are as optimistic about the outcome.

It's a big week in west Texas. The Fandangle pre-season dinner was held last night in honor of Aunt Eska Stasney out at the Cook Ranch (where Kate and I honeymooned last summer - beautiful place: www.stasney.com). Relatives are in town for the bank stockholder's meeting but the real news was from my brother Henry. He attended the scholarship selection committee at our church and they were able to find a highly qualified applicant to carry the torch this year. She stands in good company with the awardees from two previous years who are now doing great things academically. It looks like the young people of the church have vouchsafed its future.

All the best,

Charlie]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=36 2006-04-16T10:37:43-04:00 2006-04-16T10:37:43-04:00 2006-04-16T10:37:43-04:00
Everyone have a wonderful Easter! This is a scanned image of a card sent to me by Henry, Lisa, Eric and Ethan! At Camp Bucca, we had a sunrise service attended by about 50. The NCO who preps the OR (SGT Barracks) organized a choir that sang three selections and the chaplain had me read a passage. It was wonderful to hear the unification of Christian voices here surrounded by Muslims in this Biblical land.

The D-Fac staff decorated the place in yellow and purple for Easter and it looked good at lunch today.

The hospital observed Easter in an odd way similar to the way we observed Thanksgiving - by holding an inventory for all sensitive items (weapon, helmet, ballistic vest, gas mask, etc.). That's the hospital.

Mary Kate said she is going to sunrise services in west Texas and will then join the ladies at the club for an Easter buffet.

Hope those reading this spend the day observing and reflecting on Easter thoughts of their own with the ones they love.]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=35 2006-04-06T02:53:19-04:00 2006-04-06T02:53:19-04:00 2006-04-06T02:53:19-04:00
The 344th hospital's CSM Villa came by today and gave me a challenge coin for the work the section here has been doing.

We're still getting occasional rain but the temperatures are now in the high 80s during the day and the high 60s at night.]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=34 2006-03-15T02:05:36-04:00 2006-03-15T02:05:36-04:00 2006-03-15T02:05:36-04:00 months in Iraq. It was a wonderful vacation and everything went right. Kate was there to meet me at the airport and already had the hotel room booked. It was Carnaval time and we watched the parade from our hotel balcony. White sand beaches, Mary Kate's cooking, magic shows and cabaret shows, boat rides, driving all over the island and swimming in the ocean. For all that, the very best time I had while in Aruba was going to the drive-in theater to see "King Kong" with my wife.

It was just right, except for the fact that the Army wanted me back in Iraq at the end of it. Fortunately, there should only be a few months left to this deployment (one of the advantages to taking leave late in the cycle).

Three books to recommend while on a journey of 10,000 miles:
1) Tom Clancy's *Without Remorse* hypothesizes what would happen if some lowlife messed with the girlfriend of a Navy Seal. Chapter 3 has a detailed, fact-based account of a project Sikorsky Helicopters assisted and was related to me by Bob Kelly, former VEEP and now with Radford Habitat for Humanity, Virginia.
2) Ken Follet's *Place Called Freedom* started in a Scottish coal mine in the mid-1700s and ended in early Virginia near Lynchburg.
3) Fletcher wrote a non-fiction account of the life of *Bill Wallace of China*, an account of a medical missionary who was martyed in the late 1940s. It is a wonderful read for anyone needing an example of a life inspired by the Holy Spirit and the author is a Hardin-Simmons man.

Also, check out the blog of another soldier here in the 344th. SSG Martinez is our unit photographer (both historical and forensic) and is pretty handy with his camera: http://iraqiconnection.blogspot.com/]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=33 2006-02-09T03:02:36-04:00 2006-02-09T03:02:36-04:00 2006-02-09T03:02:36-04:00
Today marks 30 years of uniformed service for my friend 1LT Sam Hoffman. It's a pleasure to serve with this veteran.

We have a new psychologist here at Camp Bucca - LTC Gary Southwell is an active duty psychologist at Landstul in Germany. He has 18 years with the company and he will be taking over care of all Coalition Force troops, leaving the care of 8,000 detainees to me. It's good to have such an experienced Army psychologist on board. Unique point - he lived in India for two years while his parents were Baptist missionaries there. The picture has 1LT Hoffman, this author, MAJ Williams, 1LT Zabielinski (actually an MP officer but with a lot of counseling and psychology education and experience), SPC Goode, SPC Preston, SGT Matthews, LTC Southwell and PFC Liedeke.

Speaking of the ministry, both chaplains on post thought they would be out of town the Sunday before last so they let me deliver the 0930 sermon. It was rewarding to be able to use my Methodist lay ministry training and the chaplain had me assist with the communion service this last Sunday.

There will be changes by the time my leave ends. Most of the people I know will be gone. COL Schmidt, FOB Commander, gave me a commander's coin for service here, as has LTC Lynch of the USAF. That's okay, though, because the second part of this tour will be shorter than the first part.

As close as I am to my leave date, only half of my mind is in Iraq anymore. The other half is with Mary Kate.]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=32 2006-01-19T07:06:51-04:00 2006-01-19T07:06:51-04:00 2006-01-19T07:06:51-04:00 ]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=31 2005-12-21T13:30:32-04:00 2005-12-21T13:30:32-04:00 2005-12-21T13:30:32-04:00
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it's queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep
Of gentle wind and downy flake

These woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

There is still a lot to do here in Iraq. The U.S. mission is far from over, so please keep the troops in your prayers this Christmas.

There was a banquet this afternoon hosted by Sheik Fadel Kamel al Daraje and attended by about 20 officers of Camp Bucca. He brought lamb, goat and fish with a delicious assortment of compliments. The sheik wished to relay his gratitude to those serving with the Coalition Forces for the work we are doing here and the sacrifices that have been made. He also wishes to relate that the houses of the 300,000 people in the al Daraje tribe will always be open in welcome to the troops and their families.

For my part, this was only the third time for me to have Iraqi food since being in this country. The other two times were because Mortada (the Sheik's brother) brought lunch from Umm Qasr when he brought his daughter Miriam to our clinic for appointments.]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=30 2005-12-17T10:55:37-04:00 2005-12-17T10:55:37-04:00 2005-12-17T10:55:37-04:00
The bus service is going to carry students from Umm Qasr to university in Basrah, about an hour and a half away. Until now, the students have been pooling their money for taxis to take them that distance. The bus service is only one of the American programs we are seeking to implement. We are also trying to get schools established, bring in water purification units to desalinate the water, hire them as contractors to work all of this equipment and also build a clinic or two.

The clinic piece is something COL Schmidt asked me to help implement. The medical staff here has some reservations about going into Umm Qasr, but our hope is to overcome any objections and be able to make some good recommendations as to what sort of medical facilities are needed there. It would be so satisfying to do something over here that would have a lasting impact to the local population.

One piece of really good news - Mortada had a purple index finger. Miriam confirmed that her mother had also voted. After sitting and thinking about it, that really was the best gift they could have given us.]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=37 2005-12-16T07:52:29-04:00 2005-12-16T07:52:29-04:00 2005-12-16T07:52:29-04:00

Though separated by the distance of 7,300 miles, our hearts have always been next to one another. It just took me a while to discover that. My grandmother treated Mary Kate to lunch at the club with my mother and a few lady friends, then a singing quartet seranaded at Kate's tableside.]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=29 2005-11-24T05:07:38-04:00 2005-11-24T05:07:38-04:00 2005-11-24T05:07:38-04:00
Thanksgiving wishes have arrived from so many. Mary Kate is spending the day with friends in Anchorage and a special Thanksgiving card came from Henry, Lisa, Eric and Ethan.

We in the mental health section will be reading Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, the words of which carry as much poignancy for Iraq now as they did in October of 1863.

With that, know that you all have my thanks for your support during this deployment. May God's blessings rest with us all.

Charlie]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=28 2005-11-11T04:20:30-04:00 2005-11-11T04:20:30-04:00 2005-11-11T04:20:30-04:00
]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=27 2005-11-08T06:36:08-04:00 2005-11-08T06:36:08-04:00 2005-11-08T06:36:08-04:00
Halloween cards arrived from Mother and from the Virginia Bass'! Eric notes that the Bass house has the scariest treats and Ethan drew a face scary enough to drive any bad guys away. The section still has candies in a plastic pumpkin head but plans are well underway to decorate for the Nativity season. Mary Kate is sending some things so we can have a more Christmas feel around here. She joins me - as all the Bass' are sure to do - in expressing condolences to the Guin family at the loss of Dave's mother in the wake of a decidedly unpleasant hurricane season.

In this photo of the mental health section one may see this author with SPC Goode, SGT Matthews (our NCOIC), MAJ Williams and 1LT Hoffman (psychiatric nurses), CPT Lee, SGT Lesher and SPC Preston in the too-cool shades.

Hope all is well in your corners of the world,

Charles]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=26 2005-11-03T07:04:15-04:00 2005-11-03T07:04:15-04:00 2005-11-03T07:04:15-04:00
Tuesday there was a concert on the stage here at Camp Bucca - some comedy and some music acts. They tried, but after about a half-hour it was high time to leave and go to the All Saints Day communion service.

Staffing continues to be a concern with the section being run by CPL Matthews and me. The MP, 1LT Zablenski has been canvassing the post and enjoys this role. SPC Goode left on a four-day pass two weeks ago and the company seems unable to secure a seat for her on convoys from Kuwait. MAJ Williams and SPC Preston are on their mid-tour leaves and 1LT Hoffman is down for three days after some minor corrective surgery on his foot. Still, the section takes care of business and we continue to hold the line.

With all the barbed wire around here, it seemed a good idea (well, an idea, anyway) to make a barbed wire collection. Grandfather Morgan had one in his office from his ranching days on the L-7 and it's perhaps one of those things Texans do that the folks from this New York unit just don't understand. My collection has twelve strands that each seem to be of unique manufacture. There are eight "strand" types (with three being double-strand) and four are "razor/concertina" types. Bucca Barbs is up for grabs if anyone wants to hang it back home, but it's not the sort of thing one sends as a Christmas gift.

Hope things are calm back in the States.

Charles]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=24 2005-10-25T13:11:44-04:00 2005-10-25T13:11:44-04:00 2005-10-25T13:11:44-04:00
December will see elections for the Iraqi Council of Representatives. See http://www.whitehouse.gov for more information.

See http://www.mnf-iraq.com/TF134/ for updates on the detainee mission in Iraq. A pie chart on this site compares some of the detainee facilities in Iraq.

Task Force 134 is commanded by Major General Brandenburg. Below him, COL Swan is in command of the 30th Medical Brigade. Task Force 344 Medical is below COL Swan and COL Martin commands this task force from Abu Ghraib. LTC Stanek is the officer-in-charge of the Camp Bucca section of TF 344 MED.]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=23 2005-10-25T09:28:36-04:00 2005-10-25T09:28:36-04:00 2005-10-25T09:28:36-04:00
Henry, it seemed you might be interested to see how model aviation has transformed a small slice of the military. There is a UAV operation that runs from Camp Bucca. The plane that was observed several weeks ago was actually on an official mission and not a toy at all. The folks at the site were fairly approachable and they welcomed a visitor asking questions and taking pictures. They base their operation across the street from the motor pool, which is about a 1/4-mile walk from my pod.

The Navy unit has 10 UAVs. They fly a ten-hour mission each day doing pipeline inspections. This requires only one aircraft at a time. LCDR Kurt Davis took the position of OIC for a year in Iraq. He is a Texan (Corpus Christi) who was furlowed from his American Airlines MD-80s after 9/11. His function is simply to supervise the three civilian operators (which requires very little time on his part) and to act as a liaison to receive the mission requests from the military (which requires very little time on his part).

Vehicles are made by a Washington company east of Portland. Components are modular Futaba systems and can be switched out if they turn bad.

www.insitugroup.com - has manufacturer's videos of the "catch and release" launch and recovery

Vehicles weigh 40 pounds with full fuel (about 1 gal US). The mogas gives them a flight time of 18-22 hours, depending on factors such as cruise speed and altitude, typically 60mph (the nose of the vehicle is a pitot tube to measure airspeed) and 1500'. One flight showed the craft taking off from Newfoundland and landing in Scotland. A new system will have a 33 hour endurance, though no one on the team can fathom the practical significance of this.

Preflight takes about a half-hour. A flight plan is filed with the British airspace controllers in Basrah (who own the southern Iraqi airspace) for a block altitude up to 1500' (i.e., the vehicle can descend or ascend up to 1500' at will without a request to the British controller). A notice-to-airmen (NOTAM) is then issued for aviators in that area.

After the vehicle is catapult launched, it is computer controlled via GPS coordinates. One's flying ability with a joystick matters far less than one's ability to operate a computer with a keyboard and mouse. Coordinates and route waypoints for the flight are mapped from the launch station. The vehicle continues to the Persian Gulf and to the Arabian sea, where control is handed over to another station based on an offshore oil rig. They operate the aircraft from their computers for the majority of the day, then send the vehicle (and control of it) back to the launch/recovery station here at Camp Bucca. It is possible for two vehicles to operate simultaneously from this station, though they only operate one at a time. Vehicles are launched around 0630 and recovered around 1700, with about four hours of fuel remaining upon landing.

Satellite photos allow the operator a view of terrain faced by the UAV and man-made structures to avoid. Altitude is maintained as above-ground-level (AGL) based on triangulation of GPS signals and a barometer inside the vehicle. Weather is rarely considered because a) it rarely varies over Umm Qasr and 2) it rarely affects the aircraft, which is not reliant on vision to fly. On a very windy day, it has shown the ability to fly backwards and maintain controlled flight.

The vehicle is normally fitted with an optical camera allowing the operator to see the continuous image on the computer. This is mounted in a bubble on the vehicle's nose, not much different from many Web cameras. IR and mangetometer options are sometimes used as well.

Controllers here at Camp Bucca used the UAV previously in a forward area controller (FAC) capacity when the action was in Fallujah. They could circle the target, keep it under observation, call in artillery or an airstrike, then conduct a battle damage assessment (BDA). The controllers miss their "sexy" assignment, now that pipeline inspection has replaced it.

Only one downed aircraft was reported, that caused by a sample of mogas mixed with too much oil (That Iraqi supplier was trying to skim a few cents off the top, sort of like a bartender watering down the drinks. He will never again sell petroleum products to Coalition Forces.). The RPMs were fairly halved, but the problem wasn't detected until the vehicle was 90 miles away. They were able to land it manually (i.e., with a joystick) on a beach near the Gulf. A team of Marine commandos was then sent to retrieve it. The only damage was to the camera bubble which was mounted on the belly side of the nose. Being a modular component, a new camera was fitted and the vehicle was ready to fly.

Recovery is the best part - no runway is required. Clips are on both leading wingtips of the vehicle. A crane-like device dangles a steel cable from about 25' in the air, sort of like holding a piece of string for a cat to play with it. The vehicle circles for a good while, losing altitude and speed (which is when it was observed several weeks ago over my pod). It then flies straight at the cable. A landing safety officer (LSO - with analogus duties to his aircraft carrier counterpart) observes for any obstructions (like the SST moving past the approach corridor) and waves off the landing if it appears unfavorable. The recovery is typically flown between 45mph (stalling speed) and 50mph.

Once the vehicle strikes the cable, the flight ends rather abruptly with a g-sensor cutting the engine once a 4g force is registered. Guidance to the cable must be precise, so a differential GPS signal is broadcast from the crane. This allows for accuracy better than 2cm cubed. The clip holds the vehicle firmly above the ground, then the operator lowers it to his coworker. The coworker unclips the vehicle and returns it to the stand for post-flight maintenance, readying it to fly again the next day. http://www.insitugroup.com







]]> cfbass cfbass@yahoo.com http://www.henrybass.com/cfbass/blog_comment.asp?bi=22 2005-10-25T09:26:23-04:00 2005-10-25T09:26:23-04:00 2005-10-25T09:26:23-04:00
This leaves me with the luxurious 2-bed pod all to myself - nearly 90 square feet of upscale accomodations with a view of the dog pen and graywater pond (i.e., runoff water from the showers is shunted to the pond for treatement). Improvements have increased the capital value of my pod, with plenty of camouflage netting and a shade over the air conditioner unit. It's walking distance from the shopping and restaurant district of Camp Bucca (i.e., the PX, Subway and D-Fac), comes furnished and electricity is paid.

Speaking of utilities, the Internet is back up after a three-week hiatus. Now, unfortunately, the telephone lines have taken a hit.

We spent the weekend filling sandbags and improving hospital defenses. My clinic has a sandbag-fortified concrete bunker position just outside the hospital that hold a commanding view of...more concrete walls 100 meters away.

A break in the day allowed me to pick up a few small gift items to mail back to Mary Kate and she will send the gifts out well in advance of Christmas. The selection here is not the best, but there were a few things that seemed better than the selection of hookahs and knives (or at least more appropos for the Nativity season).

Recent books include Clive Cussler's *Lost City* (not so good - unrecognizable from other of Cussler's books). Ken Follet's *Dangerous Fortune* played out in a manner much the same as his *Pillars of the Earth* with similar characters and dynamics, though this novel is set in late-1800 England around a family bank.

Mary Kate is watching a girlfriend's house north of Anchorage while the friend is traveling. From there, she is plying me with care packages and so many treats.

Hope all is well in various corners of the readers' worlds.

Charles]]>