Deployment

Hey everybody, yes I'm still alive and kicking. Sorry for not doing this sooner I've just been........... blowing this off for far to long. All is well with me here in the desert or as I like to say "It's all good". Many things have happened since my last posting so I will try to tell you what life is like "IN THE WAR ZONE".
We left California 2Mar09 for a far and distant land with excitement and a little fear of the unknown. The flight sent us to Bangor MN, Shannon Ireland, then onto Kuwait. We stayed in Kuwait for about a week to acclimate and rest up then flew into Iraq. The fun started with a broke C-130 from Kuwait into Iraq, with a slight delay we were soon off again. We flew into Balad, Iraq to start our mission.
Our detatchment arrived safely in theater as it's called ready to get started with our mission. I was quickly told not to get comfortable as I was to depart Balad withen a few days to fly out to a "FOB" (Foward operating base) for a turnover from the unit we replaced.
Our turn over went well and we assumed the duties set by our Commanding Officer. We are working for the Army's 5th group called SOTF-N (Special operations task force-north). They are a special forces group taking care of all the northern part of Iraq. I'm not sure exactly what they do as most of it is top secret. We as Seabees are the builders of the fleet no matter who we work for. Our tasking was to build several building's for the Army during our stay here. The project started out with tons of dirt to move and prepare the site for new structures. To date we have completed several buildings left by the last battalion and started several ourself. We have been tasked with 4 new buildings to be errected, they are to include a Armory, Theater, Kitchen, and a vehical maintenance shop. This task will be about 14000 square feet of buildings to be finished by 10 people in 6 months. There have been tons of dirt moved, a couple hundred cubic meters of concrete poured and thousands of boards cut to fit.
As for me I am the only mechanic in this group and it is my job to ensure that all our equipment is maintained and ready to go. This has been quite a challenge because our equipment operators run the equipment like it was a rental! Needless to say there have been a couple of people that have witnessed my wrath first hand. These same people would be the "ignants" referred to earlier in Sheila's post.
There has been alot of fun as well as some long days while in country, my roommates and I are always going out and trying to find things to do and people to meet. We have received several guided tours while out on our excursions. We met a warrent officer that told us everything you could ever want to know about his Apache attack helicopter, and a couple of maintenance guys that did the same about there Blackhawk helicopter. Everyone wants to tell you about there "specialty" or there piece of equipment. I have been involved with several projects for the sole purpose of just building relationships, there was a volleyball court for the hospital staff, a memorial for a sevice member killed in combat and built a table for the gate guards to put a microwave on.
There have been good as well as trying times while here, it is hard to work, play, eat and sleep with the same people 24-7 without the help of the Lord. I have found that the the only way for me to handle this deployment is by Gods grace and mercy! One of the first things I did once I arrived was to meet the Chaplain and start getting plugged in. Luckily both of my roommmates are christians and we all go every sunday to church. I made a new friend while attending church, Tim an Army sargent that I know the Lord put in my path. I had all these plans before I left the states on my "mission" trip. What I am finding out is that the Lord had his own plan for me. I probabaly will not get to go outside the wire into other parts of the country and carry the gospel to a lost people, but I am finding out that there are many right in front of me that need to be ministered to and loved on. I miss Sheila and the kids and being away from home, but I know the Lord has me here for a reason. My prayer is still that when he calls I will listen and obey!