Jack_Crow
Enlightened
Hi all,
Its check in time. I have personal some good news for a change.
One of the computer programs I have here is called the "Doughnut of Misery". It's a little spread sheet program where you enter your start date and your end date. It calculates how much time remains and displays this in a circle graph. AKA the Doughnut of Misery.
Yesterday I had 100 days to go. It seems as if this deployment has lasted forever.
Today it's 99. It's as if there is an end in sight. A fresh wind blows in new dust.
What a difference 86,400 seconds makes.
As of now the program reads
99 Days
2392 Hours
143586 Minutes
8615173 Seconds
Today I become a "Double Digit Midget" as the Army dudes call it.
I can't begin to tell you how much I miss the Joanne the wife, Myla dog and Rocky Dog.
It would be nice to get back to the world I consider real. Lawns, homes, trees, humidity, and cars without armor plate in them. It would be so nice to have a choice again over where to have a meal. Heck I have memories of super markets. They are going to seem like museums now compared to our PX. The ability to buy batteries off the shelf rather than mail order. It's the stupid little things you miss here. Things that are so easy to forget.
Some things I'm not going to enjoy when return. For example, who needs commercials? Washington DC Traffic? Parking tickets?
Street crime will be tame after the things I have witnessed here. Fortunately the vast majority of our home grown punks have no idea just how nasty a war of insurgency can be. I not going to tell them.
In other news….
In the last two day there has been some excitement.
You know how you can tell what kind of car is on the street. If it's a Volkswagen or a hot rod by its exhaust sound? Over here you get that way with automatic weapons. An M16 has one sound, and an AK has another. Generally there are no AK's in use on the base. So when you hear AK fire, it's somebody else's, and it's from outside the wall.
Yesterday from the village outside the base, and the day before, we were hearing an 'argument' between neighbors with AK47's. There is no finer way to say you're ticked off about something than a full magazine of Russian military surplus ammo.
There is a wall around the base here protecting us. Imagine a "Jersey Barrier" about 20 feet tall, almost two feet thick at the top. Imagine what it would take to keep stray UFO's from crop circling your farm. Some of the bullets from the neighbors spat apparently hit the wall. An AK round will not go through that much cement. It might make some sparks though.
The Army didn't have to do a thing. Anyhow the night after the first firefight the SECFOR (security force commander) and some of his team had dinner at the local head honcho's home.
In the past I've told you this area is run like an Organized Crime neighborhood. You don't mug John Gottie's mom and expect to survive it. I'm sure Ali (who I've met) has a clue as to what's going on, and if it's costing him money, it will end suddenly.
I got invited to this dinner, but I don't much care for fish. Going to hold out for roast goat or lamb. As for personal safety, exactly nothing will happen with 20 armed troopers inside the house, and another few dozen outside the house with heavy weapons. The house is under the guns of at least three towers that protect this base. I not at all worried about my security near the base.
Seems the shooting was some kind of family dispute that got out of hand. Arab's don't shoot the way we do, they have a method called 'spray and pray'. They depend on Allah's guiding the bullets. Judging by the length of yesterday's event, Allah was not paying close attention. That's why arguments last so long here. They keep missing. This method of shooting is great for making noise and annoying the neighbors. It's not an effective tool for winning your argument.
US troopers are taught to aim for center of mass. This works much better at controlling rude behavior. Bang, splat, thud, bleed, and die. A proven success method.
Anyhow, I was no where near where any of the bullets landed. So if the Arabs are shooting each other, then they are not shooting at the Army. This is a good thing in my book. The Army is not concerned. They didn't call an 'alert' or order us into armor.
I get real tired about hearing of wounded and dead troopers.
During the latter part of WWII, my father had a part time job driving B17's in Europe. For my own education, I wanted to get a feel of the Old Man's war experience and compare it to my own. 1944 England, vs. 2004 Iraq.
One of his planes was called "Easy Movements". (It sounds like my OM's sense of humor, a laxative joke as a name for a heavy bomber.) It was a B17 "G" unit. During my R and R in England, I got to see a B17G up close. (Like an idiot I neglected to take a single photo of it!) It's an impressive air plane. One thing it isn't is armored. Put enough holes in it or the crew, and it litters the countryside.
One thing the Nazi's knew how to do was shoot. (Unlike my Arab neighbors) The risk the old man took facing Nazi guns in that can was huge compared to my situation here. Getting into an airplane like that, flying a 9 hour mission and coming back again. Life here is quiet by comparison. My opinion of the OM went up about 20db after looking at the 'G'.
As for the Arab Shoot-ex The Army was not involved except as observers.
Watching two bands of locals slugging it out.
As some of you know, I have modified ham radios here I use for internal communications within the unit. With a little bit of effort, I found some of the channels used by KBR (Kellogg Brown and Root), and the Army.
So there we are, sitting outside our trailer, trying to follow the fight by ear and over the two way radio. Kind of like following a Nascar race form the parking lot. From our perch, the fight was about 400 yards away, outside the wall. Our trailer is not armored, and our standing outside or inside if one came our way, would make almost no difference to our ability to survive a hit. Bullets wouldn't even notice this trailer was in the way. (It might cut down how many times the floor would have to be mopped if we got wounded outside rather than inside.)
Our trailer is slightly sturdier than a building made from lint. I was about ready to get back to the tent and get my armor. Since the Army wasn't ordering us into armor, I was in no great rush. It was about 110 out yesterday when the excitement was going on.
Within the Army there are two main schools of thought. Shooters and Logistics.
Shooters are the "go fast" and "step on necks community".
Logistics types make sure the paper work is all filled in.
You need both kinds to win a war.
You also need both kinds to have a war inside the base.
The difference in radio chatter reflected the vastly different mentality. It boiled down to this. The Mayors (logiees) channel was concerned for them selves and personal safety.
The Security Force (SecFor) (shooters) wanted to stop the shooting and get this place quieted down.
One set of messages had a lot of "I don't knows" and "what do you think".
The second set was "Lock and load" and "move out".
Selfish vs. selfless.
(Has a loggie ever earned the 'CMO'?)
Grocery store clerks vs. warriors. Who would trust your buns to? Give me the warriors over the pencil pushers every time; at least I can respect their reactions.
After about 40 min the last shot was fired and the situation went back to 'normal'. I'm looking forward to today. Perhaps the argument will go into extra innings. Waiting on rev three.
Other news.
Now that I'm down to 99 days, I have to start thinking about turning over the radio station to someone else. I write a page for the camp news letter. In there I outlined the transfer ideas. See the attached article.
Got delivery yesterday of some UV flash lights. So far so good. They can be used to spot bad money and other strange things.
I took one out for a walk last night looking for bugs that show up under UV. Didn't find any.
Did find some candy wrappers and cigarette butts. Will try again tonight. I'm told that scorpions and camel spiders show up under black light. We will see. The next big trick is if I find one, what to do with it?
That's the news of the moment.
Hope all is well
Mike (Aka Jack Crow in Iraq)
.........................................................................
The Stereo Scania Report number Three
Hi all,
Good news.
Had a wonderful R and R with the wife in London England. I spent about $300 on new media for the station. I've got a whole new collection of 80's music. Some new Island stuff, more Jeff Foxworthy, and some things I like as well.
A number of troopers here have donated stuff for use on the radio. So can you. Please prepare an MP3 disk with that you want to hear. We have a microphone if you want to record intros for your items.
"Idaman" of www.subguns.com sent a wonderful mix disk. You guys don't know the support we have from people back home. The BCR community of subguns.com has donated equipment, media, and a huge moral support for your benefit. Some of the dudes have reached into their pocket and sent Major Frazer cartridges for his printer. People from "The Candle Power Forum" have sent food and books for your MWR. One of the more interesting projects 'in the works' is some guys from a ham radio group want donate some chargers and rechargeable batteries for your FRS radios. More when I know more so shall you.
I've been working with LTC L. on recording some fun promotional announcements for the 1908th Combat Stress Team. I have also been contacted by her competition for equal time access. A Dr. Feelgood PHD. His office is on the corner of Walk and Don't Walk. They offer alternative head care. Expect to hear his words of wisdom as well.
Back home in Long Island New York we used to get competing ads from the Gas Utility and the Oil Heat Industry. Why not here. On the radio back home they would rip into each other with glee. My wife summed it up this way. "Go Modern, Go Gas, Go BOOM!". People would try and cheat the gas company by using a length of garden hose to by pass the meter. That hose would leak, fill the house with explosive vapor, and the next spark sends splinters all over the neighborhood. This used to happen about four times a year. One heck of a bang. In our case, LTC L is the establishment, and Dr. Feelgood is the wise guy. See who you want your brain examined by.
Anyhow as you will come to hear, LTC L. is a heck of a good sport and puts up with my skewed idea of how a mental health provider operates. Remember that September is National Mental Health month, celebrate early, and often. My thanks to the LTC for sitting through all the recording sessions.
On the tech side, not much is new. The station ran the 3 weeks while I was away from 'Greater Down Town Scania'. Without any flaws. I'm real happy with the way the transmitter is working. Radio propagation has been a little wacky. Seems the heat and sand have messed up more than my stuff. It's been messing up Army radio circuits as well. Now that the heat is diminishing coverage should become more reliable. Remember WTFO is only running one watt of power. To quote Commander Cody, 'that's all there is and their ain't no more'.
If you look around you will see our new promotional poster. Keep an ear open for some shows. Been adding clips from various movies and other media that works well. I used a clip from Blazing Saddles in the DeFAC mix that should cause some giggles. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that there are no 'child care providers' here.
Major Miller, one of our visiting Chaplin's allowed me to record one of his guitar practice sessions. These sound good! I would like the chance to record more live music made here on the base. Contact me for more data. Most people don't know how much fun it is to 'hear you're self on the radio'. Now is your chance.
Now the bad news.
One of the high ranking individuals here gave me a little program. Apparently the Army has been trying to stamp this one out. It's called "The Donut of Misery" it's a little excel program that calculates how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds left in my service here. By the time you read this I will be down to 'double digits'. Guess where this is going.
I will need replacement. Or WTFO goes off the air.
A trust worthy individual to take over the assets.
This is going to take a special volunteer.
Someone who knows the technology of audio and radio.
If you have a background in broadcast or amateur radio, that might be enough.
Someone who can manage a significant amount of music as data.
If you have a large MP3 collection and can make sense of it, that's what I'm looking for.
Someone who is acceptable to the Mayors office.
Hopefully a member of the Army, or a contractor who will be here for a while.
Someone who is willing to follow the same ground rules I have been permitted to operate under.
WTFO is permitted under a tight set of rules. Each one must be respected.
Someone who understands broadcasting is not just playing around for you and a few friends.
This is a serious activity. If all the rules are followed it works smoothly.
I have to keep roughly 1000 different listeners happy at least a few moments each day.
Do you have the social skills to keep your audience happy?
An encyclopedic knowledge of popular music never hurts.
Running a radio station is not just playing songs. It's a way to share emotion and attitude.
A chance to do some good for a community where fun is strictly rationed.
Also your return date back to CONUS should be at least six months away.
If you think you can take over the physical plant, contact me for an interview. If we agree that you can take over, we will make a presentation to the Mayors office and ask for her blessing.
Keep it safe out there.
Radio Mike from the ITT community
Its check in time. I have personal some good news for a change.
One of the computer programs I have here is called the "Doughnut of Misery". It's a little spread sheet program where you enter your start date and your end date. It calculates how much time remains and displays this in a circle graph. AKA the Doughnut of Misery.
Yesterday I had 100 days to go. It seems as if this deployment has lasted forever.
Today it's 99. It's as if there is an end in sight. A fresh wind blows in new dust.
What a difference 86,400 seconds makes.
As of now the program reads
99 Days
2392 Hours
143586 Minutes
8615173 Seconds
Today I become a "Double Digit Midget" as the Army dudes call it.
I can't begin to tell you how much I miss the Joanne the wife, Myla dog and Rocky Dog.
It would be nice to get back to the world I consider real. Lawns, homes, trees, humidity, and cars without armor plate in them. It would be so nice to have a choice again over where to have a meal. Heck I have memories of super markets. They are going to seem like museums now compared to our PX. The ability to buy batteries off the shelf rather than mail order. It's the stupid little things you miss here. Things that are so easy to forget.
Some things I'm not going to enjoy when return. For example, who needs commercials? Washington DC Traffic? Parking tickets?
Street crime will be tame after the things I have witnessed here. Fortunately the vast majority of our home grown punks have no idea just how nasty a war of insurgency can be. I not going to tell them.
In other news….
In the last two day there has been some excitement.
You know how you can tell what kind of car is on the street. If it's a Volkswagen or a hot rod by its exhaust sound? Over here you get that way with automatic weapons. An M16 has one sound, and an AK has another. Generally there are no AK's in use on the base. So when you hear AK fire, it's somebody else's, and it's from outside the wall.
Yesterday from the village outside the base, and the day before, we were hearing an 'argument' between neighbors with AK47's. There is no finer way to say you're ticked off about something than a full magazine of Russian military surplus ammo.
There is a wall around the base here protecting us. Imagine a "Jersey Barrier" about 20 feet tall, almost two feet thick at the top. Imagine what it would take to keep stray UFO's from crop circling your farm. Some of the bullets from the neighbors spat apparently hit the wall. An AK round will not go through that much cement. It might make some sparks though.
The Army didn't have to do a thing. Anyhow the night after the first firefight the SECFOR (security force commander) and some of his team had dinner at the local head honcho's home.
In the past I've told you this area is run like an Organized Crime neighborhood. You don't mug John Gottie's mom and expect to survive it. I'm sure Ali (who I've met) has a clue as to what's going on, and if it's costing him money, it will end suddenly.
I got invited to this dinner, but I don't much care for fish. Going to hold out for roast goat or lamb. As for personal safety, exactly nothing will happen with 20 armed troopers inside the house, and another few dozen outside the house with heavy weapons. The house is under the guns of at least three towers that protect this base. I not at all worried about my security near the base.
Seems the shooting was some kind of family dispute that got out of hand. Arab's don't shoot the way we do, they have a method called 'spray and pray'. They depend on Allah's guiding the bullets. Judging by the length of yesterday's event, Allah was not paying close attention. That's why arguments last so long here. They keep missing. This method of shooting is great for making noise and annoying the neighbors. It's not an effective tool for winning your argument.
US troopers are taught to aim for center of mass. This works much better at controlling rude behavior. Bang, splat, thud, bleed, and die. A proven success method.
Anyhow, I was no where near where any of the bullets landed. So if the Arabs are shooting each other, then they are not shooting at the Army. This is a good thing in my book. The Army is not concerned. They didn't call an 'alert' or order us into armor.
I get real tired about hearing of wounded and dead troopers.
During the latter part of WWII, my father had a part time job driving B17's in Europe. For my own education, I wanted to get a feel of the Old Man's war experience and compare it to my own. 1944 England, vs. 2004 Iraq.
One of his planes was called "Easy Movements". (It sounds like my OM's sense of humor, a laxative joke as a name for a heavy bomber.) It was a B17 "G" unit. During my R and R in England, I got to see a B17G up close. (Like an idiot I neglected to take a single photo of it!) It's an impressive air plane. One thing it isn't is armored. Put enough holes in it or the crew, and it litters the countryside.
One thing the Nazi's knew how to do was shoot. (Unlike my Arab neighbors) The risk the old man took facing Nazi guns in that can was huge compared to my situation here. Getting into an airplane like that, flying a 9 hour mission and coming back again. Life here is quiet by comparison. My opinion of the OM went up about 20db after looking at the 'G'.
As for the Arab Shoot-ex The Army was not involved except as observers.
Watching two bands of locals slugging it out.
As some of you know, I have modified ham radios here I use for internal communications within the unit. With a little bit of effort, I found some of the channels used by KBR (Kellogg Brown and Root), and the Army.
So there we are, sitting outside our trailer, trying to follow the fight by ear and over the two way radio. Kind of like following a Nascar race form the parking lot. From our perch, the fight was about 400 yards away, outside the wall. Our trailer is not armored, and our standing outside or inside if one came our way, would make almost no difference to our ability to survive a hit. Bullets wouldn't even notice this trailer was in the way. (It might cut down how many times the floor would have to be mopped if we got wounded outside rather than inside.)
Our trailer is slightly sturdier than a building made from lint. I was about ready to get back to the tent and get my armor. Since the Army wasn't ordering us into armor, I was in no great rush. It was about 110 out yesterday when the excitement was going on.
Within the Army there are two main schools of thought. Shooters and Logistics.
Shooters are the "go fast" and "step on necks community".
Logistics types make sure the paper work is all filled in.
You need both kinds to win a war.
You also need both kinds to have a war inside the base.
The difference in radio chatter reflected the vastly different mentality. It boiled down to this. The Mayors (logiees) channel was concerned for them selves and personal safety.
The Security Force (SecFor) (shooters) wanted to stop the shooting and get this place quieted down.
One set of messages had a lot of "I don't knows" and "what do you think".
The second set was "Lock and load" and "move out".
Selfish vs. selfless.
(Has a loggie ever earned the 'CMO'?)
Grocery store clerks vs. warriors. Who would trust your buns to? Give me the warriors over the pencil pushers every time; at least I can respect their reactions.
After about 40 min the last shot was fired and the situation went back to 'normal'. I'm looking forward to today. Perhaps the argument will go into extra innings. Waiting on rev three.
Other news.
Now that I'm down to 99 days, I have to start thinking about turning over the radio station to someone else. I write a page for the camp news letter. In there I outlined the transfer ideas. See the attached article.
Got delivery yesterday of some UV flash lights. So far so good. They can be used to spot bad money and other strange things.
I took one out for a walk last night looking for bugs that show up under UV. Didn't find any.
Did find some candy wrappers and cigarette butts. Will try again tonight. I'm told that scorpions and camel spiders show up under black light. We will see. The next big trick is if I find one, what to do with it?
That's the news of the moment.
Hope all is well
Mike (Aka Jack Crow in Iraq)
.........................................................................
The Stereo Scania Report number Three
Hi all,
Good news.
Had a wonderful R and R with the wife in London England. I spent about $300 on new media for the station. I've got a whole new collection of 80's music. Some new Island stuff, more Jeff Foxworthy, and some things I like as well.
A number of troopers here have donated stuff for use on the radio. So can you. Please prepare an MP3 disk with that you want to hear. We have a microphone if you want to record intros for your items.
"Idaman" of www.subguns.com sent a wonderful mix disk. You guys don't know the support we have from people back home. The BCR community of subguns.com has donated equipment, media, and a huge moral support for your benefit. Some of the dudes have reached into their pocket and sent Major Frazer cartridges for his printer. People from "The Candle Power Forum" have sent food and books for your MWR. One of the more interesting projects 'in the works' is some guys from a ham radio group want donate some chargers and rechargeable batteries for your FRS radios. More when I know more so shall you.
I've been working with LTC L. on recording some fun promotional announcements for the 1908th Combat Stress Team. I have also been contacted by her competition for equal time access. A Dr. Feelgood PHD. His office is on the corner of Walk and Don't Walk. They offer alternative head care. Expect to hear his words of wisdom as well.
Back home in Long Island New York we used to get competing ads from the Gas Utility and the Oil Heat Industry. Why not here. On the radio back home they would rip into each other with glee. My wife summed it up this way. "Go Modern, Go Gas, Go BOOM!". People would try and cheat the gas company by using a length of garden hose to by pass the meter. That hose would leak, fill the house with explosive vapor, and the next spark sends splinters all over the neighborhood. This used to happen about four times a year. One heck of a bang. In our case, LTC L is the establishment, and Dr. Feelgood is the wise guy. See who you want your brain examined by.
Anyhow as you will come to hear, LTC L. is a heck of a good sport and puts up with my skewed idea of how a mental health provider operates. Remember that September is National Mental Health month, celebrate early, and often. My thanks to the LTC for sitting through all the recording sessions.
On the tech side, not much is new. The station ran the 3 weeks while I was away from 'Greater Down Town Scania'. Without any flaws. I'm real happy with the way the transmitter is working. Radio propagation has been a little wacky. Seems the heat and sand have messed up more than my stuff. It's been messing up Army radio circuits as well. Now that the heat is diminishing coverage should become more reliable. Remember WTFO is only running one watt of power. To quote Commander Cody, 'that's all there is and their ain't no more'.
If you look around you will see our new promotional poster. Keep an ear open for some shows. Been adding clips from various movies and other media that works well. I used a clip from Blazing Saddles in the DeFAC mix that should cause some giggles. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that there are no 'child care providers' here.
Major Miller, one of our visiting Chaplin's allowed me to record one of his guitar practice sessions. These sound good! I would like the chance to record more live music made here on the base. Contact me for more data. Most people don't know how much fun it is to 'hear you're self on the radio'. Now is your chance.
Now the bad news.
One of the high ranking individuals here gave me a little program. Apparently the Army has been trying to stamp this one out. It's called "The Donut of Misery" it's a little excel program that calculates how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds left in my service here. By the time you read this I will be down to 'double digits'. Guess where this is going.
I will need replacement. Or WTFO goes off the air.
A trust worthy individual to take over the assets.
This is going to take a special volunteer.
Someone who knows the technology of audio and radio.
If you have a background in broadcast or amateur radio, that might be enough.
Someone who can manage a significant amount of music as data.
If you have a large MP3 collection and can make sense of it, that's what I'm looking for.
Someone who is acceptable to the Mayors office.
Hopefully a member of the Army, or a contractor who will be here for a while.
Someone who is willing to follow the same ground rules I have been permitted to operate under.
WTFO is permitted under a tight set of rules. Each one must be respected.
Someone who understands broadcasting is not just playing around for you and a few friends.
This is a serious activity. If all the rules are followed it works smoothly.
I have to keep roughly 1000 different listeners happy at least a few moments each day.
Do you have the social skills to keep your audience happy?
An encyclopedic knowledge of popular music never hurts.
Running a radio station is not just playing songs. It's a way to share emotion and attitude.
A chance to do some good for a community where fun is strictly rationed.
Also your return date back to CONUS should be at least six months away.
If you think you can take over the physical plant, contact me for an interview. If we agree that you can take over, we will make a presentation to the Mayors office and ask for her blessing.
Keep it safe out there.
Radio Mike from the ITT community
