The Midnight Hour

Our PX is a fascinating place. It appears to be staffed by locals with just a few American employees in the upper leadership positions. This makes for some interesting experiences. One of the first things I learned is that no matter what you want, it will be here tomorrow. Need a […]

As I load up the Saturday night movie for the OCE (Underworld: Evolution) I am reminded what a chore the entire world of trading media, videos specifically, has become. I speak not only of the underground world of media sharing, but of the fledgling legal distribution systems that have sprung up as of late. […]

After some prodding from the wife, I thought I would give some insight into my daily routine. The following timeline is only valid for days we are not on an operation. The days prior to and after an operation are also a little different, but I think this is a good approximation of […]

After being blocked from my blog for three days a solution has been found. They may be able to delay me, but the legions of uber-geeks at my disposal are unstoppable. I will not be beaten.

The language barrier is becoming more of an issue as time goes on here. Most of the supporting infrastructure of the base is staffed by locals. The chow hall, PX, barber shop, and laundry service all apply. Now I have recently studied Arabic for four semesters, which gives you approximately the proficiency of two semesters […]

Welcome to another glorious day in Camp Fallujah, Iraq, where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.
I discovered the other day that the chow hall serves Baskins Robins ice cream. Yep, all you want and with as many toppings as you desire..err…that you can find. They also have sweet tea. […]

Neither AOL nor Cox nor Gmail are accessible from our work computers. However, Yahoo mail is. Until further notice, please use jeffbarnett513@yahoo.com to communicate with me via email.

I made it to Fallujah. We took the most boring helo ride I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a few) from TQ late late night. I’ve never seen a helo taxi down a runway, but I did last night. When I arrived at the airfield my boss and his senior enlisted Marine […]

I made it to Iraq. I’m not where I will be permanently (Fallujah) but in Iraq (Taqaddum or “TQ”) nonetheless. Getting out of Kuwait was miserable. My group was on two failed C-130 flights that took off but couldn’t land in TQ because of weather. You think commercial airlines can be […]

Well, I’m not sure if you’re going to believe this. I just had crab legs for lunch and lobster for dinner. It was a little over-cooked, but man, staying this close to the gulf is sweet. It’s not a holiday or anything, just a regular old Wednesday.
The PX here reportedly has Xbox […]