Sorry for the obscure Austin Powers reference, but it’s kind of an exciting day. We finished our classes today and will take the final exam tomorrow. It’s nice to be making progress towards the goal of getting out there and starting our jobs. We finished the day by going to a hands-on laboratory of sorts at Camp Slayer (finally an Army camp with a name we can be proud of). With all the camps I’ve been to in my time here, I’ve never really strayed outside the large stone/cement walls that encircle the western Baghdad area. All of the camps in this area are connected, so you can travel freely between them. I had wondered for some time whether we built the wall structure, or if it was already here when the Allies took Baghdad. After asking a few folks, I got an answer. The area we’re in was the Baghdad Zoological Park, complete with a bunch of palaces in the middle for Sadaam and his cronies/sons. Now when I say it was the Baghdad Zoo, that’s kind of tongue in cheek. It was actually a large hunting preserve for Sadaam and the boys … now that’s sporting … the animals are raised inside the walls, and Sadaam and the gang hunt them down. At least in the wild, the animals might have a chance to get away, but not here. Meanwhile, his people are starving. All this just reinforces my belief that taking this guy out was the right thing to do. I wonder what happened to the animals when we showed up. Hopefully, some of those ‘rescue’ organizations were given opportunities to get some of the animals to REAL zoos where they could get care without the fear that some spoiled tyrant was going to pop them in the head with an elephant gun. I’m guessing that, since they were raised in a preserve, releasing them into the wild would just make them some wild animal’s dinner.
Despite all of the negative things about this place, there are some amazing sights. The architecture in the buildings is breathtaking. I would expect it from the mosques and palaces (I expect them to look pretty amazing everywhere – they usually do), but the everyday homes in this area are cool too. Now, you must understand, the homes I’m looking at are FOS homes (Friends of Sadaam), so they are pretty close to palaces themselves. The ones that don’t have 2,000 lb. bomb holes in them would probably make any dream ho
me list (heck, even the bombed out ones are cool). It’s just funny to see what we’ve done with them. All of our individual units need buildings to work out of, so you’ll see Army Legal Services, MP Brigade, etc. signs on all of the usable buildings. There’s even an Army Retention office in one of the buildings (I find that ironic, if they’re here – they’re already retained, so to speak). I guess if I have to be here, I should enjoy the sights while I have time. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow (…it’s a Navy test … luck has little to do with it). Until tomorrow.
-Grease out.
Despite all of the negative things about this place, there are some amazing sights. The architecture in the buildings is breathtaking. I would expect it from the mosques and palaces (I expect them to look pretty amazing everywhere – they usually do), but the everyday homes in this area are cool too. Now, you must understand, the homes I’m looking at are FOS homes (Friends of Sadaam), so they are pretty close to palaces themselves. The ones that don’t have 2,000 lb. bomb holes in them would probably make any dream ho
me list (heck, even the bombed out ones are cool). It’s just funny to see what we’ve done with them. All of our individual units need buildings to work out of, so you’ll see Army Legal Services, MP Brigade, etc. signs on all of the usable buildings. There’s even an Army Retention office in one of the buildings (I find that ironic, if they’re here – they’re already retained, so to speak). I guess if I have to be here, I should enjoy the sights while I have time. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow (…it’s a Navy test … luck has little to do with it). Until tomorrow.-Grease out.
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