The Alamo Forward is coming along

We christened the Alamo Forward today. Today was Memorial day and even though the project is not complete, we had a cook out on the deck. The project is about 60% complete, but, is lacking the electrical work and the roof. I have to wait on the walls until the electrical wires are all run and then I can seal it all up and I will get the roof on this week. Then I can run the wires for the lights once that is done. These pictures are from today. The one with the wall that is swung open, is where the 52 Inch Plasma TV is going to go, once the project is complete. It will swing open when in use and be able to be locked up when not. There is a torn parachute that we used as a temporary roof so as to not be in the sun all day while cooking on the new grill that was made here, for us, by the husband of one of our soldiers. He works for KBR and knows some welder who did him a favor.
I like it so much that I am going to build me something like this once I get home. I will use it for a work shop and storage shed with a deck for sitting outside and having cook outs for my friends and neighbors. I think I can get the material for less than $5K and if I do the labor myself, well then that part is free. It may take a few months to get it done, but, it will improve the home value for when I get ready to sell. I will, however, not use plywood for the outside walls. I plan on using Hardy board instead.

I got fired today

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I seemed to piss off Captains on a regular basis. It seems that I got in the middle, between a Retired One Star and the OIC of Billeting, Captain Cunningham. She, Cpt Cunningham, has been on a power trip since the day I met her. I did everything I could to appease her and tried to help people despite her seeming intentional inconveniencing of the people around her.
From the beginning: I was sent a Retired Brigadier General (One Star) to house in my area, along with his staff. He is the SIGAR (Special Inspector General Afghan Region). Basically, he inspects different units to make sure that they are not doing anything inappropriate. Anyway, he was assigned his rooms and they were spread out throughout the camp. This was, despite the fact the he requested to keep his people isolated from other people due to the possible conflict of interest that could arise from sharing living quarters with someone from a unit that might fall under investigation. Not to mention the fact that the walls are thin and thus, others could hear confidential conversations.
So, be being the go-to-guy that I am, when he asked me to try to get him and his people into a B-Hut that was isolated, I just said “I will do my best to make it happen” and proceeded to try to make it happen. I found a suitable B-Hut that had two vacancies in it and asked the other two people if they would mind relocating into comparable rooms in another B-Hut. One said “no problem” and the other was on his way home anyway so it worked out great. Well, that is when the S#!t hit the fan. Cpt Cunningham had a conniption fit and took away the fourth room and assigned it to some SGM that was not even here yet.
Well, the One Star’s other assistant arrived before the SGM and he moved into that room. As soon as the Cpt found out, she had me place a sign on the door telling him to go see billeting and lock out the guy by putting a lock on the room door’s hasp. Of course as soon as the General got back and heard what had happened he came looking for me. He tore into me as I stood there at attention and then parade rest. As he stopped to take a breath, I interrupted him and explained to him that I had nothing to do with what was going on. He then asked me what I knew about it and I told him. He then blew up and vented some frustration. As I reminded him that it was over my head and I could not do anything for him on this matter.
He then proceeded to the billeting office. Mind you that this is happening after 2200 hrs. (10 PM). He did not go to Cpt Cunningham. He did not even go to her boss. He went to her boss’s boss. Not one step above her, but, two. He got his way, of course. So now we get to me and how I lost my job. Since Cpt Cunningham did not get her way on this, that left only one person that she could take it out on. That one person would be me. She called my 1SG and told him to replace me. The excuse that she used was that I cannot follow orders and contradicting her. She has butted heads with almost everyone that out ranks her. I think she takes pride and great pleasure in pushing people around. I guess that is part of the character trait found in Police. And yes, she is an MP (Military Police).
The bottom line is that I am looking for a new job. LOL well, not a new job. I am still in the army and my Battalion is very pleased with my work ethics and desire to do what needs to be done.

The Project is coming along

Well, I found my camera. Here are some pictures of the project that I am working on. This is the “Alamo Forward.” I have now put two days of work into it and it is finally beginning to look like something. It took me a days worth of work to get the deck done and now I have put up the frame work for 4 of the 5 walls. I have till this weekend to get it semi-finished. I do not think that I will get all the things done because I still do not have all of the electrical supplies for it. I will, however, have it ready for the cookout that is going to happen this weekend. There are several things I need to do for that, but, nothing that is too difficult. The hardest thing is going to be the roof. I am still not sure how I am going to get that put together and make it all work. I guess I will come up with something once I get to that point. It would be nice to have an actual set of blueprints to go by instead of just a few people's thoughts and ideas that I had to implement into the concept. Not to mention that the design has changed no less than 4 times since I began the build. I just hope it does not change again. Or, at least, not the parts that are already complete. I would hate to have to tear it down again.

I finally got my truck back from the shop. It was in for a few days for its simi-annual service. It still does not have a back window, but, that is coming soon. Now, all I have to do is find a stereo system and some speakers for it. One thing at a time, as I always say. Even though I never listen to myself on that one, since I always have at least 5 projects in the works at a time. LOL Any way, I am happy to say that I am still doing my job and loving it. I guess the bosses are happy too, since I have not been fired yet, despite the fact that I have stepped on a few toes in the process of getting my job done. And the toes I stepped on were all MUCH higher on the food chain than I am. It seems that I am good at pissing off Captains and Majors and am getting pretty good at pissing off Lieutenant Colonels too now.

Another project under way

I was tasked with the building of what they are calling the "Alamo Forward." It is supposed to be a place where we can go to relax and just sit around. There is going to be a deck, a Grill for cooking out and a room with a big screen with cable or satellite. I started on that project today. It is underway and going up fast. The footprint is 16 feet wide by 24 feet deep. The roof at the front will be 8 feet off the deck and the roof at the rear will be only 7 feet. That will give it a slight angle for the rain to run down instead of settling on the roof. I do not have any pictures as of yet, because I have no idea where my new camera went. I will get some pictures and post them as soon as I can remember where the heck I put my camera. I am starting to get that CRS syndrome real bad. The “Can’t Remember $h!t” syndrome has affected me quite a few times this last week more so than usual.

There is some good news on the horizon. The building that the mayor cell is in is about to be mine. Right now I have to share it with the 1SG and the CO of HHC. I just found out that they are moving into the building next door and that will leave me more room for all the things I have to store. I hope to also get a vehicle out of this deal. I am working on getting an M1009 (CUCV). For those that are not as OLD as I am, that is what the military used back in the early 80’s. It is a Chevy truck that has been modified from a 3/4 ton Diesel to a 1 1/4 ton. Basically they just added a few leaf springs to make it stronger and rerated the weight capacity. It is old and worn out, kind of like me. And I love it. I drove it today when I picked up the 2x10x16 boards for the frame of the “Alamo” and it did not even whimper at carrying that heavy load from one end of post to the other. It also reminds me of my dad’s “76 GMC ¾ ton truck. It is the same color and has the same interior. All that is missing is the radio.

Another week in the history books

It is now Sunday morning and I am getting to rest for a change. I was going to be building a new project called the "Alamo Cafe," but, it is raining. So I decided to use my day off as an actual day off. Normally I use my day off as a shorter than usual day. So on my days off I only work about 10-12 hours. Not this day. I plan to not work more than 4-6 hours and even that, only because I have some pressing issues to deal with. Otherwise, I would not have gotten out of bed.

We cannot seem to get a reliable weather report to save our lives out here. It seems that they cannot accurately predict tomorrow’s weather today more than about 25% of the time. And they are trying to tell us that 20 years from now we are going to boil to death from this global warming thing. Actually, I just saw a new mantra. In the 70's it was "Global Cooling, the second Ice Age" in the 90's "Global warming" and now, wait for it, wait for it, "Global Climate Change." Shoot, all you have to do to prove that one, is wait an hour (unless you are in Texas, then it is only 5-10 minutes) and YES THE CLIMATE CHANGED. What a surprise. They had to use a new mantra because they just discovered that the world did not get any hotter over the last 3 years. In fact, I just read a report that it actually cooled down a 1/4 of a degree. Besides, who is to say what the temperature of the earth should be. We just know what "we" would like for it to be, not what it is supposed to be.

Anyway, back to Afghanistan. Here, the weather is about to get much hotter. We are entering the "100 day winds." Every year, around this time, we start getting strong winds that kick up a lot of sand and stuff into the air. It usually lasts; you guessed it, around 100 days. Then, the summer heat kicks in. We are actually experiencing it right now. And, in about 2 months, the heat will set in and it will calm down again. It does not get too much over the 120's here. Usually stays in the 110's or lower. The evenings get down in the 70's or low 80's so it is not too bad. All you have to do is drink lots of water and all is well. It also helps you lose weight.

It seems that almost everyone here has lost over 15 Lbs. I have talked to some guys that said they have lost over 45 Lbs since they got here. This is, despite the really awesome food that is served here. This is mostly because we walk everywhere and drink lots of water. The ones that have lost the most are usually the ones that do not drink the soda here, just water with the flavor packets. I was down to 170's and am now back up to 180 or so. Not bad, considering that I was just less than 200Lbs when we left to come here. I have not done any PT for a while and it is starting to show. I am going to start a work out plan next week, once I get some things done and have more time.

Time to eat crow

I finally confronted the former Mayor. I had to talk to him today because it was driving me crazy. I kept biting my tongue all day and could not hold it in any longer. For those of you that know me. You would be amazed as to how long I held it in. But, at around 1630hrs (4:30 PM) I could not stop myself. I knocked on his door, asked to speak to him, closed the door, took a deep breath and began. I am glad I did it. We ironed out a lot of things. I was misjudging him on his actions. I thought he was doing what he was doing, just because he wanted to get under my skin. I was wrong. He was truly looking out for, what he thought was, my best interest. He was afraid that I might be biting off more than I could chew. I did, however, tell him, that although I have been known for doing just that, I am sure I can handle the ramifications of my actions. He apologized and now we are good friends.

I also dealt with the vehicle issue. I reminded him that the vehicle belongs to the Mayor Cell, but, he is welcome to use it when I or my assistants are not doing so. He, at first, tried to “convince” me that I was wrong. That the vehicle in question actually belongs to the Headquarters Company. But, I reminded him that the only reason the Battalion left that vehicle behind with him was because he was the Mayor, not because he was the 1SG and then pointed out that none of the other companies have vehicles for the staff, only the supply section of each company has one. He then conceded that I was right and we moved on to the next topic at hand. I think I am going to like this guy. He seems to try to get over on you, but, if confronted with the facts, he backs down and moves on. I cannot blame the guy for trying. LOL
I also dealt with an irate Lieutenant Colonel today. This one was entirely my fault. We worked a deal between the two of us and I did not come through on my end as he expected. He told me he could get me a bobcat (skid steer) with a bucket loader on it for a day. And in return I would make sure that we spread some rocks out in front of his B-hut so he would not have a mud pit to walk though every time it rained. By the time I finally got the Bobcat, the gravel that I was authorized to get, had been taken away. I was only given a week to make it go away or they would take it and use it elsewhere. It took a week and a half to get the bobcat. There for, I did not have enough gravel to do the job in full and I had to decide whether it was more important to spread the few loads of gravel I had at one B-hut to help one man, or spread it out over a main route and help out that entire section of the camp. He did not like the choice I made. He went all the way up the chain to my Battalion. I had to answer to one of my Majors up there. Luckily I am in good standing with them. Especially since I just built them the wall and door up there. And I was up till 0430hours doing so, because they wanted it done in time for the office to be moved into by the morning shift. I explained to them what had happened and that I would rectify the situation by Close of Business today and problem solved. I went and found some gravel and took the John Deere Gator and a couple of shovels and loaded up the Gator with 2 loads of gravel to spread around the Colonels B-hut. Now we are all happy as can be. I love it when a plan comes together.

Well it is getting late. I will write again soon. Enjoy your freedoms while they last. I hear that they are diminishing rather quickly back home. I just heard that we, the soldiers, are on the terrorist watch list. Gotta love that.

Just call me Bob.

It seems that I have earned myself a new name. I am being called "Bob the Builder" and also "Bob Villa." It looks like I have impressed a few people that had no clue I could make things happen. This is a great place to be for me, right now. At least for the most part.

There is a dark cloud in the sky over me right now. The man that used to do my job here, as Camp Mayor, is back. He tried to go home by pulling some strings back home and getting reassigned. It seems that he does not like the people he has to work for. Well any way, he pulled some strings and went home and the strings got CUT and he was called back in. He is not a happy camper right now. Any way, he is trying to take it out on me. He does not want the job of Camp Mayor, but, he wants all the perks. I am not sure how to handle this one. I know I can leave here anytime I choose. I just need to say the word and I am down range on the front lines doing my job. The one I was trained to do and the one that I was brought back from retirement for. I do not know if I want to pull that trump card just yet. I am kind of enjoying this job.

Here are the issues I have to deal with. 1, since we were told to put the curtains back up in the showers, I decided to have my guys cut the curtains to Knee high. Not a big deal, right? Well he had a cow and ordered my guys not to do it. It seems that he wants to run the Mayor Cell, but, does not want the job of the Mayor. 2, I just found out that he thinks the Mayor Cell vehicle is HIS vehicle. He does not seem to understand that he is no longer the Mayor and is the First Sergeant only, since he did not want to do both jobs. But, the 1SG does not rate a personal vehicle, even though he was using it as such when he was the Mayor. I needed the vehicle for some official business and it seems that he took the keys with him to the hooch since HE does not want people driving HIS vehicle.

Like I said, I am not sure how I am going to deal with this one. It looks like I am going to have to either push against the tide or just step aside and let him have the Mayor cell back and hope he drowns in the work. I know that I have done more in the last 2 weeks as Mayor than he did in the last 3 months. I have received many complements from the local tenants as to how much better the camp looks and how glad they are that someone cares about this camp enough to get things done. The only things that got done before were the things that directly affected his comfort of living.

I guess I will have to see what happens tomorrow when I confront him on this vehicle issue. It is going to get pretty ugly. I guess I will write again soon and pass on what came of it.

I have some pictures of some of the project I have done. There is the water point here in the camp and the wall I built in the Battalion office to separate it for a new work space. there are a few more, but, I do not have pictures of them just yet. I will post them as soon as I get them.