It has been a couple of days since I last wrote so I thought I’d drop you a quick line. The rain has stopped here and the last couple of days the weather has been beautiful. The U.S. Army officer I work for, Maj. Stamm, always says it would be a gorgeous day only if we weren’t in Baghdad. And you don’t have to look far to see the signs of the ongoing conflict, concrete walls with barbed wire, self defense systems, M-16s in abundance, etc.. Even saw the V-22 Osprey flying around the base today. The more people you meet here the more I understand that everyone here is working toward a common goal. One everyday example is at the gym, we typically go there during mid-afternoon. In every corner of the gym there is a tall glass refrigerator with water bottles stacked one on top of another. Outside the refrigerator there is a stack of packaged, warm water in bottles. When someone takes one inside the fridge, they replace it with a warm one on the bottom. There must be 500 people in the gym at any given time throughout the day and there’s always cold water to be had. Common goal, teamwork and cooperation, you see it time after time throughout the day.
I witnessed an overview of “forward” EOD training the day before yesterday. Even though it was a demonstration of the training concepts that are being conducted and was somewhat staged, it really gave me a feel for the risks taken by our Sailors, Marines, Soldiers and Airmen. They go out daily conducting route clearance operations, searches of various types to support daily life in the region and to support coalition troop movements. Again, an impressive blend of Australian, U.K. and U.S. operators, who conduct what is a seamless and orchestrated motion of safely reducing if not eliminating risk posed to the population of people behind them. Since I’ve supported the U.S. Navy for 20 years now, I always was shocked at the competition and apparent friendly sniping between us and our allies when in a office or totally risk-free environment. However, in this environment, at a time of war, these women and men join together to get the mission accomplished, not as three or more individual countries or units but as one cohesive force.
The same holds true for the global network of technologists and scientists supporting the initiatives to get better equipment into the war fighter’s hands, therefore reducing the risk to the force and inversely increasing their effectiveness against the threat. I’ve always had a radical disdain for Video Teleconferencing, however, when you’re here, 4,200 miles from London, 6,500 miles from D.C. and 9,100 miles from the West Coast, you adjust and deal with the inconveniences. But again, I’ve witnessed a common link, a desire to help from all. Late nights and early mornings aren’t a problem, whether we are speaking of the support staff here or the laboratories and depot facilities at home. It is surreal walking up the stairs of the Al Faw Palace to attend a VTC and you look around and all you see are grand marble staircases, a crystal chandelier that is 30 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall. Once in the conference room which had been some sort of banquet room with 18 inch crown and chair molding, you are sitting at the conference table participating in a VTC on outfitting and/or discussing a proposed solution to a ever changing threat.
Again, this dynamic nature of this war plays directly to the strength of unmanned systems. Whether we are in the context of air, land or sea the unknown threat elevates the importance of a greater stand off employed by the on-site commander. The unknown threat increases the imperative of getting more information back from the sensor to the uniformed decision maker. The evolving threat makes getting higher resolution images and more non-image based (i.e. material type, object density, magnetic or non-magnetic, etc.) information back to the U.S. Army/Marine Corp/Air Force Captain or Navy Lieutenant.
I’ll sign out for now and hopefully this addition will give you a notion of the happenings, efforts expended and general environment at Camp Victory.
Take Care,
Rob (the camper)
