Avian Gamers Network

Tuesday is my last day in Djibouti. I will be flying to Kuwait for a week of training, then off to Kandahar Afghanistan. In my new job I will be a Risk Manager for a LOGCAP project to build 40 military bases in South Afghanistan.

40 bases!?

Isn't that a little excessive?

I was under the impression that the militaries where gonna pull out by 2012

_________________
1st Feb 2008

Be sure to stay safe.

So how long have you been at this now? and how much longer are you planning on staying over there? Feels like you've been at it for ages

Oh yea...Stay safe!

_________________
Ryric Krael
Former Vice President AGN
Former Director, Section 6
Former Head of Department of the Treasury
-------
Ask not what your PA can do for you, but what you can do for your PA
"Gone Section Five"

It is a lot, but I am no military planner. The biggest battles are yet to begin. At least 150k troops are joining the fight before the summer is over. The campaign to take over Kandahar will not get rolling until August I think. Those guys need a place to sleep, and strong points to hold territory as battles are won. Right now in some places the troops are sleeping under the stars, and shitting in a coffee can. We will build them shelter, water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure, facilities for cooking, and better defenses. Some bases will be small, capacity of 1k people other bases will be larger. Later on when the war is over the locals will take the base over, either for their own defense force, or in other cases villages would use the water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure for themselves. I am not on the ground yet, but that is my understanding.

As far as 2012, lol, we are still in Germany, Japan, Bosnia, and probably every other country that has had a war in the last 50 years. The thought of a 100% military pull out is not a reality; it does not work that way.



I have been in Djibouti for 2.5 years. Part of me is ready to come back home and do normal work, but another part of me wants to keep at this a little while longer. Financially it is total game changer; Danyale and I are living off of less than 30% of our income, saving more than 70%. Before I am 40, working will be an option not a necessity. Career wise it has opened many doors; these groups are small so I get exposed to so much more, therefore I learn so much more. I did security 6 months ago, in addition to my normal job. I regularly dabble in procurement and contract administration in addition to my normal job. We have weekly and monthly meetings where I go toe to toe with government guys from the pentagon, Naples, Washington. I take my licks but I also defend our position. That alone has given me contacts and job offers from some very important people.

Kay...
I am well aware of the need to sleep under a roof and I wasn't trying to put on the defencive...

Still... I was surprised by the numbers

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1st Feb 2008

yeah, I was surprised too.

I didn't realize you were working LogCap. Must be nice.

I was a Naval Officer before I went inactive (I guess I still am ), and I spent most of my time in the SeaBees, but I also did some contract admin from the Government side. Ive had dealings with LogCap before.

I miss those Contingency Construction days with the Bees. I got the most satisfaction out of that professionally in my career so far.

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"For over 2 years, the Veteran Community were the guardians of peace and justice in the Pre CU. Before the dark times, before the NGE."

Just a little update:

The in the first two week we had 5 rocket attacks. In the last 3 days we have had 6 rocket attacks. That makes 11 rocket attacks in three weeks. It may sound bad, but it really isn’t very scary. The computers detect the rocket launch and the siren goes off instantly. The impact is usually 2 to 5 seconds after the siren goes off. As soon as we hear the alarm we hit the ground, and stay down for a specified amount of time. Once the time is up, we head to the bunkers until the all clear is called. We usually sit in the bunker between 15 minutes to an hour after the attack is over. Most of the time I do not have to wear my helmet and ballistic vest, but the other day they made us wear it all day.

As to the project, we are currently operating and maintaining 29 bases in south Afghanistan. We have two more that will be completely transferred to us in the next two week. At that time we will be maintaining and operating 31 bases. Meanwhile we are in various stages of designing and building 40 more bases in south Afghanistan. So in the end we will be operating and maintaining 71 bases in south Afghanistan.

The position I am doing is Risk Management. It is a new field for me, but I am taking to it very well. I examine processes in different department and look for current and future problems. I score those problems and come up with ways to mitigate them. Currently I am the risk manager over Project Controls, Air Operations, Fire Fighters, Power Generation, Operations & Maintenance, IT, and Medical. I am getting to learn so much in several different areas. It is a real career accelerator. My boss is great, and my coworkers are pretty good too. Even though I am new to Risk, I am more project management experienced than the rest, so my boss is grooming me to replace him when he decides to quit. All in all it is pretty good.

Not scary ? Wow...
Where do the rockets land ? Has anyone been hit ? How is your day-to-day stress level ?

I hope everything will stay good for you !

_________________
Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.

I guess I was drilled so much that it took the fear out of the rocket attacks. Hear the siren, hit the ground, don’t get up until time, run to a bunker.

This is a very large base, most of the rockets hit the dirt in the vast open areas. The Taliban are not aiming the rockets either. They threaten to kill farmers and innocent families unless they set up the rockets for them. So the farmer goes out, props a rocket up against a stone, and hooks it up to a timer. Half a day later the rocket goes off. They over shoot the base, they hit the dirt, some of the time they hit the developed part of the base. The rockets are RPG leftovers from the Soviets, they were not maintained and the majority are duds. Even if they do not explode they are still dangerous like a very large arrow, but they are not as effective as an exploding rocket.


Out in town, and out in the country it is very dangerous. The troops and convoys are brave for doing what they have to do. On base it is a different story. Some foreign nationals were hit by rocket shrapnel right before I got here; they did not follow the rules and instantly got up after the explosion. You have to stay down for a specified amount of time because a second attack is highly likely during that specified amount of time. Only after that time has elapsed do you get up and head for the bunker. About four months ago an expat was hit while shaving, the rocket was a dud, but it broke up and the propulsion unit was sent flying through the ablution unit and took off this finger. Again he did not get down when the siren went off. None of these people died.


I am good. You guys are more likely to get killed driving to work than an RPG hitting me. The other day the base increased the dress state and I had to wear my armor and helmet whenever I went outside. That was scary because it was new to me. A month before I got here the Taliban attacked the base with several rockets, and then tried to breach the base with a ground assault. They threw everything they had us but could not get in. I am sure I would have been worried for those five hours if I was here at that time. The majority of the time I have been here has been pretty low stress.


Thanks, So far, so good. Good People, Good challenging job, challenging location.

My brother-in-law is trying like hell to get over there. He's slightly nuts. I believe he's currently a staff sergeant in the Marines, working as an MP. He did two tours in Iraq, and wants to get to Afghanistan.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

You may hear this on in the news. KAF is under a pretty large attack.

Around 6AM we had the first rocket attack in over a week. Then it was back to work as usual, meanwhile we could hear the A-10 Gatling guns attacking the enemy for about an hour. Around 11AM we had two rockets hit very close to us. I was in my room rearranging the furniture when it hit and I could feel the blast from within my room. We stayed in the bunkers for about 45 minutes while many more rockets came in, then the ground attack alarm went off. So now we are locked in our rooms until the ground attack is over. It’s been 3 hours and the attack is still on.

The attack is over, we are all safe. They hit us with several rockets from the Northwest, meanwhile they attacked and tried to breach the east gate with gunmen and 4 suicide bombers. We went up to dress level 3 (full PPE) for a while, but everything is back do normal dress level 0 now. The following is the preliminary security report I received about the incident:

Good to hear you're good man. Pretty scary...

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Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.

Quick update:

Hundreds of attacks later (I lost count) I am still alive and safe at Kandahar Air Field. Next week I will fly home for R&R. I will spend a week at home, and then off to Rivera Mya Mexico for another week of relaxation. I can’t wait to see my wife and her new car.

The war has really been heating up in and around Kandahar city. The surge is officially under way. We have about 10 bases in the greater Kandahar area where the worst of the fighting is located, and another 35 spread out in southern Afghanistan. 25 new bases are under design/construction. My job is still pretty cool, I do numerous different things; some of the best things are:

• Partnering with the military’s 43 sustainment brigade to do convoy risk assessments. We review real time battle data that they overlay on their map software, and we zoom in and take note of convoy obstacles such as river crossings, bridges, busy intersections, traffic circles, narrow streets, etc. Sometimes the convoys make their own path choosing not to drive on roads other times they go through downtown Kandahar. We look at what days and times attacks happen, in order to plan our route accordingly. The 43rds command room has live drone feeds on the big monitor, it’s cool to see, but my work does not utilize it. The guys at the 43 sustainment brigade are awesome to work with.
  
• With over 18k employees in country it is a huge undertaking to move people around for new hires, R&R, medical leave, or reassignment. As the owner of the program management master plan we analyze helicopter routes, fixed wing routes, air asset quantities, international hubs locations, worldwide recruiting centers etc looking for inefficiencies, process flow improvements, and risk mitigation options to keep the mission moving forward. It is a giant interdependent network. Do we need another 747, or more helicopters, should we open a recruiting center in Kenya, Macedonia, should we even be hiring guys from Fiji; is Kuwait being a pain in the ass with Visas, should we switch that office to Dubai; these are some of the issues Investigate.

The best thing about this job is the variety of important things that I do and/or get exposed to. The money is not bad either. Having said all that, I still keep an eye on the job situation back home, waiting for the right position to open up. After all I need to be back in the good old USA in time for SWTOR or DIII release.

My hat is off to you, Cyrus. Keep up the good work. It does sound rewarding on certain levels, but probably more than I'd be willing to take. Hope to see you safe and sound back here in the U.S.A. in the not-too-distant future. Of course, with the economy looking increasingly shaky by the day (stock market results notwithstanding) you may be a lot better off financially over there.

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Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

Excellent post Cyrus. Thanks for the update. I still am proud to be in a group that counts you as a member.

_________________
"Loose with Dignity"
Robert
Second President, Avian Gamers

DDO - Cannith - AlistairItor - Rogue/Ranger (5/3) - Main
DDO - Cannith - Guijanitor - Paladin/Rogue (4/1)
DDO - Cannith - RicochetItor - Rogue (5)

Nice to hear you have some time off. Perhaps this will sound a bit odd given where you are coming from but be safe in the Riviera. I heard just the other day that Canada issued a travel advisory for trips to Mexico.

PS - let me know what resort you guys go to. We are pondering a winter getaway and if the Mexico travel advisory lifts, we may go back to the Riviera.

_________________
"I built me a bomb and dropped it on every MFer who got in my way!"

Amazing stuff.
Come home safe.

_________________
Deak
SWTOR - Spicerunner Legacy - Smuggler - RETIRED
Rift - Decipher - Paragon - RETIRED | WAR - Frenzyof Energy - Shaman - RETIRED
WoW - Fire Mage - RETIRED | SWG - Weaponsmith - RETIRED
MMOGGLER™ for online gamers

Woot I'm being promoted from Risk Manager to Director of Risk Management. Last week my boss asked me if I wanted to take the Director job in Kuwait. I turned him down. His boss contacted me the other day explaining some of the little known details of the package. Today I agreed to take the job. I should be flying out of Kandahar sometime in-between Jan and Feb once I get some new guys trained up to speed.

Out of all the perks, the 72 hour work week was the deciding factor. I work 72 but get paid 84 due to some new labor law in Kuwait. I have worked 7 days per week for the past 3 years. The day off is going to be sweet.

Cross your fingers for good bandwidth.

Congrats. Remember when this was suppose to be like a quick two year stint? How long have you been over there now?

_________________
Ryric Krael
Former Vice President AGN
Former Director, Section 6
Former Head of Department of the Treasury
-------
Ask not what your PA can do for you, but what you can do for your PA
"Gone Section Five"

Grats
What will you do with all that time off?

_________________
Deak
SWTOR - Spicerunner Legacy - Smuggler - RETIRED
Rift - Decipher - Paragon - RETIRED | WAR - Frenzyof Energy - Shaman - RETIRED
WoW - Fire Mage - RETIRED | SWG - Weaponsmith - RETIRED
MMOGGLER™ for online gamers

Wow.. somehow I missed this a month ago. (I may not have logged on since then). Good luck getting a drink in Kuwait. No alcohol whatsoever is permitted there. Keep us up to speed on how it is, otherwise.

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"Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides." - Thomas Paine, Common Sense

I have been in Kuwait for 5 days; So far so good. Best thing so far is the real food. The Dining facilities at Kandahar Air Field were getting worse and worse, so far the food here has been the best part. I’ve got a pretty nice office, big fully furnished apartment, gym, maid service, laundry service, and pool on the eleventh floor. I will hit them up in the next few weeks for a SUV, but for now I don’t want to push my luck. People here drive like crazy so not having a truck may be a good thing.

Internet at work and the apartment is great. They are blocking torrents, so that kind of sucks as I wanted to catch up on some TV series that missed while in Kandahar. I was able to get StarCraft patched up and playable again so that was a good thing. My magic jack also works now; it was blocked in Kandahar, so its nice having that up and running again.

Another update from Kuwait; 4 months into the assignment.

Internet speed is usually great, but it does get screwed up from time to time. Torrents and their sites are blocked but I am using hotspot shield to get into the pirate bay, then populate my seeds. Once my seeds are populated I can DL the rest on or off hotspot shield. So far I am just DLing Game of Thrones. I have gone so long without television; now that I have one in my apartment I don’t even use it. It’s just a big monitor for my Laptop now.

Being able to eat real food at real restaurants is probably the best thing about this assignment. Although I am spending way too much considering we can eat free at the office. It’s just too much fun to explore other options.

Work is great. My main focus these past two months is planning to get our troops out of Iraq and safely back home. This is much harder than it sounds; Likewise for all their equipment and gear. It’s a major undertaking, lots of traveling to hot dusty spots in the dessert, but getting these guys home is a good cause. I work with some great people.

Danyale wants me to come home in 2013, that’s getting closer every day. I need to pile in the money before she makes me grind it out like everyone else. Deep down I hope we win a project in Antarctica that has been on our radar for a few years, but the client keeps backing up the award date year after year. My top 1-3 year career goal with the company is: “Continue working on the most challenging, fascinating, and extreme projects worldwide”. Antarctica would fit that requirement Plus it would get me out of this heat. I would like experience that before I retire from the international scene.

Keep the updates coming. I enjoy reading them. I'm envious of what you are doing; very exciting and life altering. I had the opportunity to work abroad many moons back before I got married and had kids. I won't say I regret my decisions, but, it would have been nice to get a little more global experience

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Nasiobo Aprillis
Star Wars: The Old Republic | Jedi Consular (Nasiobo)
Slicing, Scavenging and Cybertech

Sounds very interesting Cyrus. I was in Vegas a couple of months ago and went ATVing out in the Valley of Fire. We were join by some ex-marine types. Older guys with engineering jobs. I thought a bit about you back then, but I haven't been here to say anything in a while. One of those marines showed my the blasted convey truck from his time in Iraq on his iPhone. He lost some men that day.

Stay safe buddy.

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Dr. Golga Bolg
SWTOR - Golga
Rift - Gnarlwood: Golgar Golgantua Golgate - Retired
WoW - Dalaran: Bolg Golga Virrok All Retired
SWG - Golga Bolg - Doctor (Resident) Retired
Eve - Edge Finn - Limbo
Section 2 - (Former) Director
What am I playing now?: The waiting game

Glad to hear you're still doing well.

Try to stay cool this summer and keep those updates coming.

I'm trying to stay cool. Its 120F, factor in the sun and our weather department tells me it feels like 140F.

Work got really busy for me again; I left the luxury of the palace behind last week and I am now sweating it out in the dessert trying to build 7 hangers for the incoming aircraft moving out of Iraq. It’s a big deal, and in typical government fashion they want it complete 3 months sooner than they paid for. I am trying to improve the schedule and manage end user expectations.

I’ll try to get you some pics.

Hey everyone, another update form me deep in the heart of Kuwait. All is well out here, just got back from a few weeks stateside. Home was amazing, cant wait till I stay there for good.

I am still splitting my time between Kuwait and Udairi. Its still 111-120 degrees out here every day. Lot of work getting done in both locations. Below are a few pics of my Udairi hanger project, and some of the aircraft on site.

Sweet shots!

_________________
Dr. Golga Bolg
SWTOR - Golga
Rift - Gnarlwood: Golgar Golgantua Golgate - Retired
WoW - Dalaran: Bolg Golga Virrok All Retired
SWG - Golga Bolg - Doctor (Resident) Retired
Eve - Edge Finn - Limbo
Section 2 - (Former) Director
What am I playing now?: The waiting game

Sweet shots indeed !

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Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.

Nice. Brings back memories.

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--The Hermit

So I have secretly been back in Kandahar for the past two weeks.

I had to fly quickly. I was offered a promotion to one of two positions of my choosing: Director of Engineering & Construction, or Director of Project Controls. Director of E&C would look awesome on my resume, however I feared I would not know enough or not be old enough to demand the respect required to run that department. In the end I chose Director of PC as I have a strong background in PC and feel it’s a better fit.

Well I went to sleep wanting to give up and quit on the first day. I even called the VP I work for and told him as much.

Things begin looking up on the second day. I created a slew of rules to categorize and sort my email. I met several extremely strong PC managers in my department. I began to get the weekly battle rhythm down. I met several old faces who were in Kandahar with me three years ago. And my first morning staff meeting was fairly pleasant. Now I am feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

I have a staff of 98 employees, most are incredibly competent or flat out amazing. It’s weird, the building is the same, the walls are the same, some people are the same…. But so much is different. Project Management is much more organized, structured, and professional. They are light-years ahead of their predecessors. There are so many rules for everything; even the PowerPoint slide deck has rules. Every day feels like I am briefing the president… it’s that polished and intense.

I am working 14 to 16 hours each day… and there seems to be no end in sight. We are neck deep in beginning the accelerated drawdown plan for Afghanistan. We still have around 16k employees out here, which will quickly begin to change. It’s a tremendous amount of work to planning to get all the people, equipment, and materials out of Afghanistan.

Saturday I must fly back to Kuwait to properly out-process from that project and close out my Kuwaiti Visa. It should take a week, then I fly back to Kandahar and formally begin my new assignment.

Congrats man!!!

_________________
"Loose with Dignity"
Robert
Second President, Avian Gamers

DDO - Cannith - AlistairItor - Rogue/Ranger (5/3) - Main
DDO - Cannith - Guijanitor - Paladin/Rogue (4/1)
DDO - Cannith - RicochetItor - Rogue (5)

Well its been a long time....
... but I'm now home for good.

Work was winding down, I had a secure position on the project for another 6 months, but my old boss came calling with a great opportunity back in September. I was able to keep him at bay for a while, but when we met up in February his desire to get me on board was serious. So I accepted the offer, went back to Afghanistan for 5 weeks to action my succession plan and tie up loose ends. I landed home Friday and started my new job on Monday.

Its good being home each night, playing with my daughter, and hanging out with Danyale. She asked me last night what good games were on the horizon... so we could be doing some of that again in the near future. I'm looking forward to grilling some steaks, watching movies at the theater, and returning to normal life.

Great news!!! Glad you're back home!

_________________
"Loose with Dignity"
Robert
Second President, Avian Gamers

DDO - Cannith - AlistairItor - Rogue/Ranger (5/3) - Main
DDO - Cannith - Guijanitor - Paladin/Rogue (4/1)
DDO - Cannith - RicochetItor - Rogue (5)

So what's the new job?

_________________
X2-PB

Pathfinder Kingmaker Campaign:
Gednan Malithanar - Wizard (1)
Dukin Thunderstrike - Ranger (1)

Star Citizen: - https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/
AntanKarmola on their forums

Star Wars: The Old Republic: - Not really playing
Antare Karmola - Jedi Guardian (32)
Antan Karmola - Jedi Shadow (21)
Arianae Karmola - Gunslinger (20)

It's a Project Controls Manager position with CBI Federal Services. CBI (Chicago Bridge and Iron) bought my old company Shaw Group. My old boss called me wanting to come back. He is looking to retire in a couple years and is looking for his replacement. If I do well that could be me.

We are bidding lots of various federal work. Some energy projects, some Navy fuels projects, some levy and gate projects. I'll be the PC guy over all Engineering & Construction as well as the lead PC guy for the Baton Rouge team. Right now I have several active Navy projects in the Pacific and US.