Saturday, January 17, 2009

Letter 9










Letter 9 January 16, 2009
Balad, Iraq

Everyone:

I hope this letter finds everyone well. It is hard to believe that it is a new year already. Time keeps moving on, which makes me happy as I can officially state that I will be home this year! I do look forward to getting back home and seeing everybody again. The big news since my last letter is that I received my promotion orders, so I am now officially a Major.


This is my transition period in the picture…they just pinned the Major to my chest and we are in the process of changing my cover (hat). It was a nice ceremony and better yet is that there is no alcohol here so I did not go broke buying drinks to “wet the rank” which is an old Army tradition.

Here is one more picture from just after the ceremony. It is the three doctors and our commander and XO all helping to “point out” the new rank.


The entire back row consist of all Majors…we made the Captain kneel. I think it is a new tradition that we should really embrace. One thing to note in this picture is all the gravel. We have gravel everywhere…I cannot wait to stop walking on gravel.

There was a medical conference in Baghdad for physician assistants last week. Major Romig and Captain McFarland went, I unfortunately was unable to go as one of us had to stay to cover the clinic. I am including several pictures in this letter from their trip so that you can get an idea of Saddam’s area in Baghdad. Below is a picture of Al Faw palace, which is where the conference was held.


It is a pretty cool looking building right on the water, especially at sunset. I think it is hard to get the idea of how big this palace is. Below is the entrance.


The people walking below can give you a better idea of the opulence. What do you think of the marble outside the entrance? Below is the main foyer inside Al Faw palace.


What else is there to say? You can look at this picture and then look back at some of the pictures from earlier letters with the poor living conditions around Balad and you can get an idea of the class system in play here. Even the bathrooms were “over the top”


All marble everything. I chose this picture because if you look at the wall between the restroom stalls (with full wood doors) you will see a light switch. Those go to the stalls…why put them on the outside? We have them the same way here at Balad. Well, I do not have an answer, except it is fun to turn off the light when somebody is in the stall…It is a good idea to keep a small light on you at all times, especially if you need to use the facilities. You will only forget once.

Just to show the amount of marble stone used…here is a picture of a staircase.


Check out the multiple story chandelier down the middle. The picture below is of the former home of Tariq Aziz (the left side of the picture), who was the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister under Saddam.


It is now home to our commanding General. The almost as impressive structure behind and to the right was the home of one of Saddam’s daughters.

The next two pictures are of another palace that is relatively close to Al Faw Palace…what is up with Saddam and his palaces?

This palace was known originally as the Victory over Iran, which was changed after the first Gulf War to be known as the Victory over America…I guess looking at this palace that it did not work out that well, and maybe they should have kept the original name. The damage is from a few JDAMs (bombs). Again, look at the person on the right side of the picture to give you some size comparison for the scale of the room. I cannot show all the pictures with this palace, but it had an indoor pool and outdoor pool and of course marble everywhere. Out the side of this palace was a bathhouse…on the water.


The structure in the foreground is the bathhouse. I am not sure about the juicer structure in the background. The picture below is a view of Baghdad.


There are a lot of Mosques which often have the minaret’s which can be seen in the middle of this picture. The structure behind it looks like a space port for Mos Eisley…if you got that last joke you have no life and should seek help immediately. If not, you are fine and we already know that I need all the help I can get.

I think that is enough Baghdad pictures for now. I will try to get more pictures of Balad in future letters…our base has nothing compared to Baghdad. I promise I will get clinic pictures in one of these email letters.

I have been so very busy lately. All I do is work in the clinic everyday, then go work at my desk to continue to work to finish my PhD and teach full time at Butler (with the 17th ranked Men’s NCAA Division I Basketball team). The only other thing I do is eat and workout. I was scheduled to take my two week leave at the end of this month, but one of our replacement doctors never showed up at the mobilization station, and Major Altman is scheduled to go on another mission…that means we were short medical providers so I “lost” my leave. I was pretty bummed as I was looking forward to seeing my family. I do not know when I will get the chance to have leave again, but I will keep everybody posted.

Thank you to everyone who helped take care of my family over the Holiday season, and sent me cards. It is nice to get letters from “the real world”. Everyday is the same here, it is really easy to lose tract of the days of the week. I also wish to give my condolences to you with your weather…it got down into the 30s a few nights here, but we spend most of our days in the 50s and nights in the 40s. It will all come around when summer returns and we have 120-130 degree temperatures. I must be closing this letter. Please NEVER FORGET our soldiers and their families. NEVER FORGET that we have the fortune of living in the greatest nation and even when times are tough for us it is not nearly as bad as the rest of the World. Keep praying for my family and throw a few my way. I will do the same.

Major Roscoe