I was lamenting the other day about regretting not having had the opportunity to take a helo ride while I was here. I’ve wanted to but the opportunity was never there. I’d been on a couple of convoys so I’d been to the IZ, aka the International Zone, aka the Green Zone - all terms are used interchangeably (although where I am is also considered a green zone, just not as you hear it in the press).

Just a day or so after thinking about how the opportunity to get on a helo was slipping away quickly, it was decided that there was going to be training on a database that we run and they needed to send some people over to the IZ to give training. Of course my hand shot up faster than I can run to a duck and cover bunker after a car backfires, and trust me, that’s pretty damn quick.

So I got my helo ride. Even better, I got to stay overnight so I got to relax there for a while. I watched the Navy vs. Army game (never watched one before but after being here I will be watching it every year!!) and got to talk to some people I hadn’t seen much of since coming here. Or in 9 years.

I was sitting on a couch watching the game with a mixed assortment of people when a woman that is part of my office came in with someone else and sat down on the couch. The other woman leans over and says to me, “Hi. I remember you.” Umm, okaaaay, I had absolutely no idea at all who this was and why she would know me - I mean, I know I’m bad with remembering people but I had only been to the IZ twice for a total of about 3 hours, and I only talked to people with whom I worked so I was positive this wasn’t someone I spoke with there.

I asked how on earth she knew me, and she said, “We went to boot camp together.”

I have no idea how anyone can remember something like that. The funny thing is that just a few days earlier, out of nowhere really, I was actually just thinking about boot camp and people here and how I only remembered the name of one person I went through boot camp with and knew I would never have recognized her if I ran into her anyway. I knew this wasn’t the same person whose name I remembered, but I asked anyway what her name was and she wouldn’t tell me, saying that if she did, I would remember and that would be very bad.

I prodded some more; after all, 9 years later and I’m pretty sure that no matter who she was, I wouldn’t care one way or another about something that happened in boot camp.

So she told me her name, and I recognized it vaguely but it wasn’t until she told me the story about how she hated the recruit division commander and started chanting something about kicking his ass, and how the rest of the division started in, and how I tried to stop them but they wouldn’t stop and so they wanted to document our behavior on a form that I refused to sign, and that I then got fired from my position (as the RPOC, the Navy people reading should know), and that it was her fault.

It was a funny little meeting, and as quickly as she had come she was gone again, but what a memory that brought back.

But I digress. So I went on a helicopter, on a Blackhawk, which makes me cool for today. I got a few pictures from the ride that I’m sharing for your viewing enjoyment - it has been a long time since I’ve posted so many pictures at once!

Our ride arrives:

This guy reminded me of those little Lego guys, the ones with the helmets.

Moi:

This picture…it concerns me. I suppose it’s not right to be concerned, but people on rooftops concern me, especially after the increase in sniper attacks here. Then I saw the guy herding his cattle and remembered the story I read about the detainee fleeing the scene of an IED on his donkey, and how he was identified as being related by the donkey’s poo, and, well, you just have to laugh at that.

Over the city:

The crossed swords - the closest I ever got. I was really hoping to have been able to visit them but what do you do…I’m just glad I got to at least fly over them!

Another thing that gave me a chuckle - an up-armored Suburban.

So that got us there. We did our training which was quick and painless, and I got off in the evening and had the rest of the time to myself.
The IZ, in comparison to where I am on Camp Victory, is tiny. You can walk anywhere there within 5 minutes. Here, a 5 minute walk will get you three buildings down the road, still 10 minutes from somewhere significant. There they have all the ameneties that make living there a little bit nicer - the trailers are huge in comparison to ours, with a TV, fridge, microwave, internet, and a bathroom in the trailer - no walking through the mud for them; they can opt to do their own laundry which at this point is a luxury that I am looking forward to when I get home; they can drop off their laundry and get it returned to them pressed instead of having to take it two different places and have to pay. In addition to that, they have an INDOOR Green Beans, so they can drink their coffee in a huge and beautiful climate controlled room instead of outside on picnic tables in gravel.

But to be honest, I prefer it here. I like the space we have here. I like working on the lake. I like being able to get away from things. I wouldn’t have changed where I went for anything.