Volume 2 Issue 3
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Green Zone
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The Green Zone is a very large sectioned off area where most of us live in Baghdad. I think about 2000 or 3000 local nationals live in the Green
Zone and a lot of them work on the projects here. The other 2000 to 3000 are troops, state department employees, and KBR employees. There are Army
check points to get into the Green Zone and most the check points are pretty far from us. To get into were we sleep and also to where we work there
are security personnel that check IDs and have retractable spike that they lower to let you in. With all the Army guys, KRB armed security, and
various other security forces around it feels relatively safe. I’m not saving I’d go walking down dark alleys alone at night, but walking around
I’m not really worried about getting personally attacked. One reason is because I’m a nobody and if they’re going to risk attacking someone I’m
guess they’ll pick an officer or someone who looks important (another reason I picked jeans and cargo pants instead of slack or khakis Mom). The
only thing you really have to worry about is mortar or rocket attacks. Usually they shoot 3 or 4 rockets or mortars and then bug out. Either they
don’t have the technology, time, or know how to aim so they just kind of point them in this general direction and shoot.
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Not So Much Office Space
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Like I said earlier I work in an office building. It’s pretty much a typical one story office building with cubicles. The people in my office are
all pretty nice and cool to hang out with, which is a good thing since I spent like 13 to 14 hrs a day with them. In the office we have: A
Portuguese American guy from Miami; There’s another American from West Virginia who is more of a smartass than I am
if you can believe it; a Philippine American with a worse shoe addiction than Imelda Marcos (is it genetic or cultural); An Aussie guy (who just got
back from R&R so I don’t really know him); A Hungarian girl who is an exercise nut and runs like 7 miles a day; A Bosnian girl who is almost as
big a smartass as the guy from West Virginia; Lastly there’s an Albanian girl who has been training me (If she and a Latino had a child would it be
an albino?) Like most of the buildings here it is surrounded by 10ft tall concrete T-walls. A lot of people have been wondering what exactly I do
here (besides make a boat load of money), so I’ll try to explain it. I work in Project Controls and the short answer would be we’re responsible for
tracking the costs for all the projects that are going on. The process is supposed to go like the following: Someone needs something and they
write up a requisition for the items and the costs; They send the reqs to us, we write the appropriate codes on it i.e. Materials, Equipment, or
Subcontracts, and enter it in the system; We then send it on to Materials and then it goes to Procurement; After the purchase order is awarded we
enter than as a commitment; Then some more magic happens; After it is paid we enter that and then we back out the PO. Then poof the circle of life
is complete with the cost tracked from the beginning to the end. Of course it doesn’t always happen that way, but that’s the theory behind it.
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Like A Child On Summer
Vacation With Nothing To Do
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Well that’s not exactly a true statement. Here there are two "Rec" centers with exercise equipment and the such. One is open till 10 and
the other is 24hr. We’ve got a place where you can check out DVDs right next to the 24hr laundry and the Post Office. As of right now it takes
about 3-4 days to get you clothes washed. There’s a pool outside of the Republican Palace with a cool fountain in it. If you’re feeling lucky you
can go to the Al Rasheed Hotel where there is a Sports Bar and Disco to have few beers or some horrible cheap wine.
