Jim Spiri in Iraq

Some soldiers were hurt, but they will be ok. I have not seen the hole in the ground, but they tell me it is big. Today, I have read about a helicopter that went down in northern Iraq. More details will surely be forthcoming, but 14 lives are lost. It is another 24-hours in Iraq.

Some big time media folks took my seats on a patrol today, so I decided to check out some other folks and learn a little more about where I am. I started by visiting the PRT, which stands for Provincial Reconstruction Team. It is an entity that is run by the Department of State, which is headed by Sec. of State, Condaleeza Rice.

I figured I would go and make myself known to them today, having tried to do so last evening, but, no one was really "home" at the time. I did chat with one person who told me he wasn't there. I thought, "that's cool, I'm not here either".

The folks that work in this building are the ones I have seen around in pretty nice suits. As I arrived at their headquarters this morning, I noticed that they were getting ready to leave for a mission. I asked where they were going, and I was told, "in the area". After pushing a little more, I determined they were going to visit some leaders of the Yazidi community.

I was directed to a young man, 27-years old, dressed kind of how Paul Bremmer dressed back in 03-04, had a beard, and was wearing a flak vest. He told me to come on in and then we talked for a while about why I could not go with them on their mission, and how he couldn't really tell me anything, except that they were the ones that are doing all the rebuilding projects for this province in Iraq. We spoke for a while and I realized that I was getting nowhere and that I would check back with him upon their return. I'll keep everyone posted as to how I fare with them.

So later I made my way up to the STB, special troops battalion, which is a very interesting conglomeration of soldiers that do all kinds of things. I had a few weeks ago, spoken with the commander, Lt. Col. Hedstrom, and he educated me a bit on how his battalion works. It is a blend of many different MOS's all come together under one roof. Instead of having one group of folks attached to a particular battalion, all the specialty ones come under one umbrella. This is a new concept in Army organization and the folks under Lt. Col. Hedstrom are basically writing the manual for this new approach. So far, it seems to be working.

I would hook up with Sgt. Major Ron Cook, Jr., from the Seneca Nation, in Western New York. He is a native American that has been in the Army for the past 26-years and is headed for 30-years. He is 44-years old and is a very mild mannered person except when someone like the Spc. he saw driving the gator like Dale Ernhardt,Jr., comes across his path at the wrong time. The 26-year-veteran-soldier side comes out right away, as the Spc. gator driver promises everything under the sun to the Sgt. Major in regards to driving the right way from now on. When Sgt. Major Cook got back into the vehicle, he watched the soldier drive off in the gator and then smiled at me saying how much he is looking out for these guys. He is a good leader for his men.

One of the categories that fall under the STB are the folks that deal with the UAV's, (unmanned aerial vehicles). So, today, I was taken by Sgt. Major Cook to the other side of the base, to the FOB Diamondback side, where some soldiers of Alpha Co., STB, 4/1 Cav, have a job flying and maintaining UAV's. I would have fun seeing them in action.

The first person I met was Sgt. Louis Cortese, 31-years-old, from Tampa, Florida. He is by trade a generator mechanic. Now, he maintains a small fleet of UAV's that each are worth over $250,000. He has been in the Army for nine years, and was placed in this side of things after attending a school for the maintenance of the UAV's. He loves what he does.
The UAV's are constantly overhead in Iraq keeping a watchful eye on things below via digital imagery.

Cortese tells me he has a crew of six soldiers under him and he explains to me how the aircraft works, generally, and the hazards of the elements that keep everyone on their toes. He explains in detail how his job is exactly like any other aviation maintenance where log books, extreme attention to detail, as well as constant inner action with the "pilots" (which are called operators in this field).

As I spoke to Sgt. Cortese, I noticed the nice paint jobs on the UAV's. These things are like giant model airplanes, and the work that the artist puts into these is apparent at first glance. All of Sgt. Cortese's soldiers take pride in their work, and they all love what they do. None of them ever planned to be doing what they are doing at the moment, yet all do it well. It is not a boring job.

I was introduced to 29-year-old Spc. Wickard, who is a tall, lanky soldier from San Diego, CA. He is one of the operators, or pilots. I asked him point blank if when he was a kid if he was one of them that played all the video games also like some other soldiers I've met? He laughed and told me for sure he was one of them and he had lots of fun monitoring take offs and landings of the UAV's. As I was talking with him, he told me that in about five minutes there would be one landing and I could stay and watch if I wanted to.

Perfect timing. This is really a cool job.

As Sgt. Cortese's soldiers gathered and prepared for the arrival of their UAV from another mission, I watched as each maintainer had their function. From what was explained to me, it is basically a high tech remote control airplane, that happens to be utilized during war time situations. It is a valuable asset and each of the folks working with it are well aware of their contributions to the mission at hand.

The landing was flawless, as Spc. James and Spc. Braham, escorted the UAV just back from it's mission into the maintenance facility. It is really just a kind of tent that has been set up for just this type of work. I was impressed that the moment the UAV landed, both Spc. James and Braham, jumped right into turning wrenches. It reminded me of a kind of high tech version of the "Orange County Choppers" tv show.

Spc. James is the one that does all the artwork. Everybody seemed to enjoy what they do.

They told me that each UAV upon completion of it's mission, is taken in the shop, detailed, fueled, inspected rather thoroughly, oiled, and many other things. As it is with other aircraft, there are particular timed and scheduled maintenance as well as daily inspections. Basically, all aspects of aviation are the same in the UAV world, there just is not someone sitting in the plane and the aircraft itself is much smaller than a Cesna 152. But, the UAV has a big mission, and it takes a skilled crew to keep the eyes in the sky functioning as the enemy lurks about the city.

Whatever the enemy has planned for US forces in the days ahead, the UAV crews of Alpha Co., STB, 4/1 Cav, will be there twenty-four-seven already having gone above and beyond whomever might be calling.

Jim Spiri
FOB Marez, Mosul-Iraq
jimspiri@yahoo.com