Oerdin's Iraq thread - Continued

[Dinner]

One of my team members just left on his two weeks of leave so my team is now down to two people plus our translater. It's going to be hard to do my job with 33% less man power but I guess I will muddle through.

[Dinner]

In other good news the Army has promised to issue my team a RF frequency jammer for my humvee soon. The jammer's job it to disrupt the singles which trigger the radio detonated IEDs which have become all the rage with the insurgents of late. We're also being issued a pocket translater device which translates simple words and phrases between English, Iraqi Arabic, and Kurdish. Since I already have a translater who lives with me and who goes on all of the missions with me it won't be especially useful but you never know when it might come in handy.

[johnj92131]

Originally posted by Oerdin
One of my team members just left on his two weeks of leave so my team is now down to two people plus our translater. It's going to be hard to do my job with 33% less man power but I guess I will muddle through.

Well, there goes your internet time...

Was anyone hurt when the Humvee was hit outside the internet cafe?

[johnj92131]

Originally posted by Oerdin
In other good news the Army has promised to issue my team a RF frequency jammer for my humvee soon.

The KEY question is: When will it be delivered???

From the news, I see a 1st ID trooper was killed by an IED in the last few days.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Oerdin
--- The jammer's job it to disrupt the singles which trigger the radio detonated IEDs which have become all the rage with the insurgents of late. ---

But it won't protect you against the old-fashioned wire remotes, so don't feel too safe.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by johnj92131
Well, there goes your internet time...

Was anyone hurt when the Humvee was hit outside the internet cafe?

No, the himvee was parked and no one was in it.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by johnj92131
The KEY question is: When will it be delivered???

From the news, I see a 1st ID trooper was killed by an IED in the last few days.

I can't say on the internet but it's not to far away.

[Dinner]

BTW I'm having trouble with my translater. He's only entitled to one day off per week according to his contract and he's paid an extra $200 per month (for a total of $800) to live on base with us and to be on call 24 hours a work day. Since his wife recently had a baby I've been letting him go home 1-2 nights a week and I try to give him two days off per week. The translater hasn't always returned when he's supposed to though.

For the last two Saturdays he's supposed to come back to base so we can run a mission to monitor the sermons at a few of the more militant mosques in the Tikrit area. The translater doesn't want to take part in this mission because he claims it makes him a target for insurgents. Thus for the last two Saturdays he has been a no show. Last week I sat him down and had a talk with him and he agreed that I've been more generous with time off then I had to be and he said hr would be at work when he was supposed to be, however, this week he did the exact same thing again.

Now, I'm angry. I have decided to dock his pay for the day since he didn't show up. If he doesn't want to show up for work that is his option but I'm not going to pay him if he doesn't do the job. I have no doubt he will be upset about this but the locals seem to have very laxed additudes towards work and timeliness. The unemployment rate in Tikrit is around 15%-20% so it's not like he can easily find another job and since the average pay in the local economy is around $200-$250 per month even if he finds another job he is unlikely to find one with the same pay.

This guy has a very easy job which, comparatively, pays him very well yet he's still try to take advantage. I'm trying to be fair but I'm not going to pay someone who's not showing up for work when he's supposed to.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Oerdin

This guy has a very easy job which, comparatively, pays him very well yet he's still try to take advantage. I'm trying to be fair but I'm not going to pay someone who's not showing up for work when he's supposed to.

Hmm... I don't want to jump to conclusions on this... but from his point of view, there's a lot of unfriendlies who would be only too happy to top him.

Maybe he has an easy "job"... it's the possible consequences that seem to be the problem (at least from what you tell me he's saying).

Got no problems with you docking his pay... but make sure he understands why. Also, don't expect him to translate "everything". As a civilian there are many things he just will not do (and should not be expected to).

Aren't you glad you got that pocket backup system?

[johnj92131]

Cruddy has good comments.

While the translators job may seem "easy" and "well paying" given the labor he is asked to do and the salary he gets in relation to other local jobs. You need to wonder how many of the unemployed locals are fluent in English. Is it 50%, 25%, 10% or less?

And how many of them can you trust with tactical information that can effect your safety? I am "assuming" the army has done some kind of vetting procedure for its translators. (Yes, we know what "assume" means).

I thought the army was using many non Iraqies as translators, just to avoid having local translators and their families targeted?

Can you get a non local translator for your runs to the more militant mosques? Or can you tape the sermons for later translation?

[Dinner]

We were forced to record the sermon today though the sound quality was some what poor. The military has a shortage of translaters so they hire locals to fill in the blanks though generally they use them in towns which are far from where they live. A few guys will only work in their home towns and one 18 year old I worked with in Al Kut got his mother shot by insurgents. That particular guy was really to young to be a translater. I kept telling him not to tell any of the locals his name or where he was from but he kept doing it any way. Thus the shooting.

[Dinner]

Low and behold the prodical translater returns. I spoke with the 1sg yesterday and he said because there was a shortage of translaters to give mine another chance without docking his pay. Instead I'm going to give him a written warning instead of the verbal warning I gave him last week. I entend to spell out exactly what the contract requires us to do, what we've done above the contracts requirements to help keep him happy, and to ask him for suggestions on solving this absenteeism problem. I will also spell out that further absentices will result in his pay being docked.

IF he has a problem with one type of mission and he doesn't want to do that then fine. He doesn't have to though all of our missions have an inherent risk to them and I won't pay him if he doesn't work.

[Dinner]

We went to various city ministries trying to get the ball rolling on this repaving project for Highway 1. We're eager to fill those pot holes so the bad guys will have fewer placesd to stick their landmines and IEDs but, true to form, none of the ministers had actually completed any of the work they said they would. Trying to get an Iraqi to get his work done on time is beginning to seem like squeezing blood from a rock.

After that we went to the Tikrit Dairy Company which is one of only a half dozen dairies in the whole country. Civil Affairs was following up on a business modernization grant which the dairy had requested but I took advantage of this opportunity to buy cheese from one of the few local cheese producers in Iraq. Sure, most of it was soft like cream cheese but there were two types of solid unaged white cheese which weren't to bad. Certainly better then that oily processed cheese substitute they call cheese in the chow hall.

I just found out that recommendations for metals and awards are due tomorrow so I will have to complete the forms for my two soldiers tonight. I just love how they give you 20 hours notice when they've know this was coming for the last three or four weeks. Still, I want to make sure I get my guys as many awards as possible since it will have a big impact upon them getting promoted or not.

On top of that I finally got a bunch of books I ordered from Amazon. It took nearly two months to get here but I should have time to read all three. They are all related to getting a job with the California Hiway Patrol so I'm hoping to study up for the interview and the written test so I can possibly state the academy this December. I'd be making $20k-$25k more per year then if I remained a Geologist plus my benifets and retirement pay would vastly improve. Since I've a new house to pay for I need to keep studying and getting into shape so I can land this job.

[debeest]

Oerdin, bear in mind that all of the California police-and-prison-type people have gotten spectacular labor agreements with recent California governors, but the joyride is coming to an end with the current budget problems and widespread recognition that those guys' sweet deals have got to be cut back. It's already happening.

[Ted Striker]

Good luck and cut me some slack when I'm blazing down the 5 at a high rate of speed.