Tales from the Sandbox (Sun 5/31_ Part 2)

Things are going reasonably well here, as far as the training exercise goes. The night before last, though, after the evening shift-change briefing, the Deputy Commanding General kept all the Staff Principals (the senior officer in each section of the staff) and many of the other senior officers until 1:45 AM to review the cycle of planning meetings and decision-making boards (which we call the “Battle Rhythm”) because the current battle rhythm – he said – wasn’t working.

The ranking chaplain had already gone before anyone in the chaplain section knew this was going on, so I had to be there in his place. I don’t have any significant input into the battle rhythm, as I don’t chair any of those meetings or boards, but every staff section had to be represented, so I couldn’t go off to bed.

However, as far as the training itself goes, and the Unit Ministry Team’s participation in it, I think things are going pretty well. The main working group I participate in is pretty pleased with some suggestions I made and is working them into their plans. Eventually they’ll be included in a FRAGO (Fragmentary Order) to subordinate units – which is as far as things go for this exercise, because there are no real, subordinate units in this exercise.

This is what we call a Command Post Exercise (CPX) – meaning the point of the exercise is to work the people and the procedures of the Command Post. Each of the major subordinate units is represented by a single role player whose function is to receive the orders, and report information as if there were a real unit there. The actual information he reports is made up, based on a combination of computer simulations of what might happen in a real, military operation, and also what the training objectives of our commander and staff principals are. In other words, the information is made up that will drive specific staff processes on which our bosses want us to be trained.

Our higher headquarters (US Central Command) is also represented by a role player, as are other organizations that influence our operational environment. For example, non-governmental organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent can have significant impact on our operations. So can US governmental agencies like the Department of State, the governments of allied nations or the host nation (where our operation is supposed to be happening), and the mass media. All of these are represented by role-players.

In CPXs, computer simulations provide inputs that represent information from intelligence gathering systems. For example, the computer can be programmed with the location and activities of enemy units, friendly units, and various neutral aspects of the battlefield (such as the shape of the terrain around us), and with the capabilities of various intelligence systems, then you can ask the computer (for example), “If I fly an airplane along this particular route, at this particular speed and altitude at this particular time, what will the pilot see?” or, “If I put this particular type of radio intercept equipment at this particular place, and turn it on from this time to that time, what will the operator hear?”

You might well ask, “With all this simulation and role-playing, why do you have to go to Kuwait to do this CPX? Why don’t you just stay in Atlanta?” Good question. The major reason is simply that the equipment to set up and operate the command post is here in Kuwait. We keep it here so that it will be faster to deploy it to a crisis location in the Middle East if we have to do so. There’s too much to easily get it all into airplanes, and sending it by ship can take a long time. Therefore, the closer we can keep it to where we think we might need it, the faster we can respond to a crisis by moving our headquarters.

Apropos of nothing in particular… attached is a photo of the inside of our sleep tents. It’s about a 10-minute walk from the sleep tents to the command post (which can seem a lot more in 115-degree heat). The focus isn’t great – partly because the lights were off on the end where I was standing so the camera wasn’t getting enough light to focus well. But, it gives you the idea. The tent is supposed to accommodate 70 people – but that would feel very crowded. Right now, it has about 45 people in it, I think, and it doesn’t feel crowded, at least not by the standards of someone who has been in the Army for 24 years. “Not crowded” in this case means that we have space between cots that is just about as wide as the cots themselves. Most of the extra cots are set up along the walls, for people to set their rucksacks and duffel bags on. That way we can keep our gear off the floor so the tent doesn’t feel so cluttered, and looks like it has a modicum of organization.


Well, I haven’t managed to connect to the Internet, yet, and it’s about time to put away my computer so I can go to work. Next time I try to go on-line, I guess I’ll go to the wireless hot-spot that’s closer to the network service’s office, and if I can’t get through, I’ll step in there and ask whether there’s something they can do about it.

Fr. Jonathan Landon +

Tales from the Sandbox (Sun 5/31)

Well, we’ve reached the half-way point on the training exercise. Tomorrow morning we have “stand down” and mid-course AAR. I don’t have to go to work until after lunch – which is a good thing, I guess, because I forgot to pick up my laundry from the laundry point this afternoon. :-( However, I do still have a couple of days of clean underwear and socks, so fear not!

Anyway, I think that things are going pretty well, on the whole. Not as well as some exercises I’ve been on, but not too badly, either. Yesterday, I was surprised to hear that the Commanding General wanted to give me a commander’s coin, after the morning briefing. Someone had told him about an incident I was involved in right before I left Atlanta for this exercise in Kuwait.

A Soldier in Afghanistan was feeling upset – suicidal, actually – and for some reason he didn’t trust the leadership of his own unit to take care of his problems. So, he phoned back to Carlysle Barracks, Pensylvania – his permanent duty station – and vented his feelings to the mental health counselor he had been to for treatment in the past. When you have someone on the phone that you think is suicidal, you do your very best to keep him or her on the phone, while getting a helper to them. You never want to break contact with such a person.

This counselor, kept the Soldier on the phone, but he didn’t know how to get in contact with anyone who might be able to get to the Soldier in Afghanistan. However, he knew that Headquarters, US Army Central is the supporting Army headquarters for all Army forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and pretty much the whole of the Middle East and Southwest Asia. So, he kept the Soldier on the phone on one line, and on a different line, he phoned the Office of the Commanding General, US Army Central. That’s kind of like phoning the Governor of New York because someone in Queens is suicidal… sort of. The big difference is that pretty much ALL Army leadership takes the danger of suicide VERY seriously.

When the call came in, the Commanding General’s secretary – naturally – forwarded it to the Office of the Command Chaplain. My boss, the Deputy Command Chaplain, and the Current Operations Chaplain and I were still in the office when the call came (though we were pretty much on the way out the door). I went to the Operations Center of US Army Central to get a phone number for the young Soldier’s Brigade Headquarters. The Deputy Command Chaplain and the Current Operations Chaplain kept the mental health counselor on the phone and somehow found a phone number to a Master Sergeant in Afghanistan who knew this particular Soldier personally.

So, by the time I got back with the phone number of the unit headquarters, the Current Operations Chaplain had already launched this Master Sergeant in the direction of the young Soldier to get him the help he needed. For chaplains – as much as for the mental health counselor – we just considered it our duty to do what we could to help this Soldier. That’s especially true since his life was in danger. Apparently, though, the Commanding General’s secretary was impressed, and told the CG about it.

So, he sent notes thanking and commending me and my fellow chaplains, and after the morning operations brief, called for us to meet him by his “office” (a tent which is part of the command post complex of linked tents) and presented a commander’s coin to me and to the Deputy Command Chaplain. The Current Operations Chaplain didn’t come on this exercise. He has a badly sprained ankle, and besides, is getting ready to leave our unit so he has some administrative out-processing to do. I assume he’ll get his coin from the Commander when we get back to Atlanta.

The General said he didn’t want to make too big a fuss over it, because he knows chaplains “aren’t in it for the glory,” but it would have been very easy to say, “It’s just too hard to do,” and he wanted us to know he was pleased that we would go the extra mile for a Soldier’s well-being.

For those who don’t know, military commanders (battalion level and above) traditionally have unit coins made with distinctive designs that they give out as awards for special performance that they want to recognize, but which they don’t consider to be at a level that deserves a medal.

There several traditions that have arisen around those coins, such as – when Soldiers are in the club, they can challenge one another by pulling a unit coin out of their pockets and tossing it on the bar. A Soldier who doesn’t have a coin to respond with buys a round for the Soldier who challenged him. For that reason, the coins are also called “challenge coins”.

Soldiers value those coins. Many of them value them more than medals and it is a point of pride to them if they can get a coin from every unit where they’ve been assigned. It’s also a common way to give recognition to a Soldier who gives good support to a unit to which they are NOT assigned as well, so many Soldiers end up with coins from units they’ve never served in, as well. The tradition is not unique to the Army, either.

Anyway, all three of us chaplains really felt that we were just doing our duty and I suppose I’m really writing this up to have something to write about, just to keep in touch with my friends and family. Still, I think it gives insight into the General’s character, that he values and goes out of his way to show his respect for people who do what it takes to save the life of a Soldier. Actually, I already knew I like this guy. He hasn’t been in command of US Army Central for very long – it will be a month next week – but I can tell already, he controls his temper, he controls his language, I’ve seen him angry but I’ve never seen him abuse or degrade anyone… and I have seen him go out of his way to show how he values people.

So, … as far as the command climate goes… I think I can look forward to a reasonably good year.

Fr. Jonathan Landon +

Trailer restoration

Jonathan and I bought this trailer shortly before he left for Kuwait. I have been working on replacing all of the dry-rotted wood. I am hoping to have all of the work done so that I can use it for our trip to Oregon next month.

I got all of the rotten wood torn off awhile ago, but then had to wait for the weather to clear before I could get anymore done. I now have the sides built and the floor cut. Now I just have to wait until a friend can drill the bolt holes in the 2x4I need to replace on the framework. He can use the drill press at work on Monday. Then I can put everything together.

I think a lot of progress has been made and it will get done in time. However, I still need to find a place to buy new tires and fenders.

News from the Sandbox (Mon 5/25)

Well, I'm back. Didn't send a message yesterday because I had to devote my free time to preparing for a worship service.

I'm a staff planner, not assigned to a pastoral position right now, but the chaplain responsible for pastoral care to the Headquarters of US Army Central didn't come to this exercise because he's in the process of getting ready to be transferred - it takes some time to get packed and do the administrative out-processing to leave a unit, and he doesn't have any leeway because he's going to a school - the Chaplains Captains Career Course.

His plan for worship services was to provide transportation from the command post to the chapel here at the camp in Kuwait. The staff-planner chaplains didn't think that was a good plan, mostly because all of the Protestant services offered at the chapel fall during the day shift. That means the day shift Soldiers would have to take off nearly two hours in the middle of their shifts (including the length of the service plus round-trip transportation time with a little dawdling built-in. For the night-shift Soldiers it wouldn't be so hard to get to the day-time services though it
might be hard to stay awake.

So, we - the staff-planner- type chaplains - scheduled two worship services actually at the command post. My partner did one at 11:00 am, for the day-shift guys. It was a brief service, and - since there was no travel time involved - only took them from their work for just over a half-hour. Twelve people showed up for his service. I did one at 9:00 pm. Other than the chaplain assistant and I, only one person showed up.

I don't take it personally, though. I'm reasonably certain that the night-shift people who wanted to go to church went during the day. They had 12 hours off, so it's not a hardship for the night shift folk to stay up long enough to go to a service in the morning after the end of their shift, or get up early enough to go to service before they go on duty.

Most people would rather go to a service in the chapel with a small but established congregation, and a good music team than an ad-hoc service at the command post where singing is going to be a capella.

The last of our chaplain team for the command post arrived yesterday afternoon, so we're now full-strength and working the shifts we'll usually end up working. For the time being, I'm scheduled from 3:00 pm to midnight. It's nice that we have enough people in the Unit Ministry Team that we don't have to work 12-hour shifts. The drawback is that most of the command post staff ARE working 12-hour shifts, which means that they're coming and going en masse while those of us who are working non-standard shifts are trying to sleep.

However, I've been getting adequate sleep. The coming and going disturbs my rest, but I have been able - so far - to go back to sleep when that happens ,so I'm doing OK.

The exercise itself hasn't started yet, so we're still doing refresher training on our equipment and rehearsals of command post procedures and schedules. Lacking input from an exercise scenario, I've been spending much of my time setting up ways to exploit technology to make our job easier. For example there's a web page for the Unit Ministry Team where I have posted announcements for the religious programs on the camp and in the command post, and a bunch of links to useful documents that members of the team can study.

Those of you who have worked in a military headquarters know that every staff section keeps a "Duty Officer's Log" - usually on paper on a form called a Department of the Army Form 1594. One of the things I've done is to set up a web page where we can keep our log and it be viewed by all members of the Command Chaplain's Office. Since we are spread out in three command posts in three locations (two in Kuwait and one in Atlanta) this is useful so that we can all see each other's logs, updated immediately, and all of us in the same command can update the log for that command post at the same time (if we need to) from different computers. We can also attach documents to the log which provide supporting information to the log entries - which lets us keep the log entries brief as they're supposed to be.

The log is on a secure, military website, so we can put classified information on the log without fear of disclosure - and we always use some real, classified information in training environments even when the scenario we're training on is fictional - and the settings on the logs are such that only members of the Command Chaplain's Office can see the logs, and only the members of a particular headquarters can write on the log for that headquarters.

Other than "Tales from the Sandbox" the key activities for the day are dropping off laundry for cleaning, picking up the laundry I dropped off three days ago, and watching some TV via the Internet. Hey, if I'm going to pay for Internet access, while I'm here in Kuwait I might as well get my money's worth out of it.

Besides I can watch skits from one of my favorite shows, which has been out of syndication for quite a while. Here's a hint. Anyone remember this theme song?
"It's time to put in makeup, it's time to light the lights.
It's time to get things get things started on the ...... Show tonight!"

OK, so it's not exactly intellectual stimulation. Still, it's fun and it passes time!

Fr. Jonathan Landon +

News from the Sandbox (Tues 5/19)

Tue May 19, 2009 11:54 am (PDT)

The sandstorms seem to have calmed down. Haven't had one now for a couple of days.

I am now working days for a while. Once all the tents were up and the air conditioners working, we shifted to working days, except for a skeleton crew who are there at night to keep the equipment from wandering away.

The schedule that was worked out by the chaplain who will be in charge of the ministry team in the command post will take effect about May 25, and it will put me on a 3:00 pm-to-midnight shift. We'll see how well that works out. It's a bit of an odd schedule for me, but maybe it will work. At least I won't have 12-hour shifts (which is very common in a deployed headquarters).

When I got to the command post this morning the air conditioner was not working in the tent where I work. The fan was blowing but the air that came out was not cold. Apparently it had not been down for very long, though, because the tent was not terribly hot, just moderately hot. Later, "they" turned off all the air conditioners for maintenance. It's amazing how fast you can feel the difference when that happens.

It definitely makes you appreciate the air conditioning. and the air conditioning is not just luxury for people who are too weak to adapt to harsh climates. If we didn't have the air conditioning, the computers would overheat and stop working, and that would definitely cramp our ability to function. It wouldn't stop us completely, but it would certainly cause lots of problems for us.

Computers in the command post are running very slow today, and they cut in and out of contact with the network. Very frustrating and slows all our work down drastically. Still, I suppose it's better than the bad old days of plastic overlays and alcohol pens on maps. and photocopying pounds and pounds of paper to publish operations orders.

Fr. Jonathan Landon +

Naomi's Award

(If you click on the photo, if will open in another window at an enlarged size.)

Adoption Websites

Adoption Websites
I thought I had already posted these websites, but then I couldn't find them in the archieves list, so here they are again.

http://www.adoptuskids.org/
This is a national clearing house site for kids available for adoption in the US through state agencies (aka Children's Services). To do a search on the children, click on the button that says "Meet the Children" towards the top of the page.

http://www.myturnnow.com/
this is specific to Georgia. To see the children, click on the line that says "photolisting of the children", about 1/2 down the page.

We are hoping for a sibling group of 2-3, at least one boy, 10-16 years old.

NOTE: If you can't get the links to work, you can copy and paste the web address into your browser bar.

News from the Sandbox (Sun 5/17)

(Jonathan's new hair-do)

The most significant thing about today – other than the fact that it’s Sunday and I got to go to church – is that the projected high temperature for the day is 108, here in Kuwait.

Let me assure you. It doesn’t matter that it’s a dry heat. 108 is still VERY uncomfortable. Thank God for Willis Haviland Carrier, who invented the first modern air conditioner in 1902.

Fr. Jonathan Landon +

Photo Album from Kuwait

Posted photos of my trip in Kuwait at the following link, in a Facebook album. You SHOULD be able to get to it even if you're not a Facebook member. I've set it to be available to "everyone", but if you can't get in... well, you're welcome to sign up on Facebook! J

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=2025287&id=1248110502 (You will have to copy and paste this address. I can't make it work as a clickable link~Becky)

If you've looked at this album already, you might want to look again, because I've just added a few today.

Fr. Jonathan Landon+

News from the Sandbox (Sat 5/16)

News from the Sandbox
Sat May 16, 2009 8:04 am (PDT)

It's Thursday morning now. Last night and the night before we had sandstorms that were serious sandstorms with serious wind.

On Tuesday night, one of the sergeants saw the storm coming. He ran into the tent and shouted "Sandstorm!" For just a second or two longer, it was calm and then the wind seized the tents and started shaking them about and the air filled with dust as if someone were sandblasting the side of the tents. Did you see the movie, "The Mummy?" Remember the scene with the sandstorm? Apparently that's what it looked like as it rolled in. No face in it, though. just a swirling wall of flying dirt.

The rounded end-piece of the tent where I was had not been staked out yet, and the wind turned it inside out like an umbrella. I and another Soldier braced ourselves against the poles of the frame, trying to push it back into place against the wind. We didn't have much success, initially, because the wind was just too strong. While we were pushing against it, we heard one of the poles in the frame snap. After several minutes of wrestling with it, though, there was a brief reduction in wind force and we managed to push the tent back into proper shape and hold it while another Soldier staked it down.

No one was hurt, but I got some sand in my eye and was unable to get it out for quite a while - though I tried flushing it with water and also with eyedrops. Finally, I just quit messing with it and after a while, apparently, my own natural tears washed it out, because it quit bothering me. Apparently there are no scratches on my eye from the sand, as my eye is just fine today - thanks to God's grace.

Part of the command post consists of trucks with slide-out sides (we call them expando-vans) . These are much more secure in strong winds than tents are - and also don't have such large gaps to let the dust in - so many of us clustered into the vans to wait out the storm.

On Wednesday night, a second storm came. This time we had about two hour's warning. Actually, we were TOLD it was coming in an hour, but it was late. Anyway, with advanced warning, we closed all the tent flaps, to reduce the opportunity for wind to enter, and to because the structural strength of the tent is greater if the walls are "solid" (i.e. all openings closed and fastened). The force of the wind was not as great as the night before, though the storm lasted longer.

We've made significant progress in setting up the command post. Almost all the tents are up. The largest tents have a very interesting floor system. It is made of interlocking plastic squares. They have holes in them, so that water can drain through them, and they have a raised tread pattern all over. These features make them less slippery when wet. Even more interesting (to me, anyway) is that one can pull up sections of the floor to expose built-in conduits for electrical, telephone and computer wires to run under the floor. This reduces tripping hazards and the danger of pulling fragile equipment off a table while someone stumbles over a wire, and the danger of damage to the wires. Then just snap the floor sections right back into place, and the wires are safely tucked away. It's pretty cool, actually.

Not much else that's exciting is going on. Communications and computer systems are slowly becoming operational and we're getting closer to being ready for this training exercise to begin.

In case anyone is interested in seeing the kind of tents that we're using, you can check this website. Our setup is sort of similar to the Corps headquarters depicted on the web page at the link.. Sort of. because part of the point of the system is the ability to connect together as many tents as you like in lots of different configurations to meet the real or perceived needs of the headquarters, so each headquarters is going to have an idiosyncratic arrangement of tentage.

http://www.army- technology. com/contractors/ field/dhs_ 2/ (You will have to copy & paste this link_ I can't make it into a clickable link. ~Becky)

Enough rambling about tentage. I came off shift at about 5:00 am, had breakfast in the dining facility, hit the post exchange for shaving cream (I'm going through shaving cream a little faster than usual because I've returned to my "deployment" hairstyle - that is, no hair at all) and I had to wait until 9:00 for the Wataniya office to open up to buy the one-month wireless access card, so it's definitely time to toddle off to my cot. In the future I won't have to wait so long to get on-line because the one-month card I've purchased will sustain me for the rest of my stay here at this training exercise, so I'll be able to get on-line very shortly after I get off-work and get to bed earlier after my little updates.

Bye bye and God bless all y'all.

OK, now it's Saturday morning and my Thursday message wasn't sent. Which means (unless I've lost track) that this is the first message to go out in about five days. Sorry about that.

There was a little difficulty with the network connection Thursday night. I had spent so long writing the message, that the network had timed me out. Because I was tired and it was bedtime, I didn't want to take the time to log back in, so the message didn't get sent. Then on Friday my work schedule was shifting around a bit - and I had volunteered to take the midnight-to- 3:00 AM "guard" shift in the command post, so I needed to snatch sleep where I could.

So now I'm back to write some more.

About that guard shift.. No, it's not typical for a chaplain to pull guard duty - after all we don't carry weapons so we don't really have much ability to forcefully protect our guard post. Besides, it's also not typical for ANY officers to pull guard duty - except as a special event such as on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so the enlisted Soldiers can all have the whole day off. However, all the Soldiers here in the advance element were working hard on setting up the command post for several days. We haven't started 24-hour operations, but we did get the computers out and set up in their places, so SOMEONE had to stay with the computers through the night to make sure they didn't grow legs and disappear. The concern is not only for the
costliness of the equipment that could be lost or stolen, but also for the
sensitive information that is stored on the computers.

I volunteered for the midnight to 3 AM shift because it leaves the other Soldiers able to get the best sleep. If you have the first guard shift of the evening, you just go to bed later than usual, but once you go to sleep, you can sleep through 'til morning. If you have the last shift, you just get up early. But if you have the middle shift, you have to catch a nap, get up and go to work, then catch another nap afterward. It's just not as restful.
I hadn't had to work as hard - physically - as most of the other Soldiers in my area of the command post, so I took the guard shift that would leave the others the best, restful sleep.

I told the sergeant major, "They won't let me carry a firearm, but there's nothing to stop me from hitting someone with a chair, if someone tries to steal a computer."

Anyway, barring the first two days we've been here, we've had a sandstorm EVERY DAY. Last night, the storm blew up just as I started walking from the command post to my sleeping tent, after my guard shift. I literally could not see a half-a-block ahead of where I was going. I just walked toward the glow of the lights that I knew marked the sleeping tents while the wind and sand beat on me. For safety, I had goggles on to protect my eyes - which meant I did NOT have my glasses on, making it harder to see through the storm - and I had a reflective belt and a strobing flashlight to ensure I didn't get squashed by some passing vehicle whose driver was going too fast
for the visibility conditions. It was certainly an unpleasant experience, anyway, and I went to bed gritty. There was no point in showering - the walk back from the showers in the storm would make me as dirty as I was before the shower. I'll have to shake out my sleeping bag before going to bed tonight.

This morning, I started work by wiping down the tables and chairs in my work area. The tents are anything but airtight - so we have to wipe everything down a couple of times a day to keep the dust down to a tolerable level - but a thin film settles immediately on everything, within minutes of wiping it off. When we had left work for the day, we shut down all the computers and put trash bags over them to protect them from the dust. I think we'll continue to do that, even after we start 24-hour operations, if a sandstorm blows in. That's what we did last year, during this exercise, but we didn't have NEARLY so many sandstorms.

Some of the Soldiers from my directorate filled sandbags to put around the bottoms of the tents. This helps keep the wind out, slightly reduces the dust inside, and significantly reduces the likelihood of the tents being damaged by a windstorm. While they did that, I helped an officer from a different section to finish running her computer Internet cables and tagging the two ends of each cable so that - at the server end of the cable - the computer techs can identify which computer is plugged in to the other end.

Then I had an interesting conversation (with the same officer) about the possibility of her going into full-time ministry after she gets off of active duty. In the Charismatic Episcopal Church we believe that it is the responsibility of men to fulfill the functions of ordained clergy within the church, but that's not the position of her own church. This fact came up as an aside - in the context of discussing the fact that there are many ministries - opportunities for leadership and service - in the church that do not require ordination. This led to an amicable and mutually informative discussion about the differences among various denominations and the theology behind those differences.

One of the things I really enjoy about military chaplaincy is the opportunity to engage in discussion, helping people explore their own calling and spirituality without the need to press on them my own beliefs. I don't have to pretend to believe things I don't believe. When discussing matters of faith, I must avoid any appearance of using my rank or duty position to push my beliefs on others, but if there's an appropriate opening to respectfully present my convictions to a receptive person I can do that.

Lest anyone be unclear on this point - nobody in the Army has authority to tell me what to preach, teach or believe in matters of faith. Nobody in the Army has authority to tell me how to pray or how to worship. Nobody has authority to tell me I can't do pastoral counseling that's founded in the timeless truths of Holy Scripture as I and my Church interpret and apply them. I just cannot try to convert people from the beliefs and practices they've chosen for themselves, unless they invite me (explicitly or implicitly) to discuss with them my beliefs and the reasons behind them. Sometimes I can gain that invitation by listening to THEIR beliefs with
interest and respect. Anyway. I digress. mostly because there's not much that's interesting going on in the process of setting up the command post.

Soon we will begin refresher training on the equipment that we'll use during the exercise, and on the battle drills and staff processes we'll use in the command post. After that, the actual training exercise scenario will begin.

Fr. Jonathan Landon +

News from the Sandbox (Sunday 5/10 & updated Tues)

I've arrived now in Kuwait. Today is a "rest and adjustment" day. I went to bed last night at about 10:30 and I slept 12 & 1/2 hours! (Very unusual for me.) I was so tired from the traveling and the time zone change.

Tonight we start what we call "reverse cycle training". That means we'll be working at night instead of daytime. We're putting up the tents that will be the command post for our exercise and it gets so hot here, that it's safer to do hard work like that at night. I think it may take only two nights to finish setting up as people who came earlier did much of the work already.

Last night I dropped in to see the chaplain at the camp - hoping that my friend Chaplain Stu King as still here, but I had lost track of when he was to be replaced and he has been gone about 3 months. When I arrived, a worship service was just starting so I stayed for the service - though I'm afraid I had to struggle to stay awake, as I had traveled over 20 hours by plane (including layovers) plus an hour and half bus ride, administrative briefings, and settling in to the tent where I'll be staying.

After chapel, I borrowed a computer and checked my office email, but not my personal email, last night. I had lost track of what day it was and I thought it was still Saturday, but it was Sunday night (silly me). So I didn't celebrate Eucharist yesterday.

This morning, as I said, I woke up about 1100. Slept right through my alarm, which was set for 0900. I went to lunch then back to my tent to find that two of the chaplain assistants from Camp Arifjan had come up to visit, and brought us some office and religious supplies to use during the exercise. They asked us what other help we could use.

We discovered that there were TWO tents with space set aside for the Unit Ministry Team members. The one in which we had originally set up was likely to become more crowded than the other one, once the rest of the main body of the unit arrives in just over a week, so we moved to the other tent. One of the chaplain assistants from Camp Arifjan had printed paper signs for each of our cots, to label the ones we're using now, and to reserve cots for those who are coming later. This is actually quite a useful thing, because the cots are not numbered or otherwise labeled to distinguish them. If you have to go wake someone up during his sleep shift, and he's snug in his sleeping bag, it can be hard to tell who is sleeping where. For that matter, if you have to leave a note for some when he's away from his cot, the same problem applies. Most of us don't have luggage or equipment that looks distinctive (all those Army issue duffels and rucksacks look the same).

After shifting to the new sleeping tent, I went back to the chapel and made use of their wine and their altar to celebrate Eucharist. (For those who don't know, CEC Priests are required to celebrate Eucharist weekly, whether pastoring a congregation or not.)

I had brought my own Communion bread, but didn't bring wine as it is tightly controlled. Military service members and civilians with the US military services here are not permitted to have alcohol except when it is needed for religious practices - such as ^oneg shabat^ (the Jewish Sabbath meal) or Christian Communion services in denominations that use wine for that purpose.

After Eucharist, I came to the USO tent to use the free Internet computers. Signed up and waited an hour and fifteen minutes to get the use of a computer for 30 mins. Not a great investment. Later today I'm going to go to the Wataniya Telecom network shop and spring for a $5 card that gives one day of access to the Internet through wireless “hot spots” around the camp. Some say that it's terribly slow and completely unsatisfactory. Others day that it works just fine. I think it depends on where you are and what time of day you're accessing the system.

I'll be working night shift, most likely, so the best time for me to access the network will be mid-morning, which is when it should actually have the fewest users, so hopefully it will work well for me. If the network works OK for me with the one-day card, I'll buy a one-month card which will carry me through the rest of my stay here in Kuwait.

There's no way that a wait of longer than an hour to get me on a computer for a half-hour is going to be tolerable once I start working 12-hour shifts at the Command Post.

Anyway my computer time is up. Have to go now.

** Second installment follows. **

Now it’s Tuesday, 12 May. After supper, went to work setting up tents all night. It did not go nearly as smoothly as I had hoped. We divided up into groups based on where in the command post we set up our workspace.

The “subject matter experts” in my group hadn’t set up one of these in a long time and were making lots of time-consuming mistakes. We’re done for the day now, but not all the tents are up, yet. Tomorrow night, we should finish them, though, as only a couple of the smaller ones remain to be erected. Then we can start working on the insides (with the air conditioners on).

Couldn’t get much in the way of photos. For one thing, my camera’s just a cheapo snapshot camera and doesn’t do very well in the dark. For another, well, I was putting up tents! … or rather, spending a lot of time waiting for someone to figure out what needed to be done and TELL me, so I could help. These tents require an engineering degree, almost, to be qualified to erect them. The biggest ones are too large and heavy for a group of people to lift… so we put a huge air bladder on the ground, put the tent on top of it, and hook it up to a compressor! As the bladder blows up, the tent goes up!

However, it takes experience to get the bladder and tent in the right place so that when it goes up it is positioned correctly to connect with adjacent tents. AND, it takes experience to know what parts have to be attached before the tent goes up and what parts have to be attached after it is up.

One of the large tents went up FOUR times before we got it right. The user’s manual says the tent can be put up in 23 minutes. It took about four hours, I think. To be fair, some of the problem was because the tent had apparently been ill-used in the past. Several poles in the expanding frame were broken. The other tents went faster, but the slow pace of work was still boring and frustrating.

On the positive side, I’m finding that the wireless network on the camp is overall pretty satisfactory to me. The Starbucks café that’s not too far from my tent apparently has a router, and it’s packed with people using the network. It’s one of the few hot spots where you can get out of the wind and blowing sand and get good, reliable Internet access – and electrical outlets so your internet time is not limited by your laptop computer’s battery life.

I think I’ll go ahead and buy the monthly access card (which is the cheapest way to go). To get on the network you buy a card that has a user ID and password on it and the user ID has a pre-set amount of time it can use to log in to the Internet. A one-day access card is $4, which gets you access for 24 hours from the first time you use it to log on. Weekly access cards are $12 and monthly access cards are $30. So, if you know you’re going to be on the camp for more than two weeks and a day, then the monthly card is the best way to go.

It’s only good on THIS camp, though. If I take my computer to a different camp, I have to pay for THEIR wireless network. At Camp Arifjan, the network is run by a different company, and the prices are a bit higher – but with different choices. $1 per hour, $5 per day, $35 per month. I don’t think they offer a 1-week card. At any rate, if they do offer one, I don’t remember the cost of it. It’s not that important, though, because I’m not Camp Arifjan and am unlikely to be for more than a day or two during the course of this exercise.

Anyway, I need to toddle off to bed.

God bless you all and keep you in his grace and mercy!

Fr. Jonathan Landon +

Embroidery Design Library

I have been spending quite a bit of time lately trying to get my embroidery designs organized and filed into categories so I can find a design when needed. Or to show possibilities to customers.

I'm not done yet. But I've gotten to the point where it's managable now. There is still work to be done, particularly with the older designs- like trying to find where they came from and changing the format to the correct colors.

In backing my work up to my external drive, the machine does a count. With the other designs in folders waiting to be sorted or on disks that I've purchased sets of designs--- the total number of files I have exceeds 232,000!!

Which works out to about half of them being actual designs (some files are color lists, the file for the embroidery machine to know what color thread to use, several different sizes of a design, or various pieces to a design (ie a lace bowl will have 2 parts- a bottom and a side.)

I better get busy if I ever want to stitch even half of those.

Prom 2009

Jon Paul and his girlfriend Jessica went to the prom on Saturday. Jessica's mom and grandmother drove a large van with 7 students. They all had a great time.