Greetings Everybunny,
WOW.!!!
What a long time since I payed attention to this little board.
Sorry.
Well, as you see months have gone by and with them things have really changed.
The Iraq Adventure is over, for now.
Yup, things went a rye, as they always seem to do and it was time to leave.
Oh well, I did a damn good job while I was over there, met a crap load of good people and all in all, had quite the adventure over there.
As of the beginning of October, I am now in Cabo, completing whatever time is needed to satisfy the tax man.
But, even though the Iraq Adventure is over for me, the comics are still going to center on that, since there was way too much good material over there not to use.
So stay tuned for more great fun with the RBK crew and all the freaked out shit they end up seeing and going thru.

Greetings Everybunny,
I certainly hope everyone is well and things are going good well for one and all.
Life here in Iraq is going good, with only a few hick ups to break the day up.
As of this posting, I have been assigned to "Power Monitoring" of the generators here on base.
Some of you may know that most, if not all, the bases over here are self sustaining, meaning they have their own power generation system.
Here, we have a company called RMS that is tasked with maintaining our "Prime Power".
This is accomplished with a crap load of generators that produce the electricity the base needs to function.
But there are still areas and buildings that are not hooked into this system, so they have their own generators that produce the power they need.
These are not the little portable ones we use at home to run our houses when we loose power.
They are large units capable of produce large amounts of energy and are running 24/7.
My job now is to go around to each one, install a power meter that records the output for a 24 hour period, and then produce a report on the findings.
This is some great on the job training, and I have already found ways to utilize these meters back home to expand the services of my electrical business.
Nothing better than free training.
The weather here is starting to get hot. We have already seen 125 degree days, and the nights rarely get below 85.
Dust storms are common, with most days having a dusty haze all day long.
We have had a few dust storms roll in, and when they do, the sky tends to get this orange glow to it, and its hard to breath with all the dust blowing around.
I guess the hardest thing to deal with is getting back into the work truck after it has sat out in the sun, baking for a few hours.
The steering wheel is hard to hold onto when its about ready to melt.
Cheryl has send me out a few windshield screens, and they help, but its still really toasty inside.
We have to drink a lot of water everyday to keep ourselves from getting dehydrated. At least 7 liters.
And you can tell when you haven't had enough, cause you'll start getting a headache and feel really tired.
Since the humidity is only about 35%, you really don't notice that your sweating all that water right out of your system.
The food here is eatable, but thats the best I can say about it.
I have gotten to the point that I only eat a certain number of things in the "Dfac" (dining facility).
So with sticking to the same diet day in, day out, things are pretty boring on the meal side of this adventure.
Although, when they do have salmon, I get a bit of a break there. And believe it or not, it isn't bad.
Oh, geez, has things gotten so boring that I get excited over something like that?
And has this whole adventure brought down my expectations for a decent meal?
Yes. Yes it has.
Anyway, I keep myself busy drawing the comic and working on small little projects that just always seem to crop up.
I have taken to ordering flags for some of the guys here. So far, I have gotten 4 for myself, being 2 different Scottish flags, an Irish flag, and a German one.
And of course an American flag.
I have them hanging in my little 12x12 cell, called a CHU, just to break up the blandness of this place.
I have also gotten an English St. George flag for Daniel, one of our brits, a Welsh flag for Paul, another brit, and a Scottish and Macedonia flag for one of our Macedonian comrades working in the electrical department.
As for the electrical department, we have quite a mix of people, from all over the world working here.
We have mostly Americans from all over the states, 3 from eastern Europe, one from Kenya, 2 from Scotland, 2 from Britain and our supervisor who is from Australia. You can imagine the differences we have and its pretty cool getting all the different stories of electrical nightmares we have all run into.
If I had to pick the one thing, or the only thing, of this adventure that has been worth while, is getting to know all the different people that I meet here.
>From the fantastic men and women of our military, and their patience with us, KBR, they doubly deserve metals for the work they are doing here.
Every single one that I have meet so far have been very polite and friendly. Even when KBR have not treated them with the same respect.
And all the electricians that I work with are the most interesting. With everyone of us having our own opinions and ideas, we still seem to get the job done, sometimes not as quickly or as best it could be, but it is still getting done.
There is such a mix of people that sometimes it's amazing that anything gets done. And yes, there are conflicts and clashes of personalities, but in the long run, most of us at least try to get along, since we are stuck here to do a job.
We have our share of people, in the electrical department, that demo (De-mobilize) for an array of reasons. One guy left because he just didn't like the way things were being done, and was powerless to do anything about it. It would bother him that things here are run the way they are or should be run, so away he went.
I really liked him and hope he finds what he was looking for back home.
Others leave because they are just assholes and just don't fit in, driving themselves and other crazy with just being themselves. Those people are soon forgotten.
But, this week, I will be saying goodbye to a guy I meet in Houston and just seemed to get along well with right away. We also ended up going thru training in Baghdad together, and even though we were both heading to other bases at first, we ended up traveling all this way together. Most people you meet in either Houston, Baghdad or even Camp Spiecher are moving on to points unknown. You know this when you meet them and remember that when you decide they are alright and won't throw you under the bus the first change they get. And trust me, we get a lot of that around here. Most people are out for themselves and have no clue what it is to be up front with others.
There are always a few guys that you end up becoming friends with, and stay in touch thru emails. I made a few friends in Baghdad and like hearing from them and how their doing. But there is always someone that you become friends with and stick it out together when the times get tough. And we get a hell of a lot of tough times here. We have helped each other out on numerous occasions, both with work related things and troubles back home. Everyone needs someone to talk to once in a while and I know we both have appreciated the support of a good friend when it was needed.
But, he has decided that this place isn't for him and will be heading out in a few days. I would have to say that he helped me get thru all the bullshit here more than anyone else. This place is going to be a bit harder to deal with, but I will handle it. I am not going to give this whole thing up for stuff that is not in my power to control. I guess I will do what I can and just try to think about the end result. I have my happy place in my mind, that helps me get by, and I use others here as examples as to how this place will mess with your head if you let it. The clown nose I had sent over helps a lot with that, too. Nothing like getting a smile out of someone here to raise ones spirits. It always makes my day.
Recently, my attitude has been on the up side, with little getting under my skin. It seems the more I hear others complain about this or that, the more I try to see the other end of the spectrum and find the good opposite the bad. Sort of like the ying yang. For all the bad, there is an equal amount of good. And like the force, the more you go down the dark side, the worse it seems to get.
Some of us around here try to just let it roll off. And in the end, it really does seem to help. Eventually, nothing bothers you, cause in the end, it would only mess with your head and wouldn't matter any.
The big saying around here is "Were in Iraq, what do you expect." From myself, the best I can do with what I have. And if I still don't feel thats good enough, then I figure a way out to make it better with what I have. There is compromise, but not to ones self. There are way too many people here with their own personalities that have their own ideas and opinions to not take all that into consideration and find the best way to get the best end result with what you have to work with.
On another note, I have made it thru a third of this adventure, and looking forward to going home. It hasn't been easy, but it has helped me a lot in dealing with others and learning patience. The last was the hardest of all the lessons I was forced to learn. With the ineptness of others and the lack of materials and tools, it has been one of the toughest roads I have been down. Even with all the past life experiences I have been thru, this has been the toughest.
There are way too many reasons that this place sucks and only a few were it doesn't. But still, every morning I see the sun rise over the camp and feel lucky that I was able to stick it out so far.
I know this writing has gotten a bit long winded, and I apologize for that, but there is so much that needed to be written down and conveyed out.
One last note before I send this out. I would like to let everyone know that I miss them terribly and long to be home. Any and all emails and letters are welcome and much appreciated. Thanks to all of you that have taken time out of you busy life's to do so.
On that, I will try to write more often, so that these emails will be a little bit shorter. I doubt that will happen, as I have very little time let in the day when I finish with my daily routine of needless little things that just have to be done.
So everyone be good, don't worry about my safety over here, since the military do a great job of making sure that I am safe.
I will write again when time permits.
Later all,
Warren and Mike

Whoa,
It has been a while since I last made an entry here.
Sorry about that. It has been a wild but boring ride so far and things are not as we expected them to be.
So, here we are in Kirkuk, Iraq, trying to make things happen and running into the worst obstacles possible.
It has been a real challenge just to get the comic done and out on time.
Sure, there is a load of material to be had, but the time to work on it is limited.
We don't get a lot of time to do much of anything but pretend to work.
We are really missing some things from home and really tired of some things here.
I guess the first would be the crappy water they try to make us use.
The Rouge River is cleaner than the stuff we are using in the showers. At least they do supply us with good bottled water that they process right here. That whole process is really cool.
Right now, I am back on doing inspections, since it seems that we can't get along with some people. And then there are others that just don't seem to have a clue.
Anyway, it is going to be a long year, but we are going to try and stick it out as we really need the cash.
We are trying to get our own satellite system up and running, but that is as hard to do as everything else here.
Well, got to go for now. We will try to write more often once we get better access to the internet.
More later,
Warren and Mike

Hi Everybunny,
Well, we are finally here in Iraq.
Actually, so far everything and everybody has been pretty cool. But of course we are civilians and not in harms way in any manner.
Right now we are in training to learn what they expect of us and that will last at least a week.
At that point I will we will find out where we will spend most of our time working.
The hours suck, 7/12's if not more, but the pay is great. There a few other things that aren't the greatest either, but what job doesn't have its ups and downs.
At least we are working steady and will have socked some cash away for when we get back.
The weather here so far isn't bad, but I know it will get worse as summer rolls around.
We took a walk today and checked out the gym and other places where we can hang out during our off time. Stress management and relief are probably the most important thing out here.
So far I think I have a great attitude about the whole adventure. It is pretty much like going to camp for a year.
Right now, since we are transients, we are put up in a 24 man tent, but it is air conditioned and has a plywood floor. Some of the guys snore, but so far that has not been a problem.
Somehow we have attached ourselves to a group of guys fro the UK. One of them discribed the snorers as "snoring like beasts". Well put.
One of them is from Glasgow and the rest are from around London area.
All in all, they are some good guys.
Anyway, we are looking forward to getting into a routine, so the time will fly by and the next we will know, we'll be enjoying a Guinness with all of you.
Stay cool, be good, or at least don't get caught.. We love ya all and will try to keep up with this posting to let you all know how things are here.
Later for now,
Warren, Punker and Mike