26 Feb 2007

Just changed the operating software on this blog. Let's see how it works. Been getting a lot of comments, but they are all SPAM. I guess I better shut off the comments option.

Moved to a new trailer this morning. It is very clean and I even found a new set of bed linens in the trailer. Just a bit longer of a walk to the shower house.

Still no ability to post flyers and posters for our club. I am sad. I met a Major Victor Sundquist, who is a Mason. We will meet with the First Sergeant, and try to work out a compromise.

Masons have held meetings on military posts since Valley Forge. If we handle it with tact and discretion, I think that we can have an excellent club and lodge here.

30 January 2007

Another weekend just went by. It is COLD in the mornings here. I was reading a book in the library, and I walked across the street to get a sandwich, and someone stole my sweatshirt (That I had left on the couch). People will steal anything that is not nailed down.

I only got 6 (six) days to clear out of my last assignment. I did not get to sell any of my personal items, I could not sell my bike or my home entertainment system. I only had the address of my new posting for three (3) days. I was busy as hell moving out, and shipping my personal items here. Then I got an email from the man who replaced me, saying that I left the office in "chaos". Hell, I am not June Cleaver, or Felix Unger! Carlos could have swept up the damn office, but he stays in the trailer all day, playing video games or IMing his wife.

I do not dislike this new base. The food is excellent, the work is the same as Al Asad, but there is much less work. I told them, that if he wants to swap back, he can do so anytime!

I put in for an instructor position in Reston. I also applied for the new project in Luxembourg.

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I have received a number of comments, since I opened up the blog to moderated comments. Most are SPAM, and vulgar and racist. Please take your comments elsewhere, because they will NOT be published on my blog.

I welcome your comments

Comments are welcome, but NO Spam. Also no Hate speech or threats. Keep it on point, or take your comments elsewhere.

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18 Jan 2007

For the record, I am a Caucasian man. My people immigrated into Kentucky, with Daniel Boone, on his second trip through the Cumberland gap. My family history has been researched back to the 12th century in Wales. I am also a civilian technician here in Iraq. I am not a soldier, and I do not get involved in combat operations. I just run the computers here. I am a veteran, I was in the US Air Force for five years, and I am proud of my military service. I am also proud to serve alongside America's finest, in my civilian capacity. I am way out in the middle of the Iraqi desert, and there is no combat out here, anyway. My biggest danger is falling off my bicycle.

17 Jan 2007

We have a Masonic Lunch Group that meets every Wednesday at the Chow Hall here. Today, no one showed up except me. I hope that we can have more participation. The Chow Hall director (civilian) and the (Army) NCO in charge are both Freemasons, and they have been really helpful. We can have the meeting room every Wednesday at 1200noon, but the 1st Sergeant will not let us display any posters! One of the other 1st sergeants is a Freemason, and I am going to meet with him, and have him ask the (other) 1st sergeant to reconsider.

Comments are now moderated

I believe in Freedom of Speech. I have decided to open the blog to all comments. However, they will be moderated. I will delete any hate speech, or threats. Also, I will delete all SPAM. So keep your comments on point, or take them elsewhere.

13 Jan 2007

Well, this place is like "Ground Hog Day". Every day is the same. Work, eat,sleep, watch TV, surf the net. Today I rean out of deodorant, but I ordered some from drugstore.com on line. The company I work for (A fantastic company -BTW), has landed a contract to renovate the Airport at Luxembourg. Can you believe it? I used to live 40 mins from the airport, and I have flown in and out of the place many times. I have contacted my company to see if I can get an application in for one of the jobs there. It would be cool to go back to Luxembourg.

My mother-in-law arrived in Washington last night, I must call the wife and speak to her.

The work here goes on, we are still trying to locate that pickup truck that the company had shipped here. When it arrives, I will have to send it along to Al Asad, and then Carlos will send the Gator vehicle here.

New Years Day 2007

Had a decent New Year's Eve. The chow hall did a whole buffet of snacks. I just love fried jalapeno "poppers". Also a whole fountain of egg nog. The chow hall set up a disco and amplifiers, and we danced and enjoyed the night.

It is cold here in Iraq, this time of year, there was a hard freeze, last night. I finally got back to the trailer about 2am, and slept for ten hours.

Not much to do today, just watched a film "28 Days" with Sandra Bullock. Yesterday, there was a "Sopranos" marathon. Watched the big screen all day long.

I met with the Chow hall manager today and we are now authorized to have a Masonic luncheon every Wenesday at 1200noon. fantastic! We could not reserve a table back at Al Asad, but here the manager (civilian) and military liaison are both Masons! Can you believe it?

I also secured the classroom at the Rec Hall for every 1st/3rd Saturday at 7pm for the Square and Compasses Club. We will meet there, and if there is enought interest, we can see about getting a lodge going.

I found out that there are several other Masons here at Talafar, we just might have what it takes.

Christmas day over

Christmas day was an ordinary day. Worked as usual. An excellent meal was served up in the chow hall. We had prime rib, dressing, and an excellent shrimp salad with crabmeat.

They served up cans of egg nog, and I drank several glasses. I was thinking about how nice it would be to have some Claxton fruit cake, and they gave me one! I went back to the Rec Hall and ate a whole pound of fruit cake!

One week at Talafar

Been here for a week. Place is all right in many respects. Just wish that I had more to do. I miss the work at my previous base. I had a good thing going at Al Asad. Rode my bikes all over the place. We had a decent Masonic Square and Compasses club.

Talafar has a good chow hall, decent rec hall. I do not have cable TV in my trailer. But I will install the satellite dish later on, and then I can see AFN and some other English language TV shows.

I already reserved the classroom at the chow hall for 1200 wednesdays for the S&C club.

I set up the Rec Hall for the 1st/3rd Saturdays at 7:00pm for the S&C club.

We may just make it a go after all.

New assignment.

I have a new assignment. It is at Talafar, Iraq. I am Forward Operating Base Sykes. It is a small base, smaller than I have been posted at.

I will be here until August 2007.

I always enjoy getting mail. Please send your emails to

cemab4y@hotmail.com

and your postal mail to

Charles E. Martin
UNISYS CORP/LTF
APO AE 09351

Charles Martin's Blog. Iraq and Freemasonry

The tale of six boys:

Charles I thought you might enjoy reading this.
Fraternally: Jack

A Tale of Six Boys

Each year I am hired to go to Washington , DC, with the eighth grade
class from Clinton , WI., where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I
greatly enjoy visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some
special memories back with me. This fall's trip was especially memorable.

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This
memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the
most famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers
raising the American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo
Jima , Japan , during WW II.

Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed
towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the
statue, and as I got closer he asked, "Where are you guys from?"

I told him that we were from Wisconsin "Hey, I'm a cheese head, too! Come
gather around, Cheese heads, and I will tell you a story."

(James Bradley just happened to be in Washington, DC, to speak at the
memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to
his dad, who has since passed away. He was just about to leave when he
saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received
his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing
to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington on,
D.C., but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that
night.)

When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak. (Here are his
words that night.)

"My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin. My dad is on
that statue, and I just wrote a book called "Flags of Our Fathers" which
is #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story
of the six boys you see behind me.

"Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground
is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in
the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They
were off to play another type of game, a game called "War" But it didn't
turn out to be a game.

Harlon, at the age of 21, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't
say that to gross you out, I say that because there are people who stand
in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to
know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were 17, 18, and 19 years old.

(He pointed to the statue) "You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon
from New Hampshire If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo
was taken and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a
photograph... a photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for
protection because he was scared. He was 18 years old. Boys won the
battle of Iwo Jima . Boys . Not old men.

"The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike
Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called
him the "old man" because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike
would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn't say, Let's go kill
some Japanese' or Let's die for our country.' He knew he was talking to
little boys. Instead he would say, You do what I say, and I'll get you
home to your mothers.'

"The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from
Arizona. Ira Hayes walked off Iwo Jima . He went into the White House
with my dad. President Truman told him, 'You're a hero.' He told
reporters, 'How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the
island with me and only 27 of us walked off alive?' So you take your
class at school, 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing
everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only 27 of
your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of
horror in his mind. Ira Hayes died dead drunk, face down at the age of 32
.. ten years after this picture was taken.

"The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop,
Kentucky. A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70,
told me, 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop
General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't
get down. Then we fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all night.'
Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the
age of 19. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it
went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to
his mother's farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into
the morning. The neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

"The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John
Bradley from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until
1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's
producers, or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little
kids to say, 'No, I'm sorry, sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada
fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is
coming back.' My dad never fished or even went to Canada. Usually, he was
sitting there right at the table eating his Campbell's soup. But we had
to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the
press.

"You see, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys
are heroes, cause they are in a photo and on a monument. My dad knew
better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a caregiver. In
Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died
in Iwo Jima , they writhed and screamed in pain.

"When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was
a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said,
'I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys
who did not come back. Did NOT come back.'
"So that's the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima ,
and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo
Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is
giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time."

Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag
sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the
heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero.
Maybe not a hero for the reasons most people would believe, but a hero
nonetheless.

We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for us
to live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice. Let us never forget from
the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terrorism and all the wars in
between that sacrifice was made for our freedom. Remember to pray praises
for this great country of ours and also pray for those still in murderous
unrest around the world. STOP and thank God for being alive and being
free at someone else's sacrifice.

God Bless You and God Bless America .

REMINDER: Everyday that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great
day.

Charles Martin's Blog. Iraq and Freemasonry

5 Nov 2006. WHEW! Three weeks in Moscow, then two weeks in Kuwait. Got back to Al Asad Fri Nite and trying to catch up. Someone stole the bike frame that I was going to re-habilitate. I had removed all of the serviceable parts.

Many changes while I was away. I will catch up later.

Charles Martin's Blog. Iraq and Freemasonry

21 Sept 2006. Ali Al Saleem, Kuwait. FINALLY! I got our of Iraq for my R&R. The Marines flubbed my schedule, I was supposed to leave on Thursday, but when I went to the flight office to check on the ticket, they had me down for Wednesday. I was already packed, so I went to the flight line, and got a flight to Kuwait. I arrived late Weds nite, and went to the transient tents. I will wait here until Friday night, and then get to the civilian airport for my 0300am flight to Dubai, and then on for my vacation. The engineers back at Al Asad will run the show in my absence. Man it is good to be finally on the way!

Charles Martin's Blog. Iraq and Freemasonry

Charles Martin's Blog. Iraq and Freemasonry 17 Sept. 2006. Today in church, we talked about the importance of keeping journals. I enjoy this blog, but I should be more diligent about entering information. This place, is like the film "Ground Hog Day". Every day is the same, since I work 7 days a week. Last week, two new individuals arrived here. Mr. Carlos Zambrana and Mr. Raul Ramirez. These guys are really sharp, and I think they will both make excellent FSE's. Raul will stay here, during my R&R, and learn the ropes, then get sent to some new base. Carlos is taking to the job like a fish to water, and he will remain here, when I return from R&R. There is really not enough work here for two full time Engineers, so Carlos will probably be traveling a lot, covering other bases, when people go on vacation and emergency leave,etc.

I was supposed to fly out of here on Friday 15 Sept. and then on to Moscow. There were no flights on Friday, and the only flight was Saturday morning. Problem is the flight left here at 0300am, and I had to be at the Kuwait civilian airport at 0345am. So I had to cancel the flight from here, and then push back my R&R. I am going to leave here on Thursday, and then wait a day in Kuwait, and then leave from Kuwait at 0345am on Saturday morning, fly to Dubai, and then change for a direct flight to Moscow. I will be in Moscow on Saturday afternoon 23 Sept. In's'hallah.

I am glad that I was able to re-enlist, and get a second year here in Iraq. I like it here. I like the work, the people I work with (mostly), and my supervisor is terrific, I get a lot of lee-way to do this job. The chief said "you have done exemplary work in an austere environment" I wish that all my performance reports read so glowingly.

I will be here through Sept 2007, and from there, who knows? I might even ask for a third year here in Iraq. I like this place very much. Yesterday afternoon, I got cable TV hooked up in my trailer. Now I have ten channels of TV. I will get my own satellite dish going later on, and have some additional channels.

14 Sept 2006. Leaving on vacation

I am flying out of Iraq on Thursday 21 Sept. Will spend three weeks in Moscow Russia, and return. I enjoy all of your comments, please continue to post.

The lodge is on hold until I return. We will get a dispensation to meet, later this year.

27 August 2006

Sunday morning. Cool this morning, drove down to the convoy yard, and collected the data off the computer to a disk. What a hassle, the repairs after the fire in the yard, are slow. Preparing for my vacation, I have my tickets prepaid, but I still do not know who is going to come here and cover my job. I requested quarters for the person in July, but I still do not have a place for him to stay.

Someone cut a hole in my bike tire, so now I cannot use the Mongoose bike. I ordered a couple of replacement tires, and when one of them arrives, I will install it. Until, then I am riding the old bike.

You cannot believe what people throw away. I found four(4) excellent bed sheets, almost new, in the trash. I have already found two(2) pairs of excellent combat boots, and two(2) pairs of running shoes. I go Dumpster diving all the time.

Sleeping OK now, I just wish that I had my satellite system hooked up. When I return from vacation, I think I will install the satellite dish. I have plenty of DVDs and VHS tapes for now. Last night, I watched "The Tall Men" with Clark Gable and Jane Russell.

the days pass quickly, work is good, and I will be flying out in a couple of weeks.

11 August 2006

Men Are Just Happier People--

What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name
stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of
themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You
can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
You
can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth.

The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas
station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to
stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more
pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress~$5000. Tux rental~$100.
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. The
occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected. New shoes
don't
cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. Phone
conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks.

A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all
your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of
thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still
be
your friend. Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of
shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in
public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.

Everything on your face stays its original color. The same
hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your
face and neck. You can play with toys all your life. Your belly
usually
hides your big hips. One wallet and one pair of shoes one color for
all
seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can
"do"
your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning
growing a mustache. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on
December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier. Send this to the women who can handle
it and to the men who will enjoy reading it.