IF I HAD A BEER, I WOULD HAVE CRIED IN IT!

Great..... Now I am craving a beer... or 10! Anyway, we had some entertainment here on Camp Echo, in the form of a Country singer named.... no idea! They announced his name over the PA system, which is about as clear as a NYC Subway PA system. The act was very country, not my first choice of music but it is a great thing for the guys to come and entertain the troops. I will definitly buy their album if I can get their name, nobody seems to remember.

The Military likes to be "showey" during these events and they stage various equipment around the stage, it is always a great photo op! Check back in the original blog, http://www.jiminiraq.blogspot.com/, for the WWE event on Camp Victory, that was an enormous undertaking!

Enjoy the pictures, more to come soon. Lord I can't WAIT to get me some beer!!!!! :)

The John Cok..toast..en Band, um, yeah. I have no idea who this guy is!

A "captive" audience, maybe a bit sedated? Come on man, mosh it up a little!

Now I can see this at an AC/DC show.... "FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK....... FIRE!!!" How cool would that be!

I think this is a relatively safe concert to be at!!

A safe, fun time was had by all.....

...and all I can think about is beer, damn! :(

IRAQI FIRE WARDEN CLASS

I'll write something witty soon, time for bed now.......

OK, back in dispatch so I have time to catch up things he in the blog.

This day in particular we had the pleasure of training som Iraqi Military guys some Fire Extinguisher use. They are very aggressive when it comes to "attacking" the fire, some of them dudes ran almost right into the damn burn pan! I had to pull a few back, these guys were in the "Zone"!

There is a major communication obstacle, but we normally have a translator. It hlps but there are some things that get lost in the exchange, but we deal with it and do the best we can. I got chosen to do some of the instructing, mostly the practical portion of the class. It can be fun working with new people all the time, usually we have class every Friday morning but we will conduct additional training classes if requested. The worst part is the heat of the day, and we ain't even got into summer yet...............OY!

Good bunch of guys to work with here.

Look at the determination in his eyes!

"Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth????" What movie???

A fire, firing squad! Well, one man firing squad, like a one man wolf pack.

Come on, what movie???

Now onto the line-dancing training!
Their leader said, "AGAIN! This time JUST like the Rockettes!!

CAMP ECHO SAFETY DAY 2010

Here in Iraq, especially if you are at all affiliated with KBR, you are bombarded with "Safety", safety, safety, safety..... and bombarded with rockets and mortars but thats another problem all together. So occassionally we take part in a "Safety Day", or some event celebrating safe work practices. On this day it was a base-wide, military, contractors, etc., event. Echo Fire had a booth set up with some fire safety fodder that we force feed these people on an almost daily basis. No one seemed very interested in our booth but we were there pushing our cause and educating whenever possible. This is how the day went......

Yay! Another safety day!

We displayed the tools on Rescue 761

The main stage.

The Electrician guy was a hit, his table was crowded constantly. We did get some of his run-off.
Stealing the "NIKE" logo, bad KBR!!
Big TEREX to attract the guys!
Master Baker looking very Safety-minded. The popular electrician guy.
Not exactly looking approachable...
KBR Safety guys, they had funny videos to show, they were a hit.
They gave away buttons too, everyone likes free stuff. The HazMat guy was giving away free stickers.."Flammable Gas", all the soldiers took some to put on their buddies rear-ends, LOL!
....and a dust storm came along and spoiled all the fun! Dern!!

;)

IRAQI FIREFIGHTERS VISIT ECHO FIRE!

We had the pleasure of meeting some Iraqi Firefighters from the City of Ad Diwaniyah. They were escorted on base by the Military and brought by the Station to meet our guys. I was, unfortunatly, on night dispatch at the time and missed the whole thing. Anyway, the Iraqis received some donated equipment and some Echo Fire T-shirts. They hung around for a while checking out our equipment.......that sounds dirty! LOL!

Trying on some gear that was on the base. Not sure who's it was and why it was there...
Chief did a meet & greet.
Handed out some Echo Fire T-shirts.
Justin donned his bunker gear for the visitors.
Showed them around the apparatus.

This is the Iraqi Fire Engine, not bad but stripped bare to the bone, not much in the way of equipment. No hose in the cross-lays and apparently not much in the compartments.

Hanging around.