Update

Hello all;

Yes I know it's been since June, time sure does fly right by.

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holidays. So I thought this is one way to do just that.

A quick udate on Cip- He will be home for X-Mas and New Years. He will be in Towner on the night of the 22nd leaving on Jan. 6th.

Anyway, the house thing is coming along..... almost done. Come visit to those people that live out of state, and you know who you are.

The kids are all doing just fine and missing their daddy. Tanner has his first BB game today in Harvey and weather permitting he will also play in Surrey tomorrow. We will be in blizzard conditions tomorrow afternoon. Not going to be very nice. Cold and anywhere from 2 to 6 more inches of snow. yuk. Like we don't have enough snow. This picture was taken in the first part of Nov.

OK enough of that. Happy Holidays to all and try to stay warm. lol....

Miss you all

Dawn

Reborn III (the conclusion)...

To end the previous chapter, I spent eleven days in Baghdad. After two or three days of trying desperately to get back to Ramadi, I decided to quit fighting and accept that I have little to no control over this aspect of my life for the time being. This realization (combined with exhaustion) allowed me just to let go of my immediate destiny, and a quantum shift seemed to occur in my being, or at least, who I could be. I've seen these guys (and gals) roaming around this shattered country doing amazing work in an unimaginable environment. I never thought I could be one of those people. Now, I think I am.

Re-born...(Part II)

With only one meeting out of several postponed (a banking work group), we felt the trip had been a total success. Now all we had to do was get back to Ramadi and report our victories. To accomplish this we had two flights booked - one on Monday and the other on Tuesday. As it happened, the Monday flight was actually the back up (in case we finished our work early or if the weather was forecasted to be a problem for the Tuesday flight). Our desk officer at the embassy who had arranged the Tuesday flight requested that we drop it to give the crew a rest and the since the Fallujah leg had dropped off it would be helpful if we took the earlier flight. Not anticipating any problems with the Monday flight we agreed to take ourselves off the Tuesday flight. Big mistake. When we arrived for the Monday departure a large group had gathered at the flight line. We were to share our flight with a VIP contingent from Anbar headed to Ramadi. When the birds landed, the Governor and his staff jumped on one of the helicopters (Marine Corps - which can seat around twenty). The other bird was empty. When we tried to board the aircraft we were stopped and asked if we were with the other group. Unfortunately we told the truth and were denied boarding. The helicopter's wasted no time in taking off and leaving us wondering what the heck just happened. The next day we had to endure several of these incidents of almost getting on a bird and then being denied at the last minute. Additional flights were booked during the week only to be postponed and then eventually cancelled due to the weather.

To be continued...

Re-born...

No, I haven't converted to Islam. Something hit me this week, and it felt rather nice. What is was - I guess - was a realization that something inside me had changed, or flip (as in a light switch).
I was racing back from the Post Exchange (remember mini-Pamida) with about forty bucks worth of crap that I didn't need (only needed ten bucks worth of crap, but apparently I justified a few comfort items on my way to the cashier).
The day before, the entire week seemed to almost be a loss. It started out fine - a trip to Baghdad to fine-tune a few projects, and to give my team some well deserved time away from Camp Ramadi (where we had been choking down our fair share of the powder they call sand, due to the desert breezes that can last up to a day or two). Mainly they earned it by putting up with me for the past six weeks or so, and making nice progress in their assigned areas.
Baghdad provides an opportunity to expand and explore those assigned areas in ways you are typically unable to from our remote site. So, basically their reward for hard work was to find even more and harder work for them to do (and take a dip in the Embassy/Palace Pool)!

(to be continued)

Another Planet

Hello, Hello,

The dust kicked up big time today. We were in Ramadi at a meeting when the sky started turning orange. It does this every once in a while. It's like those movies that have people living and working on Mars. Really feels like another planet sometimes. Good news is typically this means the temp drops a few degrees. It's pretty much been 100+ this week, but today must have dropped down into the eighties.

Ya, the excitement is picking up here a bit with the Brigade leaving and more pressure being put on the bad guys in other parts of the country. Path of least resistance. I believe the Provincial team next door will be standing down for the weekend, however, I don't believe that will be the case for us. Everyone is definitely paying more attention to movements and security. We have fresh Marines watching over us, so don't believe they will let us down.

Glad to here everyone is doing good. So am I. I've got more things to read than I will ever get around to and have movies stacking up as well. Nights have been getting later since the new Team Leader arrived (just trying to get him up to speed). Plus I have three new team members to train in, so the work goes on...

AMANDA

For those of you who don't know---Amanda W-- my mailing address is
Dawn Jungberg
PO Box 373
Towner ND 58788

So things are going good. The house is coming along. We are still not in the house. Soon... The kids are ready for school to be out and summer to be here.
Not much else happens in Towner, so nothing new to report.
The report on Cip is that he is safe. Can't wait for him to come home and spend time with the fam. And play some cards.... He is putting in alot of overtime, working very long days, with very little time off.
So I will type more later when I find the time. LOL!!!!!
Dawn

Imagine you are in a development office for a medium size city with a staff of less than ten people. Now imagine a state-wide development office located right next door with around 50 employees. Now imagine the city police commissioner sending 40 of his most qualified troops to support your development effort, meanwhile the state law enforcement office takes over the primary task of economic development in the state development office.

Welcome to the "Civilian surge" - minus the civilians...Last week we finalized our agreement with our new partner in crime - Task Force Ramadi. This is a curious bunch of 0-5s and 0-6s (approximately 50 of them) who's main task is taking over the management and daily operations of Camp Ramadi in the wake of First Brigade's departure. They hold down the fort until RCT1 (Regimental Combat Team One) of the First Marines Expeditionary Force (1st MEF) is ready to assume these responsibilities.

For the ePRT, this means my economic team went from one (me) to four! This has actually been a very welcomed event for me, however, others are a little put off by the pure numbers. My only concern is that when they leave in September, the volume of projects may exceed my capacity for adequate monitoring and follow-up...

Changes...

On Friday I said goodbye to almost a third of our team. They had all put in their year (all three military reserve or guard component). It still amazes me how well people cope with this kind of a disruption in their lives. Two of the guys (yes, they were all men - only two women on the PRT when I arrived - more later on that)were in their late fifties/early sixties, and the other about my age (a couple of years older). Two light-Colonels (next promotion full-birds) and an E-8 (Master Sergeant). For those not familiar with military rank, these are career people. And because they also have lives in the "real" world (although it's hard to get more real then when you're dodging bullets and bombs/bombers), they bring the experience of their specialization to the table as well. Very valuable people. One has a background in banking, the other is a trial attorney, and the last was a administrator for a city council in Virginia. Here those specializations translate into finance, law, and governance. Very applicable. All three of these individuals volunteered for this duty. Granted, they made a little more money by serving in a combat zone (hazardous duty), and I believe they wont have to worry about taxes for the income made during this tour, however, their only break was a 14 day R&R about half-way through the year=long tour. Don't think you'll ever read this, but thank you Jay, Morris, and Emery. Safe travels and hope to run into you down the road again someday...Cip

Chow Hall

Made it to breakfast today. Once or twice a week is all I'm averaging. Its a bit of a hike, especially if the ground (fine dirt/clay) is moist (smaller more sure steps). On the off days, we tied our hunger until noon with poptarts or fruit acquired during the previous day's meal(s). Snacks are available at the Post/Base Exchange (mini-Pamida). If you have access to a microwave, you can also buy dinners and such at the P/BX. The chow hall (DFAC-havent bothered to figure out what it stands for in military terms) typically offers "main line" or "short order" options for both the noon and evening meals. Main line might be fish, chicken or beef dishes and sides, while short order is hot/corn dogs, burgers, fries/onion rings. There's also a pretty impressive salad bar with a large assortment of condiments. So there's really nothing to complain about concerning availability or variety of food considering we are "camping," if you will. In fact, even have a Subway (small - runs out of food all the time - last time I checked the only meat options were crab and tunafish), a Greenbean Coffee House (trailer), and Burger King is suppose to be on the way...The Americans have definitely arrived!

Cip new mail

Ok here is cip's mail

Cip Jungberg
Postal Det 5 EPRT
Unit 42369
FPO AE 96426-2369

There you go Carl!!!!!
Dawn

Howdy all - Back in Ramadi

Tomorrow will be my one month anniversary here in Iraq. Its seems as though very little has been accomplished in this time frame. However, I am beginning to understand why things seem to take infinitely longer to come to fruition. Everyone here, with the exception of myself is totally incompetent. Ok, maybe there is a war going on and the majority of the infrastructure lies in ruin, but you would still think a 100 kilometers could be regularly traversed in less than three days. In other words, one of the most time consuming activities in the region is travel. My solution from this point forward - travel as little as possible. To date I have spent approximately a week (five work days) waiting on flights, etc. This was to travel to Ramadi (approximately 100 kilometers), back to Baghdad, and back to Ramadi. Of course travel is almost strictly limited to helicopter flights (Marine Corps, Army/Catfish Air, and Dept. of State or RSO). The vast majority of these take place at night (remember there are bad-guys/girls out there), so when you do finally get on a flight, you don't even get the benefit of the view - just the feeling of being snatched from the ground and whisked away in the dark, while the rotors pound through the disposable hearing protection...In the next entry I'll cover a visit to the DFAC (chow hall).

Much love and respect,
Cip

Hello to all;

For those of you who don't know- I went and bought a house in Towner ND. Yes indeed I did it. Finally!!! It will have 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. It does need a lot of work, but I think I'm up for the challenge. And a big challenge it will be.

Cip is doing good. We talk more now via e-mail, when he has time he gets to check his mail. Maybe 1/2 hour on the computer per time. So not much time at all.

I will let you guys know when the house party will be, not for another month 1/2 or so, maybe 2 months. I close on the 24th of this month. Then I can do the remodeling. LLS and KKB hint hint....

Will talk later

Thankx

DAJ

Cip in Ramadi

Hello to all;
Yes I know it's been forever.
Cip is adjusting to all that they have to offer in Ramadi. LOL.
He took a flight out of Baghdad, and about 40 minutes later he was in Ramadi (at night time). Thank Goodness he had the chance to fly out!!!!
He keeps really busy--- he said in one email, that he was working till about 10pm. The temp. is in the 70's, just wait till they hit 130 degrees. Yikes.

A little note from Cip:
Attended my first 1st Brigade (3rd infantry division) update. They're doing the heavy lifting (almost unlimited funding) on the reconstruction. The PRT's roll is more governance with soft project dollars (fire department equipment, etc.) to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi's...

I thought of a good way to describe this place. I thought of it while I was sitting in my office bathroom (porta-potty), this place is just like Rock'n the Hills, minus the music, booze, and my wife! Dirty and grimy with nothing to take your mind off the fact that you are living in a pit!
If there's one thing I miss about Baghdad, its being able to use my phone when I wanted to...

So that is the latest update I have from him. Sounds like it is really ugly(dirty). But if he can he wants to do his first R&R in May, then August and November, home for good next year, about this time-
I will try to log in more often---- haha----
Thankx for checking in---

PS-- Also thankx to the "BCDC" for all that you guys do and I will let you guys if there is anything that we need.

Dawn

A note from Cip

Hello all;
They probably couldnt have sent a more technology (especially internet) challenged person to help these poor folks...Beautiful day - don't know why I brought a coat, although I am told it did snow here about 3 weeks ago. Hope to be in Ramadi by the weekend. It depends on my processing.
Got a slow start when my sponsor grabbed the wrong person off the bus at 2am Monday morning leaving me stranded at the drop off site. Guess none of the guards (of which their are lots - most know about as much english as I know Arabic (Marhaba means Hello - thats about it) ) thought I was much of a threat since they let me pass through about a dozen or so gates on my way to the embassy (Sadam's main Palace - not to hard to find even in the dark). Sure they thought guard duty bites, but at least I'm not dragging a hundred pounds of luggage and equipment through the streets of Baghdad at 3am! I'm just glad I could make their day seem a little brighter...
On that happy note I will sign off.
Love and miss you all more than you can know...
Cip

Cip stillllllll in Baghdad

Yes I know- He is still in Baghdad for another 5'ish days. He is in the Green zone, which means the safe zone. If there is such a place in Baghdad. LOL.

Cip did call yesterday morning about 6:15am, which is 3:15pm- so about a 9 hour difference, the same day.

He will have to attend some more classes and that is why he is still in Baghdad. Then he will be heading to Ramadi for the rest of the time.

So that's all the news I have on this end. If he can find a phone, he plans on calling today sometime. I will keep you all up to date and thanks for the support.
DD

Cip in Baghdad

Good afternoon;

The picture is of the group that took the classes in D.C. with Cip.

Just heard from Cip. He made it safe to Baghdad. Waiting to meet at the Embassy in Baghdad.

I will try to keep you all updated.