Al Asad (New Area)

I have moved to a new area. I am now the OIC of the Resident Office in Al Asad Air Base. It is a very good job and know I will enjoy it. There is a good group of engineers with a lot of good projects.







This is a front view of Haditha Dam. It is what provides a vast majority of the electricity to the area and Baghdad. It was built by the Czechs over 20 years ago, so we are trying to help the Ministry here learn how to maintain and operate it properly. It has a great view of the surrounding area.






Here is an informal turnover between the outgoing OIC and me. I have the watch now.








This is inside the dam. The turbines are very large, nothing compared to stateside turbines, and commonly have problems.












This is a new air strip runway we are putting in at the air base. We are doing several improvement projects for the air base that probably will have more traffic in the future. It is difficult at best to ensure the quality of work is up to standards.










These were the children at a local school project. We are building a 6 classroom school for these children that don't seem to be going to school at this time. I bring candy for them everytime so they look forward to us each time we roll up.












A vehicle born improvised explosive device (VBIED) ran into this part of the hospital and burned down most of it. We are in the process of having one of our contractors repair it.













This is the local hospital in the region. It is the largest one, and as you can see it isn't even close to the size of one of our street side local clinics in the state. The health care here isn't very good, but we are trying to construct better facilities for them.