Interesting mission

[Sarge]

I was back in Jordan this morning. They have an F-104 parked at one of their airports. We did an engines-running onload, so I didn't get a chance to walk around and get a good look at it. I got the impression that it doesn't fly anymore.

Remember those Iraqi cops we took to Jordan for training? Today we shipped several planeloads back to Baghdad. They were a little better behaved this time; they mostly stayed in the seats with the belts fashioned like they were supposed to and didn't try to light up cigarettes. Maybe their training has taught them a little discipline. Didn't stop them from puking all over the floor again, though.

Looks like they're arriving just in time to help out with the celebratory car and suicide bombings arranged for the first anniversary of the invasion. Let's hope they help out the side that stands for civilization so we can go home and not worry about more attacks.

[Sarge]

We flew some VIPs from Kuwait to Baghdad this morning. At one point in the flight, the cockpit held (in addition to the usual pilot copilot nav engineer) a three-star army general (head of the corps of engineers), the CO of the Polish forces in Iraq, and the Polish Minister of Defense.

The army general talked to us about what's up in Iraq. Electricity production is up about 30% from what it was before the war started. Unemployment is about 30%, half what it was before the war. The numbers of attacks on coalition forces are decreasing, but lethality is up; the terrorists are using more sophisticated devices. The infrastructure rebuilding is just starting to pay off, will be significant in about 6 months, and the country should be nearly rebuilt in about a year. Afghanistan is going to take a lot longer. Thirty years of Soviet and Taliban wars have wiped out just about everything, and the Afghans don't have the oil resources to pay what the Iraqis can.

It seems there are two Canberras based here. I saw one on the ramp and another taxiing out to the runway when we were taxiing back in. Didn't see any radome under the nose, and still couldn't make out any markings.

[Sarge]

Yesterday we were back in Jordan, delivering more Iraqi police volunteers for training. Only two pukers, but apparently none of them use deodorant.

The F-104 was still there, but it was parked on a different ramp. Did it fly, or was it just towed? The world may never know... There were also three Hawker Hunters and a deHavilland twin-tailboom jet fighter, maybe a Vampire or a Vixen.

Our engine oil almost overheated because we had to sit on the ground with engines running waiting for take off clearance until a glider landed. I'm all for free aviating for all, but, there's a time and a place for everything, and an airfield with C-130s landing to off-load Iraqis every 30 minutes is not the time or place for practicing traffic patterns in a glider. Some of these air traffic controllers really don't seem to understand the limitations of fixed-wing aircraft.