KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq –
Staff Sgt. Michael Oden
Home Unit: 83d Network Operations Squadron
What do you do? Network system administration - I fix computer and e-mail issues.
What's a day in the life like? I wake up at 3:30 a.m., work out for an hour, shower, go to the chow hall, go to work, work for 12 hours, go back to my MOD, go to bed. Wake up and do it all over again.
What will you remember about your deployment 20 years from now? The people I worked with
What's the most useful item you packed? Sunglasses
When did you realize you "weren't in Kansas anymore;" aka your "Dorothy" moment? When a convoy of MRAPS (those huge armored Army trucks) passed by during my first base 5K run.
What has been the highlight of your tour? Winning the base dodgeball tournament
What's the best part of the deployment? The people I work with
The worst part? When our squadron washing machine broke
What new survival skill have you learned? How to dress appropriately for a sandstorm
What do you do during down time? What's downtime?
What is the first thing you will do when you return? Kiss my wife
What is the first thing you will eat when you return? Cheeseburger in Paradise!
What insight experience will you take away from your time over there? I pinned on staff sergeant right before I left for Kirkuk, so I learned a lot about being a supervisor and the responsibility that comes with rank.
What do you miss the most? My wife, family and friends
How is your job that you are doing now different from the job back stateside? Stateside, I work at the NOSC where all of our work is done over the phone and e-mail, so I never get to interact with customers face-to-face. Here, it's great to walk around base and get to shake hands, and converse with people whose printers and e-mail I've fixed.
Have you tried the local cuisine? No
What do you think about what you hear on the news from what is going on stateside? Well, from what I gather, the weather is frightful, the economy is falling apart and the future of healthcare is up in the air; so I feel blessed to be in sunny Iraq, gainfully employed with full Tri-Care coverage.
Do you have plans for any extra money that you might be making from this deployment? My wife is super smart, so we've been putting everything extra into an SDP and after it gains its 90 days of interest, we'll put it toward retirement.
About when are you to return? May