BAGHDAD –
Name: Capt. Dawn D. Anderson
Home Unit: 735th Supply Chain Management Group
What do you do? Air Mobility Officer for Multi-National Force-Iraq.
What's a day in the life like ... while in Baghdad? 14 hour days 6 days a week and a ½ day on Sundays. I never know what to expect when I get to work as we get tasks directly from General Petraeus after his daily Battlefield Update Assessments. I could be working on helping to arrange transportation for 3,000 Georgians to return to their country or help work on solutions to getting the Kuwaitis and Iraqis to agree on opening a border crossing.
What will you remember about your deployment 20 years from now? Getting coined by General Petraeus.
What's the most useful item you packed? My Gerber Tool.
When did you realize you "weren't in Kansas anymore;" aka your "Dorothy" moment? When we experienced our rocket attacks about 6 days after getting to Camp Victory. I was far from a duck and cover bunker and tried to make myself about as tall as a street curb - lucky for me the insurgents were bad shots.
What has been the highlight of your tour? I've got 6 more months to go...but so far briefing General Petraeus and meeting some of the local Iraqi children when I handed out soccer balls.
What's the best part of the deployment? Working with the U.S. State Department on getting the Iraqis and Kuwaitis to agree to open a border crossing to support our troop movements.
The worst part? Helping to arrange airlift for an Air Force Tech. Sgt .who was killed by an IED in Baghdad. It was tough seeing his name and knowing his family had yet to be notified.
What new survival skill have you learned? Don't go anywhere without a full camelback...these new ABUs are like heat suits when it's 118 out - you hydrate constantly to prevent heat exhaustion.
What do you do during down time? Work on my Master's Degree - I'm in my final course right now.
What is the first thing you will do when you return? Play with my Border Collie, Ripley
What is the first thing you will eat when you return? My dad's Shrimp Etoufee' or any other Cajun food he wants to make for me.
What insight/experience will you take away from your time over there? There are Iraqis that are willing to work very hard for the success of their country and there are others here who look for handouts and not to progress. Sometimes the good is overbalanced by the bad - I've been all over Iraq with my duties and the disparity of wealth is staggering. Most of the nicer homes and utilities are in Baghdad while the people in Umm Qasr live in abject poverty without indoor plumbing.
What do you miss the most? Privacy...you're surrounded by a cast of thousands here.
How is your job that you are doing now different from the job back stateside? I jump around a lot from action officer duties, supporting TF-134 (Detainee Operations), helping units and contractors with port and border checkpoint issues, working to get U.S. Commercial Air Carriers here in Iraq...even helping to get 10,000 soccer balls to Iraqi children. At Langley I worked as Director of Operations supplying aircraft parts to the AOR for AF Global Logistics Support Center (formerly HQ CAF LSC).
Have you tried the local cuisine? Yes, it is very good but you've got to be careful where you get it from as not everyone here lives in sanitary conditions.
What do you think about what you hear on the news from what is going on stateside?
I'm glad I'm in Iraq to miss all of the excessive media coverage on the whole Presidential Election - they're going overboard on all of it. I could care less about Britney Spears' comeback and all the other self-indulgent Hollywood types. I do care about gas prices as they affect my family and the hurricanes hitting my home state of Louisiana. Being here and seeing the different ethnic groups, sheiks and how women are fighting for status gives me a better appreciation of being an American. I will never take for granted how lucky I am to have been born in a country that allows its' women to serve in the Armed Forces, have challenging and exciting jobs and run for a political office.
Do you have plans for any extra money that you might be making from this deployment?
Invest it and take a little extra to go on a ski trip to Colorado in the spring when I finish my 365.
If so, what will you buy?
Since this is my third deployment in the past 5 years I have learned to bank the money and not go nuts with the extra pay...I will treat myself to a vacation somewhere without sand though!