Next set of answers--Check them out!

1. In boot camp were you yelled at a lot by your superiors?

I did not have to go to boot camp. I did ROTC which basically teaches you the same things they teach brand new Privates over the course of four years. We did however, have to go to a camp to get evaluated our Junior year of college. There was no shortage of yelling there.

2. How do you get promotions in the military?

Depending on what rank you are being promoted to, it depend on time in service, or the amount of time you’ve been the current rank that you are, or on certain job requirements. On Thanksgiving I will be promoted to 1LT, and due to our operational tempo being a deployed Army, it is pretty much now a time thing. However, in 18 months when I come up for promotion to Captain, a packet with basically my resume, and some other things will go in front of a board and they have to pick who makes promotion and who doesn’t.

3. Have you made any friends there? Do you have certain people that you hang out with? Can you hang out with your soldiers or are you required to remain separate? Have you made any Iraqi friends?


I would love to hang out with my soldiers, but they unfortunately all left me over the past few days to join their Infantry or Armor(Tanks) battalions so that they can support them collecting intelligence. Everyone that I’m here with now I’m also stationed with back at Ft. Campbell, KY so most of my friends from that part of my life are here now. I was able to make some friends with the people that are going home over the next week (the unit we’re replacing), but they’re all excited about getting home for Christmas and Thanksgiving and have already started buying Christmas presents so are a little more occupied over the past few days. And all the local nationals (people that work on the base that aren’t American) are very friendly and I enjoy talking with them on occasion. Only problem is that I spend about 17 hours a day in a classified facility so not too many non-US soldiers enter my world- wow I sound like a dork.

4. What’s the consequence for leaking classified information?

Plain and simple, I can go to jail. Depending on how you leak the information, whether its through loss of communications equipment (will shut down the entire base and cease all movement until it is found) or actually handing it over to someone, bit consequences.

5. What is the biggest gun that you have fired?

.50caliber machine gun. They are the ones mounted on the top of HMMWV’s

6. Do you have to train every day? Is there a required physical fitness routine that you have to do?

Yes and no. Back at home we would have to do physical fitness every day as a group. Now it is required that we do as much as we can, when we can. I feel like a slob right now because its been about three days since I’ve had time to work out. In terms of other training, we continue to try to get better at we do even though we do a lot of the tasks a lot more frequently now. Last night we had Gunner and TC (literally means Tank Commander, but means the dude that sits in the right front seat of a humvee) and we’ve had driving under Night Vision Goggles Training and other fun stuff.

7. How many pushups can you do?

74 in 2 minutes was what I scored on my last physical fitness test.

8. How often do you have to do target practice?

We did it right before we left Kuwait. In Baghdad there is not an abundance of open land that we can use to set up ranges, but I hear rumors that we’re going to get one in January.


9. Do you have a vehicle at your disposal or do you walk every place?

I walk to work every day, but it’s pretty much a 10 minute walk. Each team of soldiers that I have (3 people per team) have their own vehicle. They all have the uparmored humvees.

10. Have you ridden in a helicopter since you have been there?

Yes, and it was one of the craziest experiences I’ve had. You have to fly Nap of the Earth which means as low as you can go to avoid anybody trying to take effective fire at you, shoot off flares to throw off heat seeking rounds, and generally just fly all over the place- it was nuts.

11. Have you seen any large spiders or other critters that might be scary? How do they keep them out of the tents?

No spiders…lots of ants. My entire room is taped with the equivalent of duct tape to keep them out.

12. Is it hard for you to get respect from male soldiers because you are a female?

I would actually argue for me that it is much easier to get respect from the male soldiers because I am a female. I go out there and kick their behinds on PT tests and then for some reason they like to listen to me. In the Army, at my level- it is more about getting the job done. Either you can or you can’t.

13. Given that you seem to have little time to sleep and there are noises all around you, are you tired all the time?

I pretty much do three things a day at this point, eat, sleep and work and two of those things occur at my desk. But I’m not too tired lately.

14. What is the highest ranked person you have met?

In my career, a 4 Star General, General Schoomaker (or however you spell it). Here a Full Colonel, and they are some pretty awesome guys.

15. Does the fine sand get into everything there? Is it a pain?

Yes, especially the small little parts of your weapon- it is not very enjoyable.

16. Are you a Patriots fan?

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!!! Does that answer your question…who cares that they’re having an off decade- We’ll be like the Patriots soon.

17. Have you been to any of Saddam’s palaces?

I have not been in any of them yet, but will soon because a variety of headquarters are placed in them. And come to think of it, the British officers club…

18. Will you, in your job, be out among the Iraqi people? How do you collect information from them? How do you know what is true and what isn’t?

Part of my job will take me to work directly with the Iraqi’s, however right now my primary jobs are to analyze the information my soldiers gather from the Iraqi’s, and to manage detainee operations and biometrics for the brigade. My guys however, basically either get walk ins, or literally go out into the streets and find people that are willing to provide information. They report on everything from local happenings, to weapons cache locations, to suspected big name insurgents. They have an amazing responsibility and effect a lot of the things we do on the battlefield.

19. Can you wear jewelry with you uniform?

Nope- just the Air Force can. I sneak in a necklace that my Dad gave me when I graduated college though with all the birthstones of my family.

Lt. Kennedy's Answers

These questions were compiled from all of eighth grade.

1. What kind of food do they serve in the cafeteria?
I honestly have to say the food is almost better here than it was in my university dining hall, and I don’t even have to pay for it! Every night there is the main meal and a short order line where you can get burgers and fries and things. But in addition to that there are sandwich bars, pizza bars, stir fry bars, and my personal favorite, the curry bar, based on the night. There are coolers full of Gatorade and other drinks that you can take as many as you want for the day.

2. When you go out do you have to carry a weapon?
Yes. Every soldier is required to carry some form of a firearm at all times except when you are going conduct physical fitness, to take a shower or use the restroom. This is one to ensure the soldier maintains accountability for the weapon, as well as for protection reasons. Some carry M4’s, others M16’s and others carry handguns.

3. What do you miss about Maine other than your family?
Dairy Corner chocolate dipped soft serve ice cream. I might even miss the ice cream more than my family…but don’t tell them I said that. (Just kidding Mom)

4. What’s living like for soldiers who don’t get an air conditioned trailer? Do you have the trailer all to yourself?
I got very lucky and happen to be on a larger base that has been here for quite a while so I get to live in a trailer. I do have a roommate who is another Lieutenant that works in the same intelligence shop that I do. Due to the surge of soldiers into Baghdad this past summer, there are a lot of soldiers that are currently living in air conditioned tents. They are surrounded by cement barriers to provide them with added security, but they are generally regular tents with hard standing floors that can fit up to 30 people. I believe they have regular mattresses, but they may sleep on regular green army cots. Other soldiers are located on what are called JCOP’s (Joint Company Outposts I believe is what that stands for), that are located in downtown Baghdad. These are much much smaller bases, and usually are basically fortified ex-police stations or the like. It is very difficult to live in these areas and it is usually done on a rotational basis, with soldiers staying at the JCOP for a few days and then coming back to the larger bases for a few days.

5. What do you do in your spare time?
In the week and a half that I have been here, I have played football, read a few books, and watched some movies that people brought from home. I just watched Chuck and Larry with some of my soldiers-

6. What is your daily routine like?
Right now I’m not in a fully established routine as we are still completing the handover process with the unit that has be in this area for the past 15 months. Usually I’ve been waking up about 6AM, doing physical fitness and then I go to work about 0830 and work until about 8PM doing research on my area and the major groups operating within it, and setting up my soldiers for the time when they go to work for the front line units in a few weeks.

7. Do you get to watch the World Series? Go Red Sox! Do you like the Red Sox?
I got to watch a few innings on the tv’s in the gym and dining facility in the morning (we are 8 hours ahead of you guys). The good sport in me has to say, “good game Boston”- however I am a New York Yankee’s fan and this post season just did not get my stamp of approval. The good news is that we are now tied again for first place, so game on!

8. How do you do routine things like getting clothes washed?
Things are quite different here in terms of taking showers, washing clothes, etc. There are only two authorized uniforms here, one is our physical fitness uniform and the other is our regular Army Combat Uniform (or ACU’s- our new camouflage)- so even if I go to get into bed in the great pair of civilian shorts that I stole from my little brother before I left, I have to change so that I can go to the trailer with the showers and toilets. The only way to get laundry done is to give it to the laundry service. We turn in our laundry bags to a place near our dining facility, and 72 hours later they come back. They even fold my underwear. Please pass that fact on to my mother, because I know she never did that for me as a kid!

9. What’s the weather like?
It’s been pretty warm here, in the 80’s and 90’s. It is a desert climate however, and at night it gets pretty chilly so that when we get up in the morning it is pretty nice to do PT and hang out outside. It honestly is pretty comparable to what I experienced in Arizona last year. Kuwait on the other hand was extremely hot and at times very humid. Kuwait is like the movies you see set in the deserts- blinding white sand, camels running all over the place, etc.

10. How long will you be there?
I will be here for 15 months and am scheduled to come home in February of 2009.

11. What is the one thing that you like the least there? Is there anything that you like there?
There isn’t anything here yet that has really gotten me to dislike it. I have to say that the food is better here, and having the shower trailer and work so close to where I’m living allows me to sleep a lot more than I could in Kentucky- go figure.

12. How long did it take to get there? What forms of transportation did you use?
We left the United States at about 1PM central time on Monday, and arrived in Kuwait at 7PM on Tuesday. So a total of 22 hours. We flew in a commercial jet from Ft. Campbell, Kentucky and made stops in Iceland and Germany before arriving in Kuwait. We then were bussed around in Kuwait until it was time to leave for Iraq. My flight to Baghdad was on a C-130 aircraft that is operated by the Air Force (they are the big military planes). Landing in a C-130 in a combat zone is quite an experience with the evasive maneuvers they are required to use on each trip in and out of Baghdad. Think a medium level roller coaster.

13. How much free time do you have?
Right now, more than I probably will for the rest of the deployment.

14. What is life like for the average Iraqi?
Militant and criminal activity is at an all time low in our area due to a variety of reasons, and it seems as life seems to be coming back to the Iraqi people in the area. They are able to freely walk the streets, and are making concerted efforts to redevelop their neighborhoods economically and socially. That being said, the lives they lead are extremely different than those that we lead in the United States as they do live in an active war zone.

15. What are schools like there?
That is a good question and I’ll try to find out more about it.

16. Is there a gym there to work out in?
We actually have two gyms in walking distance as working out is one of the soldiers favorite past times.

17. Are dogs used to sniff bombs or in any other capacity?
There are dogs that are hear that work both with our explosive teams, as well as with our Military Police.

18. What exactly is your job?
I am the HUMINT(Human Intelligence) Platoon Leader. I am in charge of 17 guys that conduct interrogations in our detention facility, and source operations (basically going out on the streets of Baghdad and meeting people that want to become informants). I will be managing their actions and also conducting analysis on the intelligence the collect as my primary military job is general intelligence analysis.

19. Are there a lot of combat noises around?
Blackhawk helicopters fly so close to the ground that it shakes my bed, random police sirens go off at times, and there have been a few mortar and rocket attacks on other parts of the complex. It’s a pretty good thing that I’m a deep sleeper.

20. Do you participate in any “fun” sporting events on base?
I played football this morning- I was the quarterback, but we’re not going to talk about who won or lost. They also have some volleyball courts around the base, and sponsor runs that coincide with some of the more famous marathons and 10K’s in the United States.

21. What is the biggest change you have encountered?
Honestly, things are not that shockingly different yet. I am, however, in a relatively secure location and have not formally started my job yet or “gone outside the wire.” Ask me this again in about a month and I’ll probably have a pretty good answer for you.

22. As a female have you had to change your attire when you are in public areas?
Other than wearing a uniform at all times with correct eye protection, no. Even when women operate amongst the Iraqi people, they have come to accept that our women have different standards than their own and gain legitimacy in their actions because they are an American soldier instead of being rejected because they are women. Female interpreters have been known to cover their heads in keeping with their Muslim faith. I would venture a guess that many of these women do not come from Iraq, or are American-Iraqi’s.

23. What is the most high tech piece of equipment that you have used?
Haha…I could tell you but then I would have to kill you. The lame answer is that the new up-armored hmmwv’s are pretty cool, as are some of the magnifying optics that you can put on your M4. Working with intelligence just gives you the ability to play with some very cool toys.

24. Do you spend all of your time on base?
As of right now, yes.

25. What are the ages of people that you work with? Where are they from?
Age 18 to about 50. I have soldiers from Louisiana, Cleveland, Buffalo, Vermont, California, Tennessee, and a whole bunch of other places. I, unfortunately, am the only one from the great State of Maine.