Nicholas Bush

Well, over a year ago i was placed on a roster to go to Iraq. I spent several months training up getting ready to go, then was pulled off the roster last minute. having just completed Real Estate school I decided that since I was taken off of the roster I would hurry up and jump right in. I deposited all the money that was needed, found a Broker, and off I went starting my Real Estate career. To much surprise on my first day in the office on my own I received a phone call from the Army telling me I was re-called to go to Iraq.

This time they was calling me up for a new job so I spent a month or so in Arizona training up some more on the new job. Next I was off to Fort Benning, GA to prepare for mobilization, followed by a week in Kuwait for follow on training, and then finally my destination, Baghdad, Iraq. I arrived in Baghdad in the beginning of March. The temperature was still moderately close to home. We was getting rain about once a week, and nothing about it seemed like a combat zone.

The accommodations were pretty nice. We had a huge gym close by, good dining facilities, our offices were typical of what you would see in the states. (Unfortunately I was stuck in an office this whole tour. (My wife loved the fact that I was shoved on a desk this tour however it made for a REALLY long year.) The living accommodations were nice too, we all lived in two man rooms. Each room was part of a trailer that had three rooms total, lined up so that they looked like the picture below.

We spent about two months there before we were told to move to Basra, Iraq. For those not familiar Basra is the third biggest city in Iraq and right on the gulf and Kuwait border. The area was owned by the British military just prior to arrival. It was obvious that the Brit's did not intend on staying there as long as the Americans. Most of the bases that is ran by the U.S. has been build up very nice with a solid perimeter, guard towers, and established security on the camp. Basra was no where near this stable. We pretty much had to build this base as we established ourselves.

The accomadations were less than adequate. We had a small gym on post that could hold about 30 people. We had a small store on post however it was always out of stock, it was about the size of a typical gas station convienience store. There was no places to eat except the dining facility which was limited at the start due to lack of supply runs, and lastly, we were all moved back into tents. The beds we were given were also "coffins" as the brits liked to call it. They took the bunks, and put barriers all around them to protect them from mortars and rockets while they slept. To be honest I liked that better than the Army's answer to jump at the sound of an alarm and run outside to a bunker.

We managed to keep a good routine for most of the year. Up by 0630, in the office by 0700-0730. Lunch (doubled with going to the gym) from 11 AM to 1 PM, and then finish the day in the office til 6 PM. This was the schedule EVERY DAY for most of the year. The only exception was the two weeks we were authorized in the states for leave.

Anyway the year was pretty much un-eventful. We had occasional incoming mortars and rockets. The guys going out on missions occasionally hit an IED, however most are un-successful, and most importantly we allcame back with all of our personnel and body parts.

Around mid November we finally got the word on the date that we was to return. December 8th was that lucky day for me. I wasn't quite finished on that day but it was the first step. I was able to get on that plane out of Iraq, and back into Kuwait. I waited around a few days then was on another plane back to Atlanta GA. Five days there and back home. I was back in my living room as of last Friday and just as I promised everyone, I am home just in time for Christmas . . . (Barely).

Now it is time for me to get my Real Estate shoes back on and finally get started (again) for my new career in Real Estate. In case no one noticed as well I finally did what I had been debating all year and changed companies. Nothing against my old brokerage, I will miss working with them, but I decided to move on.

This morning I had my interview with Keller Williams and was extatic and the information I received. I of course am still waiting on my license to get hung on the wall but it was one major step towards the rest of my career.

Thank you all for your support throughout this tour. I feel that from the support here on Active Rain I am ready to head into the world of Real Estate. The information I received this year from all of you has helped prepare me more than you could ever imagine. I will continue to keep in touch and look forward to raining with you all even more as I begin my career.

Thank you and god bless.

Remember those days when you used to work shift jobs. Especially how nice it was when it came time for shift change and you see your replacement walk through the door. You know its time to go so you get your things together, hit the time clock, and out you go. Now imagine that you have been on shift for a year and you get to finally see your replacements. Thats where im at now.

It has been over 330 days since I was activated with the Army Reserves. It started when I got a ten day notice to show up at Fort Huachuca, Arizona to learn a new job. Then sent to Fort Benning, Georgia for deployment training. Then on to Iraq. I spent a few months up in Baghdad, then quickly moved to Basra, Iraq.

I still can't mention dates but some time ago I finally got to see my replacement show up to start learning the job. We first spend a period of time training up our replacements so they can see exactly where we are, followed by a couple days of packing, then on my way home. I will say that I am in the middle of that time period somewhere, and it is very refreshing. Sometime in the near future I will be on a plane on my way back home.

I have shifted gears here and starting preparing heavily for my return. I spent the past few weeks researching my SEO for my website and studying more on the home market. I have been interviewing and researching a few brokers back home in case I decide to switch companies. I have also planned a surprise weekend getaway for me and my wife once I return. Hopefully after Christmas I will be ready to hit the Real Estate doors running.

Anyway It looks like I have to go now, but I will continue on this later.

As always thanks to all who support us!

I just thought that I would take a moment to talk about some of the things that the news is not showing in Iraq. I thought this would be a good topic as I know many people have this mis-conception that all we are doing is patrolling down the roads, shooting the bad guys and, get killed ourselves.

We have two major operations right now, training the Iraqi goverment so that they can take over when we leave (Iraqi Army, Police, and the government itself). Our other mission is to do what we can to help the local economy and populace so that they do not have to resort to other means to have an income for their family.

My first tour over here I was responsible for living with and training the Iraqi army. I was involved in the training process from teaching them combat tactics, to advising the commander on how to handle different situations. We helped with administrative issues, supply issues, how to support their army in all aspects. Below is a few picutes from my last tour.

--- Okay Iraqi internet, I cant get the pictures to load, Ill try to get them on a silent sunday.---

Anyway I spent most of my time trying to train the Iraqi Army unit I was assigned to as well as "Advising" the Commander. After a year of working with them we were finally able to let them go as they were well on their way to supporting themselves. We were one of the first units to do this, four years ago, there are still units getting trained like this today. However from what I hear most of the "advising" is done at much higher levels and the smaller units are working on their own.

This was/is very important because once we leave it is fully up to them. I am glad that we started working on this such a long time ago to give them time to be able to work suffeciently without assistance from the US. In fact much of the work that is done in country now is done by the Iraqi's. If you keep good track of things over here you would have heard that back in June/July we pulled out of all the major cities. We turned everything over to the local police and military units and they are handling the city limits. That's not to say that they do not call us for help from time to time but for the most part they are taking care of themselves.

The other major operation that we are doing is Civil Affairs. Again I am right in the middle of it as I belong to Civil Affairs myself. Below is a quick summary of what Civil Affiars is from Wikipedia:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Civil Affairs units help military commanders by working with civil authorities and civilian populations in the commander's area of operations to lessen the impact of military operations on them during peace, contingency operations and declared war." With their expertise in civil matters, they are the principle unit in assisting a commander in the conduct of civil-military operations.

CA units act as a liaison between the civilian inhabitants of a warzone or disaster area and the military presence, both informing the local commander of the status of the civilian populace as well as effecting assistance to locals by either coordinating military operations with non-governmental organizations (NGOs)and IGO's or distributing directly aid and supplies.

Comprised primarily of civilian experts such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, police, firemen, bankers, computer programmers, farmers, and others, CA soldiers provide critical expertise to host-nation governments and are also able to assess need for critical infrastructure projects such as roads, clinics, schools, power plants, water treatment facilities, etc. Once a project has been decided on, a contract is put out at a civil-military operations center for local contractors to come and bid. CA teams will periodically check up on the status of the project to make sure the money is being well-spent.

CA provides the commander with cultural expertise, assesses the needs of the civilian populace, handles civilians on the battlefield, refugee operations, keeps the commander informed of protected targets such as schools, churches, hospitals, etc., and interfaces with local and international NGOs and private volunteer organizations, which provides the commander with a unique battlefield overlay of all civilian activity, ongoing infrastructure projects, and the presence and mission of NGOs in the area.

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If you check none of the other links on this page I ask that you at least read this one. (CLICK HERE) This page is stories from Soldiers that serve in my home unit out of Knoxville Tennessee. This is the stories from just one deployment from one unit. We have around 30 units with multiple units deployed to Iraq and Afghanastan and Africa. You could imagine how many stories Civil Affairs has to tell has a whole.

In the Grand Scheme of things this is one of the most important aspects of the war that is constantly overlooked. I would like to write a follow up to this blog in the next few days that elaborates why I feel that our presense here is so important. As for now, well its time for me to get back to work, so I will see you all later:)

Well . . . in one month (ish) I should be back at home spending time with my wife and starting my Real Estate career. I still cannot give exact dates for security reasons but the song "I'll be Home for Christmas" is a certainty. I have already sent most of my un-needed items home and my bags are practically packed up and ready to go.

Kinda wierd how a year ago this week I took and passed my Real Estate Exam. I was originally supposed to report to my unit for deployment on the first of December last year so I was holding off on paying all the fee's to get my lisence. However on the last day of November I was told that i was taken off of the roster for deployment. I spent the first two weeks of December jumping through all the hoops and paying all the fee's to get my lisence. I started work with my company shortly after Christmas and the first day I sat down at my desk in the office, I get a phone call from the Army telling me that I will be going after all.

Before I was able to deploy I had to get trained up in another job. I had the privelage of spending three weeks in sunny Sierra-Vista, Arizona for training. Then the first week of Feburary I went to Fort Benning, Georgia to report for deployment. By the end of the month I was already in Iraq working with my unit.

I spent the first few months working out of the nicest base up in Baghdad. We had 24 hour gyms with brand new equipment. A superb dining facility that is good enough to make a Soldier fat. One of the biggest Post Exchanges (PX) in Iraq (sort of like Wal-Mart), which is nice to have when you are so far away from everything. Lastly never one sound of explosions or mortar fire.

After my time there I moved down to Basra. We moved onto a base that was just being established. With several thousand Soldiers we only had a PX about the size of your typical gas station. Needless to say it was always out of stock. The gyms were run-down and most did not even have air conditioning (in 130 degree whether). Our dining facility is nice but its the same food week after week and not nearly as nice as Baghdad. Lastly is our reminder that we are in a combat zone by the sounds of explosions and rocket/mortar fire that greets us on about a weekly basis.

It has had some improvements since we moved here. We did get a new gym and PX, a few venders moved on post (Green Beans Coffee - Pizza Hut - Burger King), however I have stayed clear of the fast food while here. We finally got internet available to our Soldiers however it is a mojor rip off (See my post about this, it still gets me steamed up (CLICK HERE), yet I still pay for it). However despite the improvements and everything else, it never really seemed to get better.

Geez, it almost feels like a life-time ago. Its wierd how my last deployment seemed like it flew by. Even while I was there it seemed to come and go so quickly. My guess is the difference between going on missions, living in the field, and constantly working missions, versus, working an eight to five in an office. This year seems to have taken longer than any other. This place is just like the movie groundhog day, (early 90's, with Bill Murry). Everyday wake up 0630, get ready, go to work, go to lunch, get off work, go to gym, eat dinner, go to sleep, all at the same time everyday. If it wasnt for the X's on my calendar I would never even know that time was moving. (By the way, I put the X on the calendar at the same time everyday).

Oh well, its all behind me now. Things are starting to change as we have to attend our mandatory classes, pack and ship items, create planning on how to hand off to the replacements, and other aspects that are added into our daily routines to get ready to go home.

The wife is excited, she already has the timeline that she needs to take off of work, going to try and be there when I get off of the plane in Atlanta, GA. She plans on staying with me in Fort Benning for the few days I will be stuck there, then back to the house we go. Just in time to enjoy Christmas.

Hopefully everything else will be ready to go to and I will have a few listings ready to pick up before the year closes.

As always I want to thank everyone for their support.

This is the 15th blog in my series "Iraq-The Story Unfolds". Wow, I didn't realize I had posted so many. For those that are not following you can go back through my blogs and see most of the different "untold" stories that I have for my deployment to Iraq. This is a much different side that you won't see on TV. Anyway this post is to talk about the weather again, seems to come up in alot of posts.

So I came back a little more than a month ago. When I got here at the beginning of October the temperatures were still lingering around the 105-115 F range. This was a little better from this summer when it ranged from 120-140 for the highs. This was a bit of relief except the wind was coming in off of the gulf which meant the humidity was also much higher. I will still say that I will take a dry 125-130 over a wet 110. I would go and take a shower, get out, dry off, and instantly be soaked once again. It was very un-pleasant.

So most of the month went by and it has dropped dramatically. Our temperatures this month dropped down to highs in the 90's or below. In fact our high Thursday is only supposed to be 79 degrees. In one month we have had a drop of about 40 degrees. It almost feels like back home. And the wind has changed again from the gulf and is now blowing down from the north so the humidity is gone. I actually think I will need to buy a blanket before I come home.

The other major change is that we finally see rain. It has not been much usually a few sprinkles during the day and a small shower after mid-night. It has been constant for the past week. This is much relief after about four to five months without any percipitation. Only one major problem with the rain. What happens when you our water over a country full of dirt and sand. Yep we now live in one major mud-puddle again. Driving around can be a pain, and now we cannot keep the office clean, but I will take it as opposed to the heat.

Well this is all I really have for this post. The focus now is on our re-deployment. Our replacement unit should be on their way sometime in the near future and my days in this country are starting to get really low. I can finally stop counting weeks and start counting days. And yes Im still singing the song "I'll be home for Christmas". That song has such a nice ring to it.

Thank you all for following

Nicholas S. Bush

(Deployed) REALTOR®

Total Auction and Realty LLC

(O) 637-8777

(C) 243-4574

www.homesaleseasttn.com