Life's Highway - The Randy Helms Express

Where to begin? We have been geting up everyday at 0330 in the morning. We normally depart around 0430. We drive to the area where we are working at and stay there until around 1100. We then return for chow. We get back to our room around 1200. We sleep from 1330 until 1730. Wake up and go eat dinner at 1830. Then back to sleep around 2230. This has been our life for the last four or five days. It does not appear that it will let up anytime soon. I am the gunner on these missions. It really kills me siting in this little hole for hours on end. My feet constantly fall asleep.

I have many funny little stories from the past few days, but you will have to wait until I have more time to write them down. Just wanted to let everyone know that I am doing well, just tired as the dickens. I have to force myself to eat. Can you believe that, me not wanting to eat. I have lost about 10 pounds in the last five days. I drink plenty of fluids.

See yah,
Randy

Posted by Randy at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

Today will be a very busy day for us. I will take about a week off from the blog. If I can squeeze one in, I will. So far the power at Rustmiyah has been holding up. It still goes down, but we have a few generators to tie us over. I am so ready for all of this to end. I am dead tired. I cannot recall ever being so beat in my life. Four more months and I will be home.

Keep me in your prayers, as I think about all of you constantly. Bobby, take it slow brother. I need you moving around better when I see you again. Wes, tell your students to get ready. Troy, finish that song I sent you.

The picture is CPT O and me back in Tarmiyah in April. Nice pic of us.
Randy

Posted by Randy at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

On Monday we got the bad news that we had to leave FOB Hope. We left FOB Hope at 1130 pm and drove back to Taji. We spent one night and halve a day there. We had to pick up a couple of different HUMVEES. We arrived last night about 9:00 pm back at Rustamyiah. As of now the power has stayed on there. I hope it lasts. My HUMVEE had a malfunction on the ride down and it started smoking really bad. We had to turn the piece of equipment off and the smoke stopped. I first thought the thing was on fire. Really busy, so this has to be short.

Randy

Posted by Randy at 1:52 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well we have Internet in our houch at FOB Hope. It is mighty slow, but at least it works. The power stays on 24/7 and that is the biggest blessing of them all. We rode around the other day and checked on our Iraqi soldiers at their different check points. The kids in that area were throwing rocks at our HUMVEES. Not that a rock will do any damage, but you have to wonder if they throw rocks at us, what good our we doing here?

We drove back down to Rustamiyah today to get some much needed work done on our HUMVEES. I decided to go by the clinic and let them look at my ankle again. The swelling has gone down for the most part, except on the right side. They showed me some strenghting exercises and gave me a brace to wear. The brace makes a big differance.

Caelan stared school last week on Monday. He loves it from what Isabel tells me. I am so glad that he does. Wow, Caelan in Pre K, how the times fly.

Randy

Posted by Randy at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Randy at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Randy at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well the power has been better the last couple of days. It has stayed on at least during the night. We moved the room around a little which allows more air flow from the ceiling fans. Not much has gone on, but I wanted to at least drop a line to let you know I am alive and well. The foot still hurts, but nothing I can do about it. I have iced, elevated, and tried to stay off it, but those things are hard to do over here. I have just given up and will push through the pain. Hopefully the swelling will continue to go down. Tomorrow will be a week. Take care,

Randy

Posted by Randy at 2:22 AM | Permalink | Comments

Last night we decided to get rooms on the US side of were we are at in Baghdad. We wanted one night with constant power and AC. We came went over there and enjoyed nice showers, internet, PX, and the barber shop. I watched a little TV too. At about 11:30 pm, I went up to the room to rack out. I was told to pack my bag, because we had to return to the Iraqi side. It seemed one of the soldiers had taken ill. The Iraqis thought he had appendicitis. We drove the IA back over to the US side. We got stopped at the US gate and told we could not enter with IA soldiers at that gate, but had to drive to a different one. My Major went off and explained that the other gate was closed, plus did they or did they not see we were traveling with an IA Ambulance. It took about ten minutes until they would let us enter. Turned out the IA soldier only was passing a stone (Ouch). We got back to the Iraqi side at 02:30 am. We figured we might as well just stay on the IA side. This blog writes itself. I could not make this stuff up if I tried.

Randy

Posted by Randy at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well I am in Baghdad. The conditions here really stink. The first night or should I say 3:00 am in the morning when we arrived the power went out. We had just gotten into our room and ten minutes later, bam no power. The power seems to go out about two times a day. From 0900 until 1830 (6:00 pm) and then around 0200 until 0700. So almost the whole day. The temperature in the room stays at a cool 110. No air conditions, only two ceiling fans that blow hot air.

About 30 minutes before we departed Camp Taji, I fell about four or five feet off a ladder. I sprained my ankle really bad. Of course I still had to come down here. The ride should have only taken about an hour, but it took four hours. My foot swelled up something big. It was almost 24 hours before I could get to a clinic. The doctors said it does not appear to be broken or any ligament damage, but with it so big the want to wait until the swelling goes down to X-ray again. No running for about four weeks.

The water is not that great, so the toilets really do not flush that well. So you can guess what the bathroom smells like. Oh well this is all part of the exit strategy.

Take care,

Randy

Posted by Randy at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments

I came back from chow tonight and within about ten minutes, I noticed I had a flat tire on the truck. Of course, I do not have a jack and no one else does either. So I will have to get one off of one of the HUMVEES tomorrow. Bad thing is, my spare is not the same size. Someone told me where to take it and maybe they can patch it. I hope so.

The mice keep playing deadly games in my room. When I came back from Tarmiyah the other night, there was one dead in the room. Of course, I turned around and saw him with his legs in the air and I jumped. I tried to bored up the hole. They have chewed through the concrete. Yes, they are eating my room. I heard one early gnawing on the new wood I put down early.

I have packed and I am ready to depart to Baghdad. Let us hope and pray that things cool down. I have read in the paper everyday, that the big wigs think Iraq is headed for a Civil War. I really hope not. (I use I a lot, don't I. See I did it again. Maybe I should write in third person. I will try that with the next paragraph.)

The power went out again today for about four hours. Randy is really getting tired of this. Can you imagine what that is like? Think about when hurricanes come through South Georgia and the rain, wind, and whatever else knocks the electricity out for awhile. It is like New Orleans, minus the hoodlums. Randy hopes that at least in Baghdad we have power on a constant basis.

Well this will be the last blog until I get settled in Baghdad. Keep me in your prayers and thoughts. Again thank you to everyone who has helped support this blog. It has grown into something that I never imagined that it would be. When I started it, I basically was doing it to let Isabel, Caelan, and Ryleigh see what I was doing. Then slowly more people caught wind and low and behold it has grown by strength and numbers. So thank you to you all.

Randy

Posted by Randy at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

I have numerous things to discuss today. So buckle up and enjoy this ride.

First off, I was in Tarmiyah on Wednesday and Thursday. The Iraqi Army (IA) moved out of this area on Thursday. Now I could have stayed the night on Thursday and my team would have come picked me up today or I could ride back with the IA. I choose to ride back with the IA. So I loaded up on the back of one of there tanks and off we went. This was my first time ever riding on any type of tank. Remember I am an Administrative guy in the Army. We normally do not do this type of stuff. The IAs made feel real safe and they were offering me water and little snacks. We made it back to Taji at 0200 in the morning.
While I was in Tarmiyah, one of my Interpreters told me a funny story. It seems his room mate, Atheer, caught a scorpion a couple of weeks ago and placed it in a used water bottle. Atheer showed it to Haider and they both were talking about it still being alive. When it was time to go to sleep, Atheer showed it to Haider again and they both saw that it was still alive. When they turned out the light, Atheer threw a empty water bottle at him with the top off. Then he threw a little bug on him. Haider said he felt some creature touching his arm and he jumped out of the bed screaming like a little girl. Atheer turned on the light and showed Haider the bottle by his bed with the scorpion still in it. See even Iraqis play practical jokes.

We are very busy right now packing up to go to Baghdad. We will be down there for a couple of months. I cannot say where, right now, for security reasons. Not sure what type of setup we will have. That being said, if I cannot get to a computer with Internet to often, I will call in my blog as often as I can. So if you see a blog on there with something that says click here or listen to this or audio blog, then double click on it and you can hear my voice. If you need an example, go back to the JUNE archives of my blog and you will find one I did when I was home on leave.

The Brunswick Newspaper, my hometown newspaper, is doing an article on me and this blog. The only words I can say are, COOL BEANS. I knew someday I would be famous, even for just one a minute. Nah, I really do not see why they would want to do one on me, but I am happy they did. So if you are new to the HOLLER AT ALLAH WORLD TOUR blog, welcome and what took so long. You have some catching up to do. And the rest of you can consider yourself foundering members of the club.

Special little note for my wife. I love you baby. I could tell by talking to you today, that you needed to hear that one more time. So here it is again, I love you baby. Forever, And Ever, Amen.

Randy

Posted by Randy at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments