Guest Performance at MNSTC-I

Hope everyone is doing well! I was able to attend a USO event this week. They brought in David Cook to perform along with his "band". He was the 2008 winner of American Idol. I am not an Idol fan but I know several of you are so I will share some photos with you. He performed for about an hour in our Dining Facility. His band consisted of two other guys on guitars. All three were very talented musicians and the concert was a nice break from the routine. I did not get there early enough to get me photo made with him (Sorry Ms Andrea and Ms Bev) but I took some pictures during the concert. Enjoy!

Tuesday

Hello everyone! I can't believe that we are over halfway through the month of January. By the end of this month, I will be halfway through my tour. Yeah!! It is hard to believe. I apologize for not adding to my blog on a regular basis but it has been very hectic. I am at work by 0730 and it is after 2000 (8:00 pm) before I leave. This makes for long days but the time is going quickly!

I mentioned earlier that I have been tasked to help develop a new training program for advisors. (There are approximately 250 advisors that work here.) We wrote the curriculum and held the first course on 26 & 27 December and then a second one on 09 & 10 January. It went very well and the Commanding General (an Army 3-star) was very pleased with the course. He decided that all of the current and new advisors to MNSTC-I should attend the training. His decision doubled our work load this past month to get the course up and running to his specifications.



(LTG Helmick, CG of MNSTC-I, presented me with a Commander's Coin at the end of the course.)






Advisors at MNSTC-I work directly with the Government of Iraq, advising them on decisions and implementation of their strategic plan. Our hope is to get to the point that the government can function independently. There is much work to be done but the advisor training helps quicken the induction process as new advisors arrive. They are able to learn about the Iraqi culture, customs, and language in order to deal more effectively with their Iraqi counterpart.


(LTG Helmick shakes hands with the Director of the MTDC, Mr. Wa'el. Mr. Wa'el is who I am responsible for advising at the Center.)


Another part of the advisor training was to develop a website. Due to my background in technology, I am the advisor portal administrator. We are using a program I have not used before called SharePoint. I am having to teach myself the program as I go. It has been challenging but interesting work for me. I am becoming proficient with it and continue to build the site. I set up a blog on the portal for the advisors to use and I am currently building a wiki site as well. Lots of technology terms:)

I understand that you all are getting snow and some very cold temperatures. It has warmed up in Iraq and feels like spring time in Tennessee. The winter season is very short here - one month out of the year is cold. The rest of the year is very warm. I will miss the hot part of the year (August and September) when the average temperatures reach 140 degrees. It is very much a desert climate. Hope all of you have a wonderful and safe week and I will write again soon. Stay warm!

Monday Morning

Hi all. I am at the Ministerial Training and Development Center (MTDC) this morning. Classes have resumed after the holidays and we are at capacity with students and courses. It is exciting to hear as I walk through the halls. Very much like being back at Maury. The only difference is that the instructors speak Arabic so I have to take a translator with me in order to understand what is being said.

Yesterday, we had heavy rains. I took a couple of pictures outside my office building. As you can see, the rain does not soak into the ground very quickly. It is generally dry most of the year and the rainy season is in January and February. We got so much rain that it was up to our door - about 2 feet deep. It continued to rain throughout the night but most of the standing water was gone by this morning. The temperature is cool but it warms up during the day. I spent the weekend (Friday and Saturday) on the Advisor Training Course and will try to post a blog about what I am doing with it by the end of the week. I took some pictures of it so I will share them soon. Hope everyone has a great week and, MMS students, study hard and do your best. Take advantage of the opportunities you have to learn! You are very fortunate.

Happy New Year!

(Ministerial Training and Development Center)


Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a wonderful and restful week. It is hard to believe it is 2009 already. Amazing how time flies! I have been very busy for the last two weeks. I worked on developing a new training program for incoming advisors and we presented the course last weekend. It went very well but as with any new training, we spent the week refining it. We will offer it again this coming weekend on 9 & 10 January. I am really enjoying my work and getting an opportunity to contribute to the success of the coalition force.

This is a picture of the English language class in the Ministerial Training and Development Center (MTDC) where I am working. We currently have three English classes that are being taught. One of the classes is offered to future Iraqi Air Force pilots. They must score a 70 on the exit exam in order to qualify for pilot training. This may sound like a low score but considering that most of these students start without knowing any English at all, it is pretty good. They learn the very basics, starting with the English alphabet. I took pictures of their alphabet line that is posted around the room. I think it is ironic that in Iraq, the letter "H" stands for Hostage and the letter "K" stands for Kidnap. This says a great deal about what they have been through over the past few years.








I hope everyone has a wonderful and exciting New Year and I will see you later this year:) Take care.