Heading out to Balad AB Sept 08 - Jan 09

F

Fresh50

Maturing Primate
Hello 'rillas!

Well I'm off to Iraq for a few months this rotation. Are there any other Gorilla's heading there during the same time frame? I have little info on the base as I have not been there before. Any advise on items to not forget behind, places to meet for a smoke, and general tips on living at Balad AB?:ss
 
Bring a PT belt. Last time I was there the PT belt Nazis were in full force.

Four month deployment.....:gn
 
Google "Mortaritaville".

Lived there for 2004. There is a pool, theater, big PX/BX, bazaars, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc. And they are all targets for mortars, RPG's, and rockets. Hopefully it's better now than it was then in this regard. Living accomodations were starting to get pretty nice. DHL on premises. You really need a gator to get around, it's so big, but there are also shuttle busses. Award-winning DFACs and nice gyms.

Everything you will want is available there, so don't bother packing much.

We made a nice bocce pit and horseshoe pit that, combined with cigars, kept us entertained until the bocce ball pit was hit by a rocket.

After that we stuck with darts.
 
Sunscreen, waterwings and flipflops, that's all you need. I haven't been there this deployment, but during the last one, Balad was like Disney land for my platoon. I can only imagine the improvements since then. Good luck and stay safe.
 
Fresh, You should be fine out there....anything that you could possibly want is located there.
Someone mentioned the reflective belt thing, this is true, also try to bring two pairs of gym shoes....they don't want sand in their treadmills....lol


Coop
 
The PT Belt thing is no joke. $50 fine if your caught walking around not wearing one during the hours of darkness. Ouch, I can think of better things to spend your combat pay on.
 
if you get google earth and type in lsa anaconda you will be able to see the base i was there in 04 during the bulid of the pool. It has changed alot sence then lol but they say its the best place to be in Iraq lots of stuff to do there........
 
I just got back from Balad this week. The official name is now changed to "Joint Base Balad" I'm sure most in the Army will still call it Anaconda though. I'll give you a few tips that I learned in my six months there.

Don't buy the "cubans" at the bazaar, they are not cuban and they are not good.

They occasionally have some good A. Feunte smokes at the west side PX

4 DFACs, all of which have great food.

The bx/px's are pretty well stocked, but they run out of common items fairly often, if you have a specific brand of soap, deodorant, shampoo, etc. you like, bring enough of that or get it sent to you. It usually takes about 5-7 days to get stuff from the states.

If you send a package home, go to the west post office, the line may be longer but it moves WAY faster.

You will learn to hate the F-16 if you don't already.

The motar/rocket attacks have gone down considerably, as has all violence in Iraq for the most part.

What's your Job? I'm assuming you're USAF due to the 4 month deployment. I'm power production.
 
O.K. Just found out I'm going over there this Sept as well. I e-mailed a buddy who is there right now and he says they'll have wireless internet available 1 Aug. The only catch is it's $60 a month! They've got us by the balls! Maybe we could meet up sometime. Any other CS guys going over there in Sept?
 
dustinhayden said:
I e-mailed a buddy who is there right now and he says they'll have wireless internet available 1 Aug. The only catch is it's $60 a month! They've got us by the balls!
Click to expand...

That does not sound bad to me if it works good. I have ran our satellite internet system for the last two deployments and it was $50 a person last time and it really sucked. It's $76 a person this time and it works pretty good. And it's still nothing compared to cable internet back state side but it's well worth having internet in your room.
 
blackjeep said:
I just got back from Balad this week. The official name is now changed to "Joint Base Balad" I'm sure most in the Army will still call it Anaconda though. I'll give you a few tips that I learned in my six months there.

Don't buy the "cubans" at the bazaar, they are not cuban and they are not good.

They occasionally have some good A. Feunte smokes at the west side PX

4 DFACs, all of which have great food.

The bx/px's are pretty well stocked, but they run out of common items fairly often, if you have a specific brand of soap, deodorant, shampoo, etc. you like, bring enough of that or get it sent to you. It usually takes about 5-7 days to get stuff from the states.

If you send a package home, go to the west post office, the line may be longer but it moves WAY faster.

You will learn to hate the F-16 if you don't already.

The motar/rocket attacks have gone down considerably, as has all violence in Iraq for the most part.

What's your Job? I'm assuming you're USAF due to the 4 month deployment. I'm power production.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great info. Yes I'm Air Force and I'm a 3c0 (Computer Networking) in Comm. As for the F-16's I live only one mile from Langley AFB so I sleep with F-22's and F-15's all day and night.

Hey dustinhayden I look fwd to meeting up with you.:ss
 
dustinhayden said:
O.K. Just found out I'm going over there this Sept as well. I e-mailed a buddy who is there right now and he says they'll have wireless internet available 1 Aug. The only catch is it's $60 a month! They've got us by the balls!
Click to expand...

I was told in Jan that we would have it by 1 Feb, then it was 30 April, then it was 1 June, last I heard before I left was going to be "end of July" and it was going to be free (read: restricted acess) So I wouldn't keep your hopes up for the internet.

One thing I forgot to mention was that the morale tent has a ton of phones and computers for internet access, as well as the Pax terminal also has an internet cafe with phones and computers. They are both within close walking distance from housing.

Feel free to PM me with any questions you have.
 
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