The Speed of Heat by Thomas W. Young

Author:Thomas W. Young
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2012-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Major Karl Levy, pilot, aviation liaison

My job was to help re-establish the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority. In establishing that CAA, there’s a lot of coordination with the military because the military is the airspace master, so to speak. They control Iraqi airspace. You needed someone there who understood military control of airspace, but also understood civil aviation.

We would handle issues such as overflights of Iraqi airspace. We were the coordinating entity to approve or disapprove all the overflights of Iraq. All the civil aviation requirements to bring in goods to support contracts for rebuilding Iraq came through my office. It was an interesting job. You were basically laying down the civil aviation rules and regs for the country at that time.

We tried to use whatever they’d had before, as much as we could, to see what would fit within the current military control. Those items we could re-establish, we re-established. We didn’t want to change everything they’d done before and say, “Here’s the American way of doing business. You have to do it this way.”

The position involved a lot of things. They included reconstructing the airports of Iraq, the contracts that were being let, who the contractors were to provide security, the cargo handlers, the commercial ventures, all these different things.

There never was a typical day. There were so many things happening. When Russia wanted to evacuate their people out of Iraq, you’re the one they’re calling to ask how to do this. What information do you provide them on how they’re going to get in and out of that airport? You receive this word that they’d like to do this within the next two days. Those next two days are chaos as you try to put this together.

Major Levy’s responsibilities would have been heavy enough under the best of circumstances. But then there were the roadside bombs, snipers, and mortar attacks.

The highway between the airport and the Green Zone, we nicknamed Ambush Alley. There were almost daily reports of IEDs occurring on that highway and taking out military vehicles. My job a lot of times was to go back and forth to that airport.

We would drive down the highway, and by the time we got to the airport we’d get word that a section of the highway had been shut down because an incident had occurred where we’d just passed. On the way back you could see the burned-out wreck still smoking where an eighteen-wheeler had blown up.

When you’re driving down the highway, you’re using defensive tactics such as not staying along either edge of the road because the IEDs are usually stuck along the railings. So you’re trying to stay in the middle lane.

As you’re going underneath the overpasses, you try to change lanes in case there are people standing on the overpass shooting at you. These are running through your head, the defensive driving tactics like weaving. You’re looking as you’re driving to ensure you’re not being followed. You’re trying to see any vehicles that look suspicious. You’re driving at a high rate of speed because speed is life.

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