(The Following article has been submitted by SSG Jon E. Bostic, brother of the DANPA President Scott Bostic)
Additional photos at www.rixnet.net

Since being in Iraq, internet access has been one of the most widely coveted assets here. Communication with family and friends is one of the only saving graces of being in a war zone while life continues at home. One of the most helpless feelings that a soldier can have is to not be able to communicate with home on a regular basis. With today’s technology, there’s just no reason to have to go without.

Here in Northern Iraq, we have three phones for roughly 500 people. We have an over populated Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) facility with internet access which is a 15 minute walk away. We have 2 Iraqi built computer systems available at the unit for internet use if you can get the computers to work. In short, we do not have the resources to adequately support the number of soldiers based here. Adequately is the operative word here because the Army’s definition of adequate is determined by a secret formula known by only a select few. One of those few is usually the Supply Officer.

After a couple of months of running into brick walls while trying to increase internet access, I decided to take matters into my own hands and against the orders of some officers. The vision of the HOOCHNET was born.

HOOCHNET derives its name from Air / Land type 20 and 40 foot shipping containers that we call home. These containers are a far cry from tents and the heat and air condition is a God send. We live 2 soldiers to a 20 foot container and 3 to 4 soldiers to a 40 foot container. Just about everything in the Army has a nickname because “L32B100” just doesn’t sound right when you just want a Styrofoam cup. Anyway, we affectionately call our living containers “Hooches”. The limited amount of internet access here is positioned around the work place which usually leaves a closet or something available for personal internet use. I teamed up with a couple of other sergeants and we “procured” a wooden “building, hijacked a 25,000 pound forklift and repositioned the building in the vicinity of our Hooches, which house about 300 personnel. We bribed a couple of civilian electricians with several pairs of our own boots to connect the building to the main generator. We managed to purchase a box of CAT 5 network cable through one of the Iraqi nationals who works on the installation. I wired the building with six drop cables connected to a “jerry rigged” 8 port switch, erected a 25 foot tower to run CAT 5 cable from a command post (CP) across the road. We managed to twist an arm of the Sergeant in charge of the internet, to allow one connection to his switch in exchange for my occasional technical support services. HOOCHNET was born!

All of the work, assets and services needed for HOOCHNET to go live were procured by circumventing the procedures that are supposed to be in place to support soldiers. Roadblocks and pessimism were day to day occurrences on the road to our goal. Once the HOOCHNET was in place, we had the basics to start serving our fellow soldiers. One last attempt was made by the Battalion Communications Officer to squash the HOOCHNET project but each argument she raised was met by a firm reply of “We’ve taken care of that Mam”. In a last ditch effort, I met with my Company Commander, won his backing and he went to bat for HOOCHNET. As a result of his intercession, HOOCHNET was given the green light as long as access was not exclusive and I could assure a safe environment. I stayed up all night drafting Standard Operating Procedures and certification procedures to help ensure a safer network environment. We wanted soldiers to be able to bring their own laptops and connect to the internet but our drop line was connected to a network where Army business computers were operating. We had to ensure this network remained virus free. The following morning I made my pitch to the Communications Officer and successfully satisfied her security concerns.

We currently serve over 60 certified customers comprised of both soldiers and civilian contractors. We would like to expand our operation by offering on site computers for soldiers who do not have privately owned laptops and a “personal business center” type operation with computers and printers available for personal, non official use. Many situations arise where soldiers need to take care of personal and family business at home, but the resources are not available. I believe this type of operation would definitely fulfill a need for soldiers. As the weather grows warmer, I would like to start instructing a basic computer and network course to help soldiers become more familiar with the relation of their computer in a network environment. This type of practical training would be of value to most soldiers who have home broadband service or home networks. What better place to learn and help pass the time? More equipment and resources are necessary to fuel HOOCHNET’s growth. I would appreciate any support possible to help maintain our current services and to build on the foundation that we have laid.

HOOCHNET WISH LIST

ANY DONATIONS OF EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE & HARDWARE CAN BE
SHIPPED DIRECTLY TO RICK BOSTIC AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:
SSG Jon E. Bostic (goes by “Rick”)
DET 1, G Company 52nd AVN (T)
APO, AE 09334

His email address is as follows: ciNK43@Og9YpT.net
You can follow Rick’s Blog at http://merlin17.blogspot.com/
or visit his website at www.rixnet.net