I'm Back!

I just got back from R+R this week and the place is starting to feel all homey. NOT! Things have gotten a little less crazy here, but we are still adding troops and contractors. We have over a thousand contractors here now with us, and that is a lot of contracting. lol The weather is about 110 - 120 every day, but I think it is going to get a bit cooler soon, so we are all looking forward to that. We had a chopper crash last month that killed 18 of our people, but most news stations do not report contractor deaths.
We may be moving up to the north in a couple months, which I am dreading. It is up in the mountains, so the snow gets pretty deep and does not stop. We still have tent living and bad food, but I am finally getting used to it again.
The best part of coming back here is planning the next R+R. We have to submit for the next one shortly after we return so they can plan staffing requirements. It is fun to think about the different places to go or deciding what I want to see. I am out of days in the US so I have to spend the next R+R somewhere else in the world. I have thought about the south of France, Casablanca and Marrekesh, or Bangkok, Thailand. Who knows? I go again at the end of October, so Europe is going to be too cold by then for any fun.
Gotta run, write back and tell me what is going on in your lives.

Raining Fire

Yesterday was a very interesting day. One of our contractor helos took off from our LZ and just started to head out when the external fuel tank erupted in flames. It may have been shot at by a sniper or something.
Well the quick thinking Russian chopper pilot cut the tank loose right over the edge of our camp. so it was literally raining fire yesterday. when the fuel tank hit the ground, it went off like a roman candle and we all thought the whole chopper went down.
Almost landed on our heads.
Nobody injured, so that was a good day.
We are working so much and there is so much action here, that we all barely get any sleep anymore.
We're all stoked up on 'Rip-Its' for the caffeine rush, we all drink about 10 of them a day, but it is tearing me up inside.
I go from feeling like there is a brick on my stomach, to the other extreme, which is unmentionable.
I am still walking all day long, marching and hiking between camps through the desert. It sucks.
This desert heat here is nothing like Baghdad was, it is more unforgiving, and will eat you alive and the wind will blow sand over you when you drop. I keep thinking that all the sand here should really be in China by now for as much as the wind blows it through the air.
My feet are swelling, hurting, and getting any and all kinds of athletes foot (Yes, I know, too much information, but this is my sounding board here, danggummit!). I spray every chance I get to keep it to a minimum, but some guys are really stupid; they don't take care of there feet at all.
Many have to get their toenails yanked off when the leave here from the extent of their infections.
We are now sharing a very severe bronchial infection that has run through the camp. It is pretty serious, men are dropping out (passing out) and ending up in the Cash (combat area support hospital).
Last month it was pinkeye, affecting half the camp.
Luckily, I did not get that one.

So far this summer, we have had 3 heart attacks, 1 stroke, and over 20 heat strokes from healthy men of all ages. A few marines have dropped out from the heat too.

They tried serving us ice cream a few times and it was more like soup when we got it, but we all appreciate the efforts

I am missing ice and cold drinks so badly that I have taken to using the scraps of ice they have at the lunch line to keep the veggies from spoiling. It is non-potable, but I just don't give a crap anymore. there is nothing better than a cold Coke after walking about 10 miles in 120 degree heat. I'm pretty sure I'll be taking antibiotics for that when I get home. lol

Well, thats about it. More to come.

Summer in the Desert

HI everyone.

Sorry I have not written in a while, but it has been hectic over here. We have gone from a little hole in the desert to this base becoming a small city with over ten thousand soldiers.

The temperatures get up to about 120 degrees in the daytime, but the nights are almost human, coming in at about 100.

We had one day of overcast skies and the temp hovered under 100, so we all had to pull out our mountain gear and put on the Gore-Tex. I mean we were shivering!!! BRRRR!!!

The winds have died down over the last month; even the wind is smart enough to stay out of the heat.

All week long the choppers we use have been crashing. 3 this week alone. 'No indication of enemy fire'..., read between the lines.

The food goes from being moderately stale, to absolutely adobe brick. I have been thinking for a week about Chicago pizza when I come home in 2 weeks. I cannot wait for some real food. Sometimes they have decent chow at the DFAC, but that is not too often. We stand in line outside in the sun waiting to get in for about a half an hour at every meal.

I have been watching many rocket launches going into the mountains, and I have to admit, it is an adrenaline rush just hearing it and seeing it.

We still are sleeping in a group tent on cots, and we hear constant choppers, howitzer cannons shelling outbound, and a few sporadic small arms fire outside the gates. I will not be able to sleep when I get home without all the noise.

I still laugh when a new guy comes in, because they are always terrified when they hear the first bomb go off. LIke deer in the headlights. We had a few pops tonight, and a couple of 'tough-guys' started talking about de-mobing (Going home). The funny part of it was the shells were outbound, not inbound, so there was no danger, just a lot of noise.

Nothing like a good mortar attack to take all of the testosterone out of those kind of guys. Big shots!

Hmmph!

8 more days then I get to lay on the beach in Dubai for 5 days and come home.

I cannot wait. but I will probably have to bring my jacket.

More later.

A Bad Morning

I'm just thinking about some goofy Taliban up in the mountains somewhere. He wakes up and orders his slave woman to fix him some coffee, then proceeds to beat her for taking too long or it wasn't hot enough. So she goes outside and looks to the heavens, praying to Allah for some end to her suffering, and she sees this in the sky. (see pic)

The other pic is just another windy day in paradise.

So she walks back into the hut or tent and tells Mr. Taliban that his coffee will soon be warm enough, and then she proceeds to run like hell for a cave.

Because the marines just made her morning very good, and the guy is about to have his day start not so good. lol

These are missiles that are about to hit some target somewhere, and make someones' day very bad.

When the marines launch the missiles, they are so loud you think a freight train is coming through the tent.

When I see these missile launches, I like to think to myself that some poor oppressed woman hiding in the mountains is watching from her point above, and smiling as hell rains down on her oppressors.

On another subject, I am coming home on Friday May 1st, so anyone who wishes to meet up for a drink with me and some friends, meet us at Dicks last resort in Chicago at 5 pm.

Almost time for R+R

The camp is growing full of marines, and they now number in the thousands here. I am always amazed by the way the government and the military run things. It is almost as if they have never done anything before. There are so many failsafes for simple things like ordering toilet paper, that it ends up costing the government about twenty five bucks instead of a dollar ninety-nine. The suppliers really have a scam going with the government.
Take a simple fuse. They come single or in a box of ten. Well the government buys them one at a time and all individually wrapped. They do this with electrical receptacles also. A box of ten good high quality at Home Depot might cost about twenty five bucks, but the government also has those individually wrapped to buy, and they are wrapped in some really high end wrapping. It must cost them two dollars just for the containment packaging. So we end up paying about ten to fifteen dollars for each one.
I could go on and on about the governmental waste, but that is like beating a dead horse.

I'm sitting in my office tent and it is about 1:40 in the morning. I have caught the Kandahar Krud again and I am losing my voice.

I hate being sick. IT had better go away by the time I leave for R+R. I am sleeping a lot better now that I have a new and iproved cot to lay on. This cot is a bit wider and a bit longer than the old one. It also has another cot o ntop of it with nobody occupying it, so I get a bit of privacy fro mthe light and people walking by. What more can a guy ask for?

Well maybe a bottle of Jim Beam. LOL

Our Visitor

We had a visitor to the base about 10 days ago. It was the Marine Commandant from the pentagon. This is the same old story from Baghdad. They come out for about a week to give speeches to build morale. I do not know how that builds anything, since it reminds the troops how they cannot go home like he can.

The military brass comes in at the end of the month to the war zone and stay for about 5-7 days. They do this so they can claim exempt on their taxes for both months that they are there. Not bad. Come in for a week, and get 2 months of freedom from taxes.

It is a play right out of our congressmens' playbook.

Has anyone noticed all the tax problems they are all having?

Hmm!

I knew something was up when they were serving steak and lobster.

Did I forget to mention that part? They always serve the best when the brass and bigwigs come out. I guess their in-flight steak and lobster on the lear jets are not enough. The top brass does not fly with the troops, they have luxury jets.

Amazing. The disconnect from those that are our supposed leaders and those they lead, both military and civilian.

Well, I had 2 steaks. Ha-Ha! AND they had A-1

The wind is still blowing, and now there is rain mixed in. The rain is so light, that it evaporates once it hits the ground. Except for last week, when it rained all day and flooded out here.

But the night shift is good and I come home in a few weeks for R+R. I cannot wait.