Working too much

I work too much.

This picture of me was taken friday night at about 10 pm. Proof that we work till we drop. They told me my hand was still moving the mouse and I was down for over an hour in that position.

How funny!

That is our makeshift office tent with the plywood desk and the sand covered computer.

This should dispell any rumors that I am secretly living the good life in Monte Carlo.

Friday nights in crazyland

So I am sitting here in the office on a friday night, having just showered and feeling like a wet rat who was just pulled from a putrid Afghan river. I'm really not sure if the smell of the water is better than my flea-infested armpits. lol We have these showers that are built out of a tent, and they are a group sort of thing, so one must be comfortable with himself. The group shower isn't the worst part of it; it's the men from the other countries who check out your privates and you wonder if they are comparing or something.

The toilets are interesting also, as they sit up a few feet off the ground like a pidgeon perch (see pics). One pic is my bunkspace. We have some pretty nice sunrises every morning when the sand isn't blinding us. We still do not have any trucks to get around, so we walk through the sand all day. Some days up to 15 kilometers. The last surge of troops that came through our camp packed up half the camp and took it with them. It looked like a tornado hit after they left. I must hand it to them, they certainly can scrounge. We caught one soldier dragging a very large air conditioner (ours) down the road behind his humvee with a chain. I could write a sitcom with some of the things I see here, and especially some of the personalities.

The burn pit at the back of the camp is starting to get everybody sick every day, because the more troops that arrive, the larger the burn must be for the trash. Most days, the wind blows out of the mountains and take the ash right down into our lungs and eyes. People are crying and nauseous all the time.

The good thing about that is it makes the food taste edible. If you go into the chow hall already nauseous, how much worse can it get? We used to just cry from the food we ate, now we have a medical excuse.

Actually, the food has gotten much better, thanks to some creative work by our fine chefs. Still do not know what I am eating half the time, but it goes down okay.

On a better note, I'm off to Thailand in 11 days, so I have to push hard to get everything ready for my absence.

We are now calling our choppers the 'Flaming Rocks' because of the way they come out of the sky when they get shot down. These Russian choppers are real crates. When you ride in one, you really pucker your asscheeks, and not just from the enemy, but the bird itself. Many of the men choose to go out on Mil-Air flights, but that is a hassle. You have to wait up all night for an opening and they only fly you in the middle of the night. I choose the flaming rocks.

More later.

Jim

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.