Here's a picture of my Army issue rack in my oh-so spacious tent. Thank God Michaela made me the whale pillow you see. Otherwise I would have been pillow free for a long time. I have 550 cord (parachute line) and bungee cords strung up so I can hang up my stuff. I also bought a black plastic foot locker so I can get at my stuff without rummaging through my duffle bag. The tents are heated and air-conditioned but the dust still blows in the sides and gets on everything. It's not so bad here. The Dee-Fac (dining facility) is good and they have Baskin Robbins ice cream and diet coke. We even have a laundry service here that turns around in about 36 hours. I was sooo allergic to the soap they use though and have to provide my own. Because all of the laundry employees are TCNs (third country nationals) anything out of the ordinary causes a huge rift in the space-time continuum. It's funny turning your stuff in. You dump out all your dirty clothes on the table so the KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root - a Halliburton company) employee can inventory everything. Two brown towels, two pairs pants ... etc. Of course everyone but me is carrying a weapon of some kind. I really have to get used to the people wearing these pistol harnesses that leaves the muzzle facing directly to the rear. On base they cannot have magazines in them, but after being taught gun safety by my extremely safe Dad, I can't get over having weapons nonchalantly pointed in my direction.
If you are not in the palace, you are relegated to using porta johns when you have to use the rest room. Luckily, they are cleaned once a day and new, blue goo added. The ones by our work trailers are sort of at an angle canted backward, so you don't feel especially secure. What's even better is that the humvees and other armored tactical vehicles come around the corner in the dark - oh yea, you're in the dark too! I would hate to be a casualty from being hit in the porta john by a humvee!! I have several little LED flashlights attached to my badge holder because there aren't too many lights around here and you have to walk everywhere. Civilians have to have their IDs, passports and orders on their person at all times - hence the badge holder.
Life here is pretty spartan, but it has a certain elegance to the simplicity. Last night I was awakened by what I thought was an alien spacecraft hovering over our tent. It sounded like a jet not the usual low-flying helo. But in retrospect I don't think it was alien. I'm still here anyway and haven't been abducted. I would consider letting myself be abducted by aliens if I could use a real bathroom. Till tomorrow ...
No comments:
Post a Comment