Heads or Tails - 08 March 2009 - 2200

You know, I’m always caught off guard by how much time has passed between each of my blog entries. I was really surprised to see that there was a 3 day gap between this and my last post. I thought it was 1. The days all mesh together here. One day is just like the last. There is nothing special that happens on the weekends, as of right now, that helps to distinguish them from weekdays. I guess off of the 400 day(ish) order sending us over here, we have completed something like 102 already. One thing I like doing over here, which isn’t necessarily a good habit, is listening to other people’s conversations. I don’t mean to drop eves, we are just in such tight quarters, you really can’t help it. Today I heard an exchange in the shower trailer between two guys who I believe were in the Air Force. They had obviously noticed that they shared a common schedule at some point as they asked each other for their first names. One of the guys asked the other how his Sunday morning was going, to which the other replied something to the effect of “Just another day in paradise”. That sort of response is pretty common in the Army. One of them mentioned that on a Sunday morning back home he would be sitting on the back porch reading the paper watching the sun rise. The other guy responded that only 40 Sundays to go and they would be home, to which the other replied “I never looked at it that way. That doesn’t sound too bad. You just made my day.” It’s little things like that that can keep a guy going over here, simply looking at how much time you have left in a different way so it seems like less. Another thing I can’t help but overhear are peoples calls back home. I think it’s interesting hearing some of our big tuff guys talking to their kids. It’s a side Soldiers don’t let out often. Well, we aren’t getting any good reports from the guys down in Leatherneck. Since we are so far “Away from the Flagpole” they sent down a group of people from Kandahar from our Battalion and from the Brigade to watch us. Being away from the flagpole just means away from your headquarters basically, out from under the watchful eye. Well I guess they weren’t going to allow that. The sent down a few people to watch us but didn’t think of any of the logistics for keeping them there. So out of the 5, supposed to be 10 man tents or less, 1 goes to the 4 girls (lame), 1 goes to the cell they sent to watch us, which leaves 42 people for 3 tents. While here in Kandahar we were told to make out lists of things that we wanted for amenities and such while in Leatherneck. They basically said money is not a big deal. We put on all sorts of stuff from LCD TVs to refrigerators to beds. The only thing that I’ve heard that they actually said “Dream on” to was our beds. We will be once again sleeping on cots. So instead of being 8 deep on beds in a 10 man tent, we will be at least 14 deep on cots. I haven’t personally spoke with anyone down there as I didn’t buy a cell phone over here like a lot of people did and no one has been on the internet since they left (a bad sign), but I’m hearing now that the latrines and showers are just like here on Southpark, only CoEd, not sure how they are doing that. The British version of a PX, Naafi I believe, isn’t stocked very well either I hear. Food I heard is good and within walking distance, although living here I’ve learned walking distance is a relative term. You can walk just about anywhere with enough time. So back to the cell they sent to watch us. From what we are hearing it sounds like they are going to be a pain in the ass. One report today we heard that they were making our guys build them desks. I can’t go into detail, OPSEC, as to what they are having us do, but I will say that for the first couple weeks it won’t be running an ASP. I will also say that its bullshit and exactly the reason, why when we were told that we didn’t have a mission while in Ft Sill, that many of us said we shouldn’t beg to go and to be careful to just volunteer us for “a mission” when a specific ammo mission wasn’t available. But what do I know. Also the cell, from what I hear, is making us come up with a training schedule for each day while we are there to make sure that we are busy. Our training is that we will be running a damn ASP. We trained for the last 6 months. I know I’ve never been to war before, but I’m pretty sure you don’t do training schedules. You do your job and you go back to the tent. I told SPC Hartwell, who periodically reads my blogs, that I went back and read my old posts and decided I needed to write some good stuff like “On the Brighter Side” but that it was quite a bit shorter than the bad stuff. I said “I write too much of the bad stuff” to which he replied “Really? I think you leave too much of it out”. It’s hard not to be negative with so much crap going around. Hopefully I’ll be able to explain more about what we are going to be doing later. About half of us who remain in KAF (Kandahar Air Field), are leaving for Leatherneck tomorrow, if the plane isn’t broke. That will leave just a handful of us back here in KAF, including me. My group is basically waiting on one item to show up before we leave. I know I say this as I’m leaving each post, but I’ll kind of miss KAF. Minus the walking and the bathroom facilities, which won’t improve, this place isn’t half bad. I’d take a rocket attack every once in a while over being out in BFE (won’t go into that acronym for you who don’t know it) with no amenities like internet or a decent PX. I’m sure I’ll adapt though. The flip of a coin decided us in Leatherneck instead of Kandahar over the 826th Ordnance Company. They stay in 4 man rooms, in hardside buildings which are piped with the internet, right next to the DFAC and Boardwalk. They also get a really nice ASP, where we are going to get a freaking GP Medium tent as an office and be overstuffed in a tent on cots. Damn the luck. BTW, today marks the 1 month period for us being overseas. Just another trivial mark that makes me feel a bit better.