Killing Time (And Ankles) - 14 March 2009 - 1050

Well, it sounds like the piece that we are waiting on to come in before we can leave for Leatherneck is scheduled to come in on Monday. We will probably leave shortly after that. It’s pretty disappointing as we are becoming pretty content with our area. The construction here on KAF is out of control. They are building new structures and renewing old ones everywhere around the clock. The main drag that runs through post is closed right now and it looks like they are preparing it to be paved. They are putting up tons of mobile home type housing units down near Southpark. They put in 8, that I have seen, trailers here on Southpark. We aren’t sure yet but we are pretty sure they are latrine and shower trailers. It would be nice if they put in a laundry trailer. If we had a vehicle, even if that was a Gator, a quad or even a bike, this place would be downright livable. One thing that I’m not sure if I have mentioned is that almost every road in KAF is hard dirt mixed with big rocks. In our “Day 2 Briefs” we were told by the medical rep that one of the most common problems they see in their office is twisted ankles. Until you wear combat boots and walk, at minimum, 5 miles a day on rock, you have no idea how many times you almost eat gravel. Another thing that I should stress is how hard it is to look cool when you are tripping all the time and God forbid, falling down. I’ve heard several stories of our guys seeing people falling down but I have only seen one guy. This guy didn’t even fall on rocks. He was walking down the stairs at the boardwalk with Tim Horton’s coffee in hand and came tumbling down. On the bright side he miraculously saved the coffee. On the not so bright side, probably 100 people watched this guy during one of his finer moments, I’m sure. In my last post, I didn’t mean to imply that no one was reading, nor was I fishing for comments. I do appreciate everyone reassuring me, however, on my blog or Facebook that you are, in fact, reading it. I’m trying to find new ways to keep myself entertained around here, which isn’t a good thing since we have a lot of time left. I’ve found a couple of ways that seem to be constructive. The first is I am starting to put together a slideshow with the pictures I have taken so far. When it gets closer to the end of our tour I’m going to go around and gather other people’s pictures as well and see if I can’t put something decent together. Secondly, if for those of you who know too much about me, you may know that I am a Microsoft Paint and Microsoft Excel junky. I’m taking some of the pictures that I have taken and redrawing them in paint. I’m having some problems with the formatting right now, but I’ll get it figured out. Here is one that I have done just to brag up my work. I have one that I thing is way better, but I figured, at least this one is a Corvette and not an Anime character. That has to make it less nerdy, right? I know you may be saying “You have too much time on your hands.” Your right! As for Excel, I make spreadsheets for everything; Tracking Fantasy Football stats, tracking Physical Fitness Test data and about anything else that is unnecessary. I make them as complicated as I can filled with formulas and conditional formats and whatnot. You may be saying to yourself “Get a life.” I say “I know right!” I, of course still play way too many video games and have started to get into a movie kick. In case I have haven’t explained the location of KAF well enough, we are in a valley on the foothills of the Hindu Kush Mountains. Today is March 14th and it is supposed to get up to 90 degrees… IN MARCH… IN THE MOUNTAINS. If I haven’t explained Leatherneck, from what I have heard and seen pictures off, it is in the middle of the desert. It will be like Kuwait again. That place is going to be out of control HOT in June/July. I can’t event wait. I’d also like to address the fact that I AM getting your emails. I’m not responding to them however because there just isn’t enough time to write everyone. The internet at the Boardwalk is hit and miss and the Internet /Phone center is usually busy and has a 30min max time limit. I just wanted to reassure you that I am getting them except I think my dad said he was writing and I haven’t seen anything from him except the feedback on my blog page. It’s just far easier to write these blog posts in my tent and copy them to a flash drive or take my laptop to the Boardwalk and copy/paste them to BlogSpot. Each blog takes me anywhere from 30 min to an hour to write and the copy/paste takes like 1 min and that allows me to address everyone at one time. Health update: rash on hand – subsiding, wrist – achy again, whatever made me sleep for 36 hours a couple weeks ago – hasn’t returned, permanent “Soldier tan” on hands and face – out of control. I have the tannest (most tanerer?) hands for a pasty white boy on the planet. I have a pretty sweet ring band under my wedding ring too. One last note, when I finally get to Bastian/Leatherneck, I have promised myself that I won’t be so bitchy about the post on here the first few days like I have been at every other location. I’ll give it a few days to soak it all in before I start bashing it. That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to bitch about our mission because it still sounds ridiculous. Also, if you don’t read the comments on here, Sarah Cates, SGT Fasse’s girlfriend, said she spoke with him about the internet down there. There is internet on Bastian right now, which is kinda far away from what I understand, but they are hoping to have internet on Leatherneck within the next 2 months. I’m sure it won’t be Roadrunner, but if I can get on here for a few seconds every now and again to post, I’d be happy with that.