Psych - 27 March 2009 - 1330

Oh, if only you knew how clever that title was. So on my last night at KAF I decide to go get Timmy’s one last time and video chat with my wife over Skype for what could be the last time I see her for quite a while. I just get done talking to her when 2 of our guys come up and sit with me with their dinner in hand and inform me that the other 2 who were supposed to be leaving for Bastian were still leaving, but I wasn’t. After calling them liars for a while and probably other names that I shouldn’t mention, I realized they were telling the truth. Let me back up a bit. Yesterday morning I came back from breakfast to find 3 sets of armor in our tent from guys who had left for Bastian in the first group to leave. After inquiring why they were here I was informed that one of them had a meltdown in Bastian and threatened to commit suicide. He was thereby escorted up to KAF for a psych eval and a meeting with the chaplain. They decided that he needed to be put on suicide watch and would have to be guarded 24h a day. While he was signing papers for who knows what, I guess he started eating the paper. They tried to take it from him but he pulled it away like he was an animal hording food. I was left back to assist in the watch detail. Between the 5 of us left we split the shifts into 3 hour increments. My first shift was from 2230 to 0130. All I did was sit in the hospital with a Marine Gunny Sergeant who had been injured and watched 24 episodes from a couple seasons back. Our nutty buddy just slept the whole time. My next shift was supposed to be at 1330 but as you can see, I started typing this at 1330. They guy that was supposed to go before me had a meeting at Battalion and so we switched shifts. I went down at 1030, after I got lost on the Gator, and talked with him for a while. The kid is a bit slow but I’ve never had a problem with him and he seems to like me. Anyway, we were talking with a nurse from Holland about America and whatnot for about 30 min when the rest of the guys came with the Dr and said he was getting released from the hospital. Now it sounds like they are sending him home with an escort or two on the next flight they can get him on back to the states. So once again, here I am after I told everyone I was leaving, but I’d be lying if I said I was surprised. I am, however surprised at the reason that I was required to stay this time. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to the guys who came back on escort from Bastian about the FOB. They say it’s not too bad and one of them even prefers it to KAF. It’s short on amenities, i.e. beds and restaurants, but they said there is hardly anyone out there which is kinda nice. They are gunna start working tomorrow on getting me another flight down to Bastian. I’ve asked where they have my bunk reserved at, since my bags are all already down there, since it was already palletized 2 days ago and shipped, and I guess I’m in a tent with almost the same people that I stayed with in Ali Al Salem which was a pretty good crew. I’ll hopefully know for sure in a couple days when I finally get down there. BTW, I haven’t been mentioning it cause it’s been nothing too exciting, more annoying than anything, but we’ve been taking rocket and/or mortar fire about every other night. That siren is getting quite the workout. Nothing has been close from what I can tell as KAF is big and the alarm can go off and the rounds might not be falling very close to base at all, but usually you can hear the mortars dropping in off in the distance. It’s rained here I think every day for the last 7 or 8 days. Nothing too heavy other than the storm I wrote about, just sprinkles and wind. I really kinda need to get down to Bastian soon now since 99% of all my gear is there. I did pack smarter this time, however. I kept a couple extra shirts and pairs of socks on me as well as all my hygiene stuff, towel, pillow and blanket. Other than that all I have is my armor, weapon, laptop and a few snacks. Oh, and the cell phone I bought. I can get free incoming calls from the states, but either way, whoever is dialing is paying over a dollar a minute. It’s been nice though having my wife call me a couple times though. It helps in the whole “me trying to stay disillusioned that I’m actually here…..” thing. Like I said in the last blog, we are a little more than 30% done if our projected date stands. It’s kinda funny to think that I have been basically moving towards Bastian since 2 September and here it is 27 March and I’m still not even there. Talk about a waste of money. Anyway, hopefully in my next post I can finally say that I’m there and get a change of scenery.