A lot of people have been asking what I've been doing, what it's like here. So I decided to put it in a mass email.
I usually start my day between 9 and 11, not because I have to but because if I want to eat lunch I have to be in the chow hall by 11 which means that I have to get up and showered before then. On my days when I get up at 9, which is the absolute earliest that I ever get up I spend the morning either writing emails back or playing video games, usually. Sometimes the mail comes or the cable guy or some officer comes to visit us and it always surprises me that they don't say anything about my plaid pajama pants and furry slippers. They're pretty laid back here, I guess. I don't think hey don't really know what we do. We're kind of the mysteries of the base. We kind of do our own thing and aren't really under any jurisdiction. Everyone on post lives in either a 6-8 man tent or a 6-8 man sea hut with open showers and bathrooms. My boss and I live in our own ranch with our own bathrooms and living room and our very own shower.
I don't like going to the chow hall unshowered because every once in awhile I do see a pretty girl there and I'd like to think that if I don't smell maybe she'll come and sit next to me. But this never happens. I feel like a loser sitting at the table alone eating my meal while everyone seems to know someone there. Yesterday some guy sat across from me after asking if he could. I thought about talking to him and making a new friend but I wasn't really in the talking mood so I finished my meal quick and bid him farewell. I guess that kind of behavior doesn't help much in the direction of making friends but I don't really care. Since there is only two of us "working" out here we only get to go places one at a time. I like to drive around as much as possible just because it's something different to do plus it isn't often that i get a vehicle like my Hmmmv to drive over things with.
I take pleasure in driving my Hmmmv but I hate writing about it because I always forget how many ms and vs there are supposed to be. I feel bad for the Uzbeks working in their suit jackets in the trenches here but they must be paid well because they all have gold teeth. Gold teeth is a status symbol here. Many of our cooks and other native workers that we have here wear them. I was thinking about buying myself some. Nothing says class like a golden smile.
When it is hot I like to sit outside and take in the sun. Most days are warm but on this particular day
which I've chosen to write, it doesn't seem to be. I have a little crush on one of the girls that comes to
clean our bathroom. She always waves at me and gives me a cute smile. It probably means nothing but when you don't have too much interaction with other people you tend to cling to the little things that may or may not mean something. She comes to clean at 2:00 so I always make sure that I'm outside at that point, just to get my smile and wave. One day I wasn't out there because we were cleaning out the inside of our ranch and she came inside to smile and wave. One day we may
actually talk. I don't know if she even speaks English.
At 4:00 dinner is served. I usually go first because dinner is my favorite meal here. Every Friday we get
lobster tails and I eat two or three with rice and a Mountain Dew. Pretty much every other day of the week we have one form or another of steak to choose from. I usually get the steak and whatever else looks good. Yesterday it was steak and shrimp. After dinner I usually come straight home and change back into my pajamas. I'd say on an average day I wear my uniform a total of six hours. The rest of the day i spend in my pj's. One of these days I'm going to not even change. Maybe that'll be today.
I spend the rest of the evening playing Madden or watching movies. I read and write before going to
bed. That's it. So when I get emails like this:
> I know it's been a while since I've written
> anything, but I haven't been in front of a computer
> for about a week. Then on my free time the internet
> tent hasn't been open. This is normal whenever we
> have a casualty. They do that because they don't
> want a friend of the family to leak the info until
> an Army rep can go to the house and deliver the
> message in person, normally this happens within a
> day of the event. It's been an eventful week
> though.
> My method of dealing with it every morning
> consists of a healthy dose of denial with a side of
> optimism. It's the breakfast of champions.
> It's starting to get really hot over here. And
> for some reason someone thought it would be a good
> idea to cut power to the tents where people sleep
> during the day. They're able to conserve alot of
> gas that would be used to power the generators.
> They obvoiusly forgot to take into consideration
> that there are people that work on shifts, so the
> people that work all night have no AC during the
> day. They aren't dealing with the change all that
> well. Hopefully they'll get the message and turn
> back on the power.
> The heat here is pretty bad, but I don't want
> to complain about that yet because I know it's only
> going to get worse. Not everything is as bad as it
> sounds though, the little things really make a big
> difference. The pillow I just got made everyone
> else in the tent jealous, now they're all having
> people send them pillows. Our whole tent watched
> Harold and Kumar go to White castle and we all
> laughed so hard we almost didn't bother to get into
> the bunker when the mortars started coming in.
> I already forgot about all the things I was
> going to write about. So I guess I'll just say that
> I'm still here and in one piece. If there's
> anything you guys want to know about Iraq, feel free
> to ask. I'm not promising that I'll know, but I'll
> tell you what I know.
>
> Charlie*
I feel like a fiend. I'm in a "combat zone" as well. And people talk to me like I'm making some kind of
sacrifice volunteering for this and suffering the hardship. But look at old Charlie boy here who is excited about a damn pillow and about not getting hot by the incoming mortars. His sacrifice is much more
worthy than what I'm doing. I'm just relocated. I keep being told that everyone contributes in their own
way, and that it's the luck of the draw. I know this to be true but sometimes I just wonder why I'm the lucky one. What makes me more worthy of the good luck than Charlie? Why am I always so fortunate? Why do I get my own room and steaks and lobster while Charlie gets MREs (I think) and a 16 person tent?
I don't think there is an answer for this. I worry for every one of my friends out there and for some reason I feel guilty for not being there with them.
Be safe out there.
Johnny D.
*I changed the name at the bottom because his real name is the same as mine but we all call him this
because he's a member of the Vietcong. Jk Charlie.
