I have to apologize for taking so long to update you all, but time is short now. Currently I am working, finally, and that takes such a large portion of my time that it leaves little room for correspondence. We are working 10 hour days plus an hour for lunch and an hour for breakfast, half an hour for commuting, and the same to clean the days dust from my body sounds like it leaves 11 hours of down time but it just doesn't happen that way. We live quite a ways from any communication area, and I am still relying on the government systems for all of my communication. I am told that within a week we should have our internet connected to our rooms which will be awesome. Until then I am limited to half hour slots on a laptop in a KBR run facility for the soldiers and us.
Everything here is crazy so it's hard to know where to begin describing it. I'll start with the weather. It usually gets close to 120 F during the day and maybe down to 90 F at night, maybe a bit cooler. Dust is everywhere. Yesterday, there was no flying because of the dust cloud that surrounded us. You can still see the sun but in the morning it rises through the cloud as a yellow orb until about 9 when it turns into a blistering hot that you do everything to avoid. I have had a headache everyday I have been here. I am not sure if it is the heat, sun, hydration related, or that I gave up coffee out of inconvenience. I drink a lot of water. KBR runs a water plant and everywhere you go there are pallets of water and refrigerators full of it. I was allowed to pick my shift and I chose a mid shift, from 1300 to midnight. I though I would get away from the heat for part of the day and not mess up my clock completely. The heat is inescapable, though. The dust covers everything outside and most everything inside. It dries out my nose and will make me cough on the bad days. I keep on asking, "Who lives in this place?" To which my roommate, Mike, answers, "You do." I cannot believe that people would choose to live in an environment so hostile.
Well, I should get back to see if anyone wants to grab dinner. Today is my day off and I commandeered one of the company vehicles to chat with you all. I hope you are all well and I look forward to seeing you soon,
Cliff
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6 comments:
I will not complain about our heat. You sound like you are doing okay. All is well on this end.
Momster
Do you have a postal address yet? Can I send you a care package? Is there anything in particular that you want or need?
Amazing. Good to read your experiences. Must admit I was almost afraid to. Besides - this is my first ever, about anything, blog(or, rather,blog response). I hope you are able to keep having a blog. Somehow it seems good, even to hear about how dusty and hot things are there. At least you're not sugar-coating (I hope)
Kathie
where have i been??? kim told me to read your blog and am sorry i haven't kept up with you...i will be thinking of you...and miss you...
heat, sand, wind; boy I don't miss all that fun. The one thing good about it is that when you come back to WI and it is 100 degrees it really dosn't feel that hot. (I always hated hearing WI folks complaing of heat-I mean come on it is WI)
I do remember going on a few missions to Speicher. I have really only been to the staging yard and I think the MWR and of course the chow hall. (I also took a TCN to the TMC-as he split his head open with a crow bar)
I enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to hearing more.
Michelle
Good to hear that you are able to tolerate things so far. Those temps sounds dreadful and the dust sounds even worse. Do you need a pair of swimming goggles to keep all the dust out of your eyes?
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