Say Hello, Shappy...Hello Shappy!

Got into Taji yesterday morning after a marathon 26 hours of traveling throughout Kuwait and Iraq.  It ended with me rolling into Taji temporary billeting around 5:45 in the morning.  I then plopped down and slept until noon.  After waking up I noticed that not only did I have a huge room, but it had a shower and a toilet as well!  Using war lingo it is called a Wet CHU.  Worth its weight in gold.  No more having to put on clothes and shoes to walk to the latrine at 3am!  Yeah.  Well, I had to move out of there this morning and move into my more permanent quarters...another Wet CHU, but this time about 1/2 the size.  And the bathroom is about 1/3 the size.  Will have to see how long this lasts.  Kind of stinks a little bit, too.  Now I know why there were air fresheners everywhere in the place.

Just wanted to let everyone that cares know that I am safe and sound at Taji, just North of Baghdad.  Hopefully, I will be able to reside in someplace long enough now to receive some mail...more adventures to follow...

Later.

Say Good Bye to That One...

Said my good-byes to those that I could today.  Kind of sad that I couldn't say good-bye to everyone.  Will explain more at a later date.  This assignment, albeit short, was a great one.  Although we did not have the same amenities that you would find on some of the other big places, we had a small village feel to our little camp.  I will miss Camp Savage, and since it will be closing soon, will probably never see it again.  The dining facility was small and inviting, and everyone knew everyone else...kinda like cheers, but without all the beer, and no Norm.  We did have a Marine Major that could have been Cliff Claven, though.  Anyway...good-bye, good-bye, good-BYE!  Yeah, I know, I am no Julie Andrews...I shall never forget Shaibah Training Center, the site where I honed my first useless superpower.

Later, much later.

Dry Skin Troubles

Yesterday, my hands were so dry that a small cut on the tip of my thumb has turned into a crack the size of the Grand Canyon...the dry skin just keeps tearing and re-tearing.  Unfortunately, I forgot I had a bottle of liquid bandage, so it went on for a day.  Stuff does well to keep the skin together...just gets to looking kinda nasty after a while.  AND BURNS LIKE HELL WHILE IT FILLS IN THE CUT!  We are talking HOLD YOUR BREATH AND PASS OUT Pain.  Which I almost did.  You never realize how much you use your fingertips, especially your dominant thumb, until you get a gash of this magnitude.  The rest of my fingers are just dry.  I have pretty much emptied a trial size bottle of lubriderm in the past two days.

Well, I had my two beers last night watching the superbowl...and finally got to sleep at about 0630.  Slept until about 0900, then got up for the day.  It is 2216 now, and I need to get some quality sleep.  But I swore I would write every day if I could, so I am, damn it.  I guess I am a little cranky, too.  Glad the Saints won.  Can I get a Who Dat?  Didn't get to see any of the commercials, were they good?  Since AFN gets all of the programming for free, they aren't allowed to show any commercials, EVER!  If anyone has a good link to where they all are, please send it to me!  Maybe in a few days I will be somewhere with a faster internet connection that I can stream some of them.  Best get to bed now.

Later.

Super Sunday

Well Super Sunday is finally here...only for us it is Super Monday, actually.  The Chow hall served us Lobster Tails for dinner, and now all we have to do is wait around for 0200 to roll around and we can watch the game LIVE.   We even get to drink two "special beverages."  The lobster was actually pretty good.  The clam chowder, not so much...but edible.  They are going to be serving us hot wings during the game...I know what everyone is thinking, but these wings are actually pretty good.   They make Turkey wings as well, sometimes, which are equally as good.  The mystery right now is if they will show the commercials during the superbowl here...we are watching it on AFN, and they don't show the normal commercials.  We shall have to see.

Been getting massive amounts of emails all day from the guy I am replacing at the new place I am going.  Cryptic, yes, but I don't want to put myself in harms way unnecessarily.  I can talk about it once I get there.  Loose lips sink ships, and all that jazz.  Going to catch a few zzz's before the big game now.

Later.

Is this your final Answer?

Just got the word today that I will, indeed, be moving to a new location next week.  Seems like I just got here to Shaibah Training Center, and off I go again.  The Air Force really does need a frequent flyer program.  Hopefully all of my baggage will be allowed to go.  They "Say" that I am only allowed two bags.  Anyway, got up early for a COB run to Basrah.  Uneventful, but did get a slice of Pizza Hut pizza and a Blue Monster to drink while I was there.  I still like our dining facility better than the two giant ones at Basrah.  At least I will get to watch the Superbowl here with the guys that I have come to know over the past week or so.  It would have sucked to watch the game in some air terminal somewhere...and missed out on my two "special beverage" provisions.

Not much else to write about today, except that I learned how to book plane reservations in the Air Force system.  Pretty easy once you get the hang of it.  That's it for now.

Later Gators.