New Digs

Old Digs - the tent

Me and 35 of my newest friends

  The military has downsized my living quarters big time. I finally got to move out of the big ol' tent I was in with 35 of my newest friends down to a little 10' x 30' trailer with just one roommate. I haven't met him yet, but gathered he is a Navy Ensign (O-1) from his uniform hanging on the wall. This is a good thing as I get to order him around to clean the floors and do my laundry whenever I want (I'm an O-4, Major). Just kiddin' I would never do that - that's definitely not his job.

In 3-4 months I should be able to move into my own room - one with a bathroom and shower in it. Right now I have to walk a couple CLUs down to a common bathroom/shower trailer. We are asked to take 'combat' showers (wet down, wash, rinse) to save water, which is hard to dispose of as they didn't plumb this place right.

The CLU life - 2 beds and a desk area

The grey and black water are mixed and we're in danger of overflowing the system. Oddly enough they have no trouble producing enough water. Today I have to run over to the internet store and order me up some service; it's a bit expensive, but worth it to be able to be in touch better - hopefully I'll blog a bit more for ya. It's a crazy schedule with working 12 hour shifts and the 9 hour time difference to Texas; that works out to a 10pm to 10am CST shift - pretty good, especially on the weekends. My time I go to bed around 9pm in order get up at 4:30am to call back home (7:30pm CST).

As I've mentioned before the air here is terrible. I don't know if I have a cold/sinus infection, allergies or if the pollution/dust, but my upper respiratory and sinus are giving me a fit - coughs and runny nose. I think I'm gonna wear a surgical mask at night to see if that helps. Despite that I've been doing regular workouts every morning after I call home. There is a group that meets for an hour and does the 'Insanity' videos. They're pretty tough, but are great for getting a thorough workout in minimum time. I'm not in great condition so keeping up is tough, but I'll get there in no time - surprisingly I'm better than most. This is one thing a deployment is good for... getting my butt to the gym. Anyway, I've gotta run off to work here in 15 minutes. See ya.