New Digs

Life here is steadily improving. Our work building is complete and we moved in so now I don’t have everyone in my office right behind me looking at what I am doing. Soon enough we will have real office furniture too but until then we will have to use our desks that double as flip cup tables.

After 5 weeks of living out in the open, I now have my own living space that is sectioned off from the rest of the tent. It is amazing that spending $20 with AAFES will give you enough material to complete enclose a living space and a rug. I would love to know what their profit margins are.

Before I deployed, I actually felt sympathy for active duty military members because they do not get paid very much. Then I learned about all the extras that they are provided with. They have one sweet deal. You won’t get rich but you are definitely not poor. I have been shocked to find out how many of these Marines spend an inordinate amount of money on cars. The vast majority of them drive brand new cars. Now we are not talking about a Chevy or Ford. They have BMWs, Lexus’, Cadillac, Lincoln, etc… On a side note, they also all rent houses or apartments and don’t really have a savings to speak of. I tried to explain that when they buy a nice car like that and then spend an additional 10 to 15 thousand dollars on it in upgrades and add-on’s, they are literally throwing money away. That advice fell on deaf ears.

We were close to having a sandstorm all week. I woke up each morning and made my way over to the head and it was a bit nippy outside and it looked like there was fog everywhere. The fog was really sand blowing everywhere. Unfortunately the wind never kicked up enough to cause a sandstorm but visibility has been down to about 50 yards all week.

I have known for quite some time that I am a difficult person to live with (ask Jess, Chris, Brad and Andy) but I think I have tried to always be courteous. One of the individuals in my tent is less than courteous and I felt the need to tell him that. Now this individual is a Navy Chief and he has 26 years in the Navy. Basically he is middle management and he is kind of bitter about it because he is at the end of his career. Now Chief thought it would be a good idea to put his hands on my stuff and move it without my knowledge. Anyone who knows me would know that this is not a good idea. Chief dodged me for the better part of a day and then finally I found him. Chief tried to tell me how he was right and I was wrong but rather quickly into the conversation I unleashed on him. Needless to say, he hasn’t talked to me since that conversation, he hasn’t touched anything that is mine and he conceded that he was in the wrong to everyone but me. Chief really didn’t like it when I pointed out to him that everyone in the tent outranks him but one person. I guess, there is something about a 26 year old outranking him that really got his blood pressure up.

One of the unique things about being out here is that I share my tent with a guy named Richard, Jim and Eric. That is unique to me because my grandfathers name is Richard, my father’s name was Jim and my brother’s name is Eric. Even more ironic, I am currently working with a guy from Columbus, a girl from Grosse Point Farms and a guy from the metro Detroit area. That is unique because I live in Columbus, my aunt and uncle live in Grosse Point Farms, and I am from the metro Detroit area (ok…so it is way metro but it counts). Being all the way across the world in a third world country is odd but to have people around that I can talk to about home (all the places that I have lived) is truly unique.