I mentioned in my previous blog that I’m working noon to midnight. There are a few exceptions, but pretty much everybody on a military deployment like this works at least a 12-hour day. For many, it’s more like 14 or 15. I work a shift; the job I do is a 24-hour a day job, so I head out the door when the other shift comes in. All that to say that I rarely have to work beyond my 12 hours because someone else is there to take over.
That being said, writing about my free time shouldn’t take too much time, right?
Many of the people that I work with here are Special Forces (SF) guys, so this place has an ingrained culture of fitness. As a result, people spend a lot of time at the gym, and so do I. It’s a good stress reliever, and hey, I’m at the age now where I’m fighting the battle of the bulge. You can imagine that these SF guys are some monsters in the gym, so I consider myself the comedic entertainment. I haven’t seriously lifted weights for years, but I’m starting here, trying to get stronger. The other day I decided to bench press. Although I can run and bike, I’ve never had a strong upper body. You can see where this is going right? It’s like a scene from a Mr. Bean movie or something! For those of you that don’t know, the bar itself is 45 pounds. Not wanting to hurt myself and having no idea where to start, I put about 20 more pounds on, 10 on each side. Those are LITTLE weights. When it was all said and done, I was able to lift about 105 pounds about six times! I wish I had a picture, because it was comical: me struggling, the bar, and three LITTLE weights on each side. I bet I was the subject of some stories the next day. Oh well, you’ve got to start somewhere, right? I’ve decided to abandon all pride and just go for it. By the way, the next night I saw my Lieutenant (three inches shorter and about the same weight) benching around 260. Hmmmm…
Another exercise outlet for me is the pool. I’m very happy to be able to swim laps over here. I have to get in our team vehicle and drive over to the main side of base, but it’s worth it. The pool is an Olympic-sized outdoor pool that evidently was a training pool for the Iraqis before we got here. It’s really nice. I try to make it over there three times a week in the morning. I wouldn’t want to go in the afternoon anyway, it would be too hot. It’s hot enough when I’m there at 10:30am. Since it’s a military pool in a forward-deployed area, there are several signs posted that females must wear a one-piece suit, and any violations will result in suspension of pool privileges. Every time I go there several of the loungers are occupied by girls in their bikinis working on their tans. For some reason, I never see anyone enforcing the “one-piece” suit rule.
At the end of my day I spend time in the computer/phone lab. There is usually a line, but phones or computers are available usually within 15 minutes or so. The line is a result of a lack of wireless internet around here. There’s also no internet available in the CHUs, so the computer lab is the one place to get connected. It’s nice to have since I’m able to call Jennifer either on the phone or better yet, on Skype, every single night (afternoon for her). I don’t know how we survived those submarine days with NO contact for a couple months. At home Jennifer and I spend half our lives on the computer, or so it seems, but with the internet only available at the lab, that’s not the case here.
I’ve got a pile of books lined up to read and I’m starting to wonder if I’ll get through them. By the time I’m crawling into bed, it’s because I’m tired and ready to sleep, and when I get up, it’s because I have to be somewhere. I think a little reading before bed would do me some good, because then maybe I’ll dream about that instead of the crazy work-related dreams that I usually have!
There’s really not much else to tell in the “free time” department. Most of my social time comes from the fellow Chief Petty Officers around here. They are a good bunch of people and easy to talk to so a 20-minute meal time often becomes an hour. Hey, nobody is in a hurry to get back to work, right?
Marc
12 June 2009
05 June 2009
"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house." - George Carlin
My House
I live in a “CHU” and as you can guess that’s just another military acronym. Oddly enough, I haven’t found anyone that knows what the “C” stands for, although they are sure that the “HU” stands for Housing Unit. Cubicle maybe?? This room that I’ll call home for the next five months isn’t too bad. It’s designed to house two people, but I’m senior enough that I’ll have it all to myself.
It’s roughly 18 feet long and seven feet wide: 125 square feet of my own space… far better than the 12 or 14 square feet that I could call my own on the submarine! I’ve only seen two other rooms other than my own, and it appears the “equipment” in the room varies. It depends on what the last guy left for you, or sold to you, or what you may have managed to get from someone else when they left to go home. I’m lucky enough to have a small refrigerator, as I’ve discovered only a few people have. I have two twin beds, two lockers (think high school size lockers), two wood three-drawer cabinets, and two four-drawer plastic cabinet things (like the ones you buy in Walmart in the storage aisle). The coup de gras is the leather desk chair. I have no idea how it got here or where it came from, because I have no desk. But hey, it’s a comfy chair!
I have my laptop that I’m typing on now, although no internet connection here in my room. I’ll explain more about that at a later time but for now I’ll stay focused on my accommodations. I paid the last guy $50 for a third, fourth, or fifth generation 15” TV hooked up to a DVD player. There is a cable coming in from the outside that is hooked to the TV, but I think it’s a tease; there’s nothing coming through that cable. So basically the TV is just for watching DVD movies.
The floor is a lovely (haha) linoleum that will be a challenge to keep clean. It’s impossible to keep the dust and dirt out (this place is nothing but sand, dust, and gravel – more on that later, too). I have one small throw rug that was already here, and I bought another one (they have them at the military PX) to help cover the floor. A lamp would be nice, but I have to make due with two fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Fluorescent light is nice for the garage, not for the bedroom or the living room (in my case it’s all the same).
I have a window, although I keep the rolontons (sp?) closed all the time. It’s 110 during the day so I’m not anxious for any sun to make its way in here, especially since it starts to come up at about 0445. I’m working noon to midnight so I prefer to stay asleep a little longer than that!
That’s about it I think… I have electricity, 220 voltage, but the $50 I paid also include a few converters so that I can plug in my laptop, charge my iPod, and plug in the alarm clock that came with the $50, too. I almost forgot the most important thing, which of course is the air conditioner. It never shuts off. Ever. If I lived in this climate without AC (as most Iraqis do), quite frankly, I wouldn’t do a damn thing during the day. It was running like a champ when I moved in, then they pulled it out of the wall one day to power wash the whole thing. I’m convinced it doesn’t work as well anymore (go figure), but it still does the job.
This “CHU”, like all the others, is a “dry CHU”, which means I have to go outside to go to the shower or the bathroom. It’s not far – 30 seconds away. The showers are okay, like the shower in a nice campground, if that makes any sense at all. I’ve been here for and few weeks and had hot water all but two days. I know, you’re probably thinking, “Why would you take a hot shower when it’s 110 out?” I’m weird like that. No matter how hot it is I can’t stand taking a cold shower! Since writing this part of the blog, I discovered (with amusement) that I never had to shower without hot water; I just happened to be in the stall with the control knobs reversed and I didn’t know it!
Lastly, my “CHU” is surrounded by concrete walls that they call “T walls” because of their shape. EVERYTHING is surrounded by concrete. I guess concrete is the new sandbags. For the first few years of presence here, this base was known throughout Iraq as “Mortaritaville” because of the high frequency of mortar attacks from the bad guys. It still happens occasionally, but only a couple of times a month. And when I say mortar attack, I mean one, two, or three homemade mortars lobbed in an indiscriminate direction toward the base. I don’t mean to minimize it, because it’s still dangerous and people can still get hurt. But it’s rare now. I don’t know when the last time that someone was hurt in an attack here, but I think it’s been quite awhile. There are concrete bunkers scattered around the housing units, but I’ve never had the unfortunate occasion of using one.
So that’s my house in a nutshell (well, a CHU).
Marc
P.S. I took some pics, but I'm having mucho problems trying to upload them to the blog. Any advice from you other bloggers would be much appreciated. It seems to get hung up after I browse to the picture and hit "upload". It doesn't get past "sending request to blogger.com".
I live in a “CHU” and as you can guess that’s just another military acronym. Oddly enough, I haven’t found anyone that knows what the “C” stands for, although they are sure that the “HU” stands for Housing Unit. Cubicle maybe?? This room that I’ll call home for the next five months isn’t too bad. It’s designed to house two people, but I’m senior enough that I’ll have it all to myself.
It’s roughly 18 feet long and seven feet wide: 125 square feet of my own space… far better than the 12 or 14 square feet that I could call my own on the submarine! I’ve only seen two other rooms other than my own, and it appears the “equipment” in the room varies. It depends on what the last guy left for you, or sold to you, or what you may have managed to get from someone else when they left to go home. I’m lucky enough to have a small refrigerator, as I’ve discovered only a few people have. I have two twin beds, two lockers (think high school size lockers), two wood three-drawer cabinets, and two four-drawer plastic cabinet things (like the ones you buy in Walmart in the storage aisle). The coup de gras is the leather desk chair. I have no idea how it got here or where it came from, because I have no desk. But hey, it’s a comfy chair!
I have my laptop that I’m typing on now, although no internet connection here in my room. I’ll explain more about that at a later time but for now I’ll stay focused on my accommodations. I paid the last guy $50 for a third, fourth, or fifth generation 15” TV hooked up to a DVD player. There is a cable coming in from the outside that is hooked to the TV, but I think it’s a tease; there’s nothing coming through that cable. So basically the TV is just for watching DVD movies.
The floor is a lovely (haha) linoleum that will be a challenge to keep clean. It’s impossible to keep the dust and dirt out (this place is nothing but sand, dust, and gravel – more on that later, too). I have one small throw rug that was already here, and I bought another one (they have them at the military PX) to help cover the floor. A lamp would be nice, but I have to make due with two fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Fluorescent light is nice for the garage, not for the bedroom or the living room (in my case it’s all the same).
I have a window, although I keep the rolontons (sp?) closed all the time. It’s 110 during the day so I’m not anxious for any sun to make its way in here, especially since it starts to come up at about 0445. I’m working noon to midnight so I prefer to stay asleep a little longer than that!
That’s about it I think… I have electricity, 220 voltage, but the $50 I paid also include a few converters so that I can plug in my laptop, charge my iPod, and plug in the alarm clock that came with the $50, too. I almost forgot the most important thing, which of course is the air conditioner. It never shuts off. Ever. If I lived in this climate without AC (as most Iraqis do), quite frankly, I wouldn’t do a damn thing during the day. It was running like a champ when I moved in, then they pulled it out of the wall one day to power wash the whole thing. I’m convinced it doesn’t work as well anymore (go figure), but it still does the job.
This “CHU”, like all the others, is a “dry CHU”, which means I have to go outside to go to the shower or the bathroom. It’s not far – 30 seconds away. The showers are okay, like the shower in a nice campground, if that makes any sense at all. I’ve been here for and few weeks and had hot water all but two days. I know, you’re probably thinking, “Why would you take a hot shower when it’s 110 out?” I’m weird like that. No matter how hot it is I can’t stand taking a cold shower! Since writing this part of the blog, I discovered (with amusement) that I never had to shower without hot water; I just happened to be in the stall with the control knobs reversed and I didn’t know it!
Lastly, my “CHU” is surrounded by concrete walls that they call “T walls” because of their shape. EVERYTHING is surrounded by concrete. I guess concrete is the new sandbags. For the first few years of presence here, this base was known throughout Iraq as “Mortaritaville” because of the high frequency of mortar attacks from the bad guys. It still happens occasionally, but only a couple of times a month. And when I say mortar attack, I mean one, two, or three homemade mortars lobbed in an indiscriminate direction toward the base. I don’t mean to minimize it, because it’s still dangerous and people can still get hurt. But it’s rare now. I don’t know when the last time that someone was hurt in an attack here, but I think it’s been quite awhile. There are concrete bunkers scattered around the housing units, but I’ve never had the unfortunate occasion of using one.
So that’s my house in a nutshell (well, a CHU).
Marc
P.S. I took some pics, but I'm having mucho problems trying to upload them to the blog. Any advice from you other bloggers would be much appreciated. It seems to get hung up after I browse to the picture and hit "upload". It doesn't get past "sending request to blogger.com".
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