Life In Da Hood...

Hello, everyone. Another week has passed and only 23 more to go. UGH!

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I have written, so this journal is long overdue. For the most part, things here are going well. I have been working Noon to Midnight and getting adjusted to a schedule and to the routine here. By the time I get home, it's typically 12:30, I unwind for an hour or so and then go to bed. I find myself sleeping more here than I do when I'm home, which is kind of surprising. During my previous deployments, that was not the case. Overall, I think I am just lacking motivation, overall. Which, is a reflection in the number of journals I have written. I think about it often, start to write it, but I lose interest after a few minutes. I would claim "writer's block", but to be honest it's more of laziness. Hopefully things will change in the near future.

Anyway, I thought this entry I would talk more about living and working conditions here at lovely COB Speicher. First off, my physical address is 512 Sherman Lane. On the surface, it sounds like a nice subdivision. Good strong name (named after the former US General) with the nearest cross street being MacArthur Lane, another strong name after a military General. But if this sounds like your average quaint subdivision, I assure you, it is not.

Our house, affectionately referred to by the team is "the crack house" because it looks like one of those rundown houses that you see DEA drug busts on COPS. Believe it or not, we do have one of the nicer homes in "da hood". We have a cinder block wall around our front yard, which includes two date palm trees and a paved driveway. The cinder block wall hides the HMMV (Hummer) that sits in the front yard, rarely ever driven. The doors have been removed because one of our field engineers was stuck inside and unable to open them. Phil was forced to "burn" his way out of the vehicle, burning 550 chord that was being used to secure the back hatch. As a result, in a matter of security and defiance, the doors were removed and now sit on the ground next to the vehicle.

The house itself is 3 bedrooms, a common area (living room) and another room that has been "converted" into a 4th bedroom. There is no indoor plumbing. My 3 roommates are 3 of my co-workers, while the 4th person I work with lives in the CHU (Container Housing Unit) which is a fancy word for a 12x12 trailer. The one advantage to life in the crackhouse is private internet in our rooms. Of course, this luxury comes at a cost of about $100 per month. Unfortunately, "choice of vendors" is not a luxury we are able to take advantage of around here. To put it in the words of my niece & nephews, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!".

Because our house does not have indoor plumbing, we are forced to use the port-a-john across the street. The shower is about a 2-block walk from the house. On nice days, it's not too bad. But on rainy days (as it was Thursday), it really makes you question whether walking on a muddy dirt road is worth the effort when you will have to walk back on that muddy dirt road after getting out of the shower. Not to mention, when the temperature is over 100 degrees (as it will be relatively soon).

Life in the CHU's is no better, really. The walk to the bathroom is much closer (approximately 50-75 yards), but there is no internet available there and life is typically much noisier. This is especially true if you happen to be a night time worker and are hoping to sleep during the day. Of course, this assessment comes from George Jelly, our co-worker who lives in that area. The CHU's are about 6-7 blocks from the crackhouse, so we are all in the same general area.

The laundry is 2 blocks beyond the showers and right on the way to work. Turnaround time for laundry is 2 days, meaning if you drop off on Monday, you can pick up on Wednesday. This is critical information as you want to make sure you have 2 good days worth of clean clothes before dropping off. The service is pretty good, overall. Fortunately, no one cares that your shirts are terribly wrinkled, which is the only thing that has prevented me from purchasing an iron and ironing board from the PX.

A block away from the laundry facility is the PX Shoppette. I suppose some of you have no idea what a PX is. PX stands for Post Exchange, and it can best be described as a Super Wal-Mart crammed into a Circle-K. Naturally, that means that some days you can get paper towels, magazines, and other daily necessities. Other times, you're just out of luck. The key to finding what you need at the PX is frequent visits. (And no, I'm not just saying that to justify my reasons for going regularly!). Seriously, once the much needed items come in, word spreads fast and the shelves empty quickly. Of course, there is always a plethora of junk food (of which I have remained pretty good at staying away from), lots of CD's and DVD's (fortunately I have tons of both) and a LOT of surge protectors and power strips (all with the wrong type of outlet, naturally).

I did walk through the electronics section one day and noticed they had Nindendo DS's for sale. This caught my eye just because I know my daughters want one. So curiously, I went to look at what game selection they had. Naturally, I couldn't find any. So I went to the staff and asked them where they kept the DS games. They informed me, they didn't have any and likely would not be getting any more in. So I asked them if the DS came with games, to which they responded "no". I found this very odd that they would stock a product that was dependent on something else that they did not stock. So, I asked them. "Why would you stock the game player if you don't stock games for it"? They didn't have a good answer for me. (DUH!). So I followed up that question with the comment "I guess you just expect that the people will buy their games online and have them shipped here?". They must have thought this was a fantastic idea, because the salesman excitedly informed me "but you can buy the game player from us!". Somehow, I got the feeling they weren't catching my drift.

Anyway, the PX shoppette is about 1/3 the size of the PX and there are some things you can find there that you can't find at the PX (like light bulbs, WD-40 and hangars). I think they like to play the "how do you keep an Army soldier busy game", because when you ask them if they have it, they will send you do the main PX. Of course, when you go to the main PX and they don't have it, they will send you to the shoppette. This has kept many a young Army private very busy, I would suspect. ;-)

Another 3-4 blocks from the PX Shoppette is the North DFAC where I have the majority of my meals so far (aside from the 2 times I have had Pizza Hut from the main PX). The best thing about this DFAC is REAL PLATES (well, plastic, but not paper at least) and REAL SILVERWARE! I have to tell you, this was a significant shock when I discovered this upon arriving here. Every other DFAC I have been to used styrophome plates and plastic silverware. It might seem silly and trivial, but sitting down to eat with "normal" dinner ware really makes you feel better about the meal in general. Other than the dining utensils, the food is not that bad. This DFAC is never going to make the 5-star dining lists, and you would never mistake a DFAC cook for Chef Emeril, but as OIF DFAC's go, it's not bad. There is certainly an abundant selection of food and I have never been turned away hungry or thirsty.

Another 2 miles from the DFAC is the Division Main, the building where I work. The building is like a huge warehouse with "cubicles" built with 2x4's and plywood serving as the cube walls. It's funny, because in one section there is a nice size flat screen TV (being used as a news monitor) that is mounted inside a frame made of 2x4's and plywood. When I first saw it, I remarked to a co-worker that anywhere else, that would scream "white trash". Yet here, it looks pretty good! It's amazing what a little perspective will do for things. :)

There is a tradition here at MND-N (Multi-National Division - North) that when you come in, you track your time with a "Donut of Misery". I have added a few tidbits of information for your enjoyment and information. I will update it with each journal I write (assuming, of course, that I do write another one!). Actually, I am working on a website where I can post them along with some pictures. I hope to have that up after this week's Fantasy Baseball draft. (A man's gotta have priorities, you know…)

That's all for now. Hope everyone is well!