Day 48

48. I can't wait until I have 48 hours to leave Oz. Anyway...   :-)

Back home, I think I would've cut the grass today, I would've planned to not shave for 3 days, and I would've made sure the flag pole was ready to fly half-staff on Monday, Memorial Day. Today, though? It was like any other day but I spent most of it outside the office. After a morning brief I had to give my boss, myself and a few others headed to the other side the of base to meet with the commander of the support brigade here. They manage millions and millions of dollars worth of U.S. assets here. Just think armored vehicles and everything that goes into maintaining them. From a machine shop, painting, rebuilding them, testing them, crafting new parts from sheets of steel...just about anything, they can do it. We were briefed at their headquarters then got a personal tour from the commander himself. That was impressive! Oh, how I wish I could take pictures and show and tell you everything I saw and learned. Let's just say that the U.S. government has gone through HUGE strides to protect our warfighters and coalition partners from the enemy, namely from their most favorite weapons...RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and roadside IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Amazing. After a lightning fast lunch that did nothing more for me than cure my hunger, I headed to another part of the base to talk about their relocation. This compound is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the first visit. Battle-damaged stuff comes here.  It's chopped up with plasma torches and sold as bulk metal to the local population by the pound...or kilogram. One thing shook me, though. While walking through their "junk" yard, there were several vehicles that were clearly hit by rockets or roadside bombs. Burnt...badly. It shook me because I know that fellow service-members were in them. I thought about it the rest of the day and into tonight. Ironically, it's Memorial Day weekend when we honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

Once we got back, it was already approaching dinner time and we had barely enough time to brief our boss on the meeting and return some urgent e-mails.  For dinner? Some too-freakin'-spicy shrimp and rice.  Oh my...why can't they just cook it?! Mixed veggies and mashed potatoes rounded it out.

OK, I was thinking today about things that I've grown used to over here and thought I'd share them...thought you might be amused a bit. We'll see...

- Carrying a loaded weapon at all times except for sleeping and exercising.
- Sleeping one foot from that weapon...just in case
- Poking an 1/8" hole in the top of a 200ml carton of milk and gently squeezing it out into my Special K with dried berries every morning...often squirting myself and/or the table with said milk.
- Missing all of my favorite shows because all of the streaming websites (ie: NBC, Fox, Hulu) won't allow viewing outside the United States
- A horrible internet connection...but functional.
- Drinking about 6 bottled waters per day and knowing that around every turn, there are going to be stacked pallets of them for the taking...for free. I wonder if they'll notice at the store when I return home, walk in, and take one then walk out without paying. Don't they know I need to hydrate?
- Back to the water...dumping a Starbucks Iced Via packet in a nicely chilled one...nearly my favorite iced coffee from back home...minus the ice cubes and cinnamon dulce syrup. :-)
- Daily texts from some of my very best friends and family members
- Wearing the same thing for at least 14 hours per day, 7 days per week
- Not wearing any civilian clothes....ever.
- Waking up to head in each day while family/friends at home aren't in bed yet the night before
- Watching people wake up and "check in" on Facebook while my day is mid-afternoon
- Realizing my fast-paced walk is slow compared to the local "Oz" population
- The sun rising by 4am and setting before 7:30pm
- F-16s roaring to life EVERY night after sunset...parallel to where I sleep (good thing I'm a heavy sleeper)
- Enemy rocket attacks against the base after sunset (won't ever get used to this)
- Blogging every night without fail

Three things I'll never get used to: hearing the voice of Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow over the phone. That still gets me every time...especially when the girls speak those so very simple words to me: "Hi, Daddy."

Goodnight, everyone.