Jordan - Email Update #3

Groundhog Day

With so little to see and do the exercise is a little like the movie "Groundhog Day" - that movie where Bill Murray replays the same day over and over until he gets it right.

I wake up around 6.  Walk about 299 steps to the bathroom trailer.  Walk 20 steps to the shower trailer.  Shower. Walk back to the tent.  Walk 311 steps to the dining tent.  Eat.  Walk to work (stopped counting).  The day consists of checking emails, sending emails, watching the game play, watching how people react to the game play, taking notes and then heading to lunch.  After lunch the whole cycle repeats itself so you get the effect of working two days in one.  At 4:45ish I get dressed for a run into the hills outside of the living area.  When I get back I shower, change into Khakis and a shirt and head to dinner.  After that I may return to the gameplay just to see what's going on.  Either way I am back in the tent by 8 and in bed by 9.  And the day repeats the next morning.

I have met some good people here.  Being a "Full Bird" Colonel puts people off at first.  Colonels fall into two types (or so I am learning).  The first group are those who think that they were bestowed with this rank by the great warrior gods themselves and as such are entitled to be total assholes to the people around them.  "What do you mean we only have instant coffee here?!  Goddammit Soldier go find me some real brewed coffee!  Now! How do you expect me to make General if I can't think clearly without some caffeine!" The other type believe that they earned their rank through their own hard work and the teamwork of others and try to keep the ego from getting too inflated.  I am in the latter group.  I try to be easy going and talk to people.  It seems to working so far.

Anyway.

It is another fine day here.  The heat passed a few days ago bringing much cooler weather and strong winds.  Big wisps of dust lift off the ground and head east.  Because we live in tents the whipping wind creates a drumming effect on the fabric - except there isn't a steady beat.

There are feral dogs all over this place.  And they are nocturnal.  They avoid human contact (and it is well advised we avoid theirs) but remain on the fringes of humanity in order to raid a trash can or other scraps.  They are flea ridden and mangy.  Perhaps because of the weather, they lay low during the day and come out night to - PARTY.  Holy smokes - the barking is incessant from dusk to dawn.  I can't believe that no one from the JAF hasn't gone out to eliminate these animals a pestilence since they are clearly not pets.

My free time is spent reading.  There's not enough bandwidth to stream shows - maybe youtube stuff.  I've read two books so far and found copies of "Their Finest Hours" and the real life story about the ship that Moby Dick is based. 

The exercise rolls along. 

I went for a run further out into the desert last night - far enough to feel the isolation and desolation of this region.  However - I hope to get off the base in a day or two and see another side of the country.  We'll see.