Off the FOB

19 August 2009

I'm off the FOB! I'm out of Iraq! Still in the Middle East and will be for a while, but at least now I'm surrounded by sand and not dust. It's not that much better though. I'm in Kuwait to manage the out loading of all our equipment. It's a painful process because people with nothing better to do than make up annoying rules are ultimately in charge. We have to brief the Army daily on our progress and jump through hoop after hoop to get things coordinated. We have to work with Air Force, Navy, and civilian contractors to accomplish the out load. Sounds like it should be somewhat straight forward after so many years of hundreds of units redeploying, but I'm pretty sure it's more difficult now than it was six years ago.

Leaving Iraq was bitter sweet. On the one hand it was my home for 10 months. Not my favorite home, but it was the longest place I'd lived in years. It's also hard up-rooting after getting into such a rhythm. I woke up at the same time everyday, went to work the same time, had the same meetings every day, ate almost the same food every day, saw the same people every day, planned the same thing every day. You get stuck in a rut and it's hard to get out.

We turned our weapons in because I don't need it here in Iraq. I feel naked now walking outside with out it. Every morning when I leave my tent I feel like I'm forgetting something and I have to say, Caitlin, you turned it in! You didn't lose it! It's a little irritating. And speaking of tents, I've up-graded from a shipping container to a tent. May not sound like an up-grade but it kind of is. The bathroom is for sure! I also live all alone now in a 14 person tent because I'm the only female from my unit here. It's a little lonely but amazingly enough I ran into two of my friends from Korea here, so now I have some more female conpanionship.

I'm in Arifjan Kuwait now which is a lot like Korea in many ways. It's not the most glamorous place to be, you live in temporary places, and even when you're 'off duty' you're not really off duty. It's more like Korea here than Iraq also because in Iraq we had one place to eat, port-o-potties every 50 feet, and barriers everywhere to control any explosions that may take place. In Kuwait there are multipul places to eat, to include several fast food places, (I'm currently in a Starbucks!), the PX sells more than axe body spray and Maxium, the only sand bags are here to hold down the tent sides, and the port-o-potties are more like real bathrooms than our 'real' bathrooms in Iraq were.

The FOB we were on in Iraq was so small that you get used to seeing the same people every day. You know you can walk anywhere you need to within 20 minutes, and the only people on the FOB are in your unit or attached to your unit. When we flew out we stopped in Balad which is one of the bigger remaning FOBs in Northern Iraq. I felt like a farm girl going to the big city. It was actually a little overwhelming. We had to take the bus first of all to get to the main part of the FOB from where we stayed. There was a movie theater that held more people than our dining facility in Iraq, and there were more Air Force people walking around than Army. Not that I'm against the Air Force, they have fighter piolts that fly over the area I was in and keep us safe, but they have much more relaxed standards than we do and it gets old seeing them hanging out while we're all in full uniform.

It's amazing for me to think this year is up, mainly because I look back and think wow, an entire year of my life is gone! Again! I hit three years in the Army last spring and I've spent it all in trashed out countries or Texas. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I should have a good 2 years in Alaska before I have to move again, then we'll see what's in store for me.

Thanks for all of you who have said hi while I've been over here. I'm glad the year is almost up! Another chapter is about to start!

I know I've been saying this for a year, but I really do think I'll be able to get pictures up now, so keep a look out for that!