Day 35
Just got off watch. Things went well enough. A fairly uneventful watch. I guess we’re going to four sections. More time off between watches. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Too much time off and time slows to an absolute crawl. We’ll see.
Still living in what they call the Fest Tent with about 60 other guys. Supposedly we will be moving into smaller tents with only eight to ten people per with a little more space and the opportunity to put up some walls and personalise it a little bit. I’m not holding my breath. I’ve resigned myself to living in the Fest Tent for another 150 or 160 days. I’ve got the routine down so it’s not too bad. There’s quite a bit of stuff that I brought or bought but can’t get to because it lies at the bottom of a bag somewhere.
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the air quality here. As I’ve mentioned before, Camp Spearhead sits in the middle of an industrial area. There are stacks with continually burning flames all around us. To those who haven’t seen oil refineries before, they are scary looking things. But in the end, there is nothing noticeable in the air here the vast majority of the time. Occasionally there’s a bad smell but little more than that. On the whole, it appears to me to be no worse than some areas of Torrance or Long Beach, California. At any rate, I guess there’s a lot of complaining about it because the command spends a fair about of energy explaining to us what they are doing about it. Which is mostly nothing. We get paper and cloth masks to wear which will keep the particle matter out of our respiratory systems. We have been issued a few canisters for our gas masks ñ a few meaning not every one gets one ñ that will protect us against the industrial stuff that might be found here; gaseous stuff like chlorine, ammonia etc.
Most of this stems from the fact that bulk sulphur is being loaded on to a ship on the same pier where the military equipment is being loaded on to RO/ROs. Airborne sulphur dust is nasty stuff. Stinks, makes you cough, makes your eyes water and in some cases, makes you puke. Medical tells us that it has no long term affects. Yeah, whatever. In short, it turns out that being in the rear with the gear has its own risks and dangers.
Following up yesterday’s long ramble on the Japanese hostages, there are some reports that they will be set free, there are reports that there has been no word. I have to wonder if the animals didn’t figure out that they were in way over their head. I have to wonder if we won’t find the three Japanese out on a desolate road some where with no one around. That would be consistent with the cowardly acts of animals.
And lastly, to my family who I know read this every day. I was listening to music as I wrote this entry and Mele Ohana by Keali`i Reichel came on. It speaks clearly of my own feelings for you. We are ohana. I love you guys. I miss you terribly.
Happy Easter everyone. He is still risen.
Aloha