Smittie

Got body armor?

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Day 24 Someone in supply read my blog entry about not having the proper equipment, I think (I’m actually just kidding). Yesterday with no effort on my part, I got a flak vest that fits properly. Then, an hour or so later I was told to go over to supply because they had a helmet … Read more

Lights?

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Day 23 Lights. It’s all about the lights. Turn them all on? Turn some of them on? Leave them off all the time? What do we do with the lights. A number of our senior enlisted personnel have spent the past few days trying to find a middle ground on the very complicated issue of … Read more

Another Day

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Day 22 Another day, another watch, another day with an X through it. That’s about how I look at things now. I’ve made friends with the pain of being separated from my family. For the most part, I like my job here. As I’ve stated before in this blog I firmly believe in our mission … Read more

Second Foray Into Kuwaiti Culture

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Day 21 Made another trip into Kuwaiti society today. I managed to accomplish none of the tasks I went in to do. I couldn’t open a monthly cell phone account because I don’t have a Kuwaiti civil identification. I can open a monthly cell phone account by going through the military. I will start that … Read more

Body Armor?

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Day 20 The trip to the airport to get cell phone stuff is becoming a real circus. Lots of people going just so they can get off the base and see civilian society again. I didn’t go today. I’m going tomorrow. Of course, now that I’ve threatened to spend money the Internet seems to be … Read more

Internet Options and The Weather

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Day 19 A follow on to yesterday’s rambling about internet availability out here. I’ve decided to get Internet service through my cell phone provider. MTC offers Internet via cell phone. I was hoping that the free internet offered by NCW would be enough but as I said yesterday… So, I am currently scheduled for another … Read more

Internet in the Middle of Nowhere

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Day 18 It’s kind of comical. I had this long entry about the politics of the Internet out here in the middle of nowhere written and saving when the Internet connection that I was using went down. Again. So now I’m back in the $6 an hour Internet place where the connection is reliable, fast … Read more

Music

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Day 17 Music is an interesting thing. For quite a while I listened to the music I brought with me. A lot of Hawaiian, Japanese, Jazz. But I started finding that most of it made me sad because the songs all reminded me of something about my family that I then missed. Listening to Hawaiian … Read more

Why?

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Day 16 I talked with a couple of guys who have been up in Iraq since the middle of last summer. One was a Combat Engineer, the other a supply person. Both of them talked a lot about the fighting they had seen and been a part of. The supply guy didn’t like it at … Read more

Finally, A Busy Day

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Day 15 I went out to go on watch yesterday to find two ITs, the watch officer and the commo in a huddle outside. Huh oh. That’s probably bad. “Hey guys, what’s up?” Obviously I can’t go into detail here but there were some problems that needed to be dealt with quickly and right. I … Read more