In Iraq

I landed in Iraq safe and sound the other day and I am now getting settled in and recovering from jet-lag.  We are processing into the base, getting acclimatized, getting settled in and learning where everything is. 

It is odd how "normal" everything here seems.  Nothing too interesting going on here. 

Yom Kippur

I arrived in Kuwait safe and sound though a bit hungry. I did kol nidre in Leibsig, Germany, broke the fast in camp Buherig, Kuwait on powerade and a Cliff Bar, and had a real meal in Ali Al-Salem, Kuwait. The fast was shorter than normal since I travelled west through about six time zones.  It is pretty hot here in Kuwait, but manageable. I'll keep you posted.  

PS I just opened my first non-alcoholic beer . . . with my 9mm. Surreal.

In Maine

We are now on a quick stopover in Bangor Maine.  Last place in the US I'll be seeing in a while.

Keeping busy

Looks like I won't have time or internet access for a few days, so blogging will be light. All is well. Have a Shabbat shalom and an easy fast.

5K RUN

This morning 15 members of our unit participated in the base's 5K run.  Despite the rain, it was still a lot of fun. We ran around the base's helipad.  It was cool seeing a bunch of Marine Ospreys sitting on the field. 

 

Otherwise, we do not have a lot going on so soldiers are finding ways of keeping themselves occupied.  

 

One thing we did was have an ongoing "drama" involving a lawn ornament that was "kidnapped" and re-kidnapped a  number of times.  It was a ceramic gnome with a Boston Red Sox outfit.  The HHC commander thought he would make a good mascot, but many of the New York members of the unit took umbrage.  I played "Dr. Zevil" in a number of episodes of the "ransom" and "re-education" films involving the gnome.  If it sounds bizarre, it is.  I am not sure I understand it either, but it seemed to be good for morale. 

 

Library

I am now in Camp Atterbury Indiana where they have a rather unusual library.  Apparently you can borrow up to 10 books a week.  The catch is that you just don't ever have to return them. That's my kind of library.  

Pass

I am now enjoying a brief few days on pass in New York. It is good to be here one last time before I leave. It is nice to see as many friends and family as I can. Have a shana tova everyone.

Inglourious Mamzerim

The other day we were given the afternoon to go to the mall in nearby Greenwood. Myself and three other officers saw Inglourious Basterds. Highly recommended.

Food update

Today there was nothing I could eat in the DFAC (except corn) so I tried the La Briute self-heating kosher Vegetable Beef Stew in Gravy.  I liked it much better than the last meal I tried a few days ago. I would have this again.  

However, I am a bit puzzled as to why they include powdered soup in all the packages.  To make the soup you have to be able to boil water.  If you could boil water you could make food that required boiling and would be much hotter than you can get with the self-heating meals.  There is some good kosher packaged Indian food, for example, that only requires boiling.  So it seems pointless to include the soup.  

The meals come with cookies too.  The cookies are made by Zomick's by the way.  They are edible, but just OK.  Zomick's could do better.  I know.  I've tasted their stuff.  

I think that next time however, I will try to use an army MRE flameless heater to heat the meal instead of the included one.  the meal did not get as hot as I would have liked.  I think the army's heaters are better (surprisingly). I let you know how that works out.  I might try using both the army's and the included one at the same time.  Also, the Army's MRE meals come in aluminum bags which conduct heat better and these come in plastic containers.  So that might be why MREs get heated better.  I will have to do some experimenting with this.  

UPDATE 17 SEP 2009: I just remembered, Jews in Green did a comparison of different kosher MRE-like foods a few years back. Here is what they wrote up.

Go Colts!

The army let us spend the afternoon at a local sporting event.  So far its pretty fun.

USO

Today was an off day.  We had a few small tasks to accomplish, but not much to do.  We sat around a lot.  We packed all our stuff up and then unpacked it all. (Don't ask.)

Tonight, I am writing this from the USO in Camp Atterbury Indiana.  Given the limited computer resources that my unit has, the USO has been invaluable.  Since we are confined to the base most of the time, the USO is a nice place to get away from it all. They have snacks, internet access, some pool tables and a TV.  Many of us owe them our gratitude.  Thanks. 

Down time

First, to alleviate any worries, I have not lost much weight here yet. I'm fine. I eat lots of cookies and cereal and salad and peanut butter and things like that.

Second, we are more or less done with our training requirements here. We now are taking care of a lot of details and things that have to get done before we leave. We are starting to have some more down-time.

We have been sitting in classrooms a lot lately, and also going to some indoor simulated driving and shooting ranges. They all resembled large very expensive video games, but slightly less exciting.

Otherwise not much to report. I'm still here in Indiana looking forward to a relatively relaxing weekend.

Meat

Today it is raining here and I was not in the mood to go to the DFAC for lunch so I tried the kosher Salisbury steak La Briute self-heating meals. It was the first meat I have eaten in about 6 weeks.

The heating  element is almost the same as those in the army MREs, so it did warm up the meal. The food itself was only OK. The meat tasted very processed and the potatoes were decent. It was not a great meal, but it was satisfying enough in a pinch. I will try some of the others to see if they will prove better.  I hope I don't have to go through the year in Iraq meatless, though it has not been too bad so far.

When I finally do arrive in country I will have to work out some better food plan. (Hint, hint ;)

Good week

It has been a busy week. A lot of proverbial dust is settling and we have a better understanding of how our mission will go.  We are starting to properly train our soldiers for their jobs in theater. They are now relearning the computer systems they will be operating overseas.  We are more or less done with the general theater-wide required traing that is of little relevance to most of us. I feel pretty good about how things are going.

I've been feeling a bit sluggish though. I'm told that's a normal reaction to the small pox vaccine we were given last week.