Life in JBB - Showers

As Army showers go, the ones we have here are pretty ordinary.  We not not have plumbing in our CHUs, so one must leave their CHU if they want to use one of them.  The showers are in large trailers that have about 12 sinks and 12 showers, each shower covered by a cheap and rather uninteresting shower curtain.  Yes, they are in ordinary free-standing trailers and there are lots of them around the post, especially near the living quarters, though some are in pretty random places.

 

To get to the trailers closest to me, I have leave my CHU and walk about 2 minutes across a large gravel lot.  When I go to shower I usually wear flip-flops and Army Shorts and an Army T-shirt. The walk is very annoying for a lot of reasons.  First, flip-flops and gravel don't go well together.  Second, if it has just rained, flip-flops and mud and puddles really don't mix.  This is especially true for the way back after I have showered and have to return back to my room by slogging through all mud again.  Third, sometimes it is just cold and who wants to go leave the building in the cold to shower? And who wants to walk back in the cold after a shower? 

 

The trailers are almost always clean.  And while that is a good thing, they are always clean because there is always someone there cleaning them.  There is always a TCN (third-country national) trying to wipe down the sinks or squeegee the floors while you are there.  They are really polite and don't get in the way, but they are always there.

 

There is usually hot water, but not always. Once in a while I was forced to make do with a cold shower.  But that's rare.  It is also pretty rare that you have to wait for a sink or shower.  Actually, that has never happened to me.  Usually, when I go, there aren't more than three or four people using the trailer.  So it is not that bad. 

 

Now you know how I shave, shower, and brush my teeth each and every morning.