Rain!

Last night there was a brief thunderstorm - lots of lightning too.  I got caught in the storm on my way back from the shower.  It broke up the monotony.  I guess the season has begun.  It was a nice day today though. 

T'filah for the Safety of American Soldiers - by the OU

This was forwarded to me by my dad a few weeks ago. Though I am generally pretty safe here, many of us are still not. It is good to know that those still in harm's way are being thought about in shuls around the world.

Sad story

. . . here.

Groundhog Day: SITREP

Pretty soon I will start to describe some of the details of life
around here. There is not much about myself that I have to report as
my life, so far, does not change much from day to day, We have an
expression here to describe this: Groundhog Day. It is the phenomena
where each day resembles the last and after a while they all seem to
look the same. I am sure that I will find something to do that will
break up the monotony. But for now, please pardon the infrequent
posts. As I get more proficient in my job and I understand it better
there will be less to learn and more time to do other things and I
will keep shorter hours. .

Until now I will give you what we call in army parlance a SITREP
(situation report): All is well. No change from yesterday.

Jumping in head first

Since I have been here it has been pretty much non-stop work.  Lots of on the job training.  I stay on the FOB for the most part and work out of an office.  We put in 12 hour days, and don't get enough sleep.  But all in all it is not bad.  We are doing stuff that is pretty high-profile and seems to be important.  Most of my unit is training for their jobs, but the job I was given is pretty different from theirs so I just jumped right in.  There is always a lot to do and some pretty demanding people who want everything done now and done right. 

 

Everything here reminds one of a rather typical army base.  Lots of people walking around and doing their jobs.  Everyone wearing army clothing, etc.  There are concrete walls around everything, the living conditions are comfortable, but spartan. The bathrooms and showers are clean.  There is lots of food, and it is not bad. Let me know what you want to know about. 

 

I would be able to write with more frequency in the future now that my computer stuff is set up in my office.

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.