Lounging...thinking...vegging...

I’m sitting in one of those Ikea recliners in an eight foot by twenty foot metal box. It’s 5:30 in the afternoon and the air conditioner is laboring away. I’ve just been working on some briefings in my office (the eight foot by twenty foot metal container next door), and thought I’d take a little break from the mental labor.

This particular box has been made into our home away from home by the guys. A 32 inch television with a DVD player connected to surround sound speakers sits at the far end next to a small refrigerator. On top of the fridge is a microwave, with a toaster oven on top of that. All of it runs from generators that whir their white noise 24/7.

The walls on one side have a bunch of shelves to keep the food away from our new camp mascots. We’ve also got some shelves for our ever growing DVD collection. The walls on the other side are filled with the classified maps of our operating areas.

The long table near the entrance has 3 laptops sitting on it. One of them is for the job, the other two are for the sanity of the guys. Keeping in touch with everyone back home is what keeps these guys motivated. They are all here for their own reasons, but a lot of those reasons are the people at the other end of the internet.

In this box is where we do our socializing, eating, joking, and on a rare occasion…working. Don’t get me wrong, we have three other buildings where it is all about the job, but this one is where we escape when the job starts to get to us. We’re in here a lot!

Last week we had sandstorms that seemed to start as the sun rose, and continue until a couple hours after the sun went down. We would spend a portion of every day sweeping, wiping off the flat surfaces, and blowing sand off our keyboards. They didn’t stay clean for long. During those days, everything itches. It seems like we are continually rubbing our eyes, cleaning our ears, and spitting.

My guys and I are the fortunate ones. We are safely surrounded by earthen berms on all sides, and multiple strands of fence separate us from the detainees in the prison. Everyday I see the young heroes whose job it is to drive the outside perimeter of the camp in search of insurgents. I see the guys trudging up the stairs to the to the lookout towers. I watch those assigned guard duty at the interment facility going to assume their posts. They are all dressed in full combat gear, which includes 40 pounds of protective armor, a big gun, and a bunch of ammo. It is all designed for protection, not comfort. Just imagine wearing a 40 pound down vest in 120 degree temperature.

I’m happy that the job we do here is so essential to both our protection and the apprehension of bad guys. It’s not fair that we get the adrenaline without the risk, but at least we’re doing some good stuff. There are times when it is tedious, but if my guys complain I have only to point at one of the towers or the prison and remind them what they could be stuck with. They normally respond pretty well.

My compound is located far away from just about everything else on the base. No one bothers us, and it makes for a pretty quiet environment…since I’m the only one that gets to live here. The guys joke about my butt being in a sling if there is ever a mass escape from the prison, but my door locks from the inside and my 9 mm is a hell of a noise maker.

My guys get to take R & R every 3 months, and although I’ll admit to envying them that, my time seems to be flying by here…so I’ll just keep heading towards my “go home date.” I’d rather take my R & R back there anyway.

Hope you’re all well and enjoying the summer.

T.