Fire on the (trash) Mountain

What an eventful day! I came in to work the other evening, since I work 11:30 pm to 11:30 am, and it was kind of sprinkly. Shortly thereafter, it became a torrential downpour, complete with thunder and lightning. This continued on most of the night. We had to suspend operations on account of the lightning, and a convoy didn't want to download because of the mud. We use a RTCH (Rough Terrain Container Handler) to pick up and move our shipping containers. It weighs a whole lot, so when its loaded down with a 60,000 pound shipping container it doesn't exactly stop on a dime. Not much was done last night.

slop

i'm sinking!!

If you want to see some good pics of the great flood of '07, go and check out Dan's blog. He got some good shots this morning, while we had some thunder of our own to worry about.
We work fairly close to the edge of the base, near Entry Control Point 4, the construction materials yard, an up-armor yard and the dump. Lately, information has suggested that the insurgents were testing defenses at various points around the perimeter. With a thunderstorm on, it was the perfect time to lob in a few rounds, since from a distance, the explsions might be mistaken for thunder. There we were, at about 7:30 am, when all of a sudden a tremendous BOOM! shook the entire trailer. We all stopped and looked at each other, and headed for the bunker. From outside, we could see the smoke from the round detonating about 3-400 meters away. It was kinda neat. Shortly afterward, the chatter of machine guns and small arms fire filled the air. After about ten minutes of wearing all of our gear and waiting at the ready, we were given the all clear.

it's not much, but at least it has a view

Now, some of you might be worried by this. Don't be, because the insurgency trains their mortar gunners to be deadly accurate and to always plot and hit their target head on. I think that in this case, there was a particulary threatening piece of trash that had to be eliminated, because their intended target was the dump.

tactically speaking, this is the most important part of the base

Iin other news, we have decided to open a coffee shop here at the CRSP. We have made friends over at the DRMO (Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office) Yard and they gave us a couple of nice high-top cafe tables and four chairs. If anyone would like to donate an espresso machine, it would be greatly appreciated. I also need a few green Starbucks aprons.

it's certified free trade, even in the third world

Now, in other news, we have a new chariot to ferry us back and forth from the CRSP Yard to Striker. It's a bus!! We had a bus when we first got here, but when the other unit left the bus was taken away. We spent our first month having to ride in the back of a Humvee. I guess it's kind of like hazing....maybe? Anyway, now we're living the good life...with A/C, a radio and real seats, albeit covered with plastic, in case we make a mess. I guess none of us ever truly grow up, at least in the eyes of dear old Uncle Sam.

one word: de-luxe

Lastly, I wanted to wish Mom a happy belated birthday (it was the eighth), and I also want to send out my condolences to everyone who knew Toby, who got put down the other night. He was a good kitty, and I hope that he and Guinness find each other in kitty heaven and play a lot. We also have to mourn the passing of another American soldier, one who's company I really enjoyed, though we never served together. He too was something of a malcontent, but his war was far more just. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr died the other night. We'll all miss him! Go to the library! Read Slaughterhouse Five! (It's about his time in a POW camp during WWII, sort of) Read Breakfast of Champions! Read all of them! Peace!

1922-2007