Volume 2 Issue 5
when I’m back in polite society I won’t be cussing like a sailor. The one thing that I really get to enjoy over here is my sleep and when that gets
interrupted I get really pissy. Well these new guys in our tent thought it would be a good idea to get up for work at 5:30am, which is fine by me
if they do it quietly. The first few mornings they would get up and turn the lights on, I would mumble something in my sleep about turning them
off, and they would comply. Then this one particularly stubborn guy arrived in out tent and simply refused to abide by the rule of Cade. It is the
rule of Cade because I’ve been in the tent the longest. I moved out there a week before everyone else and I have been the longest constant
inhabitant. I don’t think I was being unreasonable in not wanting to get up at 5:30am when I can come into work whenever I choose. I usually don’t
come in till 8 or 8:30 and for those of you calling me lazy right now you’re just jealous. So you’re a morning person and I’m a night person and
don’t think that’s just an excuse. Don’t give me this BS about you can train your body by getting up at the same time every day speech either.
I got up at 6:30 every day while I was in Baghdad and was dragging ass all day and still never got used to it. Another reason I get to sleep late
is because on Sat night we have to stay here till at least midnight (more than once till 2 or 3am) checking timesheets for idiotic mistake made by
these jerks. So I devised a plan so devious that it made Wyle E Coyote sit up and take notice. There are two breakers one for the A/Cs and the
other for the lights. The first night I simply switched off the breaker for the lights. Unfortunately that only lasted for one good night’s sleep.
Next was just as easy and as devious. The lights are florescent lights so I turned them just enough so they were no longer touching the connectors.
Luckily I got a hooch a few days later and didn’t have to go to plan C. Plan C was to get up with everyone, unscrew the lights completely and toss
them out of the tent. It’s abrupt, but I think they would get the message.
I’ve never really been afraid of storms with high winds. Hurricane Alicia didn’t even get an eyelid flitter from me. Tropical
Storm Alison didn’t make me even slightly rouse. Sand storm while sleeping in a tent, well now that’s another story. I was walking back to the
tent one evening and I noticed the wind was starting to pick up.
By the time I got within 50ft of the tent I could tell it was going to be a full blown sand storm. The wind and sand were blowing
so hard that I had to walk backwards in order to keep the sand from permanently blinding me. Finally I made it to tent without tripping over
anything and got into bed. Sleeping was not really an option for most of the night. Besides sitting there wondering if the tent was going to blow
over we had all the other idiots shinning their flash lights at the ceiling to see if it was going to come down. Now don’t use the term idiots
lightly. It wasn’t as if one person shined their light to check and everyone else looked where he shined. No not these geniuses, they each
individually had to turn their flash lights on and check for themselves. This whole process was completely beyond my comprehension in the first
place. If the center poles came crashing down or a huge hole was ripped in the ceiling I’m pretty sure we would notice without having to turn the
flashlights on. Maybe they thought they were in an episode of Star Trek and their lights were some sort of anti-tractor beam, who knows.
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Dorm Living Again
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And I thought sharing a bathroom ended when I moved out of Aston. Living in a hooch (small temporary type container) is just like
living in the dorms back at A&M. Matt is my roommate, but my “suitemates” are female. This is just a temporary situation until the rest of the
individual hooches come in. There used to be two females next door, but one went on R&R and never came back. To be truthful both were gone
when I moved in. One was on R&R and the other was on emergency leave (Nadia). A week after Nadia came back from emergency leave she left for
R&R and only returned a few days ago. Matt is at another site filling in until we get the new guy up
