Deployment Journal-8-14 Oct 07

08 Oct 07:   Time keeps ticking by. I was realizing something the other day on the bus ride into work. For the longest time, there was no real conversation on the bus. It was like the ride to hell every day and we all put our earphones in so we didn’t have to hear each other any longer than our already long 12 hour shift. Now, I notice that our guys don’t do that as much and we all chat with the new guys. It sure is a different feeling around here these days. I’m being sent home early tonight because we have to go do our medical outprocessing but like most places, they don’t take into consideration those of us who work nights and the only time available to go is from 1100-1400. So, Kelly and I are getting up at noon to head over and then there’s a pizza party in Camp Cunningham for us folks from DM. People are just so excited and we’re not spending as much time at work anymore since there’s not too much for us to do anymore. We only do 30mm and flare these days. The guys from Seymour Johnson do the rest as they should since we’re outgoing.

**Meal of the day was chili mac and some chicken nuggets.

09 Oct 07:  So I’m now medically cleared to go and I was even able to turn in my ammo today.  Of course now I run around with a weapon but no ammo but oh well.  Not like we ever need it here.  My weapon is a lot lighter now.  Anyway, that was rough getting up so early but I was released to go back to my room for the day after chow so it’s not too bad.  I’ve been trying to think of all the stuff I need to do to get out of here.  I changed out my linen so I could wash my personal stuff and put the bases linen on so I could turn it in after I sleep in this horrible bed for the last night.  I consolidated some more stuff and started a “give away” pile.  I think the last thing I’ll do is take the pictures and cards down off my wall that have kept me company while I’ve been over here.  It really feels like this is finally almost over.

**Meal of the day was baked chicken and mashed potatoes. 

10 Oct 07:  Today has to be the worst day I’ve had since I’ve been here.  I’ve just had enough of this garbage.  People are in bad moods just Mt. Home was when they were leaving and we all thought that they should be happy since they were leaving.  I spilled coffee all over myself which obviously wasn’t the worst of things.  However, I was woken up at noon again today and I just need to get sleep and it’s driving me nuts.  Tomorrow is my night off so I’m to the point that if someone wakes me up on my day off, I will be giving them a piece of my mind.  I hate that it’s come down to that but I just can’t take it anymore.  I’m so sleep deprived, it’s not even funny.  We had a kid get in trouble the other night because the vice group commander found him asleep in his bobtail on the flightline.  It’s been a rough couple of days for us.  Anyway, as I was typing this, I got thirsty and remembered that I had put a Diet Coke in the freezer when I came in so it would be cold.  Well, I forgot about it and just my luck, it exploded.  However, because of that little thing, I ended up getting a good laugh.  BK decided to take a picture while I was out looking for an ice scraper (I’ll put the pic on the website later).  The Seymour guys that always mess with me came by and saw me scraping out the freezer and decided to make their comments about knowing my place and things of that nature.  They knew they could get away with it because I have a sense of humor but I don’t think they expected me to chase them.  It was hilarious to see 3 grown men running in different directions from me outside the building.  That kept up for quite a while.  I’d go back to scraping and one of them would be brave enough to come back in and make another comment and the chasing would start again.  That was just what I needed to put me in a better mood.

**Meal of the day was a burger and hot dog.

11 Oct 07:  Today was another milestone for Kelly and I.  It was our LAST day off!    We outprocess on Monday and get to turn in our weapons and it’s pretty much all downhill from there.  I feel like a zombie running around here lately but I know that sleep is around the corner.  Hopefully Chris doesn’t think I look like I’ve aged 10 years since I’ve been here because I feel like I have!

**Meal of the day was Pizza Hut.

12 Oct 07:  Nothing interesting to report today.  Tomorrow will be another nice day since we get to turn in our body armor.  They’re going to palletize it so we don’t have to carry it to Manas.  That stuff is heavy.  The customs inspection of our personal items went well yesterday and they didn’t have to take anything that was in with my stuff so that was good.  That was just one more thing down before we could get out of here.  The guys that replaced me in my shop were given the briefing that they need to get the letter done so they can start filing documents themselves instead of me doing it because we probably wouldn’t be working much longer.  It will be nice to have some time off to start getting all our personal stuff together.

**Meal of the day was breakfast.  I had a biscuit and gravy, bacon and some hard boiled eggs.

14 Oct 07:  I was going to post about yesterday but I seriously don’t remember yesterday.  Days are just a blur at this point but that’s good.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day.  We have weapons turn in and then our “Combat Push” which is our outprocessing.  It’s all downhill from there.  I had a busy evening today too which was great.  Kelly and I took the bosses home again and then went to the BX so I could get another foot locker to mail home.  When we got back, they were going to send poor Mike out to load 2 cans of 30mm brass into their tube carriers by himself.  So, Kelly and I went out to help him.  I got nice and dirty which was a nice change from sitting at my desk.  When we got back, I needed to take the butterflies and dragon off my weapon and get it cleaned to turn in tomorrow.  Then it was chow time and after that I had to cut some shipments for our stuff going back to DM.  It’s now 0300 so that killed most of my night.  Hopefully we can get some sleep before weapons turn in at 0930 and our Combat Push at 1230.  We come in a little after midnight tomorrow and then we’ll have Tuesday off and then start day shift on Wednesday.

**Meal of the day was veal and potatoes.