Boom Part II

Well I was going to take the day off from posting because I feel lazy tonight but 2 large explosions just served as a powerful reminder that I better get some stuff down while I can. I just hope I don’t buy it while I am on the toilet. My roommate has orders to drag me into the bedroom and put a beer in my hand. Some guy got killed inside this compound while he was taking the morning shower. That sucks.

This is the 3rd day in a row that at about 1700 we have gotten incoming. Today 1 round landed near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is next to the Iran-Iraq War Memorial and started a fire. KBR fire department was called and they put it out.

The other landed near the water point. It’s a single place for all the water trucks to fill up their tanks and make deliveries. That one resulted in a casualty. I do not know what the casualty is but it sounds serious.

Well about the Tomb. It is really cool. I took lots of pictures when I was here in the Army but I did not bring them with me when I returned. I want to show you the tremendous difference from 04 to now. It used to be run down and decrepit, but now it has been fixed up pretty nicely.

So anyway, I get a report 3 times daily that summarizes all the major Arabic media outlets; web, TV, and broadcast. Usually they all focus on the same 3 things. Those things change everyday but usually at least 2 of the 3 main topics are the same on all outlets. Then it summarizes the next 5 or so things that are being talked about. You know what? The Lebanese thing is barely making a blip. Today’s report said nothing at all about Lebanon. Now I know that the report is focused mainly on what is being said about the Iraq war, but still I was shocked to not see anything at all.

What else? Oh yeah, the ball is tomorrow, I am so looking forward to this. So I decided to impress my date and get her a corsage for her gown. She actually brought 3 gowns don’t ask me why. Women. So I called a buddy of mine and asked if he could go to the flower shop and get me one. He said sure and went over there. Then he called me and asked me what color to get. Red. Then he brings it back to me and guess what? It is the most God awful ugly FAKE corsage you could ever imagine. I am going to give it to her anyway to see her reaction. I hope she doesn’t lie and say she likes it. I hope she laughs and says that she won’t wear the gaudy thing. I will let you know what happens.

So my AC is sort of fixed which is good. Now the trailer is cooled to about 90. Tolerable but not very pleasant. Oh well. Funny thing about heat like this, while you never get fully accustomed to it, it does tend to get more bearable. At the end of spring I told my buddy it felt like it was over 100 today. He laughed and said its been 110 for the last 10 days. I guess I am used to it. But you never felt heat till you go to Kuwait! The second I stepped off the plane I exploded with sweat from the heat and humidity. Kuwait is unbearable. So is Dubai most of the year.

Speaking of Dubai. That is one cool city. I heard that 18% of the world’s cranes are in Dubai. Everyone has their own skyscraper it seems. But it is weird, sort of fake, like Vegas. Everything is its own little micro city. Each skyscraper has malls, restaurants, gyms, you name it. You never have to leave if you don’t want to. But Dubai also has a huge expat community. It’s a little tough to break in, but once you do I hear you are set. I am hoping to get an operations job at the airport and pop smoke here.

Well anyway here is the picture I tried to post yesterday. Hopefully it will work. My computer sucks so it might not. It wont. Take 3 tomorrow.

Cheers,
Walt