August 10, 2010

Hey all,
Sorry I haven't kept in touch, things have been very busy. We had our
big exercise at the end of July, and that involved full chemical gear
and body armor for everyone. Everything shuts down on base for a week
(BX, commissary, chow hall, everything), and we sit around eating MREs
and sweating in MOPP 4. Did I mention the humidity is always 100% and
the temperature was in the low to mid 90s? Now visualize running out
in this space suit of clown gea (oh, and body armor over it all) and
having to peer around for unexploded ordnance or chemical
contamination. Fun times, indeed.

For added enjoyment, we usually work 12 hour shifts through the week,
but if the base is "under attack" you can't leave, and if your section
is still unconfirmed "clean", NOBODY moves! 16 hour shifts are even
more awesome!

The med group had people coming in for real world heat exhaustion
every 5 minutes. I think we had 5 times as many actual casualties as
we did exercise ones... and then there were the poor folks who fell
and cracked a skull when they passed out, etc. Yeesh.

After that week was over, I had to focus on finishing up my public
speaking class (classes are delayed, obviously, but the time has to be
made up to keep accreditation). Then the work orders needed to be
finished before the end of the month- because we all lost that week
for the exercise and I had dorm cleanup detail the week prior. Oy.

Now this month we're rushing to push the work out early, because
contractors are coming in next week to knock down several walls in the
BMET shop and install drop ceilings. It'll change it from being this
snaky, crowded labyrinth to one big open area with a few NCO
offices... but still, it means we have to work out of one of the
logistics warehouses for a month or two.

Some crazy times all right. I keep wanting to post pictures I'm
taking, but I just can't find the time to set up a site and do it- and
they really do need captions...

Until next time...
--
G