Bored In Iraq

Bored in Iraq can be a good thing--

From time to time, the bombs stop dropping and we catch up on work and then get bored in Iraq. While it is true that most of the time the military is busy fighting and patrolling and civilians are working 12 hour days supporting the military, there are breaks of time when this place really gets old.

Now I am not complaining because this usually means that the United States is not having loss of life. Saving life is what it has become all about in Iraq.

So what do we do with the little bit of free time we can find? My favorite thing to do is eat! We can chow down on some pretty good cuisine at the defac on most bases. There are also fast food joints on almost all of them. And a few of us have friends with charcoal grills so we barbecue steaks when we can find them at the PX. My favorite way to eat here!

We line up to use the telephones for a rare call home and that takes time. We go to the internet cafes and e-mail our families. We take care of online business, including looking at the latest news, online shopping and online banking.

If we want to work out, we go to the MWR for some exercise. We go out to an open area and play an organized ballgame. This can be great for morale.

At our base in Kabul, I was assigned the task of putting the Poppy Eradication Team's fitness center together.

I had to put three 20 foot storage containers together to make this. Now I did not do the actual work but supervised it.

You will notice our next wall and floor panels. I was really excited on how this turned out.

The equipment had to be ordered out of Dubai. The building materials came from local suppliers. There were issues with Kabul Customs (they wanted their palms greased) but we finally got them in.

Usually the MWRs' have a lot of books that are free. I have spent a lot of time searching for books in the MWR.

One areas they seemed to be weak in though was Westerns.

My wife sends me new books and DVD's each month so there is always something to do when I get tired of being in the office. But, to tell the truth, most of the time, I just don't have the time to be bored since I am working 12 hour days, seven days a week, just like most of the companies over here demand.

I have also found out that I can order used DVD from Amazon for a couple of dollars.

There really is no reason to be bored in Iraq.

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