August 27, 2008
August 19, 2008
Cuddle Time
15AUG08 1630 hours
Less than a month to go!! WOOOO! It’s actually gone by pretty fast, but not fast enough. I haven’t written anything for some time, but really, there isn’t much to write about. We’ve pretty much been going crazy with all the boredom and have resorted to irritating one another.. usually while someone is sleeping. Haha its like Barons Tahoe Camp all over again. Some of the things we do…
-Play music and have dance-offs.. EVERY DAY!
-Talk about home, who we miss, and what we’re going to eat first when we get back
-Throw water/water balloons at each other
-Cut Mohawks on one another and then get in trouble because the Commander of the entire base happens to see us.
-Put Gatorade powder in boots
-Take a lesson from D Hiro and put Tabasco sauce on lips while they’re sleeping
-Wake people up 2-3 hours before work just to say hi, goodnight, let them know what the time is, or to simply say, I love u.
-Strap Tak down to the cot because he was taking a brief 5 minute nap at work and then leave him out in the middle of the cargo yard
-Do the Mighty Ducks QUACK chant at random times and places so that strangers look at us with confusion, and then disgust.
-Waking your buddies up with at least 2 other friends by jumping into their bunk and screaming -CUDDLE TIME SWEETY!
These are the kinds of things you do when you become a mature adult like myself.
So about me being strapped to the cot at work… Everyday we have to inspect our vehicles. One of our vehicles is a bread truck and it has two cots in the back of it. Now, the bread truck isn’t my vehicle to inspect, and I believe Colvard already inspected it that day.. but because im such a great friend and comrade I decided to inspect it a second time just to be safe. You would think these guys could see that and would thank me for my good deed rather than punishing me… Anyway, after a thorough inspection of the truck, I felt a little fatigued. It’s a good sized vehicle and it took up a lot of my energy. The cots were lying there, it was 2am.. and I thought, hey, it shouldn’t be a problem if I lie down here for a couple minutes. I barely close my eyes before 10 people rush into the truck from the front and back doors. From there they hold me down on the cot, and then strap me to it with red duct tape, a lot of red duct tape. The worst part was that they were tickling me.. it was horrible. They lift up the cot and bring me to the center of the cargo yard. After slamming me down, they take off and leave me there to dry. I’m thinking to myself, hey, this is dangerous. A lot of vehicles come driving through here and I could be hit. It’s everyone’s responsibility, including myself, to immediately identify a safety hazard and that was without a doubt a safety hazard. Shows what you get in return for doing a good deed. They claim that I was sleeping for an hour and that I’ve done it several times before but that’s bullbutter… I was just being a good friend. Oh and my friend Ray claimed that he was getting revenge because Gax and I supposedly jumped onto his bed the night before while he was sleeping and screamed crazy things like, cuddle time sweety! What’s wrong with letting your buddies know that you care about them? Sheesh. Oh yeah, Gax took off his boots when he got home and found that his feet were bright red and smelled like stank foot and Gatorade mixed together. I guess he took them off during work while he was taking his nap.
Alrighty, gotta shower up im starting to smell like the mag-hater-roomie and Ray is asleep again and gax is bugging me to go jump on his bed. It’s cuddle time sweety!!! SEE you guys soon!
Tak
Less than a month to go!! WOOOO! It’s actually gone by pretty fast, but not fast enough. I haven’t written anything for some time, but really, there isn’t much to write about. We’ve pretty much been going crazy with all the boredom and have resorted to irritating one another.. usually while someone is sleeping. Haha its like Barons Tahoe Camp all over again. Some of the things we do…
-Play music and have dance-offs.. EVERY DAY!
-Talk about home, who we miss, and what we’re going to eat first when we get back
-Throw water/water balloons at each other
-Cut Mohawks on one another and then get in trouble because the Commander of the entire base happens to see us.
-Put Gatorade powder in boots
-Take a lesson from D Hiro and put Tabasco sauce on lips while they’re sleeping
-Wake people up 2-3 hours before work just to say hi, goodnight, let them know what the time is, or to simply say, I love u.
-Strap Tak down to the cot because he was taking a brief 5 minute nap at work and then leave him out in the middle of the cargo yard
-Do the Mighty Ducks QUACK chant at random times and places so that strangers look at us with confusion, and then disgust.
-Waking your buddies up with at least 2 other friends by jumping into their bunk and screaming -CUDDLE TIME SWEETY!
These are the kinds of things you do when you become a mature adult like myself.
So about me being strapped to the cot at work… Everyday we have to inspect our vehicles. One of our vehicles is a bread truck and it has two cots in the back of it. Now, the bread truck isn’t my vehicle to inspect, and I believe Colvard already inspected it that day.. but because im such a great friend and comrade I decided to inspect it a second time just to be safe. You would think these guys could see that and would thank me for my good deed rather than punishing me… Anyway, after a thorough inspection of the truck, I felt a little fatigued. It’s a good sized vehicle and it took up a lot of my energy. The cots were lying there, it was 2am.. and I thought, hey, it shouldn’t be a problem if I lie down here for a couple minutes. I barely close my eyes before 10 people rush into the truck from the front and back doors. From there they hold me down on the cot, and then strap me to it with red duct tape, a lot of red duct tape. The worst part was that they were tickling me.. it was horrible. They lift up the cot and bring me to the center of the cargo yard. After slamming me down, they take off and leave me there to dry. I’m thinking to myself, hey, this is dangerous. A lot of vehicles come driving through here and I could be hit. It’s everyone’s responsibility, including myself, to immediately identify a safety hazard and that was without a doubt a safety hazard. Shows what you get in return for doing a good deed. They claim that I was sleeping for an hour and that I’ve done it several times before but that’s bullbutter… I was just being a good friend. Oh and my friend Ray claimed that he was getting revenge because Gax and I supposedly jumped onto his bed the night before while he was sleeping and screamed crazy things like, cuddle time sweety! What’s wrong with letting your buddies know that you care about them? Sheesh. Oh yeah, Gax took off his boots when he got home and found that his feet were bright red and smelled like stank foot and Gatorade mixed together. I guess he took them off during work while he was taking his nap.
Alrighty, gotta shower up im starting to smell like the mag-hater-roomie and Ray is asleep again and gax is bugging me to go jump on his bed. It’s cuddle time sweety!!! SEE you guys soon!
Tak
July 17, 2008
POO POOS
DATE 1713 hours: 17 JUL 08
Mood: Awesome
Weather: Ridiculous
Worked out: Muscles
Ate: Meat, protein shakes, cheesecake, burger king
Milkshake: None
The toilets here aren’t like the toilets back home. The scarcity of water makes it so that they can only have so much water in the toilet, and so the toilet is built a little differently to conform to all of this. Because the water is so low, a lot of poo poo stains are always left on the toilet. The water is also really hot a lot of the time so it feels like you have heated seats! I guess that part isn’t so bad. I noticed that every time I went to handle my business, there were poops all clinging to the sides of the toilet. I didn’t like it, and if I didn’t like it, a lot of other people must have been unhappy with it as well. I figured out that if you throw some paper down in the toilet before doin your deal, the poo poos wont stick as much. I immediately took action and implemented my plan for poop cling free toilets. I made a sign that reads, “THROW DOWN SOME PAPER BEFORE DROPPIN’ THAT DEUCE, IT’LL HELP KEEP OUR POO POOS FROM STICKING TO THE TOILET!” The toilets are poo poo cling free 90% of the time now and I can’t help but sense that everyone in the workplace is in a better mood. The girls were kinda freaked out when I asked them if I had the same problem, but im sure theyre happy as well because I posted the signs in their poopers too. I guess you could say that I’m a hero. It happens.
Everyone is getting excited as we’re getting closer and closer to going home. The work is steady but we’re all masters of our profession now so tasks are being completed faster than ever. Thank you again to everyone sending packages and emails. The 04 Lady Barons sent some pics and the guys here were drooling over those for awhile before I took the pics back to my room. Don’t get too excited ladies, they been in the desert with no women for over 2 months now! Hahhaha. Uncle Louis showed me how to make spam musubi so I went in on my day off and helped make a bunch of those. They were gobbled up within minutes of course.
I sprained my ankle the other day while playing basketball. I’ve never done that before and it hurt pretty bad. I woke up and it was all swollen and hurt like hell. I couldn’t walk so I grabbed the swiffer from my room and hobbled over to a dorm room where some of my buddies were awake. They see me come in with the swiffer and say, “WHAT? You come in here to clean our room?!” Frickin jerks. They took me to the clinic and got me some crutches, but by the next day I didn’t need them anymore. It feels pretty good now. I was already back at whoopin’ people up in 21 today.
It’s BT’s bday and I hear theyre having a big beer pong tournament to celebrate. Happy Birthday BT, your lucky im not there to win the tournament.
I posted a pic of me and my buddy Gax from Hawaii. He has a beast on his chest that im pointing to, and he calls it the sex beast. And everyone thought I had a big head, this kids got a sex beast on his chest! Gax is dead on Stiffler from American Pie. Crazy kid.
My other Hawaiian buddy Pono was promoted to Senior Airman this month. We did what had to be done and strapped him to a chair, took him out side, and drenched him with water. That’s pretty awesome that he got to be promoted while over here. Congrats SrA Pono!
Tak
July 6, 2008
BULL BUTTER
DATE 1530: 05 JUL 08
Mood: Excited
Weather: 116!
Worked out: Back and Bis
Ate: Trout, chili over rice, salad
Milkshake: cheesecake instead
Mood: Excited
Weather: 116!
Worked out: Back and Bis
Ate: Trout, chili over rice, salad
Milkshake: cheesecake instead
I been getting lazy on this piece! I think its because the heat has picked up big time. You know that heat that comes out when you open an oven that’s in use? That’s how the air feels 24/7 now. I can’t stand it. I told my buddies that they might find me face down on the ground somewhere on the path I take to work. I suppose I should be happy about getting super sexy tannage though. Does anyone know what the koi fish represents? There’s a bunch of dudes around here with tats of Koi fish…. Surprisingly they have no idea what the meaning behind it is.
Uncle Louis made spam musubi yesterday. That ish was bomb! Thank goodness we have these Hawaiian and chimora (from Guam) folks round here.. they like all the same stuff I do! We were supposed to have a BBQ for Independence Day but rescheduled it because we didn’t have enough rice. All the white guys here were PISSED! Hahaha “We canceled the BBQ because we didn’t have rice?!” O man wish yall were here to see that one.
Thank you so much to all you guys writing emails and sending packages. They help out a lot..you’ll never understand how awesome it feels to get that kind of love while your over here. The 2k11?.. merv n jeffs team sent over some stuff and had a pic signed by all the players. That was pretty awesome. Some of the girls wrote letters too. It’s nice to know that this whole experience is helping some people to learn a little bit more about what’s all going on.
Thanks again to the people throwing in victorias secret swimwear catalogs. It’s always a great idea to keep yourself updated on the latest swim styles. Some of you guys are even forwarding the victorias secret spam mails that link you to the site.. for some reason they blocked the site from us. Something about how its not “mission essential” or something. PSH! Bullbutter.
My friend Joe aka lumber joe was telling me that when kids suck at hockey back home, they call them Busch leaguers, as in the cheap beer Busch. So yeah, when your ballin’ back home and you want to throw a vicious diss on someone’s game.. just tell em that theyre a busch leaguer. And FYI, the opposite of a Busch Leaguer is a BARON!
I’m trying to get the guys over here to do a Crank Dat music video.. but we’ll see what happens. It gets pretty boring over here so im sure they’ll come around sooner or later.
I’m halfway there.. its all downhill now… Less than 60 days now!! WHOOO!
Today there were some safety inspectors walking around the yard. My friend and I got in trouble for not wearing our seatbelts. We put on our seat belts, then decided that we didn’t like those guys so we took them off again. Surprise surprise they came back five minutes later..so I was real smooth and stopped my vehicle.. hopped out and acted like I was inspecting some stuff.. my friend hopped out too so we could get a real good inspection going on.. then we hopped back into our forklifts and put our seatbelts on. THAT WAS CLOSE! Seatbelts?? Bullbutter.
I miss everyone a lot. I can’t wait to come home. Keep shootin’ those emails. Baronboy32@comcast.net. Love you guys.
Tak
Uncle Louis made spam musubi yesterday. That ish was bomb! Thank goodness we have these Hawaiian and chimora (from Guam) folks round here.. they like all the same stuff I do! We were supposed to have a BBQ for Independence Day but rescheduled it because we didn’t have enough rice. All the white guys here were PISSED! Hahaha “We canceled the BBQ because we didn’t have rice?!” O man wish yall were here to see that one.
Thank you so much to all you guys writing emails and sending packages. They help out a lot..you’ll never understand how awesome it feels to get that kind of love while your over here. The 2k11?.. merv n jeffs team sent over some stuff and had a pic signed by all the players. That was pretty awesome. Some of the girls wrote letters too. It’s nice to know that this whole experience is helping some people to learn a little bit more about what’s all going on.
Thanks again to the people throwing in victorias secret swimwear catalogs. It’s always a great idea to keep yourself updated on the latest swim styles. Some of you guys are even forwarding the victorias secret spam mails that link you to the site.. for some reason they blocked the site from us. Something about how its not “mission essential” or something. PSH! Bullbutter.
My friend Joe aka lumber joe was telling me that when kids suck at hockey back home, they call them Busch leaguers, as in the cheap beer Busch. So yeah, when your ballin’ back home and you want to throw a vicious diss on someone’s game.. just tell em that theyre a busch leaguer. And FYI, the opposite of a Busch Leaguer is a BARON!
I’m trying to get the guys over here to do a Crank Dat music video.. but we’ll see what happens. It gets pretty boring over here so im sure they’ll come around sooner or later.
I’m halfway there.. its all downhill now… Less than 60 days now!! WHOOO!
Today there were some safety inspectors walking around the yard. My friend and I got in trouble for not wearing our seatbelts. We put on our seat belts, then decided that we didn’t like those guys so we took them off again. Surprise surprise they came back five minutes later..so I was real smooth and stopped my vehicle.. hopped out and acted like I was inspecting some stuff.. my friend hopped out too so we could get a real good inspection going on.. then we hopped back into our forklifts and put our seatbelts on. THAT WAS CLOSE! Seatbelts?? Bullbutter.
I miss everyone a lot. I can’t wait to come home. Keep shootin’ those emails. Baronboy32@comcast.net. Love you guys.
Tak
June 23, 2008
It’s been awhile..
We had a water shortage not too long ago. There was NO running water, so we had to take water bottle showers. The water bottles are pretty big so it only takes about two of them to wash yourself completely. About showers…
So the roomie who doesn’t like girly magazines..
Clean Roomie – Hey man, I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything, but when’s the last time you showered bro?
Girl Mag Hater Roomie –Ohh man.. its been about a week I think.
Clean Roomie – Well, is it because you don’t like being in there with other dudes? I mean, they have curtains.
Girl Mag Hater Roomie – Nah man, I just been tired and haven’t had time.
Clean Roomie – Alright bro, well theres something called FUNK, and your bringing it into this room!
Girl Mag Hater Roomie – my bad man.. ill go take a shower.
The Girl Mag Hater came back a few minutes later to tell my clean roomie that there was no water pressure.
Clean Roomie – How many water bottles do you have?
Girl Mag Hater Roomie – I got a few.
Clean Roomie – shower up baby.
Man good thing my other roomie told that guy to shower.. I had no idea.
Dust still fills the air every couple of days. We pass time with prank, brief dance parties, working out, and games of 21 in basketball.
My routine is pretty set now. We usually go to the pool twice a week, no more than three times assuming the weather is favorable. We don’t go on weekends because its super packed over there and we can’t even get a group of chairs together.
If we don’t go to the pool we grapple/box/workout at the gym. We go to the chow hall almost every day. I think I’ve had one milkshake in the last two weeks. Good milk is hard to come by over here. We have this stuff called SUT that’s kind of like soy milk, but not. It can get super warm without going bad. APPRECIATE all that GOOD MILK.
We had a BBQ a couple days ago. It was good times. The Guam/Hawaii guys were cooking all the goods so they had island music playing out there. The menu included ribs, chicken (a lot better than the chicken we get from the chow hall), and some smaller asian/Hawaiian stuff. We were going to have spam musubi as well but Uncle Louie said there was already too much food.
Uncle Louie is an old timer (56) who fought in Vietnam. All the islander folk call him Uncle Louie, along with myself. I guess we were raised differently, because all the other guys don’t listen to him as much, and they don’t call him Uncle Louie either. Uncle Louie is a good guy. He is constantly shouting out orders like a parent or grandparents. HEY! LET”S GO! Hey! EMPTY THE TRASH! HEY! GO HELP OUT!
AP graudated from SEAL training and is now an official SEAL! Congrats brother. What a HUGE accomplishment. Your strength, discipline, and determination is definitely admired and envied by us all.
Hahaha Frinky is getting mad at Uncle Louie because he’s blasting Mike Jackson jams right now.
I saw that the Lakers blew the championship. Lakers blow.
I was dreaming that I was getting together with some friends to go eat at chipotle, but the dream ended before I got there. I’m pissed. I bet that chipotle would’ve tasted delicious in my dream.
Alrighty folks.
Tak
So the roomie who doesn’t like girly magazines..
Clean Roomie – Hey man, I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything, but when’s the last time you showered bro?
Girl Mag Hater Roomie –Ohh man.. its been about a week I think.
Clean Roomie – Well, is it because you don’t like being in there with other dudes? I mean, they have curtains.
Girl Mag Hater Roomie – Nah man, I just been tired and haven’t had time.
Clean Roomie – Alright bro, well theres something called FUNK, and your bringing it into this room!
Girl Mag Hater Roomie – my bad man.. ill go take a shower.
The Girl Mag Hater came back a few minutes later to tell my clean roomie that there was no water pressure.
Clean Roomie – How many water bottles do you have?
Girl Mag Hater Roomie – I got a few.
Clean Roomie – shower up baby.
Man good thing my other roomie told that guy to shower.. I had no idea.
Dust still fills the air every couple of days. We pass time with prank, brief dance parties, working out, and games of 21 in basketball.
My routine is pretty set now. We usually go to the pool twice a week, no more than three times assuming the weather is favorable. We don’t go on weekends because its super packed over there and we can’t even get a group of chairs together.
If we don’t go to the pool we grapple/box/workout at the gym. We go to the chow hall almost every day. I think I’ve had one milkshake in the last two weeks. Good milk is hard to come by over here. We have this stuff called SUT that’s kind of like soy milk, but not. It can get super warm without going bad. APPRECIATE all that GOOD MILK.
We had a BBQ a couple days ago. It was good times. The Guam/Hawaii guys were cooking all the goods so they had island music playing out there. The menu included ribs, chicken (a lot better than the chicken we get from the chow hall), and some smaller asian/Hawaiian stuff. We were going to have spam musubi as well but Uncle Louie said there was already too much food.
Uncle Louie is an old timer (56) who fought in Vietnam. All the islander folk call him Uncle Louie, along with myself. I guess we were raised differently, because all the other guys don’t listen to him as much, and they don’t call him Uncle Louie either. Uncle Louie is a good guy. He is constantly shouting out orders like a parent or grandparents. HEY! LET”S GO! Hey! EMPTY THE TRASH! HEY! GO HELP OUT!
AP graudated from SEAL training and is now an official SEAL! Congrats brother. What a HUGE accomplishment. Your strength, discipline, and determination is definitely admired and envied by us all.
Hahaha Frinky is getting mad at Uncle Louie because he’s blasting Mike Jackson jams right now.
I saw that the Lakers blew the championship. Lakers blow.
I was dreaming that I was getting together with some friends to go eat at chipotle, but the dream ended before I got there. I’m pissed. I bet that chipotle would’ve tasted delicious in my dream.
Alrighty folks.
Tak
June 6, 2008
Smurfed
DATE 1600 hours: 05JUN08
Mood: Grateful
Weather: Pretty Darn Hot
Worked out: Chest, abs, legs, ran 3 miles
Ate: Rice, Lasagna, salami and cheese sandwich, watermelon, yogurt, seafood salad
Milkshake: ½ vanilla ½ strawberry (mixin it up)
Mood: Grateful
Weather: Pretty Darn Hot
Worked out: Chest, abs, legs, ran 3 miles
Ate: Rice, Lasagna, salami and cheese sandwich, watermelon, yogurt, seafood salad
Milkshake: ½ vanilla ½ strawberry (mixin it up)
Today was my first day back since my day off and I was energized. I called Sammie and wished her a happy 20th bday. Its insane how old we’re all getting. Royce will be going to Rio next year and Casey will be in 8th grade! It’s nuts!
Work was actually pretty slow today. Oh man, my buddy walker got spilled on while doing fleet! And he didn’t even hit the yellow button! Whomever fleeted the plane last actually took out the cover that u screw on to seal the drain.. so when we opened the top latch everything just came out! At least this time we know it wasn’t our fault. Too bad for Walker though.. it was bad enough when it WAS my own fault! So the lesson is, be cautious of EVERYTHING and not JUST the yellow button, because you can still get smurfed. They call it smurfed because all the blue juice comes out.. and then your all blue. Yep, smurfed. So yes, Walker is now my fellow smurf. WOO!
After work frinky, richi, colvard, and the captn went to go work out at the gym. When I first got here I was dying at 7.5 on the treadmill… today I was knockin out 9.5-10 like nothing! I think its because we’re wearing that body armor to and from work and its making my legs strong? Whatever it is, im stoked about running at those speeds again. I realized how out of shape I really was. Hopefullly I’ll never let that happen again. … The sacrifices I make for all the beautiful women back home.
We headed to the chow hall after the gym. I got fancy and went ½ and ½ on the milkshake today. It was alright.. nothing spectacular. I think im actually starting to get tired of those milkshakes..how sad.
Frinky and Richi were talking about childbirth and how its nasty and how the placenta comes out or something? O man I don’t think I could stomach all that stuff.. im glad that’s nowhere in the near future for me.
Frinky and I were talking about how we have a great group here and how this deployment would have sucked if it weren’t for all the cool people. I think the last rotation had problems with each other and that’s too bad. It’s awesome that I came here at the same time as these other guys because theyre good funny folks. Everything happens for a reason. I am truly grateful for having these guys out here with me. It’s really making it quite an enjoyable experience. I hope that everyone I know has similar experiences in their lives, because it’s these experiences that make life truly worth living.
Alrighty folks, stay cool.
Work was actually pretty slow today. Oh man, my buddy walker got spilled on while doing fleet! And he didn’t even hit the yellow button! Whomever fleeted the plane last actually took out the cover that u screw on to seal the drain.. so when we opened the top latch everything just came out! At least this time we know it wasn’t our fault. Too bad for Walker though.. it was bad enough when it WAS my own fault! So the lesson is, be cautious of EVERYTHING and not JUST the yellow button, because you can still get smurfed. They call it smurfed because all the blue juice comes out.. and then your all blue. Yep, smurfed. So yes, Walker is now my fellow smurf. WOO!
After work frinky, richi, colvard, and the captn went to go work out at the gym. When I first got here I was dying at 7.5 on the treadmill… today I was knockin out 9.5-10 like nothing! I think its because we’re wearing that body armor to and from work and its making my legs strong? Whatever it is, im stoked about running at those speeds again. I realized how out of shape I really was. Hopefullly I’ll never let that happen again. … The sacrifices I make for all the beautiful women back home.
We headed to the chow hall after the gym. I got fancy and went ½ and ½ on the milkshake today. It was alright.. nothing spectacular. I think im actually starting to get tired of those milkshakes..how sad.
Frinky and Richi were talking about childbirth and how its nasty and how the placenta comes out or something? O man I don’t think I could stomach all that stuff.. im glad that’s nowhere in the near future for me.
Frinky and I were talking about how we have a great group here and how this deployment would have sucked if it weren’t for all the cool people. I think the last rotation had problems with each other and that’s too bad. It’s awesome that I came here at the same time as these other guys because theyre good funny folks. Everything happens for a reason. I am truly grateful for having these guys out here with me. It’s really making it quite an enjoyable experience. I hope that everyone I know has similar experiences in their lives, because it’s these experiences that make life truly worth living.
Alrighty folks, stay cool.
Tak
FIRST DAY OFF
DATE 1345 hours: 4 June 2008
Mood: Lazy
Weather: HOT
Worked out: nada
Ate: ham, mushroom and cheese omelet, cheeseburger, yogurt, pears, clam chowder
Milkshake: Strawberry Ice Cream cone instead
HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY SAMMIE!
Mood: Lazy
Weather: HOT
Worked out: nada
Ate: ham, mushroom and cheese omelet, cheeseburger, yogurt, pears, clam chowder
Milkshake: Strawberry Ice Cream cone instead
HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY SAMMIE!
Today was my first day off. I slept in 6 extra hours. YIKES! Colvard came by at around 0530. I guess he’d been up the whole morning cleaning his room and doing some other productive stuff that I should have been doing too.
We usually have to eat the same ol’ stuff that they bring to us at work for breakfast, but today we had a chance to go to the chow hall and get omelets! It was great. The fruit was fresh and the beverages were ice cold. We were in heaven.
Breakfast was done in about 15 minutes. I went back to my room and cleaned for a little bit. After that I read more of my book that Mr. Nitake sent me.
Colvard came back around at about 1000. We went to the pool and kicked it there for 2 hours. I definitely got sun burnt this time. Hopefully that farmers tan wont be so bad anymore.
We went to the chow hall again at 1230 hours and met our other friends from work. Colvard and I concluded that there isn’t much to do on a day off except sleep. I actually felt bad for leaving my other buddies at work while I did nothing all day. At least I’ll be well rested for tomorrow. Man that breakfast was good.
One month down, 3 to go.
Tak
We usually have to eat the same ol’ stuff that they bring to us at work for breakfast, but today we had a chance to go to the chow hall and get omelets! It was great. The fruit was fresh and the beverages were ice cold. We were in heaven.
Breakfast was done in about 15 minutes. I went back to my room and cleaned for a little bit. After that I read more of my book that Mr. Nitake sent me.
Colvard came back around at about 1000. We went to the pool and kicked it there for 2 hours. I definitely got sun burnt this time. Hopefully that farmers tan wont be so bad anymore.
We went to the chow hall again at 1230 hours and met our other friends from work. Colvard and I concluded that there isn’t much to do on a day off except sleep. I actually felt bad for leaving my other buddies at work while I did nothing all day. At least I’ll be well rested for tomorrow. Man that breakfast was good.
One month down, 3 to go.
Tak
June 2, 2008
HEATED WORDS
DATE 1536 hours: 01 JUN 08
Mood: Tired
Weather: Even Hotter
Worked out: Chest / abs
Ate: biscuits n strawberry jam, pork chops, carrots, eggs n rice, top ramen
Milkshake: none
Mood: Tired
Weather: Even Hotter
Worked out: Chest / abs
Ate: biscuits n strawberry jam, pork chops, carrots, eggs n rice, top ramen
Milkshake: none
There are a couple people that I work with that are only looking out for themselves. Many already know that I’m not okay with these things. I was running the show for my team yesterday, and one of the people on my team was giving me lip and attitude the entire shift. I laugh and smile a lot out here so I suppose they figure they can act up when they’re dealing with me.
The main issue is that these people are slowing us down and aren’t focused on the job. I believe that some people came to feel pretty because there are no other females to compete with out here.
One of these people decided to go about things their own way at the end of our shift, and it pretty much screwed my other team member and myself. I took the supervisors aside along with the individual so that we can solve the problem. This “individual” started chippin’ off at me, and I chipped back. Before you know it someone’s crying like a baby and the meeting is brought to an abrupt end.
There are always going to be problem people in the workplace, but being in a war zone definitely changes the way its handled. We can’t afford to be slowed down because of selfish people. It’s a WAR! I know that I could have been more professional about the way I handled the situation but I can’t stand liars and problem makers, and that’s exactly what this person is. Someone had to do it, and they had it coming to them.
Someone made rice and brought it into work today. Oh man that stuff was good. It was your regular Japanese rice but it was great after eating the same stuff every day.
The main issue is that these people are slowing us down and aren’t focused on the job. I believe that some people came to feel pretty because there are no other females to compete with out here.
One of these people decided to go about things their own way at the end of our shift, and it pretty much screwed my other team member and myself. I took the supervisors aside along with the individual so that we can solve the problem. This “individual” started chippin’ off at me, and I chipped back. Before you know it someone’s crying like a baby and the meeting is brought to an abrupt end.
There are always going to be problem people in the workplace, but being in a war zone definitely changes the way its handled. We can’t afford to be slowed down because of selfish people. It’s a WAR! I know that I could have been more professional about the way I handled the situation but I can’t stand liars and problem makers, and that’s exactly what this person is. Someone had to do it, and they had it coming to them.
Someone made rice and brought it into work today. Oh man that stuff was good. It was your regular Japanese rice but it was great after eating the same stuff every day.
The Pedicure
DATE 1600 hours: 28 May 08
Mood: Comfortable
Weather: Hot
Worked out: Chest, abs
Ate: Biscuits n jam, corn, black eyed peas, funions,
Milkshake: none
The bathroom smells worse and worse everyday. I don’t know if they haven’t been cleaning it right or what. It doesn’t help that the water pressure goes out every now and then. I had to wash all the soap off in the shower with a trickle of water, it took me about 5 minutes.
The food is the same every day. We look in the tubs every day to see if theres something new. I don’t know why someone doesn’t just shout out, “It’s the SAME THING”. It really puts down your appetite. I’m going to have to start forcing myself to eat this stuff. We make more trips to the chow hall after work now only because the stuff there actually changes.
I want sushi.
Right now im trying to sleep but they are changing the handle/lock on the door of our room. Why couldn’t this have been taken care of during the 13 hours I was at work?
Yesterday, I walked into my room and noticed that all the magazines with the cool pictures of girls in bikinis were gone. I asked my roommate what happened to them..
Me- What happened to the magazines?
Roomie – I gave them away to some of the other guys in the dorm.
Me- WHAT?! Why would you do that?
Roomie – I donno. If you care so much go and get them back.
Me – I don’t feel very comfortable sleeping in here with you giving out our only girl magazines, knowing that we wont be seeing any hot girls for four months.
Roomie – are you ok man? Your starting to offend me over here. Are you calling me gay?
Me- I didn’t say that. I just said it makes me uncomfortable that you dislike the girl magazines enough to give them away while we’re over here. I feel good just knowing that theyre in here.
Roomie - …
Am I wrong? Why would you do that? What a dummy.
I was heated. I did what any good man does. I went and got a pedicure with my buddy Walker.
It cost $7 I couldn’t handle the part where they were scrubbing the calices off of my feet because my feet were to ticklish. Walker was laughing at me big time. The girl asked me if I wanted to shiny nail polish. I asked her if any other guys get the shiny nail polish. I finally realized that she was just playing a joke on me. I did not get any nail polish. They do the deal and then massage your legs / feet for a little bit. The only time we get to see our feet is in the pool, or in the dorms.. so no one really gets to see the finished product except me.
I woke up today, looked down and thought, “Damn my feet look good.”
So should I be uncomfortable with my roomie for giving away the magazines, or should he be uncomfortable with me for getting a pedicure? It was a GIRL who gave me the pedicure.
I asked for a 0 on the sides and a 1 on the top.. but they must have understood because they shaved my entire head bald. Now I look like an alien with those crazy lumps in the back of my head.
My friend Colvard was giving out his grandmas oatmeal cookies today. There weren’t any raisins in them! Isn’t it mandatory to put raisins in oatmeal cookies? Colvard says to me, “They’re oatmeal cookies, not oatmeal RAISIN cookies, idiot.” Weird southern folk.. It was still a good oatmeal cookie. Thanks Grandma Colvard.
Tak
Mood: Comfortable
Weather: Hot
Worked out: Chest, abs
Ate: Biscuits n jam, corn, black eyed peas, funions,
Milkshake: none
The bathroom smells worse and worse everyday. I don’t know if they haven’t been cleaning it right or what. It doesn’t help that the water pressure goes out every now and then. I had to wash all the soap off in the shower with a trickle of water, it took me about 5 minutes.
The food is the same every day. We look in the tubs every day to see if theres something new. I don’t know why someone doesn’t just shout out, “It’s the SAME THING”. It really puts down your appetite. I’m going to have to start forcing myself to eat this stuff. We make more trips to the chow hall after work now only because the stuff there actually changes.
I want sushi.
Right now im trying to sleep but they are changing the handle/lock on the door of our room. Why couldn’t this have been taken care of during the 13 hours I was at work?
Yesterday, I walked into my room and noticed that all the magazines with the cool pictures of girls in bikinis were gone. I asked my roommate what happened to them..
Me- What happened to the magazines?
Roomie – I gave them away to some of the other guys in the dorm.
Me- WHAT?! Why would you do that?
Roomie – I donno. If you care so much go and get them back.
Me – I don’t feel very comfortable sleeping in here with you giving out our only girl magazines, knowing that we wont be seeing any hot girls for four months.
Roomie – are you ok man? Your starting to offend me over here. Are you calling me gay?
Me- I didn’t say that. I just said it makes me uncomfortable that you dislike the girl magazines enough to give them away while we’re over here. I feel good just knowing that theyre in here.
Roomie - …
Am I wrong? Why would you do that? What a dummy.
I was heated. I did what any good man does. I went and got a pedicure with my buddy Walker.
It cost $7 I couldn’t handle the part where they were scrubbing the calices off of my feet because my feet were to ticklish. Walker was laughing at me big time. The girl asked me if I wanted to shiny nail polish. I asked her if any other guys get the shiny nail polish. I finally realized that she was just playing a joke on me. I did not get any nail polish. They do the deal and then massage your legs / feet for a little bit. The only time we get to see our feet is in the pool, or in the dorms.. so no one really gets to see the finished product except me.
I woke up today, looked down and thought, “Damn my feet look good.”
So should I be uncomfortable with my roomie for giving away the magazines, or should he be uncomfortable with me for getting a pedicure? It was a GIRL who gave me the pedicure.
I asked for a 0 on the sides and a 1 on the top.. but they must have understood because they shaved my entire head bald. Now I look like an alien with those crazy lumps in the back of my head.
My friend Colvard was giving out his grandmas oatmeal cookies today. There weren’t any raisins in them! Isn’t it mandatory to put raisins in oatmeal cookies? Colvard says to me, “They’re oatmeal cookies, not oatmeal RAISIN cookies, idiot.” Weird southern folk.. It was still a good oatmeal cookie. Thanks Grandma Colvard.
Tak
May 27, 2008
Happy B-Day Russ and Trev!
26MAY08
2200 hours
Mood: Tired
Weather: Hottest yet
Milkshake Flavor: Chocolate
What I miss most from home right now: Sushi
Today was memorial day and we had a BBQ to celebrate. It was your typical hamburgers and hot dogs deal. We were going to get steaks but there werent enough for everyone. Frinky was nice enough to buy all of the stuff herself. I like that girl. They had a ceremony on the base where they read the names of the 44 airman who have left us since 2003. Not too long ago we had to load some remains onto a plane to be brought back home to the states. Crazy I was working in the warehouse and i swear i smelled soy sauce. I've been cravin sushi ever since. I'd really like that Tune-it-up roll that joelseph makes at Kamon. I missed Russ' n Trev's bdays this month. Hopefully I didn't miss too much craziness. The only craziness we have going on over here is seeing who can do the most push-ups/sit-ups. Tak
May 17, 2008
Don’t Touch The Yellow Button
May 17, 2008
1600 hours
Mood: Disgusted
Weather: Hot
Part of my job is to “Fleet” the vehicles. I’ve told some people about it before. When dirty fleet is requested, it means that I have to go out there and “service” the lavatory aka suck the poo and pee out of the plane.
I’m going to try my best to explain this in detail so pay attention:
You back a FLEET vehicle “Lavatory Service Truck” towards the aircraft so that the hose can be connected to the lavatory port. The end of the hose is called the moose head. The fleet personnel screw the moosehead onto the lavatory port so that the junk can be sucked out of the plane and into the truck
In order to get the moose head on, the top of the lavatory port must be opened. It’s opened with a latch. After opening the port with the latch, you screw on the moose head. THEN the moose head has a twisty metal thing that can be used to open the final seal and let the junk come out.
When I tried to open the latch, it wouldn’t. There was a YELLLOW button that said, “PUSH TO OPEN”. I knew there was something evil about this button from the first moment I laid eyes on it. So I kept trying the latch but it just wouldn’t budge. I finally thought to myself, hmm..well I guess im supposed to press the YELLOW button then. I hit the YELLOW button and EVERYTHING came out!
It got onto my boots and my right leg. There was no doo doo but there was definitely pee pee in there mixed with the “blue juice”. Blue juice is what you put into the lavatory.. you’ve all seen it when using the potty in the plane. The worst part is that some of it got onto my glove and spilled onto the hemp bracelet that Sam Tsuru made me. I have that soaking in soap and water as we speak.
I went home from work 3-4 hours early, got a new pair of boots, and 3 spankin’ new pairs of socks in exchange for my one dirty pair of black socks. I told everyone that I did it on purpose because I need new green socks. I seriously did need some more though. The folks think its hilarious to call me piss boy right now. I think it’ll pass with time. As nasty as it was, I can’t lie, kinda funny.
SO, should you ever have to dirty fleet a plane, NEVER EVER FOREVER NEVER push the YELLOW BUTTON!!! If the latch doesn’t open don’t service the plane, UNLESS you need new boots and spankin’ new socks.
Oh ya. I saw a civilian guy wearing one of those dust mask thingys.. he looked ridiculous! I gave him a face that clearly said, “What are you thinking?”
Tak
1600 hours
Mood: Disgusted
Weather: Hot
Part of my job is to “Fleet” the vehicles. I’ve told some people about it before. When dirty fleet is requested, it means that I have to go out there and “service” the lavatory aka suck the poo and pee out of the plane.
I’m going to try my best to explain this in detail so pay attention:
You back a FLEET vehicle “Lavatory Service Truck” towards the aircraft so that the hose can be connected to the lavatory port. The end of the hose is called the moose head. The fleet personnel screw the moosehead onto the lavatory port so that the junk can be sucked out of the plane and into the truck
In order to get the moose head on, the top of the lavatory port must be opened. It’s opened with a latch. After opening the port with the latch, you screw on the moose head. THEN the moose head has a twisty metal thing that can be used to open the final seal and let the junk come out.
When I tried to open the latch, it wouldn’t. There was a YELLLOW button that said, “PUSH TO OPEN”. I knew there was something evil about this button from the first moment I laid eyes on it. So I kept trying the latch but it just wouldn’t budge. I finally thought to myself, hmm..well I guess im supposed to press the YELLOW button then. I hit the YELLOW button and EVERYTHING came out!
It got onto my boots and my right leg. There was no doo doo but there was definitely pee pee in there mixed with the “blue juice”. Blue juice is what you put into the lavatory.. you’ve all seen it when using the potty in the plane. The worst part is that some of it got onto my glove and spilled onto the hemp bracelet that Sam Tsuru made me. I have that soaking in soap and water as we speak.
I went home from work 3-4 hours early, got a new pair of boots, and 3 spankin’ new pairs of socks in exchange for my one dirty pair of black socks. I told everyone that I did it on purpose because I need new green socks. I seriously did need some more though. The folks think its hilarious to call me piss boy right now. I think it’ll pass with time. As nasty as it was, I can’t lie, kinda funny.
SO, should you ever have to dirty fleet a plane, NEVER EVER FOREVER NEVER push the YELLOW BUTTON!!! If the latch doesn’t open don’t service the plane, UNLESS you need new boots and spankin’ new socks.
Oh ya. I saw a civilian guy wearing one of those dust mask thingys.. he looked ridiculous! I gave him a face that clearly said, “What are you thinking?”
Tak
Pool Volleyball and Sexy Dust Masks
16 May 2008 1511 hours
Yesterday we went to the pool for the first time and it was pretty fun. There were a ton of girls in two piece suites out there (5 total). Yeah.. pretty nice.
I’m doing my best to get tanned up before I come back so I can lose that title of “Pasty”.
We played a game a couple games of volleyball in the pool. It started out just being fun.. we were giving do-overs and all that the whole game. Then it was like one of those movies where a group of bullies come in and ruin everything. Four army guys joined our game and they were being all competitive about it. They were cursing all over the place and were getting mad because I kept saying,
“DO OVER!” The biggest jerk of ‘em all kept saying, “NO! NO DO OVERS!”
A taunt that I learned from Derek Hironaka came to mind as I shouted to my team,
“THIS IS CHAMPIONSHIP POOL VOLLEYBALL! IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF YOUR LIFE!!! GET READY!!!”
For some reason the jerk army guy started to lighten up a little bit after that.
Then they kept serving to the girl on our team because she couldn’t hit the ball… cool guys.
Today at work we had another bad dust storm. I don’t have the dust face cover thingy yet so I wear one of those surgical mask deals.. I’m the only one walking around with it though because everyone thinks that it looks stupid. As I walked back to the dorm with my buddies I received a lot of strange looks from people. After a while I turned to my buddy / roomie Nurse and told him,
“I SWEAR, if one more person gives me a funny look about this mask I’m going to jump kick their face!”
Why wouldn’t I wear the mask?! Does it look like I want to suck in dust all freakin’ day?! They’re the ones that should feel like dummies. I’m the smart one over here. Sgt. Stidham told me that I’d know why they were giving me those faces when I got back to the dorm and looked in the mirror.
Until I get a dust face cover thingy, I’m still going to be wearing that mask, and I’ll still jump kick someone’s face.
Tak
Yesterday we went to the pool for the first time and it was pretty fun. There were a ton of girls in two piece suites out there (5 total). Yeah.. pretty nice.
I’m doing my best to get tanned up before I come back so I can lose that title of “Pasty”.
We played a game a couple games of volleyball in the pool. It started out just being fun.. we were giving do-overs and all that the whole game. Then it was like one of those movies where a group of bullies come in and ruin everything. Four army guys joined our game and they were being all competitive about it. They were cursing all over the place and were getting mad because I kept saying,
“DO OVER!” The biggest jerk of ‘em all kept saying, “NO! NO DO OVERS!”
A taunt that I learned from Derek Hironaka came to mind as I shouted to my team,
“THIS IS CHAMPIONSHIP POOL VOLLEYBALL! IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF YOUR LIFE!!! GET READY!!!”
For some reason the jerk army guy started to lighten up a little bit after that.
Then they kept serving to the girl on our team because she couldn’t hit the ball… cool guys.
Today at work we had another bad dust storm. I don’t have the dust face cover thingy yet so I wear one of those surgical mask deals.. I’m the only one walking around with it though because everyone thinks that it looks stupid. As I walked back to the dorm with my buddies I received a lot of strange looks from people. After a while I turned to my buddy / roomie Nurse and told him,
“I SWEAR, if one more person gives me a funny look about this mask I’m going to jump kick their face!”
Why wouldn’t I wear the mask?! Does it look like I want to suck in dust all freakin’ day?! They’re the ones that should feel like dummies. I’m the smart one over here. Sgt. Stidham told me that I’d know why they were giving me those faces when I got back to the dorm and looked in the mirror.
Until I get a dust face cover thingy, I’m still going to be wearing that mask, and I’ll still jump kick someone’s face.
Tak
Phone Call
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 1602 hours
There are only certain phones capable of calling back home. I thought the one in our dorm was able to so I was all excited about calling one of my friends. It turns out that the phone wasn’t able to call out.. and my exciting plan for the afternoon went out the door.
I literally sat there and thought, this sucks, what is there to do now? I sat there for a whole 5 minutes. I ended up going back to my dorm and sleeping for the night.
As I walked home from work today, I thought about how disappointed I was when I found out that I wasn’t going to be able to make that call. I thought about how there are guys who don’t even get to make phone calls for weeks or months at a time. AP is probably going to have to experience some hard core stuff like that. I thought about how I’ll be able to come home in 4 months and see my friends and family again, and how back in the day some of our great grandparents left their families and friends to come to America; some NEVER seeing there families in person again.
I don’t think I’d ever be able to do something like that. Would you? What I’m doing here is hard enough for me. I like talking to my peoples! I guess it just started to hit me a little bit more. A couple weeks without seeing everyone isn’t so bad because you know that you just saw them. After awhile it starts hitting though. Your not going to be seeing or talking to these people much at all until the fall.
This blog should help a lot. I wanted to share everything with everyone while I was going through basic training… so it will help me a lot to share this experience. That’s all for now.
Tak
There are only certain phones capable of calling back home. I thought the one in our dorm was able to so I was all excited about calling one of my friends. It turns out that the phone wasn’t able to call out.. and my exciting plan for the afternoon went out the door.
I literally sat there and thought, this sucks, what is there to do now? I sat there for a whole 5 minutes. I ended up going back to my dorm and sleeping for the night.
As I walked home from work today, I thought about how disappointed I was when I found out that I wasn’t going to be able to make that call. I thought about how there are guys who don’t even get to make phone calls for weeks or months at a time. AP is probably going to have to experience some hard core stuff like that. I thought about how I’ll be able to come home in 4 months and see my friends and family again, and how back in the day some of our great grandparents left their families and friends to come to America; some NEVER seeing there families in person again.
I don’t think I’d ever be able to do something like that. Would you? What I’m doing here is hard enough for me. I like talking to my peoples! I guess it just started to hit me a little bit more. A couple weeks without seeing everyone isn’t so bad because you know that you just saw them. After awhile it starts hitting though. Your not going to be seeing or talking to these people much at all until the fall.
This blog should help a lot. I wanted to share everything with everyone while I was going through basic training… so it will help me a lot to share this experience. That’s all for now.
Tak
May 13, 2008
NEW DUTIES and EXTRA SLACKING
13 MAY 2008 0310 hours
I was just starting to get the hang of things! They took me off of my load team and made me the dispatcher. So I started from Block 1 again. The dispatcher position is even more difficult than the job I working on load team 3. I have a little confidence dispatching that I got from helping out my girls at EGUSD. The trick is to understand how the whole system works, so as far as learning about my job out here it’s a really good deal. The problem is, the guy training me leaves here really soon so I think there’s a lot of “learning it the hard way” scenarios ahead of me.
We had quite a few problems today. I swear last week (when I wasn’t dispatcher) it ran a lot smoother. Everything from oil leaks to aircraft malfunctions have taken place in the last 24 hours. I guess it’s the best way to learn though. When things go wrong out here a lot of the southern folk like to say “SWEET JESUS!” Oh man you already know that I was bustin’ up. I’m telling you, I’m in a movie.
Chicken was great today as always.
My friends and I decided that I’d use my southern accent when dispatching over the radio. Apparently it doesn’t sound very southern.
We got off work later than usual due to all the craziness and mishaps that went down at the end of our shift. I was stressed, tired, and even sad.. so I did what needed to be done and had a bowl of strawberry ice cream. The mashed potatoes for dinner tasted really bad, just FYI.. the worst I’ve ever had.
I planned on running afterwards but I was mentally exhausted from all the dispatch so I took I shower and went to sleep extra early. I slept in a little later as well and didn’t get to work on time for my pre-work workout. I’m SLACKING. I’ll get the hang of it here and dispatch and ill be right back on top of my game. Maybe I’ll get to play that ugly kid in basketball again and actually win this time. Alrighty folks!
Tak
I was just starting to get the hang of things! They took me off of my load team and made me the dispatcher. So I started from Block 1 again. The dispatcher position is even more difficult than the job I working on load team 3. I have a little confidence dispatching that I got from helping out my girls at EGUSD. The trick is to understand how the whole system works, so as far as learning about my job out here it’s a really good deal. The problem is, the guy training me leaves here really soon so I think there’s a lot of “learning it the hard way” scenarios ahead of me.
We had quite a few problems today. I swear last week (when I wasn’t dispatcher) it ran a lot smoother. Everything from oil leaks to aircraft malfunctions have taken place in the last 24 hours. I guess it’s the best way to learn though. When things go wrong out here a lot of the southern folk like to say “SWEET JESUS!” Oh man you already know that I was bustin’ up. I’m telling you, I’m in a movie.
Chicken was great today as always.
My friends and I decided that I’d use my southern accent when dispatching over the radio. Apparently it doesn’t sound very southern.
We got off work later than usual due to all the craziness and mishaps that went down at the end of our shift. I was stressed, tired, and even sad.. so I did what needed to be done and had a bowl of strawberry ice cream. The mashed potatoes for dinner tasted really bad, just FYI.. the worst I’ve ever had.
I planned on running afterwards but I was mentally exhausted from all the dispatch so I took I shower and went to sleep extra early. I slept in a little later as well and didn’t get to work on time for my pre-work workout. I’m SLACKING. I’ll get the hang of it here and dispatch and ill be right back on top of my game. Maybe I’ll get to play that ugly kid in basketball again and actually win this time. Alrighty folks!
Tak
Mother's Day
1512 hours Sunday (11May2008)
Last night I finally got to play another basketball game. I lose some serious sleep when I do this but how can I resist? There’s not much fun stuff to do on this base so when I see basketball I get super excited. I lost both games because the other team had this guy that was decent. There was some trash-talking going on as well. He was 6’2 but I was still pissed. I decided to be the bigger man so I just told him he was ugly. He really was though. True story.
Today I woke up early enough to get into the gym before work today, but I was so hungry that I ended up grubbing’ a little bit instead.
There are concrete sidewalks to walk on around the base, but it’s quicker to cut through to rocky gravel. When the stones get bigger it’s harder to walk so you end up talking the longer, sidewalk routes anyway. Who knew that paved roads and flat sturdy ground was something to be grateful for?
I still got in push-ups and sit-ups before work. From 0200 hours to 0600 hours it was pretty slow. When its dark in the morning and im driving out there by myself it gets pretty lonely. I sing and dance to keep myself entertained. I wonder what comes to mind when these people see that Asian guy driving a forklift through the flight line while singing boyz 2 men, blackstreet, and Britney spears songs.
We try to do some cleaning and then some reading on training materials when it’s slow. I also have to stay away from the food because there’s so much of it there and when we don’t eat it all (and we never do) we end up having to throw it all away. I can’t stand being there when we’re throwing all of that perfectly good food into the trashcans. We do save the lunchmeat, bread and cheeses though. I just feel bad asking for care packages and here we are throwing good food away.
In the morning they had fried rice, or at least someone attempted to make fried rice. It looked like rice mixed in with those multi-veggies that u buy frozen. It wasn’t too bad.
Today was by far the worst day of work I’ve had so far. There were a whole lot of planes coming down all at once and everyone was flustered. I was pissed because we didn’t know what was going on or why were messing up. We have to know exactly what the problem is in order to fix it u know? It’s all good tomorrows another day so we’ll get it done then.
We got off late because of all the screw-ups. There was a BBQ but I forgot about it and went straight to the dorm. I bought new socks because mines are all dirty or with the laundry crew. Then I hopped onto the computer and sent some emails and chatted with Jess and my lil sis. Emailing with everyone back home is really one of the more entertaining parts of my day. I know some folks back home must think im going CRAZY without my cell phone.
I’m going to miss everyone’s college grads and AP’s grad from SEAL training. Im pretty upset about that. Congrats ya’ll. I’m very proud of you guys. I brag about ya’ll all the time out here.
RANDOM: A lot of these people out here have southern accents. You know how some people try to talk to foreign people with FOB words hoping that they might understand them better? Well, I find myself putting that southern accent on some of my words when I talk to these folks out here. Maybe I feel like my words are hitting them a little bit harder that way? I don’t know, its not like I mean to do it.
Well this is more thAn I planned on writing. Is it then or than? Whatever. Peace out ya’ll
Tak
Last night I finally got to play another basketball game. I lose some serious sleep when I do this but how can I resist? There’s not much fun stuff to do on this base so when I see basketball I get super excited. I lost both games because the other team had this guy that was decent. There was some trash-talking going on as well. He was 6’2 but I was still pissed. I decided to be the bigger man so I just told him he was ugly. He really was though. True story.
Today I woke up early enough to get into the gym before work today, but I was so hungry that I ended up grubbing’ a little bit instead.
There are concrete sidewalks to walk on around the base, but it’s quicker to cut through to rocky gravel. When the stones get bigger it’s harder to walk so you end up talking the longer, sidewalk routes anyway. Who knew that paved roads and flat sturdy ground was something to be grateful for?
I still got in push-ups and sit-ups before work. From 0200 hours to 0600 hours it was pretty slow. When its dark in the morning and im driving out there by myself it gets pretty lonely. I sing and dance to keep myself entertained. I wonder what comes to mind when these people see that Asian guy driving a forklift through the flight line while singing boyz 2 men, blackstreet, and Britney spears songs.
We try to do some cleaning and then some reading on training materials when it’s slow. I also have to stay away from the food because there’s so much of it there and when we don’t eat it all (and we never do) we end up having to throw it all away. I can’t stand being there when we’re throwing all of that perfectly good food into the trashcans. We do save the lunchmeat, bread and cheeses though. I just feel bad asking for care packages and here we are throwing good food away.
In the morning they had fried rice, or at least someone attempted to make fried rice. It looked like rice mixed in with those multi-veggies that u buy frozen. It wasn’t too bad.
Today was by far the worst day of work I’ve had so far. There were a whole lot of planes coming down all at once and everyone was flustered. I was pissed because we didn’t know what was going on or why were messing up. We have to know exactly what the problem is in order to fix it u know? It’s all good tomorrows another day so we’ll get it done then.
We got off late because of all the screw-ups. There was a BBQ but I forgot about it and went straight to the dorm. I bought new socks because mines are all dirty or with the laundry crew. Then I hopped onto the computer and sent some emails and chatted with Jess and my lil sis. Emailing with everyone back home is really one of the more entertaining parts of my day. I know some folks back home must think im going CRAZY without my cell phone.
I’m going to miss everyone’s college grads and AP’s grad from SEAL training. Im pretty upset about that. Congrats ya’ll. I’m very proud of you guys. I brag about ya’ll all the time out here.
RANDOM: A lot of these people out here have southern accents. You know how some people try to talk to foreign people with FOB words hoping that they might understand them better? Well, I find myself putting that southern accent on some of my words when I talk to these folks out here. Maybe I feel like my words are hitting them a little bit harder that way? I don’t know, its not like I mean to do it.
Well this is more thAn I planned on writing. Is it then or than? Whatever. Peace out ya’ll
Tak
My Own Corner
I woke up for work last night at 2200 hours. My buddies Sgt. Flores and SrA Sanchez came and woke me up since I’ve had problems getting up in time for work. I did my usual morning deal but rushed through flossing and rinsing my mouth with mouth wash because someone was taking a crap and it reeked!
I got to work at 2300 hours and worked out for about 25 minutes. I grabbed a roll to chew on while we had our beginning of shift briefing. I told everyone about the milkshakes but no one seems to be as excited as me. Who doesn’t love free milkshakes?! I’ll probably be telling people about it the whole trip and then telling even more people back home when I return.
Work was slow today. I still think its crazy that im doing all of the things that im doing out here. Back home it would have taken weeks for me to get out there on my own and do things comfortably; but here they cant afford to wait that long. I guess its part of the reason why I came here. I know that after this tour ill know all there is to know about the ramp services part of my job. The only part that im a little bit shaky on is the PAX section, but I’ll have a chance to get comfortable with that too.
We had a super long briefing that started at 0800 and lasted until about 1130. My new friend Sgt. Frink was bobbin’ back and forth from the first minute of it! Everyone kept telling me to wake her up but I was just watching and laughing.
By the time the briefing was over it was time for us to go home so we were happy. This was the slowest day of work that I’ve had since working here. Oh and one of the planes requested dirty fleet services during the shift. I thought it was like the other planes I’ve been doing.. thinking that all I had to do was plug in the hose, suck the stuff out and then be off. Oh no, this one had a honey bucket. It’s literally a bucket that the air crew pees in and that you have to take out with your hands and empty into a funnel on the Latrine Service Truck. Nasty nasty. Funny how they call it a honey bucket though.
I came back home and went out to eat with Sgt. Walker. I guess he just got married right before coming here, and he’s trying to go active duty. I don’t think that it’s a bad idea because the military does have a lot to offer. Reserves and Active Duty both have their ups and downs, it just depends on what your trying to do with your life.
I love Matt Curry for introducing me to the red hot chilis because I love listening to this stuff when I come back to my dorm. It relaxes me like nothing else;. I also picked up my laundry, dropped some more laundry off, went to the cyber café, and ran for twenty minutes. Now im only going to get about five hours of sleep but its all good because I took a nap for an hour after eating today. I like to wait for the cyber café to open before I start taking care of business out here. One of the guys here moved out so I got his corner that’s blocked off with sheets, has a whole bunk to itself, with two lockers (one that locks), and an electrical outlet! Oh YEAH!
Davin TAKeuchi
I got to work at 2300 hours and worked out for about 25 minutes. I grabbed a roll to chew on while we had our beginning of shift briefing. I told everyone about the milkshakes but no one seems to be as excited as me. Who doesn’t love free milkshakes?! I’ll probably be telling people about it the whole trip and then telling even more people back home when I return.
Work was slow today. I still think its crazy that im doing all of the things that im doing out here. Back home it would have taken weeks for me to get out there on my own and do things comfortably; but here they cant afford to wait that long. I guess its part of the reason why I came here. I know that after this tour ill know all there is to know about the ramp services part of my job. The only part that im a little bit shaky on is the PAX section, but I’ll have a chance to get comfortable with that too.
We had a super long briefing that started at 0800 and lasted until about 1130. My new friend Sgt. Frink was bobbin’ back and forth from the first minute of it! Everyone kept telling me to wake her up but I was just watching and laughing.
By the time the briefing was over it was time for us to go home so we were happy. This was the slowest day of work that I’ve had since working here. Oh and one of the planes requested dirty fleet services during the shift. I thought it was like the other planes I’ve been doing.. thinking that all I had to do was plug in the hose, suck the stuff out and then be off. Oh no, this one had a honey bucket. It’s literally a bucket that the air crew pees in and that you have to take out with your hands and empty into a funnel on the Latrine Service Truck. Nasty nasty. Funny how they call it a honey bucket though.
I came back home and went out to eat with Sgt. Walker. I guess he just got married right before coming here, and he’s trying to go active duty. I don’t think that it’s a bad idea because the military does have a lot to offer. Reserves and Active Duty both have their ups and downs, it just depends on what your trying to do with your life.
I love Matt Curry for introducing me to the red hot chilis because I love listening to this stuff when I come back to my dorm. It relaxes me like nothing else;. I also picked up my laundry, dropped some more laundry off, went to the cyber café, and ran for twenty minutes. Now im only going to get about five hours of sleep but its all good because I took a nap for an hour after eating today. I like to wait for the cyber café to open before I start taking care of business out here. One of the guys here moved out so I got his corner that’s blocked off with sheets, has a whole bunk to itself, with two lockers (one that locks), and an electrical outlet! Oh YEAH!
Davin TAKeuchi
May 9, 2008
First Post
There are only 4 electrical ports (all in the corners) in each dorm room and my bunk is in the middle so i don't have a way to charge any of my gear right now (cell phone, computer, ipod). The guys im rooming with are going to be moving out here pretty soon so i'll have all those luxuries shortly. People work different shifts so people section off their parts of the room with strings tied to the wall with blankets/sheets hung over there. The guys with bunks by the door can't do that so the bottom bunker just puts sheets around hanging from the top bunk so that no light can get in.
Because i don't have any electricity i don't have a alarm and theyre tough to find out here. Some of my friends take it upon themselves to come in and wake me up each day at 2145-2200 hours. I get dressed in my uniform, walk down to the bathroom and take care of my morning business, then walk back to my room and put my vest, helmet, and backpack on. From there we walk on down to our work area which is about half a mile away. It's not a bad walk though because its late at night so the temperature is cool. You can always see/hear jets and helicopters flying in and out of the base. It may start to wear off, but i still feel like im in a movie everyday.
We have a gym upstairs above our offices so we work out from 2230-2330 hours. There is always food here because we are too busy to break away for chow. After working out we throw some stuff in our bellies and then have briefing at 2330-2345 hours. The guys that have been here have told us that we're going to get sick of chicken, and i think im starting to already.
I work in the ramp section, so our job is to unload the planes and bring the cargo back to the cargo bay, and then pick up cargo from the cargo bay and load it onto the plane. I either drive out there with a car/truck, or take a 10k all terrain forklift. There are three teams with different responsibilities. I'm on team 3 and apparently its the busiest team that there is. We do most of the ERO (Engine running onload/offload). The ERO's are difficult because the engines are throwing hot air right at you. It feels like your skin is about to burn off.. but you get used to it. We also load some commercial planes that are operated by Russian guys. They have different signals that are hard to understand so these guys are always cussing at me in russian. I just laugh and smile, and they cuss some more. We also take the dirty stuff off of the gunships. IT's crazy because your inside this plane that is going out there every night actually killing other humans.. crazy crazy.
Today we had our first dust storm. The four months that ill be here are apparently the four momths where the dust storms are the most severe. When there are severe dust storms the enemy decides to mortar the base big time, but no worries we're in a hardened shelter. The dust is horrible because its everywhere and on everything. Im going to invest in a scarf thingy but right now i have to be like my other buddies and just cover my face with my shirt like someone farted and i can't get away from the smell. The dust storms just look like a bunch of fog in the air. This makes it a slower day because they have to cancel a bunch of the flights.
After our shift finally ends we take off back to the dorms. I quickly change into my PT gear and hop on the treadmill at the fitness center not to far away from my dorm. Today i'll be picking up my laundry. You can give them up to 6 kilos of laundry and they get it back to u in 3 days wrapped in a plastic bag. A lot of guys prefer to do their own laundry because its quicker but i think thats a waste. Where else do you get free laundry service like this?
After running i shower (which can only be 3 mins long) and hit the deck. Although sometimes ill go to the cyber cafe and email/chat.. or ill go to the chow hall and grab a milk shake that they make with baskin robbins ice cream. The chow hall back home doesnt even do that! I have to limit myself on those tho or ill come back twice the size.
The girls out here all look 20x better than they actually do because there is only 1per every 50 guys. There are a lot of army people on base here also. Even though theyve given me the name Tak there are still a lot of people that try to say my real name and still say Ta-koo-chi. It pisses me off because thats why they call me TAK in the first place.. ill take care of them soon. There is probably a lot that i've missed but i think i did a decent job of outlining my day. Pretty boring huh? Talk to yall soon
Ta-koo-chi
Because i don't have any electricity i don't have a alarm and theyre tough to find out here. Some of my friends take it upon themselves to come in and wake me up each day at 2145-2200 hours. I get dressed in my uniform, walk down to the bathroom and take care of my morning business, then walk back to my room and put my vest, helmet, and backpack on. From there we walk on down to our work area which is about half a mile away. It's not a bad walk though because its late at night so the temperature is cool. You can always see/hear jets and helicopters flying in and out of the base. It may start to wear off, but i still feel like im in a movie everyday.
We have a gym upstairs above our offices so we work out from 2230-2330 hours. There is always food here because we are too busy to break away for chow. After working out we throw some stuff in our bellies and then have briefing at 2330-2345 hours. The guys that have been here have told us that we're going to get sick of chicken, and i think im starting to already.
I work in the ramp section, so our job is to unload the planes and bring the cargo back to the cargo bay, and then pick up cargo from the cargo bay and load it onto the plane. I either drive out there with a car/truck, or take a 10k all terrain forklift. There are three teams with different responsibilities. I'm on team 3 and apparently its the busiest team that there is. We do most of the ERO (Engine running onload/offload). The ERO's are difficult because the engines are throwing hot air right at you. It feels like your skin is about to burn off.. but you get used to it. We also load some commercial planes that are operated by Russian guys. They have different signals that are hard to understand so these guys are always cussing at me in russian. I just laugh and smile, and they cuss some more. We also take the dirty stuff off of the gunships. IT's crazy because your inside this plane that is going out there every night actually killing other humans.. crazy crazy.
Today we had our first dust storm. The four months that ill be here are apparently the four momths where the dust storms are the most severe. When there are severe dust storms the enemy decides to mortar the base big time, but no worries we're in a hardened shelter. The dust is horrible because its everywhere and on everything. Im going to invest in a scarf thingy but right now i have to be like my other buddies and just cover my face with my shirt like someone farted and i can't get away from the smell. The dust storms just look like a bunch of fog in the air. This makes it a slower day because they have to cancel a bunch of the flights.
After our shift finally ends we take off back to the dorms. I quickly change into my PT gear and hop on the treadmill at the fitness center not to far away from my dorm. Today i'll be picking up my laundry. You can give them up to 6 kilos of laundry and they get it back to u in 3 days wrapped in a plastic bag. A lot of guys prefer to do their own laundry because its quicker but i think thats a waste. Where else do you get free laundry service like this?
After running i shower (which can only be 3 mins long) and hit the deck. Although sometimes ill go to the cyber cafe and email/chat.. or ill go to the chow hall and grab a milk shake that they make with baskin robbins ice cream. The chow hall back home doesnt even do that! I have to limit myself on those tho or ill come back twice the size.
The girls out here all look 20x better than they actually do because there is only 1per every 50 guys. There are a lot of army people on base here also. Even though theyve given me the name Tak there are still a lot of people that try to say my real name and still say Ta-koo-chi. It pisses me off because thats why they call me TAK in the first place.. ill take care of them soon. There is probably a lot that i've missed but i think i did a decent job of outlining my day. Pretty boring huh? Talk to yall soon
Ta-koo-chi
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