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