almost there. hopefully within a month of departure. all is well, cold, but well. the last two weeks have been chilly. temps have dropped down into the lower 40's and some nights, 30's. we even had frost a few mornings, which i thought would be rare in the desert. nothing like a good cold morning to remind you of home. of course, everything is reminding me of home at this point. soon enough.
although this years thanksgiving dinner was not “homemade,” it was good. i cooked lunch myself and had chow hall for super. using the word “cooked” is a strech. more like “heated.” for lunch we had canned ham, baked with honey and pineapple, collard greens, corn, stovetop stuffing, pinto beans and french fries as a poor substitute for mashed potatoes (all canned food). the only part lacking was the nap. chow hall supper was nice, but still “chow hall food.” for those of you who don't know what chow hall food is, remember when you were 10 and the school had thanksgiving dinner the last day before you left for the holiday weekend. that was better.
we are now fighting a new enemy here in country, stupidity. seems like they, being the “rule makers,” have rolled out the red carpet for stupid regulation here close to the end. more rules and such have came out in the last little bit than the whole time here. the lastest is speed limits. yes, we have been told to slow down, quit driving so aggressive and be nicer on the roads. we can only employ the learned tatics of survival on the streets in “danger areas.” excuse me, but i missed the meeting where parts of this country we deemed safe. as a buddy of mine put it, when you leave green ramp, your'e in indian country. we even got a call from higher today, while on a patrol, telling us to slow down, we were speeding. we joked about missing our flight home because of possibly having to make an appearance in traffic court.
anyone semi-knowledgeable of the military, knows we are an army of acronyms. i have developed a new one, which is in the testing phase as we speak. nearing the end of deployments, soldiers tend to get lazy and try to cut corners, thinking they are home free. to use the militarys favorite word, complacency, is a no-no. we have been told that statistics show a higher rate of fatal accidents during this time. that brings me to my acronym, STD or short-timers disease. easy to remember, gets a soldiers attention and my favorite, another acronym. stay alert and help fight STD. catchy, huh.
bc