Just doing laundry

There must be tens of thousands of people all over Bagram, from all over the world.

There are times when I sit in the dining facility (DFAC), or walk down Disney Drive, and marvel at the variety of countries and uniforms. Besides all the U.S. service uniforms, I've seen British, Czech Republic, French, and Korean uniforms. There are also many I can't decipher.

Disney Drive was a strange name for the main drag of an air base -- until I learned that it was named for SPC Jason Disney. http://www.fallenheroesmemorial.com/oef/profiles/disneyjasona.html.


In various places on Bagram and my little area, there are pictures of fallen heroes and of the horrifying events of September 11, 2001. Many pictured were much too young. There are women as well as men who are memorialized. Occasionally I will stop and think of the young person who left too soon, and pray for the family and friends left behind.


And, just like clockwork, I've gotten my first upper respiratory illness here. I'd been told that most people get sick the first time they go in theater. The medic at Sick Call told me that it's a combination of the altitude plus the poor air quality. I can believe the air quality. It's always dusty, and who knows what kinds of things are floating around in the air. The water in the sinks and showers is disinfected, non-potable water. That could be part of it, also.

We have decorated our office with many of the decorations sent to us, and have been inundated with chocolates and other goodies. I'll miss decorating with  my family, but this helped a bit.

I've gotten several boxes of goodies meant to share, and I'm very grateful to all who send emails, boxes and letters, leave posts here, and pray for me and my family. The toiletries disappear quickly when I leave them on the shelf in one of the shipping containers that serves as our latrine/head/restroom.

A bit of good news:
I learned this week that I am among those who will be considered for promotion to O-6 (Captain) in the board that convenes 10 Jan 2012. After the initial euphoria that I'm "in zone" so soon, rather than in a year or two, I realized that I need to get a letter to the board post haste, with all the great and wonderful things I have been doing since being mobilized. I'm very excited, to say the least. In the chaos of mobilizing, being stuck for so long, and then deploying, I hadn't even kept up with board dates. Also, I had calculated that 2014 or 2015 would be when I was up for consideration.

Being that 10 Jan is only a few weeks away, you'll know the results when I get them.

Another bit of good news:
I mobilized 19 May, which means that, in two days, I will have been on active duty for seven months (despite it feeling like five years). I am officially more than halfway through the one-year mobilization. I am scheduled to leave theater (not the movies, the battlefield) sometime early June.

I'm in the midst of doing my laundry, and need to toss it into the dryer.

I'll post again soon.