9/21/06

I was awaken this morning at 1000 to a loud explosion. I immediately sat up in the darkness of my hooch on my rack, straining to hear anything more.

A few seconds later I heard the intermittent sound of one, maybe two, .50 cal's firing at something. It seemed to go on for over five minutes.

I turned on my radio to see if there was any traffic about it and heard nothing. So I laid back down and went back to sleep.

The place I work at we keep open 24/7 so anyone getting off patrol or rolling thru our camp on a convoy, has a place to go to email, or phone home, watch some sat. TV etc. Or like in several instances with convoys, we dim all the lights, tell everyone to hold it down, and let them crash wherever they can find a spot. Otherwise they would be stuck sleeping in, or under their trucks in the dirt most times. I work everyday 1830 to around 0800-0830.

Life here is without the creature comforts one is used to stateside. Although this camp has been here for several years now, there is running water only in a few places. Porta-potties and hand sanitizers are the order of the day. We have running water in our hooch's to take showers. But the posted signs say "do not use for oral hygiene", so to brush your teeth you have to have a bottle of water on hand.

I am not sure what we have the possibility of catching, but no need to find out.

I still wonder if in even taking a shower and getting water in your eyes and somewhat in your nose, poses any danger.

Our hooch's are alittle bigger than walk-in closets. Doesn't matter though. It is nice to go somewhere to be alone in your thoughts and have some time of privacy.

There is no where else on the camp to go, that there is not someone else around. Alot of guys have bought satellite dishes, off the Internet and put them on top of their hooch's, and they get many channels to watch. I have a TV and a DVD player I bought from one of the soldiers that got extended and was sent to Baghdad instead of going home while back.

I get 3 of the local channels broadcasting from Mosul, but my Arabic is very limited so alot I don't understand. I have found a couple times Tom and Jerry cartoons in English they broadcast, with Arabic subtitles. Also I have watched a cooking show, but I didn't recognize any of the food they were preparing on the show..plus the host didn't go "BAM" after he made things.

One show awhile back, it might have been news I'm not sure, had in a small embedded box on the screen, a guy signing for the hearing impaired. It made me wonder if and how, even that form of communication in language was different, if in fact, it even was.

I won't be getting a sat. dish though, already it takes me sometimes 3 days just to watch a movie. It seems after getting to my hooch I am just so dead tired everyday, I turn on a movie and fall right to sleep. I noticed these guys that have dishes, are most times walking around looking very tired cause I am sure they are up watching TV when they should be sleeping.

Thing is you only get a few hours to sleep, take care of laundry, clean your hooch, make phone calls, emails etc. Time is definitely a commodity here.

We are right on the edge of Mosul as have I mentioned in the past. I can look down and see the lights of the city from where the tent is I work in. I am sure with a cheaply telescope, they could see me. There is a small barren stretch between us and the city but not much.

A few nights ago the soldiers fired some lum's, or flares up in the night sky. They fire them up in tubes, the same way mortars are fired. They do this so they can see any movement on the ground without the aid of night vision.

It is a spectacular thing to see.

There are probably 8-10 in the air at one time. They just hang in the air by parachutes but at night, all you see is the light and not the chutes. I have seen these in war movies before but to see them in person...it is just really something the way they light the area up. It is better than fireworks and if anything I think they should fire them up in the states at the end of fireworks so everyone can see to walk back to their cars....they are very cool...I want some!!!

At night too is when alot of the creatures come out. When I first arrived on camp. At night there were many bats that flew around the few street lights we have around. There were probably 100 flying around chasing and eating bugs. Many people would just sit around for entertainment watching them catch their dinner. Kinda like all those bats at that bridge in Austin. Except for here they have these civilian contractors that work in a department called Vector Control that kill every moving thing on this camp.

Now I see probably 5-10 bats every now and then and the bugs have gotten real bad..don't get me started about these Vector control guys...they need a class on the circle of life, you think they would learn from those guys that thought it would be a good idea to bring mongoose to Hawaii to get rid of the snakes...guess what Hawaii has a problem with now??

Also when I first arrived at night we would cross paths with these fox/coyote/chihuahua-looking animals that are really skinny looking..I haven't seen any of those around lately either...I am sure they have met the same fate as the bats. So guess what we are seeing more of now that those things used to eat...mice!

I was talking to a soldier tonite, and surreptitiously found out that he was one of the .50 cal gunners responding to the explosion that woke me earlier this morning. Seems 4 of those "evildoers" were planting an IED not far from our front gate, in hopes of catching a departing convoy.

Seems it prematurely exploded, and of course, brought the attention and wrath, of the U.S. Army down upon themselves.

The soldier told me I could rest easy. Those 4 would never plant another IED, or interrupt anyone's sleep, or anything else for that matter, again.

Their evildoer days were over.