Connectivity problems

Hey dudes, sorry for not updates for a few days but the internet in my room has been out for a couple of days, kind of a bummer that I'm paying $88 a month for it when it goes down for days at a time. But I can't complain when it's lucky that I have it at all, with my own room in a trailer instead of being in a dirty tent with no internet ever.

I won't be posting any pictures, as I'm on a government computer and we can't hook up cameras or thumb-drives for security reasons. I also won't be posting as many pictures in general, for security reasons. Don't want to give out intel on the layout of the base, etc. But I should be able to post a few here and there.

The past few days I've just been in training, mostly Powerpoint slide-shows, learning the layout of the base, learning what we can and can't do, what we need to watch for, etc.

I did have additional weapons training to learn the ASP police baton though, which was pretty intense. It is by far the most hands-on training I've had with the Air Force so far.



It's basically a collapsible nightstick, made of metal with a rubbery foam grip. We practiced extending it, doing strikes with it on a guy holding a pad with it open and closed, etc. Then one of the trainers got dressed up in a full "red man" suit, with pads over his entire body and we played out scenarios using a padded baton. It was full contact and also included role-playing such as setting up scenarios like "You see one of the guys you're escorting running towards the runway, towards an airplane, what do you do?". At one point the "red man" grabbed my ASP and we ended up rolling around on the ground fighting for it. In two out of the four scenarios I actually talked him into compliance, which I thought was cool. After all of my scenarios he told the other instructor I had excellent voice control and he actually couldn't even find a hole to initiate a physical confrontation, so I thought that was a nice compliment. I've never been in an actual fight so it was my first time really being in a confrontation with someone, even if it was just a training environment. It was helpful though and I learned a lot about the weapon and about how quickly those situations can go down and how hard it is to keep cool and really be in control and not just start flailing your arms around.

Other than the training I've mostly been eating and sleeping. The dining facility is very good, much better than Qatar. Just simple things like the mashed potatoes are much better here. We eat with the Army as well as Romanians and whoever else is stationed on the base. The Army vastly outnumbers the Air Force here, by a huge amount. We have our own little area inside the larger Army base with our own gates and everything. The dining facility has a huge variety though, with three main lines, a short order grill, a hot sandwich bar, a cold sandwich bar, salad bar, fruit bar, dessert bar, "healthy" bar, etc. The dessert bar has ice cream, pies, they'll make milk shakes, ice cream sundaes, anything you can imagine. I plan to avoid it and not even look at it again. The healthy bar has fresh salads, fresh cut fruit they cut right in front of you, etc. They also have signs up with a suggestion of what you should eat at each meal in order to stay under 1800 calories a day, which is a helpful starting point if you want to keep your calories low. The dining facility is run by Army personnel, but most of the actual work is done by Iraqis. They are very friendly and understand English pretty well. From what I've seen they are always very happy and eager to work.

Everyone carries a weapon here, which is a little weird considering I hadn't seen one since basic training, being stationed in the states. The Army has to carry a weapon 24/7, but we only carry them when on duty. I feel sorry for the guys with the big M60 machine guns, as they are much heavier than the M16 or M4 and they still have to go everywhere with them.

The BX is pretty nice, they have just about everything we need, food, uniform items, movies, music, toiletries, etc. There is a Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, some italian restaurants, etc. I don't plan to eat there though, as I get all I can eat at the dining facility and there is no point in wasting money on food. Maybe once in a while I'll try a burrito and see how it compares to the ones at home. The locals also have various little shops selling souvenirs and jewelry and rugs and electronics and things like that.

Hopefully my internet will be back up soon and I can post a few pictures and more updates. Things are good though, so just wanted to let everyone know I was OK. Hope things are good in the states!