Brisbyland
And all the time we talked you seemed to see
Something down there to smile at in the dust.
-Frost
I actually got to sleep for eight straight hours last night, for the first time in I don’t know how long. It was great. Got up and had some coffee (thanks, Gary, for the great coffee, and Jen, for the grinder), and work is going smoothly. I feel pretty good. Something about knowing you’re gonna be home in the next few weeks just motivates the hell out of you. Or it does with me, at least.
I am still pretty tired, though. My body aches all over, all the time. Doc says it’s normal near the end of a tour for your body to start to break down a little. A year of combat stress plus little sleep plus the pressure of all the little going-home tasks will do that, he says. And it doesn’t help that I’m eating MREs, with no fresh fruit or milk or anything. I’m taking vitamins, but sometimes you just want something fresh. Something different. Doc is pretty solid. He’s an old special forces guy, and he brings the SF attitude with him to everything he does. No regular army nonsense with him. No acting like you’re in garrison when there are bombs and snipers around. I like that. We need more officers with his attitude.
There are lizards everywhere, now. They must eat the scorpions, or chase them away, or something. I haven’t seen a scorpion in weeks. I saw a camel spider or two, but not nearly as many as a couple of months ago. I wonder if the lizards shoulder them out, or if the scorpions and spiders just don’t come out when it gets too hot. In any event, I prefer the lizards. Brilliant green and orange and brown, if you find one without the dust on him, which is rare. They’re not really scared of you; they just kind of dance around just outside your reach. The camel spiders do that too, but it’s not nearly as unsettling when the lizards do it.
It is time to leave this place, and in some ways I don’t really want to. We’ll only be at the big base for a few weeks, but it’s so nasty and crowded and busy up there. You can’t see the stars at night, and it’s loud. And everything is so filthy. The worst part is that it’s one big vacation spot for REMFs, and it seems like they all compete to see who can do the least work. I am going to stay as far away from the busy areas as I can. The PX and the food court, the bazaar, all of that. I am just going to hunker down in my tent out in the moon dust and do my work and wait to go home.
Home. Our replacements are already trickling in. Their torch party is already on ground up there, moved into their quarters. I can’t wait to see them and get them settled in. It’s almost, finally, somebody else’s turn.
Something down there to smile at in the dust.
-Frost
I actually got to sleep for eight straight hours last night, for the first time in I don’t know how long. It was great. Got up and had some coffee (thanks, Gary, for the great coffee, and Jen, for the grinder), and work is going smoothly. I feel pretty good. Something about knowing you’re gonna be home in the next few weeks just motivates the hell out of you. Or it does with me, at least.
I am still pretty tired, though. My body aches all over, all the time. Doc says it’s normal near the end of a tour for your body to start to break down a little. A year of combat stress plus little sleep plus the pressure of all the little going-home tasks will do that, he says. And it doesn’t help that I’m eating MREs, with no fresh fruit or milk or anything. I’m taking vitamins, but sometimes you just want something fresh. Something different. Doc is pretty solid. He’s an old special forces guy, and he brings the SF attitude with him to everything he does. No regular army nonsense with him. No acting like you’re in garrison when there are bombs and snipers around. I like that. We need more officers with his attitude.
There are lizards everywhere, now. They must eat the scorpions, or chase them away, or something. I haven’t seen a scorpion in weeks. I saw a camel spider or two, but not nearly as many as a couple of months ago. I wonder if the lizards shoulder them out, or if the scorpions and spiders just don’t come out when it gets too hot. In any event, I prefer the lizards. Brilliant green and orange and brown, if you find one without the dust on him, which is rare. They’re not really scared of you; they just kind of dance around just outside your reach. The camel spiders do that too, but it’s not nearly as unsettling when the lizards do it.
It is time to leave this place, and in some ways I don’t really want to. We’ll only be at the big base for a few weeks, but it’s so nasty and crowded and busy up there. You can’t see the stars at night, and it’s loud. And everything is so filthy. The worst part is that it’s one big vacation spot for REMFs, and it seems like they all compete to see who can do the least work. I am going to stay as far away from the busy areas as I can. The PX and the food court, the bazaar, all of that. I am just going to hunker down in my tent out in the moon dust and do my work and wait to go home.
Home. Our replacements are already trickling in. Their torch party is already on ground up there, moved into their quarters. I can’t wait to see them and get them settled in. It’s almost, finally, somebody else’s turn.
posted by Battler03 at 10:27 AM
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