Life on Mars

So… we’re here. In Balad. Look it up on Wikipedia. The title refers to the two different days I’ve walked out of the office into an orange haze. Like, seriously, ORANGE. But… It’s really not that bad here. If it wasn’t so far away from everything I know and love, I probably wouldn’t mind it at all. The dining facility could use an A/C upgrade, but otherwise, it’s fairly nice. The sandstorms are more like dust storms, and while irritating, they’re not as bad as I had imagined.

I rode my first military aircraft from Kuwait, and it was the smoothest plane ride I’ve ever been on. Go figure. It was a C-17 Starlifter, which is, from my understanding, the largest plane in the US Arsenal. It was pretty impressive. Not as massive as I had imagined, but still pretty sweet. Our office is right under the flight path of the choppers, so all the Blackhawks and Little Birds that fly over go literally right over our heads. It gets kinda noisy. And every other morning, there’s usually three or four controlled detonations that go off. Which is pretty cool, if you ask me. It’s been almost a week since we officially took over from the 13th ESC, and we’re settling in pretty well. Aside from the lack of sleep, of course. I’ve taken over the position of IMO, or Information Management Officer, which is basically an entry level techie who takes care of basic computer issues for their section. While I was studying for the test, I came across this quote. ‘The varied techniques in destroying information are well documented in AR 380-5, but the destruction of choice is to incinerate the medium that holds the data. No other method has been found to be as effective, versatile, and secure, as incineration.’ YEAH. Kill it with FIRE. Haha.

In other news, my friend Mandy is looking to commission some art at very reasonable prices.
http://mandy-mo.deviantart.com/journal/33162219
Thus, I had my first commission done by her. http://mandy-mo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2sy0oh
If you ever wanted a unique piece of art as your very own, now is the time!

Also, I’m looking to get a new wristband for my fossil watch, it’s seen a lot since I started wearing it all the time back in December. And I would be willing to reimburse anyone who happened to go get one and send it to me. I’ve posted my address here, or you can just send it to my house, C/o Mike or Melanie.
Up next-
‘Twas a dark and stormy night…’