5 Weeks Worth Of Lessons Learned

Oh where to start? How about the first rule of thumb....everyone has a gun. Get used to it and move on. I've become strangely accustomed to being the only one in the room unarmed. It gets just plain comical at times too, take yesterday's meeting that I had with 2 Colonels that we are working for...I walk into their office which is a small 12'x10' trailer, as we begin talking, another person enters....armed, and then another.....armed. Eventually there were 6 people in this tiny office, all in full uniform, 2 in full armor, a quick count found 2 M16 machine guns, 2 M4 machine guns, 5 side arm pistols, and me with my notebook, but I hadn't shaved in a few days so I fit right in. The meeting had a bit of tension as I was hearing all about our other company's previous performance issues, which I have now inherited. One of the Colonels whom I have hit it off with real well, finally came to my rescue and brought the meeting to and end. After everyone left, he just started laughing, he said all he kept thinking about was the comment I had made to him previously about it being extremely hard to win an argument around here when you are the only one in the room without a gun. I made him agree to installing a metal detector at the door if we ever have one of those meetings again.

Next up....cafeteria etiquette. Do not in any way even make it look like you might be cutting in line. They take their meat inhaling seriously around here. I was actually in line a few weeks ago and i stepped 3 feet to the side to grab a water out of the cooler, when I stepped back in a British soldier behind me asked me my I thought I was so special that I could cut in front of everyone else. Thankfully his buddy next to him told him I was already there, but not until the entire line thought that I was cutting in. I was fully prepared to step out of line because of rule of thumb #1.

Next on the list is don't assume that the troops will stop to let you cross. Even though the signs clearly state that everyone must, they rarely do, and that goes for in the armored trucks or in their personal vehicle- which by the way is odd that they rent them the same way as the contractors do.

Don't expect anyone to be able to help you find a building you are looking for. There are absolutely no signs here. No road signs, no building names, no directories...nothing. And if you go into one building and ask, they have no idea what is in the building next door. It took me 2 weeks to find the US Engineering office, and it was right behind the Canadian Engineering office...you know, the one I was in 2 weeks ago asking if they knew where the US one was.

Hurry up and make decisions, because it will still take forever to get it done! I have been trying for 3 weeks to simply get the proper paperwork that I need to fill out just to get generators placed in my compound. And once I get those filled out, I need to make 3 presentations to the KAF planning board to potentially get approved. Good thing I'm not in a rush or anything, I mean it's just electricity...who needs it anyway? Our electricity currently comes from our neighbor and is not all that reliable.

Don't worry about pissing of your neighbors, everybody does it. Last week at 2am, I awoke to the sounds of Jay-Z blasting. After cursing and threatening the life of anyone within earshot, I ventured outside to settle this like a man....in my underwear, t shirt, and flip flops (sorry ladies, no pictures). Turns out my lovely neighbors who can't seem to keep their generators running well were feeling a bit of cabin fever and thought it would be oh so much fun to have a little impromptu raising of the roof. After numerous attempts at screaming at them to shut up in between bass thumps, I decided to implement what I have been observing those awesome F18s doing for our troops.....air support. So up and over my 2 story little castle went a handful of gravel. Ahhhhhh finally some peace and quiet!

It's hot, it's dusty, you will sweat, don't have any expectations of feeling clean, not even in the shower. 2 showers a day minimum is the routine. 1 in the morning as an attempt to start the day fresh. 1 at night before getting into bed so you don't get sand all over your sheets. Throw in the occasional mid day cleansing after being out on the job site for an extended period, or just running around in general to save some sort of dignity when it comes to your hygiene.

Don't try and rush to get something done with the idea of getting to bed early, there is ALWAYS more to be done. Right now I am averaging around around 17 hours a day. Sometimes more depending on of I need to work with people back in the USA, they tend to get back to you at the end of their workday, after midnight my time. And if you leave your skype on, they will call you...at any hour.

You say you want to send something home for your kids? Keep dreaming, that is unless your kids want cheap stuffed animals or a t shirt with Yosemite Sam on it shooting his guns in the air. After an extensive search of all forms of merchants here, that is pretty much it. No joke. Not a single child sized t shirt in this place except for Yosemite Sam.

Finding a place to collect your thoughts around here is stressful! I have had 2 places that I find great for being able to just go shut down and try and reflect on being here. First is the flight line. Something about sitting in the truck pulled off the road and watching all the various planes and helicopters taking off and landing just takes all the daily stress away. Right at dinner time is amazing there, it's probably the only clear shot of the sun going down.

My other favorite place is the boardwalk after dinner, it's great to walk around right after dinner for a few minutes before heading back to the office to put in another 4 hours work. I usually do 1 lap, takes about 10 minutes, but there is always something going on there. It is something that I have done probably 5 nights out of the week, until yesterday. Yesterday I unfortunately saw the most disturbing sight that I have seen since I've been here. I really am not sure that I can even go back there to be quite sincere. I posted the picture elsewhere so you don't have to feel like you need to see it if you chose not to. I must warn you, if you have your kids in the room, you may want to open this later, cause it's gross. It is so disturbing to me that I am actually thinking of going before the KAF ethical board to try and find out why this is acceptable. Consider yourself warned......here it is.