To Whom It May Concern

Not Guitar, QATAR!!

I’m currently on my 4 day “rest and relaxation” pass to Qatar, a tiny country in the middle east. Headed out yesterday afternoon from Iraq and ended up here finally at like 0200 today, then we had briefings till close to 0500. After that we got our linens (sheets, the venerable green wool blanket, pillowcase, frumpy old pillow, and a towel) and they showed us to our ‘tents’.

The tents we are staying in are actually inside of a much larger warehouse, it’s kind of nice because it’s so well climate controlled. Inside the tent are bunkbeds, I got in reasonably early and got myself a bottom bunk. You have to have a lock for the lockers because there are people around who love to steal stuff, so they say about Qatar. If that’s the least I have to worry about here though, hell that’s alright with me, I’ll just be sure to lock my shit up.

It’s really warm here, probably about 105 degrees outside, but you know me, I love the heat. I just swelter away and enjoy myself. Oh, on the trip here I got vomited on, the girl across from me, another member of our unit, suddenly said “I need a bag” and I didn’t follow what she meant, but she needed a throw up bag, and no one heard her, we barely got her carry on bag and my bag out of the way and she leaned forward and upchucked right between us.

Now, to fully describe what it’s like riding on a C130, you are sitting facing one another, legs basically intertwined, probably only about 3 feet apart total. So I had a nice up close and personal view of her tossing chunks, and right down my calf too. Well, you probably know what puke smells like, but imagine in at about 95 degrees packed inside of the tight confines of an airplane, and it was pretty rank. I’m surprised no one else threw up.

So, it’s great to be in Qatar, and that is no lie. They basically set up ‘recreational programs’ for us to do here, that involve going out in groups of 25 to do things like water sports, beach picnics, historical tours, mall tours, etc. We wanted to go on water sports (me and the other 4 people from our unit who are here) but that filled up far too fast. So we ended up signing up for one of the smaller ‘mall tours’. I say smaller because I guess they have a 4 story mall here that is TWICE the size of Mall of American. Yes, I know, your jaw is wide open, mine was too when I heard this. And get this, this is actually only the FOURTH largest in the world. I have to wonder, where are the other three, and if this one is THIS big, just how big are THEY?

So we are going to the mall tomorrow to do some purchasing. I did buy a couple of things this morning because you have to dress appropriately according to the culture here. I didn’t think my Coed Naked Snow Skiing shirt nor my Moo You Bastard shirt would fit in well over here. I ended up buying 3 plain Hanes white Xlarge tshirts and an orange collared shirt. I have two other dressy tshirts but none with a collar, and although you aren’t required to wear a collared shirt now (used to have to off post all the time) I still wanted one so I could look nice. It’s a little flashy in terms of the color, solid orange, but I am sick of drab colors, this is the first time I’ve worn civvies in more than 5 months. Plus, hell, I can work for a road crew when I get back if I need to, with this shirt haha. Oh, and NO SHORTS off post. You have to wear jeans. That’s going to be warm haha, thank God I enjoy the heat.

So, I think I’m going to get off the computer here and go to the pool. A 4 foot pool with no diving boards. Yes, LAME – O! Everyone knows I like the diving boards. So far so good, it’s pretty fun here. I’ll keep you updated!!

Current Lyrical Ramblings

See me I'm down and I get deeper with every breath
See me I'm over the edge farther with every step
See me I'm down and I get deeper with every breath
Standing over the edge I'm taking my last breath

Starless - Crossfade