Fat Boy Friday and Broke Dick

Well it’s a Friday and since it’s Friday I have joined in with my Aussie comrade and another one of the officers who I am working with and participated in Fat Boy Friday, which is where you can eat whatever you want and no one will say anything about what you just ingested. This was their last one before heading home so I had to partake in the event and it was fun! That being said those chicken nuggets, ton of onion rings washed down with some German non-alcoholic beer and 2 scoops of baskin robbins vanilla, cookies and cream on top of a huge slice of apple pie were a perfect way to end my Friday which really felt like Saturday since we didn’t have to be in until 1300 hrs.

I am finishing up with my Aussie counterpart Brett on the project that I am going to be managing since I will be heading north next week to get boots on the ground and start managing projects the way I like to which is management by walking around, and it’s tough to do that when your sitting in the IZ and all the work is being done somewhere else.

It was nice to sleep in today, but I had to go to sick call this morning so I woke up earlier that I wanted so I could eat breakfast and then go to sick call. While on my way to breakfast I ran into our old Division Chief of Staff Col. T who is over here for a couple months before he gets his star pinned on him and takes over a chemical Bde out east somewhere. We caught up on the latest news about our peers and coordinated a lunch later this week to have a chat in a more relaxing atmosphere! I went over to sick call and only had to wait about 40 minutes to be seen which was nice since they had some good magazines to peruse. As Carmen would say I am starting to get old or something like that. The previous week it was my back, this week on Tuesday while running I started getting a sharp pain on my left quad where it meets the knee so I stopped running, stretched and decided to take it easy and layoff running until the soreness was gone. Last night I had to climb into the front seat of the bus going back to the hootch since the bus was full and when I climbed over the console in the middle I felt a sharp pain in my left quad and knew that I had either pulled, strained or tore my quad. As luck would have it there was no ice back at the hootch, the refrigerators that have chilled water were empty and that sucked since I was planning on using the cold water bottle as an ice pack, and I was down to one last advil. So I took that went to bed and when I got up this morning my leg was tight and hurting big time. Bottom line Doc says that I tore some of the muscle tissue on my quad, gave me some anti-inflammatory medicine (10 day supply) and told me to relax, no PT and it should be much better in 10 days. If it is still sore like it is now in a couple of days to come back for further treatment. Problem is that I am climbing up a wall with all that is going on and to not be able to do any cardio, nor walking since my leg hurts like hell is really a downer.

Last night we had a hail and farewell at the pool, which in Saddams day must have had some great parties and other extra curricular activities. The pool is like those you see in Marbella or in the Caribbean where it’s huge and shaped in a weird shape that sort of wraps around. Since it is so sunny here there is a huge canopy that covers most of the pool and the spa area. The water is warm now so people actually do swim either laps or just get wet. Last night it was raining so there were only a few swimming. Right next to where we were sitting they had a Country and Western DJ playing some great tunes and had already spread the saw dust on the ground so any one two stepping could move around with out a problem. It was nice to hear some CW since Freedom Radio (Armed Forces Network) plays very little country and most of the music is stuff I don’t like or care to listen to. We had a nice BBQ and it was nice to hear about what the outgoing group accomplished this last year. You could see their excitement about going home soon and all I could think about is it will be nice next year when it’s our turn. The only irony of last night was while we were out there having a good time, the main flight approach to the Combat Support Hospital (CSH) was right over our head and at least 6 birds came in during the evening. It sort of makes you take stock and appreciate what you have and that life is pretty frail at times and at any given moment any one of us could be in one of those birds.

The other day looks like the bad guys wanted to welcome us newbies with a nice rocket barrage. They are not stupid and tend to shell the IZ (2-3 rounds) in the late afternoon when there is lots of traffic and people in the streets so after they launch their rockets or mortars they can blend in, making it that much more difficult for the coalition forces to find, follow and destroy them. So we’re hard at work inside the office and the siren comes in about an impending attack so we don our IBA’s and Kevlar helmets and wait and then you hear them, bam, bam, bam, bam a short pause and then bam, bam. That’s six that should be about it, then it’s bam, bam, bam and they are getting closer as the sound is louder and the building shudders more. Finally four more rounds impact for the total of 13 and the guys who are getting ready to go home smile and say ‘that’s a record we have never had 13 rounds launched our way for the entire year”.

A couple of nights earlier I was talking to Sun HR on an issue regarding my MLOA while I was doing the laundry when you could hear over the generator sounds the whoosh of a rocket flying over head and the boom a few seconds later. I imagine that the HR rep must have been wondering what was going on when I said “ah shit” and started running to the duck and cover bunker. I no sooner got under the cover when the second rocket exploded and the HR rep said what was that and that is when I told her I was in Iraq, and if she could help me with the issue at hand. After I hung up a couple of folks were joking saying that it is surreal that you could be on the phone talking to the states trying to resolve something and at the same time the bad guys were launching rockets and other dangerous munitions your way.

Gotta run ooops I mean walk and I feel every one of my 48 years today!