27 April 2007: Must be global warming...

Last time I was deployed here I don't remember it raining this late in spring. This morning we all awoke to a big thunderstorm. It wasn't just a passing shower either. I might as well have been down in Baton Rouge to see thunderstorms like this. The rain came down in buckets until around 1500. What a miserable day it was. I've told you all about the mud. I won't describe it again. But I will say that LSA Anaconda was transformed into seas of mud, rivers in the streets, and huge, deep puddles in every parking lot. Just walking from my hooch to my humvee was disastrous. Although you may think it sounds cool to know I drive a humvee, were you in my shoes you'd think otherwise. The roof leaks, it's loud, the steering pulls to the right, and the streets here in LSAA are too narrow. On a day like today it's simply miserable to drive. This is the heaviest rainfall I've ever seen in this country. It must be global warming. Yeah, that's it.

With it raining most of the day the easiest thing for my team to do was to hang out in the office, read e-mail, surf the net, and wait for the weather to change. It was so late in the day when the rain stopped that we were guaranteed mud for the evening. That meant a night of stepping gingerly unless you wanted to have a boot or running shoe caked with quickrete. I did manage to get to the gym without incident. Once inside I saw a sign posted on the bathroom doors that reminded me of something. People here rarely use spell check or proofread prior to printing flyers, reminders, or policy postings. That means it's always something that makes you scratch your head when you read. The sign on the door stated, "Do to shortage of paper towel, please use only one". I reasoned I couldn't use only one because it would be the last towel. So now I'm wondering how many people in the gym hadn't washed their hands after taking a piss (or worse) because they didn't want to use that last paper towel. The sign was very clear. Fortunately, I brought a gym towel.

We had some soldiers flying up from Kuwait in the evening. Once again military flight proved maddening. I went to the pax terminal four times during the evening only to find their arrival time pushed back. They were supposed to be in at 2030 but actually came in at 0200. I drove them over to their temporary billets and got them checked in. Then I was in bed around 0245. I was a little frustrated at the late hour. However I did get a chuckle when two of the guys stepped right in some of the new mud. They found out for themselves. The shit just doesn't come off boots.