20 November 2007: Snores versus Artillery

Let me pick up where I left off. My team was put in transient billets at FOB Kalsu. These are plywood huts on concrete pads designed to hold several soldiers each. I was placed in a room with two other LTC’s. My team was adjacent to my building in another room. Once I was situated in my bed, I found it impossible to sleep. One of my roommates snored with confidence. Every time he got quiet, I would start to doze off. That’s the cannons nearby would start barking. Although I was horizontal by 0430, it was 0630 before I finally went to sleep. I slept until around 1000.

Once sleep Ops were complete, my team sprang into action. We worked into the evening. It’s amazing how much more efficient we are becoming at our job. It used to take days to accomplish what we now do in a few hours. I guess it’s the “veteran factor”. Now that we’ve got many units under our belt, we know exactly what to do and what not to do. Our day turned out to be much better than it started.

When I finally returned to my hooch, I was met with good news. My roommates were gone. They’d been moved into permanent billets. I had the place to myself. The result for me was a blissful night. The cannons didn’t even fire. I was out cold by 2230.

I don’t think we’ll be in Kalsu as long as we thought. We’re almost finished already. The unit we're assisting is going back to Alaska and they are quite happy to be leaving - the sooner the better.