16 February 2007: Packing up the Liberty hooch

Today was potentially my last to begin and end at Camp Liberty. It seems amazing to say that. Everywhere I went through the course of the day I watched for something significant. Nothing happened. The big highlight was packing my gear. Even though I mailed several boxes home, I still found that I had a lot more gear than I thought. I didn't attempt to pack the ruck. Instead I just staged everything for easy packing later. Once everything was laid out it became obvious that I may not have enough room. I handed all my food to one of the engineering units. I was never going to finish it all (by food, I meant unopened packets of jerky, cheese crackers, chocolates, and other things that had accumulated faster than I could keep up. I received a lot of packages from friends and family back home). Once I had rearranged everything it was easier to clean the hooch. There were some dustballs big enough to eat small mice.

At supper time I stopped by MND-B HQ to meet up with my old friend from PC ROTC. Ryan and I ate at the MND-B DFAC and reminisced about the old times. We did a lot of catching up too. It was good to see him. We didn't realize how long our conversation had gone on until a TCN came around wiping down our table. It was almost 2100. We'd been in the DFAC for almost two hours. I walked back over to MND-B with him and then headed back to my freshly cleaned hooch. This was to be my final night at Camp Liberty. I hope that holds true.

It still hasn't really hit me yet. I'm finally leaving Camp Liberty for good. Next I have to clear Balad. We've still got another mission though.