Letter From Iraq #03

It’s almost 7:30 A.M. and the temperature this morning has hit an all time low of 24°C, which is roughly 75°F.  Yesterday the high temperature only hit 39°C or 102°F.  So far in the almost two weeks that we have been here this is the coolest that the temperature has been and I have to say, I’m loving it.

Now you may be asking yourself why I give the temperatures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.  This is really simple.  We weather people have a very strict code that we have to follow and one of the rules is that all temperatures are reported in Celsius.  Most of the time when I talk to my parents I even tell them the temperature in Celsius and then realize that the number I just told them doesn’t’ really mean anything and I quickly convert it to Fahrenheit.  Call it a habit of the job.

As I was saying, I am really enjoying the cooler weather that we are starting to see.  I can now go outside in the morning and not feel like I need a shower five minutes later.  I’m not the only person that is enjoying the cooler weather though.  There are a lot of people who have to wear heavy gear during their daily duties.  Imagine having to go outside when the sun is over head and the temperature is in excess of 115°F and to top it all off you have to wear forty pounds or more of extra weight.  Most people would find a shady spot and rest there.  The problem is that the heat isn’t any less in the shade and you still have to wear your forty pound flack vest.  So, 102°F may still sound really hot but when you think of the alternative of 120°F, which is the extreme maximum temperature reached during the month of August, it’s really starting to cool down.

When I talk to people from back in the States, most of them want to know what there is to do around FOB Diamondback.  Sadly enough there isn’t a whole lot.  We have the major necessities like a gym and two recreation centers, but other than that there isn’t much to speak of.  One of the good things about a deployment is that there is plenty of time to get caught up.  Your off time is a really good time to get caught up on emails to friends and family that you haven’t talked to in what would seem like, and in some cases is, a decade.  On the other hand you always have those few friends and family that don’t have email, like your grandparents, that you have to actually take the time to sit down and write a letter.  The worst part about having to write a letter is that you have to either know the person’s address or actually have an address book so that you can tell the post office where to deliver what has lovingly become known as “Snail Mail.”  The one nice thing about snail mail on a deployment is that we don’t have to put stamps on the letters because we are using the Military Postal Service, but as the saying goes, “You get what you pay for.”  It takes about a week for mail to go from here to the States or vice-versa.

Down time is also an exceptional time to get up to date on all of that reading you have been putting off since you were in high school.  There is no shortage on reading materials around here.  People send books here all the time and the subject matter covers just about every reading interest.  We have books discussing the strategies of World War II to the latest Stephen King novel and we can always use more.  No matter the title of the book or the subject that it covers, someone will read it.

Another very effective time filler, and one of my personal favorites, is sleeping or napping.  What better way is there to fill copious hours of nothing than to just sleep through them.  Nothing makes the time just fly by quite like sleeping through them and not even knowing the existed.  This is the best time to recapture all of those hours of sleep that you lost to staying up till the wee hours playing Nintendo, or Atari if you’re old enough to remember them, or worshipping Salem Sue, as most people think we do.  I figure that by the time this deployment is over I should actually have several extra hours of sleep that I can hopefully trade in for something cool like a free trip to the Cow Town Hoe Down.  But I’m not going to hold my breath (it makes my face turn blue and makes me feel like I can’t breathe).

As I depart for another week I would like to thank everyone for all of their thoughts and prayers.  It means a lot to everyone to know that so many people are praying for their safe return.  Also keep in your thoughts and prayers the families who have loved ones that won’t come home.  Our town has felt that pain and it is important to remember that feeling when thinking of others in the same situation.

Until we meet again, Have a Great Air Force Day!