Letter From Iraq #20

I just looked at the clock and it is telling me that we have one month and a week left of this deployment.  The nice thing about this final time is that it is now less time than we have already spent here and so it seems much less monstrous.  The down side to this time is that it is starting to go slower and slower.

There is very little exciting news to share with you all.  The height of my excitement is that most of the mud has finally dried up from last week’s rain and so it isn’t quite so hard to get around without making a huge mess everywhere you go.  When I did my extended forecast earlier this morning I did notice that we might see some rain this coming Sunday, which would be nice since we need a little over six inches just to hit the average for this month.  If the rain follows suit with the way it has been going since we have been here I am going to guess that we aren’t going to make it.

When it does rain around here it actually has the effect to put people out of work for a short time.  When we first arrived here I noticed that the roads were wet here most of the time but the rest of the area was dry.  One day I noticed that there was a truck driving down the road and it was spraying water on the roads.  They do this so that the dust that is kicked up from the vehicles that drive on the roads is kept to a minimum.  That being said, I would think that this place would have the cleanest roads you have ever seen, but that is not the case.  There is still dirt everywhere and whenever you have to walk across the street you end up taking mud with you everywhere.

The also like to take a blade over dirt roads here so that they can try and make the smooth.  Having lived on a farm for 12 years I can understand the need to smooth out the roads.  Of course the procedure that they use to do it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me.  They make several passes with the grater so that they can rip up the compact dirt and gravel that’s on the road.  The problem is that they don’t really go all that deep and so they don’t really get most of the bumps out of the road.  Then just to make things even “better” they take a steam roller and go over it a couple of times and mash everything back into the ground.  The only effect that this has is that it makes the road just as rough as it was when they started.  They actually do this most days and it wouldn’t be so bad but I can feel the steam roller going back and forth from my room and they like to do it while I’m trying to sleep.  But at this point I just keep telling myself, “We’re almost done…We’re almost done.”

The other somewhat exciting news from the past week is that it snowed.  I say that it is somewhat exciting because of the fact that it didn’t snow here but it did over a large area to our south.  It was reported that it was the first time that Baghdad has had snow in over 50 years and so it was a pretty big event.  The thing about the snow that disappoints me is that it didn’t just snow once in the last week, but twice, and both times it managed to scoot just to our south and completely miss us.  A weather station to the west of us reported a mixture of rain and snow mixed, which would have been just fine, but we got nothing more than some clouds, which means more work with no reward.

Other than that there hasn’t been a whole lot of excitement to fill the days.  I actually spent the last couple of days reading a forum online that talks about adults who enjoy playing games on the Nintendo DS.  I bought a DS before I left for this deployment and I love it.  They have games that any one can play, not just kids.  One of the first games that I got when I bought it was a Mario Brothers game, which filled many hours of down time, until I finished.  I now have several different games that I play on a regular basis and a whole list of other games that I would like to try thanks to this forum.  It’s will be nice to have my DS so that I have something to do to fill the many hours that I will soon be spending on a plane to get home again.

As I look at the clock again I notice that my shift is almost over and that it is time for me to start getting ready to go home for the day.  But before I go I would like to thank my girlfriend Megan’s grandma and Aunt Sandy for the box that they sent.  The oatmeal cookie are very good and I think I can honestly say that they are probably even better than my mom’s (I couldn’t tell you the last time she made oatmeal cookies).  I look forward to someday finding out what the secret ingredient is.

As the weeks that are left of this deployment dwindle down I find myself searching for ideas to write about.  I am looking for your suggestions and questions.  Is there something that you want to know about being deployed?  If you do please feel free to email me at john.iraq@hotmail.com, or you can write to me via the post office at the address below.

SSgt Ferderer, John B.

F Co. 5-158 AVN (AF Weather)

FOB Diamondback

APO, AE 09334

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