#133 - The FOB, day 5

Still at the FOB. Today has been pretty boring. There are a few of us (mostly profile holders) here on detail while the rest of the platoon is out running around in the woods. I have swept, picked up trash, cleaned portable sinks, and miscellaneous other tasks. The time is passing at a painfully slow rate.

I have another letter ready to mail out but haven’t gotten the opportunity to do so yet.

I am missing my battle buddy. Most of the people in my FOB platoon are ok, but I haven’t really bonded with anyone. I had what started off as a promising conversation with one female, but it quickly turned into proselytizing about how her life is committed to Jesus Christ. That, I could deal with, but this girl has become brainwashed into believing that women should be subservient to their men. I kid you not. She actually told me all this crap about how women steal away men’s power, how a man should be the only one in charge of a household, business or relationship, and how God has spoken to her about her mission to educate women in the Army about their gender-based failings. It was downright creepy. I didn’t have the heart to tell her what I thought about her beliefs. If she begins preaching to me again, I will probably do so. Praise the Lord! Religion is fine, but the other stuff is wacky.

Last night we were woken on four occasions by the attack "siren". My psychic abilities have been serving me well, as I knew when three out of the four attacks were going to occur. The fourth time happened when I was sleeping, but I woke right up before the siren went off.

Our camp is a roughly rectangular area surrounded by walls filled with several feet of sand in between and capped by concertina wire. There are about 10 large sleeping tents, and 5 classroom tents. Five small bunkers are behind half of the sleeping tents – this is where we must run during the aforementioned "attacks". One corner of the complex houses four porta potties and a few portable sinks. There is a dining facility tent in another corner, and a few small outbuildings. Two of the sides have entrance gates, and each corner of the fence has a guard tower. There is a sand pit in the center surrounded by sand pags for hand to hand combat practice, and a large covered pavillion that reminds me of an open aircraft hangar. The main gate has several vehicle barracades. This FOB is our home for the time being.

1:20pm

It’s after lunch, which I helped to serve as part of the detail crew. I have been walking around looking for something else to do, unlike the malingering females I was put with. They have spent a considerable amount of time avoiding work by hiding in one of the sleeping tents. They were angered when I refused to condone their laziness. Luckily these girls aren’t in my company, and I won’t have to deal with them when the FOB is over with.

3:29pm

I am now on guard duty high above the ground in a tower. It’s actually pretty cool up here. We have a big SAW (squad automatic weapon) at our disposal, but I doubt we’ll be "attacked" right now. One of the guys here has a Blackberry-like device, so I’m going to see if I can borrow it to dash off a quick e-mail to my husband. That would be cool! I didn’t think I would be able to contact him at all this week, but so far I’ve phoned, sent several letters, and might be able to send an e-mail.

The day is dragging here. My platoon is getting their asses kicked out in the lanes (woodline). I’ve been told that they have all been getting picked off by the Drill Sergeants after being made to run up and down steep hills in deep sand. Glad that I’m mising out on that fun!

Earlier I had a conversation about Iraq with an AIT reclasser, a Sergeant who had been over there. He told me a lot about what kind of items you should bring over there, i.e. one trunk of at least three months of comfort (junk) food, laptop, Ipod, DVD player, etc. He said that WiFi was offered at the camp he was stationed at for $1.00/hour. Somehow I think that as a 25B I would have internet access…

Damn it, I’m down from the tower now, and I was unable to e-mail my husband. The girl I was with hogged the Blackberry for the entire time we were up there. I’m pissed. All I asked for was a few minutes to send a quick e-mail to my husband, and she ignored me. She kept reading her e-mails out loud the entire time, telling me about how some guy thought she was cute, how someone she knew from kindergarten contacted her, ad nauseum. I was looking forward to e-mailing my husband and am disappointed to have missed the opportunity.

I’m not very happy in general with the people that I’ve been stuck with at the FOB. I am looking forward to returning the the barracks at my own company, and back to my regular platoon.

Monday 04/10/2006 10:20am

I am still out at the FOB and currently in a computer class. We are taking a class on computer security and learning what you can and cannot do on a DoD PC. We heard a story about how a Specialist at one of the posts was caught saving gay porn photos (featuring himself) on the network. It boggles the mind why someone would feel compelled to save this on a work computer... especially an Army computer!

I found out that the Army does have some kind of web cam system that I can use if I am deployed. There is also chat (IM) authorized, but only through AKO. I guess I’ll have to find out the particulars of all of this as I go along.

Well, I’m almost halfway through Monday. A day and a half more out here, and I’ve heard we’re probably packing up sometime on Wednesday morning. I am looking forward to being able to call my husband when we get back to the barracks. No word yet on when our classes are starting. I even asked one of the reclassers here (most are NCOs) thinking that perhaps they had more information, but it is still a mystery.

I had tower guard duty this morning from 3:00am to 5:00am. I cradled a SAW on my shoulder for two hours, but the shift was uneventful. The girl in the tower with me told me all about how the Army has transformed her into "a bad person". She claimed to be a meaner, crueler, more uncaring version of herself than who she was at home. This conversation, albeit mostly a one-sided rant, went on for the full two hours that I was trapped listening to her in confines of the guard tower. I really didn’t know what to say to her – that is, if she had given me the chance to speak in response! I’m beginning to feel that there are a lot of people here who have some serious issues.