We're due for a Change of Scenery

Last days in Camp Speicher, Tikrit-2004

We are due for a change of scenery. After 10 months of nothing but sand and dust we are moving to an airfield just north of Baghdad which offers, very good! More sand and dust.

We spent the last three weeks tearing down our digs and cleaning the area. No more walking to the chow hall a mile away. (it does us all good) Get used to it. This is Iraq. The next chow hall will probably be two miles away. No more beerless nights. Its been so long since I’ve had a beer that its going to take a couple of days force feeding just to start liking it again. Whoaa! There I go again, talking like I’m going home. I’m not going to beer city. The 4ID is going to beer city. I’m going to another dust bowl and months of near-beer with the incoming unit. Ok. What’s good about this place? No beer. That’s good for my health. Bad for my disposition. No hahahuhahu. That’s not good for anybody. No scenery. Good for nearsighted people. Blowing dust. Good if you are in need of sand blasting. I’m going to buy one when I get back home just so I can continue feeling at home. Hi Wife, Where’s Chuck. “Oh he’s sitting in his sandblaster again soaking up brewskis”. Its very noisy here. That’s good if the fellow in the next tent is playing gansta rap at full volume. There is nothing like an occasional mortar attack to muffle those sub woofers. Its almost like, like listening to Mozart comparatively speaking.

The electric showers are good if you are in the mood for excitement and like to live on the edge. They tore down the shower point weeks ago because everyone is packing up. Actually, our electric showers are fixed now. They replaced a defective heating element so no more heart defibbing until the next one shorts out.

The rain storms are good, for what I don’t know but the desert is sprouting. Its green out there! Summer’s coming though. The Jackals that roam the area are good for keeping the mice population in control. Only trouble with them is that they have discovered that MREs (U.S. Army short for Meals Ready to Eat.) are better, and don’t require chasing and after we got tired of cleaning up their mess each morning and packed away the MREs, they began knawing on the next best thing: Us. Four soldiers have to get rabies shots because they have awoken to a Jackal enjoying them as midnight snacks. They set out traps and caught about 6 of them. They painted their tails and planted them way out in the desert somewhere. If they return they will be target practice. There were a couple of them just across the road having hahahuhahu the other day. They both had a sort of happy sneer on their faces. After we got back from lunch they were still at it. Making little Jackals. We were all so envious. TWENTY EIGHT DAYS! Yells one soldie to the loving couple. “AN DEN IMON BE MAKIN MYOON’ LIL JACKALS! DAS RIGHT!! The jackals agreeably smile back at him.

There is a large green field across the road where we play golf. Someone sent the unit a set of Arnie Palmers and 25 balls so we are out there on a regular basis. That’s good. Our long game and sand trap shots are seeing marked improvement. Its mid-March and the grass is getting so high its hard to spot the balls hit. Used to be you could see them very plainly, all sitting out there like little eggs abandoned by their mommies. Now I only shoot one or two at a time because if I don’t remember exactly where they went, I will never see them again.

Today, March 14 is our last full day here at glorious Camp Speicher. If Lt. Speicher ever had a chance to experience a stay in the camp they named for him he would not be happy.

Father Longbucco is leaving this afternoon. We enjoyed many a cigar together. He gave me a bottle of his sacramental wine before he left. There is a lot to be said for the Catholics. Alcohol is a no no for Baptists. They commune with grape juice. Father Longbucco says that anything but the real thing is just not done at the Mass. So Jesus does have red wine running in his veins. The Baptists never have been any fun. I will miss Fr. Longbucco. Tomorrow morning Byrom and I will get on that Blackhawk and fly to Kuwait with the Col. There we will meet with Dave and head back to civilization and maybe a decent meal so I can share my wine. Then its back up with the 1st Cav. till July anyway. At that time I will take a hard look at just how badly I need any more money. Maybe sign on for another 3 months and that will be it. Home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. By the time I leave Taji I will already have a month past the required 12 months taxfree past me. $7500 bonus and $6500 cash in lieu of a mid-tour round trip. Additionally Wifey should have about $25000 saved. Me another $95000 + $7000 perdiem. Then there is a tax refund of around $20,000. Whoa! $154,000 cash + $7000 walking around money for me. Ok. So another 3 months should net us $10,000 walking money for me and $18000 tax free for the kitty. $172,000 + 10k walking money. Take my 95k out and its still 77k cash in reserve for the family. Yeah!

Well, It didn’t quite work out that way. I spent a lot on two AH Sprite Bugeyes and a Harley. I stayed till February of 2005. Met the fam in London for Christmas. We all learned a great lesson there: Don’t spend Christmas as a tourist in London unless you don’t mind paying for $200 cab rides. Besides, nothing was open. We had Christmas dinner in an Indian restaurant. It was a thrill for the girls though. They ran right by all the history and architecture straight for the gift shop. Money well spent if they remember anything more than Westminster Cathederal being “that house full of dead guys”. Two weeks in an overpriced hotel in a poor part of town, but we got a lot of exercise hiking to the rail station and eating breakfast at Attilas, the Greek cafe down the road.