Our Sergeant Major coordinated with the city of Stillwater to conduct a sister race in Iraq. The Stillwater 12k Sister Race was one of the many activities we had planned for the day to celebrate Memorial Day.
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2009/05/22/news/news110.txt
The race check-in started at 0500. I was helping with the safety brief so I was up by 0420. When I stepped outside my trailer, all I could think about is how hot it was already at 0430. It wasn't quite "Holy Cow Hot" yet, but I had a feeling that it was going to be a scorcher.
Coach from the engineers was there. I had shamed him into running with us and he was a great sport about it. The race went well and no one fell out or got into trouble with a heat injury. The band had a couple different sites that they played on the side of the road and even though there wasn't a sprinkler, one of the volunteer Soldiers was squirting us with water as we ran by.
After the race, I deviated from my normal Grapenuts and had a great Perkin's style breakfast. It wasn't until I went to shower that reality slammed me in the face when there was no electricity or water in the shower trailer. I LOVE Iraq! NOT!!! Four water bottles later and I was off to work. There were softball and volleyball tournaments scheduled all day but since I'm much better at individual sports and I hate getting hit in the face (seems to happen every time I play), I didn't sign up for those events. About the volleyball, we had to construct the volleyball court from scratch. This included purchasing the sand for the court and we got high grossed by the Iraqi vendor. Imagine that, in a desert and you have to pay for the sand! I took a few hours off in the afternoon; practiced my guitar, worked on a pastel piece and basically enjoy having the night to myself.
It eventually got really hot outside and one of my friends brought up one of his own rules.
CPT Cunningham's Ways to Prepare for a Deployment:
#1. Have someone hold a blow dryer in your face, on high, while occasionally throwing sand into your face.
That's a good analogy but it was even hotter than a blow dryer on high heat.
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High Grossed?? Now you're talking like a car guy (gal). Next you'll be telling us about Humvees that have been sitting so long that they have "lot rot." Or telling us about one of your SGT's that has been bugging you so much that you "broomed" him.
ReplyDeleteGood Humor, Red
Love you and miss you!!
Hub