living in tents – is not the place to be when the wind blows. Certainly, I am not sure how those in the transient tents here are faring. My friend Ron (the ortho doc, not the flight surgeon) wrote back to me –
I remember the joins of subtle weather changes in the field. Life was always the best when the temp was right at the freezing point… mud froze and dust went away, walking become a simple task again. Air is usually pretty still when things are evenly cooled and the sky is overcast. Looks gloomy but makes life very simple.
Wind in the field is a huge problem. The 212th was set up at Bedrock and taken off line for 2 days due to a wind storm early in the Bosnia mission. Entire GP mediums lost and a couple of fires almost took out the entire tent complex. I was with a Cav unit and still living in lagers of tract vehicles… Move during the day and circle the wagons at night… wind is not a problem for a M113 or M577, just close the hatches.
Glad you are living in fixed buildings. That way you don’t have to deal with tent sides flapping all night long in the gusts.
I am in early this morning, 0500 in fact. Wooden B-huts groaning and shaking compounded by idiots who think it is cute to lob things at the base in the middle of the night meant that I was awake early. Multiple sirens and loud speaker announcements meant I was not getting back to sleep. Going to work, checking email and having a cup of tea started sounding pretty appealing.
And before any of you panic – the aim and equipment of the idiots around here is not that good. In spite of perimeter fences and runways with huge lights (read well lit targets) – they don’t seem to be able to get close enough to do any serious damage.
The three of us who were trying to get to Sharana have given it up as a lost cause for the moment. Too many ahead of us on the list and now the people with whom we need to work are not going to be there.
I too am glad you are in a fixed building. And I sympathize with those who are in tents.
And I promise not to complain again that I don’t sleep well in my totally silent bedroom with lots of pillows and no dust.
oh, go ahead and complain about not being able to sleep. I have good excuses here, but will have to think of some other reason to complain once I am home!
Sounds like south Texas, but with a lot more dust…
Idiots indeed.
So, one wonders. Do they realize their effectiveness? Are they doing this because they are on the payroll? Or they just hope that 1 out of 50 or whatever the % hits something/someone. Where does their junky stuff come from? Where does the money for their junky stuff come from? Whose selling them junk, and is that on purpose? Is it real junk or is that the best a pre-modern without literacy can do? Will they keep doing this during the winter, or do they go home for the season? (Oh, yes, and why are we still there. That question.)