So I haven't written in a while and all of a sudden I realized I have been here over two months! Wow, the individual days seem to be long, but the weeks are going by relatively quickly, which is good.
We are now about a week and a half into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It is an interesting time. Devout followers, which the Taliban claim to be, are required to fast from sunrise to sunset. They have adjusted the meal schedules in a couple of the DFACs to accommodate those TCNs that wish to practice their faith. I find it interesting however that the Taliban fighters are not required to fast. Apparently, their religious leaders issue some kind of fatwah or whatever that excuses them from fasting because they are fighting in the jihad. It is always amazing how men will interpret religious texts to suit their own purposes.
So I have again rotated shifts and I am currently in the office from 1400-2200 each day. These times are fine, in fact time is really irrelevant when we are on shift since we are inside looking at computer screens. It is sort of like being in a casino and not being able to tell what it looks like outside, except they don't pump fresh oxygen into the ventilation system to keep you awake. This shift is a little frustrating in that it does not easily match up to a time at home that is easy to call the family. Before shift they are sleeping, and after it is the middle of the day and they are all out and about.
So I continue to pass the time. It is amazing what Marines will come up with to pass the time. Over at the Wing compound the Marines who man the ECP, or Entry Control Point, have probably the most boring job out here. They sit for twelve hours at a time in a very small room and check everyones ID that comes into the compound. To make the time go by, they have come up with a creative activity. Each day they take a poll. They put two choices up on the white board and everyone who passes through gets to vote. It's usually simple things like "Coke or Pepsi" or "Beach or Mountains", but sometimes they get interesting like "would you rather have super strength, or super intelligence". It is kind of fun to go through every day and see what they have come up with and I actually look forward to seeing what these young kids have thought of each day.
We also have been watching the Olympics of course. We have several members of the British Armed Forces who work in the TACC with us and they have set up a TV with the BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) feed of the games. We are getting to see coverage of just about all of the various events. Of course it is slanted towards coverage of the British athletes but that is fine. It is actually quite fun to poke fun at each other when our teams are competing. We can also get US coverage on our computers through a stream of the Armed Forces Network, or AFN, feeds. All in all we are getting to see quite a bit of the games.
Well, "Go Team America"! And I'll see you next time. Promise it won't be a whole month before I write again this time....
