Staying Put

Well I found out I would be staying here at the airport at a fairly new command to work. My section is in the process of moving to a new building and so far I am the only one in the new office. I have been going in around 0630 and we end around 8-9pm. Right now they have me working on something I’ve never done before and would not have expected to have to do from reading the contract…HQ Security Officer. It is a position that hasn’t been filled and I am supposed to build the program from scratch. NATO countries have people trained for this and Army CI doesn’t teach it. Anyways my job will be like trying to stop a sucking chest wound with the smallest Band-Aid you can find.

The base has about 3-4 times as many people on it as it was originally designed for. Hence I sleep in a “bay” that is about 16’ x 12’ and has four bunk beds in it. The only locker I have is a High School size locker. I live out of my two bags for my clothes. The bags are in the walkway in our section along with everyone else’s. Due to shift workers, most bays keep their lights out 24 hours a day and you need to use a flashlight. Internet, when it is up and running, is free in the barracks and we do have inside plumbing with real porcelain thrones.

My 7 “bunk mates” are all day workers so we turn our light on at night for a while.
There are two chow halls run by KBR (England) and the food is ok most of the time. I think breakfast is the best. We are allowed three bags (small issued mesh ones) of laundry each week. I have found that at least a few shirts that were XL now fit like a Medium or small Large. “PXs” are geared more for Europeans and there is only a trailer sized American one on this base.

Thankfully there is a coffee shop near my building which serves a good European espresso…normally I have the small but there has been occasion where I opted for the grande.

I sometimes go over to another base and that is where I met up with Terry Clyburn again. We worked together in Kandahar in ’07 and he filled me in on the guys we sent to Gitmo and a few others that are finally doing time courtesy of our joint investigation with the Bureau.