[Chat] News on April 16th from the rear

[william.schlegel at us.army.mil]

Friends,
 
You still have about 6 hours to file your tax return, if you live on the east coast.  I managed to file mine before leaving Ft. Dix and already banked my refund.  All of my earnings over here are taxfree!!  Compensation for hardship conditions.

 During my 33 years in the Army i have learned to hope for the best, but expect the worst.  The promise of an air conditioned fell toward the expectation side.  We did not move in time and the tent we were promised was given to other soldiers- or sowe were told.  We did get an air conditioning unit on wheels which blows enough air to cool off about two bunks (I got a dose around 7pm this evening, when i really did not even need it - though the breeze felt good). We are getting ice for cooling our water bottles every other day and we put that in plastic bags inside cardboard cartons - the ice lasts about 12 hours depending on the heat.  iced water tastes  great, but what i need is some flavoring to go with it - packs of Gatoraid or coolaide would be good or Tang!

Our neighbors on each side have no jobs. So they sit around all day and cool off under makeshift shelters, using their poncho liners, or play horseshoes - right behind our tent.  Makes for a lot of noise while I am trying to sleep.

I will NOT be coming home anytime soon!!  No R&R either in the forseeable future.  It does look like we will be moving somewhere north, once all the unfriendly folks are dealt with and security is in place.  I could be on the road as soon as Monday - in which case this will be my last note for a while.

I am now working hard putting data in an Access database, which then feeds to a mapping program.  It is a high priority project and keeps my interest.  I like my work environment because I get to now "everything" that is happening.  My 12 hours are now going by quickly.

4/17: 4:43 am

We had a huge sandstorm yesterday and one of the big tents, where there was a large-screen TV, blew down. I do not believe anyone was hurt.  Our tent was buttoned up tight and was fine.  I wore a bandana over my mouth and nose to walk home from work.  Thank goodness we received googles on Friday (4/18)

4/20: 11:00am

Since Thursday I was sick with the "Kuwaiti Crud" - which caused me to feel like had a fever and have loose bowels.  It turned out that I did not have a fever, but that did not explain the headache and general lousy feeling.  I took Thursday night off from work and went to see the doctor Friday am.  He gave me Imodium for the looseness and Tylenol for the headache - I now feel a lot better and have worked the past two nights, but still taking it easy.

I attended a moving Good Friday service, complete with being able to actually nail our sins to the cross with a hammer and a nail. The chaplain, who happened to be Lutheran, also told us a moving story about a drawbridge operator who had to choose between saving his young son, who had fallen into the gears of the raised bridge, or lowering the bridge to allow an approaching train, full of passenger, to cross the river.  Despite his personal anguish, he lowered the bridge, killing his son.  I'm sure you see the analogy with respect
to Good Friday.

This morning I attended the 6am sunrise service with at least 300 others - many more than were expected.  The Lutheran chaplain again delivered the sermon and had more sage stories to enhance the Easter message.  I do not have time to type them here.

Anyway, it now looks like I will be traveling north into maleria country on or about the 24th or 25th.  I need to take maleria pills two days before I leave.  I will get to ride in a 4-passenger tactical HUMVEE and will have to catch sleep when I can, since we will not stop for sleep breaks.  I cannot say exactly where I will be, but I can say that I will not have any hot meals and our waste disposal will be by burning.  We were told to bring plenty of TP and wipes (I have at least 6 rolls right now).  I have no idea how long I will be in this location, but I plan on at least 6 months.

I expect e-mail service to be available after May 15th, but if that changes I will let you know.  Please do not reply after 4/23, as I will not be able to retrieve those messages.  Do write, though I cannot say how long mail will take to get to our new location - it has been about 8-10 days for letters and about 14-15 days for packages.  As before my mailing address is:

CW4 Schlegel, William
V CORPS, 205th MI Bde, A Co/325th MI BN
APO, AE 09302-1382

Thanks for your support and interest in my life over here.

Brad