Wow. I can't believe that summer has passed so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that I found myself back on active in chilly Western Pennsylvania. I only hope that the rest of my tour passes as quickly as these first 6 months.
Labor Day came and went here with little fanfare. The biggest excitement of the weekend was the start of college football season. There was plenty of trash talk around the office on Friday and Saturday, and more than a few humbled fans on Sunday--especially among the Notre Dame and Michigan alumni. The Army gave me a Labor Day present on Friday--my third Anthrax vaccination--and we attempted to have a small social event on Sunday. The event was intended to be a Labor Day picnic, though it was not much more than mess hall food (chicken, ribs, baked beans) delivered and served stand-up style on our office compound. We refer to these events as "forced fun" and more than a few declined to attend in favor of a normal meal in the mess hall with tables, chairs and a greater variety of drinks and dessert.
I was satisfied to see the day pass with only a few reminders of the holiday. Mondays are just another work day around here. Many of us consoled ourselves with a bit of dark soldier humor, telling each other "Great job, go ahead and take the rest of the day off" (spoken on Sunday night at about 9:00 PM). If nothing else, every new Monday means one more week closer to returning home.
With the end of summer, the weather has also started to cool. High temperatures most days average around 113, rather than 117-120 as we experienced in July.
We continue to settle into a routine here and I am slowly finding that I am able to get a decent night's sleep and even do a little reading. Finding time (and privacy) to respond to personal e-mails is still a challenge but I am slowly getting around to replying to the notes I've gotten from many of you. Our communications/computer folks have stated that there is a plan to offer wireless internet on FOB Enormo in early 2008, so I might be fortunate enough to have 'Net access in my room...but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Happy Labor Day to all of you back home from all of us!
An on-line view of my journey to the war in Iraq.
NEW IMAGE COMING SOON. In the meantime, portrait of Al by Norman Mingo; image courtesy of Wikipedia
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About Me
- Mike Sharon
- I'm back from the desert, so I can drop the nom de plume (or maybe it was a nom de guerre...) This started as an online journal of my experiences through a recent Army Reserve deployment. Unfortunately, I was an unconsistent author due to bandwith challenges and many long hours. I'll try to do better. When not in uniform, I work for the Federal Government and live in Charm City, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
1 comment:
Everyone here in Westfield are wishing you a Happy Happy Labor Day also. It was a beautiful weekend here and lots of our neighbors were out and about, mowing their lawns, cooking out and all the Labor Day machinations. We are all hoping you stay safe and get home soon. Stay in touch.
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