Hotel California

And so, Day 4... or 5... I'm not really sure.

Feel like a slug.

Sleep schedule is REALLY messed up. Sleep 2-3 hours here, 8 there. All times of day or night. Nothing to do.

Well, there is the Internet. But it's for the low, low AAFES price of $5 per hour. That's right, $5 per hour. AAFES "goes where we go" because they know they can fleece us blind. There are at least 30 machines in this Internet cafe, at least 75% in use 24 hours a day. That's an average of $2700 taken in per day, $81000 per month. There is NO way their internet service costs that much.

But we pay it. What else to do? Use phone cards to call someone? AT&T (and it's partner AAFES) have extremely low rates on the military calling cards - rates of 14 to 17 cents a minute are often found.

Let's see, what else to do?

Well, I walk a lot. I've done a few mind-numbing laps around the camp. That was fun.

Watched the sun go down.

Enjoyed the private airshow we get by being close to the airbase.

There's always chow. DFAC here is awesome... but, have to be careful... since I'm as active as a slug right now, I can quickly gain back what I lost (yes, LOST!!!) on leave.

So, we sit.

And sleep.

And show up to the formations, regularly scheduled at 0900 and 1700, and whenever else they'd like to see us.

I just bought shaving creme (I'm out, but have several full cans waiting for me at KAF - thought I'd have enough to make the trip... wrong.) and a towel for a shower. Going to scrounge up some laundry detergent. All of which means that now that I've spent $$$ on stuff I didn't want to buy, I'll get a flight before I can use it.

Cabin fever here.

Don't get me wrong... it's not bad here. (Relatively speaking...)

Although, they should tell people before testing their sirens. This camp is a stopover for people going to and returning from the combat zones. Perhaps a warning about the sirens going off would be appropriate? Heard them go off myself, first thought was, "Wonder where the bunkers are?" segueing into "There are none..." then to "Oh well, back to sleep - nothing can do about it." Heard later some people were fairly jumpy.

Anyway, that's the news...