ABOT Day 22

Man oh Man! Well unfortnately I'm starting to mind this place to much. Don't get me wrong it sucks but I've sorta found my niche here and so i'm getting comfy. I mean hell I made it to my 22nd day which is pretty amazing lol.

Not much has really changed except for the fact that the command is getting ready to switch over which means I'll have to get use another CO and group of officers. I"m going to miss my current ones because they are very approachable so we will just have to see how this next group goes.

Also Saturday I'm going to find out some really big news and as always there's the 50/50 chance that it may not go in my favor...I'm going to go with not in my favor seeing as nothing has since I've moved here lol.

8 more days and I get my OEF medal!

ABOT Day 10

Well it's offical I've lasted 10 days out here without trying to kill anyone! The past 4 days have been pretty uneventful other than the fact that I have been busy.

Today I took a rib over to the USS Higgins to take a tour and to just get off of ABOT for a couple hours. I got to meet my counterparts over there. The Navy doesn't put AG's on small decks so the guys that brief my weather are all IS and CT's. They were all pretty cool. I got to see parts of the ship that most people never get to see which was even cooler! Everyone was really nice which caught me off guard because just by judging the ship off thier boat crew I was thinking they were all dicks. By half way through my tour I ended up giving them the low down on ABOT and Bahrain which always seems to happen lol. Let's face it 99.5% of the Navy will never get to see ABOT or spend time on her so it's interesting to them to hear how we live out here. OPS was telling me that the Higgins and the Hamilton are going to send ribs over some time next week and it will be my job to give them a tour of the place, which I'm totally cool with now that I know the entire history of the place.

ABOT was built in 1973 by the Texas Oil Company and has been taken over by Americans twice. Of course there's more to it but I can't ruin the suprise. This place is something you'd have to see in order to believe, she's beast unto herself.

Over the past few day's I've decided that I don't really mind being here, and that's mostly because of the people I work with. Everyone here is stuck and we know it so we try to make the best of it. I spend the majority of my day working hand in hand with officers which is something that's new to me and I have a CO who actually listens to what I say and isn't afraid to ask questions which I really enjoy.

The Iraq's however are becoming restless. You can tell that some of them want us gone, and trust me we'd be out of here in a heart beat, but thier goverment and thier military drags thier feet on everything. I've been asked by some officers about what I think about it (yet another odd thing because let's face it officers hardly ever ask enlisted for thier opionions) and I flat up told them that we should set a hard date and tell them that on that date we are gone and they can either sink or swim. WE have done everything we possibly could to train these people and the fact that they are lazy and don't give a shit is not our problem. I've already placed a bet however that we will be back at ABOT within 6 weeks of turning it over. Iraqi's are lazy and Iranians want this place so bad! The Iranians will literally sit outside the exclusion zone for hours on end just waiting to jump at the chance.

ABOT Day 6

Okay so Bin Laden is dead...good for the folks in America but tonight I have to sleep in kevlar. It's one of the many great things about being 30 miles from Iraq and 45 miles away from Iran and 2 hours away from Kuwait. And another thing it's kinda tacky with the whole dancing in the streets thing that's going on over there. Don't get me wrong I'm not a Bin Laden fan, but do you remember how tacky we thought it was when they danced on 911? Well anyway the CO put it out in the Departement Head meeting tonight that everyone is to be on high aleret. The Secret Squriell shit that happens out here has been amped up to the point that it's out of control.

One of the interesting things about being out here is that you get to work hand in hand with the Iraqi Marines. Most of them are an alright group but like everything else you have a couple that spoils it for it everyone. They're head officer General Hamad is super awesome. He knows about as much English as I do Farsae but he finds the most interesting way of communicating with you. Every morning I have to brief him and my CO about certain issues (yes I do A LOT more than just weather out here) and every morning when he comes in the first thing he does is kiss me on the cheek and call me friend. Don't worry that's just how they do things. There's also a Pvt Ali with whom I join outside every now and then for a quick smoke and he actually knows enough English to carry on a converstaion. For instance I know that he's from Baghdad and he's 18...lol. Another weird thing and I was talking to one of the officers about it, is the fact that the higher ups use to serve under Sadam, and I got the back story on General Hamad, he actually was the first General to defect and help us out. The more you get to know these people you begin to see that things might be coming full circle for them. They love to talk about America and how they hope that one day Iraq will be the same, and to be honest after centries of operstion I think they deserve the chance.

Well enough reflection for right now I have to be up early in the morning...Oh and I don't have to shave for 15 days! We are having a contest to see who can grow the baddest beard! GAME ON!