Greetings from Southwest Asia!

Now that I’ve gotten some sleep, I can write something that makes sense. I am well…I’m well rested, I’ve unpacked and am settled into my dorm room, and I’ve started my training program to learn my new job. The food here is decent and I’ll be getting plenty of exercise.

I’m glad to finally be here! I don’t know whether I’ve let on or not, I’ve been wanting to do this for many years since I joined the AF Reserves and I’m thrilled to be part of it! Dave can attest to how many times I’ve come home from drill weekends bubbling about a deployment opportunity I’d heard about…

I promise pictures soon, but I want to wait till I have a chance to get my room a little more worked out.

Obviously I’m not going to be giving specifics about what I’m doing here (except that I’m doing weather work), but I’d like to share funny stories that give an idea of what life is like here.

The first story is about my first night’s sleep. After I landed, I couldn’t sleep right away, I had to do some paperwork. Then I needed to switch mattresses and do some rearranging to make things a little more spacious. Then I could make my bed and fall asleep. I was so tired my eyes were closed before my head even hit the pillow! I had slept 2 hours in the previous 40.

I woke up about 5 hours after I fell asleep because I had to go potty. So I got out of bed, put on my shoes and had to walk out the door to the latrine. Imagine walking out your home’s front door and then going to your neighbor two houses down to use their bathroom. Don’t get me wrong, my room is nice, the bathroom facilities are nice….but it was such a distance! And I was SO TIRED! It’s about a 90 second walk in each direction.

Could I hold it? I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t unless I went to the bathroom. So I did, and I didn’t have a problem getting back to sleep.

So here’s my delicate balance. It’s important to stay hydrated but I don’t want my bladder to disrupt my sleep like that. There must be some perfect amount of water to drink for that.

I’ve taken for granted how easily I can slip out of bed in the middle of the night and use the bathroom and get back to sleep in 1-2 minutes!

A chamber pot crossed my mind, but the thought of walking the filled chamber pot 90 seconds to the bathroom in the morning grossed me out. Ewwww….

And I’m leaving you with that thought. You’re welcome!