The Weekend Update

Hey Ya'll.

This past weekend I has the opportunity that most christians would regard as one of the best ways to celebrate Easter. I, along with fellow soldiers here at the base, attended service at the house of Abraham, the father of the Hebrews. Five chaplains made the event possible with a crowd of I would say over a hundred in attendance. The ruins along with the ziggurat of Ur (Ur of the Chaldees referenced in the bible) are some of the oldest remains in the world. This just shows one more positive thing that has come out of this tour.

I am slowly becoming accustomed to the base here. We have a lot of coalition forces here so we are not alone. The Italians, the Brits, and the Aussies have the largest forces here after the U.S.. The base is very simple with a mile walk or so to the chow hall but you can catch a shuttle if you are lucky. Yes, I am still in a tent living out of my bags. Other things of mention this past weekend: I witnessed my first real sandstorm that nearly knocked me on my rear and the temperature is easily hitting over 100 degrees during the day. Occasionally we experience brownouts and the A/C is cut in the afternoon. Guess how long it takes for our tent to be hot? About 2 min 30 sec. How long before it is nearly unbearable? About 6 min's. You would think the wind would help cool you off but you can equate the wind to oxygen fueling a fire, it just feels like a furnace.

I still haven't talked to to my family on the phone yet. It isn't that I don't want to but I have to find a phone a get a card and make sure that it is a decent time to call home. With an 11 hour difference to my Mom now that makes for awkward hours. The biggest problem is that everyone needs the phones at the same time and so the waiting time is long. I am going to make an effort to call tonight, FYI to you mom/dad.

I have pictures to post but I still am not able to get my computer on the internet; that is really frustrating for a "techie" like me. I promise I will get them up as soon as I can.

Have a great week everyone!
-Nick-

A note about the blog: You will notice that I don't talk about anything related to my mission here at that is for a few reasons namely for security, but also for the fact that this blog is meant to remain upbeat and give everyone a peek into how I am doing. Again, it is very difficult to not discuss my work but it is better to keep the discussion off of the war. That is the final decision.