it's a dry heat

Summer is finally here in Basra. Daytime temps are in the high hundred teens, to low 120’s. Last week it was hard to tell how hot it was, because our thermometer outside our room melted. Not figuratively, but literally. It only went up to 120, and eventually the glue holding the glass with the red liquid in it, gave out, and the glass fell out and broke.

We’ve now got one that goes to 140. Hopefully that will get us through the summer.

There’s still not a whole lot to do here. Work, work out, and watch movies. But last night we couldn’t even do that. The power went out at our living area, so several of us got our chairs out, sat down and hung out…in the dark…sweating. It was about 110 after the sun went down. But it was good to just hang out and talk. Sometimes that’s the best. Sitting around, telling funny or stupid stories. We did have a radio that picked up a BBC station so at least we had a little music. I’ve gotta say, for as much as some people were complaining, it wasn’t that bad. Here we were complaining that our AC was out, but Soldiers before us, and even now, would love to have our problems. Besides, after about a half an hour, the power went back on.

The climate still amazes me. It really is dry here. I think it’s rained 5 times in the last couple months and usually it only lasts a few minutes. As I walked to the chow hall today, totally soaked from working out, my shirt dried out completely from a 3 minute walk from the gym. Unbelievable. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I go home in October. Probably be wearing my winter coat.

It’s getting to be an exciting time here. As of June 30^th, we’ll have our troops out of all the cities in Iraq, and from there we’ll continue to restructure for getting out of the country completely. It’s a long process, one that will take another year and a half or so, but it’s good to see progress.

Our parking lot.

PX

Local Subway - Would you eat here?

Volley ball tournament - Can you say multiple heat casualties?

Home Sweet Home - 2nd door on the left

It's been a month since I got to beautiful Basra, and things are going pretty well. Work is good and pretty easy so far at least. That may change later, but now, it's not too bad. What is bad is the weather. It is so ridiculously hot here. Even at night, it doesn't cool off that much. I think today it's supposed to get to 115. Couple that with a nice warm breeze, and it's unbearable. It's a good thing there's bottled water and Gatorade everywhere. Here's the closest thing I could think of to replicate how it is here: Towards the end of July, go park your car in a parking lot in the morning. Around 2 pm, get in the car (with the windows rolled up of course), and turn on the heater to medium. That might come close. Or better yet, on the hottest day of the year, turn off your AC at home, warm up the oven, and then stand in front of it with the door open.

Yeah, I know it's the desert, but geez. At least we're able to wear our PT uniform on our day off. Most people get a day off, but other than that, it's 10-12 hour days 6 days a week. Not a big deal, because there's not much else to do.

I will say that I've talked to a lot of people and one of the unexpected benefits is that you don't have as much to deal with here, like stress of a job, dealing with kids, and all the other stuff in everyday life. You go to work, and on your day off, you think about you. That's it. For me, it's pretty stress free.

I've included a couple pictures showing what it's like here. The absence of color is the first thing you notice, since there is no vegetation around here. In addition, everything is coated with a fine layer of dust, and makes it more dull looking.

I hope to be getting better internet access within the next couple weeks, so will post more photos and blog entries.

Til then, take it easy.

Long time no talk

As you can probably guess, internet access still is not as robust as most of us would like here in beautiful Basra, so I'm stuck sending these posts to my wife to post.

Not a whole lot of exciting stuff to talk about. We're still getting settled into our routines, but life here seems normal now. Little things that were annoyances when I got here are just part of life. Using bottled water to brush teeth, the weather, sand in everything, and just the general stink in the air are no big deal anymore.

One of my new duties is that I'm the OPSEC OIC. That means I make sure no classified material gets in the wrong hands. This includes collecting the stuff in the burn bags in my section, and...burning it. I actually have a job I like now. It's so fulfilling to go out and light a big fire of paper and just play in it for about 20 minutes. My kids would be so envious.

Anyway that's about it for now. I'll try to post more often, but it's pretty hard with nothing going on. That's actually a good sign that the Iraqis are handling things themselves. What drives me crazy is that we're paying for this war and are actually making huge strides to help rebuild this country but the media only focuses on the deaths of US Servicemembers. There's several stories a day that are released to the media touting the work that we and the Iraqis are doing, but how often is it on the news, or even US news internet sites? Never.

I know that we're making a difference though and that's enough to get me through this deployment and out of this $hithole.

Peace

Lt. Dan, ice cream

http://www.nwherald.com/columnists/columns/2009/05/01/r_oibnqw_8sv64lcq5db3oba/index.xml

good ole basra

well, obviously I made it to Iraq. iT was pretty uneventful. One stop in germany then right to Basra. It was strange getting off the plane because at night, all you can see is the glow of the oil well fires in the distance. It stinks a little and is very dusty. It's not too bad though. Internet and phone both are difficult to come by at this point, but I think it will get better.

I will get some photos hopefully by next week. Hope everyone is doing well back home.

for another idea of how things are going, visit nwherald.com and look under the blogs for the real lt dan. I'm writing for my local newspaper. I think it will start to appear today.

Hugs and kisses from the crappiest place on earth (just kidding - 2nd crappiest).
Dan

address

To answer inquiries about my future mailing address:

Send a Care Package
To your Soldier at Camp Basra, Iraq:

Marchik, Daniel, MCP, 34th ID - CMD, Unit# 117
APO, AE 09374

Do not include your Soldier's rank.

At this point I really don't need anything, but mail is always nice. Please do not send chocolate.
Thanks
I'll let everyone know as soon as I have something to update.

Dan

status

Before you ask, yes we're stillllll here at Ft. Lewis. We are in the process of wrapping things up though. I was able to go back to Crystal Lake and see Julie and the kids for a couple days, which was awesome. The dogs remembered me and Cabo didn't try to rip my face off. It was tough to leave though. Julie was crying, kids were crying, dogs were crying. It sucked. But, I am ready to start this. It's been about a year since I set off on this adventure and I'm pretty excited that it's kicking off soon.

I have been without reliable internet lately and this will probably continue until we get to Iraq. What's ironic is that we'll probably have better internet in Iraq than at Ft. Lewis. Anyway, I'll keep this updated as best I can. If nothing else, check out my twitter page (see past posts).