Happy 4th of July

Funny how fast a year can go by. You don't realize it till you stop and actually think about it. Another year, another Independence day. Last Year, I was in Boston when my ship pulled in. Boston was awesome and I went and saw the Boston Pops, getting myself on TV every other five minutes. Now I'm in Iraq. If you would have told me last year what I would be doing at this exact moment, a year later, I would have looked at you funny.

My family enjoyed their holiday with friends and they told me they missed me. I missed them and I look forward to seeing them when I get home. Right now, I'm with a second type of family. The FOB, (Forward Operating Base) I'm at is tiny. Yet, the two EOD teams make the place seem even smaller. I'm not complaining about the size, in fact, I prefer the close community of ours. Both teams have three members and I go out with both. Being the only WIT guy, I don't get to trade off with someone, and I go on every call.

The DFAC, (chow hall), served BBQ from 12-5pm all day, and the base had games and activities for all personnel. We ended doing our thing, which was taking it easy, watching Band of Brothers, and a couple of us threw some water balloons at each other. The temperature was actually one of the cooler days, but I'm sure that was due to the fact that it was orange outside and the dust kept out some of the heat. Crappy to breath, but we weren't sweating to death. The chow was actually pretty darn decent and for dinner, our LT hooked up the grill, grabbed a couple of near-beers and cooked some hot dogs and chicken wings. It was excellent and the non-alcoholic beer even gave it a nice taste.

One of the gents had his 20th birthday and our friend who works in the DFAC was able to nab a cake for him. Brought a pleasant Independence day to a close and the cake was delicious. Unfortunately no fireworks, though I think if there were anything making loud booms, we would be worried about that. Being EOD, it tempted a few pyros to think up some stuff, but we enjoyed the cake instead.

Had a call on Friday, which ended up being delayed, then cancelled. I sent the rest of the day asleep.

The second before I hit "Publish Post", the security team came over the radio with a call. I will have pics in the next post.