Moving Day

Note the 12 foot concrete "T-Walls." These are arrayed to compartmentalize the trailers and minimize collateral damage if a mortar or rocket strikes close by.

Who knew I would ever be so happy to live in a trailer! Well, really 1/3 of a trailer. Okay, since I have a roommate, I guess it is only 1/6 of a trailer. But that 1/6 is ALL MINE. Does Home Depot have a trailer improvement section? I’d like to get rid of this linoleum floor and go for some hard wood, maybe get some crown molding installed as well as plantation shutters. I think it will go well with the warm, rich look of the faux wood paneling you see here . . .

The TV was left by the prior roommate. I think he was so happy to leave, he did not even bother selling it.

Seriously, I was happy to move to a trailer and finally settle-in. My roommate, Erick, also a LT, is a submariner (or a “nuke” as we might refer to them). Given that there is a huge fleet of submarines here in the, uh, hold on. Hmmm. How deep is the Tigris river again? Wait . . . no. Erick is assigned to the office of the Army Inspector General so he gets to deal with complaints and injustices large and small, both real and, in some cases, real ridiculous. He was happy to see me mostly because he was happy I was not his last roommate, an Air Force Judge Advocate (attorney) who apparently talked incessantly about his Duke law degree and had a penchant for working out at 0300. Ahh, the Air Force . . . that guy was probably also highly agitated that Camp Victory does not have a golf course or anyplace he could get his back waxed.


The Office

Now, I can make fun of the other services because we all make fun of each other. The commanding officer of my parent unit is an Army Colonel but most of his people are Navy. He loves to say “You know what happens when you send 100 sailors out to sea? They come back as 50 couples.” Boy does he think that one is funny. And truth be told, it kind of is. But even if it wasn’t, he’s a colonel.

The office has a neat tradition. We celebrate birthdays each month. Not just our own but family birthdays too. Remind me to not tell you about the conversation I fell into with a co-worker who told me the birthday of all her cats. That’s 1o minutes of my life I’ll never get back. So the general we all work for comes to the office to help us celebrate and we take a photo to send back home to wish everyone happy birthday. So if your birthday is in November, thanks for the cake – it was delicious. The members of Defense Contingency Support Team - Iraq (or at least the ones in the office that day) say happy birthday to all of you November birthday folks. That's the general behind the cake.


And now, W O R D O F T H E W E E K !

This week’s word of the week is “Hooah.” Yes, I know, not a word, but don’t tell the Army that. The Army as whole might have sufferred from a largely untreated speech impediment when it was young, completely eviscerating their ability to pronounce the letter R in the word “hoorah.” Each service has a different way of expressing motivation, etc.

Navy: Hoorah!
Army: Hooah!
Air Force: Hip, hip, hooray! (and you have to clap your hands super fast to do this one right)

In any case, “Hooah” is the Army catch-all word for “I can’t articulate a complete sentence.” Some Army folks, I kid you not, start and end every sentence, as short as they may be, with “hooah.” It essentially means anything but “no.” Try it out next time you are at a loss for words. I think we could really get this going.