walking in Iraq...

Twice today I nearly wiped out secondary to the difficulties of "walking in Iraq"...

It isn't easy walking in Iraq. Especially at night. Although our base doesn't enforce "light discipline" --the process of making sure that NO lights shine anywhere on base at night except for small personal flashlights, which cuts down on people shooting at you, but makes navigation a special adventure--like they do on many other bases, it is almost worse. At least if all the lights are out you KNOW it's dark, and your eyes do eventually adjust. Here there are areas of bright lights from floodlights and the seemingly thousands of NTVs (non-tactical vehicles--plain old cars and SUVs and trucks) and TVs (tactical vehicles--HMMWVs), and there are areas of complete darkness... going from one to the other as I walk from work to the chowhall to work to home each evening is stressfull! The walking paths are, in an understatement, uneven--there are pits, ledges and uneven bits galore. The streets, which besides having the seemingly thousands of vehicles also have a large amount of pedestrians, are often worse than the walking paths. So, walking feels like the old Laurie Anderson song: I am falling and catching myself, and falling and catching myself, over and over again... I actually hurt my hip the other night walking home--a zig down when I didn't zig or zag--surprise!

Today I got mail (thanks Peg and JP&Dianne!)--so, carrying the boxes home during the light I couldn't exactly see where I was going--that was pothole #1. I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from sending boxes because I might hurt myself carrying them back to the CHU though--heck, if I really get hurt I can go home! Please, don't send dangerous items trying to hurt me in my best interest!

I went back to work after a nice run and was heading back to the trailer later at night (dark) and, BAM! There was a new pothole that I swear was never there before... This is a freakishly big hole, large enough for an IED--of course, if someone actually tried to put an IED in the hole there are enough people around with shoulder holsters that they wouldn't get very far!

Speaking of shoulder holsters... you have voted, the ballots tallied, the chads un-hung... and the official results are:

shoulder holster: 10
pants pocket: 3
waistband (butt!): 2
Barack Obama: 36

so, if I cannot get Barack to carry my weapon for me, I will go with the shoulder holster... thanks for participating in this deomocratic demonstration! BTW, there weren't 51 votes, but Barack got a few super-delegates...