Saturday, October 13, 2007

13 Oct. Bagram Air Base

Spent a week at Wazakhwa. What a dung-hole! I got the computer reset, and then just enjoyed it there. They have no port-a-johns, just an outhouse where you defecate into a pan, and twice a day, they burn it off with diesel fuel. The dining hall is run by the US Army, and because of the Ramadan schedule (most Muslims work 6 hours per day in the month of Ramadan), all of the mess hall staff were US soldiers on KP. the mess hall was running out of food, so they were on short rations. No eggs, no milk,etc. I had a wonderful room, a real bed, with a mattress, and a decent heater. I slept like a baby. The shower house was around the corner, so I kept clean. I started reading "The clan of the cave bear", and watched some TV while I was there. I was able to fly back to Bagram Air Base, on Thursday. There was a flight scheduled to Warrior base on Friday, so I stayed in the terminal building for a couple of hours, and registered for the helicopter ride to Warrior base. I then went to the barracks, and ate a meal, and slept soundly!

I got up at 0430am, and got a ride to the terminal, and waited until the sergeant called the names for the flight. Unhappily, the flight was full, so I just waited in the terminal building. I tried a breakfast (MRE, meal-ready-to-eat, the modern version of K rations). An egg omelet with vegetables, and hash browns with bacon. The food was so gross, that I just threw it in the trash. I did find a boneless chicken breast, and it was delicious.

I went back to the barracks, and relaxed. I went into the office on Friday afternoon, and tried to see if I could get on the Tuesday 16 Oct flight to Warrior. I will stay here at bagram, and try for that flight, if I cannot get on it, I will fly back to Sharana, and put my trip to Warrior base on hold. I need to get up there to "show the flag", and inspect the system, but the system is functioning normally, so if I have to wait, it is not a big deal.

I spent Friday night in the barracks, and some idiot turned off the heater, and I about froze. I got up at 0200am, and turned the room heater back on. I got up at 0830, and walked down to the mess hall. I got three eggs fried, and two hardboiled. I met up with the Chaplain, and we spent a couple hours talking theology and religion. The mess hall staff kicked us out of the mess hall, so I went down to the Rec hall, to check on the systems.

I really have no duties here, my computers are at four other bases. But I can monitor them from here, and file my reports. My supervisor called on the cell phone, and he wants me to report to the office each day I am here by 0900, I agreed, but there is no real point, I have my cell phone with me, and it is on 24 hours a day. This is no vacation!

I will hang around the Rec Hall, and monitor the systems. There are movies on the wide-screen all day long. I had a small lunch, barbeque pork on a bun, ravioli, and cookies and cream ice cream with maraschino cherries.

Been having a hassle with the anti-masons, all the stuff on their web site is so ridiculous I could just hurl. I want to get back into masonry, and I am going to be gung-ho at Sharara.

1 comment:

Mark Koltko-Rivera said...

Yeah, the anti-Mason stuff is bad--as in, badly thought-out, badly conceived. Quite frankly, I found it to be the most intellectually dishonest literature I have ever encountered, with a few exceptions. (The exceptions: anti-other people literature that was even worse.)

If it would help any, I have an article on my website that lists some references (including active links to some good on-line sites) helpful in responding to anti-Masonry. To get to the article, go to my website--www.thesquareandcompasses.com--and then go to the Free Downloads page. There, you'll find a section titled "Responding to Anti-Masonry"; there's only one paper there now, but that has the resources you might find useful.

You just hang in there and take care of yourself. Best of luck, and all blessings, upon you.