Hello again, Sorry it’s been so long since I wrote, I have been lazy. I’m having a great time here. My days are really full and I go to bed tired which is something that I thought was not going to happen. But you know that life is what you make it and I’ve decided that I’m going to have a good time here no matter what. This brings me to what I have been doing these last few weeks, getting in trouble. If there is trouble that can be found, I have found it. Not that I am maliciously looking for it, it finds me with no problem. Sometimes I think that I am wearing a neon sign that says, “I’m doing something wrong please go tell me First Sergeant!” J I’m kidding but lately I have been on his bad side for things that, perhaps are bad decisions, but not necessarily my fault! Lately the trouble that I have gotten into has been from talking to people. I talk to everyone! But I’m not allowed to talk to Special Forces, Contractors, a particular group of captains … I think that is it for now. But I will keep the list going when I am told not to talk to more people. It’s crazy because I see these guys when they come in the finance office and when we are eating they come and sit with us or recognize me and say hi. This is usually witnessed by the LTC and his group of buddies who then tell my first sergeant that I’m not allowed to talk to those people. It has become almost instantaneous that I speak with someone in the DFAC and later that day I hear I’m not allowed to talk to them! I seem to be getting sick often here and have built up quite the repertoire with the people who work at the TMC (troop medical clinic for those of you who are not educated in military acronymsJ). The first time that I went in was for strep throat. That is when I met CPT Orta. She has fast become my favorite person in that building. She is a very intelligent, no nonsense, conservative nurse practitioner (I think?). Anyway, exactly my opposite! When I went in for the second time a month later for strep throat I specifically asked to see her because she knew and remembered me and I didn’t want to see a total stranger for the same sickness. Being the bubbly personality that I am, I talked nonstop being sarcastic and cracking jokes while she was doing her examinations. She was laughing the whole time and when she completed the examination, while she was assigning me more medication she turned and asked me if I had ever been tested for adult attention deficit disorder! It’s not as funny in writing and it is a story where you just had to be there. I stopped talking instantly. I honestly didn’t know what to say! She of course was kidding but now she is one up on me and I don’t know how I can top that remark! To make matters worse a couple of weeks ago I started getting this terrible cold sore infection on my lips. It was weird because I had never in my life had them and really didn’t know what to do. I went to the TMC (yet again). CPT Orta gave me some medication and salve to hopefully help it but after almost 4 weeks nothing worked. Last Sunday was my day off and went there again for the same reason. She looked at the bumps and asked if I had eaten papaya or mango at any time in the last week. She said that there is kind of a poison ivy like sap on the skin of mango. Well in the DFAC we have a fresh fruit stand that on occasion has mango. What is so funny about this story is, the guy (a third world national from India, I think) who works that stand every day, developed a crush on me and would save mangos under the counter for me for dinner. So I had been eating a mango everyday for the last 4 weeks. It wasn’t cold sores at all, it was mango poison ivy! My life here is so interesting! While I was at the TMC I ran into some of the medics that I had in my CLS class (combat life saver). In this class we learn to give IV’s and how to use the clotting techniques in addition to glorified first aid stuff. I am my mother’s child because I really like giving IV’s. I find it really challenging and I don’t think I have ever been so concentrated on one task before. I asked Taylor if I could give him an IV. I was really joking but CPT Orta said it was ok and Taylor wanted to see if I could give him one in the hand instead of the easier arm target. So I did it and was successful and now he owes me pizza because I got him on the first stick. Then it was his turn to stick me. I’m a little weary about getting IV’s because I am an extremely hard stick, just ask my mom. The bet again was pizza and well let’s just say that I won again. He missed completely on the first try and got it on the second try. Then he taught me how to use a saline lock and how to give shots through the lock. CPT Orta said if I come back next Sunday that they will teach me how to do stitches and other things. That night I was going to have dinner with another friend of mine who works on the Iraqi side. It was Super bowl night so they were having a BBQ in their compound and he asked me if I wanted to go. I went and had a good time. The next day I got called in to me First Sergeant’s office and he asked me where I was. I told him that I went to the Iraqi side for a BBQ. He said that, me going over there was a direct violation of an order and he was going to have to do something about it. I was dumfounded because I don’t remember being told that I could not go over there. Well it turns out that if it was put out the information wasn’t disseminated very well because only three people in the whole detachment remember being told that. So basically they put it out again and I won’t be going over there again but it was a scary moment. I like being the rank I am and don’t want to loose it! But all is well and I haven’t gotten in trouble for anything in the last 36 hours so I think I’m on a roll. The military life just is not for me, I’m way too independent. I’m learning Arabic over the internet. It’s a Rosetta Stone learning program and I think it’s great! I can say: women, dog, cat, man, boy, horse, elephant, girl, airplane, car, and picnic table. I’m still struggling with the written words because I keep forgetting that Arabic is read from right to left. I went to an escort class on Tuesday. That was the scariest class that I have ever experienced. The main point of the class was “Trust no one!” Honestly, sometimes I don’t understand why the Army allows Iraqi people on the base! The information that I got from this class makes me feel really, really insecure. They showed us pictures of things that they have caught on people trying to sneak off base. Like GPS coordinates, maps, microchips anything! And it’s because escorts are not doing their jobs watching the people who come to work. They are also not doing their jobs in searching the workers when they come on and go off post. He told us a story about some guy and his two employees who worked one the fob. They drove trucks and were really good friends with all the gate guards and escorts. Then they raided their houses and found maps, GPS, rockets, mortars, IED’s and tons of other stuff. These guys had been systematically sneaking that stuff off the base from old caches that were here, yet they smiled and talked to the gate guards giving them Cokes and food. These guys were bad news but they worked on the base for a long time. We have this false sense of security here and people operate here like we are back in garrison. They enforce the stupidest rules that are not only dangerous for soldiers but are totally irrelevant. No smoking and walking. Who cares if you are smoking and walking at the same time!?! It must blind your judgment when you do that so let’s make that a rule that we need to enforce in a combat zone. (Though it does look unprofessional) Please wear bright orange vests when wearing physical training uniforms even when not conducting PT, though when you are wearing fatigues you are not allowed to use the vest. This is so you can be seen by drivers during the night. Yeah and so can the sniper on the other side of the fence! If you are walking down the MIDDLE of the road at night it is your own fault if you get hit! But you know that these stupid rules were made because someone screwed up. It’s similar to the “Do not take a bath with this product” warning on all electrical equipment; you know someone did it, was shocked, and sued the company. Well this is a couple of days later then I wanted to get it out but I have more stories for next week. Oh yeah I want to thank everyone for their care packages and letters. I am slowly working through them and writing back. Please keep sending me news of home and what everyone is up to. I miss you all! Sometimes when I’m watching a movie in my room I forget about where I am and what I am doing, and then I hear the helicopters fly overhead and I’m reminded. Life is not easy but I’m glad to still be here! Love, Kindahl