Part two...

Ah yes, the guitar came in. I am not much of a guitar player and only play around. I’m no rock star except when it comes to rock band then I am awesome. But I know how most people seem to play a little and seem to enjoy guitars. So I went online to find the cheapest guitar I could find. My plan was to buy a guitar put it in my guitar case and mail it out to Afghanistan, take it out of the case, mail the empty case home and the guitar will stay here forever. I am planning on giving it away when it comes time for me to leave here. As few guitars there are in country, I figured it would be a good thing to leave here once/if I finally got it here. Well when it came in the mail to our house in FL, it was packaged so good that I decided to leave it in the box, cross out the label and have the wifey mail it in the box. Well once I figured out what my mailing address was, she mailed it out here and it finally arrived. Yeah. I have it hanging up in the office here and when people see it, they light up and ask if it is mine. It is with pride that I tell them yes and they are amazed that I was able to get one over here. But, for the right price you can get anything over here. Well for around $200 I got a guitar, strings, a tuner and a soft sided case shipped all the way to Afghanistan. Not a bad deal, for not too bad a guitar. A very fun treat and I have told people the guitar is community property, so sometimes while I am working I can hear someone in the back of the tent strumming away at some song. I am sure they sound good in their own mind, just as I do.

No more t-shirts…There is an ongoing debate amongst the Infantry side of the house between the junior officers and the senior enlisted. I believe there to be a rule saying a Marine must wear an undershirt under their cammie top, but many junior officers think it is cooler (temperature wise) to not wear a t-shirt, so they don’t. This only serves to upset the senior enlisted Marines even more. Well with the raising heat index I thought I would try it out. So I stopped wearing the under shirt and put the cammie top on by itself. What a difference it made. Now a breeze or an A/C vent blows directly on my skin and feels great. When there is no air flow or A/C vent I just sweat which is no different than when I did wear a t-shirt. I now change my cammies more regularly and I have fallen in love with gold bond powder. There is no place gold bond powder doesn’t go. I bathe in it. Head to toe;, the stuff is powdered gold. I have bought some at the PX, but got most of my supply of the addictive white powder from the Chaplain’s office. I guess many churches have mailed in toiletries for distribution by the Chaplain’s office. Bonus for me.

My new pet peeve… ok picture if you will porta johns being the better alternative for bathroom facilities as compared to the bathrooms with plumbing. The porta johns are bigger (size wise) and if you go at night much cooler (temperature). The “indoor” plumbing toilets here are cramped. I’m not that big of a guy but my knees hit the wall when I sit on the toilet. And I have to change my clothes before I go into the bathroom because there is not enough room in the tiny stall to bother with unnecessary clothing. So I have to go to my tent, put on shorts and a t-shirt and then go to the bathroom. So trust me, the porta johns are the better choice. Anyways, the pet peeve is when people don’t put the toilet lid down after using the facilities. I drink 8 liters of water a day (yes, that’s four 2 liter bottles) and subsequently have to pee often. How much worse is a porta john when someone leaves the lid up. I am in there to pee and I must confront the mystery blue water of death. Why can’t people just put the lid down. Now don’t confuse this with the age long debate of putting the toilet SEAT down. No this is more. The toilet lid keeps odors and other things at a minimum…putting the seat down would do nothing for me in my battle against offenders of the porta john rules. Just like in a normal bathroom there is etiquette for guys on which urinal to use and how to use it. Never use a urinal next to another man and NEVER look at the guy next to you and talk only if absolutely necessary. Examples of necessary conversation include but not limited to: you are on fire, there is a guy with a chain saw and a hockey mask behind you, and the earth is about to get hit by a giant asteroid unless Ben Afleck can save the day…run for your life. No where in there is: what time is, nice day we’re having, so how bout that Obama guy… these type of conversation starters must be saved for the hand washing station. But I digress… Put the toilet lid down in a porta john. It is just common courtesy people!

ARSM out