shentuts

i am my squad's squad leader this week. in one sense it has been easier than previous weeks because there is a significant amount of down time in the field. in other ways, though, it has been much harder because if people wander off they are impossible to find. also, everything we are doing is out of the routine, so we have to brief everyone a lot.

we moved our gear to the fob (forward operating base) where we will be conducting all of our combat-based scenarios. we won't get much time to sleep, but when we do , we have cots in these shed/tent/hut things: 'shentuts', i'll call them. they look like garages, but not as high and the door opening is a canvas flap of three layers. inside is a square flat open space, a concrete slab. the outer shell is coated with water/weather-proofing material. it looks like a wasps nest.

i mentioned in a previous post that the a/c was broken. i heard later it wasn't, but it wasn't turned on. it felt like a convection oven in there. it would have been impossible to sleep in there. i'm sure it will be nice with the a/c and fan going, better than a pup-tent anyway.

shentuts aside, we have a lot of training and work to do out there. i am excited to partake in all of the fun, but also will be glad once we complete the exercises with passing marks.

sorry for the double post today, but this time, we actually will stay in the field for more than one day. that's the plan anyway. be back saturday or sunday, i hope.