So how does a motor pool sergeant in Iraq spend the Labor Day holiday?
0442--alarm goes off. I was up late, almost midnight, and had trouble sleeping because I slept late Sunday morning (10am). I hit the snooze button and got up at 0447.
Stumble to the latrine, shave, stumble back (150 yards each way on gravel), get dressed.
0530--ride to chow hall. Get breakfast to go so I can put it in my backpack and eat at the motor pool: bacon, biscuit, french toast, cinnamon roll. I ride with a large coffee mug.
0600--motor sergeant opens the gate. he is usually at the motor pool at o540, he splet late.
0610--my team gets its jobs for the morning. I have three mechanics today. Two replace the starter on a bus. One replaces the tire on a trailer. I pump 30 gallons of diesel into our generator. It is a hand-operated pump. It takes 7 minutes, so I listen to a New Yorker podcast on my iPod while I pump the handle.
0700--I fill out paperwork while my team works. I check on them. I do the weekly maintenance checks on a 2 1/2 ton truck. I also spend 15 minutes listening to another sergeant complain about some recent bad work assignments and getting caught between competing bosses. We commiserate.
0800--more maintenance checks. One of the clerks is back from leave so I tell her a couple of pirate jokes she missed.
0900--I ride to the south side of the base for a 0930 meeting. It's three miles, the wind is calm. I have 15 minutes ot check email--since we moved the motor pool two weeks ago, there are no network lines in the motor pool. I have to ride 1 to 3 miles rto check email
0930--Meeting with brigade about stories I am working on and about coordinating stories.
1030--back to email and calendar update.
1100--ride the rest of the way around the base back to my CHU
1130--talk to the couple in the Saturday post.
1200--fill out time sheets for me and my crew.
1230--go to lunch, meet my crew as they are coming back from lunch, give them afternoon jobs.
1315--back to motor pool. check on work assignments. Put away tool boexes and supplies that have come back from Camp Normandy fueling operation that closed last month.
1400--move trucks to get work ready for tomorrow
1445--go to CHU, change, check emails, revise speech for Friday
1600--go to battalion headquarters to check email.
1630--read CS Lewis essay, drink latte
1715--more email
1730--go to laundry
1745--nap for 30 minutes
1815--ride 15 minutes
1830--more email revise article
1900--go to dinner with a sgt who missed last Aeneid meeting, catch up on intro to Aeneid
2000--CS Lewis book group
2130--back to CHU, check email
2200--call Marc Abrahams, I wish out loud I was coming home soon. He reminds me whose idea this trip was (guilty as charged)
2230--shower and write this post
2330--sleep (up again at 0442)
Happy Holiday!!
Veteran of four wars, four enlistments, four branches: Air Force, Army, Army Reserve, Army National Guard. I am both an AF (Air Force) veteran and as Veteran AF (As Fuck)
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Great post...thanks for giving us a snapshot of your day. No rest for the weary for you guys this Labor Day. Thanks you & everyone there who works so hard.
ReplyDeleteNobody works harder than the military folks. Isn't it an oxymoron to name a day of rest "labor day" anyway? Even if it wasn't a holiday, how many civilians would have had the energy or desire to ride a bicycle 3 miles to go to a meeting at 9 a.m.? Most grumble if they have to ride an elevator 3 floors to get to a conference room. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteHow has your foot been treating you Hollywood? I have been thinking about you : )
ReplyDelete