21-22 September
Well, I didn't wake up early enough to chill by the pool. In fact, I nearly overslept! My bladder didn't wake me up nor did I wake up periodically to check the time as I normally do. The first time I woke up to check my watch was at 1750. 10 minutes until shift change! I rushed to put on my uniform and headed to the shop. Luckily, I don't have to commute. Shift change was normal. Day shift didn't have anything for us to fix. About 3 hours into the shift, we heard a loud bang. At first we thought we were being attacked. How naive we air force people are. It was outgoing artillery. They were shooting off flares. Nick and I went to the Army gym. On the way there, we saw Iraqi police cruising down the road just off base with their lights flashing. Then we saw a bunch of Humvees hauling ass off base. Something was going down or about to go down off base. We arrived at the gym. They have a nice gym! Normally, the Air Force has all the nice stuff on an Army/Air Force installation but on this base, the Army has the nice chow hall and gym. While we worked out we could still hear the boom of flares being shot off. I got a good work out in. It was chest day. This one guy was hogging all the dumbbells that I needed. It was pissing me off. He was just carrying them around and not using them. When I asked if he was using them, his reply was "I'm about to in a minute." He didn't use them; he carried on using the bar for whatever exercise he was doing. Well, anyway, it worked out for me in the end cause I used that frustration to pump out my reps. Also during our work out we heard the call go out for all medical personnel to report to the medical facilities. Something was definitely going on. There were also Black Hawk helicopters coming in and out. After our workout, we went ot heck plant 2. All good. The rest of the night passed without incident. We did play some dominoes on a table that Brian and Lilly made out of the side of a cable spool and half of an old 500-pound bomb. I'm not very good at that game. I just can't take the pressure of people waiting on me to make a play. I'm slow at math in my head. After work, Nick, Lilly and I went for a run. I've never had so much energy running at 630 in the morning. Good thing I'm a night shift worker. I'd never get up that early on my own accord to run. I hate running. The 3 and a half mile run felt good though. My legs always get tired before my wind runs out. I need to condition my legs more. Well, time to read and go to sleep.