UGH.
"So, Big Sergeant, what's it REALLY like there on FOB Kaibil, in that hopping little town of Puerto Barrios, Izabal Province, Guatemala?"
Let me TELL you how it's really like, then:
Electrical power is unreliable. Plus, the heat index is over 100 every day. Since the HI is so high, but the air temp is only hi-80s to low-90s, your sweat never leaves your skin, not completely, even with the fans running. (Scientific purists, I'll talk to you later.) Makes sleeping during the day difficult, if you aren't a)really tired, b)a heavy sleeper, and c)used to it. (Fortunately(?), all three conditions usually apply to Yours, Truly.)
This combination of factors leads to days like today, where the power went out around 8a, to come back on finally around 6p. Even attributes a through c were unable to keep me from being miserably awake from 9a - 5p. (Sheer exhaustion did me in at that point, along with a slight drop in temp.) My PT uniform, doubling as a set of py-jams, looked like I had done a PT test in a rain storm. I promise: I'd done nothing except breathe, lying in my bunk. When the fans kicked on I breathed a giant sigh of relief and rolled over.
This lead to the... uh, interesting?... realization that I was actually attempting to sleep on a mattress which was doing its best impression of a damp sponge. A small part of my consciousness went "Ewwwww...," before the fact that the dampness was COOL and felt GOOD won out, and unconsciousness set in. Every position change afterward was met with a similar result: two seconds of "Ick," followed by an hour or so of comatose bliss.
So, you ask me "what's it really like?" It's really like sleeping on a wet sponge in a brick oven with a sometimes-operational desk fan. And mosquitos. A must see for the whole gang.
Or not. :P
Let me TELL you how it's really like, then:
Electrical power is unreliable. Plus, the heat index is over 100 every day. Since the HI is so high, but the air temp is only hi-80s to low-90s, your sweat never leaves your skin, not completely, even with the fans running. (Scientific purists, I'll talk to you later.) Makes sleeping during the day difficult, if you aren't a)really tired, b)a heavy sleeper, and c)used to it. (Fortunately(?), all three conditions usually apply to Yours, Truly.)
This combination of factors leads to days like today, where the power went out around 8a, to come back on finally around 6p. Even attributes a through c were unable to keep me from being miserably awake from 9a - 5p. (Sheer exhaustion did me in at that point, along with a slight drop in temp.) My PT uniform, doubling as a set of py-jams, looked like I had done a PT test in a rain storm. I promise: I'd done nothing except breathe, lying in my bunk. When the fans kicked on I breathed a giant sigh of relief and rolled over.
This lead to the... uh, interesting?... realization that I was actually attempting to sleep on a mattress which was doing its best impression of a damp sponge. A small part of my consciousness went "Ewwwww...," before the fact that the dampness was COOL and felt GOOD won out, and unconsciousness set in. Every position change afterward was met with a similar result: two seconds of "Ick," followed by an hour or so of comatose bliss.
So, you ask me "what's it really like?" It's really like sleeping on a wet sponge in a brick oven with a sometimes-operational desk fan. And mosquitos. A must see for the whole gang.
Or not. :P