Home sweet hovel

I've been in my new home for two days now, and I'm slowly adjusting to the differences in my expectations. I'd figured that since I was now a field grade officer I'd have my own room in a trailer as is standard with most places in Iraq and Afghanistan in my past deployments.  I'm now living in a single person dorm style room with two other people.  Things could be worse.  I've lived in a dusty Bedouin tent in Al Anbar with eight people before.  I just like my privacy and alone time when not at work.  It's not that I hate people; sometimes I really just don't like being around them.  This next year will be a test of my social skills under pressure.

I'm lucky to have the bunk bed with no one on the top bunk.  For that matter, I'm lucky to have the bottom bunk too.  In order to afford myself a small bit of privacy, I've taken my Army wool blanket and hung it up as a curtain creating a "man cave" of sorts.  This way I can stay up on the computer or reading at night and not disturb my roommates and they won't disturb me when I want to sleep and they turn on the lights.

I had to swap out the mattress on my bed.  The mattress on the bed when I got here was like a hard box spring that fell over to the side when I lay down into a parallelogram shape.  I swapped out that mattress with the one above that was completely made of foam.  I decided that instead of playing Goldilocks and looking for the mattress that was "just right", this one would have to do.  However, if this one wears out like the one I had on a previous Iraq deployment, I'm swapping it out too.  I'm not going to sleep in another bed that makes me look like I'm sleeping in a taco.

The room is cold.  I thought my roommates were just setting the thermostat to arctic temperatures at night, but I later realized that the thermostat was just for show.  "It doesn't control anything", one of them told me.  Contrast this with my office on the third floor of another building.  I heard the AC that was installed in that building was insufficient for the square footage, so they would need to upgrade it.  That should be done in a couple months (apparently the summer months are not a priority for them).

The latrine (bathroom) is probably the only saving grace in this place.  While not located in the dorm room, one latrine is one located between every two rooms in the hallway.  This is especially convenient for one big reason. Since we drink so many liquids to keep from dehydration, it causes most people problems sleeping through the night.  Now I usually have to get up at least once to urinate during a night's sleep.  Since most troops have to use bathroom trailers that can be upwards of a few hundred yards away, most take to using "piss bottles" during the night so they don't have to get up and go out.

There's a European looking toilet and a single wall sink with no room to set things.  A trash can and toilet paper holder along with plunger and toilet brush are permanent fixtures.  The shower is a stand up stall with a spray hose.  This is basically the only place in the whole camp I can be assured I'll get privacy.  And best yet is we have a local worker who comes by and clean the bathroom daily.

All in all, it's not what I'd prefer, but it's better than some accommodations I've had before.  As I kept telling myself before I get here, I needed to be prepared for things to change and expect anything.  Besides, it's only a year and I can make the best of it.  So add a plastic chest of drawers, hang up a reading light, place some pictures on the walls and it becomes my home away from home, but there's definitely no place like my real home.

More to follow.