Easy like Sunday mornin'

Ah, Sunday morning.  The one of two days I do have some time off during the day.  So how do I spend that free time?  I sleep in.  Not too late, but to about 1000hrs.  I get up and go to brunch and have a cooked to order scramble for breakfast.  (I think I've mentioned before how much I love breakfast?)

Sunday is also bazaar day.  I went with a coworker who leaves for home in a couple months.  He wanted to get a nice rug for his house and spent about $300 on a small 5x7 Persian of average quality.  Not a stellar deal, but a much better deal than he could have gotten in the U.S.  During one of my previous Iraq deployments, I bought a number of rugs.  Two were Persian, two were Iraqi, one was Afghan, and one was Turkish.  I'm no rug expert by any means, but I was able to guess the asking price of a 10x15 Persian "Naieen" type rug to within a couple hundred dollars.  Let's just say that I'm not planning to making a rug purchase for anything in the $"K" price range.

I ended up buying a leather shoulder harness for my M-9 pistol because my thigh holster was beginning to get annoying.  I also bought a black canvas hip holster for those times I'd like to conceal carry.  I looked around at the other stuff, and while there might be something I'd like to take home later, I have no interest in storing it in my small room over the next year.

I went back to my room and ran into a new Air Force officer inside unloading his bags.  Earlier last week, one of my Army roommates had moved out because his tour was over.  I and the remaining roommate were hoping that we wouldn't get another roommate, but no such luck.  This new guy struck me first as tired from his last three days of travel, but secondly seemed agitated and discontent with his new accommodations.  (I can't imagine why?)  Air Force personnel are typically used to having the world cater to them, and above average accommodations are the basic level of their expected service.

One thing about the Military is that you learn to adapt and overcome, whether it be cramped living conditions, lack of typical amenities, or an ambiguous job.  We call it "embracing the suck" which is just another expression for rolling with the punches.  Another favorite expression is a play on the Marine Corps motto that we say "Semper Gumby" to mean always flexible.  Nothing is ever easy in the Military; if it was we wouldn't have recruiting problems.  But you take the enjoyment where you can in the little things you find.  Like enjoying a leisurely brunch of eggs to order with juice and strawberries and reading the Stars and Stripes newspaper on a Sunday morning before a short day of work.

More to follow.