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Thursday, April 21, 2005

The Third Weirdness

Previously I had wondered if weird things came in threes, since two had occurred. Then I got word, my NBC bag, lost 7 months ago at the Dubai airport on my way in, has just turned up. The NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical) attack gear is not that interesting to me, to tell you the truth. But I had stuffed some extra things into the bag before shipping out.

So today I was re-united with a few of my things. Re-united, and it feels so good. My space-age skateboard that brought me so much happiness during my week in Houston is back!! I can’t use it in Iraq, but when it was lost at the airport, I thought I would never see it again. This means that again, it may serve me well, in the future at least. And if not, it sure is fun to fold and unfold.

Some other interesting items returned include a few extra sets of underwear and 2 rolls of duct tape, the universal tool, and a nice knife I had forgotten about. But it still is bizarre that something you leave at a foreign airport suddenly shows up and finds you 7 months later. It just goes to show that you should never give up hope.

In other news, it looks like the Iraqi police and our military quickly got the recent surge in attackers under control; it has been very quiet again even though intel suggested further activity. AND I just got the word that efforts in control are being reduced to allocate more resources to the training of the Iraqi police. Here in Kirkuk, Kurd and Sunni are friends on the police force and they enjoy the training they are receiving. The sooner the IP are ready, the sooner the bulk of the reservists can go home and it is moving along nicely.

Also in good news, my shop received much new shipments: 60 up-armor windshields and 16 gun-box kits. Very cool, that means work for at least 3 weeks and therefore no more oil changes for at least that long. YES!

Perhaps in the category of more than you should know, the shop foreman told the guys they could never hog-tie him. Well, the results were pictured below, but apparently the evidence can't be shown at this time. Don’t worry, he still commands respect. Well, at least as much as he did before. Least there be confusion, we all get along fine and only beat each other up in good fun.

Pic 1 The lost bag is back and first I check on my “space-age” retractable skateboard. Behind me is a HumVee with the new up-armored windshield installed. They have the green borders and I’ve never seen one penetrated.

Pic 2 Unfolding the skateboard out again.

1 comment:

Toad734 said...

It's nice to know they are making an effort to armour those things.