Here Now

Hello everyone,
I have arrived in Kirkuk, as of a few hours ago. It's a dust bowl here, but I have my own room, air conditioning, mini-fridge, bed, desk, etc. Has a bathroom but water will not be hooked up for a few weeks. Full of dust, cleaning that out now.

We flew in on a turbo-prop plane just like in the old movies. Kinda fun. The worst was the long wait at the new Baghdad Airport, although it is beginning to look very nice, much nicer than when I was in there 3 weeks ago. Things are changing here very rapidly.

Very dusty here, did I mention that? And 110 today, although they say they've had "white Christmas" here last year--yes, that means snow. Or in practical terms, mud. I was assigned "add-on armor" where we put kevlar and air-conditioners on Humvees but the funding ran out and we will probably be doing typical maintenance instead. The people (in charge) are easy-going, I hear, so things should be alright but a bit dusty. Did I mention Hot and Dusty?

Anaconda was nice but living with 16 guys under the same roof in a 8'x6' booth was good to get away from. Did I mention the showers here have hot water?! So nice!! Anaconda only had cold. ok, I'm beat, more later. Give my best to Broadway.
Ernie
P.S. Everywhere I land, the first thing they say to me is, "you're the trouble-maker, aren't you". I don't think anyone has warned them, they just look at me and say that. I don't think it's the cowboy hat and Hollywood sunglasses, or is it? ??