A Whole Post About Toilets

Compared to the last time I was here, this place really is like heaven. To the left is a side-by-side comparison I made: the toilet that was used by my unit in 2003 and the ones we use today (bathroom is the one inside my barracks). Yes, that is a chair with a toilet seat tied to it, positioned over a hole (note the camouflage netting for privacy). Pretty disgusting, but people will get used to mostly anything if they have to. The hole in the ground was eventually replaced with port-a-potties that were cleaned out about once a week. When 50+ people are using the same 3 port-a-potties for a week, it will get funky pretty quickly. Trust me. Don't get me wrong, I still have to use a port-a-potty at work, but they are cleaned twice a day; they are decidedly cleaner that most people would expect.

I am loving the fact that the bathroom and shower room are situated inside the barracks. It gets very old to have to carry all your shower supplies, plus fresh uniforms, all the way to the outside showers. If I can find a picture of the shower we used to shower in, yes that was singular..ONE shower, I will post it next to our present day facilities. Now, THAT was disgusting. Besides the traces of fecal matter in the water, the walls were covered with a slimy substance that could not be gotten rid of. I wouldn't have DREAMED of stepping foot in their without my flip flops on, but even those were almost futile, since the drain was always clogged and there was at least 2 inches of standing water on the floor at any given time. I feel dirty just thinking about it.

I am very excited because, in two weeks, I will be flying to New York to visit my family and friends! My "R & R" is two weeks long; everyone in the unit gets to go home at one point during the deployment. I have only been here for 3 months, so it is going to suck to come back and have to stay for 9 more, but I am not complaining! Mark's R & R was scheduled for July (they picked names in a lottery for who got what month), but he turned his down because he didn't want to leave the fight so early.

P.S. I received 2 care packages yesterday, thanks Mom! Lots of good stuff in this one!!