Camp Boring

I don't think the army could possibly be any slower getting from one place to another. I am truly amazed that I am not yet in Iraq. All of us are longing to get settled at our FOB, but we have to actually leave here first. I actually have work to do during the days, but so many of us do not and the days are increasingly becoming long and boring.

You would be amazed it you walked in my tent sometime in the early evening until lights out. There are more laptops in our tent than on the floor of the NYSE. If someone didn't bring a laptop they are inevitably watching a portable DVD player. I saw two guys the other night who had hooked up an XBOX to a portable DVD player and were playing Halo 2 against each other. People are editing slide shows on their computer and making little videos to send home to their wive's or girlfriend's. It's not just the soldiers, it's the officers as well. I think our XO has probably watched a couple of movies a day since we've been here. I enjoy movies as much as anyone, but I can't understand the desire to be watching a movie at every waking hour. I feel like telling them to read a book or write a letter home to someone they love, but it wouldn't do any good. That's the way I escape this place. Not in a movie or video game, but in a book. It's the best escape there is.

I'm praying that we really do leave soon. I've heard an actual date, but I will believe it when we are actually in the act of departing this place. The bad thing is supposedly we have to make a stop for a few days in another base in Iraq before making it to our FOB. More waiting. I wish they would just give me a humvee and let me go on my own. I would get 3 or 4 of my buddies, outfit it with a bunch of guns and ammo, and then take off on one of the greatest road trips of all time. If we tried, we could probably piss off a few terrorists on the way to our FOB. I could be there this evening.