Day 36

We've started going on missions. That means pulling security on what is called route Tampa, part of a major highway connecting major cities to Baghdad. We go out at midnight and come in between 0600 and 0800. Kind of a pain in the ass becuase then we have to sleep during the day and miss meals and all that. It's boring as hell too, not much action. Everything happens during the day from what I hear. I guess they're not able to attack us at night because we have night vision and they do not. We have both night vision goggles and thermal scope. Last night we thought we spotted an IED but it turned out to be a piece of insolation wrapped in plastic. They just kicked it off the road. I've been pulling air guard out the back of the stryker but I can tell they'll be moving us around. I was on the 240 the first mission. I complained a bit about going out at night but tomorrow we roll out in the morning so it changed. We don't know our schedule for sure in advance. The living arrangements aren't the best and there's no gym or PX where we are so we have to ride the bus or in the past few days take the strykers to get where we want to go. I'm getting tired of not having no exercise, my body is getting stiff from the missions and then just crashing. I did a little stretching and felt better. I guess what it comes down to is that my body isn't accustomed to the new environment yet. The temperature has been in the 100's everyday but it's a dry heat which means you can't feel yourself sweat. I hope this year goes by quick and without anyone on our squad getting hurt.