Day 146

There hasn't been much action here at the JSS, but there has been lots of time for me to visualize what I will do on leave, and when I get back from Iraq. That's better than dwelling on the past, bad memories have a way of creeping in when you're far away from home.

The JSS is slowly being upgraded from a dirty old police station into something more like a hostel. We soon will have showers, toilets and sinks in addition to bunk beds and air conditioning. Right now we have to don our vests and helmets to go to the porta potties out front just to pee. That's about to change. Iraqi workers have been sawing tile and laying concrete for the past few days, causing an uproar. They mix well with the Iraqi Police, eating and drinking tea. For lunch they have shopping bags full of vegetable pitas, which are pretty good. Last night we got some more ready to eat meals of a different variety, Jimmy Deans. They come with a small sandwich, chips, soda and cookies. Everyone is thrilled, even the guys that don't have to stay long. The bridge to Baghdad was bombed a few weeks ago which stops any large shipments of supplies to come in from the south.

The Iraqi Police are not allowed to eat our food, and as a result we have a stair guard, who watches the entrance to the food and water area. That's my job while I'm not firing the mortar, which is almost always. I had a four hour shift today, 1200 to 1600. What a bore. The IP's took our fuel cans for a while too, until we started chaining them up outside by the generators.

The generator is another issue we face here. There are three of them, two for electricity and one for phone lines and internet. The problem is keeping them fueled up, and lately the work on the building has been overloading them. The mechanic is always running in and out to check on them, coming back in sweaty with dirty hands. We jab at him every time the lights flicker.

There are boxing matches scheduled for Labor Day, but I'll miss them. Some of the guys are good at boxing, and have been training for a while. It gives them something to do and something to focus their workouts on. A lot of guys keep in shape out here. In addition to being infantry, there's a lot of downtime.

We took fire from the south and west last night while me and another guy from my squad were out refueling the stryker. The enemy initially fired at a convoy a few hundred meters up the road, and then at the rooftop. This is a very common occurrence, and we hardly stopped to question what was going on. I calmly walked to fuel cans back to the fuel point as I looked up at the tracer rounds pumping out of the 240. We have been lucky with not having any casualties here at the JSS, although there have been several in our company.