Advertisement
Now I haven’t quite decided if that’s a good thing or not. While at Camp Atterbury Indiana when we were out-processing nearly 600 soldiers to return to their homes, it was bittersweet, as we knew that after they left we would be returning to duty here in Kosovo in a matter of days. So we really tried to not get used to the creature comforts of the United States.
After all, who wouldn’t enjoy the treasures we were afforded in our few weeks in Indiana. MILK…Yes, real MILK! That had to of been the best! Every day, it was milk on the cereal, milk with our subway sandwich and milk with our steak. I just couldn’t drink enough of it. At Camp Bondsteel all they have is some form of liquid that pretends to be milk, and on the side of the carton it states that the shelf life is “Forever”. Now that’s just not right.
Then the simple things came into play. Toilet paper that was soft and thick enough that you didn’t have to use 400 sheets at a time. I didn’t have to wear my flip flops in the shower. In fact, I didn’t have to
share the bathroom with anyone and I could leave the shampoo and soap in the shower without having to worry about losing it. There was a bathtub with bubbles and everything!
Our rental vehicle wasn’t a diesel and had an automatic transmission. No popping the clutch at stop signs and killing the engine. No traffic circles or rusted out little cars or horse drawn carts clogging up the roads.
Heck, I even had to do my own laundry. I must admit that dropping my bag off at the laundry point and coming back in three days to pick it up is nice. While in Atterbury, I didn’t have much time for little chores like that so I ended up washing my darks with whites and colors, all in the same load. My Mom would not be happy.
But also being away in a foreign country provides some comforts all in itself. I haven’t had a cell phone for months and it has been a great treat not being tied to everybody else’s schedule. The commercials on TV in the states were quite fascinating. I learned many things late at night when I couldn’t sleep. Everything from
diets, car wax, exercise machines and music are sold in the few minutes between one sitcom and the next. Having been without a vehicle for 9 months and having to walk everywhere has taught me a few lessons. Those commercials that say “only 20 minutes a day and you can look like a superstar!” who in the hell are they kidding? It takes me 20 minutes to walk to breakfast and I’ve been doing it for months and surprisingly I don’t look like a superstar. So the silliness and lack of reality for commercials is really emphasized when you don’t have exposure to them for a long time.
Even though the 26 hours of flight time between here and Indiana are absolutely dreadful, it was a nice time to decompress from the hectic schedule we had been keeping. I really wanted to sleep, but there wasn’t much of that going on with the cramped seats and no leg room. I tried to talk to my seat buddies, but both the ladies were from Syria and so we had a large communication gap, even after trying hand signals and sharing my oreo cookies!
So here I sit, back in the comforts of Kosovo. The mountain is as big as ever and the clouds are puffy and almost angry looking today. I'm sure it will rain, but that should bring sun tomorrow. I really do miss home but it truly was nice to return to Bondsteel. To be back with my deployment friends, my companions through the monotonous days and quiet nights gives me a surreal comfort. We are getting close to the end. We will finish this off together and before anybody knows it we will be home barbecuing with family and vacationing with friends.
By my count…No more than 11 Mondays left!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 7; qc: 23; dbt: 0.037s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb