My Neighborhood

So, I've been asked a number of time lately what it's like where I live. I'm guessing because people want to know just how bad things really are, or aren't.

So, using the little Canon A480 camera that Raytheon gave me a couple of weeks ago just for being here, I went out on my way to lunch today and took a series of four pictures from the center of my "complex" in each of the four directions. Keep im mind that I made no effort to take good pictures, as this camera has no viewfinder, only the LCD on the back, and that I wear polarized lenses for sunglasses, so can't really see any display. You get what you get!

So, in this first picture, you can see our bunkers in the middle, with the 12' T-walls lining our living spaces, which are low-qua;ity industrial trailers that have been modified to have three rooms, in my case, for six people to live. Not the tall pole in the distance which is out emergency PA system, and the porta-john way back by the road.

Now, in this picture, you should notice that dull, flat, and generally barren topology of our central corridor, the "alley" or service road that splits our housing area in half. I live on the "wrong" side of the track, though it does put me pretty close to the medical clinic. But, it does mean I'm about as far away from everything else as I can be.

Now this area is where all the services are set up, such as the showers, toilets, and generators. Our utilities are underground for the most part, which in our trailers only means you can't see the wires, as we only have electricity to our trailers.

Then, based on all the press you've heard about shoddy workmanship on the electrical systems over here, there must be some truth to it because we are forever having electrical inspections and work done to our rooms. That should strike everyone as being odd since wiring the in most US houses have to be about 25-50 years old before they need any sort of work, and these aren't even 6 years old yet and are being redone multiple times a year, and people continue to be electrocuted.

We have three outlets in our room, so Fred and I each have one, and the refrigerator takes the third one. Oh, there is another specially wired for our air conditioner, which just happens to blow its cold air over my bed, making multiple blankets a requirement, year round. We have a single window, which has been covered over with plywood, more or less. I'm thinking more to keep explosions from shattering glass all over us, but serving a secondary purpose of keeping the room dark during the day, for those that have to sleep during the day.

Now, in this last picture, you again see the bunkers, but these are covered in sandbags, shich helps dampen the shrapnel. In the distance you can see our water tanks, which are filled with big tanker trucks, and all our water is pumped from these. In a time where the temperatures are around 120 degrees F, that means that all our water is that temperature too. Needless to say, you can get scaulded if you're not paying attention.

Cool water is what you get out of your refrigerator -- it exists no place else. Thank goodness my friend Bert gave me his refrigerator when he left. (I'm too cheap to spend $200 to buy one of these you can buy anywheres in the US for $150.) Free is good. I continue to scrounge stuff to make the place better, such as all of the plastic shelving I've fished out of the recycle bins.

So, my roommate and share a 12x13 room, we each have a wall-locker, a twin bed, and a night-stand. Anything else you have to get on your own, and nothing is cheap, other than the pirated movies the Iraqis sell all over the place. The nearest toilet and shower for us is about 200 meters away, the nearest bunker about half that, and the entire place is covered in smooth round river rock... Did I mention I hate river rock? Makes walking in sand seem easy...

Throw all this together, and I commute only about a mile to the office, on foot. A quarter mile to the shower and back, a mile to work, another half mile to get lunch and dinner, followed by another mile back to my room. Then add that I walk 3 miles each morning, plus all the additional night trips to the bathroom, and you can see that I have learned how to walk!