arrival to the sandbox.

Yesterday I made it to my final destination. Afghanistan. Let me tell you, this place freaking sucks. Sandy, dusty, dirty, rocky, crappy, and hotter than a sauna on steroids. We're talking heat index of 120 every day. I didn't know it was physically possible to be this hot out all the time. It's like you're under a heat lamp. There's this real fine dust that's always in the air. It gets everywhere. EVERYWHERE. It coats your throat and clogs your nose. If you don't constantly drink water then you have the sensation of swallowing sand in the back of your throat.

Mostly everything on base is tents, with a few exceptions. My living quarters are these portable units (that can be moved with a crane or forklift or something). They're made of metal. They're very small, about 7'x18'. Three guys in a room that small is not my ideal living conditions, but at least they have AC. That's huge out here. They also have wifi here at the living quarters. It's free so that's nice, but it's not super fast. The chow hall is in a tent, the PX (store) is in a tent, where I work is a wooden structure. It's much more desolate than I had expected (with the exception of our living quarters). No paved roads. There's nothing here landscape wise but sand, dirt and rocks as far as the eye can see. No mountains, no hills, absolutely NOTHING green. Flat. Dirt. Rocky. The end. And I also just now learned that the ISP (internet service provider) blocks youtube. Really? Fanfreakingtastic.

But with all this suckiness in consideration, I can't go about our lives concentrating on the suck, even though it's so evident and so easy at times. Although I may be surrounded by crappy stuff like a climate like this, like a small room like this, like having to poop in porta-potties for the next 7 months, like sleeping on the worst mattress ever, like not being able to wear civilian attire, like working 12 hour shifts 7 days a week, it challenges me to concentrate on what I am thankful for. Good food at the chow hall, AC, free internet access, hot showers, friends. FRIENDS. Knowing that they're going through all the same stuff I'm going though really helps me cope with all this too. On top of all that, I try to keep in mind that someone somewhere has it worse. There are many Marines deployed to Afghanistan that sleep in a tent with no AC, or that sleep in nothing but a sleeping bag under the stars. That's sacrifice.