Walls

Uncle Sam likes me. Not only did he treat me to an all expenses paid vacation to the sunny Middle East, but he also outfits me with a complete snazzy wardrobe to wear while I’m here and feeds me as much curry chicken, mushy ravioli and rubber lobster that my stomach can handle. Just recently he decided that I’m worthy enough for some protection around my living quarters from the mortars that get lobbed into our area now and then. I’ve been here going on 6 months and my trailer lacked any sort of protection from incoming, not even a sandbag (but I did have a cool ACU patterned blanket that was good to keep the dust and mosquitos off me). Part of this lack in protection is due to the fact that I live in a “stack” and they didn’t have a lot of barriers that reach to the height of my roof. The other reason is that they hate captains, which is why a majority of the crappy real estate is occupied by the O-3s.

I’m not quite sure why they waited this long to afford us the protection enjoyed by the other trailers on the base (both of higher and lower rank). The reason could be that we were waiting on a new force protection budget to be approved. Funny how we can spend roughly $178 a second to purchase pants and sunglasses for the Iraqi police forces but we can’t afford to emplace a $1,000 barrier to protect the trailers on our own bases. Maybe they were lacking the barriers in country. The normal barriers are called T-Walls (short for Texas Barrier) which don’t reach as high as the second floor. Maybe it’s because we passed the magic “1,000th rocket” mark and this is our consolation price for going this long without getting wacked. Whatever the real reason may be, it’s irrelevant because my trailer is now surround by thick hardened walls which makes me feel all warm inside. Funny how one can find comfort in something as simple as reinforced concrete.

I hoped that the addition of these gray fortress walls would protect my tin trailer from vibrating apart by all of the helicopters that like to fly right over the roof. Instead of making it quieter, it just makes it sound like I live in a seashell...with helicopters flying over the opening.

The placement took away my elevated view of the compound from my upper porch area, but that’s okay. I’ll exchange pretty sunsets for protection from exploding shrapnel any day of the week.

Ah, the days of unhampered views over the mortared soccer field

What's this? They're closing us in!

They installed what they like to call “Alaska Barriers” which are much higher than the T-walls. Does this mean that next bigger size will be called “Australia Barriers”?