Here's the latest from Nick Druecke who is spending the summer, and the rest of the year, at Camp Taji, Iraq, roughly 6,339 miles from his home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
Things are heating up in the very literal sense. The nights here have broken the hot point, over 100 almost every night. The days as you can imagine are even hotter, pushing into the (one hundred and...) teens every single day. It isn't letting up any time soon. August is notorious for being really really really hot here, the only thing I have to look forward to is that we work the night shift now. Going to work at 1500 (hottest part of the day) does kind of suck, but actually working at night is much preferable.
We have been amping up the training lately, both physical and mental. This includes going to ranges, forced marches, and army knowledge classes. Also preparing for promotion boards, which is a task all in its own. Trying to memorize pages of creeds, and countless military regulations and doctrine. It can be mentally daunting at times. In general however things are going well, albeit very slow. I recently found out that one of my friends from home just redeployed to Ft. Campbell. I also discovered that another one of my high school friends is here with a guard unit, at Camp Victory I think.
The only really consistent thing I have going on is the gym. I go to the gym at least once everyday, unless it's my off day (once a week). It's a pretty good way to work off all of the frustration this place builds up. The only better way to do it would be to have a drink! Which is illegal here "under general order number 1..." We hear that constantly, anybody who has deployed will know what I mean. That "rule" has a million little things that fall under it, it's pretty much a catch-all for anything fun. Things are going along, as things do. That's all I have to report.
Live from Iraq,
- Nick
