Back To Work
Alas…the time has arrived yet again. I must say that it becomes more and more difficult to return to that giant sandbox after having spent a bit of time traveling and meeting people. I’m currently at the airport in Bangkok awaiting my departure. After having my palm read last night, I’m quite confident that nothing in the desert will resort in my demise…lines on my hand indicate that my life will be long, I’ll become rich, fall madly in love, and live to be a wise old man. Funny thing…a palm reader told me the same thing 20 years ago, and I’m still awaiting all of the above. LOL Why can’t they tell me what women are nut jobs and which numbers to play in the lottery? Useless as teats on a boar hog.
I must say that I’m excited to return and see friends I’ve made there. I was sorry to hear that my female warrior friend Rachael will have to be involuntarily extended in Baghdad. She and I met in Mosul. Prior to deploying from WA, she was dating a man who I now work with. He signed on with our company so they could be together…in Iraq! Now THAT’S love! I was giving her shit about fancying a pair of $500 shoes! Nuts! Here’s a bit of her email I just received…reading things like this make me want to return and stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the men and women who are fighting over there…
Well, I have been down here in Baghdad for over a month now and I have been out in the city a few times. Things are quite a bit different down here. I’m sure if you watched the news, you saw headlines from our BDE out in the thick of things. That’s how we like it. Whenever shit hits the fan we are there stirring the hornets nest. I now have 2 more months until i go on leave. I plan on going home and cooking my parents dinner. I can’t wait to dress normal and cook a meal. Of course there is the shoe shopping and the day spa. I am pretty sure that we are going to be extended. All of that talk is strickly rumors. But with the talk of Bush sending 20,000 more soldiers here, it doesn’t look like we are going to leave on time. So instead of leaving in June, I would have to go with anywhere from SEP to NOV. Got to love the army.
She is a girly-girl who totes an M4 and blows shit up and dreams of shoes which cost $500. LOL Gotta love it…
I met the most interesting man today. He’s prior Organized Crime Inspector and Counter Terrorism Expert for Scottland Yard. He’s an expat as well and occassionally takes contracts of a different nature. He works for various NGO operations. His most recent was a food for children program in Afghanistan. It was interesting sharing views of the various parts of the country he and I both visited while performing acts of peace and violence, respectively. He spends his spare time in Chaing Mai teaching people how to fly airplanes. He invited me to visit him and his wife, and I think I’ll accept. A most interesting man.
Jimlim’s mother insisted on picking me up from my hotel and driving me to the airport. Her mom, Jimlim, and the driver took me here and stayed with me when we discovered that I made the mother of travel foul ups and arrived FOUR HOURS prior to the boarding time! Nuts! I can’t believe I did that! The writing on the e-ticket was very small, and I thought my departure time was 2230hrs…which was actually the boarding time. Bummer.
I spent my last day shopping for Iraqis I work with. I got my lead mechanic a multi-plier tool, ‘knock off’ watches for a couple of my favorites, and a mini DVD player with extra batteries for our two interpreters who are brothers from Baghdad; their names are Saad and Masaar. Masaar is the eldest, and he quit recently following an incident in Baghdad.
He was out with his wife and baby when a car exploded very near to them so he decided to quit so he could remain in Baghdad with them. The power is always going off in Baghdad so I thought the mini player would allow them to pass time in that shit hole. Saad is going to continue working with us though. I will really miss Masaar as he and I became very good friends.
I’ve decided that I don’t want to continue working in Iraq for much longer. John flew to Mosul the day prior to my departure and asked me if I was planning on returning. He dangled a nice sized carrot in front of my face in the form of a possible substantial pay increase. If I get the raise, I’ll probably work there for 12 more months, then quit. I have decided that I’m going to begin applying for other jobs in the mean while.
Two jobs which interest me at the moment are a courrier position for U.S. Embassies or Sky Marshall for airlines in the Middle East. The Courrier position will allow me to live abroad and travel and still make a fair amount of income. I don’t know that I’d enjoy being a Sky Marshall because I absolutely hate/have a great fear of flying, but it too will enable me to travel a lot. I learned about these positions initially from Ken’s Sergeant. I wouldn’t mind working for Emirates and being based in Dubai. We’ll see.
I need food. Kept good notes while traveling and will update with travel/photos shortly.
Peace