FOBbin'

It’s been almost a week since I left our hub and moved to one of the FOBs, or Forward Operating Bases. My mission was to come down and install a new system and start operating to make sure everything worked correctly. It was a pretty big honor to be given the opportunity to do this and it says a lot about how my site lead felt about my abilities. Most of all I’m lucky to be far away from all the drama of the hub.

Life here isn’t exactly a vacation but I love it. We don’t have A/C in the tents and temperatures average around 120 during the day. It wasn’t affecting me until I volunteered to work at nights, which means I’ll be sleeping during the day when it’s like trying to sleep in an easy bake oven. My shower is an Igloo cooler strapped to the side of a wall, which sounds awful but is probably the best shower I’ve had since coming out here. In fact I might create one when I get home.

The more obviously positive things include the fact that work is within walking distance of our tent, which I share with the officers. I have time during the day to go to the gym, which is comprised mainly of handmade wooden weight benches and a potpourri of random metric weights. I’ve probably worked out harder here than I have in a long time. I’m eating better here than I eat back home, and I’m better hydrated since bottled water seems infinite. I shower with it (the Igloos), I brush my teeth with it, and I’ve even washed my clothes with it.

Life here isn’t bad at all. The people here are all very cool. I pretty much spend the entire day with the same 5 people and there’s always a story to share. Like I’ve said before, tossing a bunch of people in a seemingly negative situation acts as a catalyst for developing good friendships. We’re pretty relentless with each other, cracking jokes at each other’s expense and it only draws us closer.

I’m only here for a short period of time before heading back to the hub and then I’ll spend another few weeks there before heading back to the states to be in a wedding, which I’m looking forward to. I won’t be able to post this until I return to the hub since I don’t have internet access here, which is also a plus.