Did I mention it was hot?

Today it was 114 degrees. I walk to and from work each day. When I get home or to work I am usually drenched in sweat. The bed is still small and I still have to go outside to the outhouse. Work is fine. I am not in charge yet so it is really just a bunch of observing. I had to scrub the room 2 times to get it livable but it is done. Well I got my first boxes of goodies this week. Let's see; a blow up pig, SPAM blanket, SPAM itself, and midget porn. I have some of the strangest friends. Opening the package in the tents was hilarious. The guys threatened me repeatedly that if they heard any squealing coming from my end of the tent I would be kicked out. I have to thank all the folks in West Virginia for their box. It was a hit here in Iraq.

a new home for me

Well they moved us out of the tents and into our new home away from home. As I mentioned I now live in a trailer and have an outhouse. It gets even better with the AC unit in the window. Twin bed but at least it is a bed. I am not in the high rent district (trailer with bathroom inside) but I did get out of the tents so I willbe thankful for that. I will post more pics L8tr. I am tired right now. Getting up everyday at 4:45 and waking up several times in the night because your body extremeties fall asleep on a cot makes Chris a very angry boy.

tent city in Iraq get to know ur buddy

My bunk in tent city

Inside the new trailer home. Does the bed look small to anyone else??

So today was a little interesting? I traveled to Baghdad today which is only 20-30 minutes by car. I got to see Saddam's palace (x -palace) and his own zoo. It was really an interesting trip for me. I was looking around like a tourist. Although I have to say I don’t know what the heck these people are fighting for. The land is nothing but desert and rocks. Tons of rocks actually. I have a pair of clogs to shower and so when I leave my tent I must walk across these rocks to get to the shower trailer. So my feet hurt so bad it feels like I am in the old "Kung Fu" TV series show. Shoving my hands in rocks to make them stronger. Only thing is these rocks hurt so much I am ready to pay someone to carry my fat ass across them. Needless to say today I ordered a set of TEVA sandals to fix that problem. Trying to avoid the caveman feet. Can we say Metro sexual??


Yesterday I experienced my first mortar round landing. They were apparently bombing the camp next to us. I was walking along on my camp and all of a sudden there are sirens going off and I here boom and the ground shakes a little. NO one around me is moving they are getting coffee and laughing. So I ask is there something we should do and they all say No it was next door and too far away.

Saturday???

I think the day is Saturday. Okay I am sure it is Saturday but damn the days get lost quickly here. I am doing what the Army calls left seat/right seat ride. What it means is I am getting the work handoff from the people I am replacing here in lovely Iraq. The Army definitely overshot their wad by sending me here. It is some very basic Patient Administration stuff. They are worried about getting 6 doctors to sign charts. Hell at Fort Bragg I had over 200 providers to worry about. I am going to enjoy the mental break. I will complete my second Masters while here so that will be good. Maybe I will study for the CPHIM certification? Seems like something else to do? It remains hotter than all hell today too; high of 111 degrees. I think I need to wear linen draws to keep the boys cool (smile).

my new bed for a few days

I am finally up on Outlook so getting email will be a lot easier. I may also get my room today. They are giving each of us trailers or half trailers to live in. No bathrooms so I will be using a bathroom trailer a few feet down the road. So the Army took me from our beautiful 3100 square foot home in San Antonio to a trailer (single wide) with and outhouse. Isn’t there something wrong with that? Anyone have the number to the local Marriott? Later…

Iraq or bust

I need to get everyone caught up as best I can. I am finally at a place I can access email pretty regularly so I could update the blog...so this one will be a little longer but bare with me;

The trip there:











Aisle seat to Kuwait


May 18, 2008Day one has started on our travels or is it day 2? We are somewhere in Germany right now. I wanna say Rotsam? But honestly I am so tired I don’t recall where they said we are. We have had two layovers. The first was in Bangor, Maine. That stop was actually pretty decent. There were a bunch of old vets and their wives (maybe the ladies were vets too but they didn’t have the hat to say so). They were so nice. They shook our hands as we got off the plane and as we got back on the plane. Wishing us luck giving us Bibles…I even took one (smile). Next stop Kuwait City. We are flying World Airlines. The flight attendants are nice enough but the plane is really run down with bare minimums. They seem to feed us every few hours so I am okay with that. At each of the stops they have little recreation areas for the soldiers. Games, internet, phones, bathrooms, shops to buy stuff for people back home…etc. I have to say I am a little amazed at how young everyone looks. I have been with them for a month and noticed it before but they really are young. Maybe I am just old (smile). I hope we get them all home safely. More later…

Soldiers enjoying the layover in Germany

19 MAY Still fighting Jetlag but I feel good. Did you know there is nothing but desert here???

20 MAY - they decided to send us to a range to fire our weapon systems. What a goat screw. Get up at 02:45 get on a bus at 3:30am to drive for 1 hour. get out somewhere in the desert where they have 15 silhouettes set up. You point your weapon at the silhouette and fire all the rounds in your clip. Aiming not necessary since no score being kept. We then get on the bus and ride back an hour. SO it took us 20 minutes to shoot an 2 hours to ride...There were plenty of times that day I was asking WTFO (What the Fuck Over)

I decided to set a BLOG up

Me at the Bacardi Factory in Puerto Rico before Iraq

Instead of emailing you all the time I decided to set up a BLOG and you can save it in your favorites and visit it occasionally and make comments. I plan to write what I am feeling so it is not going to be PG rated. I encourage all of you to comment if you want.

email me: christopher.amaker@us.army.mil

For all of you that don't know about Blogging or what it is:

A blog is a personal diary. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.
Your blog is whatever you want it to be.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.