Deployment Life

There are a lot of things about life on deployment at Bagram that are so much different than life at home in the U.S. I guess that kind of goes without saying. Some things here are good, some not so good. Let me start with the good things. We have laundry service here. It's nice to not have to do laundry for 6 months! I'll take that. We have good food and lots of it. There are 3 cafeterias otherwise known as DFAC's (dining facilities) here within a 5 minute walk of where I live and work. As in America, food is in abundance. Since I am at a large base, we actually have a pizza place and a coffee shop here as well. Also, the United Arab Emirates has a great DFAC (there are lots of nationalities here at Bagram). I actually got to have some fabulous hummus there last week. So, I am not kidding when I say that sending food or sweets is unnecessary. We have food everywhere! One other great thing here is the workout facilities. We have 2 gyms just down the road. One is called "the clamshell" because the structure of it resembles a clam. That's where all the muscleheads work out. Basically, it's a lot of Army guys in there pumping iron in their uniforms. The other gym is called "The Rock" although I am not exactly sure why. It has more machines and cardio equipment, thus more Air Force people! There are also exercise classes there every day. Last night I went to a yoga class. Yep, that's right yoga in a combat zone! Do not knock it until you try it. I took a friend with me who had never done yoga. He was sweating like a pig in there and enjoyed the heck out of it. I came out of there feeling the best I have in a few weeks. I'll definitely be back for that, maybe to stretch out after pumping some iron with the army dudes at the clamshell!

As for the not so good stuff on deployment, I'll keep it brief. Lack of space and indoor plumbing is the main issue here. Some people live in hardened facilities that do have indoor plumbing, but they do not have much personal space there. They have to share bunk beds. I live in a B Hut where I have 6 x 7 feet of space that I can call my own. But, I have to walk 175 paces outside (I've counted it!) to get to a decent shower.

So, in the end life on deployment at a big base like Bagram is very manageable, one day at a time of course!