Welcome to the Army

Well, today was an interesting day to say the least. Being at an Army base has been an eye opener. To save money, the Army has turned off most of their lights inside their buildings to save energy, so everywhere I go, things seem very dark and gloomy. I had dinner at the chow hall tonight. With only one out of every five lights on, it was very romantic—too bad Braye wasn’t with me.The Army has also adopted “water less urinals” to save on water consumption. Great idea, but the smell is unbearable.I also went to the base gym today. One would think the Army would go all out on their gym facilities, but I was very disappointed. The base gym consists of one set of dumbbells and a couple of benches. Every one there was bigger than me, so I defered to them and left feeling very scrawny.To cap things off, I learned that, in order to reduce traffic accidents, the Army has a “no left turn” policy on this base—you can only make right turns. To enforce this police, barricades have been erected to prevent any scoundrel from making a dreaded left turn. Getting on base was fine, but getting off was a challenge. Affected by hunger, brought on by the fact that I couldn’t see my plate due to the darkness, I was desperate to get back to my hotel. I finally had to dive in reverse to make the necessary turns to get to the front gate. Sure it was a drastic measure, but what are they going to do—send me to Iraq?As far as my schools is concerned, well, I don’t want to sound too negative in this blog, so I will emphasize the positive—the civilians instructors wear very nice ties.