well, i'm back home, in my apartment drinking a wonderful american beer (so what if it's before noon, i'm still on egypt time )
ok, where to start...
well, pictures will be up hopefully 2nite, if not then, by tomarrow, i will also have a zip file up of them all (something like 155 of them)
so we took a bus from devils lake ND to ft mccoy wis (about 10 hours) sat there for about 8 hours, finally loaded the plane (charter) and flew to shannon ireland. had a few 6 dollar beers and sat there for about 3 hours. then we flew to BFE (figure it out)
sat at the airstrip for a few hours, processed in, unloaded the plane, sat some more, got on a hahji bus (no A/C) and had a 4 hour drive to MMC (where we stayed)
more circle jerking (unloading/loading, security briefings etc..)
and finally we get set up in our "apartment"
ugh.
can't drink the water, can't use the toilet (has a 1 inch line) can't use the "shower" ***roaches all over, but only 3 per room, so wasn't as bad as it could have been.
first of all, i must point out that the flies in egypt are unlike any insect i have ever come across, they are slightly smaller than american house flies, but they are a hundred times faster and a million times more annoying. you could be just done showering, or unshowered for a few days and it wouldn't affect them at all, they'd swarm you just the same. relentless bastards, and they love your eyes/ears/nose/mouth.
MMC was about 5-10 miles from the mediterranian sea so we had a pretty constant breeze which of course means than there was dust in every crevase of your body 5 seconds after you stepped outside.
the next day we set out to our work site to start working.
i do TWDS (tactical water distribution system) in other words, i lay hose.
so we layed a few miles of hose, set up a few pumps (while others set up the bag farms and rowpu's (reverse osmosis water purification system).
we'd have some people telling us to do this at night, while others would tell us do NOT leave MMC after dark for security reasons.
more circle jerking commenced.
we stayed out well past dark the first couple nights.
however on around the third or fourth day, one of the duration NCO's told me and 3 other guys that we had a special mission the next day.
we had to get in a bus convoy to goto port, and get the rest of our vehicles and convoy them back that afternoon.
****Note****
the egyption government recieved over 2B dollars from the 13 countries taking part in this exercise. they were *very* strict. NO going off post w/o an MP escort, egyption security, AND egyption special forces. it was rumored that if anything happened to anyone, heads would roll (literally).
****End Note****
so we get on the buses at around 7ish in the morning, and leave around 10ish on our way to port (Agami).
we go through some little dirt towns (oh wait, that is the entire F'ing country) we get into a larger city.
****Note****
in egypt there are NO traffic laws.
NONE.
hahji will drive where ever he pleases.
if you are driving in your lane, and in a 5 ton vehicle, if someone is in "his" lane, he feels he has every right to pull into your lane (or the shoulder, or the ditch, or anywhere else for that matter) and pass the vehicle in his lane and you are now in *his* way.
he will show you this by flashing his headlights at you.
he flashes them day or night, because they don't use them at night.
they feel that using headlights is an insult to oncoming traffic.
also they honk at *everyone*
****End Note****
anywho, on our way there we get stuck at an intersection.
we sit for a bit, and i look out my window.
i see this little car kinda pull sideways next to us and a hahji jumps out (not in military uniform) and he is holding this wicked looking submachine gun.
i thought i was gonna die.
however, he was holding up traffic, he was one of the special forces.
we eventually reached the port, the convoy was gone, so we had to sit at port overnight and wait till the convoy the next day.
no clothes, no contact stuff, no toothbrush, no shampoo, etc..
it was not fun.
we convoyed our way back the next day, and threw out crap from MRE's to the little hahji kids.
ok, wife just got home, gonna try to sum up the rest.
we didn't do much else, very few flushing toilets, no toilet paper (we had to bring our own, hahji's use their left hand)
no hot water, no real meals.
it sucked.
there is more, but i'll go into more detail later, the wife... "needs me"

Slim

alrighty then, back to the story.
the entire country is full of garbage.
they just throw their stuff on the ground and let the wind blow it where it may.
when the trucks would come and suck out the portapotties, they'd just drive like 50 ft off the road and reverse the pump.
hahji's all smell real bad and they don't have an understanding of personal space.
they are also all shiesters. (sp)
all they want is your money (atleast the ones I interacted with, the others just want to kill me, heh)
i'll put my pictures up today sometime and put a little description for each to tell a bit more of the story.
the ride back we took a C17 (air force)
sloooooooow.
lots of delays, lots of sitting and waiting and living out of a ruck sack with no change of clothes for many days.

when i left, we packed up a buncha stuff to send down south to mississippi, appearantly most of our stuff and people are back already.
however, we recieved a new mission for down south to pull security.
depending on when and for how long, i may roll on down there, course i guess we'll see what Rita decides to do.

thats all i can think of right now.

Slim

welcome back home slim!!! i actually kinda missed ya here! glad to hear you had a great time over there but really glad u made it home...oh and say hi to the wife for me and tell her i wont be calling anymore now that your back! lol j/k

quote:Originally posted by Slim Shady

then we flew to BFE (figure it out)


ROFLMAO. That's got to be the first time I've ever seen it where it's actually literal. Had coffee running out my nose...

Welcome back!

heh, ya someone even put BFE in rocks outside our barracks.
at our rowpu site, someone even made a snowman out of rocks, i forgot to get a picture of it though
i'm glad i could make coffee come out your nose traitor, my job is complete.
heh
well, all the pictures just finished uploading to the website (it will be at twsyndicate, i started uploading to twinfo, but it died, heh)
the zip file is also uploaded.
i'll start making the page soon, should be up later

Slim

Slim, Glad to see you are back and okay, Egyptian beer is really that bad, I know I drank some when I was there and I bet it still tastes like sh** too. Glad to see ya and hope you get settled in now, and not have to go where Rita is for a sec.

I have a Q:
do the Egyptians know what BFE is?
and second, is there a town or place called BFE over there?
besides where you were.


(not a BS post, but a BFE post)

yes to get to BFE you take a right at the camel, go 2 kilometers and go left at the dog, then go 2 kilometers, and take another left at the sand pile, and go 2 kilometers, then when you are lost you are in BFE. Heheh.[:D][B)]

quote:Originally posted by Slim Shady

there is more, but i'll go into more detail later, the wife... "needs me"


Couldn't find her batteries? Welcome home

good one HN batters, my side stil hurts!

I had another Q: for Slim, more of a real one this time.
I was watching a moring show a while back, and thay were showing
photos marines have taken. one of the photos showed a grunt
holding a SPIDER! and this thing look like it was the size of a
Alasking King crab!!! it was huge!! and i went to the net to find more info on it, but with what little info I hade to start, did
get any hits. my Q: is have you seen or heard of these Spiders?

Probably a camel spider, they get pretty big, but didn't see any

heh....welcome back to the land of Mosquitoes, Walleye and the now extinct Galloping Goose! For those not familiar with part of what he said earlier about having to carrying own bum wad in lots of areas in that part of the world they do indeed wipe with the left hand and dip into common meals using right hand only. You think I might be raving? It is true in cultures we have never experienced!

[(we didn't do much else, very few flushing toilets, no toilet paper (we had to bring our own, hahji's use their left hand)...]

So...figure how what the results might be if you were left handed and in tribal/family/etc gathering and reached into the common food using the wrong hand? Hmmm.... Then think about the Islamic punishment given to a thief under their legal system in various areas where the right hand would be amputated?

Anyone think we have things too bad under some situations? I put on me Blue and Gold cap and salutes Slim and those who also serve and learn!

slim, where in Mississippi? If you go to Gulfport let me know. I know a seabee you should meet. <G>

maggie