Weeks 13 and 14

Weeks 13 and 14 were spent hanging out in Al Taqaddum, or TQ for short. I was the only one left out west due to people leaving for training and vacation time. I went to TQ because it is a large air base and it would be easier to get around from there than Ramadi in the event that something went wrong at one of the sites. I also heard good stories about the location being pretty nice compared to Ramadi. The stories were not wrong. The chow hall is the only one I have been to so far that uses real plates and silverware. They also have those fancy hands free faucets. The trip was sort of my in country vacation.

Entrance to the Bunker

I was picked up from the airfield in TQ by one of the Marines from the site. TQ is a very large base. When I go jogging around Ramadi it takes me about 20 minutes to run around the whole base. It took us over 20 mins to drive from the airfield back to the bunker where I would be staying. The vehicle I was picked up with is a neat old Russian Jeep. The Jeep was a convertible and the night breeze felt good. The bunker itself conjures up images from one of those apocalyptic movies where a meteor is about to smash into the earth. It would be a self sustaining facility if it only had a kitchen. The atmosphere there is very different from Ramadi. You are sort of forced into social interaction due to the arrangement of the facility. There are about ten rooms that open into a common area. One room is a work area and the rest are living quarters. The level of privacy you get is very minimal. The room I was staying in also had an X-Box 360 which had its own magnetic effect.

Parked on incline because starter was out. Needed gravity's help to jump start.

I played more video games in TQ in the short time I was there than I have in the last ten years. That fact was very apparent as I was constantly being slaughtered playing Halo 2. I forced myself to go jogging a few times to make sure I my muscles didn’t atrophy from sitting on my butt all day. It was definitely a lazy time. They had a basketball hoop, horseshoe pit, and two hole golf course on the compound where the bunker is. That got me outside every once in a while. There is a lot less equipment in TQ than in Ramadi and nothing broke the whole time I was there. This didn’t help the laziness.

Sunset over lake near Al Taqaddum

One of the Marines that lives in the bunker is Christian. It was nice to find someone who shares my spiritual beliefs. I attended the protestant services with him and had a good time. The service went well and I really liked the sermon. I also got to play dominos with him and some of the people from who attend gospel service. The people we played dominoes with were a lot of fun. The game we played was called Mexican Train dominoes, or something like that. It was very competitive and there was a fair amount of friendly trash talking. It was one of the best times I have had in a long time.

Three months down nine more to go.