Foxholes and Dogtags

Kosovo Weather

One of the things I've come to really notice about Kosovo is the weather. And as uninteresting as weather is normally, for some reason, Kosovar weather always interests me.

Bondsteel is located in the middle of the Kosovar Valley with rolling hills and farmlands surrounding us. The Tornado guys have mentioned that it reminds them a lot like Kansas, well, aside from the looming figure of Big Duke to the South of us. Anyway, there are mountains surrounding, but generally with the absence of many tall buildings or what not, the sky is wide open.

Most people generally enjoy a good sunny day here. I found that I do not like cloudless days in Kosovo. A layer of haze surrounds the skyline and mutes out the rolling hills in the distance. And generally its hot and muggy.

And then there is the sun. I don't know why, but the Kosovo sun seems to be brighter then anywhere else I've ever been. We've nicknamed Kosovo Tattooine because of its 'duel suns', at least, half the time it feels like that. Sunglasses are mandatory, as if you leave your room to go out, you will find yourself blinded for a short time as your eyes try to cope with the brightness. The SEAhuts are situated in an area that has no grass, just this white powdery dirt that seems to reflect the sunlight that much more.

When you go back in your room, be prepared to be blinded again by the stark darkness that is the SEAhut as opposed to the scorching sun outside. Fortunately, we are priveleged with Air Conditioners.

So anyway, sunny days are not my favorite days in Kosovo. My favorite days are the cloudy days. Because the Cloud Formations here are amazing. I've never seen a sky so frequently where we have black storm clouds raining on us and the tattooine sun is still shining on our heads. That, and the cloud cover generally keeps things cool as opposed to, well, scorching. And it cuts down on the heat injuries.

Thunderstorms here are also wicked. One time me and a friend just watched the rain come down and the lightning strike. That was one of my favorite nights here, just talking and listening to the Thunder crack.

I sometimes take pictures of the skyline, just for my own reference, when you can see the mountains clearly in FYROM. Or just the white puffy clouds that litter the sky.

I don't know. My NCOIC made mention of my love of cloudy days vs bright sunny days. Well, if there is one more thing I can appreciate about this place to get me through this deployment, that's alright with me.

House Keeping

Well, this is a housekeeping post more then anything, but I decided that this blog gets too neglected. Hence, the post dated post above directing anybody who stumbles here to my regular blog, Incoherant Ramblings.

I think one of the main reasons why this blog was so neglected however was because I used an entirely different name to post to it. I decided that that wasn't cutting it so I added another user, my regular blog ID.

Hopefully this will help with the upkeep of this site. More later.

Board Update

So the board has come and gone. . . and I have learned what a board entails. It means you really have to study up on details you wouldn't normally know.

I actually don't know how I did in regards to the rest of the participants, I had my hair pulled up, my uniform pressed and my boots highly shined and was up in the wee hours of the morning on a Saturday. Much earlier then I would have normally been up. I have a feeling boards have been run smoother in the past, I was told to be there at 0745 and waited around for over an hour where as the person who eventually won didn't come in until after my session was over, where other people were given other oddball times and seemed to come in whenever. But then again, I didn't know when I was going to be seen and was told the previous evening to be there at 0745. But I was also under the impression that everyone was supposed to be there at 0745.

I studied, but perhaps I didn't study hard enough. They got me on a few of the questions, and otherwise I got dates and other items mixed up. But then again, I've never been big on dates. So I got out of the board what I went in looking for in the board. The experience and the opportunity to be able to say that I've done one.

So in the future when I get approached by another board, I'll know what to expect. If the time arises where I need to stand up in front of a board that is. If I'm lucky, it won't turn up, but it could, and next time I will be able to prepare myself better for it.

Meanwhile, I now have the Soldier's Creed committed to heart, (and the NCO creed almost so) though I'm still a little shakey on it. I can recite it from memory as long as I'm not pressured into standing in front of a PT formation with the entire company looking at me. . .

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