Waiting on a Plane - What do you do when you have nothing to do?

We have been hanging around FOB Stryker for a week or so, waiting on our plane. Because nobody can really estimate when a team will show up, the transportation planners take the worst case sort of scenario. Our replacement team showed up 3 days early, so we had about 8 days left after we transitioned with them. For us, we spent all of that time at FOB Stryker.

What do you do when you have nothing to do?

Typical day:

Get up about 6, go for a nice run before it gets too hot. Running here is MUCH better than running at COP Cashe South, which was MUCHMUCH better than running at COP Cashe North. On North, there was a .22 mile route (actually 2 routes, you could run one way around, or the other way around); on South, there was a 1.25 mile route, pretty good, but there were some areas that had deep gravel, and there were some turns that had to be made, so you lost a little momentum and time on the gravel and turns. Here at Stryker, there is a nice route that is a basic rectangle, the long sides are a mile long, the short sides are about .5 miles long, no deep gravel, some good asphalt to run on, and a few patches of gravel road, and only a few twists and turns. I have run much better this week.

I am still trying to maintain my Army Ten Miler training plan, but I don't have the speed to keep up with it right now. I figure if I would have been back at Bragg, I would have, but not here. At South there were too many turns and other things to do a good interval, but, that is life. I figure I will hit somewhere between 68 and 70 minutes during the race, probably not my best time, but I have been in Iraq for a year (that is what I keep telling myself so I don't get frustrated when I miss a training time). My best time at the ATM was a 63:15, I consistently hit in the 63s for the race. 2008 I hit a 65, but I was training more for the Marine Corps Marathon than the ATM. This week will be not so good for training, I am going to miss my long run, but will probably make it up next week once we are back in the US.

After the run, go eat a leisurely breakfast, normally I can stretch that out to at least one full segment of ESPN Sports Center. Normal breakfast is a huge Army omelet (all vegetables on the inside though), some french toast if they have it and some oatmeal. Not too bad.

After breakfast, head over to the computer lab to surf for a while, check out football stuff, and generally do not much. After about an hour on the computer, I head over to the barracks to do not much again. Me and Doc do the daily crossword puzzle, he is a little faster than me, but I know a few of the not so well known words. We tried a NY Times Sunday puzzle, well beyond our crossword capability. I guess you have to live in NY to be able to figure those out.

About 1330, head over to the chow hall for a ham sandwich. Two slices of ham, two slices of provolone cheese, lots of tomatoes, black olives and mustard. I normally heat that up on a panini grill until the cheese melts. Don't know why, but the ham tastes goooooood.

Post lunch, browse the PX, see if there is a magazine that I haven't seen before and look at the same stuff I have been looking at for a year. If the timing is right, I can catch a bus over to FOB Liberty (FOBs Liberty, Victory and Stryker are all on the same compound around the airport) and check out the PX over there. Better selection, but basically the same stuff I haven't bought for a year.

After a little PX action, head back to the barracks to do some more of not much, then head to the gym for an afternoon work out. After the work out, hit the chow hall again for some supper. On friday's I let myself get some ice cream at supper, kind of my New Year's resolution - - no sweets except on fridays (and if someone has a birthday, or if there is a celebration for some reason). I have been ok on maintaining that for the past few months. The only violations have been when we went to FOB Hammer or Loyalty for a conference or log run, then I had ice cream in the chow hall.

Once we are done with dinner, normally I would watch a dvd or read some then drift off to bed. Not a lot of excitement, but, who really needs that?