Stuck in Ireland

Well, it has been almost an entire month since my last post, so I have a lot of catching up to do. Unfortunately, the free Wi-fi I am using in the terminal in the Shannon, Ireland International Airport is not the fastest so I won't be loading any pictures. In the last month I have been to Ft. Irwin, California and back to Mississippi. I didn't think it could get much crappier than Camp Shelby, Mississippi, but Ft. Irwin definitely took the cake. The food was worse, and we all down-graded from from crappy bunks with 20 year old mattresses to sleeping on cots for three weeks.

Now, our plane is having mechanical issues and has left us stuck in an airport terminal in Ireland. I'm not sure how long we will be here, but from here we fly to Romania and then on to Kyrgyzstan. From Kyrgyzstan we will eventually fly into Afghanistan. I'm not in much of a writing mood right now, so I will do my best to write more as soon as I can. I love you all and miss you all tons.

Barracks fun with new equipment, and a tour of my living space.

One month later...

The MAX PRO MRAP

Well, sorry these posts are so far apart from each other, but it seems to be pretty rare that I get an internet connection good enough to do this very often. Anyway, the past two weeks have been kind of slow, but I have gotten some training. The training has been kind of crappy to be quite honest though, but that's another story all together. I attended a generator repair course that was three days long. It started at 8am and we were done everyday by about 3pm. One of the days we watched "Couples Retreat", if that tells you anything about the quality of the training. I did a counter IED (Improvised Explosive Device) course that was two days of training, not much fun either. We recently had a lengthy brief on the new vehicles we're using over there the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles. It was really cool to get some hands-on with them for the first time, and now I am currently in an MRAP operator course learning to drive them. Today is the last day of the 5 day course and we get to drive them out about 50 miles and stop and eat lunch. It will be nice to just be off post for awhile even if it is spent inside an MRAP. Well enjoy the pictures, and I will keep you all posted. Also, thanks for the comments, I miss you guys too. Love, Zech.

A side shot of the MATV with the doors open.

I'm not sure who took the pic, but this is me in front of the MATV.

This MRAP is call the Caimen. It's been use in Africa for awhile.

This is not an MRAP, this is actually called an MATV.
It is replacing the use of the Humvee in afghanistan.

I'm enjoying one of only a few cans of Mt. Dew that I've had
since I've been here with my new buddy Sgt. Brees. Yes,
that is a licorice straw :) YUMMY!

Well into week two on Camp Shelby...

Well into week two now at Camp Shelby, and I'm finally getting a halfway decent internet connection.
So, I thought it would be a good time to try and post a few more pics. Hope everyone enjoys this lovely of picture of me sporting my BCGs (Birth Control Glasses).

Here's a picture a great picture of the inside of my wall locker with probably less than half the crap we currently have. Beside my bunk I have two full duffel bags that is currently home to my laptop, and I also have a rucksack and assault pack (a backpack) with stuff in it. The foam cooler sitting in the bottom of my locker is too keep bottled water cold, because the tap water here tastes like dog doo. To the right are the stall doors for... I don't think I really need to say. Below are some pictures of some of our other living amenities. It's great to be in the Army!

Need to take a leak?

Latrine sinks

To the left the pissers, to the right the sinks. Normally the sinks are full in the morning with people shaving, but for some reason they're completely empty in the afternoon. Probably wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that it is usually over 90 degrees in there during the day. At the far end of the picture of the sinks there is one short bench bench to use for the showers. You have to be careful not to get knocked out while you're drying off after getting out. I'm not really sure what good a shower here does anyway, because by the time you get out, dry off, change, and walk back to your bunk you are completely soaked again. I guess heat indexes of over 100 degrees everyday can do that. Or, the fact that there is zero ventilation in the latrines. I don't even know how people can stand to take a hot shower here, all of mine have been nice and cold. Speaking of showers, below is a picture them.

In my next post I should have some much more interesting pictures of some of the equipment we will be working with and fixing while we are over there. They are called MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protect) vehicles, they look awesome!

Well I'm going to get going for now, but I love you all and I hope you've enjoyed what I've posted so far.

My way to Camp Shelby Mississippi

    My lovely wife (sorry babe if you don't like this pic), who quite understandably may have had to wipe away a few tears before the taking of this picture, which was one of the last ones taken of us prior to my departure from Vets Auditorium, Des Moines IA on August 9, 2010 on my way to Camp Shelby Mississippi.

    This picture was taken shortly after I seated myself on the charter bus that took us from Des Moines to Camp Shelby. Little did I know it would be my seat for the next 18 hours.

    I snapped a shot of this nice sized walking stick while we were stopped at a small run down gas station just outside Hannibal Missouri. At that point only a couple hours into our trip it was an unexpected stop due to the fact that the A/C on the bus decided to quit working, and the temperature climbed quickly to an unbearable degree. Luckily for the bus driver, he was transporting a bus full of B Company 334th BSB mechanics who made short work (Thanks SGT Prouty!) of fixing the A/C and we were on our way again.

We finally arrived at about 6am on Tuesday August 2, 2010. To the left is what we had welcoming us on Camp Shelby.  Lots of cinder block buildings with our names written all over them. These buildings are everything from open bays with bunks to latrines to dining facilities.

The picture to the right is my vantage while standing in line for breakfast the morning we arrived. By the way this line wraps around the furthest building to the entrance of our dining facility. I've learned to wait in line a half hour prior to meals now because it is a much shorter wait than standing in this line the first morning here.
Well I'll try to post more later but our internet is sketchy at best here, and to be honest I'm shocked I was able to upload as many pics as I have. I have been taking many pics though and will post them as soon as I have the chance. Love you all, Zech.