toilets

I thought that I would write about the toilets today. So we have two choices for using the head (bathroom). We can use port-a-potty or use the bathrooms that are made from big steel boxes. The advantage of port-a-potties is that they are everywhere and are a bit more roomy. They are cleaned twice a day including a powerwash. However, they tend to have a stench to them that is intensified in the heat.
I prefer the conex boxes. So basically they put these boxes together with a couple for women, a couple for officers and staff NCOs and then others for lower ranking enlisted and lastly for the local contractors. Each conex box (for males) has a urinal that lines part of one wall that reminds me of my teenage days in TJ (all it needs is someone to dump ice in the bottom of the trough). There are three sinks and three showers and three stalls. Now space is at a premium in here. If you were over six feet tall you would be miserable. My head clears the shower by about a half inch. The toilets are even worse. Your knees touch the walls when you sit down and getting off the head and trying to pull up your pants is quite the task. It would probably resemble a Benny Hill skit. When you shower, you have to push a button on the wall in order for water to come out. If you let go of the button it stops. If you continue to hold the button it will stop after 10 seconds. Thus, you have to get creative with your showers.
The good news is that I just fit in the conex boxes at 6 feet and therefore I am avoiding the port-a-potties for any activity that requires me to sit down. Also, hot water does routinely come from the faucets (how scolding hot is a different matter).
I find it ironic that one of our goals in Afghanistan is to promote individual freedoms and every time I get to log on and look at the news we are gravitating to giving up the same freedoms at home in the U.S.








The conex boxes ...errrrr... bathrooms.












Shower.

















Urinal and sinks.

No porcelin here only stainless for good reason.