kaboom

We had another extended blackout of computers and phones. We get these when bad news needs to be relayed to families in the U.S. Even though it is frustrating not having access to communications to talk to our friends and families, everyone understands why the blackouts must occur and that we are lucky to be on a secure base and not fighting on the front lines. I imagine that there will be many more times for the remainder of the deployment where communications will be down for varying periods of time.

So, the other day I was in my room talking to the chaplain (my roomie) when all of a sudden there was a loud BOOM and the ground literally shook. Chaplain nearly dove under his bunk much like we were taught in elementary school for earthquakes. We ran outside and saw this big plumb of smoke arising from just outside the perimeter wall.

About 2 minutes later, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker system stating it was a controlled explosion. Usually, they will make the announcement before the controlled explosion such that we will be prepared and not freak out. Anyhow, the ground has not shook like that for me since….ah better stop there since the kids may be reading, and my mother-in-law, and my mom….

Speaking of loudspeaker announcements, you may remember that my squadron is pretty much the only Americans actually residing on a British base. Therefore, we get British announcements. Now, when I am sitting right next to some of these chaps I often cannot make out a darn thing they say due to their thick accents (it would interesting to know if they have the same problem listening to us, then again, English is getting pretty hard to understand in America even for me). So imagine what this same chap must sound like on a loudspeaker that is 50 feet in the air and about 100 yards away. A message like “There will be a controlled explosion at 1100” might sound like “Aerial bye uh enralled splashin aught oven and red”. It is sort of a game making it out.





Presto!

Typical bunkers around camp in case of need.