Sour Swinger Predominantly follows my Army & Iraq Deployment. Also has some Geek, School, and other talk.

Hard to believe but I’m finally back in the good old US. New Jersey never smelled so great! LoL. Will be spending a week going through the whole demobilization process. Involves a ton of briefings, medical screening, and loads of paper work. Then I’ll finally be sitting at home enjoying some alcohol!!

Am gonna take a break from life and this blog for a bit. Have a lot of family and friends to see. But don’t worry, I’ll be back to post the rest of my pictures and videos from Iraq.

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My last mission, help clean all the stryker vehicles in my brigade before they are sent back to the states. We’re talking hundreds here. Shouldn’t be hard right? Just line them up by a wash rack and start spraying. That’s what everyone thought. How wrong we all were.

Week one was by far the worst. The humidity was sky high along with the over 100 temperatures. So even though I started at midnight, I would be drenched in sweat in 5 minutes flat. The shift hour was tough too. Midnight to noon. I never did get used to it. Getting wet from the washers kept you cool, but after 12 hours of being drenched from head to foot it wasn’t fun. Since we could leave early if we completed the vehicles early, everyone was highly pumped for the first few days. Unfortunately that didn’t last.

The custom agents were all over the place. There was no set standard between each inspector. Where one cleared a vehicle, another would fail. Vehicles almost done suddenly became no where near completion because custom’s did a shift change. It was horribly depressing. Most vehicles took almost 36 hours to wash! I remember one taking 3 days. In addition, a good chunk of each stryker had to be taken apart before any washing was to commence. That could take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours alone. By the end of week 1, motivation hit rock bottom. There was no way we could finish the strykers early….let alone on time. We only had a dozen or so complete with several hundred still to go.

Week 2 went better for everyone. The humidity started to drop and custom’s started to level out. They finally implemented a set standard between all the custom’s agent. This made it easier to clean the strykers right the first time. In addition, everyone got better at cleaning in general. A rhythm was developed. By this point we could get a stryker cleaned in about 24 hours. By the end of week 2, higher managed to obtain 100 civilian workers to aid us in washing. Which was a huge sigh of relief for everyone.

With week 3 underway, things were rolling ten times smoother. The civilians allowed us soldiers to get some rest. Instead of 12 hours daily, we rotated 12 and 6 hour shifts. The humidity all but disappeared too. It felt like a regular day in Iraq. Everyone had this down pat. It took about 16 hours to churn out a stryker. With this new pace, we managed to finish all the strykers just in the nick of time.

This wash rack detail was mostly a nightmare for me and most of us on it. After washing and taking apart so many strykers, I hope to never see one for a long time. Now its just a matter of waiting and sitting around for my flight home. Next time I post, it’ll be from the good old USA.

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The fresh Pennsylvania air. The green grass. Seeing family for a first time in 8 months. Delta company finally has come back and is relaxing in their homes. Done with deployment…finally. Wish I could say the same. Meanwhile, back in Kuwait I find myself on the worst detail ever. With me are over 200 soldiers from the rest of the 56th SBCT. Our mission, wash all the vehicles in order to clear customs before sending them back to the states.

Before I continue with my Kuwait talk, I’d like to mention more about Delta’s reunion with family but since I wasn’t there, I don’t anything to say. Fortunately I was emailed some video links of the news broadcast. My internet is too slow so I’m yet to view these videos. Hopefully they’re good. Here’s the links:

News Video 1
News Video 2

Back in Kuwait, this wash rack detail finds me in Camp Patriot. Camp Patriot is an American naval base found within a Kuwait Naval base. Camp Patriot is tiny! It takes longer to walk my home residential neighborhood then this base. Everything is squeezed in but all needed facilities (like a Green Beans) is here. This is my first on a Navy base and seeing so many sailors. Of course there’s also a good deal of Kuwaiti soldiers. They remind of the 80s. Seems like all the Kuwaitis wear those big sunglasses and walks around with their mustaches and beards.

Temperatures are about the same as Iraqi with one major difference. The humidity is through the roof. This is by far worse then Iraq and Mississippi. Imagine 110 degrees with 90% humidity. Its insane! On the plus side, this base is very relaxed. Civilian attire is authorized which means for the first time in 8 months I get to wear something other then military issued clothing. Its great! I had to buy a civilian shirt and the only thing they had was Coast Guard stuff. Oh well. I don’t mind though. Unless I’m working, its all I ever wear.

Camp Patriot also has the best MWR I’ve ever seen. With a mini movie theatre, 20 some computers, couches and sofas golore, 15 some 52″ plasma TVs, DVDs to rent, pool tables, ping pong tables, board games, free coffee and all the video game consoles you could want….there’s little reason to leave. Even better, its open 24 hours. In fact, when I’m not working I’m spending all my time in the MWR. Its either that or hang out in a barracks that can’t keep cool.

As for what this wash rack entails, I’ll save for another post.

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