Random Stuff 7 Apr at 2200

It's been a week since the last update, but not really much going on.  Some discipline stuff that I can write about later when it's all over- 1 damaged career and 1 ruined career.  Bummer.  Easter was nice, but boring.  No Easter basket for me.  One easter egg that I snatched off a display at the DFAC- they would fed it to me later as macaroni salad or something anyway.  No Easter bunny with gigantic chocolate ears.  No jelly beans.  I did find some peeps soem one had. But they were too fresh. I prefer them stale with plastic grass stuck to them.  I am not making that up. 


We had a bad day this week for traumas- 10 in one day.  Another bad one with a young man who lost both of his legs high up and 2 mangled hands.  I went to a purple heart ceremony for 4 men last night.  I make a point to always shake their hand and I like to say something to them.  I usually manage to croak out something like "Thank you for what you do for us", but it always seems inadequate.  These guys constantly amaze us.  they go out every day not knowing if they will come home or not.  Every time I see them in their MRAPs leaving base I say a little prayer.


We had a couple more rockets- one the night before Easter and one Easter night.  No one hurt either time.  I heard the second one- first thought was that I wondered if it was a rocket.  Second thought was maybe it was just a dumpster or something.  It was a rocket.  Since I live in a hardened dorm, I don't hear them as well as some people.  Maybe a good thing.  I heard a story about a guy waking up wtih someone in his dorm room prowling around.  The creep came through the window.  My window is closed and locked.  But now I sleep with the gun in the drawer by the bed- out of the holster.  A lot of the women here seem to be freaked out by the fact that there have been some rapes on base.  And even some male on male sexual assaults.  I’m not really sure what to make of that. I stay in well lit areas. I have my knife and a gun on me at all times. But I can’t live my life in fear and live sheltered. I still run in the AM (but it’s light by then). I still walk to the DFAC and back by myself. And I’m a little conflicted about even writing about this stuff- the husband and the parents read this. So probably tales of rockets and rapes freak them out. But I’m not very good at censoring, so you will get it all. Plus, Jack told me not to keep stuff from him. Now, if I were out in the country-side, going on missions and getting IED’d and shot at on a weekly basis- I’d probably keep that to myself and publish after I got home! My concerns are piddling compared to what some people are doing.




I started something new today- barefoot running. I have been thinking about it for about 6 months. I read an article in the Air Force Times about a guy who got faster in the marathon and a guy who got faster on his PT test. I hate shoes. I ran barefoot my whole childhood on rocks and stickers and whatnot. I did some internet research and it turns out that feet and bones get stronger, calves get stronger and look better and the gate is more efficient. My run form is already horrible- this can only help! I’m a little concerned about my bunion, but I guess I’ll see how it goes. I read that you should start very slowly, so today I did 5 min on the treadmill. Yikes- my calves were screaming as I was walking later! So I went and did my 3 mile walk with my 30 pounds of IBA on at a 14:49 per minute pace, then came back and did another 5 min barefoot on the treadmill. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Should have left that one alone. Spent the rest of the day achy and sore. Still that way. I’ll do 5 min every day until it is not painful. Then 10 min per day, then 15. When I can get to 15, I’ll change to 5 outside and 10 on the treadmill and work up to 15 outside (on the relatively stone free concrete around the hospital). Then see how it goes and work my way up from there. If the big rocks prove to be too much, I may order some special shoes made for this sort of thing (don’t worry, Jack, they cost the same as regular shoes!). And if this really works out, I’ll save a boatload of money on running shoes! We’ll see.



OK- gotta go to bed. Got another groundhog day to attend to tomorrow.