It's amazing what a little rain can do...

So here we are in our posh living area in what would equate to the Beverly Hills Hilton if compared to everyone else's living conditions over here. Yesterday we were living large, metal sidewalks to keep the dirt out of our CHU's, a nice office building with six separate offices and an open area to use as our tactical operations center (TOC), Armed Forces Network Television and internet service. What more could you ask for? All these amenities did not come easy. Every one of those sidewalk sections weigh in excess of 80 lbs. and DC (Sergeant First Class Colon) and I had to carry them 50 to 100 yards to put them in place. We had to fight to get the CHU's for housing, and had to accept the generous offering of our previous parent unit for the "slightly used" CHUs we received. We've moved the darn things at least three times, twice across the countryside and once across the compound. Lot's of sweat, scrapes, bruises, tired bodies, etc., went into building our little oasis in the desert.

So I'll bet you're probably wondering "What exactly is a CHU?" To borrow from globalsecurity.org:

CHU stands for: Containerized Housing Unit (pronounced “choo”) - Aluminum boxes slightly larger [22’x8’] than a commercial shipping container, with linoleum floors and cots or beds inside. This insulated CONEX shipping container has a door, window, top vent, power cabling, and an air conditioner. One version houses four people, while another is split into two, two-person rooms. The version with a shower and toilet shared between two rooms is called a "WET CHU", which provides less crowded latrine and shower conditions than tents. The CHU gives soldiers a lot more living space than tents.

So back to my story of how a little rain can turn things upside down. Yesterday we received the weather report that there was 100% chance of rain today and early tomorrow. That, coupled with expected wind, sent us scrambling to ensure satellite dish receivers and transmitters were securely weighted down, antennas were properly moored, the back window in our Nissan SUV, which we lovingly call our FOB Runner, was covered with a trash bag, since it was destroyed about two years ago by a mortar round, etc. And then the rains came!


I told Ray that mopping up the water was probably futile.

We’re not talking about a torrential rain storm here, nothing as severe as I have seen in Michigan or especially Texas. It was just a nice steady rain with a little lightning and thunder thrown in to add ambience. Now I know why God chose to have the flood begin here! Within five minutes of starting, the flood waters started rising! Did you know that an 80-pound, flat slab of metal floats? I sure didn’t. The sidewalks started to rise and float away as the water got higher. The water started entering the CHUs through the ceilings, openings for the wall-mount air conditioner, holes cut into the walls to allow Air Conditioner Cables, you name it. It even came down through screw holes in the galvanized roofing. So much for American standards of construction. Thank God the CHUs are on legs too high for the water to reach the bottom or they might have floated away as well. I added the pics above looking out my CHU so you can get a small feel of the devastation less than one inch of rain caused.

I do not want to imagine what would happen if this place experienced one of the gulf's hurricanes or just a typical Texas thunder storm. Anyway, we have our CHUs and the office cleaned back out. It only took a couple hours. I am no worse for the wear, except for the cold I am trying to beat before I head home on R & R (rest and relaxation). And if they haven’t done so before my return from R & R, I will go to work raising the sidewalk to above the flood level. Take care y’all.