A Hitchhikers Guide To The Middle East

Happy Halloween everyone, I hope everyone enjoys the festivities! Remember, this day is God's day just like all 364 others so don't surrender it to the devil. I am out trick or treating around the CENTCOM AOR. Yesterday they told me I had to go TAD for a meeting in another country in the AOR and I am on my way there. It’s not like you can just get a ticket and go, out here in theater you are limited to what is available. If I was back home and my boss said pack your crap you’ve got to be at a meeting on Monday at someplace. I would just call have SATO arrange my flights and lodging. Here it was get on that outbound airplane leaving tomorrow morning. I will stop at point A and that is close to your destination C. When you get to "A" see when there next flight to point C is. If they don’t have one then try to get a flight to point B because they have a periodic flight to C. When your done take the next flight to B and they will probably have a flight back to home plate with in a few days. Essentially, it will take me a minimum of 5 days to attend a half-day meeting. It seems foolish but who am I to look the Per Diem Cash Cow in the mouth. Yep, I am sucking on the money tit right now. I am staying in a 4 star hotel in the Middle Eastern nation and for dinner I had Gulf Tiger Prawns and a local version of Lobster Thermadore. It was outstanding, and I haven’t even scratched the surface of my meal and incidental allowance today. If I live conservatively I should be able to pocket a wad of cash, maybe to the point of being able to pay a half-month of school tuition for my boys. Yep, gotta love Per Diem; however, it is a two-edged sword. Sometimes you make money; sometimes you lose it big time. Usually, for me it just basically breaks even. This time however, I am watching every penny and trying to eat on less than five bones a day. The MEI allowance (meals and essentials) for my destination is in excess of 96 bones a day. If I can keep my expenses down, I should make out nicely.

On another subject, I watched out the window at the Middle East as it rolled by on the flight today. I mean no disrespect to the people who call this land home and love it, but I have never seen a more desolate, barren and dead land. Why is the world constantly at war over this piece of hell’s half acre, especially the locals? I would think the rational thing to do is fight to get out! I know barren and desolate, I love the southwest Texas desert. It is barren and desolate but it still teams with life from the horny toads to the Joshua trees. This land is more than just barren and desolate; it is dead, seemingly completely lifeless. This part of the world supposedly is the cradle of civilization and it is woefully obvious why civilization spread to other areas of the world when it was old enough to leave the cradle. It is ironically appropriate that the one resource this region has, oil, is derived from living things now dead. I am actually beginning to think I need and electric car.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD