Day Thirty Two

WOW. Hard to believe that seventeen years ago today I was flying over the bright lights of San Antonio late at night, with Military Training Instructors waiting to yell at me when I landed. 11 February 1993…the day I joined the Air Force and landed at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas for Basic Training. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, as I can vividly remember looking out my window seat window at the lights of the city wondering just what I had gotten myself into. Little did I know that I’d be sitting here doing this seventeen years later. On the flip side, it’s hard to believe that I only have three years left. Tomorrow, it will be cool to say that I have LESS than three years left. Yes, I’m counting down the days.

Today was pretty uneventful, as are most Thursdays. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother going over to the ANA camp on Thursdays, as all we do is socialize for an hour or so, then it seems that all the ANA soldiers are just ready to punch out and go home.

When we go to their office, we discovered that they had a new soldier and he was getting some basic camera training from Rohullah Amin. It was nice to watch him show this new guy some of the very things I had taught him myself. I got Rohullah Amin to sit down and walk me through the digitizing steps I had shown him yesterday, but for the most part, he forgot it all. It was frustrating, as we’re in this ten by ten foot room with about fifteen people in it. Everyone is talking and it just wasn’t an environment fit for training. We decided to leave, and Sandy mentioned that maybe we should bring Rohullah Amin to our office once or twice a week to train instead. I think that’s a good idea. My goal is to just train him up on everything I can, then he can train the rest of the soldiers himself long after I’m gone. Sure, I’ll spend time with others as well when I can, but that’s my goal. If I can get one of them to know as much as I do, I’ll feel better knowing that the others can eventually learn it from someone who speaks their language.

After getting back to camp, I decided to take a nap since there really wasn’t much to do. I’m taking another day off from running today since my knees feel pretty good and I want them to stay that way. I really need to get in the gym and start lifting. I’ve done a little bit of lifting, but not like what I’m used to doing. Omar wouldn’t be happy with me right now. I have to stop being lazy and get into a routine.

Mentally, I’m just so out of it lately. It’s hard sometimes to be sitting here so far away from home doing nothing. Sometimes I wonder if it was even worth it to come here, as these 1-2 hour workdays are pointless at times. Sure, we find other things to do to fill our days, but there’s only so much you can do around here. My range of emotions is crazy…some days I feel like I’m doing some good, and other days I wonder if anything I’m doing is ever going to make a difference. It’s hard for me to get motivated about anything when I’m as frustrated as I have been.

Tomorrow is an off day, so I’ll probably sleep as much as possible in order to pass the time. It’s been just over a month and I’m already ready to go home.