Acts of God

I like to walk. That's what I call it – walking. Not dismounted or foot patrols but walking. Gives it less of a war-zone vibe, I feel. And helps remind me that we're here to meet and win the locals as well.

Anyhoo, I've been disappointed of late because the CO has not gone out dismounted lately. And since I'm his Romeo (radio-guy), I haven't gone out dismounted much lately, either. And since there's limited seating in the trucks, I usually don't go on mounted patrols. Result: I've been sitting inside a lot.

Days are either good – and, thus feature walking – or boring. Boring means I spend 5-8 hours sitting in the office monitoring radio traffic and doing the occasional small errand while keeping a log of all aforementioned important radio traffic. The only upside is that it lets me catch up on my magazine reading (except when there are several people there playing Sudoku loudly). Needless to say, I prefer good days. But as we haven't had any – and because they keep getting cancelled at the last minute – I think the CO's honestly been feeling a little guilty. So the night before, he made an appearance in our hut – rare indeed – to let me know we'd be going out dismounted the next morning. Huzzah!

Next morning – wake up at six, change, ready some gear, and out the door I go off to the office to check on some radios. And – what was that? Lightning? Oh. And rain.
Sigh.
Yeah, lightning, high winds, and rain. That all means crappy Medevac status. So no whisk-you-away-if-you've-been-shot-birds, no patrol.

Normally, I'd be a little annoyed. But, really, as the insurance companies call it, Act of God, and nobody's fault. So no harm, no foul.

Oh, and tomorrow – tomorrow we're walking. Really. This time it's going to happen.