While I work on Camp Victory, my living quarters are on Camp Liberty. The waiting list for a trailer on Victory for male contractors is about 7-8 months, so if it weren't for my company having a stash of trailers, I'd be in a tent again. Definitely thankful that I'm not because the tents have gotten WAY worse than last year going from 1o man single beds with wall lockers to 20 man bunk beds with not storage. Below are pics of my "neighborhood" and room on Liberty.
My "Neighborhood" - isn't it lovely =)
My "Street" My "Duplex"
My Door
Sleeping and chatting side of my room (don't you love my pink comforter??? - it was free is all I have to say about that =)
Storage and bookshelf side of my room
You don't need much clothes here. You basically wear the same 7 outfits over and over and no one cares b/c they are all doing the same thing.
As you can see I have my own room which is also a huge blessing. That may change once we start the new contract in December, but still way better than being in the tents. I had a chance for a little while to move into a trailer on Victory when a friend left, but his company made him give the room to his replacement.
Living on Victory is the ultimate goal which is why I kept my name on the trailer list there. It is a lot closer to the office, walking distance versus driving distance. Well, then I guess it depends where on Victory I end up b/c there are a couple of "neighborhoods" there that if I were assigned to I may stay on Liberty.
17 comments:
Nice photos sweetie! I LOVE your "room" esp. the comforter! =) What is the picture (looks like a picture frame) on the books right next to your labtop? =)
EYA!
Beautiful view!
Where do you bike in a dusty place like that?
Keep your head down.
Kenith
Hey, nice place. How long are you there?
Thanks for showing us your place. I enjoy getting to see what life is like there.
Mimi...leave my comforter alone! =) It isn't a picture frame. It is this really cool mp3 player that we received at chapel a couple of weeks ago that has 80 pre-recorded messages from Chuck Swindoll. I listen to one a night =) I do have a very important picture frame on my desk in my office though =)
Mike...this is a very huge base complex so lots of room for biking just have to sometimes use a cloth to cover your face from the dust is all =)
CH...thanks...that's the plan!
Glenda...the plan as of now is until July
Dee...that's the goal is to share life here with those at home =)
I just found your blog after you posted a reply to me on Nancy's. I'll be watching your future blog entries for anything that might help me transition over to your part of the world!
BTW, which "neighborhoods" are the ones you wouldn't want to be in? I hope I'm not destined for one of them!
Stay safe.
Welcome Mike...definitely hope I can help the transition. I can't really answer that question until you know where your office will be because the is the foundation of good and bad "neighborhoods" is how far is the walk to the office. For us the trailers near Lost Lake are entirely too far, especially during the rainy season, so it is ususally turned down.
However, there are a couple of other things to consider as well. Men have much longer waits then women (especially male contractors...7-9 months opposed to 1-2 months for women...just due to raw numbers and percentages...no favorites are being played...I'm not sure the waiting time for military members, but it is definitely based on rank and I think even for the lowest enlisted it isn't more than a month in a tent at most), so if you give up a trailer, you go back on the bottom of the list. That always figures into the mix. Also is the strength and availability of wireless internet (if you are bringing a personal laptop which greatly helps the TV show and movie watching =) however they have the small portable DVD players in the PX if you rather that route). Thankfully that has greatly improved as of late, but some neighborhoods still require a little creative ingenuity to get the best signal and Nancy is the best at that sort of thing.
Those cement blocks look like gravestones! Sorry I'm a bit in Halloween mode here, you know 3 kids will do that to you.
As far as riding a bike, no way could I do it - I'd run into all of those blocks since I'm such a "graceful" person.
P.S. Didn't your mother ever tell you to clean your room! HAHA!
7-9 months with 29 other guys in a tent... Crap! Well, I guess it's better to know that up front. I'm not sure where my building is, and I suppose I wouldn't be told if I asked before getting there (understandable), so I guess I'll have to wait and see about the neighborhoods.
Thanks for the update.
yeah Mike i totally agree...better to know up front. So I take it from your comment you are a contractor...sorry you may have said that on Nancy's blog just having a brain freeze. If you aren't then you can ignore pretty much everything I'm about to say...lol Couple tips on tent life with 20+ other people. Less is better. You can easily get away with about seven outfits and just wear them over and over and a couple of PT outfits if you are into that...that's what everyone else does as mentioned in my post. When you get here, immediately go to the PX on Liberty and buy at least one maybe two foot lockers and locks to store your stuff in b/c things will and do walk off if not locked.
You don't need to bring any bedding b/c you will be issued one set. However, I'd also recommend buying a set at the PX so you can cycle them while washing.
Bring one big towel and also buy one at PX for same reason as above with linens.
Pretty much anything else you will need you can buy at the PX.
Oh...defintely buy a laundry bag before coming b/c they sell out extremely fast here and it is usually a couple of weeks before they have new ones. You can get one at the PX at Benning after you get your CAC card if you don't already have one. Laundry is super simple...you drop off bag at facility and two days later you pick it up...but a bag is needed as they don't supply any here and you are no longer issued one at Benning like they used to do which i totally don't understand b/c it was the one thing i used other than my armor but oh well...that's the Army for ya =)
Being you will be getting here right at the beginning of rainy season as Nancy said definitely bring some good boots. I have hiking boots and they work fine.
You should also bring a light rain coat or have someone send it to you in your first care package.
Speaking of sending stuff...if you get here and realize you need something from home, it usually only takes about a week max to get here from US using the post office...DON'T USE FEDEX as it will take over a month. I haven't tried UPS, but there really isn't any need as post office works just fine.
Last tip...they way to get out of a tent faster is find someone who has a trailer and is leaving and convince them to not check out and give you their key...now that is the main reason why it takes 9 months to get a trailer...but that's just the way you have to work the system =)
Ok...that should cover most of the basics...as always if you have any questions just ask.
drama mama...don't worry...there are lots of wide open spaces...wait...maybe they are wide open for a reason...oops...watch out for the mines =)
Also...it is very clean thank you very much...options and storage is very limited so i have to work with what i have...don't you see my bed is made???...now how many times did you see that when you were at our house??? =)
Wow, great info and I appreciate it! Especially the trailer thing. I do know a guy over there that is supposed to be rotating back, but he's with a different company. Not sure if that matters, or not. I'll give it a shot, though!
Of course, if they don't check out of their trailer, doesn't that cause them problems down the road? Seems like that would fall under outprocessing rules, but maybe that's my old military experience welling up. ;-)
Bring ~7 sets of work clothes
One towel (buy another at CV later)
Buy a footlocker at CV
Buy extra bedding at CV
Bring boots
Bring laundry bag
Bring light rain coat
Bring bribe money for trailer ;-)
Got it, thanks!!! I owe you an NA beer when I get in country.
I barely drink real beer in the states so definitely don't do NA beer...but thanks for the offer =)
Trailers are totally run by KBR so not part of work outprocessing run by the Army or whoever your client will be.
It definitely doesn't matter who he is working for, so definitely give that a shot, but like I said either wait until you get here to see where it is unless a possible much longer walk is ok to get you out of a tent sooner.
It does cause problems in that it is the major reason for the huge backlog, but unfortunately that game is so set in place you have to play it if you want any chance of getting out of tents sooner b/c I don't see it changing any time soon.
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