Ba'Qaboom or Good Dreams & Bad Rockets

So I'm cruising down through the swamp in my little six wheeled amphibious ATV just checking out the views when I hear a gunshot. I figure there must be someone out there hunting hogs and I continue on. There are two more shots and then a BOOM! and the hooch rattles- Dammit, that's incoming fire not hog hunters. I jump out off bed, throw on my pants and glasses, slide my feet in my boots, and grab my medical bag on the way out the door to the bunker. I knock loudly and quickly on my hoochmates door as I head out the door and yell at him to head to the bunkers. He's just arrived at this camp in the last day or two and this is his first attack.

I join a few others in the bunker nearest my hooch as others come straggling in. Good mornings are said all around and we wait for the accountability role call. It's still dark outside, I look at my wrist where my watch would normally be, but I didn't grab it off the desk. It's a little after 4:20 in the morning.

As we wait, I think about what a strange dream I was having- I've never owned an ATV in my life, much less one of the amphibious fiberglass six wheelers. I have spent a good deal of time wandering around in the swamps though. It's weird the way our brains can convert outside stimuli into our dreams- the first explosions my brain registered as shotgun blasts that must have come from hunters. They obviously weren't close enough for my subconscious to have registered them as threats. The fourth was a lot closer and I was putting on my pants before I really thought about what I was doing.

When I came to this base, I was assigned a hooch. Fortunately it was already set up like mine at my base otherwise I would have rearranged it. I make it a routine to always put my clothes out the same way every night- my pants go on the desk with the fly facing opposite me, boots are on the floor by the nightstand (close, but not in the way when I stand to put my pants on), I sleep in a t-shirt and my glasses are on the bedside table. Usually my body armor is on the desk (face down so that I can duck my head and slip it on) with the helmet beside the armor. I forgot to bring my vest and helmet back to the hooch last night. My trauma pack sits beside the door with the straps facing me- grab the top handle with the left hand, heft, and swing the shoulder strap over the right shoulder and I'm out of there- total time this morning was less than two minutes I'm sure from Oh shit! to heading across the gravel. Call me OCD, but it works for me.

We waited a bit but nothing else happened so we got cleared too go back to the hooch. I normally get up around 5AM to go lift and run so I went ahead and did just that.

We have heard quite a few explosions lately outside the FOB and in Ba'Quba, but it's been a few weeks since this base was last hit. It's nicknamed Ba'Quboom for a reason- it's taken quite a few rounds in the past few months.

We got the clinic moved yesterday. Moved from a hooch into half of a new metal structure. It's cleaner and there's a lot more room, especially considering there's normally three medics here. We set everything up as best we could although the shelves look pretty bare. Resupply can take a while and this clinic needs it badly. Still no phonelines, but the internet is working.

I'm still ready to go back to my base.

Well here's to everybody at home- I'm still alive so it's a great day (it's really cloudy today- something new to me).