Groundhog day!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Fire retardant clothing not available - This is a contentious issue that has been going on for a few years now. A few years ago it was decided that we should all have normal combat clothing that is also fire retardant after a few incidents and people getting some pretty bad burns. Great idea but the military in its great way only bought enough to do us for initial issue; 4 years later after people have trashed them (which happens VERY easily, even washing trashed them) there are no spares in the system. We have to hand them down to our replacements when they arrive, if it wasn’t so serious it would be laughable. As it stands right now I have one pair that have holes in the knees and bum and another pair that are beyond repair! The material is not hard wearing at all which is just what is needed in the desert with the heat, dust and full pockets. After a month or so they start to get very shabby looking, only problem when they do get holes, there is no material to repair them! The only way to get material is once set of clothing is beyond repair (which will be pretty quickly as there is nothing to repair them with, anyone see a flaw in the plan yet?) it is ripped up and used as patches! I promise you I am not making this up, this is exactly how it happens. There are newer versions but as we are not part of the real air force we have just started to get it through now (its only taken 2 yrs!). The new stuff is brilliant though, its rip stop material and a lot harder wearing, it can also be washed without fear of it breaking up and becoming frayed. We look a lot more like a military until now rather than a tramps convention!

2. Lack of equipment - Well what more can I say. The military always gets kit made by the cheapest bidder = least sensible option normally. It’s always a false economy as well as it costs way more than budgeted. If you take the example which was reported in the news widely about the guy who had inadequate body armour. It was proven that there was not enough to go around and that it gave pathetic protection. So after buying the rubbish stuff (which some former senior officer probably heads the company now) the military then have to go and but twice as much as was actually needed at a greater cost because it is urgent (which company won’t put up the prices to a desperate buyer) Smart procurement it isn’t, I could list probably 20 things off the top of my head like this however as you can imagine they are quite sensitive so I’m keeping schtum, don’t want the blacked out vehicle pitching up at my door, lol. Read a book called “Lions, Donkey’s and Dinosaurs” it’s all about stupid procurements in the military and what a terrible state we are in. It a light read but you will end up shouting at the book, lol. It is a bit one sided and doesn't actually include all the facts but you will get the point.

3. Too much “touchy feeliness” - This is one of my pet hates, the world is turning soft and rewarding mediocrity and whiners. I will give you an example, when I was going through basic training I injured my shoulder by tearing some muscles. As a result I obviously couldn’t do any upper body work for a bit (I think it was 2 weeks) so when it came to our 3 times weekly hard physical training sessions I couldn’t do push ups etc. So when it was an upper body day I would do extra running, sit ups, star jumps or anything to take part and pass my course. The first session after I was given the ok by the physio was in the pool to gently ease my shoulder back into life. I joined several other people from various other courses and stages of basic training who were also injured or back squaded. On arriving at the pool there was a recruit who had a cold (a slight sniffle, he wasn’t stuffy nosed or sneezing) and “couldn’t go swimming because the pool is too cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Again I’m not making this up, that’s exactly how it happened! So what happened? The instructor had too (the rules are too touchy feely) excuse him from taking part, so he sat in the viewing gallery all smug with himself because he got out of swimming! So what am I trying to say, he should have been told to “Man up!” and grow a set and thrown in the pool. He joined the military and some things are rubbish because that’s the way it is. Too many rules have been invented that detract from an ethos of “be all you can be” and gives people a bit of pride in what they do and in the uniform they wear and what it represents. I know a lot of what I have said sounds like the military is horrendous but I for one am proud of our military that is without doubt the best in the world (not being biased, I have worked with probably 20 different western countries, we are the best at what we do) I just wish sometimes the guys at the top would stop making decisions about politics and start making military decisions that are in the best interests of the service not to win votes for the government.

4. Dust!!!! - It everywhere, it gets into everything it just drives you insane! There is nobody that can honestly say that Iraqis a beautiful country. Depending on the time of year you get one of two things, mud or dust. The whole country is just covered in it, it is so depressing. It’s hard to try and convey just how much there is and how much it permeates everything. I HATE the stuff with a passion!!!!

5. Phone minutes for rapists - When we deploy we get 30mins a week to call home with; this is fairly recent as it used to be only 20mins up until about 2 years ago. If I was a rapist, murdered or paedophile I would get the same to call from prison!!! I have heard some people say that prisoners get 40 mins but I’m not sure if it’s true. One of the big reasons it got changed from 20 was not because of prisoners getting more, oh no that’s not an issue. It was so that we got more of an “operational welfare package” and it was a quick way for politicians to show they done their bit for the boys (it's better than 20 mins though, lol) but it’s pretty lame when you think about it, some guys who have kids and wives back home have to pay their own money to get extra minutes. Can you imagine trying to organise your whole life with only 2 hours a month!

Good points

1. Losing weight - As is usually the case when I deploy I lose weight. I haven’t worked out if it’s because of the lack of beer, the extra physical exertion or the fact I hardly eat because the food is shockingly bad! I lose about 2 lbs a week on average so after 9weeks I have lost a fair bit of weight so I’m all cheekbones and 6 pack, lol. Only drama is that after a few months of being home again I end up putting it on again when I start my retox program of beer drinking, hehe.

2. Getting to gym lots - When I’m back home I try to get to the gym as often as possible but as I work totally random shifts it can be quite difficult to get there with any regularity. Out here I have no problems; I love it as I can get away for an hour a day into my own little world to think about things. I normally take my laptop and iPod with me to the gym. At the minute I’m watching “Blue Planet” while I cycle away for an hour, it’s great. I get SO bored in the gym if I don’t have something to stimulate me and as I’m not a huge music or film fan so watching documentaries is great. Learn and get fit, now that’s time management, lol.

3. Excitement of buying another house/moving - I am moving to a different base soon and my girlfriend is moving with me. It’s a pretty huge step but I can’t wait, it’s going to be so cool. We have started to look at houses already which is probably a bit too early but hey nothing wrong with planning ahead. There are a lot of nice places near my new base it’s just deciding what the best option is and how much we can afford. Hopefully in about September time we can start viewing places and hopefully get a few offers in. I can’t wait, that should make me a lot happier as I hate travelling home all the time to see her, I seem to spend half of my life in airports these days.

4. Getting warmer - The daytime temperature will be hitting 40 degrees soon which means at night it will be 25 -35 degrees depending on the time of night which is just a really nice temperature, it sounds hot but remember when you’re on holiday in that temperature you have the sun beating down which makes it a lot warmer. At night it’s great, we just need to find a beer garden, lol.

5. End of Iraq 31st May - Woohoo! From this date there will be no more of our troops in Iraq which is great that means no more deployments....... well to Iraq anyway, I can’t see us sitting still too long, Senior officers don’t like seeing non deployed airmen. I’m sure they will have something planned already that they will unleash on us soon, I hope I am wrong...............

So what else has been going on? Well not a lot is the short answer, lol. Im just bored out of my mind! I have read all my books, I have watched FAR too many films and I'm already going to the gym almost every day! There really arent many more options.

I will let you know if there is any change.