Eagles Landing 9/17/2021

I was assigned to be the logistics (logs) helper, so my day was relatively easy! At least, I consider it easy - some people hate doing logistics and prefer to do 'real' work; the sweaty, dirty, dusty kind. I enjoy doing both.

Lots of driving - yes, I was given the keys to the truck and have been zipping back and forth between Texas and New Mexico, with time hanging out in various places on base - trying to determine the locations of basic things like available showers for 20 people, laundry where they will wash by the pound - they don't generally have websites! - grocery stores, relatively inexpensive places to eat out or order carryout - we have no showers, no laundry facilities, and no kitchen on site, although we do have a microwave and a fridge.

We each have a visitors pass for base and another for camp, and we have to keep them on us at all times. The pass for base is a piece of paper, 8.5"x11" ... I wonder how many we'll lose!

The camp is intense - chaotic - lots of hard work going on there in the dust and heat, and so many Afghan evacuees, or 'guests.' The greyshirts (TR volunteers) who work in the warehouse look exhausted at the end of the day and I feel guilty.

The scenery is desert, very different from the Florida swamp I spend time surveying, and very much as I would imagine parts of Afghanistan. I wonder what these guests think of their situation - in a camp, with limited freedom of movement, guarded by the army. Its quite surreal.

Our freeway exit is the last before Mexico. There's a lot to think about.

Eagles Landing 9/16/2021

While waiting to board, I began replying to a recently received, lovely long letter from a friend in the UK. A little boy sitting opposite me was intrigued. I wasn't sure if it was because I was actually writing with pen and paper, or because I was writing on airmail paper (Basildon Bond, of course!), thin, with the guidesheet underneath. It's one of those little archaic pleasures that my schoolfriend and I still enjoy.

I'm bemused that the airline announced they had run out of overhead storage space on the flight from Tampa to Dallas, Fort Worth. It begs the questions how and why... if each traveller is allowed one 1 overhead and one personal piece of luggage on the plane, how do they run out of space almost every time?

On the flight from Fort Worth to El Paso, I noticed a soldier clutching a stuffed toy  dog. Naturally, I was curious about the story behind this. The dog is Fido, "The emotionless support dog." Fido was given to Sergeant Hebert and Specialist Buckley by pupils at a school where they did outreach. Fido has travelled with Hebert and Buckley to Iraq, Kuwait, and assorted countries within Europe and the Middle East.

Hebert and Buckley were on their way to Ft. Bliss, and then on to Louisiana - going home early because they had each lost their homes in hurricane Ida.

Lisa, my fellow TR volunteer, (we're known as Greyshirts) had flown in from another TR op in Louisiana - working disaster relief in the neighboring town to Hebert and Buckleys' lost homes.

Barely off the plane and on base at Fort Bliss, my first assignment was to help assemble 20 army cots for our sleeping quarters. I travel for comfort in a casual dress and flip flops ... but, there were cots that needed assembling!

They lied ... We DO have ac!!! - at least where we're sleeping. And it's every but as humid as Florida!

Some team members had arrived in the morning, some the previous week and had been billeted elsewhere, they had all been working in the camp and arrived at base tired, dirty, sweaty and hungry - with stories of the gradual order that was coming to the camp. With the move from one billet to another - this one with no kitchen, we got to know each other over dinner at Chili's.

Lights out at 10pm ... Lights on at 6am.

Eagles Landing 9/15

I'm a volunteer with Team Rubicon, one of the few non Veteran volunteers in this primarily Veteran Disaster Relief organization. This week I'm deploying to one of the many current operations - but this one isn't flood or fire related.  This op is one of several around the country in which the army is working alongside a number of relief organizations to re-settle the Afghan evacuees.

I am deploying to Fort Bliss in Texas and working in the camp in New Mexico. Lest you think that sounds exotic and 'cool,' this came with my dispatch orders: "Billeting will be in a large, open, unairconditioned, government warehouse building with plenty of room for us to spread out for COVID protocols. We will be on cots. There are bathrooms in the billeting area but no showers which will be sourced at a nearby gym and perhaps other locations nearby on base. Daily temperatures are averaging in the mid 90’s with low humidity. It is a desert. It is very breezy and sometimes very dusty."

Oh, without doubt, this is going to be an experience I'll remember!