19 Nov

The last week has been pretty slow – we actually started and finished a phase since the last time I wrote. It was five days from the time it went in until the test flight was complete and it was back doing missions. We haven’t even had any big breaks – acft have come back broken but it has all been quick fixes and they are back up before the next mission. I don’t know if our acft are adapting to the environment and getting all the bugs worked out of if it is just the calm before the storm. Speaking of storms – it still hasn’t rained here. We are seeing more clouds but so far it hasn’t amounted to more than a few drops. It is going to be an ugly mess when it happens – there is a two inch layer of powder that turns to goop when water is added. I keep forgetting Thanksgiving is this week. The only way we keep track of the holidays around here is by the changing decorations in the chow hall. They go all out with stuff hanging from the ceilings, different table cloths and these big 3-D Styrofoam cutouts to mark the occasion – Statue of Liberty (4^th of July), witch (Halloween), ship and tank (Marine Corp birthday), turkey (Thanksgiving) ect. The company that runs the place is out of Kuwait and I can only imagine how strange this must appear to the workers. However, as anther example of how much our culture has spread, most of the workers I talked to know about our holidays (at least the ones who speak some English do). I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to the parents, Alice, and Steve. I am always reluctant to mention names since that means I am sure to leave someone out but those are the ones I remember – love you guys.

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