Hillah, Iraq.

Camp Charlie has missed its resupply convoys for a few weeks now, meaning that the chow hall can only serve fried chicken, steak, pizza, and rice, which is apparently all that we have left. Breakfast is your choice: scrambled eggs or pancakes. No butter or syrup for those pancakes. The KBR cooks put bell peppers in everything, so I assume that either bell peppers keep forever when stockpiled, or the bell pepper convoys have figured out the safest route to Camp Charlie. Interestingly, we always have plenty of salad toppings, but no lettuce. I have yet to figure out how we can have vats of cheese and crutons, but nothing to put them on. By the way, a fine salad can be made with crutons, olives, ham, cheese, and a lot of Ranch dressing. Frankly, I have discovered that lettuce just gets in the way of what we really want on salads, anyway. And it still beats eating MREs.

We also have nothing to drink but water, which, all things considered is fine. I apparently was wrong thinking that I wouldn’t miss drink boxes.

Due to our dining challenges, we have been quite resourceful in finding reasons to go to the embassy, which has an amply stocked chow hall. Today we went to make sure that we had the most current maps. Or it might have been to liaise with somebody. Or check the status of some paperwork. I can’t really recall. Honestly, we just couldn’t eat chicken pizzas with bell peppery rice anymore.The chow hall exceeded our expectations, food wise. Pleasantly, it also has real plates, although we still only get plastic silverware. I have not eaten with metal utensils in nearly five months, and I fear the consequences when I get back home.

While waiting for everyone to get done with their administrative obligations, I found a magazine from May of this year. This issue of Popular Science had an article on the effects of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans. Ominous quote: such a hurricane, while possible, is not probable.