Wonderful H20

This van is bullet-proof!

Fun week.  I have now flown a total of over 600 combat hours on 124 combat sorties.  I also recieved the co-pilot of the month award for last month in my squadron.  It doesn't really mean anything, except that it looks good on paper.  But it makes me feel really good to get it!  That really has made my deployment so far.  Haha.  It's really funny, but I really wanted to get that while I was here.  I try my best to be the best co-pilot I can be over here.  I usually go above and beyond to help my mission commander every mission by lightening the work load for him.  I'm glad that I got noticed.  I also volunteered for stuff and did a few extra things around the squadron.  Agghhhh..., it's just a good feeling.

Mustache van!

I flew all week with an F-15 pilot as my Mission Commander who was the F-15 demo pilot at airshows for two years of his life.  That's pretty cool.  I asked him all kinds of stuff about his past experiences.  He has lived the coolest fighter pilot lifestyle during his career.  It's so cool all of the different types of pilots I fly with over here.  This is a great experience.

There she is....Big Sexy....a C-5 from Dover AFB. I'll be flying her in no time!

I thought that I'd give yall a little insight into the water situation over here.  When I first got here it was a shock, but now it seems normal to me (seeing bottled water with non-English writing on the label).

See, you can't drink the tap water over here.  In fact, we don't even have real plumbing over here to drink "tap" water from.  All of our water is potted water trucked in from some far off place.  I know it's nowhere near here since I live in the middle of the desert!  So these jingle trucks, that's what we call the ornately decorated vehicles that bring the potted water by the truck load to the base.  We use the water for faucets, showers, toilets and cleaning.  Since we can't drink the water, for health concerns we have to drink bottled water.  And I'm guessing to keep our options open, and to always have a fall back if something were to happen to one of our water sources, we have at least three different bottled water suppliers.  So there are pallets of bottled water all over the place here on base.  It's literally everywhere you look.

Over the past few weeks I have been taking pictures of the different types of water I drink over here.  I'll present them in order of the nastiest tasting to the best tasting.  Although the water flavoring masks the bad taste all of the time anyway.  But I usually take one sip of pure "Haji" water before I add the flavoring just to give it a taste.

First is Dibba water.  This stuff taste like backwash.  Yeah..., disgusting.  In fact, one shipment of this we were told not to drink because it posed a health risk.  So now everyone is scared of the Dibba water.  The ironic part about this is that it's the most abundant bottled water on base.  Yuck!  Let's just say that if I was really really thirsty, I still might drink this crap.

The next is Alain. This stuff has been giving Dibba a run for its money lately.  It tastes just as bad.  The only thing that Alain has going for it is that it's in a square bottle.  Which ups it's cool points.  I mean, Fiji water is in a square bottle and that stuff costs $3.00 a bottle so that must mean it's cool.  At any rate, this water gets my second to last vote.

Crystal is the next least worst. Haha.  This is new water to us here as of just a week or so ago.  So I've only been able to try it a few times so far.  Don't let the name fool you.  I did at first.  I was thinking..., ooohhh, "CRYSTAL"..., that sounds exxxxppppesive...!  But, it tastes like your dogs water bowl after she's had a few licks in it.  So, it's not that great.  Maybe it'll grow on me...., just maybe.

Second to the best is Nestle.  This is the only American looking water here.  This tastes like the cheap water that you would find in your local Wal-Mart back in the states.  It's not the best stuff..., but over here, this stuff is great!  This water makes you feel like you are opening something nice because it has an extra plastic wrapper on top of the cap that you have to open first.  To some this may seen like extra needless work, but to me this is like a little added security that lets me know that no one else has been into my bottle of H2O.  Rumor on the street is that we are getting rid of this water because they upped their contracted price and we can find cheaper water.  So it looks like I might be saying goodbye to Nestle.

My, and everyones favorite water.............. Kinley!  Yaaayyy!!!  Haha.  This stuff is bottled by Coca-Cola bottling so you know it's good.  This is the water that goes the fastest on base.  It tastes like regular ole' water.  Mybe that's why we all like it so much.  Or maybe because it says Coca-Cola it makes us all feel a little warm fuzzy on the inside.  Either way, this stuff is the best!

Some asshole ran into the back of Kristen's car while she was @ work this week and just left.  Yup, hit and run..., bummer.  She just got her bumper fixed a little over a month ago from when she backed into a pole!  haha.  What luck..., or should I say un-luck.  Keep your head up baby.  Try to park a little farther away and walk.  Haha.  I love you.

Here's a screenshot of my laptop while I was talking to my girls (Kristen and Dallas) this week.

It was my sisters birthday this week.  Happy Birthday Mia!

I'm still P-9.  I'm not sure when I'll go down again (STS), but I still think that I'll be coming home towards the end of November.  Till next week... See ya'