Where's the Money?

To hear "our song" click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfayhFjH_7A

From the Soldier side: Well, I hope everyone had a good weekend and enjoyed the Super Bowl. Like I said before, a bad day in California is still better than the best day in Iraq.

Should I get on with my last Iraq mission story? OK, I will.

Mission Kalsu, Iraq Part 2. One of the things that seemed to happen with all the mission I went on...they all seemed to develope a routine after a short time. Kalsu was no different. We got up in the morning, hung up our sleeping bags to dry out if it had rained, then walked in the mud to the mess hall. We ate the same thing for breakfast everyday... then we walked to the "office" to begin our work day and "chat" with our "customers."

F.O.B. Kalsu had very limited facalities, but as SSG Grumpy told me, it was like going on R&R compared to where he is now.

The F.O.B. Kalsu PX was nothing to get excited about. It consisted of a few odds and ends inside a tent. There was some "Joe" there to collect money, but you had to have cash-- no ATM or checks. So, when you ran out of cash what did you do--- go to Finance and get more cash. The Army has a system where you can go to Finance and show your ID card and get a cash advance our your next pay check...(they don't really even give you a check anymore-it's all direct deposit)

So, after we were at Kalsu for about a week, I ran out of cash. My assistant and I walked over to Finance one day after our yummy lunch. I hadn't drawn cash like this before, so I walked up to the counter and asked the female sergeant how I could get some cash. She asked for my ID card and I asked for a hundred bucks. She started counting out: "20, 40," but she was inturrputed by two loud explosions landing some where within a few hundred meters.
I looked around and the female sergeant was gone...along with everyone one else in the Finance office.

It took us a few minutes to realize that they had all run to the bunker. I didn't see any reason to run, since Hajji had already fired his rations of 2 rounds...that would be all for that day. We got to the bunker and saw that it was full...so I stood just outside and asked the clerk sergeant if she'd be able to give me the rest of my cash when things settled down a bit.... she looked like she was a little worried. I didn't care because we still had several more hours of work for the day.

Cont.