NTC Day 24

Just about the entire company missed chow this morning. Yesterday, it started at 0700, so we all figured it would be the same today. However, that was not the case. For some reason, it was from 0530to 0700, though nobody told us . I got there just as they had closed up shop; I didn't get anything hot, but they'd still had the oatmeal packets, bananas, and cereal out, so I was all right.

Whatever HMMWVs that were not already washed down and turned in were taken care of, followed by a rah-rah formation at 0800. Keeping-busy time came after that.

For lunch I had Burger King, which was really crowded now that the other units came back from the Box. I was 19th in line when I came in at 1100, but there were 36 people in line by the time I got my order and sat down.

This Burger King, by the way, has got to have the sweetest work hours anywhere. Check this out:

I assume their lease stipulates that they can be open only for lunch (breakfast and dinner being provided by the dining facilities). Just the same, they rake it in...

In the evening, we had an "Officer's Call," a quasi-social function where the officers from around the battalion gathered around to eat chow together, swap stories from the past weeks, and drink non-alcoholic beer (which tasted horrible, by the way). Those who were so inclined brought cigars to smoke, too (though not me).

Afterward, my buddy and I got some goodies from one of the umpteen-bazillion gut trucks around and hung out a bit. It was a pleasant end to things.

Tomorrow, we're going home.