First mission

Well, I am finally supporting my first mission. The only problem is that after making it halfway there we had to stop because of the weather. So now I am holed up in a really small dumpy COB, waiting for the weather to clear up enough for us to continue our mission. We are staying in tents with bunk beds in them. On the bright side we have real mattresses to sleep on. On the down side if you touch the mattress too hard clouds of dust float into the air. Also I get the distinct impression that there are crawly things on the mattresses. It's not like they are ever washed, and lots of convoys stop off here, so random people are constantly using the mattresses. Well, I never thought my time here would be a picknick, so I suppose I shouldn't complain. As far as the weather goes.... Well, when you look into the sky it looks overcast. It is actually not unlike a overcast and fairly foggy day on the coast (except the ever present and all pervasive heat). The main real difference however is that instead of precipitation, it's all made of dust. This is what they call a dust storm. It makes it so the birds (helicopters) can't fly safely. That is what holds up our mission, command doesn't want us to run when we don't have air support. The storm is nothing like a dust storm in the movies, not bad enough to keep you from going outside, just bad enough to infiltrate everything with layers of fine dust. And I mean everything. The worst thing is it makes it impossible to keep weapons clean. Anyway, hopefully we'll be out of here in the morning and finish our mission. I know I still owe you guys my trip over here, but there is no time now, I'm on a very short time limit with these computers. You'll probably have to wait for that till I get back to my own CHU (compartmentalized housing unit) where my laptop is. Ok, back into the dust for me.