Hooch

As you may recall, housing the last time started with a night sleeping in the dirt at BIAP, and progressed through the 150-man hallway and the six-man closet, before culminating in the four-man tin hooch. I'm pleased to report that one of the tangible benefits of our democracy building activities here for the past four years and our "well developed theatre" is that the Coalition housing stock has improved markedly.

Soon after processing through GRD (the USACE Gulf Region Division) security that first night/morning, I received keys to hooch 5-38 in the Motel 6. Motel 6 is a collection of perhaps a dozen long, two storied buildings, each with perhaps 64 rooms accessible from the exterior. There's a walking path, just inside the T-walls and concertina wire perimeter. There's plenty of space between buildings, a couple of trees, horseshoe pits and volleyball near the pavilion.

In the middle of each floor of each building is a day room, housing a difficult pool table, kitchenette, uncomfortable lounge chairs, and a washer/dryer (which I'll use every second or third day until the airline recovers my bag and/or I secure more clothes.

My second floor quarters are barely 9 feet by 14 feet (126 square feet), with 30 square feet relegated to the private bath. Standard furnishings include a small desk, desk lamp, small bed, small fridge, small wardrobe, nightstand, and television. I suppose that over time, it could be rather homey, although this would be stifled in part by the limitations in how the furniture could be arranged. After a week here, I've determined that there is, in fact, only one way to organize what's in here. It's an inefficient and obnoxious arrangement.

The shower curtain doesn't reach the lip of the pan, the exhaust fan doesn't work, the windows and floor are filthy, the clothes bar is crooked, the wiring is scary and the cable choices have been sanitized by the U.S. Government. Ahh, but it's home and, as above, I've stayed in much worse. From here, it's five minutes to the DFAC, then another five minutes to the offices. Location, location, location.

The military side of the GDR has got it much worse. They are housed in Conex's, stacked two high for two acres right next to the offices. It looks like a commercial dock. They get a ping pong table, though.