Just The DFACs, Please

I have explained previously that our mess hall (officially here called the DFAC, or Dining FACility) is large, generally clean and well lit, and run by the Kellogg, Brown and Root corporation or KBR. In fact, we have at least four DFACs here on Al Asad, though only one large one—the rest are smaller operations, spread out across the post. I have only been to two DFACs at Al Asad, the large one officially designated “DFAC 3″ and nicknamed “Warrior Hall” and the smaller DFAC 1, which our unit calls “DFAC rat” because for a while, it was the only one which allowed any rations (”rats”) to be carried out of the facility. I actually prefer this smaller DFAC, as it tends to have better food, even though the selection is smaller. My counterpart in clinic, LTC Bullock-Price is almost fanatical in her allegiance to this smaller DFAC, and she has gotten to know the head cook, who confirms that he makes many of his own recipes and thus has some less-generic, not-quite-so-institutional foods there. I have discovered that if I go to the rat DFAC at night about 30 minutes before it closes, there will often be a large number of TCNs eating there, along with some very good ethnic foods which are a break from the hamburger-chili mac-spaghetti routines of the other cafeterias. I have had curry beef, semi-authentic asian stir-fry rice/noodles, jamaican-style chicken wings with a spicy pineapple sauce, and some Thai food at these late hours. Problem is, I don’t always want to eat at 7:30 PM.

Weather (or Not)

I will spare you yet another description of the dust storm which seems to be an ongoing phenomenon this week; I think I have beat the dust thing to death, and then some (though it has also beat me to submission). One thing I really miss here is the ability to have some idea ahead of time what the weather will be like. There are no forecasters here, and if there were, they probably would not give the info out to anyone lacking a top secret clearance. There is a site, weather underground, which purports to give a forecast, but it appears to rely on its patrons to report conditions, and the forecasts seem to be even less grounded in reality than your local news forecast. So we live without much foreknowledge here. Every day, I open the door of my canister while still in my undies and peek out into the world at large, to see what kind of day it appears to be. There are three possibilities: 1) hot, 2) dusty, 3) hot and dusty. There is a theoretical fourth option (rainy), but other than my first night here, this has been a theory without much merit.

Mailbag

No mail again yesterday, but there a rumors that today may be a “go.” UPDATE: No soup for me. Bummer!

That Space Cadet Glow

For those who do not know, I had LASIK surgery in 2003, and I had a complication called diffuse lamellar keratosis, which resulted in poor and constantly fluctuating vision for months, the need for a second, reparative surgery, and, eventually, the loss via inflammation of most of my tear glands. Hence on a daily basis, I deal with dry eyes, which is a lot more bothersome than it sounds. Severe dry eye syndrome leads to chronic scratching of the cornea, which causes pain and can diminish visual acuity. LASIK is described by some advertisers as a “miracle” surgery with few-to-no side effects, but I wouldn’t personally describe it that way. Nor would the many community members at dryeyezone.com, where I often lurk and occasionally post. The tips I have learned from members of that online community have greatly improved my situation, which was pretty terrible for a couple of years. Recently, the FDA has revisited the “labeling” for LASIK surgery, and in a forum last week, they got an earful from post-LASIK patients, who have come out en masse to describe their sometimes horrifically tragic stories. As a result, the warnings regarding LASIK surgery are likely to be made larger and stronger.

You can imagine that Iraq is not a particularly fun place to be for patients with dry eyes. I have personally survived with the great help of frequent eyedrops, careful ocular hygiene, and (mostly) my wonderful $450 Panoptyx wrap-around goggles, which keep all of the wind and the dust away from my eyes when I wear them. None of my bike rides would have been possible without those babies, which have served me incredibly well for nearly 5 years now. I don’t wear them all of the time, because they have a rather uncomplimentary “spaceman” look about them, but outdoors here, people cover their eyes with all sorts of funny/ugly things, and so people are used to the space-cadet appearance.