cell phones on patrol

If the last 3 hours is any indication of how fast the next 3 months goes by then I am feeling pretty damn good about things. I just got off OP shift from 0300-0600, and have completed packing my things for the move out of here. I'm headed 4km east to another patrol base to fill in for my good friend Fortin, who is going on vacation fairly soon.
Like I said, the shift flew by and nothing of interest really happened. We move from OP to OP in order to quell the boredom that OP shift induces. Can't really give a schedule but I can tell you the stints in each one go by fast. We are currently manning 3 positions while the ANA man 1 position. Which, it turns out is right beside one of ours. They won't take the gate because that might just make sense. At any rate, found myself on the gate tonight a couple of times. Pretty quiet morning until about 0520 when the first of the loud speakers went off with the sounds of Muslim prayer....and then the roosters began their song, and the dogs, well, they pretty much sing all night. The next speaker goes off about 20 minutes later and their prayers echo off the walls so it sounds like 2 different people are reciting the same prayer all over the area. Sometimes over the sound of our generator you can hear the prayers from miles away. I woke up the other day to the beginning of Ede(sp.) The 3 day holiday that marks the end of Ramadon(sp.) The guy was talking for an hour about who knows what... probably scripture from the Koran...
Anyway, the moon was full last night and the sky was pocked with clouds coming from the Southeast, assuming the Indian ocean. It started raining for a second and I think I looked up and cursed. It moved overhead pretty quickly and I managed to stay dry.
Yesterday was spent relaxing adn reading. I finished the book "Terror" by Dan Simmons and am moving on to Hilliers book. Ole Hawk finished it in 3 days and said it was a good read. Dorner and Riley were both out on patrol and once again came back with some good stories. Good old Sgt. Fought was the patrol commander of this one. He's got well over 20 years in the army, chews tobacco and swallows, and gets the chimos to check out everything. A real good Sgt. and the guys all like him. Well, the ANA accompanied the guys on this patrol, thus WO Grady came along as well acting the mediator/mentor/keep the ANA in check guy. Well, at one point the guys said that Grady had the guys set up an all around defence. They all wondered why until he asked Sgt. Fought if he had any tiolet paper. So off he goes and 20 minutes later comes back. Well, the ANA from about 20 minutes in got "tired" and had to sit down. They just sat there, relaxed and waited for "Allahs will" to push them forward. Come on.........Then their cell phones started to ring. They'd just pick up the phone and continue marching on. After the 3rd call from the 3rd different phone Grady snapped and jacked up the ANAs patrol commander, asking him if he knew what a recce patrol was. There were no more calls after that. In the secong leg of the patrol Sgt. Fought decided to go into a compound and search it. Well, the ANA commander asked why he was going all over the place motioning with his finger to exemplify the question. Well, needless to say there was animosity with these guys and the ANA decided to walk a differnet way and desert the patrol. Not to sure about that.... I'll leave it at that. The next event that unfolded was one involving the dog handler Marlin. He speakes english but at times it sounds like hes mumbling. A stray dog came charging toward Sami (the dog) and Marlin began hollering at Dorner. He didn't know what the hell he was saying so he just stood there. Apparently he was telling Dorner to shoot the dog to which Dorner replied "you have a gun why don't you shoot it?" I guess the handler had a stoppage on his weapon and was yelling this to Dorner. Anyway, the dog buggered off and lived to see another day.

Rediger is back to Canada in a few days and he's jumping on our convoy to take me to the patrol base. He's definitely the construction guru around here and its right about when we're getting all the lumber to complete projects that haven't been able to be completed. I'm gone for 2 weeks, so that leaves the section with 6. Maddin comes back today from his little stint out east. The section will be kept busy with the 2 of us away..... looking forward to Reds return as this will mean its 3 weeks close to my vacation. Anyway, better sum it up, leaving in a short time..... all is well....... out