chimo subterrain

My good friend Yan rolled in this morning to pick Veilleux and I up from our temporary home away from home, and transport us back to our sections. We arranged the pick up via radio last night and Yans accent on the radio is priceless. He sounds like something out of an early Termintor movie and the guys get a kick out of it whenever he's transmitting. Some of the stories he tells are hillarious. You see, Fortin and I have been good buddies since the last roto in this country. We've been on course after course together and have pretty much followed eachothers career for a good 3 years now. You get to know a guy really well over that amount of time, and he hasn't changed a bit. Only this time around he's a section 2IC and he's not putting up with any shit. He's constantly looking out for his guys and if theres an issue he verbally sorts it out no matter what rank you are. I think he's jacked up a Warrant, a Sargeant, and probably a few officers since hes been out here. Priceless. A short fuze, and a stand up guy.
Anyway, didn't really get a chance to catch up with him. He was going on patrol shortly after dropping me off with my guys and had no time. We'll kill some beers in Feb. when we're both in Edmonton. So I get back, and I tell ya its good to be back, and ole Hawk shows me around and exhibits the work they've been up to in my absence. They worked their holes off and the place is looking really good. A lots been done around here in regards to security, and there's a lot more to be done. We finally have power and the Charlie boys made some bunks in our digs so that we have more of an area for activities. Still no power in the room but thats to come. The lantern still does the trick. We had a little help from the heavy equipment guys today, digging a drainage trench for the showers hoisting the water tank onto the top of the shower unit. Still no showers but definitely in the near future. Don't know if they'll be hot but at least there'll be that option.
We're running a little short on man power out here (probably the uinderstatement of the tour) but I cannot really say how short. This lead to us stopping all projects on the go today and getting a little rest for the days to come.
So while we were finding IED's down the road from these guys, they were busy doing a little discovering of their own. Riley and ole Hawk came across one the same day we did, and took care of the business. Word is Riley almost fell right on top of the thing as he made his approach. The on the subsequent day, Fyffe and Dorner went out and found a tunnel, yes a tunnel, leading into a basement of sorts. Yes, the chimos have officially gone into the earth. In one tunnel Dorner found 8 jugs of HME (homemade explosives) all prepped for placement. They bipped that stuff and moved on. In another hole, ole Hawkeye went in first. The hole was so small that in order for them to get down, they hasd to strip off all of their protective gear and equipment. SO Hawk descends into the abyss an d hollers at Dorner that he'll have to join him in the depths. So Dorner begins his descent and the way I tell it I'm sure will not justify the way Dorner tells it, but anyway he gets to the bottom of a 30 ft deep hole and all he sees is Hawk with a 9mm pistol raised in one hand, and a flashlight in the other. Hawk goes "oh shit" and disappears into the darkness 9mm raised. Dorner, unarmed is wondering what the hell is going on in the void, and you'd have to talk to him and ask him what was running through his mind. In the end it was just another room down there, but ole Hawk had to clear it. Some clear and present danger shit there I tell ya. It was a few moments of uncertainty and a bit sketchy at that from what I got from it. Funny as hell when Dorner showed us a scene from a Life Aquatic when Bill Murray rolls into a room with 9mm raised, and says "this is all I saw when I got down there." We laughed our balls off and replayed the scene a few times after that.
The next little while we'll be really busy. Our tour has been all dismounted thus far, and there appears to be no change to that in the near future. Suits me fine, better to be with 2 feet on the ground.
Just getting off Op duty. Back to the tower and gate routine. Feel like shit after the H1N1 vaccine. Apparently 30 people have died from it out here. Not any Canadians, but that virus has flexed itself pretty far I reckon. We all lined up and took it in the arm. Was not really sure I wanted to get it, but I figure if Canucks back home are lining up for it, its probably not a bad idea. Hopefully this nausea will pass in the next few hours.
Like I said, pretty busy here up until Christmas and then who knows. Oh. as an after thought, I'm really pissed off that we're not getting our 2 beers out here. All of the FOBs are getting their 2 beers for Christmas and we're getting, well, water, and Crystal light. Not a good way to run things when we were told if someone doesn't get beer, then noone will get beer. Bullshit.... anyway.. thats my ranting opinion..... Stay safe back home through the holidays, and we'll do the same......Chimo!