Hot, hot, hot...

We finally arrived at Camp Shelby, Mississippi on the 31st of July after a very long 18 hour bus trip. As we moved further south, you could feel the temperature rise and everything get a little stickier.

Now, as all of you know, growing up in Iowa, I am no stranger to humidity and hot summers. I kept thinking to myself, "this isn't too bad, summers on the Mississippi River are pretty hot and humid, so this can't be any worse, right?" I was seriously wrong and greatly underestimated how close Camp Shelby is to the Gulf Coast. As it sits, Camp Shelby is approximately 50 miles from the Gulf, 110 miles from New Orleans, and about 60 miles from Gulfport, Mississippi. Summers down here are crazy!

This last week we have had heat indexes of no less than 110 with nothing less than 85% humidity. Several times this last week while running, I have thought that I was going to sprout gills due to the amount of moisture in the air!!

Training so far has not been too taxing, outside of doing physical training twice a day for the last two days. It does not look like it is going to slow down any time soon, due to one of the other guys in my section wanting to get in shape as badly as me! Right now I have been learning how to operate and perform operator maintaince on four new (to me) vehicles that we may be fielded when we get into theater. These trucks are pretty cool and I can't wait to start the driving tomorrow, which continues till the 11th. After that I get to start to focus on training specifically for my job...that is the time period that I am looking forward to the most.

All things considered, things are not too bad down here. i have food provided when I need it, a dry place to sleep (although with no privacy it gets old), a place to store all my stuff and a mattress to sleep on...after some of the places I've been and where I'm going back to, this isn't too terrible bad...but nothing compares to being at home with the two people I love more than anything in this world...

~Jake