March 24th, 2015
Fort Irwin, CA

Dedicated readers of my blog (pause for belly-laugh) will be relieved to know that I got my 24’ trailer (yes, 24’, not 19’ as presumed) to Fort Irwin without incident.  I subsequently spent 15 days living in it and it just wasn’t so very bad at all.  Cozy, but comfortable.  For the amount of money saved, I should have done this long ago.  Sure, it rocks around like crazy in the wind, but that was to be expected.

I’m now spending another 15 days in the trailer and it is pure luxury, let me tell you.  Just my own little piece of paradise.

What wasn’t expected, however, was the ambiance. On any given day you might hear artillery firing in the distance, or small arms fire from the ranges just up the road.   Plus, the campground (a generous term, to be sure) is surrounded by ammo bunkers (which I think are abandoned), a water treatment plant construction project, and a solar power plant construction project.  Never a dull moment at the Fort Irwin MWR Campground!

Tonight, after a run on a tactical dirt road that parallels the paved road, I enjoyed some kebabs and wine then settled into a movie…only to be serenaded with automatic weapons fire.  Likely M249s by the sound of them.  It’s 2130 and they’re still going strong.  And, even as I type, there is a convoy of tracked vehicles moving down the road I ran on earlier – a couple hundred meters away.  Ah, the good life!

On the medical front I continue to be entertained by medics.  Last rotation I checked my computer to see what patients were next to be seen and saw one of my medics had logged in a patient as complaining of  “Assist on side of scrotum.”  I was, of course, most curious to see what assistance the Soldier required in that area.  Who could have guessed it was a “cyst” and not “assist.”  Not quite as good as the chupacabra incident, but almost.