October 26th, 2010 - Something From Home

After being here of well over a month it’s became obvious that I am going to have to fall back on people at home to provide some necessities.  We do have a PX (Post Exchange) here that supposedly carries items that we might need such as hygiene products, snacks, music, movies, etc.  The thing about the PX is that with the exception of one four day period, it’s been out of almost everything.  The shelves are mostly empty on the things that people might want, such as hygiene products, snacks, music, movies, etc.  The real irony is that we just heard word that the PX is supposed to be expanded, so they will now be able to have a greater number of empty shelves.  

I’m not overly concerned about hygiene supplies since I have a good six months arriving any day now with the rest of my gear that still is not here.  Granted, I did run out of deodorant and body wash, but thankfully they had an acceptable type of body wash when I needed to restock, but as for deodorant, they had a completely empty shelf with the exception of one type.  Of course, after coming from the world of Wal-Marts, CVS, and every type of retail store imaginable it was a little disheartening to have so little in the way of options.  With no choice in the matter, I just had to suck it up and go with what they had on the shelf.

On the plus side of all this, I’ll probably end up saving a lot of money while I’m here, on the negative I’ll have to use a brand and scent of deodorant that I do not like until the rest of my stuff arrives.

On an even brighter note, I received my first care package today.  In talking with family and friends, I knew that I had something on the way but nothing had shown up yet.  Every single day I would go by the mailroom and check the list to see if I had mail waiting.  A few weeks ago I had mail, but that was just a confirmation for my absentee voter ballot so that does not count.  Finally, after giving up on the daily disappointment of checking the mail list I skipped today.  Late in the afternoon, someone came into my office and told me that I had a package.  I anxiously left my office to see what I had waiting for me.  Was it going to be an absentee ballot?  A misaddressed package?  Or something from someone back home?

The package was from my mom.  I knew that she had sent something out but had no idea what was inside.  I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up the package to find a Halloween blanket and pillow, candy, dried fruit, granola bars, water flavor packets, a magazine and other goodies.  The Halloween blanket is now on my bed and the snacks were dinner tonight since I didn’t feel like eating in the chow hall.  

When a care package arrives for someone here it’s almost like a mini Christmas morning.  When you open the box a few people may watch over your shoulder to see what you get.  The other thing that is neat is that with every package that I’ve seen opened, the recipient gladly shares with everyone else.  Even though the package is theirs, they know that everyone else is stuck in the place and in the same situation and being able to get something as small as a granola bar they like can make the day seem a little better.  

Before this deployment started, I foolishly thought that care packages wouldn’t be necessary, but I was sadly mistaken.  I’ve since realized that with the sporadic stock in the PX and the lack of a Wal-Mart for 8,000 miles, care packages really matter.  I’ve also decided that even if a care package has nothing that I NEED it sure feels good to get something from someone back in the real world.