What the hell??

Hello All,

So, I was at the small base grocery store this weekend and I needed some fish.  I grabbed a bag of frozen salmon and checked that package to see if it was farm raised or wild caught.  On the back of the package it read: "Alaskan Salmon, wild caught, processed in China."  I thought to myself, "what the hell, we catch salmon in Alaska and send it to China to be cleaned and packaged?"  That just doesn't seem right.  Guess it must be cheaper for the company that processes the fish.  Probably one of those deals that it is work that "Americans don't want to do".

At any rate, I have decided to take a hard look at where the things I buy are made.  I am happy to say that the guns and bourbon I buy are all made in America.  Moving forward, I am going to try to buy American made products.  So, do the economy a favor and buy a gun made by Colt, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, or Winchester.  I will probably stick with the Germans for my autos, though.

We have also received a very, very large shipment of Girl Scout cookies on base.  There are cases of them everywhere for the taking.  If you ever ask the Girl Scout selling cookies if you can just donate money to have cookies sent to US service people, I can tell you that yes you can and they do get shipped out to us.

I also believe that I am cursed.  I cannot sleep past 5:30 AM.  I don't even have to get up until at least 6 AM.  I wish I could sleep in on the weekends but it is just not happening for me.  Probably a combination of the construction of starting around that time and the fact I usually go to bed by 9 PM.  By 5:30, I have already gotten 8 1/2 hours of sleep.

Work is going well and my new job keeps me busy the whole day.  I was a little under tasked with my last billet which made for some long, so what empty days.  I am also taking Arabic language classes on Tues and Thurs during lunch.  Will probably lean enough to say a few friendly phrases.  I have never been good at learning new languages and this is one of the hardest ones out there.

Lots of talk about Syria and Iran in these parts.  This region of the world has long been a powder keg looking for a match.

Until next time,
Michael