Undisclosed Location, Iraq
First impressions were everything.
And Adam's first thought on touchdown in the middle East (after a flight that had felt no less than 145, 943, 326 hours long) was that things were a tad on the warm side here. Even for him. And considering his "advantages" he wasn't really sure how everyone else handled it.
After arriving, there was some waiting, which was followed by more waiting, then a bumping, dusty ride by Humvee to his base. By the time they got there he was desperately wanting a shower...and something to sit on that wasn't moving.
But, alas, check in with the CO was next, and a debriefing poorly disguised as a meet-and-greet. The monotony of that at least was broken up by one very disgruntled Sergeant who was not pleased with his reassignment. Sad on one hand, but vaguely amusing on the other.
When they were finally dismissed, he trundled off of to his bunk, which, turned out, he was sharing with three other guys of equal, or at least similar rank.
The cots were split, two to a side, with a common area in the middle. There were a couple of chairs and small table. He was pretty sure he saw a case of poker chips poking from under the table....
The other guys had cornered their beds off, hanging up sheets (and in one case a stretch of bright blue tarp) for a bit of privacy. The lone open cot at the back of the right side was apparently for him. As he made his way over there was a loud crunching beneath his boot.
He'd stepped on a sticky, glue mouse trap.
The guy across the way, lying on his cot and reading a book, snorted with laughter, while the blond with glasses (who had greeted him when he came in) looked apologetic and starting explaining about the gerbil type rodents that were native to the area and apparently found the messy barracks quite to their liking.
Adam nodded and sat on his unmade cot to pry the little black box off his foot, hoping at least, that this was not a sign of things to come.