12 Feb

So...half of the 1500 visitors arrive today, 24 hours early and as I feared they arrived at 8 PM, in the dark. It was pretty exciting for the first few moments - they wanted to do something - we said, "Absolutely not." They said, "Why not," we said, "Because that is not the safe way to do it." They said, "Fine...we are leaving," we said, "Good we did not want you here anyway... - Okay the last part is not true but I am sure you get the picture. After a few minutes of heated conversation everything calmed down and eighty-two vehicles and 750 Iraqi Soldiers later the inspection was complete and seven hours after they arrived at our front door the new buildings were occupied. Other than being hungry the soldiers were in pretty good spirits. We will see how things turn out in the morning when there is no water or food for them. However, the Life Support Contractor did arrive today with some workers...I am skeptical that they will be able to have breakfast ready for them in the morning. I guess we will see...