Special Recon Mission

So a SEAL came back with vital strategic intel affecting planning and support for the entire staff here. Given his extensive training and dedication, it should come as no surprise that he brough back copious amounts of evidence.

Yes, it is true. I have now seen it with my own eyes. The chow hall has a new beverage refrigerator that is full of Shock lattes and mochas. I've discussed these before but just in case you missed it, Shock Coffees are like the canned Starbucks espressos. I guess Shock is to canned coffee what Green Bean is to coffee shops... the deployed answer to Starbucks.

Although I've never gotten anything at a Green Beans at any of our bases here, I think I would frequent them over a Starbucks if it was an option back home. It's very presence here, crazy and absurd as it is in some ways, gives it a little soft spot in my heart. And yes, I know, having a Green Beans franchise here for a coffee-addicted captive population was a brilliant business decision not motivated by altruism.

Also in the new glorious super fridge of enabling are these Gatorade protein shakes. I've never seen them back home, but they are pretty good. I used to have one post PT in both the morning and evening last time. Those will go faster than the Shocks so hopefully they can keep them stocked.

Now under the theory that the sooner we eat all of my the cookies that were mailed to me, the sooner I won't have cookies to eat and the healthier I will be... I broke out the cookies a few hours after lunch. I offered one to my neighbors. One of them took me up on the offer and grabbed a particularly large cookie.

As he looked at it in shock I told him that is was a man cookie. We then paused. We don't really know if that is slang for anything, but it sounds like it should be. So we then proceeded to offer man cookies to passers by.

We are highly trained leaders of professional warriors.

I was also asked how hot it was outside this afternoon. I told the guy 106. He said that he knew it was hot. I told him it's summer and he's in Iraq. Yes. It is hot.

I've been debating about making up numbers when people ask me how hot it is or what the daily high is. Usually it is just for gee whiz knowledge anyway.

Really, if there is a mission that has to go out in the heat, then the teams will go out in the heat. They will train and rehearse in the heat, in the cold, and in the light, and in the dark.

It's what we do.