Dust in my Sky

Hey there! I arrived in Qatar last Friday night - first impressions of the place? Hot (about 120 Degrees Fahrenheit, with temps projected to head up to 130+ as the summer progresses), Dusty (the sky is permanently brownish - the Sun often gets blotted out by sandstorms), Windy (if I don't secure my hat, it goes for a nice 100 foot trip) and Sandy (imagine the beach, but the tide is way, waaaaaay out...). The sand drifts like snow across the street - there must be a haiku in there somewhere, right? They issued me Army ACU uniforms (they stand up better to the environmental conditions here). There is very little to show that I am a Sailor - I have a little rank tab on the front of my uniform with an embroidered PO1 insignia (that stops people dead in their tracks constantly with a "what-the-hell-is-that?" look), and a U.S. NAVY tag over my left pocket. I wear a floppy sun hat, and G.I. issue sun glasses that would make Jackie-O proud. You rarely sweat, but you are losing a ton of water constantly (that is why there are stockpiles of bottled water everywhere, roasting in the sun - and we get little packets of Crystal Lite lemonade powder to help break up the monotany of drinking so much water). Mmmmm, nothing like sun-baked H2O - yum! They are talking about moving me further forward: possibly to Iraq, or maybe Afghanistan. Right now, I am trying to acclimatize myself, get up to speed on my job, and keep on smiling. We are living in CONEX containers, and they are air conditioned, so life is not bad at all. As we say here: "Living the dream!".