"Thank you, come again!"

Most people join the Army to get a leg up in life. They want to get out of their crappy home town and avoid working at the local 711. In my case, I join the Army and they make me work at the local 711. Below are photos off my new work location. We call it the Grab-N-Go. It is a small trailer stocked full of snack foods and cold drinks. It just opened shortly before we arrived, and there are many improvements that need to be made. I have spent my last few shifts staying very busy.





The Grab-N-Go is open 24hrs and I am currently scheduled to work third shift. Luckily the place was a mess when we first arrived, so I am keeping busy. I spend the night organizing, cleaning, and stocking the fridges with Gatorade, sodas, and juices. I enjoy the strange tedium of arranging the soda label with the Arabic facing in and the English labels facing out. Some might think that it is a crappy job, but it's not all bad. It's surprisingly rewarding to see the smile on a tiered soldier's face when he walks in at 2am and discovers we have his favorite kind of cereal. Another hidden benefit is that I can listen to music, read, play cards, or even watch a movie during my shift. As long as the shelves are stocked and the trash is empty no one bothers me.




The Gab-N-Go sits right on an air strip. I hear the choppers and cargo plains fly in and out all night. The sound is familiar and slightly comforting. It is as close to the sounds of home as I can get right now. The photo below is what I see almost every night from the door of the shop. The birds will occasionally take off from those locations. I never get tiered of watching them fly.