First Day of Work

Yesterday was my first day of actual work. First thing we had to do was sit through a briefing on how to drive the light trucks and vans, and then another one on airfield safety. Very boring. We were on our way back to the station when we got a call, back at the building we had just left, so we had to run up to the station, get dressed, and drive back to the building for the automatic fire alarm. It wasn't anything to worry about, just a heat sensor (which I'm told are very sensitive).

When we got back, we started going over the engine inventory again, and working on what was where and stuff, while the other half of the shift went to lunch. When they got back, we went to lunch, and then they went down to the airfield to practice driving the crash trucks we'll use in case of an airplane crash. We just hung around the station, looking for ANYTHING to keep us busy.

The other group took till about 3pm before they were done, and it was our turn. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures cause the cold really saps the power from batteries, and my camera died. I got to drive the tracked trucks, which don't go very fast and turn very wide. We were down there till dinner time, and then we headed back so that the first group could go to dinner. When they got back it was our turn.

After dinner is free time, when we can pretty much do what we want. A couple of people pulled out their computers and plugged into the internet to do stuff, and some other guys played Halo 3 on the XBox 360 that someone brought down. I watched some of the Halo before going in to check email and such. I was about to go to bed when we got another call, this time a medical. The wind was blowing really hard, and it was very cold outside.


I didn't sleep well last night, because my throat hurt so bad. I got some serious sinus issues from the down pillow I slept on for 2 nights, and coupled with the long plane rides, the super dry air here, and the exhaustion, and I think I got a sinus infection, which started coming down to my throat, which felt like it was closing off. I don't know if it's tonsilitis or what, but it's still very sore, though not as much as last night. If it's still bothering me and not getting any better by Thursday, I'll be taking a trip to Medical when I get off shift.

At any rate, I found that they wake the firefighters up every morning with a song. This morning's selection was That's the color in Antarctica or something like that (it's the song they use for the Outback Steakhouse commercials). I was feeling much better this morning than I did last night, so I didn't go to Medical like I had planned. Instead I went back to my room and took a shower, and then fell asleep watching a movie. I got up for lunch, and then went back (after getting a non-down pillow) and watched the Monday Night Football game (on Tuesday afternoon...how weird!) and fell asleep again, waking up just in time for dinner. I'm still horridly tired, and I'll be going to the Outdoor Safety Lecture this evening at 1900, (you have to take the class in order to go on any hikes outside of town) and then going back to bed.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have one flight coming in. I hope I get to go down to the airfield station (Station 2) for it. If not, it's not a big deal, since we have 300 flights this season...I'll get to go to one of them, I'm sure.