First week of February 2010 - Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

2 February 2010


“What a jerk!” went through my mind as I continued to walk to the office.

Jeff, the manager of all the base MWR facilities (and my boss) had met me as he came out of the DFAC. I joined with him as we walked down the sidewalk toward the Deputy Site Manager’s office.

“How are you doing at Shooter’s,” he asked me. “I’m doing fine. I learn a little each day.”

“Do you think you’re ready to handle your own shop,” he continued. “I think so. It doesn’t seem to be terribly difficult.”

There was a pause in the conversation as we walked along. I glanced over at him and noticed it was obvious that he’s been living a hard life. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days and he wore a dark shadow that was the beginning of a good beard. His eyes were red, bloodshot and tired, hefting deep, sagging bags below.

“So how long have you been here,” I inquired.

I hadn’t had much of an opportunity to get to know Jeff because he makes himself invisible during the daytime. “I’ve been here a little over a year now.”

He’d just been here for a little more than a year and yet he was the MWR manager for the base. He’s a fast mover. I wanted to know a little more about him. “But this isn’t your first contract job, right,” I pressed. My question was met with silence and I turned to see if my voice had just faded in the breeze but, to my amazement, he’d quietly peeled off and was walking away. He hadn’t said, “See you later” or “excuse me.” He’d just walked away toward a smoking pit.

“What a jerk!” I thought. "He's not a pleasant person at all."

I walked back to Shooter’s after my expense report was “finally” submitted—again. It was a sunny, pleasant walk even though it was still cold and I was glad to be wearing my watch cap and leather jacket. I thought, “I’ll bet this is a nice place to spend the warm part of the year.”

Rita met me at the front counter as I entered. “Andy wants you to go over to Liberando’s and…” her voice dropped in volume as she continued, “…probably spend the rest of the day there.” I narrowed my focus and could feel the center of my brow pulling together. “That sounds ominous,” I frowned.

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. I waved at Salamaat and called, “oo-VEED-eem-suh.” “See you later.” He looked up at me with a question in his eyes and called back, “Sir, are you leaving?” I told him that we’d have to see. I turned around and stumped back out the door and across the camp to the other side.

I walked into Liberando’s and found Andy sitting behind the computer screen on his desk. “Thank you for coming. I’m going to have you sit here for a couple of hours and hold this place down while I go to a Commander’s call at three o’clock.” Something in the quality of his voice told me that it was a lie.

He walked me through the building, pointing out the fact that there are no games and no movies. It’s just a place where people can hook up to a wireless network and send an email home. The building was quiet as the servicemen sat in deep concentration as they stared at their laptop screens.

The two Kyrgyz employees, Andrei and Rysbek, introduced themselves to me as Andy disappeared. I knew about his “Commander’s Call” at three o’clock because I’d received the e-mail, too. It was a monthly awards ceremony to be held by the Wing Commander at Pete’s Place, named after Pete Ganci, the fire chief who was killed on 9/11 in New York.

Andy never returned and I sat in the quiet of that new place for the next five hours, wondering if a back room decision had been made and if sitting at Liberando’s would really be my job for the next few months.

3 February, 2010
Beginning next week (Sunday) I'll be working nights at Liberando's. I'm not excited about the place because it's almost too quiet. I'm sure that I'll be fighting the urge to sleep. On the upside, though, they think enough of me to let me loose at night without someone riding herd over me.

I had a long day today, fighting sleep from lunchtime on. It was even more difficult because I spent my day at Liberando’s again. I checked in at Shooter’s and went through the daily inspection checklist. Rita came out and quietly told me, “It looks like you’ll be leaving here. Jeff wants you to go to Liberando’s to spend the day there.” I shook my head at the news.

She added, “I got the schedule for next week and it looks like you’ll be working the night shift at Liberando’s for now on.” I frowned. “I’m sorry,” she finished. I put my jacket and hat on, picked up my laptop bag and walked out the door and across the camp to Liberando’s.

“Good morning, sir,” Andrei greeted. “Kahk oo-VAHS dee-LAH?” “How are you? I smiled and remembered why I really came here. “Yah xhah-rah-SHOW.” “I’m fine.” I walked through the building as I went through the daily checklist. It was quiet. There were only two soldiers working at their computers. “What’s on the list for today,” I asked Rysbek. “We have to make a BX run to restock the sale items.” Twice a week each facility picks up supplies from the BX to sell to the servicemen who want to buy a soda or a Monster energy drink. “We also need to restock our water supply.” Those were the big projects for the day.

Some new movies had arrived from Germany to be shown in the base theaters, so the soldiers were excited for some new entertainment. At Liberando’s we showed “Whiteout” and the newest of the Harry Potter series. By noon the building was packed with soldiers and Marines. The Air Force brought in a box of fresh sandwiches from the DFAC for the guys to enjoy and I sat behind my desk in the corner and fought the heavy drowsiness.

4 February 2010

The next day when I tramped into the office Jeff was waiting for me. “The network’s been down. They’re trying to fix it this morning. I’ll be back in a little while.” He disappeared. I greeted the night shift employees and waited for the network to come back up, waiting for a possible chat with Candace at home. The network came up long after our agreed chat time, so I was feeling sad that I’d missed her, but as I checked my e-mail her green light came on! “Hey! You’re there!” We chatted back and forth and it was good to get caught up a little bit before we had to say good-bye.

Jeff came back to the office at around nine. “Do you know about the mayor’s walk-through every morning?” I did. I’d seen the mayor every morning at Shooter’s and I was aware of his trips to see each facility. In fact, while we talked, the mayor and his entourage walked in.

“Mr. Clark!” It was the captain who was accompanying the new camp mayor. I arrived on the base just a few days earlier than the captain did and we became friends immediately.

“What are you doing over here? he asked."

I explained that Liberando’s is my new home, at the same time that his companion (and a member of the church), Lt. Col. VdW, reached out his hand for mine.

“Good morning, brother.” I shook the new mayor's hand.

“Good morning, sir.”

Jeff stood behind me and watched the exchange and I wondered what must have been ticking around in his brain just then. The second most important military person on the base, a very high-ranking officer, obviously knew who I was and was treating me like a long-lost buddy.
The small group walked through the building and made note of a couple of things that I pointed out to them that needed repair.

When they left Jeff shook my hand and said, “It looks like you have things under control here. By the way, I’ve made a change to the schedule. Instead of having you work the night shift, I’m going to leave you on the day shift.”

I asked him how the other man felt about going to nights. “I just talked to Ruben and he’s all right with it. Anyway, if you need me, just call.”

After his usual puff of smoke he was gone.