It’s our first barbeque as a platoon in Iraq. First squad has a barbeque all the time. I was surprised when I heard about it because I wasn’t told about it. We never have barbeques as a platoon. T-Rex and I were just about to walk to the mess hall when Hard-Balls stopped us and told us about it. I’ve seen the other platoons having barbeques all the time. We never have time for them. We’re always busy on missions and coming back to the camp late at night. It doesn’t matter for 1^st squad though, they still throw their barbeques. I think it’s good to build team cohesion.

We got the steaks and lobster tails from the dining facility. They gave us a ton of food, so much that we had lots of stuff left over. I was drinking some St. Pauli Non-Alcoholic beer. There are no alcoholic beverages allowed in Iraq. We all had a good time. We all got to talk about some old times and tell some of our different war stories.

During the barbeque one of the Joes was telling me how he got kicked out of the MWR tent. I was pretty upset about it. I know the problems rose after the old unit left. Well Gameboy used to go in the MWR tent with his laptop and hooked it up in the back corner. He would take one of the cables and extend it in the back after he set his chair. He didn’t go to one of the laptop stations on the table because he wanted some privacy with his Wife on her webcam. He used to do it all the time when the old unit was here.

Well, one night he went in the tent and set up his laptop in the back corner with the cable extended, connected to his computer. Well the Sergeant in charge of the tent told him that he had to use the laptop station first. Gameboy explained to him that he wanted to see his Wife on the webcam in private. The laptop stations are in the front row where everything could be seen. The Sergeant in charge told him that he didn’t like his attitude and that he had to leave. So essentially he was kicked out of the MWR tent. I cannot believe that that had happened. That is a place for all the Joes to relax and relieve their stress.

I can’t believe that another Sergeant would do that to another Joe but that’s the way this new unit is. Now Gameboy never wants to set foot in the MWR tent again after that incident. I think it’s a big shame. I was thinking of telling the 1^st Sergeant or Commander about the incident but I don’t they’ll do anything about it. Gameboy is just waiting until they start setting up internet service in each of the individual trailers. I hope it happens pretty soon too. I’d like to have personal internet service myself.