A Year In The Sandbox

The B Huts

When we got here our B Huts were just empty plywood buildings. I wish I would have taken some pictures of what they looked like when we moved in but I didn’t. It’s not hard to imagine though, just an empty room with plywood floor, walls and ceiling. Since that first day it’s been a continuous process of improving our living situation.

The B Hut, Divided

The first thing we did was put up some 550 cord to divide the hut into 6 equal areas: 3 on each side with a hallway from door to door down the middle. Then we used poncho liners, or “woobies”, sheets and blankets we bought at the bazaar to hang from the 550 cord to create divided areas. We only have 5 guys living in our B Hut so there is one open area we use for storage. Our supply LNO comes down from Bagram every once in a while and he sleeps there on a cot.

SSgt Palmer’s Room

The huts had plain wooden frame twin beds for each person. Once we had the hut divided the bed took up a good 60 or 70% of the space available in each “room”. Once you get all your stuff moved in and unpacked a little bit you really don’t have much room at all. We all came over with 3 or 4 duffel bags, a large rucksack and at least one backpack. I wasn’t happy with this situation at all. I remembered back when I went to Appalachian state (for a whole semester!) we had 2 loft beds in our room so each person had their own little personal area underneath. I decided I wanted that here.

My Room

The problem with that idea is that we didn’t have any wood to build with. That problem solved itself a couple weeks ago when construction was started on a new barracks building. They brought in a pallet of 2x4s and parked it down by the HLZ so we organized a night mission to raid the stash and acquire some wood! The wood was local stuff and was actually 2″ x 4″ by 16′ instead of the 1.5″ x 3.5″ stuff you find in the civilized world. We didn’t have any screws or anything long enough to go through the 2x4s and into anything far enough to hold it, so the project went back on hold for a little while. Then one day TSgt Calaman was over at FOB Fenty on a mail run and spotted a pile of 3/4″ plywood in 4′x8′ sheets so he loaded a bunch up on the 5-ton and covered them up with mail.

My Bed

So with our supplies in hand we went about designing a loft bed. We just cut 2 pieces of plywood down to the width of the bed and left them 8 feet long. Then we cut a 2×4 into 4 equal pieces a little less than 4′ each and screwed 2 to each piece of plywood on the bottom corners. After that all we had to do was angle one corner on each piece of plywood to allow it to fit under the ceiling. Then we lifted the bed onto its new legs and screwed through the plywood into the bed legs. We toe-nailed a few screws into the walls and floor to steady it up and voila!

My Storage Area

When it was all done I had my bed with enough room underneath to hang my clothes and put my footlocker plus build a small desk at the other end. Between the end of my bed and the “wall” of the next room there was enough room to put some shelves and hang up all my bags and crap. Before I built the loft bed I had all those bags under my bed. Now all I need to do is get a chair and build a desk and I’ll be all set. I’d like to put up some more shelves under the bed too, but that’s not as high a priority. After everybody saw my new bed they all wanted one. So far 5 other people have built one. Like the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons make lemonade. I think that applies here, maybe it doesn’t but it’s still catchy.