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PART IV: "Camp Monteith" We arrived at Camp Monteith on a hot afternoon and settled in to a routine. I liked Camp Monteith alot better than Bondsteel. It was right in the city of Gjilane (pronounced "jee-lahn"), which was a nice little city, and the local people were pretty friendly. Here's a couple pictures of the little slice of Camp Monteith that SGT Hanover and I called home...
At first, it was nice - we were allowed to go into town in groups of five with our weapons loaded and at the ready. For me, that meant buying the local bread, fresh and warm. Kosovo had some of the best bread I've ever had. As you can see, Gjilane resembled a warzone...
We were very popular with the locals...
These two guys were from the village we befriended. They saw me and started yelling "Ricky! Ricky!"...
But alas, it wouldn't last long. Eventually, things started getting hot again, and we were confined to base. The only time I could leave was for the occasional trip to Camp Bondsteel for parts or other business. That's when it got really boring. Here's how we spent most of our time after that: Talking on the phone back to Germany...
Maintenance...
Guard duty (with the Albanian translators)...
Driving for the Commander...
Posing for pictures with SGT Hanover...
...Steve "Kuffour" Lentz...
...and the First Sergeant...
Sometimes we'd just sit and watch the local girls. It was a great way to pass the time. My site bordered the building where they all worked out of, so I had the best seat in the house. Eventually, we had to surround our site with a double layer of concertina wire for security purposes, but, as First Sergeant used to jokingly tell people, "we didn't put up the wire to keep people out, we did it to keep Thibodeau in...". If he only knew...
In a place like Kosovo, the simplest pleasures are the best, like an instant cappuccino made over a pot bellied stove...
It got so boring that SGT Hanover shaved his head bald...
Thankfully, I got a mission for the last couple weeks at Camp Bondsteel, which broke the monotony a little. It was the last couple weeks I spent in Kosovo...
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