I Don’t Have To Do My Laundry

            Before I left there were a lot of unknowns, my address being a big one, but a lot of other things too.  What are the flights like, how long does it take to get there what will it be like?  All those things were questions I have.  My best friend and I were talking and she asked me if there would be an in-flight movie leaving the states.  She told me that, if not she would be spend her tax dollars for that.  Well there was a movie, a couple older ones, honestly I posted them in a different post and like I said then I was sleeping most of the flight.  But that is a side note and I bring it up to say there are some things that anyone would expect, like in-flight movies on an over 7 hour flight.  But there are things that I wasn’t sure to expect either.  Now I will say that I have had several friends who have deployed and so I did know that this might be coming.  But, I cannot wash my own clothes.  I guess I could if I want to take up a bathroom sink and wash them by hand and then find a place to lay them out to dry, which let’s face it I put a picture of my room up, that isn’t happening.  There is a laundry service here, and I bring them my small bag of laundry, there is a weight limit you can’t bring too much, and I fill out a piece of paper with what I have in my bag and I turn my clothes over to them.  Then they take that off base someplace and do my laundry. 

            Why am I blogging about this you wonder, well I told you there will be times where it is just stuff that I find interesting or strange.  And sometimes it is things only a mother would care about.  But here is what I thought as I dropped my clothes off the other day, “why can’t I do my own laundry, I don’t know that I really want someone else washing my clothes.”  For as long as I can remember my mom taught us to do our own laundry.  It was a chore of ours from a relatively young age, admittedly I don’t iron, but I do my own laundry.  (Most of the time)  I have been on my own for about 10 years and have always done my own laundry whether taking it to the laundry mat, or fighting over the machines in the dorms.  It is weird for me to not do it myself.   It is weird for me to just drop it off and in a day come back and pick up freshly laundered and folding clothes.  Honestly it is kind of weird to think of someone else washing my undergarments.

            I have actually thought about it a bit, probably more time than it deserves, why is it we have a laundry service.  Well I can tell you right off the bat there are a lot of men in the Army, and a lot of them are young.   I came from a post of basic trainee’s and laundry was not their first priority.  I’m not saying that all men are dirty and that guys can’t do laundry, that is not what I am saying at all.  Just that as a whole men are more likely to not do laundry until they absolutely have to, and in this environment some people think that is a long time.  Again I am focusing more on the young guys right out of high school just out of basic training.  Second,  how do you keep up maintenance on a bunch of washers and dryers here, those things break down all the time with normal use, add this type of use they would never survive and with a couple machines being out of order at a time, and the number of people on the base it would be difficult to keep maintained and everyone in good graces while dealing with each other and the machines.  Third we are providing some assistance to the local economy, the laundry is done locally and the service is run by local nationals, in an economy such as it is here every little bit helps. 

            And finally, I realized that there are more important things to worry about then taking a few hours out of your week to get your laundry done.  This is a 24/7 job, one that really you can’t just get away from a tough day at the office.  You will be there for 12 hours or more and you will be going back tomorrow.  Most of the units don’t have more than half a day off a week.  And really when you have your half day off you’re not going anyway.  You work, live, eat, and play, at the office really.  So there is a luxury to being deployed in that someone does your laundry for you.  But really I am glad that we are willing to give our soldiers that, so that the few hours of free time they have is not spent washing clothes but maybe playing a game of pool or talking to their family.  I again am ever more thankful for my job because I do have access to the internet pretty much all day, I work at a computer.  But some of these guys are going out and doing patrols, or trainings and don’t have the same luxuries I do.  So, thank you, for the in-flight movie, and the ability to not have to worry about washing my clothes.  It is for my love of country that I am here, not the pay I am making, I could make a lot more someplace else, but, there are something that make it a bit easier to be here and have one less thing to figure out even if it is a little strange to not have to do it myself.