Fixed

That’s what happened to the geese—there were too many goslings being created for the flora and fauna of the camp to support, so we ‘fixed’ the geese so we wouldn’t have that problem… Just kidding, the geese are fine. What I fixed were my headphones. I purchased some noise limiting Mickey Mouse-type headphones (using a gift certificate from my sister-in-law, thanks Sandy) knowing that music would be a tremendous way to make my long hours at the computer more livable. They worked great on the trip over (for watching movies and listening to music on the airplane, and for ‘white noise’ to doze in the airplane seat), but after about a month over here the piece that holds one of the swiveling ear-pieces (for a comfort fit to any head) snapped. I duct taped it together, and it held for awhile, and then the head band itself (made of plastic and steel) broke in two. Again, more duct tape solved the problem. Finally (I’m not hard on equipment, really, I think it must be the dryness in the air or something, and I’ve got a small head, not like I’m straining the head band to its limit or anything) the tensioned hinge at the apex of the headband broke, and duct tape could not fix that adequately.

On a ‘hike’ out to the S4 shop (that’s supply and logistics) the other day I saw some one inch steel banding material lying around (it was about a one foot length that had been cut off after banding a pallet, not like I was stealing anything). I disassembled the mounting points on each headphone, and using the wire from a coat hanger and the flat steel banding material was able to fabricate a passable headband. I tensioned it just right, was able to adapt it to my head, but the problem was it was not that comfortable. I picked up some of that air-bubble plastic packing material, made a little pad under the headpiece, and wrapped it in a bandanna (so the plastic doesn’t make my head sweat). Hey, it may not look beautiful, but I’m back in business—and I’ve got another 7 months here, which would be a whole lot less endurable without music. Plus, you could practically drive over these things with a HMMWV now and they’d still work.

Semper Fi, Jon G.