safety first : ahnjun che il

And answering my cousin's question:

"Safety is hard to judge- it's not consistent. The randomness of it is the thing. Walking through the IZ is probably safer than walking through North Portland at night. But then random mortar fire can come in anywhere, any time. We occasionally find expended bullets lying on the ground from random or celebratory rifle fire. Tonight, our regular chow hall was blockaded because of UXO (un-exploded ordnance) at dinner time, and several more mortars were audible. Normally they come in no more than a couple at a time and the bad guys scoot quickly to avoid being caught. This time there were several. I was sort of laughing my ass off because I was answering your exact same question in another email to a friend, and describing the sound of the incoming rounds.You get pretty casual about it very quickly. Doesn't keep you from scrambling for cover when it's close, but you shrug it off when it's a few blocks away."