Post-Christmas

So I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone and the end of 2009 is just around the corner; I have no idea where the year went. I have to share a few pictures of some of the Christmas trees that appeared around base. I guess someone ordered them a while ago, they were decorated and then somebody decided to plant them so they would hopefully be there next year. I have a feeling next Christmas there's going to be a lot of dead brown scraggly trees around here. Anyway, nice thought, but the decorations leave a bit to be desired.
The past few days have been pretty uneventful. The Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Amos, stopped by yesterday and talked for a while with all of the Marines. I know I mention these visits (Commandant, Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, etc.), which probably doesn't mean much to most people reading this blog. However, it is not common to see all these 4-star Generals and whatnot, and it is the only break in the routine.
I also realize I mention these visits and the USO visit, so it must seem like we don't work over here. Trust me, we do. It's not real difficult or interesting work, but we're here in the office from about 7am until 9pm. So we get in a solid 14 hours or so each day. It's not too bad, simply because there's not much else to do or places to go, so you might as well be here at work.
Anyway, hope everyone had a good Christmas and enjoys the New Year. Thank you for all the emails, cards and packages (mail has been delayed because of the weather on the east coast - all mail comes out of JFK in the States).

Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve! I don't really have anything new, but it is already Christmas Eve here in Kabul. As I think I've said many times, the days are all the same here, so you really only notice certain days when calling home and whatnot. There are plenty of make-shift decorations up around the camp, I think the term is 'trailor-fabulous'. There's a few 2 foot little trees people had sent out (even a couple 5 foot real trees they've found someplace), some Christmas lights, Christmas cards posted up around the office and plenty of the finest Chinese-made paper decorations you can find in Afghanistan. I'll try to take some picture today and tomorrow and post them soon.

We are having dinner tonight with all of the Marines on base. Then tomorrow they have a Christmas brunch basically all day long. And then the day after Christmas our shop is getting together for a little 'Secret Santa' exchange (which I'm guessing might be a lot of care package re-gifting). Anyway, enough goings-on around here to at least make the time pass.

I don't really have any new pictures handy. So thought I'd share this one. It's one of our new additions, Flight Lieutenant Cath Bailey (Team UK) experiencing her first Twinkie. I get a kick out of little things like people never experiencing Little Debbie snacks. So I've done my best to introduce the Twinkie, Nutty Bars, Oatmeal Pies and whatnot to all the coalition folks.

Anyway, Merry Christmas Eve to everybody!

CJOC

The Combined Joint Operations Center, or CJOC, is picture to the right. To be honest, I didn't think I could share a picture or discuss to much about it, but this photo was distributed on the unclassified network and thought I'd share. The CJOC is the command and control center here. I do not work in that room; I'm just outside of it. This is what all the visitors want to see when they pass through Kabul and the ISAF IJC. Anyway, it's similar I guess to what you see in some movies. I always think of that old 1980s movie (I think it's called War Games) where a kid almost starts the Cold War from his home computer or something like that. Yes, the CJOC has a whole bunch of computers, phones and screens that track a lot of things. It's very interesting to see, though again, I don't have a whole lot to do with directly.

USO Tour

Here's a quick post for the recent USO Tour. Billy Ray Cyrus, Anna Kournakova, Dave Attell and Nick Bolletterri (tennis coach; not pictured) visited for a few hours. They posed for pictures, signed autographs and chatted a bit. A few observations...

Billy Ray definitely 'looked Hollywood'. He was very nice and sang a verse of Holy Night when he visited the CJOC (I'll explain that in my next post) room.

Anna would look good in a feed sack, as my father would say. She was also very nice and was the most popular here amongst the service members (not sure why :)

Then there was Dave Attell. He's a comedian and was on 'Insomniac' on Comedy Central a few years ago, which I watched pretty regularly. The picture does not mislead you...it looks like he's lived a hard last few years. He was scheduled to do some stand-up shows at other stops on their tour, but not here in Kabul. Again, he was nice and we talked quite a bit (as he really didn't have a line of people waiting for his picture/autograph). Anyway, it was great to see all the entertainers and provided a nice break to the routine here.

Progress

So it looks like another several days have passed since my last post, when it feels like I updated this blog only yesterday. I can't say often enough how the days just blend together here. Anyway, I have some pictures that should be ready to post in the next day or two. In the meantime, I have another 'deep thoughts' (remember SNL Stuart Smiley?) rant to share.

Gordon (Team UK) and I were talking the other day about the whole customs/importing process, as it has become a real pain dealing with some of the Afghan Ministries and their processes for completing simple paperwork. We wondered if it was like this for the U.S. and U.K. back in the day (i.e. 200 years ago); because this country runs like things 200 years ago (i.e. still use donkey and wheelbarrow for transport, very limited computer access).

We decided the major difference was that for the U.S./U.K., there wasn't anything better out there back in the day. Our countries made slow and steady progress and evolved as technology and information became available. In Afghanistan, you're trying to make that 200 year evolution all at once. So when you think about it, we've probably made 100 years of progress in the 8 years or so U.S. and international forces have been here. Not too bad, but still a ways to go. And that (the other 100 years of progress) is why assistance is needed here for several more years. 200 years is a long time; generations of people have to change, which can't be done overnight.

That was a pretty big epiphany (spelling?) for me. And that's just in relation to simple paperwork processing (i.e. we have to get stamps and signatures from about 10 different people in a sequential order to process customs paperwork - if one person is out of the office, the whole process comes to a halt and awaits his return; no concept of delegating authority, let alone automation). So then you relate that to everything else - tribal relations, security, transportation, living conditions, health and sanitary, etc, etc. Again, we know 'how hard it was for grandma to use a computer' or 'how fascinating Skype is for mom', now try to introduce countless significant changes in every facet of life for every generation all at once. I think it'll take some time to say the least.

Countryside

A quick post today to pass along a few pictures of the countryside I took while flying into Kabul. They're taken from the airplane window, so the quality isn't the best. It was about the only time the air was somewhat clear (before we got over Kabul).

Okay, I think that's about it. There's a rumor that a USO tour is stopping by this morning. I'll let you know soon if that's true. For those that don't know, the USO is probably my favorite charitable organization. They arrange for entertainers to visit deployed troops, as well as run volunteer welcome centers at airports and organize care package drives and many other things.

Some thoughts

Okay, so I don't really have a lot to say, but thought I'd share a couple random thoughts...

First, on the trip to Dubai...yes, your tax dollars at work. But about half of it was paid for by NATO (not sure who's tax dollars that is). And I don't feel too guilty because for the last 2+ years in Japan, we've paid full state and federal taxes without even living in the U.S. (and therefore not enjoying the services (i.e. police, road construction) taxes are supposed to provide for).

Second...Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, made a visit through here the other day. I saw him a couple times (he had to go just before I could actually shake his hand) and he had dinner with a group of soldiers and airmen. I think Secretary Gates is very popular amongst the military personnel (I am a fan). He obviously has some political backing as well, as he was one of the very few (only?) to stay on during the Administration turnover. Oh, and Team NATO kept asking if it was Bill Gates and if he was handing out $100 bills. Needless to say, they were a bit disappointed.

Finally, a couple notes from my recent trip to Dubai and the pleasure that was flying out of Kabul International Terminal and flying Pamir Airways. The commercial terminal in Kabul isn't much. There's some counters, machines and crowd dividers with 'donated by the people of Japan' or 'Germany' stickers on them. The flight itself wasn't bad after the delays. They served a good meal (even on a 2 1/2 hour flight) and had decent flight attendants. The worst part was hanging out in the terminal (for what wound up to be about 5 hours) with 200 of my closest Afghani friends. We also flew in and out of basically the cargo terminal in Dubai; so it wasn't the nice one with all the shops or anything (though they still had free wi-fi).

One other observation on that...as I was checking in in Kabul, one guy took my bags and moved them up to the check-in line; I gave him a dollar. Another guy wanted some money for him to move me up to the front of the line (I declined) and yet another guy wanted some money to 'get me good seat, window seat, what I like' (I declined again). That gets you thinking about the fine line of 'corruption' (the popular term with Afghanistan) and 'tipping'. For example, in the U.S., you definitely tip the baggage porter (at the hotel, airport, etc.) and airlines now charge like $10 extra for a window or aisle seat. So other than one being more 'shady' than the other, what's the real difference? In the U.S. you also 'tip' on many other occassions for good service (i.e. a waitress, a cab driver). If the argument is that 'corruption' is on a larger scale, I think you only need to look at some CEO bonus payments, especially in the case of federally bailed out banks or carmakers. Something to think about I guess. Personally I guess it comes down to ethics on when you can and cannot accept money and, in Afghanistan, corruption is accompanied by physical threat/violence and the risk of something not happening at all (i.e. if you don't tip a waitress it's not like she'll throw the food in your face and stab your hand with a fork).

Dubai trip

For those I wasn't able to tell before I left, I made a quick trip to Dubai. Basically spent two days, three nights here, as we had a meeting with our largest fuel contractor, Supreme. They needed someone from the IJC in Kabul to attend and I was the only one of the three available people who had both a passport and civilian attire. So I got a nice little break kind of by default.

Anyway, I arrived late Saturday night. On Sunday we had a full day of meetings, working through both lunch and dinner and putting in about 14 hours straight. Monday we were able to finish up around lunchtime, leaving me the afternoon to try to run around and see all of the sights.

I took a whole bunch of pictures and I'm trying to attach two here. The first is in front of the world's tallest building, the 110 story Burj Dubai. The second is at the beach with the seven-star Burj Al Arab Hotel in the background.

Both very impressive structures. I also saw the man-made islands off the coast, the ones in shape of a palm tree. No wonder the city is going broke :) Through all that in, along with a trip to two malls, and the Gold/Spice/Silk Souk areas (famous shopping area) and it was a busy afternoon.

So now it's 345am and I'm back at the Dubai airport, awaiting my (already delayed) flight back to Kabul. It was snow flurrying in Kabul as I was leaving a few days ago; we'll see what it has in store when I get there in a few hours. I think that's about it for now.

Lunch with the Commandant

First, welcome to December! I can't believe that officially one of my six months is already in the books. It's all downhill from here :)

Anyway, the day after Thanksgiving, I had a chance to meet General Conway, the Commandant of the Marine Corps. He's our top four-star General. I think he was down south on Thanksgiving day, serving meals to some of the Marines there. When we saw him on Friday, he was on his way out of Afghanistan, bound for Iraq that night before heading back to the States. We had a chance to eat lunch with him and his entourage (which was another one-star General, like 6 Colonels, a couple aides and a reporter or two) and then take some pictures afterwards. He was really nice and I received one of his 'challenge coins', which is quite the hunk of metal.

Alright, I do have a pretty funny random picture as well (let me know what you think Tana). Here's a picture of the ATM that's on the south side of the airport (and the only way I can withdraw money). It's basically in an abandoned terminal area with a pile of receipts scattered about. As a bonus, since "Afghanistan International Bank is promoting their new ATM service, they're waiving the service fee until 2010"!

Freaky Fridays

Fridays are called 'Freaky Fridays' around here because Friday is the equivalent to our Sunday, or religous day. They're 'freaky' because we kind of get the morning off. It's the only break in the routine throughout the week. So normally scheduled meetings and briefs are at different times on Friday, thus making it 'freaky'. I know, it's the little things here. My Friday routine usually consists of sleeping in an extra 2 hours (until maybe 8am), organizing some laundry and maybe getting over to the South side to look at the shops. Once a month or so, you have duty and come into work at normal time. Even though we don't have to be in until around noon, by about 9 or 10 am, everyone's in to work because there's not that much else to do. Here's a quick picture I took the other morning. You usually can't see all of the mountains because of the smog/dust/crud, but sometimes in the morning you get a nice view like this one.

The last couple pictures I'll post is of my lovely sleeping area. It's really just a bottom bunk, with some improvised shelves (which I'm quite proud of) to try to organize some of my gear. I have probably two sea bags full of gear that I won't use at all while I'm here. They're full of extreme cold weather gear, gas mask, chemical suit, etc.

Two other quick things...I ran into General Conway today. He's the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps' top four-star General. I think he was in the area to serve some Thanksgiving meals to some of the Marine units in the area. He was very nice, I shook his hand and had a picture taken.

Also, I think I said it was a low of -5 degrees F on one of my other posts. I meant -5 degrees Celsius (only like 26 degrees Fahrenheit). You'd think I'd be better at all of the conversions after 2+ years in Japan, but..I'm not.

Happy Thanksgiving

A quick post to wish all a Happy Thanksgiving! I just finished our Thanksgiving dinner at the DFAC (I think that stands for Dining Facility; it's an Army term). It was actually pretty good. Carved turkey, mashed potatoes and corn bread were all above average, while the stuffing doubled as sawdust. Can't have everything I guess.

It was a clear, brisk day today. You could see the snowy moutains really well this morning, before the smog/dust/crud rolled in and obscured it. That's about it from here. Hope everyone enjoys the gluttonous and glorious day!

Meet the team

I must admit that the days here tend to blend together. Before you know it, it's been four days since a post and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I was planning on trying to update this every day, but it looks like every 3 days or so is a more realistic goal. Anyway, I took a few pictures of the people I work closest with here and thought I'd introduce them a bit.

Thomas, officially Captain Kortenbrede, is from Team Germany. He's the one standing by the vehicle with the first aid kit (with red cross) in front. He's what we'd refer to as a 'Limited Duty Officer' (LDO), meaning he has prior enlisted experience in logistics. He achieved the equivalent enlisted rank as a GySgt (E7 on an E1-E10 scale) before switching over to the officer side. I think he's been in about 19 years now. Originally from Munster, Germany, he's married with one daughter.

Next (if this thing formats correctly) is Gordon (standing by vehicle with sunglasses). Gordon, or Major Cooke, is from Team UK. He's also an LDO type, having achieved the highest enlisted rank (SgtMaj or E10 equivalent) before going the officer route. He's originally from Scotland and is also married. He started his military career 28 years ago with the equivalent of a junior ROTC (high school training) program. Gordon arrived just 3 weeks before me, so we're pretty much on the same rotation schedule. He drinks a ton of coffee and we have a running inside joke that he's really a German spy (he's obviously not).

Finally, there's Leo from Team Netherlands. He's the equivalent of a SgtMaj (highest enlisted rank). He (along with Thomas) are from the 7th German/Netherlands Corps, which is the main unit here commanding the Headquarters. They all arrived in August and will be departing in February; being replaced by a unit from Poland. Leo's a funny guy, fluent in English, Dutch, German and who knows what else. We joke that he's more German than Thomas since he lives there and has done more German things (i.e. festivals, sightseeing) than Thomas. He's also a big American Football fan. He's been in the Army for 26 years now, with another 14 or so to go.

Couple other quick comments...US military almost always get out at the 20 year mark (i.e. at age 38-42) because you can retire at 50% pension at that point. Other countries (i.e. Germany, Netherlands, UK), if you're career military you stay until age 56 or so, completing close to 40 years of service, but still retiring earlier than most. It's hard for some of us (US military) to fully comprehend.

Finally, just want to add, that I type these posts as I think about it...there's no spellcheck option and I don't even re-read for accuracy. So apologize if there's grammatical errors and whatnot. I did go to a technical college after all. Anyway, that's it for now.

Camp life

Okay, so I still haven't taken too many pictures around here, nor have any interesting stories. It's early, dark and cold when I go into work, and late, dark and cold when I leave at night. It's somewhat difficult to get out of work and go 'sightseeing' around camp. Anyway, the one to the right is a picture of the airport terminal building (on our side, the military side) and 'flag circle'. I'm assuming that's all the countries participating here, but I haven't counted or checked or anything.

The second photo is of a couple of medical vehicles parked outside of the clinic here. They're obviously European, but I don't know the name of the vehicle or even what country they are from. Our medical clinic is currently staffed by Spanish and Portugese medical folks. You can also see the snow capped mountains in the background. The little building between the vehicles and the mountains is our laundry shop. We can drop off laundry there and get it back (nice and folded even) about a day later. It's a nice service; just have no idea where/how the clothes are actually washed.

I think that's about it for now. It's getting a bit colder here. Lows of about -2 degrees Fahrenheit and highs of around 58 degrees. I guess I have to sort through all of the cold weather gear I received and see what I can actually use.

Mission(s)

Alright, I think I need to try to explain something, but I'm not sure how clear it will be; I didn't know myself until after I got over here. So here goes...

The U.S. is more or less involved in two missions here in Afghanistan. The first is Operation Enduring Freedom. That's the U.S. mission basically to seek out and destroy the Taliban (and 'win hearts and minds of the local populace'). This is what the majority of U.S. troops are involved in and the vast majority of the Operation is in the more volitile southern region of the country. So it's a more dangerous mission in a more dangerous location.

By the way, the U.S. forces here are affectionately referred to as 'Team America' from the movie of the same name. Everyone seems to get a kick out of it. If you don't quite understand the full humor, must be because you're not stuck in the sandbox with the crud :)

U.S. troops are also part of the NATO ISAF's humanitarian mission. There are 26 nations with NATO; 40 with ISAF (additional countries like Austalia, Finland, Sweden, Macedonia) participating in this mission. The country is divided into five areas, which one or two countries take control of an area for 6-12 months before handing off control to another country. For example, the northern region is primarily German and Swedish; the western region is primarily Spanish. The U.S. has the southern region, again the more volitile area. That allows Team America to combine some of our resources for both the Enduring Freedom and ISAF mission.

So I am part of the NATO ISAF mission. I am in Kabul, in the central/eastern part of the country. I'm also at the Headquarters element. We have at least 8 General Officers here, including three American Generals. Obviously, the Generals and the Headquarters are going to be in a safer part of the country.

Being part of the American contribution to the ISAF mission is very unique. First, we have American Generals in our chain of command and follow U.S. regulations in addition to the NATO rules. So, you can imagine, the U.S. forces are used to more dangerous missions and take all precautions. Team Euro sometimes pokes fun of us here because we're more uptight. Hopefully you can understand why, as most of the U.S. leadership here have had very different experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To summarize, I take more precautions and have more rules to follow, am part of the safer of the two missions, in a safer part of the country, at a safer base and with more protection than most because of the senior leadership and importance of this Headquarters. That's why I stress not to follow the news too closely and hope nobody is worrying too much. Also, there's many (maybe 20) different bases and compounds here in the city. So if you hear anything about 'Kabul' it's like hearing something about 'California' - it's a big place with lots of good spots and a few bad spots.

Alright, that's my two cents I needed to get out. The Presidential Inauguration is coming up in a few days here, so we're plenty busy with lots of planning for that. That's about it for now!

Third photo

Alright, finally, this is a picture of our Marine Corps Birthday cake cutting ceremony. LTG Rodriguez (Army 3-star general) and MajGen Redner (Marine 2-star general) were there, along with all of the Marines pictured, which is just about all of the Marines who work on this base. It was done at 7am in the morning, so it was probably 30-32 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

This was obviously taken at my base (KAIA) here in Kabul. We're standing inside a circle of flags representing all of the nations there. And you can see those tents in the background - I live in one of those. Then there's the mountains in the far background. I'm getting some pictures of that other stuff (especially my tent so you can all see where/how I live) and I'll get those up in the next few days.

Second photo

Here's the second photo. I hate pictures of myself. This is me on the C-17 from Kuwait to Bagram. There was maybe 45 other passengers on there, along with 8-10 pallets of ammunition and other explosives. I took a short video which I'll try to post to YouTube a little later. The flight was about 3 and 1/2 hours. It was also the smoothest landing I think I've ever had (who knew?). After I arrived in Bagram, I spent just a few hours there and then got on a C-130 (much smaller than a C-17, but still good-sized) for the 15 minute flight to Kabul.

Photos!

So I'm pretty excited that I figured out how to get pictures out. I had to download them to my laptop, burn them to a CD and then load them on one of the networks here. Anyway, the first picture is one of the tent I stayed in during the week I was in Kuwait. There was maybe 10 bunkbeds in there, with usually about 8 people in there at night. It was freezing in there because the air conditioning (filling the tube in the upper right of the picture) was on full tilt and I didn't want to unpack my sleeping bag (because I didn't think I would be there as long as I was.

Okay, this thing isn't letting me post more than one picture without screwing up the formatting. So I'm going to make three separate entries real quick.

Also, if possible, leave me a comment or something if I say something that doesn't make sense or if you have a question or something. I think it'd be a little easier to post with a little feedback :) (it's like talking to a wall :)

Arrived

Alright, I know I have a lot to update....

First, thank you all for the Birthday wishes. The Marine Corps birthday is also the same day, so every year we have a cake for that which is quite nice. This morning, at 7am out in 31 degree weather, we had a nice cake cutting ceremony with all of the Marines here at this base (maybe 20 total), the Marine two-star General and two other Army Generals.

I'll try to update some from the last post...
I got out of Kuwait on Friday, the 6th (I think). Left the base around 11pm, got on a bus, waited, got on the plane, waited, and finally departed around 230am. It was a 3 1/2 hour flight to Bagram, which is 1 1/2 hours ahead of Kuwait as far as time zone. So I arrived in Bagram like 9am. I checked in there, did some quick Admin work and lucked out by getting on a flight to Kabul around noon. It's only about a 15 minute ride from Bagram to Kabul. Even got to sit in the front (back of cockpit) of the C-130; I think because the co-pilot had a crush on Marines :)

So I got into Kabul on Saturday, the 7th. That day (after not sleeping at all flying the night prior), I was running around until about 10pm. Checking in, getting set up and getting right to work. The Marine I was replacing was leaving just two days later on the 9th. With that work and lack of sleep, I managed to pick up the 'Afghan crud' or a nice little head cold. The next two days was spent working a lot, trying to get all of the information I could out of John (guy I replaced) before he left.
Things are finally starting to slow down just a bit. I'm also finally getting rid of the 'crud'.

I'm working at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Joint Command (IJC) Logistics division. I'm working on everything fuel related. A lot of customs issues in getting fuel into the country and where it needs to go.
I work with a diverse team. An Army (US) officer, a German, a Brit, two Dutch and a Frenchman. It's a good group of guys and we all get along well. Basically a Dutch-German team are running the show here (obviously augmented from other countries) until February when I believe the Polish will take over primary staff duties. So a lot of the team will turnover in February.

I think that's it for now. Need to get some sleep before 'Groundhog Day' starts again tomorrow.

Still waiting

I would update this blog more often, but right now there's not that much to update. I'm still in Kuwait, awaiting a flight to Bagram (and I'll go onto Kabul from there). I check in once or twice a day, wait to see if any flights are available and then there's the whole process of who gets boarded first. So no luck so far; will check again tomorrow.

I have managed to watch an impressive list of DVDs while here, including I Am Legend, Sweeney Todd, The Wrestler and Delta Farce. I also sleep a lot and eat; that's about it :)

I did think it was interesting to learn that all Kuwaitis are paid a monthly stipend from their government (probably similar to the Meskwakis). So none of them work the menial jobs. The jobs on base and at the food places at the airport (really the only two places I've seen) are worked by Philippinos (like I'm back in Japan), Sri Lankans and other immigrants. Meanwhile you see dented up Mercedes abandoned on the highway because it was easy for the Kuwati to buy a new one than fix that one. Must be nice.

Waiting in Kuwait

So the second full day here in Kuwait is coming to an end. Yesterday, only 3 of my 4 bags showed up at the airport. I'm hoping the last one shows up tonight. Can't do much else until I have all of my stuff.

My days here are spent sleeping (the blasting air conditioning makes the tent plenty cold), eating (food is good, not spectacular), checking the Internet (I have to sign up, wait maybe 20 minutes, then have a 20 minute limit), watching movies (you can check out a number of DVDs) and that's about it. It's extremely boring and I'm ready to move on already.

Today there was plenty of blowing sand. Visibility was less than a mile and you got to taste some sand anytime you went out side. Naturally most folks stayed in their sleeping tents or one of the large MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) tents. I guess that's it for now.

Arrived

A quick note to let you know that I have arrived (minus all of my checked lugged) in Kuwait. I'm at the Ali Al Salem Air Base. Interesting place. Haven't had much time to explore; though I don't think there's a whole lot to explore here. Basically got here, checked in, shown to my tent and grabbed one of the beds. There's probably 10 of us in there. Grabbed some food at the DFAC (Chow Hall) and stopped over at the MWR tent. MWR tent is where they have phones, computers, TV, etc. Gotta run.

Packed up

Here's a little picture of most of my gear that I have packed up. It sure isn't going to be fun to lug it all around. In fairness, only like 1/3 of 1 seabag is my personal clothes and stuff. The rest is all issued gear, and it all weighs more than enough.

So again, I'll pick up my orders at 10am tomorrow. Then come back to the hotel, check out and head for the airport. I think my flight departs at 120pm or something. Most of the flight is on United, which I have a lot of frequent flyer miles with, so it shouldn't be too bad.

It'll take me two or three days to get to Kuwait, get settled in and find a computer or phone to make contact again. I will do that as soon as I can. Until then, bon voyage!

Itinerary

Well, I finished checking into MARCENT today. I had blood drawn first thing in the morning and the results in the afternoon showed that everything checked out okay. My medical screening was completed with a couple of surveys and a check of the vitals (my cholesterol and blood pressure were even somehow okay).

The important news is that I received my flight itinerary. I'm scheduled to depart Jacksonville, NC Friday afternoon (via commercial airline). After stops in Atlanta and Washington-Dulles, I should arrive in Kuwait Saturday (31 Oct) evening. They said from there I should expect to spend about 5 days in Kuwait awaiting a military flight into Kabul.

Tomorrow I will drive down to Cherry Point to get the rest of my gear (will call first and hopefully it's ready). Other than that, I just have to call in Wed and Thurs and then show up at 10am on Friday to pick up my orders.

MARCENT Check-in

I checked into the MARCENT LNO office this morning. Overall, it was a bit anticlimatic, as I just got yet another check-in sheet to complete. First it turned out I didn't have all the signatures I needed from Cherry Point. So the morning was spent driving the 2.5 hours roundtrip to Cherry Point and another hour or two tracking down the people I needed to find. And I will need to go down to Cherry Point at least once more (either tomorrow or Wednesday) to exchange some gear.

After that, I returned for my medical/dental screening. I received my second Anthrax shot and completed an audiogram. First thing tomorrow (after 12 hours of fasting), I need to go get blood drawn so they can test my lipids or something. Thankfully my dental was all complete. Once they get the blood test results in the afternoon, I should be all done with 'checking in'.

Tomorrow afternoon I will also get an 'admin audit'. That's where they officially check me in here, update all the administrative databases and hopefully tell me a little more of what's going on.

Basically, nothing's official until I get my check-in finished and everything turns out well. If it does, I'm planning on a Thursday (29 Oct) departure from here. I'd fly commercial into Kuwait City, do another check-in (receive my pistol and some more gear) and await a military flight into Kabul. They said maybe 5 days in Kuwait. We'll see; I have to finish this check-in first.

Moved to Camp Lejeune

Today I checked out of the BOQ at Cherry Point, exchanged rental cars in New Bern and checked into the Lejeune Inn on base here at Camp Lejeune. My phone number here is 910-451-3041. I'll be here for a few days; here's a picture of my room.

I know that I have to check into 'MARCENT LNO' office Monday at 8am. I hope to find out some other details then. They'll be checking all of my paperwork and training and finish up anything else I need. So, that's about it for now.

Rifle range and TBI

Alright...Monday I went down to Camp Lejeune again to finish up my rifle qualification. It's called 'Table 3' and consisted of firing a total of 110 rounds from the M4 rifle at 25 yards or closer. Once we started shooting, it only took maybe 15 minutes to complete. With the safety briefs, explanations and the drive down and back, it ended up being a pretty full day. I'm posting a small picture of the range. I know it's not very good...I'm not going to be 'that guy' taking pictures of everything.

On Tuesday, I again traveled down to Camp Lejeune to complete a computerized brain test. Basically they test basic functions like responsiveness, short-term memory and speed so that they have a 'baseline' test in the system. Then if I ever encounter a concussion or PTSD during the deployment, they'll test me again and compare the two tests. Once I found the testing room at Lejeune, the test only took about 10 minutes to complete.

Today (Wednesday), I didn't have anything scheduled. I ended up exchaning my digital camera at Wal-Mart, shopping at the Exchange (on-base store), organizing some of my gear and stopping at Medical. I had to stop at Medical because I had paronychia. Basically they just stabbed the heck out of my finger and squeezed some fluid out of it. Good times (not really). I tried to post a video of my room (taken with my new camera) here, but it took forever to upload. So I posted it on youtube and you can view it by clicking here.

Tomorrow I will run the Combat Fitness Test (CFT) at 8am. And that's all that is officially on the schedule for tomorrow.

Lazy weekend

So Friday night I headed up to the Norfolk, VA area to see the Bannisters. It was a good night of visiting with April, Tony and their two beautiful daughters. Tony and I managed a few beers while discussing way too much work. Anyway, good times; thanks.

Saturday I returned back to Cherry Point. Watched the Iowa Hawkeyes keep their undefeated record going. Other than a short run and a birthday call to my Pops, pretty quiet day.

Today has been even more worthless for me. Just enjoying a full slate of NFL games, including a 59-0 Patriots beatdown.

Up next on my schedule is my last day at the rifle range tomorrow. I have to meet up at the armory at 6am and head down to Camp Lejeune for a full day of shooting. It's not scored this time, so just need to get it done. Then Tuesday I'll head back down to Camp Lejeune for some sort of neurology testing. Basically they get a 'baseline' of your brain functions so that they can test for concussions and other things after the deployment. Takes less than an hour, but an hour drive each way and it should take most of the day. That's about it for now.

Training requirements

I'm trying to set up this little blog and see if I can keep it updated in order to keep you all up to date. IA is Individual Augmentee; what they call my six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

I arrived here at MCAS Cherry Point on 28 September or so. During the past few weeks, I've been busy with the following:

- Rifle range qualification (two days of classes here at Cherry Point, five days of firing at Camp Lejeune)
- Medical checkup (Anthrax vaccination, records check)
- H.E.A.T. trainer (demonstrates evacuating an overturned vehicle)
- Gas chamber (put on the gas mask and equipment and experience a little CS gas)
- Swim qual (attained level 2; swam a bit with a bunch of gear, maybe 15 foot jump, etc)
- Dental checks (got a cleaning and a few fillings)
- Gear issue (checked out plenty of stuff to take with me)
- Online classes (general classes I needed to complete)

I think that's about it thus far. Next week I have one day scheduled at the rifle range to complete that training, a trip to Camp Lejeune for a neurology assesment, completing the Combat Fitness Test and completing my medical stuff (Phyiscal Health Assessment, second Anthrax shot and checking out records).