Sayonara Kabul

Well, today was pretty much my last day here. We had a nice farewell luncheon with most of the team (picture below). I'll finish up a few things tomorrow and then head to Bagram the day after.

I had a nice meeting with a few colleagues tonight. Actually the new Greek group at KAIA (base I'm at) who have only been here since the first of the month. Somehow I evidently 'made an impression' on them, or maybe it's just their inherent hospitality. But they bought me a soda, traded emails and gave me a small parting gift (something I'll have to enjoy at home). It was really very nice and got me thinking about a quick trip to Greece (I can still get to Souda Bay for free on a military flight once I'm at home).

Also amongst them was Heida, from the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit (ICRU). The ICRU is a division of their Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the closest thing to a military they have. Heida does four months here at KAIA, then four months at home (vacation) before returning to the same job at KAIA for another four months. Her and another guy have been doing this for the past 2 and a half years, with plans for another two years. They both love it and they provide KAIA with a lot of historical expertise.

Finally, I was talking with Thomas from Luxembourg. Luxembourg's entire military is about 1,000 soldiers strong, with precisely 9 here in KAIA (and Afghanistan in total) and 25 in Bosnia. It just amazes me that Thomas' only wish (okay, not only wish, but one of them) was for the military to be a bit bigger so that they could do more frequent (and larger) rotations as part of NATO. Anyway, interesting night.

Bagram, here I come...(as long as the aircraft doesn't break before Saturday)

Last days in Kabul

So I figured I'd get in a quick update. I stayed an extra few hours at work (it's now just past midnight) pretty much finishing up the last of my work duties. Tomorrow (Thursday) I'll start checking out (about 20 different signatures required on a a piece of paper), mail out my last box of stuff and attend a little 'Farewell get together'. Friday I'll finish packing up (it's our typical half day anyway) and finish last minute business before I leave Kabul on Saturday (assuming no aircraft issues)

It's a bit exciting to be winding down at work, though it's still a week from leaving here and a couple weeks from finally being home. But at least it's getting closer.

That's about it; I'll post once more before leaving here. Below is a picture of Simon (Team UK; recently replaced Gordon) and two local gentlemen who work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where we do some of our business. Kind of a crappy picture, but I got a kick out of it (in the shadowy basement of the building they work in, actual attitudes bear no resemblance to this picture, etc). Anyway, g'nite.

Packing

It's amazing to find out how much 'stuff' you've acquired in a pretty short amount of time. To be fair, I had to come out here with a lot of gear and have received many nice things from care packages from friends and family (and strangers). But as I start to go through stuff, as I know it will take some time to sort throught everything, you always wonder why you kept a random piece of wood for the past 5 months, always intending to turn it in to a magnificent shelf. Do I part with it now? Or do I give it to my replacement in hopes he will finish the task I left undone? He'll probably think I'm just weird, so I'm trying to throw out many things like this.

I have two sea bags already packed and inventoried with gear I haven't needed thus far and certainly won't need in the next month. Stuff like biological response gear (gas mask, suit, gloves, etc in case of a chemical/biological attack) and plenty of cold weather gear (parkas, long johns and more gloves). Of course all of this prep and organization will be for not, as I'm sure when I arrive in Kuwait I'll have to hurriedly dump everything out for customs inspections. Oh well.

Did I tell you I'm not looking forward to lugging around like 5 full sea bags? And it's not like I have to do it just once. I'll have to do it at least three times; in Bagram, Kuwait and back in the States (including moving over from the military contracted flight to some small commercial carrier). At least I'll be on my way home.

Anyway, that's my thought for tonight. Probably only have one more post in me before I leave Kabul, as I focus on finishing up work, turning over to my replacement (not in yet) and packing up.

Don't have any new pictures, so I found this old one of the 'CJ4 Battle Wagon'. She's quite a beauty!

Winding down

So things here are winding down a bit. I'm officially less than 2 weeks left in Kabul. I must add that it will take me another week between when I leave Kabul and when I arrive in the States; but less than 2 weeks of work left, nonetheless.

Today we had our farewell for Gordon (Team UK) who leaves here tomorrow. His replacement, Simon, is in and accompanied me the last few days on a Temporary Additional Duty (TAD) trip. It will be quite a change to say the least.

Also, unexpectantly, Bruno (Team France) broke his leg while on a TAD trip to Mazar-e-Sharif (picture below). They have some wicked concrete culverts around the base, and it's very dark at night. Guess he made a bad step and cracked his leg pretty good (compound break in 3 different places). So he will be returning to France early, probably sometime this week. We visited him at the hospital here in Kabul (the accident happened yesterday and he arrived in Kabul today). He sure isn't happy; but we did our best to lift his spirits.

So between Gordon and Bruno leaving, as well as myself in 2 weeks or so, we'll have quite the turnover here. Add in the terrible news about the Polish President and it's been an interesting / somewhat somber last day or two.

Anyway, another day closer....

Weird weather and one big aeroplane

Okay, just a quick post tonight and a couple of pictures. First, we've had some freaky, short hail storms the past two days. It's cooled things off here and it certainly clears the air for a bit, so no complaints from me.

Secondly, we had an Antonov-225 here today. I guess I could say the Antonov-225, as there's only one in the world. It's pretty darn big and it's amazing that thing can get in the air. It brought in some helicopters (note the plural 'helicopters') for somebody.

Alright, that's about it for tonight.

The last month

I must start out by saying that I can now say "I'm leaving here this month", which is never a bad thing. I'm scheduled to leave Kabul on the 24th (of course it'll take another week or so before I'm back in the States), so it's all about turning over things at work and trying to wind things down.

Anyway, on top of that, April 1st was a bit of a busy day here. First, control of KAIA (base where I'm at) was turned over from the Spanish contingent to a Greek unit. Nothing too major there (aside from seeing many more Greeks around base and fewer Spanish) but it's always interesting to see subtle differences in leadership/management styles and it was a bit sad to see some of the Spanish guys go (they weren't too sad to be leaving!)

Also today, two major contracts here on base switched contractors. Our laundry service is now provided by Sodexo (instead of Ecolog). That means new laundry bags (much smaller) and new turn-in/pick-up procedures (scan a barcoded card, etc). Nice to see the local workers stayed the same, just a new shirt for them and they say they get paid a little better.

The other contract that turned over is the 'Integrated Logistics Services' or ILS contract; KBR-UK took over for Supreme. The biggest change there is the new menu and DFAC (cafeteria or chow hall) operations, with much better food already today. ILS also includes building/vehicle maintenance, garbage collection, general cleaning and I'm sure some other things. KBR-UK brought in their own folks (mostly Sri Lankans; NATO/World heath regulations prevent local Afghans from handling/serving food due to immunizations, etc). The past week or so, the base has been really crowded (both KBR-UK and Supreme workers, as well as the Greek and Spanish contingent) so it should really thin out now over the next couple days.

Guess that's probably not big news to anyone else; just what's been going on around here lately.

I guess I'll just post a random smattering of some vehicles I took while in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The grind continues....

So, another day here and not much different. Things at work are picking up a bit, which is a good thing since it makes the time go by faster. Larry (Team USA) left for two weeks of R&R (rest and recuperation leave) back in Germany (where he's stationed and his family is). Can't remember if I've already covered this, but R&R policies between countries is a bit interesting. For Team USA, you get 2 weeks for 12 months deployed. Hence why I do not get any (only a six month deployment). On the other end of the spectrum is Team Norway who get four weeks (on up to three different trips) for a six month deployment. So you throw a couple of travel days on either end of each trip and the Norwegians are gone for six weeks out of their six month deployment. On top of that, they get paid something ridiculous like an extra 300 Euros ($500) per day. Not too shabby.

Tonight we did have a USO Tour stop through. Again, one of my favorite charities. Rose McGowan (Gilmore Girls, I think), 'Tony' and 'Paule' from the Sopranos, and a New Orleans Saints football player (an offensive linemen who didn't even have his Super Bowl ring) were on this trip. As always, despite jetlag and general exhaustion, they put on their best show and graciously signed autographs and took pictures. Always nice for any break in the monotony here.

I traded Bruno (Team France) an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) for one of the French rations. I'll have to get a picture here soon and post. It cracks me up as it's relatively big and heavy because "we must have our wine" as Bruno tells me. I think I'll bring this one home and have a romantic MRE dinner with the wife.

Anyway, apologize for the random and 'non-flowing' thoughts. Oh, thank you Sebastian, Cheryl and Melissa for posting a comment; nice to know someone is bored enough to read this :)

I'll post a few pictures tonight while the connection is good. One is me and Paule from the USO tour tonight. One is a couple of local 'Afghani muts' who call KAIA home. And the last two is of our wonderous NATO medal parade which I'll have to explain more on another post. Hopefully you can figure out which picture is which :)

One more month

Well, I think I'm officially at 30 days or so of work days left here in Kabul. Of course it will take me about a week to get back to the U.S., then maybe 2 weeks in North Carolina before I can finally get back to Massachusetts, but at least there's a light at the end of the tunnel. On Sunday, we have our "NATO Medal Parade". We find it quite amusing, as it's a NATO awards formation where they present the NATO medals to those who are leaving within the next month (the one on Sunday includes me!). It's a hodgepodge of nations, different military customs, procedure, etc. And it's all topped off by the playing of the NATO hymn (not sure the proper name) which sounds like a French funeral anthem. Anyway, I'm sure it's one of those 'have to experience it to fully understand it'. Also note that's it's a medal for simply participating in 30+ days of a NATO mission (i.e. nothing special).

Today they had a small Afghan Women's market. They invited maybe 20 small businesses / handcraft stores that are owned/operated by women in Afghanistan. It was a lot of handmade women's clothes, jewelry and other hand crafts. I did my part to support (Kaylem has a gift on the way :) and it was good to see the pride in the local women. Anyway, that's about it from here for now.

Happy Nowruz

Today is Nowruz, or the Afghan New Year. So be sure to change your calendars, as we're now in year 1389 according to whatever calendar they use.

Anyway, I happened to be in Mazar-e-Sharif, or MeS, the past couple of days or so. MeS is where Regional Command (RC) North is headquartered and is largely run by the Germans, with a strong Latvian, Norwegian and Sweedish presence there as well. I'm attaching two pictures from there. One is of what is more or less a Bier Garden area; small plaza with some cafes around (Germans sure know how to set up a camp). The other is the lovely accomodations we had (note to self: cots are not good for the back).

It was a good break from the routine here in Kabul. The area around MeS is much more scenic ('the garden spot of Afghanistan'), the air is cleaner and the camp is much more organized and kept up. It will be interesting to see it once 'Team America' rolls in heavy in the next few months.

Anyway, that's about it from here. I only have another month or so, so time is really starting to fly by and I'll be back before I know it!

Back from Bagram

A few days ago, I headed to Bagram Air Field in Regional Command - East for a quick visit. I've posted two pictures from that visit. One is just a random picture of the base; trying to get the mountains in the background as we had beautiful weather there (it's currently a nice 81 degrees F here in Kabul this week). The other picture is of the sign outside the Egyptian Field Hospital. Just a little reminder of all the countries that are represented here (this hospital fully staffed, funded and equipped by Egypt).


I headed over to Bagram on Thursday, the 11th with Bruno (Team France) and a small French contingent/convoy. It was a nice hour or so drive before we were there. I think Bagram is the largest base here, with something close to 28,000 people stationed there. They also bring on a few thousand local national workers each day to work. And it's about 18 kilometers around the base. I spent three full days or so there and I probably saw a quarter of the place. So you get the point...big, busy (continuous construction) and big. I flew back to Kabul on Sunday morning on a small prop plane, contracted by Blackwater/Xe to move U.S. mail; only about a 15 minute flight (slept through the whole thing since I had to be at the terminal to check in at about 3am).


Anyway, it was a productive visit and I'll try to post another couple pictures from there (though my camera is awful).

Another day

So, I sure don't have anything new to update....it's been a while since my last post...I know I'll have some new pictures and I'm sure a story or two in a few days, so please bear with me. A couple of random thoughts...


As you've seen in the news, Secretary Gates visited here recently. We saw his plane arrive here a day or two ago. Kind of hard to miss as it's a big 747 type aircraft that looks like Air Force One with US painted all over it. Evidently his plane really can fill in for Air Force One as a command and control type plane if need be. Anyway, it was also interesting seeing it leave today. As Secretary Gates arrived in a couple of CH-47 Chinook helicopters, accompanied by a few other helicopters. Quite the show.


The end for me is inching closer. A couple days ago I was informed a bit about my departure schedule. I will have to go through at least Bagram, then Kuwait, and eventually BWI back in the States. Probably another stop or two thrown in there. A few days of travelling, but should be back Stateside at the beginning of May. I've also been in touch with my replacement. It's another Marine Corps Captain, who's currently stationed in South Carolina. He's active duty and voluteered for this deployment which are always good things.



Gordon (Team UK) is leaving about 2 weeks before me and Larry (US Army) is going on R&R in April as well, so we're all basically looking forward to leaving soon. We manage to pass the days here largely by 'pissing on' (UK term) one another. Basically poking fun at everyone's quirks. Everyone has a pretty good sense of humor so it manages to keep things moving along. Plenty of those 'inside jokes' or 'you had to have been there' stories, which of course don't lend themselves well to an online post.



Finally, I must comment a bit on my actual job. A basic way to put it is that I do everything 'Fuel related' in theater. I've found it to be an extremely rewarding mix of different levels of work. For example, I do a lot of very menial customs paperwork signing and stamping. Basically stuff I could train a monkey to do. But it has a direct effect of allowing our fuel trucks in or out of the county, so you can see a tangible result of your effort. On the other end of the spectrum, I feel I have a lot of 'strategic level' influence. Meetings with General Officers about strategic fuel posture and subsequent policy. A lot of power point briefs and philosophical discussions; which you seldom see any immediate tangible benefit but which will surely affect future operations. Anyway, I had been begging to get on deployment for several years, so at least when I finally did (and missed significant events at home :) it's been a more rewarding experience than most (that what I would have been doing if I was doing my real speciality of Aviation Logistics).


That's it for now. Promise to have some more interesting material on the next post.

Happy March

Okay, so I have to post for a few reasons. One, it was a gorgeous day today, clear air (it had rained the previous 2-3 days), sun and probably 50 degrees or something. Two, the Internet connection has been really good lately, so I have to take advantage when I can, as you never know how long that will last. Three, it's officially March, so I can officially say I'm going home next month. Not too bad eh?

Anyway, here's a picture of the nice weather. That's Adrian Sileanu striking a pose in front. Adrian is a Major in the Romanian Army and one of the new crew that came in a couple weeks ago now. He attended the US Army Captain's Course a few years ago in the States and he speaks about perfect English. Married, no kids; yup, that's Adrian. I'll try to snap a few pictures of the other guys as well in the next few days.

That's about it. It'll probably be a week or so before I'm able to post again; hopefully some of the snow back home might melt some by then. Later!

Ad campaign

Just a quick post tonight, mostly to show I can actually update this thing two nights in a row. Anyway, the picture to the right is some of the 'messaging efforts' going on throughout the country. It's basically an ad campaign urging farmers to grow wheat (and be happy!) instead of growing opium (and be ashamed :(

Yup, that's about it for now..

Update

First, it's not completely my fault that I haven't posted anything lately, as there hasn't been any Internet available for almost the past week. I finally got a connection tonight, so I'll share a quick picture.

The picture to the right is of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building here in Kabul. I'm there maybe once a week, processing some paperwork in order to get our fuel cleared to enter the country. It's a campus like setting, with several buildings in the area. The grass and trees are a nice change from the dust and crud that covers most of the city and even the base where I'm at.

I'll have to get a few pictures of the inside, as it's really quite comical. The office I deal with is in the basement, where the power is off half the time and there are just stacks of paperwork waiting to be signed off. Anyway, that's it for now. I have another picture I'll try to share tomorrow.

Ms. Ella Mai

For whatever reason, I've always tried to keep this blog focused on my experiences leading up to and in Afghanistan. Well, for at least once, I have to deviate from that. On February 17th, my wife Lindsey and I were blessed to welcome our new daughter into the world, Ella Mai.


She was a healthy 7lbs, 12 oz, or 3.5 kgs as I have come to appreciate in Team NATO world. Both Ella and mama are doing well and should be leaving the hospital as I type this. For the record, Mai is pronounce 'my' (did you ever go to the bar and order a 'May Tai'?) and is Japanese for 'true love' (a nod to where she was conceived :)


Although I was not able to be there for the birth, I was fortunate to be able to talk to Lindsey for the last hour and half leading up to her delivery. Her sister was able to share some photos (via cell phone) within a few minutes. As Lindsey and I always say, "it could always be worse", we're extremely blessed and I look forward to getting home in a couple months to say hello to Ella in person.


While we're on the subject (of non-deployment related issues), I must say that I left Japan back in October, leaving behind my pregnant wife in a foreign country while fighting military paperwork to get her sent home to Massachusetts in time. So in addition to the normal worrying about a deployment and dealing with your first time pregnancy, Lindsey had to deal with getting the approval to get her home (and before she was 'too pregnant' to fly), packing up everything in Japan, moving in to our new house (which we bought a few weeks earlier), setting up all the services for the new house (oil, cable, etc.), outfitting the house (arranging our shipments from Japan as well as stuff we had in storage before moving), buying all the baby necessities (minus all the wonderful gifts we received at her baby shower), all while keeping her health and sanity. As I'm sure you all can appreciate, no easy task(s). Thank you for a wonderful wife, I definitely have the easy job and will try to make up for it once I get home :)

Busy times

Apologize to all (if there are any out there :) for the long delay between updates. I don't even have any pictures to share or stories to tell. It's more of the same 'Groundhog's Day' routine around here. Except I'm trying to cover at least three jobs right now. Leo (from the German/Netherlands Corps) went home last week and his replacement won't be in until May. Gordon (from the UK) left about a week ago as well on his 'R&R' (rest and recouperation (sp?)) trip home. He'll be out until the end of the month. Hence my 'three jobs'. On top of that, it's a continuous task to try to bring the new guys up to speed on everything.


Anyway, you've also seen in the news the well publicized (sp?) Operation Moshtarak in Southern Afghanistan. Again, to be clear, I have no direct involvment and am not in harm's way in any way :) What Op Moshtarak means to me is that there is a lot of planning (to include logistics; my piece) before, during and after any operation, especially one of this magnitude. It's also very interesting just being here, as I get to hear things (and much more detailed) just before everyone else on CNN / BBC / Al Jazeera. On top of that, there is always much logistics work to be done in support of the well publicized force expansion efforts. Anyway, definitely not complaining at all...it's what I came here to do. It also keeps your mind off of other things (whether that's a good thing or not). It also, somewhat, explains my delinquency in writing letters/emails, making phone calls or posting updates. Just my thoughts for tonight. Happy belated Valentine's Day to everyone (today was also a holiday in Afghanistan; more or less 'freedom from the Soviets day')

Let it snow..

Between last night and this morning, it snowed about 2 inches. It was nice (even if it only lasted for a little while) to see everything look so 'clean' and have some fresh air. By this afternoon, it had warmed up again and everything is a muddy, slushy mess around here. Throughout the country, it's amazing to see how quickly 'draught fears' can turn into 'flooding realities'. Just another thing for us to deal with.

Today was also the Super Bowl. It started at 4am our time. I managed to make it over to the 'Morale and Welfare' tent (yet to be finished with computers/Internet and other things), where they were showing the game on the projector. I must admit I didn't make it over there until the start of the 2nd quarter (about 445am). It was a good game and a nice break in the monotony (sp?), but it did make for a long day.

Speaking of long days, things are almost back into a more 'normal routine' here. I think another night or two of trying to catch up on sleep and I should be back on track. Then we'll see if the new crew has any changes in mind for the schedule.

New Arrivals

Today was the first day with the new folks from the Multi-National Corps - Northeast out of Poland. They are the new headquarters group taking over for the German/Netherlands Corps that's been here for the past six or seven months.

For the team I work with, that means we have a new German General, a Romanian and a few Polish soldiers. We'll see how it all works out. So we're very busy with normal work, a theater-wide confernce, turnover items, farewell events and so on. I think yesterday I clocked a lovely 17 hour work day. On top of it, we have to skip our normal 'Freeky Friday' halfday off routine tomorrow to get some of the work done. And of course the office is crowded and loud, making getting that work done all the more difficult. But enough complaining I guess, we'll see how it shakes out once the dust settles.

Speaking of when the dust settles, I attached a picture we took the day after it finally rained here. The rain really clears the air, revealing that the snowline moved a good ways down the mountains. Anyway, that's about it for now. I need to get some sleep :)

Wintery weather

Alright, I´m stuck at another base waiting on someone, so I figured I should make use of the time. We´ve started to get a little ´wintery mix´of things, with some rain/snow mix, with more to come tonight. Maybe winter has finally arrived here. Not sure how long it´s supposed to last, but it sure does make a muddy mess out of everything.



Alright, I´m going to try to tackle another subject while I´m here. Though it´s one of those I´m not sure I can properly explain and if anyone else really cares. Anyway, as you´ve seen in the news lately, there´s a lot more U.S. troops headed this way as part of a ´surge´. What does that mean to me? Plenty, as far as work wise, as it´s all a matter of logistics; though I don´t really want to get in to that here. What else it means is that ´Team America´ is arriving in droves at our quiet NATO base.



And, honestly, Team America rolling in is a bit annoying. You come to appreciate the differences, both good and bad, in the way that Team NATO approaches and works certain things. This of course is relating to the staff here, as I have no experience with actual tactical operations (though you hear plenty about the differences there as well). So we now have cramped offices, more tents going up everyone, longer dinner lines, more annoying Army acronyms and a general decline in appreciation for the way other countries operate. After all, many of these countries have had strong and effective militaries well before we were even a country. Anyway, I guess enough on that.


This post was started a few days ago when I was at another base. Then I tried to continue it here only to learn our Internet was down. Like anything else, I thought it might be a few weeks, but surprisingly, it was fixed again within a few days and, hence, I am able to finish it now.

That's about it for now. Today was our 'Freeky Friday' morning, so I slept in until about 9am. Tried to get caught up on some emails and thank you notes; still plenty to do next week.

Oh ya, and that 'wintery weather' hasn't turned out to be much just yet. A little colder, but just a sloppy, muddy mess around here. Hopefully it will freeze up (hardens the ground) and we can get a little actual snow. We'll see.

Mountain climb

Last Friday, on our usual half day off, instead of sleeping in we decided to 'go climb a mountain'. Bruno had made arrangements with some of his fellow Frenchmen for the little adventure. We left base around 5am, linked up with some others at Camp Warehouse (where we ate at the French dining facility before) and headed to another base where we could access the trail/mountain.

Once there, we proceded to make the one hour climb to the top of the mountain (I have the name of the mountain, just not right now). The goal was to make it there for sunrise. We didn't quite make that but the morning was pretty hazy anyway. The pictures below are from the trip. The group photo is those of us who went from here. From left to right, Thomas, Bruno, myself, Jaap, Cath and Larry.

At the top, the French contingent broke out a couple bottles of wine, fresh bread and cheese. We settled for some water, power bars and crunchies (trail mix). It was a nice view and a good break in the routine. We headed back down and made it back to base around 1030am.

Anyway, that's about it. I think I may have figured out this blog thing. I'll load the pictures during the day, save the draft and then come back to add the comments at night. Note that I cannot access this website from work any more, as the 'fun police' have blocked all such sites.

Ramp ceremony

Just a quick post tonight, as I don't want to deal with the very slow picture upload process. Anyway, two nights ago, I witnessed my first 'ramp ceremony'. The night before that (now 3 days ago) a soldier passed away (non-hostile related) here on base. So the ramp ceremony is a military send off of his remains. Similar to what you probably saw President Obama do at Dover Air Force Base a few months ago.

It is not a common occurance here, as the majority of the remains depart Afghanistan from Bagram or Kandahar. The command here organized it well and most of the base turned out to support. The road from the hospital to the airfield was lined with service members from every nation here. A helicopter flew in from Bagram and we all saluted until they departed. A bagpipe playing Amazing Grace was an added touch.

Anyway, it made me think of the movie 'Taking Chance' with Kevin Bacon. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend renting it or catching it on HBO. It's one of the very few military movies that's entertaining for non-military people and 'proper' (i.e. an accurate portrayal) for those of us in the military. Unfortunately, I think this movie is/was only popular with the military community; so I would encourage everyone to 'depart from the norm' and view it sometime.

Alright, so not to sound too morose (is that the correct usage of the word?), I'll end on a completely unrelated good note. The sunrises and sunsets here continue to be spectacular. Must be all the dust and crud in the air that reflects it just right; unfortunately my camera is too awful to capture it.

Herat trip

Last Wednesday, I traveled to Herat, Afghanistan for a quick (two night) visit. Herat is in western Afghanistan and is where Regional Command (RC) - West is headquartered. RC-West is primarily ran by the Spanish and Italians. At the base, there was also a significant Albanian and Slovakian presence. It's always interesting to see how other countries run an operation (i.e. the Italian espresso stampede at 9am sharp or the Spanish dining hall being open for dinner from 8-9pm (just about past my bedtime)).

I flew out in a Spanish C-295, which is the aircraft in the picture below. It was a pretty short trip (especially compared to the Japan - U.S. flights I'm used to) and we had a short stop in Mazar e Sharif (in RC-North). One thing that was noticed immediately was the cleaner air. Quite a difference from the Kabul crud I'm used to. Another picture below is of one of the sunsets there at Herat. It was also nice to see a full sky of stars, as there's no city or base lights to get in the way (unlike here in Kabul).

The final picture is just a bit of proof that I actually work :) That's a picture of one of the fuel facilities we were there to see ('we' being Leo and I). It's also what I'm supposed to get excited about as part of my job - large, modern 'vertical tank' storage of fuel. Interesting, but still can't shake the feeling of a glorified gas station attendant.

Anyway, I think that's about it for now. These pictures take about 10 minutes each to load, as the wireless Internet in the room is nice, but extremely slow at night when everyone is on.

Another week down

So once again, I realize it's been a long time (a week this time) since my last post. Well, things have been a bit busy and/or I wasn't it the most social mood some of those days.

Anyway...the big news (to me) is that I'm now living in the building instead of the tent. I'll post a picture at the bottom of this post so you can get an idea. I didn't mind the tent by any means, but the building is nice. Each 'bay' has four bunk beds for up to eight people. They've been putting six to seven to each bay. Right now our bay only has two people (a third just came tonight but he should be moving out shortly); so we have lots of room. We also have wireless Internet in this building, so I should get better at posting, answering emails, downloading pictures, etc. We shall see.

We also went down the street to Camp Warehouse the other day. Camp Warehouse is where the Regional Command (RC) Capital Headquarters is located. There are mainly Turkish, French, Macedonian and Georgian soldiers stationed there. We went for a couple meetings (so officially for work), but timed it so we could have lunch at the French dining facility. It was excellent - filet mignon, fresh bread and cheese (of course) and fresh crepes. They 'do it right' there for sure.

The other two pictures on this post is from Camp Warehouse. One of me by a totem pole of signs pointing out various European cities. The other picture is of 'the gang'. From right to left is Bjorn (Norway), Bruno (France), Leo (Dutch), Gordon (UK), Larry (US), Thomas (Germany), Jaap (Dutch) and 'baby Bjorn' (Norway). Our get together doubled as a farewell for Bjorn who leaves tomorrow for Munster, Germany where he's stationed with the Ger/Neth Corps. 'baby Bjorn' is his replacement (I can't understand, let alone pronounce, his name just yet).

It's those good days (enjoying a coffee on the rooftop in the middle of 'less than ideal' conditions) that I really enjoy. There are many bad days (doing stupid stuff or working for a bad boss), but I know I will miss the good days when I leave active duty (in less than six months now!). Anyway, just interesting to me that regardless of nationality or situation, 'soldiers are soldiers', you get along pretty well and make the best of it.

2010 underway

Well, I guess 2010 is well underway by now. Today is officially the last day of the Christmas season (I never knew the '12 Days of Christmas' went this long), so we finally get to take down all of the Christmas decorations. I'm also currently watching the first half of the Iowa game, so hopefully they can pull out a big Orange Bowl win.

I think the only other excitement around here is the ongoing 'billeting migration'. I'm still on schedule to move Saturday out of the tent and into a building. Yea, indoor plumbing!

Lets see....don't feel like writing too much this morning; just one of those days. I did download a few pictures last night. The picture below is a sign that's posted in the 'loo'. A step by step instruction in case you forgot. I am particularly fond of step 3 - don't forget to put some sweat and effort into it!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone out there! I hope everyone celebrated appropriately and wish all the best in 2010. New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful out here. The dining hall did have an excellent dinner, with some nice roast beef and grilled chicken. Then the coffee shop had some music playing, but most people gathered at their 'NSE'. NSE stands for National Support Element. Most countries have a small office space, a few containers or a tent of some sort for personnel from that country to gather. Most of the time it consists of a lounge area, maybe a dart board, music from home playing, etc. However, some are nicer than others, depending on the number of people from that country and, usually, the amount of money that country allots for it. Anyway, if national rules allow it, most NSE serve a bit of alcohol from home as well. So, needless to say, that's where the majority of folks found themselves on New Year's Eve.

Of course the U.S. does not have an NSE and personnel cannot drink alcohol at all while over here. It amazes us that we can spend a whole lot of money on a whole lot of things, but we won't shell out a few hundred dollars to set up a little lounge area where people can relax.

Last night, we went down to a 'Holiday market' of sorts. Basically a few NSEs put on some food and music. The Belgiums, Spanish and Dutch offered up bratwurst, french fries (originated in Belgium), waffles, some Spanish rice medley and drinks. It was a really nice atmosphere, though cold since it was outside. Again, it was amazing to see that three relatively small NSEs put on a little something for the base; something that the U.S. would never think of or be able to do. There's so much paperwork and it's such a process for us to get money we can use to entertain personnel from other countries; it's actually quite embarassing.

Anyway, I think that's about it. I must say that getting access to this computer is getting more difficult, as we have more people in the office and have to share the limited computers. I will try to post about some random things, as I find that if I wait for a 'special occasion' (like New Years) I won't be posting much (as everday is the same here :).