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.