We have dogs again! Some of the strays that Bob usually feeds found their way inside the walls. They have more or less set up camp out back and haven't left in over a week now! No idea how they got into the camp, but it's two good sized dogs and three puppies. Bob has been doing his part by bringing them food several times a day and encouraging them to stay in the back of camp. Out of sight, out of mind! They have never had it so good, and I doubt they will leave without a fight!
It's been several days since I have woken up to below freezing temperatures and I can't say I am disappointed. My truck is happier, I am happier it's just nice to not go outside and freeze.
A while back the ANA moved a whole bunch of guys onto the ANA side of the base from the training command. We knew at some point, we were going to have to give up the building that the S-6 is in, and that day is approaching rapidly. The last few days I have been working on a plan with them to move our phones and comm systems in a manner that will cause the least disruption. It's a foreign concept to them to plan out a move of this magnitude. They intended on taking it all down, and just putting it up whenever they could. We now have a nice written plan that can actually be followed and will hopefully allow this transition to go a little smoother. The nice thing is that we end up getting an office in the main building now, so we are a little closer to the rest of the action. As it stands, we are off in our own corner of the base, its quiet, but we are out of the loop.
We expect Steve back in the next few days, it will be fun to hear about his adventures down under - of course he will be angry, and that will be fun for Bob and me :)
Happy Birthday Kara!
Gary
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Unfounded rumors I can smile about
I have heard through a couple different sources that our reliefs have left Norfolk and are on their way to start their training! Yeah! We have long talked about how good it will feel to know that there are others identified and moving towards getting here so we can go home. I will have to confirm this rumor and hopefully track down some of the guys destined for Blackhorse before I get too excited, but its a great thought.
Mundane fact for this week: I ran out of Q-tips. This is only significant if you understand where I am coming from, OR you have a burning desire to know way too much about my personal hygiene. See, when I got here, I opened one of those big boxes of Q-tips, and since I only use one everyday after I shower, they deplete rather slowly. For the entire box to be gone is a great thing for the mere fact that it's that much closer to being outta here! I had to open up another huge box, but I have no issues leaving the extras behind! Does anyone else sense a trend with this post?
Gary
Mundane fact for this week: I ran out of Q-tips. This is only significant if you understand where I am coming from, OR you have a burning desire to know way too much about my personal hygiene. See, when I got here, I opened one of those big boxes of Q-tips, and since I only use one everyday after I shower, they deplete rather slowly. For the entire box to be gone is a great thing for the mere fact that it's that much closer to being outta here! I had to open up another huge box, but I have no issues leaving the extras behind! Does anyone else sense a trend with this post?
Gary
Monday, January 22, 2007
Pavlov was a genius
As you know, my truck hasn't started the past few days, 3 in fact. Bob was staying at Blackhorse today, so I borrowed his. Now he warned me before and I've seen it in action about the dogs around the base. Whenever they see him coming, they just barrel towards his truck. See he brings dog bones, beef jerky and whatever else we have laying around that no one wants and feeds the wild dogs. Some of them are puppies that are just incredibly cute so it's fairly easy to want to help. Anyway, because of this, when they see his truck they come a runnin'. I rode with him two days ago and saw it first hand. I thought sure it was because they could see him in the truck and just knew it was him. There are literally hundreds of the EXACT same truck (brown ford pickup's) all over so its not the sight of his vehicle that is causing this. Well in the course of borrowing his truck, I figured I would be dog free because well, I am not him. Shows what I know. As soon as I got near the site where they hang out, they came out of the woodwork. Amazing actually. In driving around a little, I think I figured it out. His brakes squeak, and the place we go, you have to brake to get over a speed bump, and I am sure that they hear that sound and know its him. The have been conditioned to know that when they hear that squeak, they get fed a min or two after. I guess I should have taken some milk bones out with me...I was woefully unprepared.
Speaking of my truck, I FINALLY got it to start today. Managed to jump it once it got above freezing, and it's running as I type this. I want a nice full battery for the morning.
Being as I had a truck again today, I was able to do some errands that I was meaning to do. One of the things I needed to check on was the office that had the power strip plugged in with matches. Was it fixed? Of course not. So, as promised, I took a picture. And then stole the power strip and found them one with a real plug. You can see it here.
I forgot to mention this at the time, but we crossed over the 8 month mark a few days ago. Again, these monthly markers are really helpful and let us know we are making progress.
Gary
Speaking of my truck, I FINALLY got it to start today. Managed to jump it once it got above freezing, and it's running as I type this. I want a nice full battery for the morning.
Being as I had a truck again today, I was able to do some errands that I was meaning to do. One of the things I needed to check on was the office that had the power strip plugged in with matches. Was it fixed? Of course not. So, as promised, I took a picture. And then stole the power strip and found them one with a real plug. You can see it here.
I forgot to mention this at the time, but we crossed over the 8 month mark a few days ago. Again, these monthly markers are really helpful and let us know we are making progress.
Gary
Saturday, January 20, 2007
January in Kabul
It was exceptionally cold this morning, more so than it has been any day since I have been back. All of our trucks are diesel engines and obviously sit outside all day and night. Starting in the morning is an adventure at best, but to date, my truck had always worked it out. Today my truck politely declined and I was forced to get a ride to work. I spent an an hour and a half in the afternoon once it had warmed up to a balmy 15 degrees, and tried to jump it. No go. It gave me false hope a few times by actually turning over, but in the end, I was in no better shape than this morning. This doesn't bode well for tomorrow morning.
I have resumed my workout schedule and since I hadn't been in the gym for the three weeks while traveling and on leave, my body wasn't quite used to the strain. My thighs and I have not been on speaking terms for the last 3 days. I walk around like someone shot me in the legs...its sad and irritating all at the same time.
Steve, my roommate, is on leave and finally made it to Australia a couple days ago. It's summer down there so I am quite certain he is enjoying himself. Bastard.
I walked around with Zak today and found an office that had a power strip plugged in. Similar to the situation months ago, it was just 2 bare wires jammed into a wall, but this time, they kept it interesting by keeping the wires in place with wooden matches. The explanation? It's Afghanistan. I guess the combination of fuel, oxygen and heat doesn't produce fires in central Asian countries. They have promised to fix it, if not, I'll try to get pictures before I take it out myself.
I have resumed my workout schedule and since I hadn't been in the gym for the three weeks while traveling and on leave, my body wasn't quite used to the strain. My thighs and I have not been on speaking terms for the last 3 days. I walk around like someone shot me in the legs...its sad and irritating all at the same time.
Steve, my roommate, is on leave and finally made it to Australia a couple days ago. It's summer down there so I am quite certain he is enjoying himself. Bastard.
I walked around with Zak today and found an office that had a power strip plugged in. Similar to the situation months ago, it was just 2 bare wires jammed into a wall, but this time, they kept it interesting by keeping the wires in place with wooden matches. The explanation? It's Afghanistan. I guess the combination of fuel, oxygen and heat doesn't produce fires in central Asian countries. They have promised to fix it, if not, I'll try to get pictures before I take it out myself.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Ahoy
The water in our bathroom smells like diesel fuel.
On the plus? side, it reminds me of shipboard life.
On the plus? side, it reminds me of shipboard life.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The Mongol Horde
For some unknown reason, the Mongolians have landed at Blackhorse. A couple days ago, about 30 or so showed up and other than going EVERYWHERE together, we haven't figured what they are doing here. They don't speak English, and don't go to work everyday, so we haven't quite worked out why exactly they are here. All I do know is that in the mornings the bathroom is filled with them, then in the afternoons they fill the computer/phone room and for some reason always shower in packs as well. Pretty much at this point as soon as I see one, I just go the other way because damn if there aren't 15 more just like him around the corner. They are nice enough but such is life.
An update on the phone situation, and a GOOD update. I talked to the Marine who is charge of the mentoring for the Corps level ANA, and he made some phone calls to the contractor. Not only did they come out, but they came out the next day! Just to make sure it wasn't perfect, I was told 8am, and they didn't arrive until almost 11, but they did come, hooked all my phones up and we are now on the grid! I am absolutely shocked.
The weather has been better during the day here, almost pleasant. I figure in another month or so, winter will be wrapping up here, although I really don't look forward to the mud. There is so much dirt here that when all this snow thaws, its just going to be a muddy mess. I am also fairly thankful that it's staying light past 5pm now...for a while there by 430 it was dark. Depressing to be cold, and in Afghanistan on top of being dark well before dinner.
Gary
An update on the phone situation, and a GOOD update. I talked to the Marine who is charge of the mentoring for the Corps level ANA, and he made some phone calls to the contractor. Not only did they come out, but they came out the next day! Just to make sure it wasn't perfect, I was told 8am, and they didn't arrive until almost 11, but they did come, hooked all my phones up and we are now on the grid! I am absolutely shocked.
The weather has been better during the day here, almost pleasant. I figure in another month or so, winter will be wrapping up here, although I really don't look forward to the mud. There is so much dirt here that when all this snow thaws, its just going to be a muddy mess. I am also fairly thankful that it's staying light past 5pm now...for a while there by 430 it was dark. Depressing to be cold, and in Afghanistan on top of being dark well before dinner.
Gary
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Back to work
I got back to work a couple days ago, and thought I would share some of the fun.
My first day back was pretty boring. I was highly un-motivated and really just needed to go in to get into the swing of things. I spent most of the day just socializing with the ANA and talking about my trip and how everything went. I guess it wasn't a complete wasted day because sitting around drinking tea and socializing is a big part of their culture. Regardless, I powered through it and I think now I am back into the groove with them. They lapsed a little bit on some things I had them doing on their own, but all in all, I was pretty impressed with what they had done without my prodding everyday.
One of the big issues I left when I went home was the phone and internet installations. I have been told for months by the contractor that it was to be finalized on the 13th of December. So much for that. I left on the 17th with no sign of it being completed. Well, I have been asked a few times about it so today we went on an expedition to discover what exactly is going on. What I ended up discovering is that they phone install was "completed" while I was gone. We have two main buildings here that were to be wired, and each office was supposed to get a phone. What ended up happening was the contractor decided to wire every phone he had for the Garrison in one building - in this case the medical clinic. When I counted today, I found 44 phones in a building with about 40 total rooms. Some of those rooms are storage closets, bathrooms etc. Some of these rooms had 2 phones within 3 feet of each other, and each hospital bed (with no patients) had its own phone. This was not a wide spread install - it was supposed to be for the main offices only and the front desk, and the rest were supposed to go to the head Garrison building. I told the medical officer a short, angry little man with a cigarette constantly in his mouth that I was taking most of his phones and he threw a mini tantrum. Fortunately for me, I am 8 inches taller, and have a gun. Once I "calmly" explained the situation he was on board and was willing to drop down to his original allotment of phones. Side note: It's pretty funny to see the medical officer smoking in the clinic and in exam rooms while with a patient. Surreal almost. There is no resolution to this issue yet. The contractor is gone, and the main building isn't wired. I have a feeling I am going to be learning how to wire this phone system myself. Fun.
Gary's mundane fact of the week ** - I have changed boots! I brought two pair with me and my first pair I had worn for the first 8 months. I thought it was time to break out the new ones, which as a double bonus are Gortex lined so they should keep my feet warm now that winter is in full force. Hooray Boots!
** - Gary's mundane fact of the week may or may not appear every week, and may or may not be mundane. Gary holds all rights to cancel the mundane fact of the week without prior notice.
Gary
My first day back was pretty boring. I was highly un-motivated and really just needed to go in to get into the swing of things. I spent most of the day just socializing with the ANA and talking about my trip and how everything went. I guess it wasn't a complete wasted day because sitting around drinking tea and socializing is a big part of their culture. Regardless, I powered through it and I think now I am back into the groove with them. They lapsed a little bit on some things I had them doing on their own, but all in all, I was pretty impressed with what they had done without my prodding everyday.
One of the big issues I left when I went home was the phone and internet installations. I have been told for months by the contractor that it was to be finalized on the 13th of December. So much for that. I left on the 17th with no sign of it being completed. Well, I have been asked a few times about it so today we went on an expedition to discover what exactly is going on. What I ended up discovering is that they phone install was "completed" while I was gone. We have two main buildings here that were to be wired, and each office was supposed to get a phone. What ended up happening was the contractor decided to wire every phone he had for the Garrison in one building - in this case the medical clinic. When I counted today, I found 44 phones in a building with about 40 total rooms. Some of those rooms are storage closets, bathrooms etc. Some of these rooms had 2 phones within 3 feet of each other, and each hospital bed (with no patients) had its own phone. This was not a wide spread install - it was supposed to be for the main offices only and the front desk, and the rest were supposed to go to the head Garrison building. I told the medical officer a short, angry little man with a cigarette constantly in his mouth that I was taking most of his phones and he threw a mini tantrum. Fortunately for me, I am 8 inches taller, and have a gun. Once I "calmly" explained the situation he was on board and was willing to drop down to his original allotment of phones. Side note: It's pretty funny to see the medical officer smoking in the clinic and in exam rooms while with a patient. Surreal almost. There is no resolution to this issue yet. The contractor is gone, and the main building isn't wired. I have a feeling I am going to be learning how to wire this phone system myself. Fun.
Gary's mundane fact of the week ** - I have changed boots! I brought two pair with me and my first pair I had worn for the first 8 months. I thought it was time to break out the new ones, which as a double bonus are Gortex lined so they should keep my feet warm now that winter is in full force. Hooray Boots!
** - Gary's mundane fact of the week may or may not appear every week, and may or may not be mundane. Gary holds all rights to cancel the mundane fact of the week without prior notice.
Gary
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Happy New Year!
I am back! First of all, Happy New Year, I hope all of you had a great time over the holiday season.
In case you hadn't noticed, I haven't written in damn near a month. It wasn't exactly planned, but I figured it would be a sparse month as I was heading HOME on leave! I try not to discuss my intended movements, I like to talk about things that occurred in the past. Bad things can be avoided by talking about the past rather than future when it comes to movements.
Either way, I left Blackhorse on the 17th of Dec, two days before my flight because I wanted to ensure I could get to Bagram if the roads went black. I had a couple of days to kill in Bagram, which gets back to living like a transient out of a bag and I hate that. All in all, its amazing what you can put up with to go home though! My flight went off as scheduled on the 19th, and I arrived in Kuwait for the next step of my trip at about midnight. They put us through a couple briefs, and had us go to the travel agent to get our tickets arranged, and around 2am they cut us loose to go to bed. We had to be back at 7am to get more briefs, and pick up our tickets, and fix any paperwork issues that would crop up. Fortunately I had no issues and was released again until mid afternoon when we went into LOCKDOWN! It sounds scary, and it is prison-esque as they lock us in a compound. You have to go through customs and get rid of all contra-band, and then just hang out for about 6 hours until it was time to leave. Later that night we boarded a bus, and took a 2 hour ride to Kuwait International to fly out heading to Atlanta. I think the flight left around 10pm and at some awful time of the morning and 5 hours of flying later we landed in Hahn/Frankfurt airport in Germany. This was merely a fuel stop, as we were only there about 2 hours. Back on the plane we took the rest of the trip (10 hours) to Atlanta and arrived around 730am. With all the flying and all the time changes, I really had no idea what time my body thought it was, but it was sunny, 8am and I was in the States! Another little note: In Atlanta as we all left the plane and headed to the baggage area, there were large groups of people who stood up and clapped for us. It was really nice, and humbling and almost embarrassing. I also had several people stop me and thank me for what we are doing here. It's nice to know that the general populace appreciates what we are doing, as the news I read isn't always that positive.
I finally made it back to St. Louis around noon, and started my 2 weeks home. It was great to see family and friends again, and to be able to eat real food, and drive in my car without a helmet and body armor. It's amazing how fast you can snap back into real life, in fact I think in my case it took all of 25 minutes. I got to spend Christmas, and New Years at home, which was really nice as I have been deployed for those before and it's lousy. I flew back out of St. Louis on the 6th of Jan, and did that same nightmarish trip in reverse.
Not as patient this time as I was heading to Afghanistan vice home, the trip wasn't nearly as fun! 3 days after I left, almost to the hour, I arrived back here at Blackhorse. Not too many physical changes, except the 8 inches of snow on the ground, but all sorts of little stuff changed either with the ANA Garrison, and our Navy command in general so I have all that to sort out. It's nice to be back though, I really despise living out of bag, and in dirty tents.
So, here I sit, back in Afghanistan, but only looking at 4 months to go until I am back for good. Much better feeling than when I first arrived, not knowing where I was going, what I was going to do, and knowing it would consume the next 12 months of my life.
Gary
In case you hadn't noticed, I haven't written in damn near a month. It wasn't exactly planned, but I figured it would be a sparse month as I was heading HOME on leave! I try not to discuss my intended movements, I like to talk about things that occurred in the past. Bad things can be avoided by talking about the past rather than future when it comes to movements.
Either way, I left Blackhorse on the 17th of Dec, two days before my flight because I wanted to ensure I could get to Bagram if the roads went black. I had a couple of days to kill in Bagram, which gets back to living like a transient out of a bag and I hate that. All in all, its amazing what you can put up with to go home though! My flight went off as scheduled on the 19th, and I arrived in Kuwait for the next step of my trip at about midnight. They put us through a couple briefs, and had us go to the travel agent to get our tickets arranged, and around 2am they cut us loose to go to bed. We had to be back at 7am to get more briefs, and pick up our tickets, and fix any paperwork issues that would crop up. Fortunately I had no issues and was released again until mid afternoon when we went into LOCKDOWN! It sounds scary, and it is prison-esque as they lock us in a compound. You have to go through customs and get rid of all contra-band, and then just hang out for about 6 hours until it was time to leave. Later that night we boarded a bus, and took a 2 hour ride to Kuwait International to fly out heading to Atlanta. I think the flight left around 10pm and at some awful time of the morning and 5 hours of flying later we landed in Hahn/Frankfurt airport in Germany. This was merely a fuel stop, as we were only there about 2 hours. Back on the plane we took the rest of the trip (10 hours) to Atlanta and arrived around 730am. With all the flying and all the time changes, I really had no idea what time my body thought it was, but it was sunny, 8am and I was in the States! Another little note: In Atlanta as we all left the plane and headed to the baggage area, there were large groups of people who stood up and clapped for us. It was really nice, and humbling and almost embarrassing. I also had several people stop me and thank me for what we are doing here. It's nice to know that the general populace appreciates what we are doing, as the news I read isn't always that positive.
I finally made it back to St. Louis around noon, and started my 2 weeks home. It was great to see family and friends again, and to be able to eat real food, and drive in my car without a helmet and body armor. It's amazing how fast you can snap back into real life, in fact I think in my case it took all of 25 minutes. I got to spend Christmas, and New Years at home, which was really nice as I have been deployed for those before and it's lousy. I flew back out of St. Louis on the 6th of Jan, and did that same nightmarish trip in reverse.
Not as patient this time as I was heading to Afghanistan vice home, the trip wasn't nearly as fun! 3 days after I left, almost to the hour, I arrived back here at Blackhorse. Not too many physical changes, except the 8 inches of snow on the ground, but all sorts of little stuff changed either with the ANA Garrison, and our Navy command in general so I have all that to sort out. It's nice to be back though, I really despise living out of bag, and in dirty tents.
So, here I sit, back in Afghanistan, but only looking at 4 months to go until I am back for good. Much better feeling than when I first arrived, not knowing where I was going, what I was going to do, and knowing it would consume the next 12 months of my life.
Gary
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