Progress marches on

Camp Blackhorse is still in the middle of its massive expansion. The construction has waned as most of the B-huts are now up and functional, but I have it on good authority that they are going to fire up the virtual bulldozers soon. We are going from about 300 now, to somewhere in the area of 600 by June, and very likely bigger by the end of the summer. It almost has the feel of a booming mining town in the 1800's, if a booming mining town had internet and a gym. Can you imagine how history would have changed if Wild Bill Hickok would have owned a laptop computer and would have been playing solitaire or online poker? He would never have been shot in the back of the head. I digress.

Wooden structures, people you have never seen before, long lines for food and the post office. There are parallels to be drawn from this experience. The only difference is being here early isn't going to make me a millionaire as I don't own any of this property nor do I get to work my claim. The best I get is dirt in my ears, wet socks, and a half hearted thank you on my way out the door. I don't envy those coming after us. I suppose coming in fresh, this situation would not be nearly as bad as described, everything is relative. The ebb and flow of this place only really affects those that never flow out of here.

March. Yup, March. That's all I have to say about that. Actually it's not, so allow me to continue. My birthday is in a few days, 11 to be precise. I have had birthday's away from home before, no big deal. It's another day, and will be that much closer to April which is NEXT month, and that my friends is when our reliefs show up. NEXT MONTH! Doesn't mean I'll leave anytime close to when they get here, but at least they will be here.

It snowed three inches two days ago, and today its probably 65 out. Afghanistan is doing its best to make sure I feel at home by providing me with standard Midwest weather.

Baseball is back and 79 days (plus or minus a couple) until I see it live.

Gary