Kabul

Well, since I have at least a week here in Kabul before heading to my final spot, I get to take in the wonders of Kabul and Camp Phoenix, where you get all your minerals in one breath. As we jumped on our armored bus (called a Rhino) and started on our way out the gate toward the camp, it really hits you that you're in a war zone.

I know I wasn't the only person on that bus with their head on a swivel and getting stressed every time the convoy would slow down. It really is poor here. The camp was only a couple of miles from the airfield, but the entire way you're looking for suspicious activity. Afghans have long since learned to stay out of the way of the convoy and it showed. When we turned one corner, no car dared to try and get in between our cars. Children lined the streets, some waving, some staring. Most were wearing their traditional clothing but some had on t-shirts with random graphics. One teenager even had on a very bright purple chiffon looking shirt with popped collars that was out of place amidst the craters and crude mud houses along the street. But business is business. I saw a car sales lot named NO LEMONS, and a sign to match the name (a lemon with a circle and line through it). And these people are ingenious; for a security fence, the lot had normal mud-brick walls about 9 feet high, but when it was made the owner inserted broken glass into the top of the wet mud while it dried. Anyone trying to climb it at night would be in for a sore morning.

Anyway, these people burn every kind of waste they create and there is actually a curtain of smog surrounding the city. Good for me, I won't be here the entire year. I'll be headed to a location far enough away that the smog won't really affect us.

Today we are voluntelling a few people to go on a convoy to get our luggage. Now, convoys are dangerous. And we're gonna send people on one to get luggage. Why? Because it never made it on our plane for some reason. Ben please do something with your airmates or whatever you call each other.

So I'm just 'dwelling' again until we can do our indoc class and then I can finally get started. Bad news is, I have nothing to do, good news is, the clock is ticking into my boots on ground (BOG) date. It's a fair trade I suppose, just seems like a waste of money for the Navy to send me here to sit around for 2 weeks doing nothing. I'm ready to work.

Actually, looking back and remembering '07 deployment, the Navy gets their work out of you. I calculated my pay for 2007 and the amount of hours worked and it was around 17 cents an hour. But at least I got that 17 cents for every hour I slept, too. Sleeping DOES pay off...just not much.