If you really want to call it that anyway. Everyone wants to leave a stamp on the place they worked or had an effect, I suppose. I think mine will be trees. There's all this construction going on, expanding the student and staff areas of this base and even though I've oversaw it happening from the start, the project was really started last year, before I got here. So it's not really mine.
I got an idea from an Afghan National Army (ANA) Lieutenant Colonel today. He said we should plant trees around the base. I'm gonna make it my mission to plant fruit trees around this base before I leave. Something nice to look at, provide some shade, and make some fruit for everyone here as well.
I've sponsored an Afghan for citizenship. He's 21 and he's probably the hardest worker I know. And respectful but man is he smart. This kid is amazing. He should be getting his Visa before too long and I'm proud to be his sponsor. My plan is to really mentor him and help him get situated, especially considering the culture shock he's bound to have. His brother, who he will go stay with, lives in New York right now, but they may move south since he has a young child and they are concerned about the cold weather. That would work out well for my plans. I really see this kid as a positive addition to our country. He's bound to make up for a few of the turds in the states.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Return of the Ching
Well, I'm back off leave now and freezing my nether regions off. Good news is, I will be getting paid as an O-3 starting the 15th. It sort of eases the pain of having to buy my second laptop while here.
The one I brought with, an HP, had heat management issues and I suppose the GPU became 'solder-adverse' as I prefer to call it. So I bought another one while here which promptly (as in 3 months, which to me is promptly) had hard-drive functionality problems. I called it 'operating system-adverse.' In any case, I'm here and not having a blazing fast laptop allows me to focus more on my work. And as we all know, that makes a happy Riley. So does speaking of myself in the 3rd person.
Noticed a big change in how I view the world while I was home. For one, it was difficult for me to relax at first. Partly because I knew that I would have to come back here for 4 more months. It keeps you from being able to enjoy it to the fullest knowing your trip back will suck (it made baby Jesus cry). Then add into that the fact that you're coming from a war zone where you're basically looking at every car you see as "this might be the big one."
I mean, what do I care if I get blown up, right? If it happens, it's over...done, finit. The only reason I care is because I don't want everyone to be upset and sad. I don't want to leave Lisa without me, wondering what could have been. I know when I get back this will fade with time, the traffic scanning I mean. But truthfully, I can say now that it will always be there, under the surface. Part of me figures it's ridiculous since I've never even been in combat and probably won't be, but I know that's not the point, now is it? It's the knowing that that big one is out there, lurking. It's all about that possibility of the big boom (which, by the way, I can feel them go off if they're within a few miles).
But anyway, enough doom and gloom. The advantage of being on a small base is that you stay so busy you don't have time to wonder about that crap until you're in the car driving around. And at that point you're just cracking jokes. It's a weird sense of calm interlaced with that knowing what could happen any moment. And going back to my view of the world, my message to everyone back home:
Don't sweat the stupid crap...and I'll talk more about that later.
The one I brought with, an HP, had heat management issues and I suppose the GPU became 'solder-adverse' as I prefer to call it. So I bought another one while here which promptly (as in 3 months, which to me is promptly) had hard-drive functionality problems. I called it 'operating system-adverse.' In any case, I'm here and not having a blazing fast laptop allows me to focus more on my work. And as we all know, that makes a happy Riley. So does speaking of myself in the 3rd person.
Noticed a big change in how I view the world while I was home. For one, it was difficult for me to relax at first. Partly because I knew that I would have to come back here for 4 more months. It keeps you from being able to enjoy it to the fullest knowing your trip back will suck (it made baby Jesus cry). Then add into that the fact that you're coming from a war zone where you're basically looking at every car you see as "this might be the big one."
I mean, what do I care if I get blown up, right? If it happens, it's over...done, finit. The only reason I care is because I don't want everyone to be upset and sad. I don't want to leave Lisa without me, wondering what could have been. I know when I get back this will fade with time, the traffic scanning I mean. But truthfully, I can say now that it will always be there, under the surface. Part of me figures it's ridiculous since I've never even been in combat and probably won't be, but I know that's not the point, now is it? It's the knowing that that big one is out there, lurking. It's all about that possibility of the big boom (which, by the way, I can feel them go off if they're within a few miles).
But anyway, enough doom and gloom. The advantage of being on a small base is that you stay so busy you don't have time to wonder about that crap until you're in the car driving around. And at that point you're just cracking jokes. It's a weird sense of calm interlaced with that knowing what could happen any moment. And going back to my view of the world, my message to everyone back home:
Don't sweat the stupid crap...and I'll talk more about that later.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Where is my mind?
Four months now and 7 to go. The days are running together. In OCS we had a saying, "The days are long, but the weeks are short." That's to a T how it happens here. I count my weeks off by Fridays, and my days off by my conversations with Lisa.
There's been alot of civilian activity here lately. The embassy folks like to come here and discuss counterinsurgency all night over a campfire. Quite a few are dressed like hippies, so it quickly becomes, in my mind, a Kumbaya-Woodstock collaboration. Not that I'm against peace and all that, just that this is a military base. But hey, what the colonel wants...
My NCOs have seen some scary things the past few weeks, especially before the elections. They saw a guy shooting an RPG in the middle of town between them and another convoy. They were outside another base when an VBIED went off outside the gate. They missed it by minutes. And they were about 20 minutes from a location when another VBIED went off. We've gotten some lucky breaks here lately, I hope it continues.
My usually very adept team of Navy supply officers (myself and Tracy) has been a Navy of One lately. She's on leave, which, I feel, is an appropriate term. "Leave." Let it roll off your tongue. That's what she did....left me with a ton of work! This job is alot harder for one person, so I'm not sure how she did it over the 3 months before I got here (I am spectacular, by the way). Anyway, when she comes back, I'm disappearing for a few days so I can have a break from how crazy such a small base can be at times.
New laptop is here and works well. I had to uninstall all the useless drivel HP has pre-installed on every computer they make. Crap that takes up space and does very little. That's their software as far as I can tell. I'm also feeling much better after two bouts with sickness, one involving a temperature of 102 with vomit, and the other a temperature of 96.9 with dysentery. Yay Afghanistan!
There's been alot of civilian activity here lately. The embassy folks like to come here and discuss counterinsurgency all night over a campfire. Quite a few are dressed like hippies, so it quickly becomes, in my mind, a Kumbaya-Woodstock collaboration. Not that I'm against peace and all that, just that this is a military base. But hey, what the colonel wants...
My NCOs have seen some scary things the past few weeks, especially before the elections. They saw a guy shooting an RPG in the middle of town between them and another convoy. They were outside another base when an VBIED went off outside the gate. They missed it by minutes. And they were about 20 minutes from a location when another VBIED went off. We've gotten some lucky breaks here lately, I hope it continues.
My usually very adept team of Navy supply officers (myself and Tracy) has been a Navy of One lately. She's on leave, which, I feel, is an appropriate term. "Leave." Let it roll off your tongue. That's what she did....left me with a ton of work! This job is alot harder for one person, so I'm not sure how she did it over the 3 months before I got here (I am spectacular, by the way). Anyway, when she comes back, I'm disappearing for a few days so I can have a break from how crazy such a small base can be at times.
New laptop is here and works well. I had to uninstall all the useless drivel HP has pre-installed on every computer they make. Crap that takes up space and does very little. That's their software as far as I can tell. I'm also feeling much better after two bouts with sickness, one involving a temperature of 102 with vomit, and the other a temperature of 96.9 with dysentery. Yay Afghanistan!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Fridays are the new Monday
We're supposed to have a slow day on Fridays. I can only think of maybe 2 Fridays so far that have been remotely slow and today was NOT one of them. I'm driving an SUV through Kabul thinking "Well, at least I'm not just sleeping late and enjoying a nice day off like most of the staff here is...."
I'm delusional, but it keeps me sane. I'd also go into a rant about some of the people that I have to deal with, but this is the internet. Which means that before I could finish typing this and hitting publish, someone here would hear about it.
But aside from the usual hustle, things are at least in a battle rhythm. I'm gonna try to start going to some Dari classes our interpreters give every morning now that I'm comfortable with my job. Also found out that the person I'm relieving may be here til December now, which is great cause we can kinda split the duties a little.
Elections are coming up, so I expect things to get hotter here (and I don't mean the weather). I just bought more stuff yesterday at the shops up on the hill. My room is starting to look like a central asian museum. There's a turkish made rug on the floor, persian pillowcases hanging on my afghan made desk, some things made in Pakistan for deco. And then there's me, a southern boy in the middle of it all who says things like "howdy" and "ya'll."
And we can't forget to mention my bottle of Febreeze for my convoy clothes. My set of ACUs that smell pretty freakin bad cause I sweat like a pig under my armor (pretty much everyone does). I refuse to wash them more than once a week cause they'll just smell bad again, so I Febreeze them. They still stand on their own, often times frightening me at night, but it keeps me from getting annoyed because yet another set of ACUs are nasty.
I'm delusional, but it keeps me sane. I'd also go into a rant about some of the people that I have to deal with, but this is the internet. Which means that before I could finish typing this and hitting publish, someone here would hear about it.
But aside from the usual hustle, things are at least in a battle rhythm. I'm gonna try to start going to some Dari classes our interpreters give every morning now that I'm comfortable with my job. Also found out that the person I'm relieving may be here til December now, which is great cause we can kinda split the duties a little.
Elections are coming up, so I expect things to get hotter here (and I don't mean the weather). I just bought more stuff yesterday at the shops up on the hill. My room is starting to look like a central asian museum. There's a turkish made rug on the floor, persian pillowcases hanging on my afghan made desk, some things made in Pakistan for deco. And then there's me, a southern boy in the middle of it all who says things like "howdy" and "ya'll."
And we can't forget to mention my bottle of Febreeze for my convoy clothes. My set of ACUs that smell pretty freakin bad cause I sweat like a pig under my armor (pretty much everyone does). I refuse to wash them more than once a week cause they'll just smell bad again, so I Febreeze them. They still stand on their own, often times frightening me at night, but it keeps me from getting annoyed because yet another set of ACUs are nasty.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Got me some packages!
I truly enjoy coming back from convoy to find packages and letters sitting on my desk. Frickin awesome! And I've gotten quite a few lately. I got the one from you, Dad, nice stuff in there, I'm actually eating some of those snacks right now. I also got one from Nana and Papa with the biscuits, which were quite delicious. And the coffee came in from Boca Java, thanks Mom! I wrote everyone on the list of emails to say thanks.
And of course Lisa, thank you for the cookies and chocolate covered coffee beans, please continue that trend as it certainly makes my day bearable. I've begun to mimic my dear mother's habit of shopping for hours on end. Small difference being that I do my shopping at the local shops up the hill and buy stuff for prices that would make most American women drool. And its nice stuff usually. The greatest part is them not minding you bargaining with them. Try that at Sears.
Last couple of days have been kinda slow, so I've been getting in earlier than before. It's become apparent that if I leave about 1400 or so, take a nap, then come back, the 2100-2200 nights aren't so bad. Tonight was much earlier though, 1900.
I bought some "Man-jams" from one of our local guys that is a vendor here. I look pretty suave in them, kinda like a handsome ninja.....I have another guy making me a vest for it as well, pinstripe at that. He's studying to be a tailor, and he does good work. Do I need a vest? No, of course not. Am I gonna wear it? Probably!
We recently had a bunch of big-wigs here for a few days. Several generals, some local government officials, the ambassador, and some EUPOL guys. It was the T3C, Train the Trainer Conference (don't ask me who the witty guy that came up with T3C was). It was pretty cool, but it exhausted me. Lots of running around making sure people had what they needed, picking up the generals from the helipad, greeting people when they came in (I'm the visits officer), and just general "What can I do for you, sir?" stuff. It was rewarding in its own way, but I'm glad it's over!
I'm sure you've heard about the missing guy by now. Not sure what you guys heard, but from where I'm standing he's gonna land himself in a lot of trouble with what he's said on tape. Also, I'm not sure why he was walking off base by himself with no weapon or armor....sounds kinda fishy to me, but we'll see what comes of it.
This place has been fairly quiet. I went down to the front gate of the ANA complex here to pick up a catalog from a vendor and the guard on the way to the gate (there's two gates) offered me some chai, their standard drink of choice. I accepted, mostly because he was smiling and shoved it in my hand, and told him I would be right back to sit with him. Not entirely sure why I told him that, because he didn't understand that at all. I went and got my catalog, spoke with the front gate guards a bit, then ventured back to the original gate to sit with the one who had so politely offered me tea. Upon arrival I was offered a chair, where I sat and .... stared at them, while they stared at me. No translator. It's kinda fun though, trying to understand. And they're so relaxed, shoes off, barefeet in uniform with cups of chai. I think they were just happy to have had the chance to be hospitable with me. It is in their nature to be hospitable and I find myself waving to everyone and actually getting a response. And now that I can greet, say "Good morning" and "how are you", "I am fine, thank you", "how is your health?" they tend to smile at me more.
Chai tastes basically like our tea to be honest, but they make it with the leaves directly in the water, so when you pour it, there's leaves in your drink. Or parts of leaves.
I know I keep saying I'll post pics and I don't, it's cause I keep forgetting to bring my camera back to my room. I do have one pic of local 'traffic' I have to post here so everyone can see how bad it COULD be in the states :) Okay, I'm out for now
And of course Lisa, thank you for the cookies and chocolate covered coffee beans, please continue that trend as it certainly makes my day bearable. I've begun to mimic my dear mother's habit of shopping for hours on end. Small difference being that I do my shopping at the local shops up the hill and buy stuff for prices that would make most American women drool. And its nice stuff usually. The greatest part is them not minding you bargaining with them. Try that at Sears.
Last couple of days have been kinda slow, so I've been getting in earlier than before. It's become apparent that if I leave about 1400 or so, take a nap, then come back, the 2100-2200 nights aren't so bad. Tonight was much earlier though, 1900.
I bought some "Man-jams" from one of our local guys that is a vendor here. I look pretty suave in them, kinda like a handsome ninja.....I have another guy making me a vest for it as well, pinstripe at that. He's studying to be a tailor, and he does good work. Do I need a vest? No, of course not. Am I gonna wear it? Probably!
We recently had a bunch of big-wigs here for a few days. Several generals, some local government officials, the ambassador, and some EUPOL guys. It was the T3C, Train the Trainer Conference (don't ask me who the witty guy that came up with T3C was). It was pretty cool, but it exhausted me. Lots of running around making sure people had what they needed, picking up the generals from the helipad, greeting people when they came in (I'm the visits officer), and just general "What can I do for you, sir?" stuff. It was rewarding in its own way, but I'm glad it's over!
I'm sure you've heard about the missing guy by now. Not sure what you guys heard, but from where I'm standing he's gonna land himself in a lot of trouble with what he's said on tape. Also, I'm not sure why he was walking off base by himself with no weapon or armor....sounds kinda fishy to me, but we'll see what comes of it.
This place has been fairly quiet. I went down to the front gate of the ANA complex here to pick up a catalog from a vendor and the guard on the way to the gate (there's two gates) offered me some chai, their standard drink of choice. I accepted, mostly because he was smiling and shoved it in my hand, and told him I would be right back to sit with him. Not entirely sure why I told him that, because he didn't understand that at all. I went and got my catalog, spoke with the front gate guards a bit, then ventured back to the original gate to sit with the one who had so politely offered me tea. Upon arrival I was offered a chair, where I sat and .... stared at them, while they stared at me. No translator. It's kinda fun though, trying to understand. And they're so relaxed, shoes off, barefeet in uniform with cups of chai. I think they were just happy to have had the chance to be hospitable with me. It is in their nature to be hospitable and I find myself waving to everyone and actually getting a response. And now that I can greet, say "Good morning" and "how are you", "I am fine, thank you", "how is your health?" they tend to smile at me more.
Chai tastes basically like our tea to be honest, but they make it with the leaves directly in the water, so when you pour it, there's leaves in your drink. Or parts of leaves.
I know I keep saying I'll post pics and I don't, it's cause I keep forgetting to bring my camera back to my room. I do have one pic of local 'traffic' I have to post here so everyone can see how bad it COULD be in the states :) Okay, I'm out for now
Monday, July 13, 2009
Got me some internet
Well, the internet is finally working again! I say working again, but truthfully, it went down because we went from a pay service to a government-pays service. Thank you to my hard working American people for my slow, but free, internet!
The contractors that came out to hook it up actually made us provide a router to make their internet connection work. Which is ridiculous because I'm sure it's in their statement of work to provide all the materials necessary, but the colonel gets what the colonel wants!
In any case, we've been so busy that the internet has been an afterthought, except for skype and the ability to talk to people. It started working last night, and I got in around 2130. I walked in, plugged it up, started up my browser and saw Google come up. I said "Cool, internet," and went to bed. There's alot of cool things going on that's been keeping me busy. I will go into more detail once it's over, what with OPSEC and all. Just happy to be out of the 2100-2230 meeting tonight. Sheesh!
I've gotten quite a few packages now, and I've beginning to be the envy of the office! Keep those coming and I'll keep the gifts flowing back to the states :) Love you guys, will write more later. I have to go find my pillow from between my eyelids.
The contractors that came out to hook it up actually made us provide a router to make their internet connection work. Which is ridiculous because I'm sure it's in their statement of work to provide all the materials necessary, but the colonel gets what the colonel wants!
In any case, we've been so busy that the internet has been an afterthought, except for skype and the ability to talk to people. It started working last night, and I got in around 2130. I walked in, plugged it up, started up my browser and saw Google come up. I said "Cool, internet," and went to bed. There's alot of cool things going on that's been keeping me busy. I will go into more detail once it's over, what with OPSEC and all. Just happy to be out of the 2100-2230 meeting tonight. Sheesh!
I've gotten quite a few packages now, and I've beginning to be the envy of the office! Keep those coming and I'll keep the gifts flowing back to the states :) Love you guys, will write more later. I have to go find my pillow from between my eyelids.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Guns and mo guns!
Double whammy today everyone. Why? Cause I got to shoot lots of guns today!
The counter narcotic guys on base here wanted to say thanks for all the work we had done getting them their own latrine. These guys go out all the time and do poppy eradication, which includes pissing off certain people that make money from it (read: Taliban). So we did what we could to help those guys out, and they let us shoot off their old rounds.
List of weapons I shot today:
.50 Cal from a turret
MK19 Grenade Launcher, from a turret
AK-47
M249 and M240 - I got to shoot the M249 standing up and holding it like a rifle
M203 - M16 mounted grenade launcher
and my personal favorite, the .50 cal sniper rifle!
Hooyah! The MK19 was crazy. It has automatic fire which I used to light up a tank target about 400m away. Thrilling. Only word I can think of to describe that feeling of firing off 5 rounds and then watching your target light up about 6 seconds later with several loud thuds that you feel in your ribcage. I was pretty accurate considering, scored a bunch of direct hits.
The .50 cal sniper rifle, you don't hear it so much as feel it. It just reverberates through your body. If you're wondering what this rifle looks like, watch the redone S.W.A.T movie and it's the gun the bad guy shoots the chopper with. A .50 cal round DEVESTATES whatever it hits. Depleted uranium does the dirty work.
The M203 is a fun weapon, mostly cause you hold like Rambo. Also because I shot it at about a 45 degree angle and watched it fly about 150m into the air, then fall down and explode. Lightin up berms in Afghanistan.
The AK-47 kicks alot more than the M16, in my opinion. Took me a minute to figure it out, but I can see why it's so effective. The thing fires even with heavy abuse. Too bad it isn't terribly accurate past 200m or so. Well, too bad for them, good for us!
We also got to drive the MRAP today. Mine Resistant Ambush Protected. Basically an armored bobtail with an armored carriage on the back for troop transport. Has push button gear shifting, which, might I add, is amazing considering this thing is at least 10' tall and bulletproof.
Anyway, not much to add to that...it was awesome, got some videos, pics, memories, etc. I also got video of two local kids that came up to collect our brass, the spent shell casings. They kept asking me for a biscuit. It was weird, especially since I told them over and over I didn't have a freakin biscuit. When they asked for a dollar I just got annoyed. I understand it though, they're poor.
What struck me so much was how they were so young, but their faces looked like they were 40. I mean, they had childlike features, but those features appeared to have been eroded by sand and hunger for so long that nothing was left but age.
The counter narcotic guys on base here wanted to say thanks for all the work we had done getting them their own latrine. These guys go out all the time and do poppy eradication, which includes pissing off certain people that make money from it (read: Taliban). So we did what we could to help those guys out, and they let us shoot off their old rounds.
List of weapons I shot today:
.50 Cal from a turret
MK19 Grenade Launcher, from a turret
AK-47
M249 and M240 - I got to shoot the M249 standing up and holding it like a rifle
M203 - M16 mounted grenade launcher
and my personal favorite, the .50 cal sniper rifle!
Hooyah! The MK19 was crazy. It has automatic fire which I used to light up a tank target about 400m away. Thrilling. Only word I can think of to describe that feeling of firing off 5 rounds and then watching your target light up about 6 seconds later with several loud thuds that you feel in your ribcage. I was pretty accurate considering, scored a bunch of direct hits.
The .50 cal sniper rifle, you don't hear it so much as feel it. It just reverberates through your body. If you're wondering what this rifle looks like, watch the redone S.W.A.T movie and it's the gun the bad guy shoots the chopper with. A .50 cal round DEVESTATES whatever it hits. Depleted uranium does the dirty work.
The M203 is a fun weapon, mostly cause you hold like Rambo. Also because I shot it at about a 45 degree angle and watched it fly about 150m into the air, then fall down and explode. Lightin up berms in Afghanistan.
The AK-47 kicks alot more than the M16, in my opinion. Took me a minute to figure it out, but I can see why it's so effective. The thing fires even with heavy abuse. Too bad it isn't terribly accurate past 200m or so. Well, too bad for them, good for us!
We also got to drive the MRAP today. Mine Resistant Ambush Protected. Basically an armored bobtail with an armored carriage on the back for troop transport. Has push button gear shifting, which, might I add, is amazing considering this thing is at least 10' tall and bulletproof.
Anyway, not much to add to that...it was awesome, got some videos, pics, memories, etc. I also got video of two local kids that came up to collect our brass, the spent shell casings. They kept asking me for a biscuit. It was weird, especially since I told them over and over I didn't have a freakin biscuit. When they asked for a dollar I just got annoyed. I understand it though, they're poor.
What struck me so much was how they were so young, but their faces looked like they were 40. I mean, they had childlike features, but those features appeared to have been eroded by sand and hunger for so long that nothing was left but age.
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