I have not written in quite some time. For that I apologize. I have been roaming around the world the last few weeks, so it took me a while to get settled down enough to think about writing. I finished my training in Kansas and flew home to spend some quality time with my wonderful wife, and children. We all had a good time. Upon returning to Kansas I graduated and flew out. The plane we flew on was ridiculous. It had the capacity to seat well over 400 people, had 10 restrooms, and about 14 stewardesses. It was easily the largest plane I had ever flown on. I slept pretty well on the plane after eating a couple of really good meals. I awoke right in time to witness our flight in to Ireland. Let’s just say I now have an Irish vacation high on my list. The place was beautiful, and the beer was great. I also bought a cool hat. From there we continued our flight around the world and landed near the Caspian Sea, surprisingly close to Iran in Baku. We were on the ground shortly and headed off to our temporary post at Kyrgyzstan. The people there were very beautiful. They resembled Mongolians in that they had a distinctly Asian appearance yet spoke Russian. I really loved it there. Snow capped mountains surrounded our post, and I could just imagine riding off with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. It was there that my friend informed me of my final destination in Afghanistan. I was so excited I could hardly keep it in. After staying for a while it was off to Afghanistan. When I first saw the plane we were flying in on I kind of laughed and wondered where the others were since there were well over one hundred of us each with about 500-600 pounds of bags. To my disappointment that was the only plane to take all of us in. We were so jam packed in it that you could not get up or move, or barely see any part of the plane at all since gear was stacked everywhere. That was the first time I flew courtesy of the Air Force and I hope it is my last. We landed late walked around groggy eyed, gathered our gear and waited to convoy into Kabul.
Once in Kabul I realized the gravity of the situation. The base was not out in the open with casual roaming guards or anything like that. We were surrounded by walls, very large walls. I was still in some sort of high from the excitement when I laid my head down that night on a mattress that a dust mite would find dirty. As soon as I reached the pinnacle of sleep, I heard a person singing fairly close by. It was in Dari or Pashtu, perhaps some sort of booming religious song. Shortly afterwards about 4 other people chimed in and began singing. It was about that time that I realized we were all sleeping right on the other side of the wall from the city. I quietly wondered if this was common or meant anything and then fell asleep to their monotone voices.
The next Day I woke up and walked outside to be greeted by a C130 flying overhead while shooting flares. That was interesting. We had class every day for a few days so we spent most of our time catching up on any sleep we missed during out 29 hours on a plane. After a few days we were transported to where we work and we got to meet our temporary bosses and workmates. They were all very nice, and it seemed that we had struck gold with both our jobs and the base we were staying on. Many others in our tract were sent down south wear the temperature is, no kidding, 130 degrees. I also failed to mention they did so in long sleeve gear wearing 80 pounds of equipment. So I would be stupid, naive, and ungrateful to say I didn’t luck out.
Here we play volleyball with all walks of life every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It didn’t take long for us to prove our worth on the courts, as it seems now, that we are the one group of alpha dogs that play. I was presently surprised to see about 5-6 other guys that were descent though. The food here is wonderful. It is actually kind of scary good. There is so much variety; they have cake, ice cream, cookies, snacks and all kinds of other crap I should stay away from. One of the first things I noticed was the crates of bottled water just lying around. Of course there is no acceptable tap water here so every little bit we drink it straight from a bottle. Combine that with the heat, and I cannot imagine the cost of providing so much of it. I know in the first week I knocked down about 40 bottles. We will soon be moving into our huts. I cannot put into words how much we are looking forward to that since we have been living out of bags in a dirty tent now for about 10 days.
Another interesting thing here is all the nationalities that work or reside here. Aside from Americans and Afghans there are tons of other countries, militaries, and civilian and clandestine organizations that I correspond with daily. This really is a melting pot. I have made friends with a volleyball player from Fiji who is super cool, along with a group of guys from France. That reminds me, for all of you who hate France for whatever reason, I will say this; they are here fighting hard, where are you?
I got to go to my first Bazaar here a few days ago. That was very interesting. They have all kinds of crazy stuff for absurd prices. I bought some stuff for Laura and the fat one, and myself an old Russian belt. They sell old British rifles there that were made prior to 1898. I look forward to purchasing one or many of those.
The SUV’s here piss me off. Why do we have the lamest vehicles in America? Everything here is jacked up and trail ready, and most of them even have snorkels. I suppose to the credit of the US they actually need such capabilities here to get around. I am especially jealous of the Belgian vehicles. Also, who has heard of a Ford Everest? I should be receiving a package from Laura soon. Hopefully it will contain a camera so I can begin taking my thousands of pictures I want to share with everyone. Despite my apparent safety here I have seen bodies loaded into the morgue on two straight days now. The fighting is getting intense and even local routes that were formerly safe have become dangerous.
I have to run now. Work calls. I have descent communication capabilities here so feel free to write. Who knows you may even receive a call from me some day.
PS-Sorry my thoughts are so scatterred. It has been a long time since I wrote and I had a lot to write about. Hopefully my thoughts will be better organized next time.