Location Afghanistan

Location Afghanistan, my new home away from home for a year. What does that have to do with Iraq? Good question. After spending most of the last four years in Iraq, I am with a different company who wants me to put some of my expertise to use in Afghanistan. The price was right so I agreed.

Iraq is not that far away and I will be traveling throughout the Middle East as before. I still have plenty of buddies around Iraq letting me know what is going on so I will continue to base this site on Iraq.

But it has been interesting to see a country I have never been in before. I am very impressed by how clean the countryside is.

No litter along the roads. However, a lot of the roads are not paved and there are no sidewalks either.

I have spent the last few days processing in.

This included classes that explained the job we were going to do, the culture, the people, the country, the Taliban and how to use GPS since this is how we measure what we are doing.

The most exciting part was the weapons training. We had a class on this which was a refresher for me since I had the same classes in the military. Then we went to the rifle range. This was a one hour drive from our compound. I was the only one qualifying, but seven others went with me because we are in a dangerous area.

Our danger is twofold. We have the insurgents/terrorists to contend with, but we also have the drug lords to deal with as well. They do not like us cutting their poppies down. We also have teams who are encouraging the farmers, who are really victims for the most part, to grow wheat and other ag products.

The farmers usually have two choices--the police asking them nicely to grow ag products or the drug lords threatening to torture, rape and kill their families--so who do you think the farmers are going to go with? And then when we come in and cut down the poppies, the drug lords abandon them until next growing season so they are left with nothing.

The last time I fired a rifle for the military was back in 1986. This time I was a lot older, heavier and less gifted visually. But God is good and I was able to hit the targets despite some minor shaking. I qualified as a sharpshooter with the rifle and an expert with the pistol.

Back when I was in the Army, I was an expert in all three--rifle, hand grenade and pistol. I was also qualified to fire an M-60 tank. My crew fired 911 out of a possible 1000 points. Our tank had massive problems so we had to borrow someone else's tank which means we had to use all their settings. This was a really good score--only one other tank in the battalion scored higher than we did. The crew whose tank we borrowed did not even qualify. It took them several tries before they finally did.

Our camp sits on a mountainside. Our buildings are terraced up the mountain. This site used to be for aviators so they have it fixed up really nice. I cannot take any pictures because it might help the bad guys figure out a way to attack us. Even the bad guys monitor the net for clues on how to attack Americans during our stay in Location Afghanistan.

The food here is not too bad. We do not have the selection we did with the military but no one is going hungry. In addition to the regular meals, I found out we can order steak, hamburgers, hot dogs and ham sandwiches.

The steaks are good--they are the best I have had in the Middle East--except for the time Outback Steakhouse came to Camp Warhorse in Baqubah and served us.

Then we have an assortment of drinks. I am told that when we deploy to the field the food is even better. I guess I will be finding out just how much better soon in a field location Afghanistan.

I will be adding to this page as I find out more stuff that I am allowed to put down. So check back often for more on my report entitled Location Afghanistan.

Location Afghanistan -my first camping trip- and my first chance to see the sites of this beautiful country.

I awoke this morning to the sounds of the camp coming alive. A diesel engine running, breakfast and the smell of fresh coffee in the air. Indistinct voices were coming from the ops tent as people went in to find out what was going on for the day.

The Afghanis were also waking up. They were milling about performing their various jobs. One was praying in a loud voice so the whole camp could here it. I got up to use the port a john. As I did, I heard someone in the portable shower. Yes, the blue truck right below these words is our portable shower!

A truck passed changing the smells of the morning into a choking cloud of exhaust fumes. It was chilly but the sun coming out promised to warm things up some. I ate breakfast and then went for a walk around the area, exploring location Afghanistan. As I walked I took pictures. On my path lay one of the Afghan National Police guard sites. I started to pass by but they asked me to come in to the tent and sit down. They can all sit cross-legged but me, I cannot. They offered me an apple. We tried to talk but could not.

Soon an Afghan man showed up who could speak some English. These were the guys who would be our first line of defense in any attack. In the distance I could hear gunfire from the firing range where Americans were training Afghani Police. I visited for a few minutes and then got up and continued my walk through location Afghanistan. Upon arriving back at camp, I grabbed a Coke and went to my tent. Smells of lunch were wafting through the net-like windows of my tent. As I am writing this there are also other sounds in the air... the sound of a soccer ball being kicked, Arab music in the air and the still non distinct voices coming from the ops tent. And of course there is my computer playing K-Love radio from the USA.

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