Bagram Day One

Last night on my way back to my tent a few of my fellow officers decided to check the tent next door to us and were pleasantly surprised to find it unoccupied. We promptly moved out of the overcrowded cell block of a tent that we were assigned to and into the unoccupied, non-feet smelling one. I woke up refreshed nine hours later to a cool breeze and hazy sky with white-capped mountains all around. It was perfect weather for a little exploration around the base.

I took a 25 minute shuttle ride to the main side area of the base to look around. On the way, I saw some minefields with various remains of soviet tanks and equipment. Crazy. I wanted to stop and take pictures, but I had other priorities, namely to locate the supposed TGIF. I asked a crusty looking Army soldier on the bus with me where I could find it, and the contorted look on his face followed by his response said it all.

"What, sir?"

"Never mind," I said in return, realizing then that the rumor was false after all.

So much for loaded potato skins for lunch! Thankfully, the soldier realized I was new in town, and kindly directed me towards a dining facility, the PX, and various shops in the area. I bought a vanilla chai tea at the local Green Bean, and proceeded to do some window shopping. The Afghan bazaar vendors have some amazing items for sale, from Persian rugs to furs to handmade furniture. I have my mind set on bringing home a Persian or Afghan rug, but I think I'll wait a while before jumping into souvenir shopping. I will most assuredly be coming home with a nice "Afghan" afghan.

I was also surprised at the large number of people on this base. Most are U.S. military from all branches of service, but there are also many foreign military and civilians working here. It is very interesting to see the diversity in the personnel not only from a national perspective but from an intellectual one as well. I had a very interesting conversation over dinner with an anthropologist and professor from U.C. Irvine whose mission here is to go out into the villages and collect specific data from the local population. She collects information such as language, religion, tribal/government affiliation, occupation, etc. This data is then used to create a human terrain map for use by coalition forces to better understand the local Afghan populations. This is s very difficult task considering the level of danger she puts her self in, but even more intriguing when you consider the challenge she must have as a woman trying to collect personal information from people in an extremely patriarchal society. She admitted she gleans most of her information from the Afghan women, but gaining access to them is not easy. Very interesting work going on here indeed.

I hope my job will be as interesting! I should find out more on that very soon. It might be a few days before I can get to an internet connection again, but I'll be sure to write some more when I get a chance.

Good night!

Arrival in Afghanistan

I made it safely to Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. It's 2am here, 32 degrees F, and the accommodations are a little rough. But it could always be worse. For the time being I will be living out of an enormous tent with about 300 other people. I sampled the local eats after I got settled. I'll just say that I've had worse and leave it at that. Rumor has it there is a TGIF here somewhere but I will have to wait until tomorrow to verify. This is a large base and probably one of the nicest in the country. It has a large PX, USO, MWR facilities, sidewalks, etc. Its also seems very unorganized and could probably use the services of a few talented CEC officers. Unfortunately my stay here is only temporary as I will be traveling forward in the coming days/weeks to my new home, and if this place is really as good as it gets, then it would be wise for me to dial down the expectations a bit.

Goodnight all!

Back in the Fight

After a three year hiatus, I decided to dust off the old blog and document my new assignment in Afghanistan. I am currently in Kuwait at a place called Camp Virginia, which is basically a launch point for many U.S. service members traveling to and from Iraq and Afghanistan. Prior to flying here I attended three weeks of combat training at Camp McCrady, a National Guard base located near Fort Jackson, SC. The experience up to this point has been a long and drawn out deja vu for me, considering I went through the exact same program prior to my Iraq deployment three years ago. This has been annoying and pleasant at the same time. That is, annoyingly repetitive due to the extensive combat training I have received dating way back to October '97 when I joined the Marine Corps, and pleasantly relaxing knowing that I could cruise through it and see my wife and daughters almost every night. Camp Virginia is much different now. The camp itself is like a ghost town as they are preparing to close it sometime in 2012 (so the rumor goes). They keep us here for 5-6 days to adjust to the time change, and I am taking full advantage. Lots of down time, PT whenever I want, decent food, and lots of time to call home and post relentlessly on Facebook. However, Afghanistan is only days away and I fully expect to hit the ground running. Afghanistan is unlike Iraq in every way imaginable, and I am sure this experience will have few similarities with my previous deployment.

Its 0023 (12.23am) local time, and its time to grab a snack at the chow hall. Still adjusting to the new time zone. I miss my girls.