Cadillac Man

Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice everybody!

It has been a while since my last post, but I have exciting news.  I am now a cadillac man.  I guess I should explain.  In our barracks we are assigned to 3 man rooms.  There is a bunk bed and one single bed in the back.  The area in the back with the single bed is much more private, almost like a little studio apartment.  We affectionately call the single bed in the back 'the cadillac.'  It is a highly desirable piece of property, and some people go their whole tour without ever setting foot in the cadillac.  Yesterday my roommate moved out, and I moved from the bunk bed into the cadillac - about 80 square feet all to myself (that's 8 x 10 for my spatially/math challenged friends).  Because the cadillac usually goes to the person who has been here the longest, it usually has the nicest stuff.  The mattress is more comfortable and pretty new, there is a lot more storage, the wardrobe is much nicer and bigger, and there is even a small desk. Some people might say that it is unfair or selfish for one person to have more, but if you figure that our room is the size and shape of a shipping container (it actually is a shipping container converted into a room), it makes sense how it is set up. 

In other news, Christmas is upon us.  We have decorations up at work, and more candy and treats than we know what to do with.  It has been ridiculously cold the last few days, but I guess I'll have to get used to that. Kabul has some of the worst air quality in the world.  Stepping outside is like putting your face up to the back of a car's exhaust pipe.  When I blow my nose, it comes out gray. Afghans will burn anything and everything to keep warm, making the air even worse than normal in winter. 

Last time I talked about 'Mo'vember.  Here is the end result:

(don't worry, I shaved it off)

And one last thing, I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has sent a letter, or a package, or an email, or a facebook post, etc., it is much appreciated. 

Enjoy the holidays!

The Breakfast Club

Usually my night shift crew gets off of work right around breakfast time, so we'll head over to chow afterwards.  The dining hall changes up the menu for the other meals, but breakfast is usually the same, so we know what we are getting ourselves into.  We'll chat about whatever and hurry through breakfast so that we can get some free time in before falling asleep and starting everything all over again when we wake up. 

Today I went alone to breakfast and was pleasantly surprised by fresh strawberries.  I am a sucker for some fresh berries and I haven't seen any in about a month.  Jennie and I will often have a nice Sunday brunch with berries back in T-town, and today was Sunday.  So I guess I am keeping the tradition going.  Strangely, I also had stewed tomatoes.  You're probably thinking that stewed tomatoes are a strange breakfast dish, and I would have to agree, but I like them, and breakfast is the only time of day that they serve them.  Also, if I close my eyes and travel to my happy place, they remind me of Jennie's chicken cacciatore recipe, and that makes me happy.  It's the little things that can really make me smile. 

Updates:

 Moustache - Did you know that November is also Movember?  Movember is a movement to bring attention to men's health issues (prostate cancer in particular) by growing a moustache for the entire month of November. So of course, any excuse to grow facial hair is fine with me, especially if it is for a good cause.  So, I am now almost two weeks into a moustache.  It's kind of fun, because at work we'll joke around and point at each other and  say something like "you look ridiculous with a moustache" - but of course, most of us are growing them, so we'll say back 'yah, you too' (FYI: that is the clean version of what we say to each other).  So, we'll see how it turns out by the end of the month.  I'm hoping for a Tom Selleck masculine quality, but I'll probably end up with some sort of weird Emilio Estevez experimental moustache ridiculousness.  

Earthquake - Back on Monday the 7th there was a 5.5 earthquake not too far from here.  It happened at about 4:30 PM local time, just before I usually wake up to get ready for work.  I woke up to the bed jiggling and I thought it was probably an earthquake, but not too bad of one.  Honestly, I was too tired to really care, but I when I got to work I checked online, and sure enough: Brian's second earthquake.  Mark it down in my baby book mom. 

Well, that about wraps it up for this entry.  Breakfast and some sort of weird strawberry fixation is exciting stuff I know, but hey, I worked Tom Selleck and an earthquake into the blog, I bet you didn't see that one coming. 

Halloween

Happy Halloween Everybody!

I tried to think of something spooky to share with you on Halloween, and this is the best that I could come up with.  So, gather around the campfire kiddies...

Shrine for a Martyr

The Above shrine is located near where I live.  It is dedicated to a martyr who died fighting the British in the early 1900's.  This is one of two shrines that I have seen near where I live.  The guy who led the fight against the British back then was this guy, King Amanullah Kahn (he has his own much nicer shrine in another city):

So apparently I am living where a bunch of people were killed about a hundred years ago in the third Anglo-Afghan War.  I'm not sure what the fabric pillar with the metal thing on top is, but it is interesting to see this every day, it kind of sticks out: 

The actual shrine

 Afghanistan has some interesting history, of which this is just a small bit.  Part of me would love to get out and see some things, but it is just not possible. 

Happy Halloween everybody!

Groundhog Day

I have now been in Kabul for two weeks, but it feels like much longer.  I work 12 hour days, 7 days a week.  People here call it the 'groundhog day' effect (from the Bill Murray movie by the same name) where each day is pretty much the same as the day before.  And while I feel like I have been here forever, I also feel like my days are on fast forward, so maybe  that is a good thing. 

US Forces Afghanistan Patch

Taking pictures here is a little bit tricky because there are a lot of things you cannot take pictures of, but I'll try to get some up here in the next post. For this post I will try something different and hyperlink certain words so that you can investigate further if you like. 

I work at ISAF HQ in Kabul, Afghanistan.  ISAF is a NATO command, but there are a lot of other non-NATO countries represented here as well.  Looking for people from other nations is kind of like bird watching.  Every once and a while I see a new species with a unique uniform with a certain pattern and with certain colors that I have not seen before.  So far on my base, besides Americans, I have seen people from: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, and the UK.  When I went to another base nearby I even saw a large contingent of Mongolians!  So there is a very international feel here.  It is kind of like some bizzaro version of Disney Land's 'It's a small world' meets some sort of weird war time Epcot Center.  In case you were wondering, English is the dominant language used by everyone. 

Fun things that I have seen so far:
      -The Germans had an 'Oktoberfest' one day.  They closed off part of a street on base and put up some German flags and barbequed some bratwurst.  One of the female German soldiers even had on a 'beer girl' outfit, although she was wearing combat boots.  Sadly, Americans are not allowed to drink any type of alcohol in Afghanistan :(   - although Europeans are permitted a maximum of two drinks each on their national holidays or festivals. 
     -The Navy celebrated its 236th birthday yesterday (Oct. 13th).  To celebrate, we sailors had a BBQ in the evening.  It was fun.  I've found that these little events help break up the standard routine. 
     -Kabul is located at almost 6000 ft in elevation (think Denver-ish), so it is starting to get pretty chilly.  It has been raining recently so the mountains around the city already have snow on the peaks.  Very calming. 

Well, that about does it for me today.  Stay tuned...

Have Gun Will Travel (Part 2)

Well, I have been in Afghanistan for a little over a week now and I am a little behind in my posting.  So, before I dive into describing life here in Kabul I will finish talking about Kuwait and the trip to Afghanistan.

(mural)

Kuwait: What can one say about Kuwait... hot, sandy, basic... well that pretty much sums it up.  I spent a whole week in Kuwait waiting for my flight to Afghanistan.  It was nice to have time to just hang out and regroup for a few days.  The dining hall there was pretty good, and the USO was top notch.  Some of the barricades around base had nice murals painted onto them from units that had been stationed there in the past (like the one above) - kind of making a wartime gallery of sorts. 

(Starbucks - they're everywhere)

Life in Kuwait is pretty basic.  We stayed in tents (nice tents, but still tents).  Luckily the tents had AC because it was about a billion degrees outside (think Phoenix on a really bad day).  Did I mention that it was sandy?  We were allowed to wear our PT gear around.  The good thing about that: a t-shirt and shorts are much more comfortable when you are on the surface of the sun.  The bad news is that my tennis shoes acted as a filter to let only the finest particulates of sand-powder into my shoes!  There was no running water, so we used port-o-potties for our restrooms and our showers were located in a trailer.  If I left the shower trailer with my feet even slightly wet... you guessed it: sand stuck to my feet.

 (bathroom)

 (my own tent city)

I got to know some of the people pretty well over those previous weeks of training, but then we started trickling out of Kuwait on different flights to different destinations in the CENTCOM area.  And then after a week it was my turn.  I got on a plane, a really big plane (C17), headed to Afghanistan.  No in-flight meal on this flight: 

(not as comfy as commercial)

(stuck in the middle)

And after many hours of sympathizing with sardines, we landed in Kandahar.  I spent half a day there for in-processing and waiting for my next flight.  I am glad I am not stuck at that base, it seemed very crowded, hot and dusty - and the food was terrible.

...and then I got on another large (but not as large) plane (C130):

(webbing for seats, how quaint)

...It seemed that the farther along in my journey I got, the less comfortable the travel accommodations became.  Finally, I made it to Kabul.  I am now a long way from home, and I have traveled thousands of miles with my rifle at my side - and I have finally made it to my destination... which is where I will pick up in my next post...

Have Gun Will Travel... (Part 1)

As I write this I am sitting in a Starbucks cafe sipping on an iced cafe mocha.  From the inside I could be in any Starbucks in any city in America, but if I look out the window I see only the tan, monochromatic, dusty landscape that is Camp Virginia, Kuwait.  This base is like the modern equivalent of a wild west town.  It has the bare essentials.  No running water in the barracks, only port'o potties and a shower trailer with non-potable water.  Instead of street lights, there are construction lights powered by diesel generators to light the town.  In the middle is a kind of town square with a Starbucks, barber shop, some fast food trailers and an exchange.  More on this place later...

Our sendoff from Camp McCrady in South Carolina was great.  With our bags packed a massive storm moved in as we prepared to get on the bus to the airport..  A group of Motorcycle Veterans known as the 'Patriot Riders' were there to escort us to the airport.  I really appreciate those men and women for doing that.  Even though it started to rain pretty hard, they escorted us to the airport in style.  Once at the airport we were welcomed by a group of veterans, boy scouts, girl scouts, family members, and even a local beauty queen.  They had snacks and goodies for us to take with us onto the plane.  As we were called up one by one to board the plane we were flanked on both sides by veterans and well wishers as we walked down an aisle of American flags, handshakes and even hugs and thanks.  We loaded onto a chartered Delta aircraft that the flight attendants had decorated with American flags and the like.  'Please stow your weapons under your seat with the barrels facing outwards' cracked a voice over the loud speaker.  I have never before boarded an airplane with a rifle and a knife on my person.  I got a bit of a chuckle over that.   

Our first stop was Bangor, Maine.  We were greeted by a few veterans at the airport as we got off for our two hour layover.  After calling home I made it over to the bar which they had opened just for us.  The Captain in charge dictated a two drink maximum, so most of us ordered two drinks.  The bartender, god bless her, had a heavy pour.  I got back on the plane and fell fast asleep. 

Next stop: Shannon, Ireland.  Once again we had a two hour layover with a two drink maximum.  I have never been to Ireland before, but I have always wanted to go.  Even if it was only for two hours at the airport bar, I had to have my two pints of Guinness in Ireland.  For those of you who know me well, you know that this had to happen.  Our last beer for many months. 

We arrived in Kuwait at 10PM on Thursday, local time - starting our 'Boots on the Ground' clock (beginning the countdown to when we can leave).  We were ushered into buses and driven to Camp Virginia where we will spend the next few days before departing for our ultimate duty stations.

What kind of training? ...Army training, sir.

As our training finally winds down here we got to do convoy training today.  It was a nice rainy and muddy day so we got extra dirty.  I got to be gunner of one of the trucks, which meant that I got to shoot belt-fed blanks from a M240 machine gun mounted to the top of the Humvee during a scenario.  Pretty cool.  The weather has been strange here.  Today was rainy, a couple of days ago was cold (high only in the 50's) and before that it was sauna-esque hell. 

Training days start early with a hot breakfast.  This includes some sort of pork product, a banana (always banana), eggs (which I skip), and grits (it is the South after all).  I did not grow up eating grits so I was a little perplexed by them at first and while I may have grown more accustomed to eating them, I am still not sure what one should really do with them to make them taste good.  The dining facility on this base is actually quite good by military standards, but on these mornings we start before the dining facility opens, so this is what we get. 

After a day of training we must clean our weapons.  I am now pretty darn good at disassembling cleaning and reassembling my rifle and pistol.  I love the smell of CLP in the morning.  (The empty seat in the  center is where I sit). 

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine...

We are only allowed to wear 2 types of uniforms here through the week, our army uniform or our Navy PT uniform (after we are done for the day).  We must carry our weapons with us at all times, or have someone else watch it (as we did during our BBQ below).  I feel kind of like a dork in the Navy PT gear, but no one would say so while I'm packing heat.  It is nice to get out of those combat boots for a while too.  I think that I should name my rifle.  After all, we will be spending a lot of time together over the next year.  Any suggestions?

This is the full 'Battle Rattle' that we have to wear during a lot of our training.  It consists of a flack jacket, helmet, gloves, knee and elbow pads, M4 rifle and M9 pistol. This stuff is heavy, and in the hot and humid South Carolina weather this is not very comfortable.  I am also wearing a camelback  for water as well.  I feel like I must sweat my body weight each day, so I need to constantly replenish my fluids.  On Saturday we spent about 13 hours on the firing range, wearing this stuff a large part of the time.  We completed our pistol qualifications and some rifle firing.  I qualified for the sharpshooter ribbon, I missed 'expert' (the highest) by 4 points.  Not bad considering what I was wearing and the sweat pouring  into my eyes.

On Sunday our barracks decided to have a BBQ to celebrate our one day off.  We were allowed to wear our 'civies' off base that day if we wanted to.  The guy who runs the galley, or 'dining facility' (DFAC) as the Army calls it, gave us some burgers and dogs to grill and we 'borrowed' a grill from the administrative building.  We all chipped in for sodas and chips and stuff.  It was a nice time. 

Sunday was of course also the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a reminder of why we are all here training in South Carolina right now, preparing to go to war.

In the 'NArmy' now.

I am now in South Carolina at Camp McCrady on Fort Jackson Army base to begin my Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training (NIACT).  This program trains Navy people like myself in basic combat skills so that if anything bad happens over there we will at least have some idea of what to do.  There are sailors here that will be travelling to Iraq, Afghanistan and Djibouti, but the vast majority will be heading off to Afghanistan.  For the Afghanistan and Iraq bound sailors we are issued Army Combat Uniforms (ACUs) like the one above since we will be serving in Army commands, hence the nickname 'NArmy.'  From here on out we will have to wear this uniform or our Navy Physical Training uniform (PT gear) at all times.  Alcohol is  prohibited from here on out as well because we will be handling weapons. 

The accommodations here are a bit spartan.  As you can see behind me in the picture we are staying in open bay barracks - not a lot of privacy.  The lower bunk behind the brown chair is mine.  So far I can say that the food is pretty good, and the people are nice... and hey, there is even wifi access.  The real training begins tomorrow. 

NMPS Port Hueneme

 My week of processing here at Navy Mobilization Processing Site (NMPS) Port Hueneme is winding down.  It was a pretty efficient process.  After having a cavity fixed and an immunization I am good to go.  Now I am getting ready to fly out to Fort Jackson, SC tomorrow.  I will spend the rest of the day doing laundry, haircut, packing my seabag carefully with my new Army uniforms, and perhaps a group BBQ later. 

There was a decent amount of downtime built-in, in case people needed to take care of requirements.  Since most of us were squared away, we were able to take off early and go to the beach at Point Mugu one day.  Pretty nice.  I have definitely enjoyed the weather here.  60's and 70's the whole time.