Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I worked for about 8 hours, ate the traditional Thanksgiving meal for lunch at the DFAC and grilled steaks, chicken, burgers and hot dogs for the office in the evening.  Overall it was a pretty good day.  I also got a hum-vee so I had to take it out for the initial spin.

Friday was back to business as usual, even the local insurgents obliged by lobbing in a round or two to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend. 

Thanksgiving was great and all, but the highlight of the weekend was Auburn taking down Alabama in the Iron Bowl!!!!!!  I even convinced LTC Staggs to let me fly my Auburn flag on the compound flagpole to celebrate.  No, the area office engineer didn’t appreciate (Bama Fan), I don’t really understand why though.  When the wind came up and had those beautiful Tiger Eyes flapping in the breeze, not even the local Auburn fans couldn’t help themselves.  They had to come by and look for the person who was flying the Auburn flag.  It was definitely a treat talking some Auburn football with other Auburn fans.  Of course, I had to explain to the office the origin of “War Eagle” and other Auburn traditions.  Alas, I could go on forever about my love of Auburn, but I’m sure none of you will want to hear it.  Especially the Gamecock fans that have the unfortunate privilege of facing the Tigers next weekend.  WAR EAGLE!!

Site Visits

We toured sites on Sunday.  We landed at a small COP to check on an ANP project that I have.  It was our first time landing there and we weren't quite sure we were actually at an American base.  After coming out of the landing area the only people we saw were Afghan National Army and their camp.  Had the base been taken over and we didn't know?  The next wave of people we hit were Jordanians.  At least now we were feeling a little more confident that we might possible see some US Forces at some point.  A couple of guys and I went to check on the site which is outside the COP but in an adjoining compound while the others went to make contact with the Mayor Cell to find out who we need to let know that we will be landing at their site in the future.  All went well and we survived :)

Next we flew over a road project trying to locate the equipment that had moved to site.  Supposedly the KTR had mobilized, had their camp fired on by Taliban, put under seige by ISAF, had their survey crew kidnapped and their second survey crew denied access to the area by the local COP.  I didn't see any sign of their equipment on the road and I still don't know if the KTR is telling me the truth or not.  According to the local COP they have not had contact with them.  And the saga continues...

See below for required attire when you roll with the Corps.

We finished off the trip with a landing at a nearby FOB then back home.  Another harmless day of travel.

Not much else going on other than work.  Got a package of ACUs and coffee from my FJFD friends and Pat.  Thanks to Bill for sending it out.  It really made my day.  We've had a peppering of incoming rounds over the last few days.  I also got a package from Christian's pre-school class.  They sent me their hand turkeys with a sign that said "We Put Our Hands Together To Thank You For Serving Our Country".

  

HOME FRONT NEWS:

Katy had to take the babies to get their hair cuts.  They did good of course.  However, they discovered a new game.  Christian was the sylist and Lily was the customer.  After seeing how Lily ended up, I hope she didn't leave him a tip.  Needless to say their momma wasn't too happy.

HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT THANKSGIVING!!!

Cooking out and Controlled Detination

I forgot to mention that I got a package from Katy yesterday.  Besides a few toiletry items it was filled with candy and my favorite, cans of frosting!!  Not that I need the frosting, but It's soooo good when it hits your lips!!

 

Finally cooked the steaks that we traded for a couple of weeks ago.  We got the fire going with some scrap wood and charcoal.  Then I cracked my Becks near bear, lit my cigar, threw the steaks on and it was just like cooking in the backyard..........Except it wasn't....it was in Afghanistan :)

 

 

 

Above are a couple of pictures from the controlled detonation that they had today.  They blew up a ton of explosives today.  I was out on a site right after lunch when these pictures were taken.  I don't know how far away I was, but the percussion was pretty substantial.  A few hours later they had some more detonations but I missed the announcement.  So they went off, shook the building, and I headed to the bunker.  One of the Force Pro guys asked where I was heading...to the bunker of course.  He clued me in so that was my "DOH" moment of the day.  Just part of doing business over here.

 

 

 

 

 

I've attached some pictures of my room and office.  It's pretty good.  I'm definately not complaining.  If you're thinking about coming over, don't think that all rooms are single rooms.  I don't know if all the FOBs have single rooms but this one does and so does Ghazni.  Though Ghazni's accomodations aren't near as nice.  Below is a picture we took when we landed at Ghazni.  Dennis, I've got the bear safely to Shank!!

 

 

 

If these pictures appear distorted, just check them out in the photo gallery. I'm not all that great at resizing them. 

 

In case you're curious on how we stare down contractors to let them know we're not happy with their performance see below.  I'm the bearded one of course!

 

 

 

Eid is over

Yesterday we had a cook-out at the contractor who sacrificed the sheep.  And of course it was really good!!  We had nan, a flat pretzel bread, sheep and chicken kabobs, eggplant spread, a spicy tomato spread, onions, and their excellent sausage patties.  To finish it off, Turkish coffee. 

 

After asking about how they made their bread we got a tour of their kitchen, dining room (tea was dispersed), one of the TV rooms, a guest room, the open office and then back to the project manager's office where we got more coffee.  I was bouncing off the walls by the time we were through.

 

I got a picture of their oven the use for making bread.  It's a brick oven in a connex.  So, when they get ready for the next job they just pick it up and move on.

 

We also watched the Afghans learn to fly helicopters.  Some didn't seem to get to far off the ground and others have been hitting the landing area and tearing up the concrete.  Since rotary wing project is ongoing, the contractor isn't too happy about his concrete getting messed up.

 

I guess Eid is officially over.  The Taliban celebrated the end of Eid by launching a couple of explosives into the FOB.  It was one of good ones, it shook the building and was probably 200 - 300 meters away.  I guess they're back in business before winter hits.

 

If you're getting tired of my babble shoot some topics my why and I'll check them out and let you know what's going on. 

 

HOME FRONT NEWS:  Lily has finally reached the booger eating stage.  Katy caught saw her in the back seat sneaking a quick snack and told her, "Lily!! Don't eat that, they're nasty!!''  Of course Lily replied with a, "No momma, they're yummy to my tummy!!"

 

Christian may have had the comment of the year the other day.  He told Katy that he was "brave and not afraid of anything.......not evan a SHARK or an EVIL WOMAN!".

 

I hope he wasn't talking about his momma.

EID Sacrifice

 

Today we attended the EID Sacrifice at the compound of one of our Turkish contractors.  When we got there they gave us candy to sweeten our breath and gave us an oil cologne to fragrance our body.  In the above picture was the handlers bringing the sheep over to the sacrifice area.  They decorated them with ribbons.  They took the sheep to a corner and put the ram on the ground near a shallow pit.

 

 

 

 

They chanted over the Ram and then the Iman (?) sacrificed the ram.  Once it bled out they moved the sheep in behind it and sacrificed it as well.  After that it was Happy EID to everyone. 

 

Tomorrow we are invited to the cook-out where we will eat the sheep.  Not to bad of a deal if you ask me.

Rollin' with the Czechs

It's been a busy last couple of days; getting people in the gate, running out of water, getting water, server down, generator down, server up, server down; no worries.

 

I've been getting to know one of my Afghan contractors.  They are celebrating EID this week, which is kind of like their Christmas celebration.  He lived in this province and his family moved to Pakistan when the Russians invaded this area.  He attended university in Pakistan as well and is a civil engineer.  His family eventually moved back to this area.  The taliban took over and at some point burned the girls school where they lived.  They then moved to Kabul so his sisters could go to school and it's safer.  He said that's why Kabul is so crowded; everybody is moving there because it is safer and there are opportunities to go to school.  Most people definately have different life experiences than what we are used to.

 

We met with the Czech contingent that stays on the FOB.  We try to coordinate our visits to our sites with them when they are in the area of our projects.  They have their own missions they support and typically run 14 - 18 missions to the area during the week.  They check on schools and humanitarian efforts they are supporting and work with the ADT that operates out of Shank.  Fortunately they will let us convoy with them.  The bad part is that at times, depending on the area they are visiting, they will not let us go because Americans aren't readily welcomed.  The Czechs have their own problems as well, when visiting schools and town centers children will occasionaly throw rocks at them.  We were told that if the ANP is with them they will throw rocks at kids and chase them away.  Probably need to get those kids in school!!

 

Meeting with the Czechs reminded me of a story of my Great Great Great Grandfather, John Brchan, who immigrated from what is now the Czech Republic.  When he was old enough to serve in the army he was taken from a dance floor at a local gathering (the czech we met with said that they were either ending conscription service or changing how it works and the rank structure).  He served 10 years in the army as a mule overseer and had charge of the pack animals and about 20 men.  During his time of service he fought against the Italian Geribaldi.  His mess kit consisted of a spoon in which he used to eat out of a common pot.  His family paid for his rations, so if they didn't send the money, he didn't eat.  Things have definately changed.  I hope Katy would choose to feed me over buying a new pair of shoes or an outfit!!

 

HOME FRONT NEWS:  Lily spilled some milk and Christian decided to help Katy clean it up.  When they were on the floor he looked at her and said, "Let's say dammit....dammit!".  Yep, he learned that from me.

Escort Business

I've spent the last couple of days playing escort to some contractors.  I think I've got this business of heading out to the gate figured out.  Tomorrow I've got to figure out if we have enough room to easily manuever the M-ATV through the barries, then we'll be riding in style.  The pick up yard is basicall part parking lot, shanty town and zoo, depending on the time of day. 

 

 

 

Finally got a haircut yesterday.  Since my beard was looking like I could hide some trolls in it I decided to let the man trim it.  Haircut and beard trim all for the low price of $8.  Sure beats Sports Clips, you only have to find your way to FOB Shank, Afghanistan.

 

Had some Nan and Chi after that and listened to the Afghan interpreters talk about politics.  They were Afghans that left at some point and have come back to work here as interpreters.  They laid out how the positions were bought and how the tribe system kind of works.  They feel like most people here don't feel like getting an education and would rather play with AKs.  Hopefully that's not the case, but it'd take a lot to convince them otherwise.  However, until the taliban situation is under control all our Afghan contracts leave around 1600 to make sure they can get back home before dark falls because it is too dangerous to be out after dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took a picture of a C-17 flying in over the base.  They normally land and take off away from the base, so this vantage point was pretty cool.

 

We celebrated Veteran's Day by flying some Corps flags over the compound for us to take home.  Oher than that it's business as usual over here.

Kabob Cook Out

Well today has definately not been a quiet day.  It started off around 0630 with the announcement over the giant voice system that the heavy weapons range was going hot.  Now, that's not unusual.  What is unusual is that the person making the announcement sounded like he was from West Alabama.  How do I know this??  Experience.  When my wife and I first started dating it took a couple of months for us to communicate effectively.  We've always had the language of love going on, but with my midwestern accent and her Alabama accent; it created some challenges.  My mother-in-law.......I'm not even sure she understands half of what I say now.  On occasions she still reminds me to talk slower.  My point is, I know it when I hear it.

 

This was followed by a couple of incoming rounds hitting pretty close to us a couple of hours later.  I guess we can't peacefully slide into EID next week.  I'm not exactly sure what EID is other than it is a holiday.  We have been invited to watch a sacrifice one day and eat it the next.  If that's not a plan for a party, I don't know what is!!

 

The LT and I went outside the base today to get some contractors on.  That was interesting considering neither of us were exactly sure what we were doing.  I guess no matter what you do, there is always a first time to do it.  We managed our way through without any major incidents.  That's a Good Job in my book.

 

The Czechs have taken to driving tanks around the perimeter.  They definately don't have the same mentality as the Jordanians.  The Jordanians will mosey around the perimeter at about 10 mph.  The Czechs, get the hell out of their way.  They've got those things flyin'.  I think they send an armored truck one way and the tank the other to see who can make the lap around the perimeter the fastest.

 

 

 

Yesterday at the refueling job site the KTR had a couple of sheep staked out on the site.  Today, well, see above.  It was sheep kabobs for all!!  They had a milestone celebration and invited us out to partake in kabobs and nan.  It was really good.  I added a picture of them preparing the meal.  If you are concerned about the cleanliness of the facility where your food is prepared, you might not want to look.  It's a little dark because I didn't use the flash.  Unfortunately if you take a picture at night with the flash on all the dust particles make the picture look like it's snowing.

 

Well, that's pretty much it for my thoughts on the day.

Quiet Couple of Days

Other than being busy with work it's been a quiet couple of days.  No incoming, no outgoing and no one dying.  However, there was a memorial service at the compound across the street for one of their soldiers.

The biggest issue over the last couple of days is getting people on the FOB for the new projects we are starting.  To be escorts or unescorted the local nationals need to go through background checks and interviews, plus whatever classes they might need for escorting.  It can be a lengthy process so it makes it hard to get jobs started.  For now we have to go to the gate, search their vehicles and escort them while on the base.  We are running out of manpower so we all have to start helping with the entry process.  Lucky us.  I guess I'll just stay close to the guys with the guns.

I wish I had more to report, but just another day at work.  I have some guys taking geotechnical samples by some primitive methods, I'll try and get pictures before they finish up tomorrow.

HOME FRONT NEWS:  Christian may have finally believed that the ship has sailed on him getting a brother.  He told Katy that the cherub sitting on a gazing ball (The Crapping Cherub) in the front yard is now his brother.  .......  That or he is trying to make us feel sorry for him that he has to have a statue for a brother.  Either way, there's no more children in my future!

Site Visits

 

 

It's been a pretty busy weekend.  Went to the PX on Saturday for the first time.  They only allow 4 people in at a time and only had basic items:  soap, toothpaste, chips, socks, shaving cream, smokes and chew, and some aspirin.  Not to much to choose from.  We stopped at the Afghan bakery and had some Nan and Chi.  Besides Corps projects there are a lot of other projects where we are paying Afghans to build things like water towers, wells, green houses, etc.  One of the local Afghans that visits us was at the bakery telling us about how the Taliban tried to blow up some of the green houses he was building.  They damaged 4 of the 6, but not to the point that they can't be repaired.

About 1740 another explosive got lobbed onto the FOB.  It was pretty loud so it must have been nearby.  The warning crew did a much better job today, they sounded the alarm within a minute!!  I spent the rest of the evening messing with the GPS I got from our supply and getting ready for our site visits.
This morning we loaded on to a MI-8, an old Russian Helicopter, and did some site visits.  I added a bunch of photos in the photo section.  I tried to get them into a folder but I apparently hit the wrong button so they are lumped in with the rest.  Our day consisted of flying to a FOB and dropping off a couple of people, fly to a site and circle while we took pictures, fly to another FOB and got out to inspect a site, fly to another FOB and meet with the Corps office and look at projects, fly to a road project and circle and take pictues and come on back home.  It was pretty fun hanging out the door and takin pictures.  Well, it was more like holding onto the door handle, sticking my arm and head out and praying I didn't fall :)  But, the pilot held a nice steady path so all was well.  I added some photos of random houses and things I saw along the way.  Hopefully on the next trip I will have the camera setting fixed so I can get some better pictures.  Oh, I also marked the FOBs with the GPS in case I ever get lost I can find some friendly people....that's the plan anyway.

We got back in the afternoon, caught up on some work and relaxed.  The day kind of wore everybody out.  AND, to welcome us back the artillery decided to give us a flare show and send fired off some rounds.  It's always better outgoing than incoming.

HOME FRONT NEWS:  Katy caught Christian dragging blankets and pillows into the living room.  When she went to investigate she discovered the couch piled high with blankets and pillows.  Perched on top was the small child rocking chair we keep in the kitchen for Lily.  When Katy asked what he was doing he replied that he was making Santa a bed, hoping that when he came he would spend the night.  To top it off, he was on his way to get some milk to put up by the rocking chair.  Lucky she caught him when she did!!

How do we spend our downtime?

Well, today's Friday!!!  Which means we work a half day and it's the weekend!!!!  Just kidding.  It means we work about 8 hours and we still have to work the weekend.  But, it's not that bad. 

 

The Taliban or insurgents or whatever you want to call them decided they had left us alone long enough and sent another explosive into the base this morning.  It must have been on the other side of the base because we could barely feel it.  So off to the bunkers.  They must have some new guys manning the "Incoming Incoming Incoming" horn because there was a 5 minute lapse between the boom and siren.  I'm sure they'll get the hang of it soon.

 

So, how does someone on a FOB spend their afternoon off you might ask?  Well, we take a list of what we think we need.  Today's list is:  Laundry pick up, Coffee maker is broken so we could use a new one, it'd be nice to have AFN so let's look for a satellite, we need a new series to watch and maybe a trip to the PX.

 

Laundry pick up was not a problem.  Swung by the PX but there was a line and nobody needed anything bad enough to wait.  Since we were over there it was a trip to the coffee shop for smoothies.  Our RE, Maung, knows some people at the Mission Essential Personal building so he thought we might get a coffe maker there; even though he still owed them a favor.  After about 8 minutes he came out with 3 bags of steaks.  What an unexpected surprise!!!! The only thing they wanted in return was a freezer.  A promise was made, now we have to figure out how to find one.  Oh, unfortunately they just gave away a coffe maker.  Not good there. 

 

Next stop was the dvd stores.  Yep, it's Friday so most of them are closed.  Couldn't find anything we liked so we'll have to make a trip back tomorrow.

 

Maung also thought he had a lead on an unused AFN satellite.  We stopped and climbed around it.  What do you know?!  The cable wasn't hooked up.  After tracking down the person it belonged too he decided to give the satellite and descrambler to us.  I think he did it because he was sick and just wanted us to leave.

 

So, to get the satellite we had to borrow a gator and get it down from the bunker.  All went smoothly.  Got the thing set up and now we're just waiting for the activation to kick in within 24 hours.  If all goes well we might get to watch some football this weekend.

 

The final official act of the evening was attending escort training.  I can now "officially" escort local nationals around the base. 

 

HOME FRONT UPDATE:  Christian walked back home from playing at his friends house across the street. 

 

He walked in the house looking sad and said "I messed up my new outfit!!!!" 

 

Katy:  "How'd you do that?"

 

Christian:  "Pee!!..... I was pee walking."

 

I can only imagine what the neighbor's saw!!

A Turkish Dinner

The highlight of the day was definately eating dinner with one of our Turkish contractors.  Honestly, I'm surprised I can even get close enough to the desk to type.  We took some pictures but I'll have to add them tomorrow.

 

We ate at their compound.  They have over 400 people working for them.  The compound is self-sufficient; it's own DFAC, laundry, housing, security, etc.. 

 

We were served chicken and beef kabobs, sausage patties, Turkish pizza, a tomato salsa, an eggplant dip/salsa, pita bread, sesame bread and another type of bread.  All made by their chef at the DFAC.  The DFAC manager made sure that as soon as something came off the grill our plates were full again; when you thought you had enough more just magically appeared on your plate.  We were finished off with some coffee and baclava from a Turkish bakery in Kabul. 

 

The rest of the day paled in comparison.

 

HOME FRONT NEWS:  The following is a conversation Katy, Sera and L'man had at the house last night.

 

Christian:  Mama, how many childs do you have?

 

Katy:  (jokingly) 12

 

Sera:  No mama, you only have 4.

 

Katy:  I only have 3!!

 

Sera:  What about Daddy!?!

 

Katy:  He's not a child, he's older than me.

 

Sera:  Well....you treat him like child....you fix his food and do his laundry and stuff...

 

I don't even know how to respond to htat.  Disagreeing won't do any good, besides, I'm not even there to defend myself!

Need a beer

I added a couple pictures of a C-17 taking off a few days ago.  It's pretty cool how fast they can climb and bank for such a big plane.  I know it's not big compared to something like a C-5, but it's almost the biggest plane that lands here.

 

Today was one of those days where every time I turned around my problem child was needing something.  I need to get more people on base, can you sign these?  My CAC has expired, can you write an LOA and tell me where to go?  I don't have any signed submittals (4025R), can I get a copy of all the transmittals; better yet a scanned copy?  (Me:  "What happened to them?"  KTR  "UMMM, I don't know??"  Me:  "You lost all of them, even the ones I just gave you?"  KTR:  "Umm....Maybe....no....I don't know.")  I'm sorry we have boulders in our backfill, we didn't know you'd notice.  I'm sorry I don't have a hard hat on, I'm not really in the job site, just on the job site.

 

I think they were trying to keep me occupied because I was trying to write a couple of serial letters on poor safety and job performance.  They're not done but I haven't given up yet!!  It's only 2100 so I have a couple more hours to get them done.  OH NO, they just sent me another email asking for something else!!

 

OK, thanks for listening (reading) to my venting.  To those of you that know me; it's been a month without my kegerator and today's the first day that I have really missed it.  Whoever picked 03 NOV on the board wins the cash.  Though I doubt any of you would have thought I would have lasted this long.

 

On a more serious note.  We have a local that works for us as an interpreter and escort, as do other units throughout the FOB and Afghanistan.  Most on the FOB sleep in one of the tents on base.  However, our's sleeps on our compound and uses are facilities, which are probably the best on base.  He was asked to help out by going outside the wire on our projects in the area and interpret when we inspect.  He politely declined because he is from this area and doesn't want to be seen helping us because of the insurgents/Taliban in the area.  Unfortunately most Afghans that work with us are in the same situation.  Most seem to enjoy working with us and enjoy the job.  Maybe it's the money and having a job, maybe it's a chance to build back their country, or maybe the chance to earn a visa to the US.  Whatever the case, it has to be a difficult decision to work for us.

 

It looks like I've been slacking on pictures so I'll try to get some more posted soon.

A day of surveying

Well, not a whole day but it took part of the morning.  Part of working with Local Nationals is that they usually aren't allowed to bring electroncis on base.  So, a GPS is out of the question.  In order to get the rest of our compound laid out I had to track down the Air Force team in charge of the Master Plan and convince them to come out and survey before their flight left. 

 

The hard part about coordinating activities here is that there is a turnover and travel plans and priorities aren't always known.  Also a lot of people don't have email or phone so the best thing to do is track them down and barter for services.  My best bartering tool is probably the fact that I have a truck.  I can give people a ride if need be. 

 

Other than that, nothing too exciting today (which isn't a bad thing considering the alternative).  I learned that it takes 2 people about 30 minutes to mount a 50 cal. on the M-ATV, learned a little more about surveying, that VA politicians will leave messages on my phone in the middle of the night and the Turks consider Dates candy.  I would have preferred some chocolate!!

 

HOME FRONT NEWS:  Katy took the kids to Wal-mart.  She got everyone inside (which can be pretty hectic) and asked Christian "Where are your shoes??".  He said, "Well..... I must confess..... I left them in the car".  At least he was honest about it.

Afghan Hands Program

Today our OIC, Navy LCDR Grant, left to work on his original mission, the Afghan Hands Program.  LCDR Grant is a Charleston native and USC alumnus; it was nice to have someone around to talk about home with.  Plus, he is a really good person and mentor to the military members of our office.

 

His role in the Afghan Hands Program, village stability coordination cell, is to work on quick impact projects in remote areas.  He learned Dari and studied Afghan culture to prepare for his mission.

 

Here is a part of his outgoing message to the office reiterating the importance or our role in Afghanistan: 

 

"What I want all of you to know is that I value the USACE mission here in Afghanistan.  It is extremely important that the Corps of Engineers succeeds, because it occupies a very important role in the counterinsurgency strategy.  COL Magness understands that role and what you’re doing is more than just projects, it is about winning hearts and minds through words, deeds, and images to quote Maj Yandura.  Always keep that in mind as you conduct yourselves with the Afghans, whether contractors, laborers, village elders or government officials."