Almost ready for R&R

Well, it's been a while since I blogged.  I'm getting ready to go on R&R so I'm trying to get all my projects in order before I go.  So what's happened since the last time I was on here:

 

WAR EAGLE!!!  Yep, I got up in the middle of the night to watch the Auburn Tigers put a whoopin' on the Gamecocks.  Of course everyone was tired of me talking about it so they had to haul a fellow Auburn Man in from Qalaal House to talk football with me just to get it out of my system. 

 

 

 

Had another round of outside the wire site visits.  I met with my LNQA, KTR and District Minister of Education at one of my project sites.  The District Minister of Education was a little upset that we didn't let him know we were coming.  I guess the part about not giving people the advance notice to round up the local taliban never crossed his mind.  Of course, a few days later the LNQA failed his CI Interview and had to be escorted off the base.  He's no longer allowed on the FOB.  I don't know if the interviewer was being over cautious or right on the money, still working that issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

COL Magness came down for a visit.  Project reviews and tours.  All went well, nothing to exciting to say.

 

 

 

Dinner tonight was provided by an Afghan guy that we know who owns the bakery.  They made rice, bread, vegetables and goat.  It was excellent!!  I'm not sure how the goat was made, but it was probably simmered somehow all day because it was really tender.  So far my stomach has handled everything Afghanistan has thrown my way, hoping tomorrow won't be any different :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOME FRONT NEWS:

 

For those of you who have kids, you probably know what the "Elf on the Shelf" is.  If you don't know what it is, it's basically an elf that sits on a shelf.  Every night he returns to Santa to let him know if you have been good or bad and returns to a different shelf the nexdt day. 

 

The elf that visits our house is named Fisbee.  My son has seen Fisbee as a direct challenge to his free-wheelin' good spirit.  The first night he was a little weary of Fisbee, but willing to accept that Santa's good will lay through this elf.  The next night, he started yelling at the elf to go to sleep and quit watching everything he did.  The third night, he had it all figured out.  He told Katy, "You know what I think?!?!?!?!  I think that is not even a real elf, it's just decoration!!" 

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.