Typical day in Kunduz

Get up around 0700. Breakfast if you like. Eggs, juice, english muffin. Go to office, do the work. Then, over to the rec hall, and check out the computers, and get my personal mail. Also fill out the time card, and get the professional mail.

Lunch about 1100. Back to office, check out the work. Off in the afternoon.

Shower every couple of days. Back to tent around 9pm. Mattress fairly good, tent is a little hot.

Back up at 0700. Seven days a week. Same work.

Afghanistan.

At Kunduz

I arrived here last night. Cold, damp, rainy, muddy. Typical Afghanistan winter. I got to the transient tent, and crawled in the rack. Unhappily, I left my heavy duty plastic shower shoes in Mazer Al Sharif. No matter, I will get a new set. shower shoes are a necessity in this place, you have to walk 75 yards over gravel to take a shower.

The base is typical for a mid-size base in Afghanistan. There are Germans here, and I get to speak German.

The dining hall is adequate, again, about average for Afghanistan. I had a decent breakfast. I had roast beef for lunch, with a grilled polish sausage.

Looking forward to a decent assignment.

Stuck at Mez-al-Sharif

I spent two weeks, at Camp Atterbury Indiana. Then I flew to Afghanistan, where I spent 5 days at Bagram. Then I flew to Mez-al-Sharif, where I am now. My final destination is Kunduz, Afghanistan, which will be my first duty station, on this project. I may stay there many months, I may be there only a short while. Such is the "fog of war".

This is not a good time to be in Afghanistan. A couple of days ago, a soldier went berserk, and went on a shooting rampage, and killed about 15 or so people, including some Afghan children. The shit is going to hit the fan now. I predict there will be riots, and more killing of Americans, like there was after the accidental burning of some Holy Qu'Rans.

I am stuck in the transient tent. The mattress is fair, but the lights are on 24 hours a day. I mostly relax in the USO tent. I can watch TV, and surf the net. The dining hall here is adequate, about average for Afghanistan. The Germans have a dining hall, that is a notch above the USA. They have porcelain plates and real steel knives and forks. I get tired of eating on cardboard, and using a plastic knife and fork.

There is a Green Beans coffee shop here, but I am not happy to pay $5 for a cup of coffee. When I get to my duty station, if there is no Keurig machine, I will buy one!

In the mean time, just relax and enjoy the rest.

In Bagram, Afghanistan

Well, after two weeks, in Camp Atterbury, IN, we took off for Afghanistan. The flight was supposed to take off at 715pm on Friday, but because the aircraft was too heavy, they had to drain some fuel from the tanks, and we took off at 1015pm. We flew to Hahn Air Base, Germany, where we stopped for refueling and to change crews.