Toby Keith

Yesterday we had a little concert by country singer Toby Keith. Now even if you’re not a country music fan, you can appreciate the fact that a millionaire celebrity came to our little FOB in Afghanistan to put on a show for the soldiers and airmen here. He played for about a half hour and stuck to patriotic songs and numbers about drinking, both of which were crowd pleasers. After the show he stuck around and took some pictures with everyone, it was really a nice gesture for all the guys who are here.

A side from today’s excitement, this week has been pretty standard. Writing statements of work, reviewing bid submittals and missions to look at on-going projects and potential ones, tends to be how the days are spent here. Staying busy but not burning out, by throwing in the occasional movie, daily trips to the gym and reading. Time has been going by pretty fast here and I look forward to seeing everyone again.

Thank you and God Bless.

Spring In Afghanistan

Today was beautiful spring day in Afghanistan and a perfect day for a barbeque, so we had one for lunch and another for dinner. The fact the dining facility was closed was the real reason for our gluttonous barbequing, but either way it was a nice change of pace from the usual.

I don’t usually see much of my team day to day (aside from the engineers) when we are not on a mission together. However, today was a nice social relaxing day, with the writing of a report in the morning, trying to convince brigade to build renewable energy projects, and an afternoon of football tossing and the aforementioned cookouts. With a movie night last night and the relaxing day today, I think my batteries are recharged for more long missions away from Gardez should they come up. Not that I’m necessarily asking for such a mission.

I think that the only thing that would help now is if I could watch a Yankee game at a decent hour, as opposed to the 4:30am time they come on over here. But if that is my only complaint then I guess I’m doing alright.

Thank you and God Bless.

Back East

I haven’t written in a while, far longer than I had intended to go without writing. However, I spent the last few days away from “home,” toward the eastern part of the province. The Army has many FOBs around Afghanistan, and I found myself at one smaller and far less comfortable than Gardez, for the better part of the week.

It was an interesting trip, even though there were no real engineering projects for me to see. We traveled around with local government officials and saw various completed projects, and some sites for proposed projects. But more interesting was the rain we got. I had been saying since I got here, that I have never seen more beautiful weather in my life. That changed this week, with rain and cold that reminded me of the spring weather in Vermont. It only added to the less than enjoyable time I had “on the road.” However, we could see the rain already greening things up on the way home. Afghanistan is in a ten year drought, so when the rain hits, all the plants soak it up and turn the country-side green… well, greenish brown. It almost looks like spring now.

With that said, this past week taught me that it’s nice to get out and travel, (it makes the time go by) but sometimes, it is nice to be on the home FOB; which I appreciate much more now, than I did just a few days ago.

Thank you and God Bless