Snake Season (28 April)

Weather is getting warmer. It marks the start of the snake season. Nope, not the snake hunting season or a weird reptile festival…just the time of year where they all come out. I haven’t seen any yet, and hope not to see any. A buddy of mine went to meet with his Afghan counterpart and found him and several other grown military professionals on the floor of his office taunting an Indian Cobra by smacking it on the head and laughing. He rescheduled the meeting for after they were done.

I met with my counterpart yesterday and as usual, he offered me food. They always offer chai (tea) and some sort of fruit, nuts, or something. Yesterday it was apples. Business was done when he offered me apples, so the conversation was dead. I opted to exercise my terp (interpreter) by trying to have casual conversation with my counterpart. I asked him what he thought about the upcoming elections (August). I asked if they thought Karzai was going to win (I still haven’t got a straight answer if he can run again), and he answered, “;aldjfalkdjflkjd OBAMA a;dlfkjadslkfjj.” Which translated means, “It is up to OBAMA.” They always say “Enshalla” which means “God willing.” Now they are apparently saying “Obama Willing.” He was laughing, so I laughed, but I was surprised that he would say this. I don’t know if this is really how some of them feel…couldn’t get a straight answer (rarely do).

On my way back to the FOB, I was talking to my terp about snakes (topic of the day) and he said he hadn’t seen any and hadn’t been here for a snake season. I told him repeatedly how much I hate snakes and he replied simply, “they are hateful animals.” That is all for now. Take care and God bless.
BMP

Start of the Week (17 April)

Well my week starts on Saturday. Friday (JUMA) is our weekend. Our Afghan counterparts have JUMA, their day of prayer, so we take time to catch up on personal stuff and relax. There is also a Bazzare every Friday with local vendors. They sell rugs, different silks, jewelry, and a bunch of other stuff that is usually junk. I bought a shemagh to keep the dust/sun off of my face and two rugs for my cubicle...(pics to come of my cube and our FOB). We reserve JUMA as our day of peace and happiness. We try to eradicate cursing and any kind of hate amongst each other to include friendly fun poking. If you think you deserve it, JUMA is the day for cookies and ice cream after lunch and dinner. Today was my first interaction with the local kids. We prepared for our outing by arming ourselves: Semi-automatic weapons for the Taliban and play-do and a frisbee for the kids. Luckily all we had to use was the frisbee and the play-do. we gave the kids the play-do and did our best to tell them not to eat it because they run up asking for chocolate "mista" and we gave them play-do. Then on our way back i see empy play-do cans and a kid trying to sell me gum...wonder what that was. There was one little girl that would just walk in front of me backwards staring up at me making faces (squinching her lips and nose). She was cute...until on our way back we had one piece of candy left and there were three of them, so like any responsible group of 20 somethings, we threw it among the two little girls and one boy...hair pulling and fist flinging ensued. My little friend came up victoriously. Those kids run around barefooted through fields, "roads," ditches...you name it. There is coiled razor wire along the roads to sperate us from the fields, but those kids run straight through it without even looking down...their feet just know where to go. Many of you may have read/heard about some deadly earthquakes in the region Friday morning...I didn't feel a thing. Have a good weekend. Take care. BMP

Made It (April 14th)

After two weeks of travel, I have made it to my new home. Today I got to ride in a Canadian helocopter through the Afghan mountains and over some beautiful country side. We literally flew through the mountains in that when you looked out one side, you saw the face of a cliff and the same out the other side less than 100' away on either side at times. It was a great ride and a great way to see the quickly changing unforgiving terrain of this country. I got picked up from the helo pad (gravel lot) by a couple of guys driving "Gators" (gas powered, heavy duty golf carts with truck beds) and was brought to my FOB (Fwd Operating Base). We share some real estate with an Afghan National Army (ANA) Post. There isn't much here which is nice because that means there is no significant infastructure to attack and minimal reason for high ranking officials to visit and ruin our fun. The guys that I'll be working with seem like a bunch of good guys...a few from each branch of service except Coast Guard. I have been assigned as the Force Protection/Security Officer for the base. My job will entail ensuring our security and status of readiness is always good to go and advise the ANA in security matters. For those that are questioning, yes I do have experience in this...force protection is a big deal for submarines and we trained on it in Kansas. Right now the area is a muddy mess, but the say the weather has been real nice until today. There is one spot where you can go up and look through a gun hole and look out over some fields where farmers are working just outside the wall. The consensus here is that it is a great place to be, so I am looking forward to getting to work. Our main mission is, as advertised, to mentor the ANA in running a base. We also do Humanitarian Aid drops to the surrounding villages. The Afghans in the area that I saw when we did a walking tour of the area outside our FOB (still on the ANA Base) are friendly and seem happy. One thing that is frustrating is that the language training I did in KS is the wrong language for the area...I guess I'll have to relearn those 5 phrases. Hope all is well. Take care. BMP

Made it to Afghanistan (April 4th)

Made it to Afghanistan Thursday morning. Spent one night in a tent with over 100 dudes and back in the air today for a whopping 26mile flight up and over a mountain. After one week of traveling as of right now, my team and I have had exactly 3 opportunities to lay down for a night of sleep...it is pretty interesting what the body is capable of. Last night we slept in the big tent at Bagram Air Field (BAF). It is a huge Coalition compound with all sorts of people walking around. I saw Auzies, New Zealanders, French, Italians, and many, many government contractors. Met a few guys from LA who were building and maintaining some sort of armored vehicle for troops. No starbucks at BAF, but they did have a Popeyes and a "Green Bean" coffee shop that was OK. BAF was a rainy, muddy mess, but less dusty than Kuwait. The place where I am staying tonight and the next few days actually had snow today. We are at the headquarters for the Multi National Forces in charge of training and mentoring Afghan Security forces for the next few days for the last bit of admin and briefs before heading out to the different regions. Take Care. Bryson

Kuwait

Made it to Kuwait 2am saturday morning. I am 8hrs ahead right now. It was rainy and dark when we got here and I slept most of the day. We are here to ditch the jetlag and do some administrative things for in processing into the area. Our trip over was on a chartered World Airlines jet that was a little over 2/3 full with all Navy personnel. I will be here until I can get a flight into Afghan and then more admin/processing until i get tom my final destination. I will be in touch. Bryson