Chugging Along

Site of planned ANA shooting range. The whole area is rubble from old buildings and blast craters from American bombings in 2001/2002.



I took out my bottom bunk for more room in my cube.



Computer stand (suspended from ceiling--engineering marvel





Dove Hunter in the garden with pellet gun






A view of the computer stand from my bunk through mosquito netting







Coonass Ceiling fan (has since been updated...will send updated pics later)




Afghan Cement Mixer. Notice these guys are making a store ("Haji Shop" is what Americans call any store not run by the U.S.) out of connex boxes like you see going down the HWY on the back of a semi. These craftsman are actually in the process of joining two connexes together and cementing the entire floor of both of the connexes and installing plate glass windows. They are pretty remarkable at there building capability with little or no tools. Also, note reflection in the window of one of my beloved tents!

"Normal Week" complete. Once again, not too much to report...the tents are finished, though. The company that sold them to us "with labor" finally came and made good on their contract. They were originally supposed to build all the tents and wire them, but they didn't show up with the tents and we needed them built right away for people that were showing up, so we had to proceed. So the great Tent Village is complete and almost all the tents have been built 3 times.

This week was overall pretty slow. I had lunch yesterday with on of the guys that I mentor in his office. We were in the middle of a meeting and he asked if I wanted to have lunch with him. I said yes and he mumbled something to someone and within seconds, a red vinyl tablecloth was on our rubbermaid table and a minute later someone came in and threw down several slabs of unleavened bread, a bowl of soup, a bowl of beef, a plate of rice, some eggplant dish, a bowl of unpasteurized yogurt (consistency of watered down room temp cottage cheese), and four spoons.

Yep, no plates or bowls. You just use your spoon to get what you want and your bread to keep from dripping all over the table or yourself. You can also use the bread to pinch rice and beef then eat it like a little sandwich. I eat all the food that they offer. Like I said before, it hasn't even slightly upset my stomach yet...that is more than I can say for any Navy or Army dining facility.

Some of the things I get to do here are pretty interesting. One day early this week I spent my entire day driving a 5ton forklift moving bed frames and mattresses out of the connex boxes...that is fun stuff. I did an ANA weapons inventory this week...AK-47s and RPGs...how many people get to play with these kinds of toys. One of the AKs was stamped 1963 with the newest being 1987. They just got a shipment of M16s, so they will be replacing their AKs with those.

I got put in charge of getting an obstacle course built for the ANA soldiers, and found out the ANA Colonel wants a swimming pool. I found out that if I justify the pool as a firefighting reservoir, there is a minute chance of pressing forward with it...we'll see.

God bless and take care

BMP