Desk shaking...beat a General...first project award...a spider bite... & 9/11

Busy times here, lots going on.

So my last post was mostly about a few crazy days that I had. Well, the day after that post was a continuation. As I sat at my desk around 10am, a rocket landed close enough that it shook my desk. It hit at the exact moment that the siren went off. They say that it gives you 2-3 seconds before impact. So you really aren't in a position to take cover in time, what you can do though is get ready in case there is another one following. They never (knock on wood) come in multiples at the same time, there is always a few minutes between in the rare case of there being more than one. I think they need to reload the sling shot before they can get another one in the air. Plus from what I hear, once the rocket gets launched, there position receives return fire pretty much immediately. So if they dare to stay there and try more, they are going bye bye. It was kinda like that scene in Jurassic Park when they heard the heavy footstep in the distance and the glass of water rippled. Turns out it never even made it into the base, but was just outside, and the closest one yet. I have a nice new concrete bunker on order by the way.

I had a real eye opener the other night. 2 soldiers straight from the front lines walked into my office. They looked exhausted. They were filthy. They were young, couldn't have been more than 22. They are part of a force that on July 30th took over a Taliban strong hold in the mountains about 2 hours away. They cut off the main supply line for the region that was being used by the Taliban to transport supplies. They lost 3 men on the first day. They have been under constant attack from the mountains as the Taliban is trying to get back their stronghold. One of the guys had been wounded in the arm in the first week, and the other guy's bed had a rocket go through it last week. These guys were desperate, they need everything you can imagine. They drove a convoy 2 hours to get here, when they did they ended up at the contracting office and someone gave them my name. They started the conversation by saying "we need help". They have NOTHING there, no barriers, no heavy equipment to help them set up anything. Just tents and MRAPS (armored trucks) sitting in a valley surrounded by evil. They need a contractor who can send equipment and operators to help. There are these earth barriers everywhere here called HESCOS. They are basically a wire mesh with fabric that stand up and you fill them with sand. They can stop small arms fire and block the brunt of an explosion. But you need heavy machines to fill them. These guys have the HESCOS set up, but with no sand. So basically their defensive wall is made of fabric! Unbelievable. Unfortunately though getting equipment and operators there costs money, so I sadly asked them what their budget was....."$40k per month". My heart absolutely sank. It would cost me triple that just to get the equipment there with a security escort. The irony is that they have access to other funds, but the paperwork and the process to get it released will most likely take them months. What a load of crap if you ask me. They send these guys out there, ask them to put their lives on the line, have their buddies get killed, and then give them peanuts to support them. How is that possible? And yet here on base they are all excited because Burger King is being let back on the boardwalk...fantastic, good priorities everybody. I gave them the name of an Afghan contractor that I know, hopefully he can help them, I also gave them my card and told them not to hesitate to contact me for anything they need, I probably can't supply them with it, but I will be happy to connect them with someone who can. I even offered them and their entire group that came a clean room, shower, bed for the night...but they declined as they were most likely heading right back out. I have not stopped thinking about those guys from the time they left my office. I don't think I will ever forget their faces. 

On Monday I ran another 5k, what the heck right? Not nearly the same turnout as previously, but it still raised almost $10k for local Afghan schools. This one went much smoother than last time, though I did keep looking over my should for that psycho from the last one. This time the free t-shirt was gained by beating the General. I planned on tripping that dude if need be, but luckily he started in front and quickly drifted to the back and stayed with the final runners to the end. I wish I could say I beat him in a foot race at the end, but it still doesn't tarnish yet another free t-shirt. At this pace I'm gonna have to start having Jolie work a trophy room into the new house plans for when I get home!

When I went to bed on Monday night, I was thinking that my legs might be a little sore in the morning, little did I know that my legs would be the least of my worries. Back up a few days, on Saturday I noticed a small bump on my forehead, about the size of a mosquito bite. I figured it was just that, some sort of bug bite, as the temps have cooled slightly, the flies have become active. The bump had grown a bit and gotten a little tender. Still nothing that raised a red flag, I just figured it would run it's course and be gone. So on Tuesday morning when I was brushing my teeth, I could not believe my eyes when I looked into the mirror. My entire forehead from hairline to eye brows was completed swollen, I freaked the heck out! I looked that one of those dudes from Star Trek. Not only that, but the initial bump was now bright red. Talk about a headache, my skin was so tight that blinking took effort. I got myself right up to the hospital only to be turned away because they only treat civilians that have an emergency, and considering that in the hallway they were talking about a guy whose nose was "on the side of his face", I didn't qualify. There is a walk in clinic here, and the guy who checked me in actually asked me what I was there for, too funny. Um...maybe this rendering of the Rocky Mountains on my forehead??? One look at it by the doctor and he declared that I must have been bitten by a spider, not that nasty Camel Spider that got me all worked up before I came over though. A bite from those and you know it, but rather a small "typical" spider. He thinks that it just took a few days for the reaction to occur, and the infection was most likely due to the not so clean environment we are enjoying here. Take a look at my daily photos of my face. It started out on my forehead, but progressively has moved downward. Today as I write this, my cheeks are feeling swollen a little, but it seems like it is on it's way out. Enjoy the pictures, and go ahead and make all your smart ass comments...the things I do for this blog!

In case you have forgotten, they are paying me to work here...ya go figure. Well the good news is that I won my first project (cue the band). It is actually the first project that I bid when I first got to Kandahar, they cut the project in half for now, but it still is nice to get one under my belt. The project of course is the one that I have the video link showing the trip out by convoy to the job site, better get my goggles cleaned!
The "Self Delivery Group" as we are called within the International Group, has now won 12 projects in just the 7 months that we have been in operations in Afghanistan. Total work awarded to date is around $20 Million, and we have bids out for over $50 Million currently. The group has been so successful that the company is now creating a model from us that they are looking to implement across the globe. Next on the list is Pakistan, Japan, Haiti, Africa, and a few others I can't remember, add those to the 5 or 6 countries we are already in and I can now understand the companies goal of $100 Billion this year...yikes.

Housing complex once controlled by the Taliban.

Yesterday was an adventure. I was asked to go take pictures of a potential job site that our headquarters is bidding on next week. They just wanted to get a set of eyes on it. Yup you guessed, back outside the wire. This site is located next to Camp Hero, an Afghan National Army camp that was built about 2 years ago just outside the wire. I took my maintenance guy that has been here for a few weeks with me, my policy, since I am now in charge, is that you never go out alone, and you always wear your gear. All we had to go on was a blurry map rendering. We headed outside and started our search.

Empty building, possibly an old school..not sure.

Locals set up near KAF for protection

Now I realize that every time that I have spoken about being outside the wire it always seems to be pure madness. And I won't lie and tell you that it isn't. But each time I go out there, I come back a different person. A better person. I honestly don't feel as though my life is in eminent danger, is it the safest place on the planet? No. But being within the watchful eye of camp prevents the escalation of most situations. There is something about being out there that just grabs me. It's like stepping into a documentary. You see people just trying to live. Trying to get by, and the conditions in which they are trying brings such a sadness to my heart that I don't think I will ever be able to express to anyone. I admit, it's hard not to judge at times when you see someone driving by you on an old moped with a machine gun. It's just not normal, but you start to realize that they are not carrying that to use on me. They are carrying it to protect themselves from the world that has surrounded them. The world that I am fortunate to be able to step into from time to time. Yes I said fortunate. How else could I ever truly learn the beauty of the things that I surely take for granted back home? And I'm talking basics here, not Direct TV or a nice car, how about electricity, maybe a toilet, isn't having clean drinking water a good idea? These people have none of that. They are living at a level that is so far from what any of us could do for 2 weeks, never mind for entire generations.

On our way out out of Camp Hero

We eventually worked our way down the road that we thought might lead us to Camp Hero, and after stopping and asking along the way in the small market place (shacks selling random items, including DVD's...go figure), where no one spoke English, we finally came upon a main entrance to something, not sure exactly what it was, but we saw an American soldier about 20 yards away at another entrance, so we headed there first. If nothing else we knew we could communicate. Turns out he was manning the entrance to FOB (Forward Operating Base) Lindsay, and the other entrance was for Camp Hero...finally making progress. We showed him the map that we had and he seemed to think that we might be able to see it from inside the FOB. So he opened the gate and let us in. Now I'm not sure if civilians are supposed to be in a FOB. Most likely not, but heck, I'm not missing out on this!!! So sure enough we drove right in and had a little tour of it. We didn't find what we were looking for, but it was totally cool. After our little jaunt around the place we went back out and asked the guy if we were allowed to go into Hero. He said we were but wasn't sure if the Afghan guard would let us through. That prompted the obvious follow up question "is it safe" to which he said it was. So we drove on over to see if we could get in. The guard right away started yelling "NO NO NO NO". We didn't have Afghan plates was his reasoning. What it really meant was he wanted money. So rather than argue with the guy, I backed out and parked, walked back over to the American, meanwhile Tony (maintenance guy) starts talking with the Afghan guard. I see him pulling out a card and showing it to the guy. Next thing you know, he says we can go in. What was the magic card? The British version of a COSTCO card. Yup that's right, we gained entrance to an Afghan National Army compound using a discount warehouse membership card. Tony told him that we could go anywhere we wanted with it, and the guy apparently was impressed. And we wonder why we can't turn the country back over to them??

We had a nice tour of the place, found an old Soviet graveyard of tanks and various equipment, but not our true destination. We eventually made our way out and back to camp. Back to our version of the world. On our way back through the "market" I pulled over and took the 2 cases of bottled water out of the back of the truck and set in on the side of the road. People blew kisses to us as we drove away.


I remember exactly where I was 9 years ago today as I am sure you all do as well. I was sitting on the Southeast Express in grid lock traffic heading into Boston to continue the renovation job I was doing. We had just gotten back from London & France a few nights before. I was listening to Howard Stern on the radio when I first heard that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers. Ironically I probably saw the planes take off from Logan Airport as the entire time you sit on the expressway you are in view of the airport. I remember every part of that day, standing in the client's kitchen with his mother watching the broadcast as the towers fell, jumping in the truck to head home and being one of the last vehicles out of the city before they closed the highway. Calling my friend in NY and having the call go through on the first try even though phones in NY were overloaded. Who would have thought that what happened that day would lead me to be sitting in my office 9 years later, in Afghanistan, on 9/11. Amazing the way things happen. The Taliban clearly remembers as well, and they have been reminding us quite a bit throughout the day.

God Bless those who lost their lives that day, bless the people who have died in the battles since, and bless those that will undoubtedly die in the battles to come.