And on the 76th day....I rested.

And by rested I mean collapsed. I've written many times in the past about how hard it is to get a true day off here. Well yesterday it finally happened. I got in bed around 1am on Saturday night, and I didn't wake up until 1pm.....man did I need that. I had turned off my cell phone, shut down my outlook so I wouldn't hear the ping of a new email and feel the need to check it, and set my Skype to only ring if Jolie called. I even took the measure of telling my boss not to look for me until after lunch, thankfully he respected that. I probably could have stayed in bed all day if it hadn't been for how hungry I was. Let's just say that the previous night's version of lasagna wasn't as filling as one would hope.

I showered, shaved, and whipped open the door to the steaming greeting of that dreaded sun that I have come to know. Certainly was strange though to be heading out for the day at such an hour that the heat was already running full blast. I'm used to being up and in full steam ahead mode as the heat of the day starts to climb. Lately the weather has been playing some serious tricks on us. Most days first thing in the morning is actually getting quite cold. The temperature overnight is really starting to drop, which makes the overall daytime temperature have much further to climb before reaching that scorching mark. High temperatures right now are mid 90's. Occasionally it hits the triple digits, but it is becoming rare. By the way, if you are checking the temperature widget here on the blog...you need to add about 10 degrees to it. There is no temperature tracker on the internet for here on KAF. So that is picking up the temperature in the nearby Kandahar City, which is about 2,000' higher than we are here.

So what to do on an actual self imposed day off? Rather than go eat lunch in the usual assembly line of calories, I decided to head over the a coffee shop that is in the British area of KAF. What a nice change of pace that was, I had a nice large cup of REAL coffee, and an actual fresh baked muffin. Holy cow I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I just learned about this place the other week and boy am I glad I did. I took my book with me, the same book that I started on the plane on the way over here and haven't picked up since. I spent about  3 hours sitting in there, in a nice over sized leather chair, just reading my book. And get this, I even got in on a few chess matches with 3 American troops that were hanging out there as well. I got my ass kicked, but hey, I wasn't working! Turns out these guys were part of the big push that is happening in Kandahar right now and had just gotten back to the base.

With the exception of going to my job site for about an hour, I spent the rest of the day relaxing, didn't even go across the parking lot to the office...lord knows I've been there enough. And man have I been churning out the work in there lately. Still with just the 1 project that I took over when  I got here, and with that project that I won a few weeks ago now being put on hold, I am still busy as ever. I'm really the only one in Afghanistan with substantial estimating experience, so I have become the default estimator for projects all over the country. I don't mind it though, I guess it just adds more value to me here. Currently I am running the bid on a $50 million project up at Camp Leatherneck. We are close to getting awarded a $6 million dollar project at Camp Bastion that I bid about 1 month ago, and I just received another Bastion project to start working on last night. There is not much new work coming out here at KAF right now as many of the contracting officers are finishing their rotations and the new ones have not arrived yet. When I get back from R&R, I'm going to hopefully be able to focus more on getting work here that I have so far, between taking over the operations and trying to get things back on track here, the search for new work has had to take a back seat. The work will come soon though, I'm confident of that.

So have you ever been driving a vehicle when suddenly the back tire just falls off? I have. And when it has fallen off where you right in the midst of going through the security gate at the new main entrance to a military base in Afghanistan? I was. Things around here certainly are not boring. On Thursday I was heading over the "The Pit" (explanation later). I had to go through a checkpoint and into a holding area of sorts. As I pulled through the checkpoint it felt as if I had driven into a huge hole. I should only have been so lucky, turns out the back left wheel simply fell off. Completely off. I'm talking axle on the ground type off. It would appear as if the lug nuts were either never on, or not on tight and had worked their way off. And to think that this was a truck that was left to me the day before while one of my regular trucks was being serviced. Only in Afghanistan! So there I was in the middle of the checkpoint blocking the entire lane...good times. The Slovakian guards were getting a big kick out of the American whose wheel fell off. One of them walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder and in his deep accented voice said "that's funny". Ya thanks buddy. A quick inspection of the truck revealed that it was missing the jack..of course. I asked the guard if they had a jack in their trucks at all, and I immediately realized that a jack made for a massive armored vehicle was clearly not going to work on my Toyota. So without missing a beat, he suggested a better resolution, one that I wish I had my camera for.....they backed up to my truck, tied a strap to the front, and dragged it across the gravel parking lot and out of the way....works for me! I was going through the gate to meet the truck guy anyways and get my other one back. So instead of driving out the gate and swapping, I walked out, gave him the keys and told him where he could find it, and took my other truck back in. Problem solving...it's what I'm about here.

So what is "The Pit" you ask? Well it's no place for the faint of heart. It's what they call the area where the locals enter the base each day to work. All non badged people come through there regardless of nationality. It starts at a gate about 1/2 mile away. They enter through a check point where they are searched and pass through a high tech body scanning machine. They then walk about 1/4 mile to another check point where they get their eyes scanned. Once they make it through there, they enter in to "The Pit". It's just a large fenced in area with a massive sunshade over it that acts as a holding area. There they wait for their escorts to pick them up and bring them onto the base. You have to have their paperwork sorted out 24 hours before entering or they can't come through. And after they come through they must stay with their escort for their entire time, each escort can have up to 5 people with them.
From the base side, you walk from the parking area about 100 yards to the pit, you have to go through a gate and into the actual holding area to claim your workers. It's an incredibly tense area. These guys have been through hell just to get to that area. And it usually takes hours, in the heat. Fights often break out during the mornings as they push and shove to try and get through as fast as they can. It's an exhausting ordeal for them day in and day out. The process starts at 7:30am, and it is not unusual to have them get through as late as noon. Factor in the fact that on Friday there was a bomb left outside by the first gate, and you've got one heck of an adventure for these guys to get to work each day. I give them incredible amounts of credit. No longer will I complain about traffic on my way to work when I get home. Do you understand now just how hard it can be to get things done around here? Some days I'm only getting 4-5 hours of actual working time on the job. It's a killer on the schedule. And if you get them to the gate late to leave, guess what? The MP's are waiting for you. My subcontractor is responsible for bringing these guys in, so luckily I only have to go from time to time to sign the new paperwork to prove that they are working on a valid contract.

So the other day I was over by the airfield, I love it over there, boys and their toys I guess. I spliced together a quick video, not such great quality, but considering that you need a special camera pass to take pictures/videos over there, I did the best I could. And check out what was just sitting by the side of the road that goes past the airport.

Right now there is a major push going on in Kandahar. The amount of troops that are out in the mountains fighting right now is massive. Some days the usually crowded boardwalk or dining facilities are just plane empty. They are trying to search out the Taliban in the area and take over the villages again. You can tell when they make the push, as close as I am to the gate, I can always see and hear them lining up in their convoys to go out, and by now I have learned when it is just a typical trip or if they are going out with more force. God bless them. Almost every night for the past week you can here the fighting in the distance. Explosions, helicopters, planes, more than just the usual activity.

A-10

Well last night was a full on battle. There was a rocket attack around 8pm, immediately...even before the "all clear" siren went off...all hell broke loose out there. The sound brought me out of my room and I just stood outside absolutely awe struck by the sounds. Explosion after explosion, the 50mm guns from the helicopters just filled the night with that overpowering sound. I don't know how you don't just drop dead of a heart attack if that thing is aiming at you! The battle went on for a good 3 hours. I stood on the top of the 2nd story staircase here and could occasionally see off towards the mountains the blinking lights on the helicopters, I couldn't count how many, but there had to be at least 4, and the A-10 strike planes were circling around as well. They are more of a ground support specialty fighter jet compared to the F-18. I tried to get some audio of it (since you couldn't see anything) but it didn't really pick up too well, I think it's time for a new camera.

Just 14 days left until I am heading home for some needed R&R. My boss calls this time frame the most useless time anyone will spend here. He understands how checked out you can get when your mind is on going home. Funny, it wasn't until I booked my flight that I started to get antsy. Having that date on the calendar now makes me keep looking at it counting down the days. I can't wait to get home and see Jolie and the boys, and to see all our great friends who have been so supportive and helpful to us in more ways than imaginable.