Still Plugging Away

First off I need to apologize.
For as many years as I can remember, I have been going to Red Sox games. That includes making it back to Boston every year for at least 1 game even after we moved to North Carolina, heck we still have our season tickets. This year we were all set to make the trip back home to go to a game, I mean see friends and family. Well that got canceled as the timing of leaving for Afghanistan was rapidly approaching and it just couldn't happen.
So why do I need to apologize? Because this was the first year for as long as I can remember that I didn't get to Fenway Park for at least 1 game, and it clearly is the reason why they did not make the playoffs. I guess it might be well enough though since I wouldn't be able to sit in my lucky seat on the lucky couch wearing my lucky hat and only changing the channels during commercials if they are losing, cursing friends who dared to call me during an important game. I won't name the guy who caused that one, but Mike knows who he is..."Woohoo...we're going to the World Series".....cue the collapse in Yankee Stadium...why didn't they pull Pedro? He was clearly tired!!!....sorry, I'm back now...So I apologize to all of Red Sox Nation for being the cause of the horribly early end to the season. Thankfully I hadn't seen a game since coming over here in July, it was bad enough seeing the highlights online each day.

But how about this for representing the home team? I went to the bizarre this morning that they have every Saturday. I don't go often, and prior to today I haven't bough a single thing. Fake watches, fake bags, bootleg DVD's are not really my thing. They have some cool stuff in some spots, I would by some of it, but every time I ask if it was made locally....let's just say the answers are not that convincing. I mostly go to walk around and see the sights. Nothing says relaxing day of shopping as a guard tower casting a shadow on you. I figure if something ever catches my eye maybe I pick up a little something for the misses back home. Well today as I was about to leave, I saw the most beautiful thing I have seen here. It was a true mood improver. A little reminder of home......

There this was just hanging in this guy's booth. How funny is that? If nothing else, this place never stops cracking me up! Best $20 I ever spent I think. This is going to look damn good hanging above my bed back home...right Jolie? ...Jolie?
On a somewhat related note, my sister sent me a care package the other week, and inside was a package of Red Sox pens, I am guarding them with my life. She also included the most delicious granola bars that have ever graced my tongue. It's the little things here that make all the difference.....Thanks Marilyn!

Me and the great crew made up of Afghans and Pakistanis.

So I officially have completed my first project here. I took it over from the other company (that we bought) and man was it a mess. Behind schedule by almost the time frame that it was supposed to take to do the entire job. Not too mention that the Ministry of Finance at one point accused myself and the Chief Contracting Officer for the Army of corruption (cross that off my bucket list). I still have the email in which he does it and I may frame it, so cool. Well this week I officially turned the buildings over to the government. Woohooo!!!!! Getting that disaster turned back around and handed off has been a major task. One that would have broken a lesser man....come on people...I'm reaching here! The project consisted of 4 buildings, each is 5,000SF and they house maintenance shops for the armored vehicles.

Each building has bays for 20 trucks, each of which cost approx $750k to buy, than they fit them up with the armor plating, radar jammers that stop the remote signals that the Taliban sometimes uses to detonate roadside bombs, etc, etc....and they top out around $1 million a piece. Yup, so each of my buildings have $20 Million worth of vehicles in them. I would guess conservatively that there are 15,000 vehicles here minimum. I would not be shocked to learn that I am way low on that. Ya my calculator gives an error message when doing that math too.
They have now started installing a 360 camera system on some of them that can relay live pictures of the battlefield to each vehicle in the convoy, and also back to main command. On a clear day they can see for 13 miles in every direction.Talk about a video game.

Afghan Policeman on his way to work at the civilian airport.

Alright...time to get political....sorry I know.....I'm sure you have been hearing about the supposed talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban leaders. They are apparently in talks about ending the war. Believe me, I would love for that to happen. Seeing somewhat first hand what this war is doing to the country I want nothing more than for it to end. But the problem is how does it end and end well? This country is in no shape to protect itself from the Taliban. I have seen with my own eyes the level of protection that the Afghan National Army & Police can provide. They were the ones that let myself and my co worker into THEIR base by simply showing them a shopping club membership card! And in what can only be considered a close call for me...a suicide bomber got through the Afghan Army check point here by paying the guard $5 and he drove down the access road towards the entrance to the civilian airport where he blew his car up killing 3 local Afghans. Close call because earlier that morning I had dropped off someone at that same spot.The fact is that everyone involved in this war needs the war. The Taliban know nothing else, even if they say they want peace, all that means is that want NATO troops to leave, and as soon as that happens, they will take over the country without hesitation. Afghanistan cannot defend themselves well enough yet. Not to mention that the amount of money that is being pumped in here for more than just military reasons cannot be replaced. Heck, the Afghan President's family owns the largest private security firms in the country, and they also own companies that are major players in the supplying of heavy materials such as gravel, stone, etc. The war ends, and all those avenues of income end. Again, I hope it ends, and ends soon, I would be honored to become unemployed because of it....although we might just pack up our bags and move the operations to Pakistan.....I think they are next.

I've spoken a lot about my times of interaction with the local Afghans both on the base and off, and I hope that no one thinks that I am in any way romanticizing those interactions. They just seem to stay with me for so long. Earlier in the week I drove someone outside the base to pick up a truck. As I sat in my truck waiting for him to finish arguing , I mean negotiating, with the other guy over how much it would cost him, suddenly out of nowhere appeared a small girl right in my window. She jumped right up on the running board and before I knew it she was right there at eye level. Not only was I bit shocked at the lack of fear on her part to just jump on the truck like that, but also at the way she started right into a conversation with me...in ENGLISH. She asked me my name, told me hers, I asked her how old she was, she told me 7. My guess was 5. I was so taken by her, I mean here I was sitting in the middle of a war zone talking to a completely fearless 7 year old Afghan girl. After a few minutes, her little brother came walking along, wearing his old, faded spider man shirt mind you. So there we were, me now leaning out the window of my truck as they stood side by side looking up at me. That's when it hit me, they had walked over from a building that prior to this, I assumed was empty. I'm talking no walls, just cardboard and wooden crates to close it in, roof missing off part of it, no running water, obviously no electricity, backed up to an area that is known to not be de-mined yet, and about 1/2 mile from where that car bomb went off. Holy cow. This is insane. These 2 children were absolutely gorgeous in their innocence. I haven't stopped thinking about them. Jolie even asked me if I was planning on bringing them home. I would if I could, believe me.

9 days until I hop on a plane, 10 days until I arrive home.......I can taste it!