Left Kandahar With A Bang

New location, same dust. It's been a busy few weeks since I last blogged. Lots of packing, working, packing, working, and finally another military flight with no movie or refreshment cart. I did get to sit next to one of the bomb sniffing dogs though, not such a good flier by the way, but considering that it was my second flight in a row that had people getting sick from the turbulence, I'm just glad he didn't puke on me. I was a bit nervous though, having this trained machine with fangs literally tucking his head against my leg made me hope that he realized that I am one of the good guys.

The big move finally happened on Saturday, just 3 days after I started trying to get on a flight. The windy season is starting to come and the dust wreaked havoc on the flight schedule. I was booked on a noontime flight but got delayed an hour due to a "Ramp Ceremony" taking place. It is a ceremony where they honor a fallen soldier and load his/her casket onto a plane for transportation home. I had heard about them previously, but this was my first time seeing it. I was able to stand at the fence line about 50 yards away and watch. There were about 100 troops present, 8 were in their formal dress with the casket. The ceremony lasted only about 30 minutes, it was an amazing site to watch them walk the casket up the ramp and onto the plane. It was another one of those moments here where I felt honored to watch, but saddened immensely by the subject matter.

Kandahar must have known that I was leaving, each day seemed to provide me with some sort of a wish goodbye. Monday night we had the most rockets come in during my time there, I lost track at 10. As funny as it sounds, there was a rumor that Obama was here, obviously he wasn't, but I wonder if they were showing their cards just in case. I had spoken with an Afghan sub contractor that I know earlier in the day and the word outside the wire was that he had stopped in Kandahar after his appearance in Kabul. He was probably coming to meet with me and have his picture taken for the blog....darn dust must have canceled his flight. Tuesday night we lost power around 3am, seeing your breathe is not a great way to wake up in the morning!

Wednesday as I was talking with a client out at one of the maintenance yards, there was a massive explosion just outside the wire, shook us to the bone. It literally took my breath away. I'm still not sure exactly what it was, but clearly it was not a planned explosion as they announce over the speakers if they find something that needs to be detonated. Whatever it was, it sent a mushroom cloud into the air that seemed to hang for an eternity.
Thursday night was nearly sleepless as the activity in the mountains was echoing across the desert. Explosions, helicopters, A-10's doing some damage with their massive guns....lots of money being spent out there. Seemed like every time I was about to drift back to sleep it started up again, and I just don't know how to roll over and go back to sleep with that going on.
Friday was another day without power, lost it for about 8 hours....I think I got out of there just in time.

Things at Leatherneck have been happening at warp speed since I got here. It's been a slightly difficult transition to this point as the personnel changes are not clearly defined yet. In time they will fall into place, but for now I am in an all hands on deck mode. I showed up to find out that I am now the lead PM on a large fuel storage project that starts construction on Thursday. So I have been cramming like I have an exam as all the contracts need to be sorted out ASAP. I've also taken on the lead PM role on pretty much all the other work we have going on as well, luckily they are projects that I was involved in bidding, so at least I have some background info on them, but throw in the 4 bids that are also on my plate right now and I am not missing the fact that I haven't gotten my TV set up yet...I'm lucky to even remember where my room is at night!

 I went to one of my job sites this morning to see what was going on, I got there just as the daily safety meeting was getting underway. I stood there staring at the group of workers wondering if any of them even understood a word that was being said. All of them (about 30) are direct employees of ours, including about 6 Afghans who work for us but live outside the base. It was the usual safety meeting, make sure you don't get run over by a roller, don't fall in the wet concrete, report any ammunition you find on the ground.....huh? It's not uncommon around here to find a few bullets here and there that fall out of a soldier's pocket. One of our guys found 8 bullets the other day and innocently put them in his pocket to turn in later when he was over at the job trailer, well he forgot, and when he went to dinner they were discovered on him- all TCNs (third country nationals- meaning they are not from Afghanistan or a NATO country) and all locals, must get a body scan before entering the cafeteria. He was arrested on the spot....not good. Our security had to go work the system to get him released. Needless to say we are expecting to be raided by the military anytime now to have our compound searched. I'm picturing masked men banging on trash cans as they throw our mattresses out the doors and tear up the flooring. Ok probably not, but if that happens I'll be sure to get a few pictures for the blog, right before they hit me over the head with a billy club.
Back to that safety meeting, after the ammo talk, my site manager kindly reminded everyone to remember their personal hygiene....that's the one thing that I still have not gotten used to, the smell of some of the locals hits you like a brick. I'm not trying to be mean, but yikes it can make your stomach turn if it catches you right. I climbed up into the crane today to ask the operator a question and when the door opened I had to climb back down and yell up to him.
 
One thing that has me spinning a bit is my next R&R. I was scheduled to be home the first week in February. Was is the key word. My boss, another manager, and myself are all pretty much on the same rotation schedule, which doesn't work well. Last time we were scrambling and coverage wasn't good. So I knew that we would have to rework the schedule a bit to alleviate that. Long story short, I am now not on R&R until the first week in March.....argggg. That was a kick in the privates. An extra month here. I'm now about 80 days from being home instead of about 50. Here would be where I would insert one of those frown faces if I didn't think those things were created by the devil. I guess it's time do the only thing that makes the time pass quickly here....work my ass off. Although at this rate I may have to move on to another body part once that one has worn away.