In a towel watching CNN....where were you?

So I have gotten numerous emails and skypes today for obvious reasons. I guess one would assume that on the day that Osama Bin Laden is killed that the middle of Afghanistan would quite the exciting place to be, either for the reaction of the troops, or the reaction of the Taliban. Well I ain’t got nothing for ya. It has actually been an extremely quiet day, heck the firing range next door has even been quiet! I must admit though, when I got out of the shower this morning and turned on CNN as I was getting dressed, I had the same thought as many of you did….”sweet”….”uh oh”. This can only lead to more action around here one would think. But the spring is historically the most active season here anyways so things have already started to increase the alert levels. The poppy harvest is over and it’s back to trying to kill the infidels for a while again. The base has been on high alert for the past week or so, even before today’s news. Random car checks, badge checks, getting the metal detector wand run over you on the way into the cafeteria. For those of you that complain about the airport security wanting to pat you down and check your pockets….try having that with an M16 thrown into the mix. Gotta tell ya though, I am all for it. I think that many people are here on these bases feeling like we are untouchable, especially on this one. Did you hear about the prison break in Kandahar last week where hundreds of Taliban escaped? Guess where they just found about a dozen or so of them? Yup…here on this base working for contractors. Needless to say I have a hiring freeze on locals. We have a large project going on here right now that we just flew in about 60 workers from Pakistan for, they are living here on our camp with us for the next few months, an interesting dynamic considering today’s events.
I'm the first to tell you that I am glad that they got him. Absolutely, 100%. Dude had it coming for sure. I am fascinated for the details of how it all went down. But I gotta say I am not really sure how I feel about seeing the pictures of people celebrating like they just won the Superbowl. It's weird to me. There was a news clip of people in front of the White House, and they had this one woman up on a guy's shoulders, and I was half expecting to see her take her top off like she was at a concert or something. I get the celebration, I get the emotion, I don't get the hip hip hooray though. We wonder sometimes why half the world hates us. Just check out the news and you can see why...people singing "We are the champions" on the front of the White House.....really? 
Rant over.

It’s been a strange few weeks; I’ve been in and out of a funk for sure. The coolness of being over here is starting wear off.  It is the true sense of ground hog day. Last week my boss and I couldn’t figure out what day it was, literally….

My boss:  “was that meeting yesterday?”

Me: “not sure…what day is today?”

My boss: “not sure”

This continued for at least a minute before I had to check my emails to see that it was Friday. It’s like I’ve lost my mind at times. All sense of time of day and day of the week are out the window, don’t even get me started about remembering what freaking month it is. 

Easter was 103 degrees, and it has been keeping right there ever since. Even the Easter Bunny was smart enough to stay away. There was no spring time here. One day it was in the 70’s, the next it was over 100. It might be the only time of year that I am thankful to be chained to my desk all day, I don’t know how those guys work all day out in the heat. I do have a fantastic farmer’s tan already though. Should be a good look when I am home this summer and sitting my butt on the beach…farmer’s tan and raccoon eyes from my sunglasses.

Just another day at the office

Kaboom

Last week there were 2 massive explosions from just outside the base, usually we get these on a smaller level and they make you jump a bit but nothing more, well these puppies were the largest since I have been here. They must have been blowing something up out there. The usual mushroom cloud of dust quickly gave way to a fire red/orange glow that as I sat at my desk and looked up out the window, seemed to cover the sky. By the time I took this picture it was a good 10 minutes later and the mushroom clouds were still climbing. I would guess that they were maybe around a mile and a half from the office. We had the maintenance guys go around and check windows…and I checked my underwear.

Reality check #378.

I was on a bid walk last week over by the hospital as a Chinook helicopter came in low and fast. These helicopters are like massive flying elephants, so when they are coming in as low as this one was towards the hospital you know it’s not good. I’ve seen this countless times before though, they drop out of the sky as the ambulance speeds towards the landing pad, sometimes you see someone limp pout the back, sometimes they are carried out but you don’t get the full view. Well this time was different; they came in right over us and were so low that it blew peoples notebooks out of their hands. The dust whipped around us and as I held my breath and closed my eyes as tightly as I could, I couldn’t help but wonder about my career choices. The sirens of the ambulance could barely be heard because of how loud the rotary blades are on that thing. We all stood there and after the dust settled enough could only watch. The Helicopter landed about 50 yards from where we were and immediately when the tires touched down four men ran out carrying a stretcher as another knelt over the injured soldier doing chest compressions. Dangling off the side of the stretcher was half an arm. I thought that I was going to through up. After everything that I have seen here in the nearly 10 months, that is the one that has hit me in the gut the most. I refused to look at the flags on the hospital for the next few days because I didn’t want to see them at half staff. 

On a brighter note I have help coming soon, We've hired a new project manager to come on board and hopefully take some of my workload off of me. I can't wait, I swear I can't get anything done here during the day between trying to do my regular job and dealing with everything else that comes with running this place, I and spread so thin that I might tear soon. Somehow most (not all) gets done though. I guess that has lead to probably the best "review" by a boss that I have ever gotten. Must be doing something right I guess. Funny to be thriving in a war zone.......