I have a blog? Sorry...I forgot!

So it’s been 5 months since my last blog, it’s not that I forgot, more a case of finding the motivation to write again. I used to love writing this blog. It was a great way to let everyone into the world that I am now living in, but more than that it was a great way for me to keep my own personal diary, something to show my boys when they get older and we talk about those years when I was in Afghanistan. I wanted it to be something that would make them proud, make them understand why I was here. Though as time has gone on, for me writing the blog started to become a reminder of what I wasn’t doing more than what I was. It reminded me too much of home and of all the things I was missing out on with the family…the missed sporting events, school events, those moments that time won’t give back. I understood what it meant when I agreed to take this job, what I didn’t understand was how instead of getting easier, it has gotten harder. It got me in a real funk a while back and writing this blog was about the last thing I felt like doing. But I am 2 days away from another R&R, so let’s give it a shot.

5 months…not even sure where to start. Life has been the same…wake up…work…eat…work…eat… work…try to sleep…repeat steps 1-7. It’s a routine that I have somehow adapted to, or might be better to say I have succumbed to. My boss moved over to Iraq to take over that operation so I stepped into his role and now am in charge of 2 programs, reaching over 4 different bases, including Bagram Air Field which if you have seen the news lately has been a bit of an interesting place. I am still based at Camp Leatherneck, but I am getting the feeling that when I return from R&R I might end up doing some traveling around the country. 

Business is still good here. My program completed the Fuels Distribution project in December (I've added some more pictures in the picture gallery on the left) and have moved onto a few projects for the UK Military. They are actually my best client here and we always have a few projects going with them. I actually prefer working for them than the US military…a little less arrogant and a lot less tobacco in their lips.

We took over a security contract on a large project that another group within my company had completed. The government wasn’t thinking that they would be ready to take ownership of it when it was completed so they awarded my group a contract to keep security around the site until the Marines were ready to take it over. It is a large ammunition storage facility that is hooked onto the side of Camp Bastion, of course the military won’t let us use the gate that connects the two sites, so you have to exit the base and drive about 15 minutes around the side and back in through a temporary gate in the side of the site. The site is guarded by an Afghan company…so locals with machine guns…I always make sure to smile and wave...smile and wave. We treated them better than the previous group though, always a good business model I feel!

The drive to the site always leaves you shaking your head. There is a village that has popped up out there and it seems every time I go out there are more and more houses being built out of mud, hay, and even trash. What happens a lot around the bases is that the local contractors that leave the base with a dump truck full of debris or even regular trash will just dump it randomly once they are clear of the gate. It’s so messed up. There is trash everywhere. What amazes me though is how the local villagers pillage through it and find uses for almost everything you can imagine. One house’s front wall is built from large wooden spools that electrical wire comes on. I've added a photo gallery with pictures of the village and another of the kids. I find them to be such a mixture of beauty and sadness. The kids warm my heart when I see them, always have such an innocence, but it's hard to see past their surroundings. The poverty that they live in is just plain shocking.

I always love seeing the kids out there, though it can get a bit stressful because they run at the truck when you drive by hoping to make you stop so that they can get water, food, money…you find yourself weaving back and forth along the road trying to avoid them at times. One of our security managers was receiving clothing donations from a school in the UK that his wife works at. So a few times they stopped to hand out clothes to the kids. It funny to see them running around out there in there mix matched clothes, but it makes you feel good to see that even on such a small scale we might be doing something more than just trying to cash a paycheck out here. I had talked to my wife about starting our own clothing drive back home, but we all felt that we had already given enough to the local village, and we needed to reach out further, the problem was that I couldn’t get the UK or the US Military to work with me to take the items out there for us. They both do outreach programs, but neither seemed interested in talking to me about it. So for now I guess it’s not going to happen. 

It’s been an interesting time over here lately for sure. With all the recent 'situations' with the war (Koran burning, local Afghans being killed) the security has increased to the highest level that I have seen it. I’m not complaining, after all we are in a war zone, so you can’t have too much security. But it was weird to see the soldiers with their weapons actually loaded walking around. Usually their ammo magazines are not engaged in their guns, now they are all loaded. Like I said though, we are in a war zone. This base has never really had any major instances, we are in the middle of nowhere and it is pretty difficult to get close enough to do anything with any major force. Occasionally they shoot a rocket our way, but the last time they even got close was almost a year ago. There was however an incident over on the runway the other week when a local that was working on base stole a truck and drove it out onto the runway and tried to run over a few soldiers, he ended up in a ditch, got out, and proceeded to light himself on fire…I mean no disrespect, but I am not really sure at what point he thought the plan to light himself on fire was still a good one. Depending which report you read, he was rumored to have had on a suicide vest and one can only guess that it didn’t go off and he was trying to light it so it would? Thankfully he was the only casualty.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Marine handover a few weeks back. It’s a ceremony that transfers control of Camp Leatherneck between one Marine Major General and his predecessor. For a non-military guy like myself, it’s always cool to see stuff like this. I was one of only about a dozen civilians there, the place was full of local dignitaries that included ANA (Afghan National Army) Generals, mayors of the local provinces, a full Marine color guard, and of course the 2 full Marine Major Generals…grizzled, salty looking guys that no doubt could kill me one finger. I had actually met the current Major General one time before when he came to inspect a project that my company was completing. He arrived with an escort of about 12 armored vehicles, all of them loaded with Marines who were in full battle gear ready to do business. He of course stepped out of his truck with just his uniform and soft hat on, he had that Dirty Harry way about him as if he had no need for his body armor because after all, who was going to mess with him? It’s times like that when I can only laugh…to myself of course.

The sun during a sandstorm

The weather here has started to turn. The rainy season has passed and the days are starting to get warmer and warmer. Today was a high of around 90F. A big change from last month when we were still in the 50's each day and still getting rain. I said it last year, but the rain here is miserable.  Not only does it make an absolute mess of the place and flood the job sites, but it has the worst smell. The only way I can explain it is that is smells incredibly musty. It's almost like the rain is washing the dust out of the air. It's funny that when it is 140 F in the summer I was wishing for the winter to get here soon, but then at night in the winter when it is in the 20's and raining, I couldn't wait for the summer again! We did just have another epic sandstorm last week. The type that rolled in first thing in the morning and just seemed to get worse and worse all day, it didn't stop blowing until almost 10pm. All our project sites were shut down, and I almost ran off the road at least 5 times in the 1 mile drive to dinner. It's worse than driving in a snow storm with how little you can see in front of you.

So just 2 more wake ups and I am off on R&R, this time an extended one. I’ll be home for an extra week this time around. We’ll be spending the first half in the UK before heading back home. A great benefit of this gig is that we have been able to take great trips, in December I met the family in the Dominican Republic for a week before arriving back home the night before Christmas. It was perfect, Jolie and the boys had just moved into a new house, and it was a great feeling to spend their first Christmas in it. I can't wait to be home for good.