Daily update

To be honest, not much is going on lately. I haven't gone out on a mission since mid-may, so there's been a lot of guard duty. We hear that a chow hall is going to be built on-site, and were all excited about that for a while, until we found out that the earliest it would be completed would be 1 October. We were also excited about the idea of moving out of the barracks we are currently in, into the buildings DESIGNED to be barracks (instead of office buildings), because the real barracks are supposedly going to have faster speed internet access. That'll only cost us $140 per line. (I think we'll try to split that 4 or more ways and install a switch in the building)

I was thinking of things that we (the company) or I (as an individual) could use.

• I could use some tuna fish. I'm down to two cans. I eat it with Saltines when I work out during lunch break (which I do to avoid other people in the gym), and miss getting a ride to the chow hall at KAF.
• I could use some Aleve, or other long-lasting painkiller. My body armor weighs about 50lbs, and 4 hours of guard duty causes it to chafe. My shoulders, back, and feet end up hurting quite a bit.

• All the soldiers could always use AA and AAA batteries. We all have electronics that use these batteries.
• We really need some shower curtains that have magnets in the sides. Shower curtains for stalls, not for a bathtub/shower combo. We have six shower stalls with tiny scraps of shower curtain for each one. Some of the scraps are ragged, or curling on the edges.
• Would you believe we could use laundry soap? We have one building that houses 4 washers and 4 dryers, and a communal laundry soap would save a lot of the soldiers time.

As I recall from a briefing, I'm not allowed to make a blanket request for anything, so please don't consider this a request. I'm just saying these are some things that I could use, and some things I know the company area / the other soldiers could use, nothing more.

Kaboom!

So far there have been three large explosions today. I don't know what they are or how close they were, just that the first one was much closer than the second two, and the third one was at least 20 minutes later than the first two. Don't yet know what they were, although I suspect mortar gunnery at the range, or possibly aircraft bombing practice. They could certainly be IEDs on the road just outside post though.

After all, the Taliban, from all reports on the internet, are making a big surge in Afghanistan this year.

Latest goings-on

Well, lets see...

Since I last posted, we've had quite a few missions go out. They're not always convoy escort, sometimes they're "drive to here, get out and greet the locals" type missions. One soldier who went on a mission of that type the other day says that we need to get inexpensive sandals to give out to the kids (get them in various sizes, he suggests) when we go on missions like that. "Afghan Care Packages," as they are called by my section Sgt.

However, Sgt. Knight does not approve of us giving stuff like this out on all missions. Only certain missions are appropriate for humanitarian aid items. Since I haven't been on ANY missions since mid-May, I haven't had an opportunity to give stuff away to the local children yet. There are a good many small children staying nearby, and we frequently see them from one day to the next, but I have long since decided that the children who live near KAF are probably the most well-off of all the children I'll see here, and so I save my care packages for the children in the remote villages.

The last couple of days, I discovered something new. The military has a policy of cutting off all internet and telephone access for up to 24 hours if a soldier gets killed. While I think I understand the rationale behind this policy, my personal feeling is that it has a more detrimental than helpful effect. Besides which, if the military doesn't trust us to keep secret a soldiers death, why trust us to keep secret any other important details of our operations here? Maybe I shouldn't ask that question too loudly, though, huh?

We've had another company barbeque here on post. Those are fun, although the meat tends to be overdone. I guess the dry heat of Afghanistan means you have to leave the food on the grill for a bit less time than back home. But, still, the pork loin was fantastic, it's just that the steak was dry and we don't have a real barbeque sauce for the ribs.

After a month in-country, eating 2 and sometimes 3 ice cream bars a day, I discovered that I was adding fat to my belly. "This," I thought "is not acceptable." So, I have started an exercise routine, and cut out the ice cream. I figure cutting out the sugar and fat from the ice cream, and increasing even by a little bit the amount of exercise I do, should allow me to slim back down to my old size in a few months. Maybe I'll even put on some muscle and look intimidating, if that's even possible for a string bean like me. But, regardless, I've started exercising every other day and I'm trimming the old waistline quite nicely.

More updates

Well, I mentioned the other day that there was only one chapel on the post. As far as I know, that's the truth, but I was on tower duty the other day and spotted a building with a steeple on it, in a different area of the post than the chapel I know of. So, maybe there is another chapel? Or maybe it's a decommissioned chapel? I don't know yet.

The brigade commander came and visited us today. Three of our section were assigned to escort him around in our vehicle, which has just been fixed up nicely. Hopefully they are okay. If they did run into any enemy, I trust that they were able to leave the enemy sufficiently impressed with the ability and discipline of the American Soldier.

The upshot of these guys being on a mission, however, is that the rest of us have to do more of the various duties on post. Guard duties, I mean. This is not terrible, nor am I complaining. Merely pointing out that while they are gone, we work harder than while we have a full complement of troops here on post.

Anderson and I have been talking a lot about what marriage is all about. He is interested in several young ladies and doesn't really understand how to know which one is God's chosen mate for him. He also has (or had, perhaps I've enlightened him) several mixed-up notions about marriage.

Primarily, I shared with him that the best marriages are not about happiness, or love, or children. The best marriages are about commitment. Each partner is committed to the other, and that makes for much more success than simply focusing on any of the other three things I mentioned. Or anything else (except God) for that matter.

I've been playing Ultima Online a lot lately. Mostly because its free, but also because it looks the same as it did back in 1998 when I used to play it. The fact that it's free makes the PKing much easier to deal with. I just shrug and laugh it off now, whereas back then I would have been pretty tense, and even upset. I can't play EverQuest very well because of the high ping time. About all I can do is solo or go on Monster Missions, and that doesn't really lend itself to improving (or even maintaining) my skills with my class.

I've also spent some time playing Half-Life 2, which is quite challenging, and I have no idea where it's going. Far Cry is kind of on hold for the moment, just because I guess I overdid it in Camp Shelby. Halo is really tough for me to get used to, so I'm kind of backing off that for the moment. I haven't played Dawn of War any lately, either, but that's okay. I also have a book to finish and a couple of National Review magazines to read. I try to save them for when we are on missions, though, since I can't take my laptop along.

Care Packages galore!

The wife of one of the soldiers in our mortar section has been a busy lass. Despite having several children and a job, she also has arranged to have a considerable amount of stuff donated for sending to us here in Afghanistan. Two more packages arrived today, and her husband was giving stuff away to everyone on the compound yesterday evening.

Sgt. Knight even received a care package today, although it appears to have only been a desk lamp. And, of course, I'm really looking forward to the care package that I'm expecting to get from my family. Oh, and now is a good time to mention that I've received two pairs of excellent binoculars, that have already been used for Tower Guard duties and will probably be used at the Live fire exercise that is upcoming. As well, I sent a care package home on Sunday to my family. So there's been mail and packages going everywhere.

Sunday. That reminds me... There are about eight different services on sunday, because the post has only one chapel for all the different countries to have religious services. To date, I have not been able to attend any normal, scheduled services due to the exigencies of military service (ie, guard duty, missions, recovery from guard duty or missions, or details have prevented me), although the chaplain has come out to our facility and given a brief service in our "gym."

Sadly, there's not much else that I can discuss at the moment based on operational security. I try to only tell you about things some time after they've happened, and to never tell you anything specific about operations or plans that are coming up. So, be patient, and check back often!

Contact!

Well, a while back, our unit made contact with the enemy. Several vehicles, while on a mission in a sector that will remain unnamed, were attacked by what we suspect was an element of the Taliban.

More than one vehicle was disabled, although multiple RPG strikes did not penetrate the vehicles armor. Windows were fractured, and the hull and turret armor of the vehicles repelled multiple small arms rounds. My understanding (I was not there) is that seven or more enemy were killed by accurate return fire from our turret gunners.

I was not present, so I will not get a CIB from this action. However, the troops who were present will be getting theirs. My congratulations and commendations go out to them. Praise God that no one was hurt, and pray that all our encounters with the enemy are as one-sided in our favor!

My "other plans"

Hehe, I was just reading back and realized I didn't tell you what my "other plans" were.

Well, the night before we left Camp Shelby, we had a 2130 formation to make sure everyone was there. The forecast was for heavy rainstorms during the night. After formation, I took a can of white spraypaint, and a can of blue spraypaint, and walked 3 or so miles from our barracks, to the MOUT site near the East Gate of Camp Shelby's cantonment area.

At the MOUT site, I spray-painted a 218th patch on one of the Con-ex containers that had been converted into a "building." I also spraypainted the Bravo company Rhino (the head, at least), and

BRAVO
1-118

underneath the rhino head. I wasn't back in the barracks until just after midnight, but it was great fun, and I took some great pictures. Since it's been almost three weeks and no one seems to have even commented, I figure it's safe to let you know. Wish I could post the pictures, though!