Kandahar

Today's Temp: 116

It's hot here in Kandahar. Very hot. Like sweat when you aren't doing anything, drinking a box of water yourself in a day hot. We got in pretty early in the morning a couple of days ago. While waiting on the airfield we were promptly greeted by the white and purple afterburners of two fighter jets taking off from the airfield. We got to sleep for a little bit, then started orientation classes. The first thing you notice in Kandahar, other then the fact that it's hot as hell, is it's dusty everywhere and there seems to be this sand like powder on top of everything. There's is nothing that even comes close to appearing green in color, and things brought here that had been green are stained tan by the dust and sand. Numerous nations are represented here and a lot of cleared local nationals work for contractors on the base.

Some of the rumors, however are true. There is indeed a hockey rink there. God bless the Canadians. There's a few fast food places and the boardwalk has some shops run by local nationals and the wifi available is slow, but it's there. I also noticed my MacBook Pro has about 2 hours of battery life and with no place to plug in that seems to be near the wifi, it's going to be a bit of a struggle for now. We're in temporary barracks at the moment for our mini reception period, but after that I guess we'll move out to something more permanent,

Other than that, yes I'm here in Kandahar and no, not much of anything exciting is going on, which probably in the end isn't a bad thing. For some reason we have most of the day off from reception activities, so I might have to run out and play some hockey later on. With it of course being as hot as it is, I think I'll keep the shifts short.

Until next time.

-Danny

NATO on the Boardwalk: Allies Chill Out at Afghan Base

By Peter Graff

Reuters

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Down on the boardwalk, a knot of Romanian soldiers are sitting under the umbrellas at the French patisserie, sipping non-alcoholic Becks beer in the shade. At Tim Hortons, the Canadian doughnut place, U.S. airmen are drinking coffee, surfing on the wireless internet on their laptops and listening to Beyonce on British Forces Radio. The only people sitting in the scorching sun are the bright pink British officers, a dazzling glare shining off one sweaty bald pate. Super-secret special forces guys stroll by, glowering coolly in baggy shorts, T-shirts and floppy sun hats, "under cover" in their tell-tale woolly beards.

Welcome to Kandahar Air Field, or KAF, the most cosmopolitan NATO base ever assembled inside a combat zone, where troops from a host of countries relax after missions on a boardwalk that feels like a multi-national beachside resort. The United States and many of its allies have been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder in Afghanistan and, to a lesser degree Iraq, for almost eight years. In both war zones, large bases are usually run by a single country, bringing restaurants, shops and amenities to make the troops feel like home. But the headquarters for NATO forces in southern Afghanistan is a bona fide alliance mish-mash.

Command rotates every nine months between generals from the Netherlands, Britain and Canada. Troops from more than a dozen countries work here full time. The United States is represented of course -- not just by the Army, Air Force and the Marines, but also by Subway, Pizza Hut and Burger King. But Americans are far from the majority on the boardwalk, built in the centre of the base in a square about 90 metres (100 yards) on each side. It is covered by a wooden awning that provides shade. In the sandy centre are two volleyball nets, a beach-style soccer field and the large wooden hockey rink, with bold red Canadian maple leaf emblems, in case anyone might wonder who plays hockey in Afghanistan. Like any good boardwalk, it's cool even in the hot part of the day.

The smells of its various fast food shops waft pleasantly -- except for a few times a day when the wind blows from the direction of the camp's giant septic pit, known as "poo pond". Afghan shops sell rugs and bootleg DVDs, and rent bikes for pedalling around the base. The Kyrgyz shop selling fur hats has few takers in June. Most of the shopping is at the PXs -- the military shops each country maintains separately and which have a not-so-subtle competition for hearts and minds. The American PX is the biggest, with the longest lines and cheapest underwear. The French one is neat and clean, with much trendier clothes and a cafe serving espresso and croissants. The Germans are coming soon. Posters on the boardwalk announce that "Deutscher PX" is opening this month. "The first real military store in KAF!" the signs boast.

Allies: you have been warned.

Greetings from Bishkek

Hello all, finally signing back on from Bishkek, in the northern part of the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan. I spent about 30 hours on an airplane and made more stops then most current rock bands make on their world tours. We left sometime on the 24^th and got in here early on the morning of the 26^th. We stopped in Indianapolis, Nova Scotia, Iceland, Germany, Romania and then here in Kyrgyzstan.

The most interesting stop we made was in Iceland, probably because it’s the only airport where we were allowed in the normal international terminal and there were some locals in there. All very tall and all very blonde. In Germany we were in what I guess was a US military holding area, and in Romania it was a really small airport that was completely empty, there were no personnel at all, it was like they just left the doors unlocked and the lights on. Heading into the former USSR was interesting, even from the airfield. The airports were really pretty small, in isolated rural farming areas and the construction and cars were all very 80’s. Considering Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan and the airport wasn’t real busy is an indicator of the differences between US life and living everywhere else. Really, major differences in every way when you compare to a modern US airport. Plus, seeing a lot of things written in Cyrillic with no English translation was interesting. Hard to imagine less than 20 years ago an American couldn’t get to places like this. True, why would you want to when talking about Bishkek, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Here in Bishkek it’s sort of interesting. It’s chilly in the evenings and mornings, but really hot during the day. It’s pretty dusty too. There’s a pretty big mountain range called the Ala-Too, which is an extension of the Tien Shan Mountains. Past that is Kazakhstan, apparently. According to wikipedia it has peaks up in the 16,000 foot range. We can’t leave the Manas Airbase so we can’t really see any of the sights or anything, just the mountains really. All of the cars driving around are either Mitsubishi or Mercedes Benz, which is only interesting because on US ran places you’re used to seeing all US manufactured cars and here it isn’t the case. The food here is pretty good, one perk of being deployed. It’s all you can eat, there’s tons of it and it’s really not that bad. It’s also open 24/7.

We’re currently billeted in a big tent with the Romanian Army. They’re nice but interesting to say the least. They sleep most of the day, wake up around dinnertime and do whatever, then go back to sleep around 1 or 2 in the morning. Due to our jet lag, us crazy Americans were out around 4-5pm and up again around 4am. Everyone got some much needed rest, though. Half of yesterday I would sit down and still feel like I was on an airplane. It’s good to rest though, especially since in awhile we’ll be moving out to Kandahar.

That’s really about it for now. As a side note, I can make free phone calls through my computer with a VOIP program. If you have Skype already (Mac and PC) then I can phone you for free. If not, I can call your mobile phone or landline for like 3 euro’s a month. Just an FYI. I can get a phone number and a voice mailbox, so it’ll be almost like I have a normal phone. They have Afghani phones but I haven’t looked into that yet. Still exploring options I guess. My iPhone gets good service out here, but it costs $4.99 a minute and $20 per MB of data. Luckily I turned my data-roaming off. I put some pictures up on my Facebook page and will post some here as well.

Until next time.

-Danny

The Ala-Too Mountains

Some signs in Iceland.

The airport in Bishkek.

Thoughts on Deployment

Department of Defense Press Release

February 17, 2009

Pursuant to President Obama’s decision today, Secretary Gates ordered the deployment of two additional combat units, totaling more than 12,000 troops, to Afghanistan. The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB), from Camp Lejeune, N.C., with approximately 8,000 Marines will deploy to Afghanistan in late Spring 2009.

The 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Ft. Lewis, Wash., will deploy approximately 4,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in mid-summer 2009. This Stryker Brigade and the MEB will deploy to increase the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Approximately 5,000 additional troops to support these combat forces will receive deployment orders at a later date.

Thoughts on Deployment

Preparing for a deployment is about the most surreal experience I think I’ve gone through. It’s almost an out of body thing; while you prepare yourself mentally and go through the days of packing up to move down range, it’s still hard to associate those actions with the person you see in the mirror. This might be because if you attempt to take on an entire 12 month deployment all at once, you probably can’t get your head around it. A year away from life, a year away from family and friends, a year away from everything you’ve ever come to know or feel was comfortable for you. It is the ultimate in going outside your comfort zone. Either way, in the coming days and months, coping with life in a combat zone will become very real and in the end, we make the best of it. We don’t really have a choice and they do what they can on the other end to bring some home to the field.

On a professional note, we’ll be working with a lot of different people from different countries. Operation Enduring Freedom has become largely a NATO operation, so we’ll be working a lot with British, Canadian, Dutch, German, New Zealand and Afghani forces. The common goal is to secure the country for the people of Afghanistan, and eliminate the Taliban. Every person, no matter of race, creed, color, or national origin deserves the inalienable rights we enjoy in the United States. Our goal is to stop those who restrict it. That’s by far the greatest thing about being an American; we are not indifferent to the suffering of people not yet ready or capable to stand up to their oppressors. American’s come to liberate, not conquer. That being said, the success of our combined mission is ultimately hinged on the ability of those aforementioned peoples to stand up and secure their country and their futures.

I’ll do everything I can to stay in touch in every medium I can. Anyone can mail me via letter, or email. If you don’t have it you can talk to my mom or dad and get it from them. I would put in on here, but for security reasons I don’t want to post it publicly. I’m thinking contact via telephone is going to be a one way thing, but one I’ll do my best to keep up with. Through the internet there are VOIP phone services from free to relatively cheap, so I’ll try to keep up with that. Either way, I’ll do everything I can to make the transition as painless as possible. Just because I don’t post for a few days, or maybe even weeks, it doesn’t mean something bad has happened to me or anything. I might be busy, tired or just have spaced off posting for awhile. I’ll try not to do that. I want a written record of my time overseas probably as bad as some people might want updates, or to know what’s going on with me in Afghanistan. Even still, I’m always emailing family directly back and forth, so if there is anything pressing, or you wish to say something personal I encourage you to get my email address. Personal correspondence via email, or written letter is always appreciated.

Thanks for all your support.

-Danny