FIX BAYONETS!

Day 371

Time drags on. I planned to go down to Kabul this week, but then a couple of conferences and VIP visits got in the way. So, I bumped the trip back to the weekend. Now, the boss wants to do a ‘mini’ LNO conference in the very near future, so there’s no point in going down and back, only to turn around and go down again. So I’ll hang tight for a little longer.

The weather is deteriorating, which is a good thing. Now we have something other than the heat to complain about. It’s been raining off and on for the last couple of days, and it looks like that’s becoming the norm. It’s also getting colder, I’ve finally started wearing a windbreaker (my GoreTex) to and from work. Before long, I’ll have to add something for warmth.

Went back to the United Arab Emirates Dining hall for lunch last Sunday. Food is still good, but of more interest is some of the other diners. Some of the Mid Eastern folks carefully take flatware for their meal, but once they sit down, they don’t use it. I watched a couple of gents eat their entire meal (rice, meat, vegetables) with their hands. Interesting, but not something I’m interested in trying.

I’ve had a few people who very kindly want to send me stuff to make life easier. Though I really appreciate the thought, I really don’t need much. On a base like this, we really do have everything we need. I haven’t bought a TV and if I had, I’d refuse to buy the cable service…… yes, it is available.

The troops out in the field have it significantly rougher. Their basic needs are taken care of, but there isn’t near as much luxury or comfort items for them. And, of course, there are always the troops who simply never hear from home for whatever reason. If you’re interested in helping some of them out, then for this Christmas season, and beyond, take a look at http://www.soldiersangels.org/ They do a lot of great things for the troops, and they get it down to the folks who can really use the boost.

Day 375

Well, we know autumn is here. This morning was heavily foggy. We’ve had plenty of rain, as in, frog stranglers. Rivers here can be just as dangerous as arroyos in the American Southwest for flash floods. A rain high in the mountains can produce a flood that roars down on you with no warning at all. Then you consider that, in some areas in this country, the rocky river bottom is not only the best road available; it may be the only road available. A couple of days ago, 6 HUMVEEs were ‘lost’ in a flash flood down in Qalat province. Nobody was seriously hurt, and they’ve recovered the vehicles. (An unplanned advantage to up-armored HUMVEEs is that they don’t float well, so they didn’t stay ‘lost’).

Also, we can blame the Russians for substandard construction, because a taxiway ‘collapsed’ after the heavy rains, and the C-130s were trapped on the apron, with no way out to the runway. It really was more of a ’settling’ than a collapse, but it did delay operations and caused drama until it was fixed later the same day.

Our office hosts a daily coffee break for pretty much anyone who wants to stop by. We cram in twice as many people as can fit comfortably and spend half an hour swilling joe and telling lies. The current subject centers around the shortfalls of the airlift ’system’. You’d think that after being here five years, the Air Force would be able to figure out what goes where, and what each aircraft needs to do its mission. Allow a little leeway, to try to blend in all the ISAF countries and their aircraft but, really, you should have a pretty well oiled machine by now.

NOT.

Just as in any other area of human endeavor, people don’t talk with each other if they can avoid it. So, needed coordination doesn’t happen, frustration ensues, etc. The bad thing is that, I’ve been reading blogs for the last five years, and people serving here have been complaining about that SAME problem for that entire time. None of the actors involved will ever work for a successful airline, though some of them may work for unsuccessful ones for a short time……

Day 377

It may be dusty or rainy a lot of days, but, some days are just plain gorgeous. This morning, instead of dusty horizons, it’s crystal clear. The rains of the last few days are done, but snow is on the mountains all around us. Crisp, but not really cold yet. Just starting to get frost when we come out in the morning.

And here’s a disadvantage to up armored vehicles. The Wing Commander in my office took our armored Toyota to meet a VIP this morning. How long does it take the defrosters to heat up the windshield, when that windshield is a couple of inches thick? The answer is, waaaaaaaaay long. Ten minutes, after the defroster had gotten good and warm, wasn’t enough. We may have to mount auxiliary torches on the roof, to blow down across the glass……. We could go all Mad Max and hang all sorts of goodies off our vehicles……

Speaking of Mad Max, we have sort of the military equivalent here. Very few of the military vehicles being used here show up in the old identification courses I’m familiar with. Everything is more recent than that, and everything is different. The U.S. vehicles have been up armored, so that you’ll have a regular military truck, except that the new, armored cab looks sort of like a bug’s head. The trucks and the HUMVEEs have a wild variety of turrets on top, some all armor, some armored glass, different shapes, etc. The different countries all use their own Armored Personnel Carriers, and so far, these are all on wheels, no tracks. But, there are four wheeled versions with armored windows, and six and eight wheeled versions with standard ‘view ports’(about the size of a 3×5 index card). The French use a little, three man rig that looks like a dune buggy covered with light armor, and the Brits use Land Rovers.

Our poor cousins, the Afghan Army, uses Ford Ranger pick ups, with no armor at all. A seat down the middle of the bed allows seating for six troops, and they usually have a machine gun mount right behind the cab. They are supposed to start getting HUMVEEs from us before long. They also have some tanks, but T-62s were obsolete thirty five years ago……..

Then you have the specialty vehicles, like the mine hunter/detector (Buffalo), the mine clearing bulldozers and flail machines, and etc. It seems like everyone who ever had a good idea built it into a vehicle and sold that vehicle to someone here.