C-17 Coolness

The other day out on the flightline approach a C-17 took off in the opposite direction than normal, which happens occasionally when the winds are calm.  C-17’s, distinguished by their turned-up wingtips, are about the biggest military plane which lands here at Bagram on a regular basis, and I’m not sure whether the huge Russian cargo planes are even bigger or not.  The C-5’s are a close second, but…

As it is, I had never seen a C-17 at this close a range at this stage of take-OFF, and it amazed me how different they look without their landing gear lowered.  Someone told me they retract the gear very quickly after take-off, and I believe it.

The photo below is another view from the office.  Although not overly loud, I have begun to be able to distinguish the sounds of different planes as they come in for a landing, so heard this C-17 coming in on a rare day (recently) when the mountains were fairly clear.

Not Just Tanks

It has been a while since I shared any construction photos, and most of those have been of the massive fuel tanks we’re constructing here on base.  Our projects also include the means for connecting the huge tanks with each other and the airfield as needed, so a lot of pipeline is being constructed as well, such as that seen in the photo above.  Miles and miles of it.

The current pipeline project is the reason I can get great shots from so close to the runway and approach, like the huge cargo plane getting ready for take-off in the photo below.  Or the F-16 taxiing for take-off… 

~~~~~~~

Another mortar attack last night on base shortly after 11pm, but as far as I know there were no injuries or damage.  It has actually been relatively quiet for some time here…  I didn’t even hear the things and was in a deep sleep when one of the guys pounded on my door to make sure of my location.  We all “sheltered in place” until the all-clear was given, which for me meant crawling back into bed.  However, tired as I was sleep eluded me for some time after that.  Go figure…

John Deere Green

“On a hot summer night
He wrote Billy Bob loves Charlene
In letters 3 foot high
And the whole town said that he should have used red
But it looked good to Charlene
In John Deere green…”

Good song Joe Diffie!

Today I saw a couple of brand-new-off-the-plane John Deere tractors wheeling around on the north end of Disney Drive.  Now, there certainly isn’t any grass that needs mowing or hay that needs hauling or back 40’s that need plowing, or even any parades that I know about nor any tractor pull or shows scheduled – so just what does a John Deere tractor do at Bagram?

Last week I was lucky enough to have that question at least partially answered for me, as you can see in the photos. When you need to get a sick Chinook or other helicopter from one place to another, your faithful green machine will tow it wherever it needs to go.  I imagine the same is true for the jets and other aircraft which call Bagram home.

Makes me think of my former employer and friend Lewis Garrison of Garrison Construction Company, who is quite the tractor aficionado.  Their annual tractor and gas engine show in June every year is an event not to be missed.

Fear The Monkey

Or, the continuing adventures of Chief and Grandpa Sock Monkey…

A couple of weeks ago you were introduced to the unique and interesting creature named Grandpa Sock Monkey and the reasons for his existence.  As it turns out, Grandpa Sock Monkey has achieved quite a bit of notoriety in the recent past.

It’s fairly common knowledge about the Corps office that Chief Cimmiyotti has been dominating the now-weekly Texas Hold-Em Tournaments on Thursday nights in the main conference room.  What may not be known to all is the identity of Chief’s secret weapon – yes, Grandpa Sock Monkey.  His weapon is not just limited to the poker table, and any challenge is liable to get this response from the Chief:  “Grandpa Sock Monkey and I will go ‘bananas’ on anyone willing to take us on.”

A few days ago this threat held true on the second floor of the west-side billets as Chief and his partners Grandpa Sock Monkey and Don destroyed their worthy opponents, Bob and myself, in several rounds of Cribbage.  Even when Bob brought out his secret weapon, Papa Smurf, the monkey emerged victorious once more.  Alas, we were vanquished.  Amid the excuses, accusations and general trash talk, Chief with that characteristic grin spread across his face kept uttering one simple phrase:  “Fear the monkey.” 

Rumors of sinister plots against the monkey drift carefully through the office, to which Chief responds again, “Fear the monkey.”  And when pressed, “Be afraid.  Be very afraid.” 

So next week I’m bringing “Bagram Bear” out of retirement from my east-side billet to take on the monkey – he must be stopped!  Who’s with me???

Mega-Bazaar

A brand new and rather modern bazaar has opened here at Bagram near the ECP-1 gate (Entry Control Point) on the south end of base.  Modern in that instead of weather-dependent open air markets, rickety tables, flapping tarps and awnings, each shop gets its own metal conex box, complete with door and window.  The Afghanistan version of a strip mall.

There is a lot of the “normal” stuff that we get at the other haji marts on base, but several new and different shops as well.  A wonderfully-smelling leather goods shop with everything from wallets and small coin purses to backpacks and flight bags (really nice and not cheap stuff).  Lots of marble and wood carvings, jewelry, some really pretty painted/glazed clay tile work and “antique weapons”.  Rugs, scarves and blankets of course.  Several shops run by Afghan women – the first Afghan women I’ve seen in the five months I’ve been in country.  The ladies sell mostly hand-sewn items like clothing, tablecloths and other linen.  A “Sounds of Afghanistan” shop with ethnic music CDs and some instruments as well, such as intricately decorated bongo-type drums.  And then I think my new personal favorite – a pottery shop.  Hand-thrown clay items, many of them signed by the woman or child who made them, all from a little village located between here and Kabul.  A wonderful variety of colors and shapes – bowls, vases, urns, teapots and some whimsical creatures.  

All in all probably close to 30 vendors.  The promise of sidewalks, possibly covered, and some sort of other rather substantial structure as concrete footers are being constructed.  There is even a small restaurant and bakery in the works for the partaking of authentic local food and the wonderful “naan” bread.  That should be a wonderful diversion from the DFACs.

We had heard that the prices were better than their competitors elsewhere on base, but after some comparisons I’m not so sure.  It appears to be pretty similar and there doesn’t seem to be any haggling room anymore either.  The times seem to be still be adjusting here and there, but the hours for the bazaar run from 10am to 4pm, Saturday through Wednesday.  Doesn’t mesh so well with our USACE work schedule, but there’s always the potential for darting in and enjoying some quick lunch time shopping.

~~~~~~~

Happy Columbus Day to all – and another working holiday for us deployees, for which we are appropriately compensated. 🙂

T-Rex

My favorite monstrous piece of equipment on Bagram is this big, green conex-lifting machine.

Please note the size of the man standing next to and behind one of the tires – this baby is over-sized in width, height and everywhere else.  There are several of these green machines on base – don’t really know how many but at least three.  Each one takes up about a lane and a half of the road and has to be real careful in swinging around the rectangular monster claws which can easily pluck the biggest conex box from point A and relocate it to point B.

It’s called by most folks a “Rex” which is either short for the manufacturer name of Terex, or because the machine is reminiscent of the largest known big greenish prehistoric dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Rex.  It’s all fitting either way.

Views From The Office

Occasionally the massive cargo planes park in plain view of my window whilst they are loading and unloading, which yields decent photo ops and many distractions from actual work.  Look closely and you can even see the plane’s nose tilted up and a guy standing next to a pallet of cargo.  You can spy the long arm of an excavator working in the photo, loading a dump truck.  And a chinook way in the background to the left.  Lots to see from every angle.

In the shot above a couple of helos are coming in from an early morning mission.

Then the rains last week surprised us with the massive rainbow below (for which the picture does not do justice).  It was even a double rainbow for a while, and if you look really really closely above the obvious bow, you can find traces of the second.  The mountains are obscured by the rain of course (and at the higher elevations, snow) and the sun didn’t stay out long, but the rainbow lasted quite awhile regardless.

How could one best and succinctly describe Bagram?  Plywood, conex boxes and moon dust…

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Are you really ready? 

Here in Afghanistan we get Monday Night Football at 5am Tuesday morning. 

Now, I’m not a major NFL football fan but enjoy watching the occasional game with a big group, especially if one of my favorite teams is playing.  But am I going to get up and get dressed and get over to the other side of base to watch a game that kicks off at 5am (and then take off work to watch the entire thing)?  Nah.  One of the larger MWRs on base shows the games every week, but finding one at a decent time is a bit of a challenge.  This week you could have caught, say, Sunday’s match-up between the Cardinals and the Chargers, or the Redskins vs. Eagles at 30 minutes after midnight (Monday morning).  Kickoff for the Colts and Jaguars was at 1am Monday.  There are a couple of “early” games which started Sunday night at 9:30pm, like the Broncos vs. Titans (would like to have seen that one), but as it’s a “work night” and I’d have to get up early the next morning so, generally not…

Many college games are broadcast as well but never the Louisville Cardinals (go figure), and the time challenges are the same.  Turns out there’s not much football that I’m gonna be ready for.

~~~~~~~

You may be ready for some action, but these two F-15’s next to me are not.  They have been “red-tagged” for maintenance work or other repairs, which turned out lucky for us in getting close enough to them for some great pics.

Food, Fun and Games

The new fiscal year celebration on Friday, 01 October, was a day enjoyed by all.  Many thanks to Ron (shown center above) who was the primary organizer, as well as grillmeisters Charles and Dan.

We were allowed to flex our time or even take leave if so desired, so many people slept in while others worked out or otherwise kept an alternate schedule for the morning.  I really didn’t sleep in as I talk to my son most mornings fairly early, but did putter around the room a bit and gather laundry for tackling later in the day.  It was awesome being able to wear real clothes and tennies, with actual color and comfort to them!  I walked the nearly three miles into work enjoying the bright sunny morning – it’s down in the lower 40’s at night now, but the temperature rises quickly once the sun peaks over the mountains.

Food was scheduled for noonish so I headed over to the Black Jack MWR area (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) at about 11:00 to help out.  Two huge grills filled with charcoal and wood were starting to throw some major heat and good smells.  I covered the long picnic tables with a couple of tarp “tablecloths” and set out the cardboard plates, plastic utensil packets and napkins, moved food around as it showed up, set out serving spoons and the like.  And talk about food…  Wow.  MAJ Lewis allowed a blessing to be given before digging in, which was refreshing and a great start for the meal.

Various and plentiful steaks, ribs, burgers and dogs.  A variation of chicken adobo – man, that was yums.  A Filipino dish consisting of a huge pan of barbequed chicken pieces, simmering on the grill in a flavorful roux of unknown and possibly secret spices – fabulous.  Awesome turkish pizza – the crust is similar to the tasty Afghan “nan” flat bread, then topped with either a mild cheese or spicy meats.  That didn’t last long.  Roasted eggplant and turkish peppers.  The Turks call them simply “green peppers” but these should never be confused with the rather innocuous american versions.  One guy did say that they were sweet and not hot at all, but others (many, many others) said they would fry your nose hair and should require warning labels.  Baked beans, pasta salad, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, cookies and cakes.  Lots of hungry people were treated to lots of great food – we even invited people who were just walking through, and some soldiers working on remodeling an office near by.  All feasted royally.

And then of course, volleyball.  Not sure how many games of Bagram Ball were played, but they went on for several fun-filled hours in the upper 90’s mid-day sun with three teams of six rotating in and out.  The above pic shows Charles, aka Hollywood, preparing to serve while teammate Tony looks on. 

After everyone finally petered out in the heat and was thoroughly exhausted, people drifted off to other things.  I joined three others for a couple of fun hands of cribbage.  My partner and I did quite well, winning both rounds handily although I had to be re-introduced to the game at the beginning, it having been decades since I had last played.  Later on while my laundry was washing (then drying), I observed but did not participate in the Texas Hold-em Poker tournament back at the office.  It was a full house there as well (pun intended), with the big conference table crowded about by nearly a dozen poker-faced guys.  MAJ Lewis headed things up for this chips-only high-stakes game, and I was thoroughly confused most of the time – not so much by what constitutes a winning hand but the fast, furious and mysterious world of checks, bets and all-ins.  Lots of fun, laughter and good-natured ribbing, and there’s no telling how late into the night the game lasted.

Now folks are trying to organize weekly cribbage and poker events, so the fun and morale-building will continue even once the grilled steaks, chicken adobo and turkish pizza have been committed to pleasant memories.

Happy New Year!

Happy new FISCAL year, that is.

October 1st, the start of a new fiscal year for most if not all of the US Federal Government.  Or should I say, the start of the next continuing resolution so we can all keep working and building things until the actual budget gets passed?  The craziness of fiscal year close-out began several weeks ago and will continue for those intimately involved in the process.  I have been there before, but not currently.

Today is special for us here at Bagram because we don’t have to wear our uniforms, we’re having a huge cook-out which will also feature some ethnic foods (like turkish pizza – yum!) then volleyball, cribbage and who knows what other activities.  There’s even a Texas Hold-em Poker Tournament this evening, a game about which I know essentially zero.

Oh yeah, we do have to work our half day, but still…  🙂

I’ll try to share pics of the event in a day or so – happy new year!

~~~~~~~

The setting sun colors the landscape of Bagram and distant snow-capped mountains, shown here from the top of one of “my” tanks.  Not sure of the height, but you have to climb sixty steps to get up there.  Neat-o.