Change of Locale

I mentioned in a past post (F-15 Fabness) that I’ll soon be moving on to another airbase here in Afghanistan.  As the time draws closer to actual departure, the more I realize how difficult leaving will be.  I’m not having second thoughts or doubting the decision made, but my reasons for leaving are not related to anything “bad” or negative here at Bagram, so breaking up will be hard to do.  More good-byes!

Here at Bagram I have great friends and co-workers, have a working knowledge of the projects, live in that dee-lux condo on the east side (a veritable Taj Mahal by Afghanistan standards) and on a large if crowded base with lots of amenities. My Area Engineer here, Ramon, made me an offer to stay that I initially planned on accepting.  Until I learned all the details of the new (and very challenging, er, exciting) position at Shindand.   I took the job because it’s a chance to build a Corps project office from the ground up, a promotion and a chance to shine and do what I do best (contract administration).  It’s a great opportunity and I’ll be working for a guy I worked for at Wolf Creek when I first joined the Corps of Engineers.  Shindand’s MILCON (military construction) program is just getting underway with five new projects awarded and more on the way.  Exciting and terrifying all at the same time – I’ll go from being a team leader to an actual supervisor.  Time for a change, time to get out of my comfort zone.

And I’m hearing about good food, Italian coffee shops and other amenities that I didn’t know about before over at Shindand, which is apparently populated with many Italian troops.  Hmmm…

A few folks have let it be known that my presence will be missed in one way or another…  My IT friend and fellow volleyballer, Yeti, says he won’t fix the phone in my room unless I agree to stay at Bagram.  My boss is sad.  I think Grandpa Sock Monkey will miss Kimmie.  Chaz keeps playing that song, “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” on his computer.  Another guy is picking on me more so than usual.  Some of my contractors looked heart-broken when they heard the news (personnel turnover on a project is frustrating).   

But people coming and going is a fact of life in the deployment world.  Good and new friends of mine have come and gone in my six months here at Bagram.  Can’t believe it has been six months!

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Concerning the photo above, I love being surrounded by hundreds of beautiful rugs.  The two exquisitely soft and delicate 100% cashmere rugs at my feet ($1800 and $900, respectively) will never be mine as I’m entirely too practical to spend that kind of money on a rug.  The gorgeous brown one hanging to my left was about five grand, and the huge ones run over ten grand.  They are gorgeous, BUT.  The wool and wool/silk blend rugs are of course much cheaper, and I have a couple of small ones in my room.  Very soft and almost as beautiful, but more rugged and durable.

I’ll be glad to see what the Herat province has to offer as it has the reputation for great rugs at more affordable prices.  Rumor hath it that all the rug vendors here get their supply from Herat, so…  Bonus!

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.

Morning Perambulations

“Perambu-whaats???”, you may ask with puzzled expression? 

I know.  No one uses the word much anymore (if ever?) but I like it none the less.  It sort of gives away my love for reading such authors as Louisa May Alcott or Jane Austen – I bet that word is in Pride and Prejudice (I confess, one of my favorites) although I don’t know for certain.  I’m reminded of the chick-flick movie You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan – she is explaining to him (via email) why Pride and Prejudice is her favorite book ever:

“I get lost in the language – words like thither, mischance, felicity…  I’m always in agony to know if Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy will actually get together.  Read it – I know you’ll love it!”

Which he didn’t.

“Perambulation” means (courtesy of Dictionary.com) to walk through, about, or over; travel through; traverse; to walk or travel about; stroll.   Saunter.  Promenade.  Amble.  Mosey.  Meander.  Ramble.  My morning walk to work.

I’ve had to slow them down just a bit in the spirit of self-preservation.  I’m used to my severely arthritic left knee doing the achy-breaky on a regular basis simply from all the steps it climbs every day, but when my right knee also started hurting about a week after starting the walks, it got my attention.  So I’ve slowed it up just a bit and cut the walks down to five mornings a week instead of six.  Also trying to stay more on the level pavement than going cross-country – once I paid attention to the hurting knee I realized the twisting caused by uneven ground and loose cobbles definitely aggravated.  I even skipped volleyball on Friday.  So far, so good – right knee is doing some better.

You definitely notice more about the surroundings when ambling as opposed to motoring from point A to B.  Such as the morning sun glittering through the extensive silvery coils of c-wire (concertina or razor wire) atop the monolithic t-walled perimeter…  New c-wire shines brightly and sparkles in the sun, belying the wicked sharp of its edges.  The older wire has been dulled by the blasting sand and many coatings of dust.

Or the detailed intricacies of the wooden foot bridge as shown in the photo above (with our billets in the background). 

I would love to capture the glittery c-wire on “film”, but attempting to take photos of the perimeter wall tends to attract (quickly) armed men in armored vehicles who couldn’t care less about a pretty picture for a blog.  Not gonna push my luck.

R and R Time

Well ladies and gents, in a few short hours I’ll be heading out on a much anticipated time of rest and relaxation.  Back through Dubai to my old Kentucky home in the Bluegrass State – then my son and I will fly to Florida to embark upon a week-long cruise to the exotic western Caribbean.  Basking on sunny beaches, snorkeling, jet-skiing – we’re even going  to Scuba School at Cozumel with our friends Chellie, Antonio, Leo and El Capitan at Eagle Ray Divers.  Ahhhh – water!

The warm waters of the Caribbean are so incredibly blue it seems like if you were to scoop it up into a mason jar, the liquid would still be the bright electric blue which surrounds your boat.

Blog posting should continue as normal but may be a bit sporadic – I’ll be setting up a couple of posts to land automatically while in travel status (most everything I post is scheduled ahead of time anyway, so they arrive in the US in the daytime), but also plan on keeping the world informed on our vacation experiences as we go.

I look very much forward to many things, in addition to being surrounded by water – seeing my family again, taking a bath, taking a long hot shower without turning the water off and on repeatedly.  WiFi.  Walking barefoot in lush green grass.  Going to O’Charley’s for their fabulous southwest grilled chicken salad with chipolte ranch dressing.  Actually sitting in a restaurant where they bring you your food and being able to linger over the meal.  Taking in a movie.  Driving faster than 20 mph.  Thunderstorms.

I will leave you with some pics of my favorite activity here – aka Bagram Ball – courtesy of one of our own, Kenny Dean.

Mahalo!

Positive Changes

Okay, so housing is tight and I have to have a roommate, sometimes it’s a challenge to perform common everyday tasks, bad guys lob mortars over the wire at us about once a week or so, but good things are happening too.

Several people have asked me how it’s going, am I having fun, is it challenging and rewarding? 

Let me digress for a moment…  If you’ve never worn an Army uniform you may not be aware that they come only in generic men’s sizes.  Sometimes they are called “unisex”, but they’re still men’s sizes like medium, large, extra large and so forth.  They also come in short, regular and tall choices.  At the USACE Deployment Center in Virginia I was issued my desert camo uniforms and had to get a size XL.  Short, of course.  The sleeves were way too long but overall the fit wasn’t too bad.  We are allowed to wear the green digital camo ACU’s (Army Combat Uniforms) that you see in the photo above, but must purchase them ourselves.  Why would anyone do this?  The ACU’s are a lighter, thinner and therefore cooler material, have more practical pocket configurations (in my opinion) and are permanent press.  The desert camo uniforms really need to be ironed regularly, which I confess I did not do.  Hence, at times the uniforms look a bit mussed.  (Thankfully the folks at the embroidery shop near the main PX also do pressing for a very reasonable fee.)

Where am I going with all this?  What’s the big deal, the real positive change?  My brand new ACU’s are a size smaller than those I had to get at the Deployment Center just over two months ago.  A big deal to me!  

If you’ve been following this blog from the beginning, you know that I had lost a total of about 85 pounds in order to deploy in the first place.  I gained a few pounds back in the transition to Afghanistan and all-you-can-eat buffet DFACs, but managed to lose it again.  I really haven’t lost much more weight (about 5 additional pounds), but my clothes got looser so I assume the flab is going (slowly) away and being replaced by a bit of muscle.

Awesome!  But back to the questions posed above…

How is it going?  When I first arrived I fell quickly into feeling completely overwhelmed and useless.  While the type of work is the same as I have been doing for years, the type of construction (fuel storage and distribution systems) is totally new to me, not to mention administering five multi-million dollar contracts instead of just one.  The lady I was replacing left the week after I arrived, and while I was thankful to have had the week overlap, by the time I figured out what questions to ask, she was gone.  After two months the feeling of uselessness is now mostly gone, but the intense workload still lends itself to being overwhelmed most of the time.

That kind of answers the “Is it challenging?” question as well.  Oh yeah… 

Rewarding?  Yes, but not in the way that I had anticipated.  I feel that I’m making a difference for our troops – providing a greater fuel storage capacity makes for more successful missions, a more secure base of operations and less reliance on a dangerous and tenuous fuel supply system.  This in turn helps the war effort which will way down the line help the people of Afghanistan (and America) to be free from the tyranny and terrorism of the taliban.  But I’m not working directly with or interacting with the Afghans at all, and I had hoped to be able to do so.

Fun?  Well, the answer I have given to a couple of folks who have asked that question has been “not really”, but even that is starting to change, slowly but surely.  Thank you, volleyball.  Think about it though – the workload is overwhelming and personnel turnover makes continuity and progress in your projects nigh impossible, the living conditions are a drag, there is constant noise and heat and wind and the threat of attack – that’s quite a lot for “fun” to overcome.

And then, being a shy and quiet engineer when in new and strange surroundings (remember, “utter social ineptitude”), it can and is very difficult to get comfortable in a place where you work and live with 50 or 60 total strangers.  Particularly when a large number of those people are also introverted engineers with less than stellar social skills.  Volleyball and a few other activities have gone a long way to cracking the ice, getting to know people and developing friendships. 

I’m laughing more now, and that’s a very good thing.

Independence Day in Afghanistan

Sorta felt like home, without the fireworks.  The smell of meat cooking on charcoal grills was absolutely heavenly – that was the best part for me.  And did we feast?  Oh yeah.  I have no idea how all the massive amounts of food were obtained (and probably don’t want to know), but we have a lady here who retired last year from the Army as a Supply Sergeant.  Her powers of acquisition are truly amazing – she is just plain good.

Ribs, salmon, steaks of all cuts and sizes, hamburgers, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and even shrimp (kabobs) on the barbie.  It all tastes so much better when grilled, but there was too much to try it all.  Varieties of chips with dips and salsa.  Some huge seeded purple grapes, big soft chocolate chip cookies (there were other kinds but I know not what) and some dear soul made a couple of cheesecakes.  All the (near) beer, soft drinks and Gatorade you could drink, iced down in tubs of actual ice (rare commodity).  Much fellowship and laughter.

Like most of the United States the weather was a real sun-filled scorcher, but our balmy breezes kept most of the flies and other flying critters away.  A dappled shade was provided by the large “camel cover” netting which the guys set up for us.  A few hardy souls attempted volleyball, but I had to pass as the heat had about gotten to me at Friday’s marathon session.

It was awfully nice having an actual day off – and the actual day of July 4th – Sunday.

I walked down to the small bazaar at Camp Montrond, and it was nice being able to browse leisurely through all the nooks and crannies and hidden corners.  I bought several scarves/shawls for family gifts – soft and beautiful for less than $5 a piece.  I also bought two matching shawls to use as “curtains” in my office.  (The office move went well but now I get the blinding morning sun through my window – glare I could work around, but the solar heat is just too much at times.)  Obtained a couple of “haji” movies – Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes for $3 each.  And bought another birthday present for my son (can’t say what it is!) 🙂

Later on I went to church where we celebrated the Lord’s Supper, then afterwards had an outdoor baptizing, military style.  The only fireworks we saw were the camera flashes going off during the baptism.

A very welcome and blessed holiday, all around – thanks to all of our military, past and present, for making it possible.

Free Time

There’s not a whole lot of it, but we sure enjoy the few hours we get.  Evenings and a half-day on Friday.  So, what is there to do?

Shopping.  Okay, so shopping is limited to a couple of small PXs and a couple of even smaller “haji” shops.  There used to be a huge bazaar held every week on the base, but it was stopped in May for security reasons.  The PXs are small, but the stock rotates through quickly so you never know if they will have new items or be out of common ones.  The lines are always long but it seems that I find myself there more often than I would have thought (and I’m not a shopper), just to wander around for something to do outside of my room. 

Haji shops are basically small mini-bazaars scattered across the base in tiny over-crowded little plywood store buildings run by local Afghans, and contain one or all or any combination of the following: rugs, scarves, marble and stone raw and carved items such as vases and goblets and figurines, old coins, hammered metal bowls, miscellaneous trinkets, jewelry, old and antique weapons, knives, clothes and DVDs.  The DVDs are normally not official movie versions so the quality sometimes isn’t the best, but they are cheap so it’s a trade-off.  The shops are only open until 5pm though, so lunch times and Friday afternoons are the only time you can shop them.  There isn’t enough time at lunch to properly explore all the treasures in a haji shop, so in the photo above all I could get in was a quick look-see at the literally hundreds of carpets stacked there.

Movie night.  There are a couple of places across the base that show videos on big screen TVs on a regular basis, but I’ve not been to one as yet.  We held a “movie night” last week in our conference room downstairs as a morale builder (which they try to do semi-regularly) complete with snacks and soda.  Last week it was “Law Abiding Citizen” with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx – very intense and suspenseful and a little freaky, but pretty good.

Volleyball, Bagram-style.  The volleyball court we play on belongs to Camp Black Jack and is probably a bit smaller than regulation, or maybe it just seems that way as it’s sandwiched between buildings and security fencing.  It is a sand court with the sand captured by a triple layer of sandbags, so much care must be taken when chasing an errant hit.  The sandbags also double as the boundary lines.  Occasional mishaps occur with someone falling over the bags or crashing into a building, but no serious injuries as yet.  Many times the ball must be chased as some power return sends it sailing over a couple of b-huts, or over the security fence into the Egyptian compound behind us.  We play on Tuesday evenings until darkness forces a cessation, and on Friday afternoons until everyone wears out or the heat gets too intense.  It’s always a lot of fun – sometimes it’s just Corps folks and sometimes we mix in some Army and Air Force guys – whoever wants to join in is always welcome.

Other things to do include eating of course, but there’s not really a “nice restaurant” to patronize and because of the crowding, you are forced to eat and get out.  Rather a discouragement if you wanted to sit around and socialize and hang with your peeps.  There’s also working out at one of the many and varied gyms, but I’ll cover those options in a future post.

Is it still “free time” if you spend a bunch of money while enjoying it? 🙂

Life At Bagram

Just came in off the volleyball court, have a load of laundry washing, so better take the time now to post a few words because it seems that there’s always something going on at Bagram.

Today is Friday, which is our “weekend”.  That means we work for about 5 hours in the morning, then have the rest of the day to ourselves.  The other six days of the week is work, work, work, at least 10 hours each day.  Fridays at 13:30 is a standing volleyball date, along with Tuesday evenings.  A couple of the other ladies play every now and then, but mostly it’s just the Corps guys, a few Army guys, and an Air Force dude or two.  I am thankful that they welcome me to join in because let’s face it – I ain’t the Volleyball Queen.  I haven’t played in, like decades, and at 5’3″, it’s rather comical when I’m standing there at the net opposite these really huge buff guys.  We’ve got one insanely tall guy that people call “Yeti” or “Chewie” – he’s hilarious.  But anyway, not too many sets come my way, and I don’t return the ball very well at times, but I can serve and that seems to be my forte.  A couple of games I managed to rack up a lot of points, so they started calling me “Lucky Charm” and “Secret Weapon”.  It’s a heap of fun, if brutal at times.  My 48-year-old body sure feels it the next day (and I have the bruises to prove it).

Laundry…  I have to do a load every other day or so, as my duffels still have not arrived here.  So I have two uniforms and two sets of civvies, plus a t-shirt or two I’ve purchased at the PX.  It’s hot here, I sweat, it’s dirty here, I get filthy, even if I do nothing but sit at my desk or walk back and forth from housing to office to DFAC to PX.   The dust is so thick even in the office, on the phones, computers, file cabinets – it’s ever present, everywhere.  We’re in the “100 days of wind” season here, which adds to the dust.  The wind howls and shrieks most of every day through every crevasse and crack in every door, wall, window and seam.  Last night’s short but blessed rainstorm seems a distant memory as I watch the dust clouds kick up across the base again today.  I have digressed once more but the bottom line is, with limited clothing you end up doing laundry a lot, and we have a total of two washers (and dryers) for our entire “apartment” building.  Two floors, twenty-six rooms, somewhere around fifty people.  You can send your dirties to the laundry service, but military have priority and it may be three days before you see it again.

I have a small dorm-sized room on the second floor, and a roomie whom I’ve not seen much of as yet.  That’s good I guess.  A twin bed, some hanging space, some cabinet space, a shared desk, phone and computer.  A tiny fridge.  A trashcan.  No TV.  The only TV I see anymore is occasionally at one of the dining halls, and it’s always on sports, no matter the time of day or night.  Golf, tennis, basketball, baseball – you name it and these guys suck it up.  I don’t really pay attention.  You can’t hear anything and the DFACs are usually so jam packed that you can’t see the TVs anyway.  I do feel really unplugged from the world here, particularly since my iPhone is on terminal “airplane” mode and temporarily a non-internet zone.  No news – local (back home), national or Afghanistan.  I occasionally pick up a copy of the Stars and Stripes newspaper, but they’re pretty scarce here due to the population explosion.

The photo above is of the “front” entrance of our home-sweet-home.  Each floor in our unit (which is build out of metal Conex trailers laid next to each other, and stacked on top of one another) has four separate bathrooms with tiny, tiny showers.  Mostly there is hot water.  Usually there IS water, but sometimes there isn’t.  Sometimes no power.  Each floor is co-ed, but the rooms are segregated.  Honestly it’s kind of close in here, so I don’t spend a lot of time in the room.  I can go back over to the office to use the computer or phone, but mostly I just wander around the base, go shopping at the PX (which is about 1/10th the size of a small Wal-Mart and is supposed to serve 25,000 people), grab a mango iced tea from the Green Bean Coffee Shop, or window shop at the little Afghan stores which are near the main PX.

The food at the DFACs (dining facilities) is generally pretty good, although it can get monotonous.  Not as good a set-up as at Qalaa House, probably because of the base over-population.  Long lines at meal times, not open 24 hours, occasional food shortages due to supplier issues – a couple of days this week we had no fresh veggies (salad fixin’s).  I’m not sure exactly how many DFACs are on base.  The closest to our area is the Barbeque a little less than 1/4 mile away.  Not too big with limited selections but the meat is pretty good.  About 1/2 mile away is a huge DFAC named Koele and they have everything – hot stuff, sandwich making stuff, salad bar (mostly), dessert bar (sometimes ice cream).  It’s near the main PX so we are always walking to this area.  Today at lunch the line to get into this dining hall was about 50 yards long, so we walked on a little further to the smaller but lesser-known Aviation DFAC.  It also had a line, but not as bad.  Whenever you enter any of the DFACs, you are required to wash your hands at the sinks in the entrance foyers, and scan your ID card.  You grab a rectangular cardboard “plate”, a set of plastic utensils, then go through the lines to get chow.  Some things they serve, some things you can serve yourself.  I’m still eating too much at times, but it’s getting easier to choose more wisely as the newness wears off.

I confess to being a bit homesick – I miss my son and family, friends, my church, the dog and cat… 🙂