Tongue Tied

What can I say people. The holding pattern here has my tongue tied. Alright, let me put out some info for my people being tortured at Camp Funston still. It’s a good idea to stock up on some things before you leave, maybe about a months worth of general medicines and cold type meds. Get plenty of blistex type products. The lips stay dry here and you don’t want cracking lips while fighting Taliban. It just wouldn’t be right. You want your lips moist when you tell them to kiss your bum through your optics. Remember, they are the reason we’re here. Otherwise, don’t break your back with extra meds. Don’t buy safes for your narcotics while stateside. You can use FOO or some other Class money here. When you get to Camp Phoenix you can mug the hell out of their Class VIII. You will have a few days there so if you bring a tuff box for your medical gear, leave some room in it. It will be your main Class VIII so get what you can. Most other places you’ll have to submit a supply request and wait for the angels of mercy (c130s and c17) to fly it in.
Ward, hope all is going well with that new gym you guys have. You have high speed internet yet?  Sorry, I had to.
Because I have nothing major to put out I’ll send a “shout out” or whatever the heck they call it. Here’s to my people in Georgia….go Dawgs. My people in Ohio….go Buckeyes, Wolverines bite. For Josh, my future brother in law…..go gators…….blah blah blah. Believe it or not he’s a good guy despite his loyalties to an inferior species. He and my sister in law got engaged last week. Finally!

Hot

Getting hotter. Another Mocha Frappacino please. Nope, not quite in a war zone yet but coming soon. Until then, i'll take the frap(and about 10 bottles of water a day)!
Did I say it was hot yet?

Kandahar. Ahhh!

So we've been in Kandahar for a few days now in some huge storage tank of a tent awaiting orders for our final destination. This circus tent holds a few hundred guys all waiting to leave or get new assignments. No stress there, eh! Anyway, Kandahar is very different than Kabul. We are definitely in the desert. NO GRASS. Nothing around here stops the sand from blowing, including spraying water on the roads. Sand blows in the tents and gets in everything. Yep, everything. Kandahar Air Field (KAF) is significantly nicer than Camp Phoenix. I have a four letter word I like to describe that place and I'll keep it to myself. At any rate, glad to be out of there. I'll take the heat and sand any day.
For you Georgia fans: A colonel from South Carolina came through our area of the circus tent the other day and spouted a smart remark about the Dawgs, so you know I couldn't let that go. I responded with "Not everyone can be a 'cock' sir. " (gamecock, that is) He knew he was caught with that one and laughed as he walked away. Sergeant Major Allman shook his head and said only a PA could get away with that. Hey, what are they gonna do, send me to remote Afghanistan?
KBR, the civilian contract agency, does a fairly good job around here except that they put the sewage plant upwind from the main area of the post. Smells like you know what with a prevailing wind around here. Ahh!!

Still Here

Not much happening folks. We're still here basking in the glory of Camp Phoenix. The sun comes up about 0415-0430 every morning and I can't sleep much past it even though our tent is like a dungeon. Still waiting.......Here's a pic over the top of our tent looking out into the mountians

Arrival

We've arrived!!! In the land of plenty.......of what I'm waiting to see. At any rate, it was pooring down rain on arrival as it was when we arrived in Kuwait last week. Not much rainfall around here and both places we fly into get rain. HMM. I hope that's a sign of God's promise. Now where's that damn rainbow?

We arrived in Kabul early in the morning after a long 4.5 hour, cramped flight on a C17. The flight was smooth, it was the 0015 take off that hurt the most or was the body armor, M4 and M9 sticking me in the side?

There's about a 3km drive in trucks from the airport to Camp Phoenix to take in all the beautiful countryside. We stopped right before leaving the gates of the airport and a bunch of boys came over and through the wire fence asked for water/money/candy and soccer balls. We tried our best to talk to them in Dari and they their best in English and it made for some interesting conversation. One boy asked for a dollar, to which I responded "call my wife." He didn't get it. Another boy gave us the bird. Thought that one was special. But most importantly, while driving through Kabul's shanty town district, there was one lady wearing a Burka, of course covering head to toe. Well, in her stride I see that she's wearing a pair of 2-3 inch heels. What the hell!

Anyway, here are some pics from the airport.

More pics. The food is one of my meals on the plane. Yum.

A side shot of our plane and a couple of pics of the camp we're in.

Departure/Arrival

So, we finally arrived in Kuwait via a super long flight on a reasonably large MD-11. However, I’m sure the seats were designed for more petite individuals rather than Army personnel. The pilot said that we were 1000 pounds shy of the planes max weight and we had distribute weight throughout the plane, leaving most of us in the back cramped and in close communion, so to speak for about 8.5 hours . We had a layover in Germany for a couple of hours. It was very beautiful countryside but the particular airport we used was obviously not quite the hotbed of activity. There were a couple of older Soviet design airliners on the tarmac as well as sundry other smaller types. Otherwise, we were it. There was one area we were shuttled to that had all sorts of German paraphernalia as well as American…. Bottom line, it was my last stop for a beer before hitting Kuwait. A lovely, local pilsner was hailed to the last, literally, last drop. We loaded up for our last 5 hour leg into Kuwait arriving late that night. Ironically, it was raining when we landed and sprinkles/downpours came and went throughout the night. We had about a 1 hour ride to the base we are now and then took about 3 hours to get our gear unloaded from the trucks, get in processed and get into barracks. This was about 0430 now and just in time for sunrise. Yes, 0430 and up it comes beaming through the sand laden skyline, a dry, warm breeze and a beautiful, biblical kind of sunrise. It was an awkward yet peaceful moment, a gentle welcome to the Middle East.
So, we decided it was time for breakfast. Where else would you go in times of war besides McDonalds for a couple cheeseburgers and then across to the Green Bean World Coffee Co. for an excellent cup of Java. Yes, that was my first meal in country. The coffee was excellent. I tasted the burgers until lunch. Essentially, it was up and down naps/eating today, a reprieve from a long flight and the frustrations of a Camp Funston so far away now. We'll see if we all can sleep tonight.
Some pics for viewing pleasure. They range from flight food to Germany to Kuwait. Corrigan took the honor of creating a short tab that goes above our unit patch. Long live coffee!!!!