In Afghanistan

I was starting to think it would never happen but it has. I am finally at Bagram Air Base near Kabul, Afghanistan. Now that I am here I am wishing I were elsewhere. Within 1 hour of arriving at the base I attended a military procession carrying the bodies of 2 fallen soldiers. It was a stark reminder that it aint all fun and games and that this is the real deal.

Well I do not have a lot of time to post tonight. I tried to publish my last post but the internet is too slow for me to upload my pictures. I will try to get them on ASAP.

I have my hooch. Actually it isn’t a hooch. It is more of an abandoned silo with a giant hole in the roof. It is nicknamed the dungeon and when I upload the pictures you will see why.

This place sucks so bad!!! You can certainly see that all the money went to Iraq and not to Afghanistan. This place is the stone ages. Also, I am smack in the middle of the largest mine field in Afghanistan. We drive 3 feet from marked minefields on the way to chow. Apparently when it rains, mines always surface inside the camp. Just freaking great.

The altitude is about 6000 feet. Similar to Denver. It hasn’t been that hard to acclimate. If anything it will make my trek to base camp easier. We are surrounded on all sides by gigantic snow capped mountains. It is truly a beautiful sight to watch the sun rise behind one set of mountains while simultaneously casting a morning glow on the other side behind you.

The whole place is surreal. They are constantly launching planes into the sky and you can watch as the jets take off with full afterburner. You can feel the ground shake. Today I watched 3 different jets take off after a UAV took off. It was cool!

I “got” to fly in on a C17. Talk about a massive aircraft! But leave it to the military to cram 100 men into a 1 man seat. They had us packed in like sardines with literally football fields to spare.

Anyway, it is late, I am sick and I am going to bed. More to follow when I can!

Cheers,
Walt