To continue the story of my trip out west, I wanted to describe the fun parts as well. We visited Herat, which is a coalition base run by the Italians and the Spanish. It has a European feel to it, the dining facilities open on a later schedule and the living quarters (metal containers) are all very close together, so it feels like a small village. By contrast, US living quarters (normally tents) are often spaced far apart for fire-safety reasons.
The main dining facility is run by the Spanish, who believe in very efficient use of animal parts. Evidently there was a pig eyeball (with socket and eyelid) in last week's bean soup. So our hosts took us to the local pizza place instead. What was particularly great about THIS pizza place was the fact that it was filled with real Italian soldiers. While waiting for our pizza to come out, the power went out, and a big cheer went up from the customers. Imagine being surrounded by 50 hungry Italian soldiers in total darkness. Surprisingly, there was no groping.
My job during the week was to meet and greet the Spanish planner and the Italian engineer and start a conversation about basing and life support and how to plan for the surge recovery. The Spanish planner had a lot on his mind and a lot that he wanted to get off of his chest, so I felt more like a psychiatrist than an engineer. In the end, my friend MAJ Morris ended up with a list of assignments from the Spanish Colonel. I don't think he was too happy with me.
During our trip, we took a couple of side trips... one to meet the engineers that are building for and training the Afghan Army. They said I was the first person from HQ to visit them and understand their obstacles. Then we went to another base that is being built for the Afghan Air Force. It's an enormous base, and the vastness is overwhelming. I stayed in a transient tent and between the roar of the generator and the whistle of the 120 days of wind, it felt like a 747 taking off in my head ALL NIGHT LONG! When you stay in tents like that, you have to walk over gravel to get to the shower trailers which is hard on your flip flops, and they say you have to keep your eye out for scorpions, so that's a bit un-nerving. On my way back, I paused to look at the sky. After having spent my whole life on the east coast, I didn't know so many stars existed. It is absolutely incredible and breath-taking to see a night sky like the one here in the rural areas of Afghanistan. I'd love to be able to sleep outside, it's certainly warm enough. But the threat of scorpions, camel spiders and rocket attacks keeps me from doing so.
Anyhoo, we took a helicopter back to Herat the next day to wrap up a few loose ends before returning to Kabul. One of those loose ends was to go back to the Italian restaurant and get some gelato! Wow, was it tasty. So, now I'm back. Haven't spoken to the kids or Jeff all week due to the travelling, so that's been tough. But I've killed off another week, feel energized by my trip and ready to tackle another week's worth of staff work here at HQ. No more travelling for a few weeks because my boss will be out of town, and I have to assume his duties. Can't believe it's July already.
No comments:
Post a Comment