my christmas in Afghanistan
Well it was far from a normal christmas but we made the best of it. we were sitting in a spot where we hadnt showered in a week and it was fairly hard to have a good birdbath plus we were eating rations like usual (ive been eating rations for almost a month now and will be till february).
So anyways christmas eve was a typical day except they were so kind to bring out mail (bills of course,lol) and packages. Sorry Garnette, no i havent gotten your yet. I was lucky enough to get a package though (everyone did in our tank) and it was from Linda, Mikes mom! I thought it was very sweet of her. She never really got a good chance to get to know me yet shes always been very sweet and I'd try and keep in touch if it didnt feel inapropriate considering the circumstances. Anyways we heard there was a surprise and it was easy to guess what it was. We already knew that the wives back home had sent out a pile of packages for us all. In the morning,(of course it was pissing down rain) It was kind of funny (i took pics but somehow when i went to transfer them on my computer they werent there!grrrrrr) there was a pitiful soggy tree with presents around it. so we got kraft dinner (a gormet meal out here anyways!lol) and lots of other goodies! plus my friend beth (who is a medic) sent me out what i liked to call a stocking! yeah, the piss jug that i laugh about, well apparently the medics have a bunch. so she gave me a piss jug with a bunch of goodies in it!lol and of course a candy cane over the side! (she insisted she only peed in it once!lol) so that kind of made my christmas, besides all the candy i shoveled in my mouth!
The sgt major had one more surprise for us though, we had a fresh and hot (most fresh meals weve had was cold, lol i love steak but a big fatty cold steak isnt very apealing!)meal! turkey with patatos and cranberry sauce. it was pretty good. In my 'stocking' there was some pretty good instant coffee (better than whats in the rations thats for sure) so i had a good cup of coffee as well!
something i thought was extremely amusing, was when i was washing up. like i said, it was raining so to stay out of the rain i decided to hide underneath the turret. well theres cracks all along the turret that was full of dirt. so as i was washing up i had splashes of mud falling on me!lol so it didnt take long before i said "f#@k this" and stood out in the rain. I was scrambling to get where it was warm after that of course.
Another thing that made my christmas, is that we had sat phones that we everyone got to use. It was about 2 am alberta time so i tried calling garnette and aunty jan ( at least i was able to leave messages and let them know i everything was good) but I was lucky when i caught my dad just before he was going to bed. sounded like things were pretty good, i wish i would of gotten a chance to send out my gifts though. I was telling him about how i hadn't showered in quite a while and said "but ive got clean underwear on!" lol i dont think he found that quite as amusing as i did!lol! lol just like the other day when my OC walks into the room and asked how things were going, i said " good, just waiting for a shower, as you could probably smell" ( by that time it was about 8 days with out a shower) lol yeah i was the only one laughing at that one. so anyways going back to christmas, it was as good as it could possibly of been considering the circumstances.
by this time we entertain eachother with cheap amusements (kind of like my smart ass comments,lol), lol when you sit back and watch everyone, you notice the jokes getting dumber and dumber!
There are several people that are getting bitter about things. Earlier in my career i learned to 'throw things' over my should and just dig my nose into things and of course to just ignore the politics. So my moral isnt doing too bad. I've got my friend beth to amuse me anyways. Shes just as animate about things as i am, so we get together and you could hear us cacking a mile away,lol!
anyways thats my life right now, dont worry if you guys dont get calls from me these days, i am able to check my email about once a week if that, so instead of making a million calls, I send out one big email out to everyone. Anyways take care guys,
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
l
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
2 months
besides a couple of movements with our squadron (which includes the minefeild we hit!lol just our luck) and going to the range, life on KAF was mainly doing maintenance, going to the gym, watching CSI and occasionally hanging out with a friend thats a medic that came out with us. There has been a lot of nights working late. some of which meant being up at 3am! We wanted to make sure that every tank was good to go. The leopards havent been regularly worked for a while, so it takes a bit to work them in again!
we had the canadian can con show. There were several rock singers, some newfie folk singers and a comedian! We actually had a way better show than the american, believe it or not! The americans brought in one singer that lasted 1 hr and that was it! It made out for a good night anyways! something different than my normal life out here. Of course the guys loved the hot girls on stage!lol!
anyways on Dec. 1st we finally made our way out to (my home for 2 weeks previously) one of the small bases out in the panjuai district. unfortunately my tank went down for a while. It was rather disapointing, having a good working tank back in KAF!lol we get out here and it breaks down!
It was raining quite a bit at first. It was maybe -5 but man it really feels more like -17 out here.You get used to +20 something then all of a sudden its +10 during the day and -5 at night! we were staying under a tarp with some poles holding it up and sleeping on cots underneath! I got dumped on the first night,lol! my cot was sticking out a bit and it all came dripping down on me! now we have tentage which is nice, spacious anyways.
We had to build a spot for the officers to go. so we built it with a tarp like our makeshift tent. well since our vehicle has been down, weve been building it into a little haven!lol of course we claimed it as our own and made tentage for the officers so they could have their own spot. it was freezing out so we started everything by burning cardboard from our rations. then all of a sudden we had a small firewall in the corner and man did it ever get smokey in there. the next day we had this big firewall built plus we copied the locals and built it into a mudwall with the side open to move the smoke out. well now we have a fireplace built (chimney and all) and we have the plans in the making for making a mudwall . by the time we leave here, were going to make ourselves a mudhut!lol We are making it pretty comfy in there, we also built shelving and a sitting area. We made a cock metre. we have it with a cut out penis to gage how crappy things get around it. something we use for cheap amusement.Ive taken some video of the place which i will try and send later.
We made a trip up the side of the mountain today. man it was a good way of telling me that ive been getting out of shape! it was a steap hike as you could tell in the pictures. It kind of reminded me of climbing the mountains as a kid in Penticton. lol Garnette and I used to go everywhere. Anyways we finally made it to the top where an afghanistan flage was. Theres bamboo holding it and everyone up there has signed it. Man the view was amazing! the pictures dont do it justice. We'll probably make the trip more often (besides the fact we probably need the exercise). Lol i got some hero pics for dad and everyone,lol. maybe not exactly what he asked for but theres some good pics anyways.
All in all, things are still pretty good. Unfortunately the other women in the squadron got injured bad enough to go home. Not sure exactly what happened but it was an accident anyways. Beth came in the following day ( medic friend) and actually made the climb up the mountain with crystal, shaggy, dube and I. Lol we are fairly simular when it comes to our energy,lol, im sure most will understand what i mean.
Weve had a couple mortar attacks, and several people in the squadron have some confirmed kills but nothing too crazy yet! nothing i can say on here anyways.
well anyways im off, take care guys, thanks again for all the parcels, i love you!
I tried to send pics but for somereason it wont let me, so you will have to wait!!!
love you guys take care
besides a couple of movements with our squadron (which includes the minefeild we hit!lol just our luck) and going to the range, life on KAF was mainly doing maintenance, going to the gym, watching CSI and occasionally hanging out with a friend thats a medic that came out with us. There has been a lot of nights working late. some of which meant being up at 3am! We wanted to make sure that every tank was good to go. The leopards havent been regularly worked for a while, so it takes a bit to work them in again!
we had the canadian can con show. There were several rock singers, some newfie folk singers and a comedian! We actually had a way better show than the american, believe it or not! The americans brought in one singer that lasted 1 hr and that was it! It made out for a good night anyways! something different than my normal life out here. Of course the guys loved the hot girls on stage!lol!
anyways on Dec. 1st we finally made our way out to (my home for 2 weeks previously) one of the small bases out in the panjuai district. unfortunately my tank went down for a while. It was rather disapointing, having a good working tank back in KAF!lol we get out here and it breaks down!
It was raining quite a bit at first. It was maybe -5 but man it really feels more like -17 out here.You get used to +20 something then all of a sudden its +10 during the day and -5 at night! we were staying under a tarp with some poles holding it up and sleeping on cots underneath! I got dumped on the first night,lol! my cot was sticking out a bit and it all came dripping down on me! now we have tentage which is nice, spacious anyways.
We had to build a spot for the officers to go. so we built it with a tarp like our makeshift tent. well since our vehicle has been down, weve been building it into a little haven!lol of course we claimed it as our own and made tentage for the officers so they could have their own spot. it was freezing out so we started everything by burning cardboard from our rations. then all of a sudden we had a small firewall in the corner and man did it ever get smokey in there. the next day we had this big firewall built plus we copied the locals and built it into a mudwall with the side open to move the smoke out. well now we have a fireplace built (chimney and all) and we have the plans in the making for making a mudwall . by the time we leave here, were going to make ourselves a mudhut!lol We are making it pretty comfy in there, we also built shelving and a sitting area. We made a cock metre. we have it with a cut out penis to gage how crappy things get around it. something we use for cheap amusement.Ive taken some video of the place which i will try and send later.
We made a trip up the side of the mountain today. man it was a good way of telling me that ive been getting out of shape! it was a steap hike as you could tell in the pictures. It kind of reminded me of climbing the mountains as a kid in Penticton. lol Garnette and I used to go everywhere. Anyways we finally made it to the top where an afghanistan flage was. Theres bamboo holding it and everyone up there has signed it. Man the view was amazing! the pictures dont do it justice. We'll probably make the trip more often (besides the fact we probably need the exercise). Lol i got some hero pics for dad and everyone,lol. maybe not exactly what he asked for but theres some good pics anyways.
All in all, things are still pretty good. Unfortunately the other women in the squadron got injured bad enough to go home. Not sure exactly what happened but it was an accident anyways. Beth came in the following day ( medic friend) and actually made the climb up the mountain with crystal, shaggy, dube and I. Lol we are fairly simular when it comes to our energy,lol, im sure most will understand what i mean.
Weve had a couple mortar attacks, and several people in the squadron have some confirmed kills but nothing too crazy yet! nothing i can say on here anyways.
well anyways im off, take care guys, thanks again for all the parcels, i love you!
I tried to send pics but for somereason it wont let me, so you will have to wait!!!
love you guys take care
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