Well, I’ve been here 5 days now, and I’m settling right in! I said that I would be updating every Sunday, but with the Traveling entry, I felt the need to hold on a bit and post as much as I could about my living conditions/ eating habits/ daily life. Before I do that I would like to address one issue…Mortars or Rounds as we here call them.
Saturday night I went to bed without much of a clue about what would transpire that in the next 8 hrs. About midnight we got a call over the loud voice that there would be a fallen comrade ceremony which generally takes place in a certain location on base. The ceremony was to be held about 1:30 am. In these ceremonies, all personnel on base are asked to show their respects and hold at attention as the convoy passes by carrying the fallen soldier on their way to transport. Not knowing how this affected me, especially at 1:30am on a Sunday morning, I thought it best to get up and show how grateful I am that these men and women put their lives on the line for us civilians. About 1:50am or so, right as the convoy was about to pass, a large boom echoed throughout the base in a certain direction, about ¼ mile away. Usually, there is an announcement that there is a “live” area, but none was made before this sound. Me and my coworker looked at each other and then at all the soldiers as if to seek their reassurance that this was “normal”…it wasn’t too long before another loud boom came, this time followed by the commands of “GO TO THE BUNKERS!!” Well, me and my coworker darted to the nearest bunker and since we didn’t know where that was, we followed the troops. It was literally mass chaos! We made our way to the bunker in about 5 minutes time and waited patiently amongst many announcements to see what our next move would be. After about 30 minutes ( now 2:30am) we came out of the bunker and stood around for a bit waiting to hear anything further. Fifteen minutes passed and we decided to call it a night and walk back to our tent where we went to bed about 3am. A lot of excitement and adrenaline for our 3rd day on base, and I must say a much needed reality check to further make us understand exactly where we were and how aware we need to be! Now that I’ve cleared the air about what happened, let me say that we are coming into the summer time here in Afghanistan and this is the “busy” season for the terrorists or those farmers that get hopped up enough on poppys to shoot off a mortar or something homemade resembling one. Generally, anywhere from 2 to 4 mortars will hit, probably occurring every week or two. This past case was rare, here, at Bagram as injuries, let alone, casualties don’t happen. In fact, mortars are rare to make it in the base at all. This marks the 3rd time or so that a mortar has landed in the base within the past 18 months!! So everyone, RELAX, as an extra precaution patrols have now begun to take place around the clock so that no further incidences occur! Ok…I think I’m good on this topic, so to my new daily life….
As I said, I arrived here at Bagram last Thursday morning about 8:30am. Our HR rep picked us up and we headed straight for what would be our temporary but not so temporary accommodations…and I use that term very loosely! We pulled up to a tent that houses roughly 80 cots. We made our way in and parked our luggage by a cot that seemed to be most suitable. We headed off to yet another couple of tents where our office is housed! So I guess that the joke does hold true…”I’m two tense!” I’ll leave it up to ya’ll to decide if I’m a wigwam or a teepee or maybe something cool that I’ve never even heard about!!
My daily routine usually consists of waking up around 6am or so (by this time the sun has been up 2hrs…it rises at 4-4:30am). I make my way down the rocky slope to a shower room that has 8 showers and 4 sinks to take a shower and get ready. After putting clothes on, I walk about 15 minutes to the office and drop my bag off and head to the DFAC ( that’s Dining FACility for the laid person). Many of you have asked and I’ll say there is a large selection available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ve been eating really healthy, getting both my veggies and fruit at every sitting. As a matter of fact, this morning I had an egg white omelette with some veggies and fruit! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the food as I thought that it would mainly consist of pasta and meat….anything to keep the soldiers energy levels up for their patrols! Aside from the meals, my days are currently 12 hr shifts of work. Right now we putting together an MS Access database to show us 3 to 4 different types direction from the client which will be able to cross reference each other and give us all the data we need….I know boring, but it has to be done. I’m assuming that one of the biggest undertakings to follow will be managing the changes that occur along the way and documenting them. On this project the saying is, “if you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen!” Apparently, the gov’t is known for paying for the services rendered and conducting an audit 3 years later, only to take back millions of dollars where there wasn’t proof of a valid change!
I’m posting pictures to show the various items I’ve discussed, some of my tent, some of my work tent, and some of the base. Like I said in my previous post, this area is some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen. Mountains that surround more than 80% of the horizon, and most of those are snow covered! The temperature continues to be mid to high 80s, with about 30 to 40% humidity. We sit at about 4k ft above sea level and so with that the sun is on you in no time and can feel hotter than it is! I compare the climate and landscape to northeastern Nevada, or even the foothills of Scottsdale with the patches of green you can see in the distance at the base of the mountains. Time is already beginning to fly by and I’m beginning to find myself right at home as I make friends at work (we laugh all day) and I take up my free time by reading, or going to the MWR (Morale Wellness and Recreation center…gym). As you can imagine, working 84 hrs per week doesn’t lend itself for a lot of free time so I would say that currently my other hobby is falling asleep with a book in my hand! As least now I have gotten over my jet lag and am not feeling those afftects too much now!!
Anyhow, I hope that everyone is doing well, and I’ll talk to ya in 6 days (that’s next Sunday this time)!
Saturday night I went to bed without much of a clue about what would transpire that in the next 8 hrs. About midnight we got a call over the loud voice that there would be a fallen comrade ceremony which generally takes place in a certain location on base. The ceremony was to be held about 1:30 am. In these ceremonies, all personnel on base are asked to show their respects and hold at attention as the convoy passes by carrying the fallen soldier on their way to transport. Not knowing how this affected me, especially at 1:30am on a Sunday morning, I thought it best to get up and show how grateful I am that these men and women put their lives on the line for us civilians. About 1:50am or so, right as the convoy was about to pass, a large boom echoed throughout the base in a certain direction, about ¼ mile away. Usually, there is an announcement that there is a “live” area, but none was made before this sound. Me and my coworker looked at each other and then at all the soldiers as if to seek their reassurance that this was “normal”…it wasn’t too long before another loud boom came, this time followed by the commands of “GO TO THE BUNKERS!!” Well, me and my coworker darted to the nearest bunker and since we didn’t know where that was, we followed the troops. It was literally mass chaos! We made our way to the bunker in about 5 minutes time and waited patiently amongst many announcements to see what our next move would be. After about 30 minutes ( now 2:30am) we came out of the bunker and stood around for a bit waiting to hear anything further. Fifteen minutes passed and we decided to call it a night and walk back to our tent where we went to bed about 3am. A lot of excitement and adrenaline for our 3rd day on base, and I must say a much needed reality check to further make us understand exactly where we were and how aware we need to be! Now that I’ve cleared the air about what happened, let me say that we are coming into the summer time here in Afghanistan and this is the “busy” season for the terrorists or those farmers that get hopped up enough on poppys to shoot off a mortar or something homemade resembling one. Generally, anywhere from 2 to 4 mortars will hit, probably occurring every week or two. This past case was rare, here, at Bagram as injuries, let alone, casualties don’t happen. In fact, mortars are rare to make it in the base at all. This marks the 3rd time or so that a mortar has landed in the base within the past 18 months!! So everyone, RELAX, as an extra precaution patrols have now begun to take place around the clock so that no further incidences occur! Ok…I think I’m good on this topic, so to my new daily life….
As I said, I arrived here at Bagram last Thursday morning about 8:30am. Our HR rep picked us up and we headed straight for what would be our temporary but not so temporary accommodations…and I use that term very loosely! We pulled up to a tent that houses roughly 80 cots. We made our way in and parked our luggage by a cot that seemed to be most suitable. We headed off to yet another couple of tents where our office is housed! So I guess that the joke does hold true…”I’m two tense!” I’ll leave it up to ya’ll to decide if I’m a wigwam or a teepee or maybe something cool that I’ve never even heard about!!
My daily routine usually consists of waking up around 6am or so (by this time the sun has been up 2hrs…it rises at 4-4:30am). I make my way down the rocky slope to a shower room that has 8 showers and 4 sinks to take a shower and get ready. After putting clothes on, I walk about 15 minutes to the office and drop my bag off and head to the DFAC ( that’s Dining FACility for the laid person). Many of you have asked and I’ll say there is a large selection available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ve been eating really healthy, getting both my veggies and fruit at every sitting. As a matter of fact, this morning I had an egg white omelette with some veggies and fruit! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the food as I thought that it would mainly consist of pasta and meat….anything to keep the soldiers energy levels up for their patrols! Aside from the meals, my days are currently 12 hr shifts of work. Right now we putting together an MS Access database to show us 3 to 4 different types direction from the client which will be able to cross reference each other and give us all the data we need….I know boring, but it has to be done. I’m assuming that one of the biggest undertakings to follow will be managing the changes that occur along the way and documenting them. On this project the saying is, “if you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen!” Apparently, the gov’t is known for paying for the services rendered and conducting an audit 3 years later, only to take back millions of dollars where there wasn’t proof of a valid change!
I’m posting pictures to show the various items I’ve discussed, some of my tent, some of my work tent, and some of the base. Like I said in my previous post, this area is some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen. Mountains that surround more than 80% of the horizon, and most of those are snow covered! The temperature continues to be mid to high 80s, with about 30 to 40% humidity. We sit at about 4k ft above sea level and so with that the sun is on you in no time and can feel hotter than it is! I compare the climate and landscape to northeastern Nevada, or even the foothills of Scottsdale with the patches of green you can see in the distance at the base of the mountains. Time is already beginning to fly by and I’m beginning to find myself right at home as I make friends at work (we laugh all day) and I take up my free time by reading, or going to the MWR (Morale Wellness and Recreation center…gym). As you can imagine, working 84 hrs per week doesn’t lend itself for a lot of free time so I would say that currently my other hobby is falling asleep with a book in my hand! As least now I have gotten over my jet lag and am not feeling those afftects too much now!!
Anyhow, I hope that everyone is doing well, and I’ll talk to ya in 6 days (that’s next Sunday this time)!
Access, huh? That sounds like a blast...
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for keeping us informed- this really is so interesting to read.
Good to know that your days are filled with laughter...
Can't wait till next week!!
B
Love seeing the pics of where you are living, and I am not surprised that you are making friends immediately! Miss you!
ReplyDelete