A slightly better post

So I don't think I've updated anything since I was at CRC in Indiana. 

 

CRC:  That plays is a model of military inefficiency.  Half my time was spent waiting around to do nothing.  YAY.  I was there for the scheduled week.  I almost didn't get out of there.  While going through all the medical screening they found one test that the place I went to before leaving apparently hadn't done.  G6PD.  I could have gone my whole life quite happily never knowing anything about that.  Basically, they test your blood for something.  If you have a particular deficiency, they know the give you an alternative medication should you contract malaria.  If you don't have it, they give you the normal.  I found this out on Tuesday and had to get a ride off post to get the test done and then wait for the results.  If the results didn't come back by that Friday, I'd be stuck another week.  Fortunately, it came back with about 3 hours to spare and I got out of there.

 

From there it was off to Kuwait.  We had a brief layover at Frankfurt international airport.  I had a pretzel.  I wouldn't say I forgot how good German pastries are, but it never does cease to amaze me how much better they can make even a basic pretzel.  Man that was good.  Anyway, we stayed there for about 45 minutes and got back on the plane for the ride to Kuwait.

 

We got to Kuwait and took a Bus to Ali-Asalim.  During the height of the war, we controlled the whole place.  In the downturn, we've been relegated to a small portion of it that's way off the beaten path.  The thing that struck me most about Kuwait was that it looked EXACTLY as I'd pictured it.  Sandy, dirty, barren.  Don't be fooled though, there is A LOT of money in that country.  Those citizens who can trace their Kuwaiti heritage back hundreds of years are given a stipend by the government every month from the time they're born to the time they die.  I head the amount was anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000.  Again, that's PER MONTH.  So those citizens don't work.  There are a lot of Kuwaiti citizens who do work, but they're not the old school citizens.  Also, I always knew the pound and the euro were stronger than the dollar.  That's a given.  What I never knew was that not only is the Kuwaiti Dinar more valuable, but it beats the crap out of even the pound.  One Dinar costs about $3.61.  Again, that country has some money.  It's just a shame so much of the country is dirty.  I did spend some time in Kuwait City for a few days.  The company brought us there to do company in-processing.  They put us up in an apartment and we had briefings and training all day for about three days.  Being in downtown Kuwait City, you could almost think you were in the states.  Across the street from me was a McDonalds, Baskin Robbins, Carls Jr, etc..  Down the road was an Applebees, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cinnabon, Pizza Hut, Dominos...  Also across the street was a coffee place.  They made the best lattes I've ever had in my life.  The coffee was amazing. 

 

After that period, we went back to Ali to get ready to catch a flight to Afghanistan.  I was in Kuwait for about 5 days and caught a flight to Bagram on a C-17.  I have pictures to post later of that.  From Bagram I took a small puddle jumper to Kabul.  Fortunately, I didn't have to stay the night at the airport.  We got picked up in some up-armored land cruisers and drove to Camp Eggers where I stayed for about a week for some quick training on policies and procedures here.  Afghanistan is even dirtier than Kuwait, but without the benefit of money.  It's a very poor country.  Oh, and right as I was getting ready to fly into Afghanistan was when the whole Quran burning fiasco took place.  So that made the prospect of driving through that much more fun.  Then I get here and those two Army officers get killed just a few miles from where I was.  Then, last week, that Army SSG went insane in the afghan civilians of a couple different villages.  It hasn't been the best "Welcome to Afghanistan" period.  That being said, I'm more than happy to stay right here on base.

 

As of yesterday, I've been here in Camp Phoenix for two weeks.  One of the biggest advantages to Phoenix is that we have an educational center here on post.  It's the only one in the Kabul area.  This past Monday I began college courses.  One in person, and two online.  I was also lucky enough to get my own b-hut after my first night here.  Basically, there are these small buildings and they use ply wood to separate them into either 6 or 8 rooms.  I got lucky enough to get in one that's split into 6 rooms so mine is slightly bigger than normal.  However, don't think that means it's actually sizeable.  It's about the size of a jail cell.  Fortunately, it's all mine.  I was finally able to unpack my stuff after a month of transient living.  That was an awesome feeling.  The gym here is pretty nice too.  It's pretty typical of a normal gym.  Cardio equipment, free weights, machine weights, etc..

 

I have reading to do for my class tonight so I'm going to get to that.  Attached is a picture of what I look like if I don't save for a month and a half.

 

I'll start updating a lot more regularly.  That should be a decent snapshot of the last month+ of my life.