Afghan tribal carpet - War Theme

I bought this tribal carpet at the bazaar last week. I have been wanting a war themed tribal carpet for 20 years after seeing Soviet era Afghan carpets in Okinawa, Japan. I still want a red and black Soviet era carpet, but couldn't resist this 2008 version.

I am learning about Afghan carpets, but I have much to learn. I have six months.

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Afghan Attorney

This young Afghan attorney was born in 1983. He attended school in the U.S. at McCallister College in Minnesota and received a LLM masters of law degree from William & Mary. He spoke of the three types of law in Afghanistan: statutory, customary law, and Sharia. After 40 years of anarchy, communism, civil war, he said what the country needed was education and time. I hope the American people have the patience, will, and perseverance to see this mission through. I see the need for the United States to be here 20-30 years to start to effectively change things here.

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Housing development

Camp Eggers is experiencing a housing boom. They are welding together shipping containers to turn into rooms. Here is a sample of the construction effort. They say these should be habitable in 7-10 days. I'll believe it when I see it.

I am living in the basement of a former Kabul residence. They will renovate it soon (three weeks?) and if I don't get a permanent room by then, I'll have to find another transient room to hang out in. I wanted to wait to get a permanent room before I signed up for internet service to get the hard wire. However, my antivirus and antispyware was aging and I had to sign up for the wireless. We get our personal internet from satellite and to say the least, it is not robust. Trying to download the virus definitions showed a nine hour wait.

I was number three on the housing list and then the put 12 civilian GS 12-14 employees up above me. I am now number 15. It could be 3-4 weeks to get into a permanent room with more convenient internet, TV, shower, and storage space. The joys of deployment.

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Roses in Kabul

When I arrived at Camp Eggers in Kabul, they dumped five of us on the side of the road mid-way down outside one of the Camp walls. We had about 1,000 pounds of gear and numerous weapons. We ferried them in relays to the gate and then inside the other gate. Tiring of this, I emailed my office for some help. Some folks from other offices had brought down carts with bicycle wheels, dollys, etc. My legal folks came en masse (six people) and each grabbed a bag. We had to schlep the stuff by hand half a mile in to the Camp (no vehicles).

Camp Eggers is a former residential area in Kabul. Thus, all our offices, workplaces, and lodging are in the homes and yards of residences. We rent the space from the displaced owners. We have a lot of U.S. and coalition forces crammed into a few blocks of downtown Kabul.

The photo above is the entrance to my temporary lodging. I live in a basement room with eight other transient folks waiting for a permanent room. We shower outside in trailers near where the Mongolian soldiers do guard mount before their shift changes. The thing I noticed the first morning heading out to the shower was the strong, rose fragrance permeating the air. It was a beautiful morning and I hope, a harbinger of the next six months.

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Out of Kyrgyzstan

We had a 0330 flight out of Manas AB, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Manas is a staging base for troops and airmen into and out of Afghanistan. The base is spartan, but still has many luxuries and amenities for the transients heading down range. They have several little shops with local crafts, services, and a self-contained Pizza Hut trailer.

Manas has some two-story metal buildings for lodging, but most folks are housed in large tents. They have a recreation facility Peter's Place named after Peter Ganci, a New York firefighter killed in the 9/11 attacks. They serve Russian beers with a two beer a night limit. The most potent brew is Baltika 9 sporting 8% alcohol.

The dining facility had lackluster fare with little concern for taste and presentation. However, the food was plentiful and met the need.

I was made troop commander for the flight into Kabul because I was the senior ranking Airman. I originally had 23 members, but at flight time I counted 25. PERSCO added two people, but didn't tell me. We boarded a C-130 and with the 1 1/2 hour time change, landed in Kabul at 0500 Thursday, 12 Aug 10.

The saga begins.

Combat Training

I spent 10 days in Camp Bullis north of San Antonio, Texas for combat training. We shot a lot of rounds and even shot some left handed. I hit the first four targets left-handed, but missed the rest. We had to carry the M-4 carbine most every place we went. My finger is now permanently formed to fit above the trigger guard after this many-day attachment.

Experts taught us the combat skills that most Airmen will need to know down range. We fired the M-4, practiced first aid on moulaged patients, performed land and GPS navigation, convoy and field tactics, and humvee rollovers.

We lived in tents and walked up the hill for showers. Its been nearly 40 years since I've had conditions like this. However, I admit the Air Force takes much better care of us in the field than the Army did back in the 1970s. Air conditioned tents, lights, heated showers. port-a-potties, et al.

The AF instructors were extremely knowledgeable and tolerant of our non-infantry and non-combat arms trades. Air Force folks never cease to impress me with their professionalism and ability to get the job done--no matter what the circumstances.

I had two days at home and then on to Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virgina to begin the overseas journey. The plane was less than half full so we could all stretch and spread out. With stops in Ireland, Romania, and Kyrgyzstan, we are awaiting flights into Afghanistan from Manas AB.