the road to Farah

From Bala Boluk to Farah we eventually veered off the Ring Road onto HWY 517, another one of the few paved roads. The trip was fairly uneventful except for that kid who threw a good-sized rock at our humvee as we were going through Shewan. This village is surrounded by poppy fields, and while most children seemed friendly towards us (except for the one) and the adults seemed indifferent, I could only think that they were indeed against our presence in the area, poppy cultivation being apparently their main source of income, not quite approved by the International Community or Afghan Government (but some in the government surely get kickbacks, this isn't the model government by any means!) So it was well worth going on this trip just to see the poppies, after all it's a little like going to New York City and not seeing the Empire State, one cannot go to Afghanistan and not see poppies!

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Bala Boluk

We stopped in Bala Boluk on our way to Farah, talk about hard living, the Americans living there are enclosed in this camp no bigger than a football field inside of an Afghan police compound, right off the highway. They sleep in tents and have very little in the way of amenities. Tent living and crappy food for the most part. Life here at Camp Stone isn't so bad after all!
The landscape around here is just surreal, and the sights make up for being stuck in this country. But I would still not have volunteered to come.

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Shindand

Some pictures from the road and a few from Shindand, I sort of got carried away with the flowers perhaps!

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the woman at the door

I was almost going to delete this picture from my camera, i was trying to shoot something else as we were driving back to Herat, but then I noticed the woman at the door and fell in love with this picture!

poppy eradication program

I finally was able to leave Camp Stone, my assigned base, for the first time since returning from Kabul over a month ago, and I even partook in my first convoy. While sitting in a humvee for a few hours isn't particularly comfortable, what with a bulletproof vest on and a helmet, getting to see some more of western Afghanistan was well worth the discomfort. We drove south from Herat on the ring road, a nice paved road that goes all around Afghanistan, or most of the way around. It is such a nice road (there are very few paved roads) and so convenient for commerce (travelled by many trucks) that the insurgents do not use it for IEDs or the population would quickly turn against their "cause."
Well, we had to branch off the ring road to make it to Farah, this road was also paved and goes through Shewan, a village surrounded by seas of poppies. Most kids along the way would wave at us except in Shewan, this one 10 year old came running out and through a pretty good sized rock at our vehicle (we were in the lead) aiming no doubt for the gunner, the only person to stick out of the vehicle, but hitting the windshield instead. Needless to say other than a loud bang there was no damage done, I would hope it would take more to dent a hummer, but it was still an interesting experience. And if this is the worst that happens to me I will be fine with it!
As far as the poppy eradication program... is it working?

some roses

If only the Afghans were as proficient at running an army as they are at gardening we (US and NATO) would have been done a long time ago!

the referee

I was walking around the Camp Zafar, the Afghan military compound, when I stumbled upon this "high stakes" volleyball match about to get underway between the All Star Italian Team and the Top Notch Afghan Squad. It also turned out that a referee of the utmost integrity was required to officiate this most important of matches, and who better to oblige than yours truly. It might have been a few years since I played volleyball but how difficult is it to watch a ball go back and forth over a net? The match turned out to be a little more heated than I anticipated, but then again the always emotional Italians were on one side and the rather volatile Afghans were on the other, so I guess taking all this into account the intensity of the confrontation should not have been much of a surprise. It turns out the Afghans ended up winning two games out of three with all three games being rather close, and the officiating was superlative I might add!

Jeremiah Ridgeway

Please check out the photostream from Jeremiah Ridgeway on BBC.com, there are some outstanding pictures:

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for my new home

I thought I would finally check out the Friday bazaar, and since I will be buying a home when I get back to the States I think I found a few carpets for it. Some very nice carpets indeed, and most are under $300 from what I understand. I think I'll get me 5 (dining room, living room, bedrooms and other) but try and spend no ore than $1000. I might have to do some bargaining though.

some much needed rain

With very little rainfall during this first month of the year 1387, the skies finally opened up the last couple days, delivering some much needed rain. And there were some pretty good downpours between last night and this morning with more rain forecasted for Sunday and Monday. There was of course some minor "flooding" and I almost felt like I could be of some use as a Naval officer, alas the water was not deep enough for a submarine. The Italians were also rejoicing as they could almost use their gondolas to navigate around their end of the camp, and they were looking forward to charging Americans 50 EUR for a gondola ride. It must be a Venice thing I guess.

imminent sugar high!

I would like to thank my mother, younger brother, and aunt from Belgium for providing me with a "few" sweets: starburst, fruitella, napoleon, sugus, twix, m&ms, as well as some beef jerky and power bars. The gummy bears and milka chocolate I obtained myself. Now who should I send my dentist bill to?
And I would like to especially thank my mother for the Homer Words of Wisdom pillowcase, it certainly applies to me!

Saturday's sunset

I liked the way the sun looked, so I thought I'd take a couple pictures...

some big white puffy clouds

following Thursday's rain, big clouds on the horizon on Friday...

training kandak graduation

This past Thursday, the training kandak (battalion) was having its graduation ceremony. As with most things in this country it was well worth sticking around a little to see what would happen, and to break the monotony of my everyday routine. And as it turns out I was quite entertained by this event.

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and a short video...

witness to a miracle

So I arrived in Herat on March 2nd or thereabouts and I was starting to wonder if I would ever see any rain around here. Obviously the surrounding landscape was a testimony to the little rain seen in this corner of the world, but surely it must rain some time. I knew California was bad and never thought I would be in a place worse off.
Well, yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, which might have been early morning for some of you, late morning for others, and probably not evening for any of you, it started to rain. I did all I could to keep from ripping my clothes off and running out in this most beautiful of rain, and trust me I was close to doing so (I have also been working out). And it wasn't one of those Californian "downpours" (a few drops falling from the sky qualifies as such there) but a steady rain.
But then it kept raining in the evening, and the temperature had dropped as well, and I started to think... Will it keep on raining forever? Will the sun ever shine again? I was beginning to feel like I was back in Belgium!
And then today happened!

the silly military

The Army has a PT uniform (outfit to wear when working out).
The Air Force has a PT uniform.
The Navy does not (yet) have a PT uniform.
Some Army people apparently only care about that third point and are seemingly rather upset about the fact we are free to wear whatever we want while working out, so long as it is in good taste and reflects our Navy pride. So I purchased a couple shorts from the good ol' Naval Academy, one blue, one gray, both do not go below the knees, but I am now under the understanding that I can only wear the blue ones. The reason behind this asinine rule is that, while we still do not have a PT uniform, we were issued these silly looking blue shorts that are just plain ridiculous, so while we are at liberty to deviate somewhat we still have to wear blue shorts.
Well, what are they going to do, keep me in Afghanistan for another 8 months?
And another silly point, the Army people salute each other when in PT uniform. It is the strangest thing and one that takes getting used to as I have been saluted a few times, I first was caught off guard but later simply returned the salute. My question is this, how does the Army private in his Army issued PT gear know that the person approaching him from the other side is an Army general in his Army issued PT gear. Isn't he technically supposed to salute the higher ranking officer as he is in his PT gear?
Just plain silly I tell you!
And no, I refuse to wear our silly looking blue shorts!

my boss's last day

So the LTC I worked for since I arrived here is on his way back to the States. If you ever end up driving through Jackson, Mississippi, speed up and you might get stopped by a State trooper on a motorbike, and it just might be my now old boss. He was a riot to work for and will be missed, and I only hope the next LTC to come in a few weeks will be just as fun, but probably not.
handing out a "fake" certificate to our interpreter

handing out a real certificate to our interpreter

him and one of the better afghan officers, not the resemblance to Ron Jeremy