Day Off

I went to Kandahar Air Field (KAF) today. Two new guys flew in yesterday and needed to retrieve their passports, I needed to get some paperwork notarized, and another guy wanted to go bird watching at a pond on the base.

My PSD and I probably spent an hour just trying to find the JAG office. Once we did, a short wait was all it took. We ended up in the main drag where all the shops and food shops are. I picked up a few needed things from the American PX, and got a sandwich at KFC on the boardwalk.

Several franchises have opened up restaurants in this little “town square”. This American capitalism may have caused political problems in the past, but I have to admit that it sure is nice to have a little Americana, and forget were I am for a little wile. After lunch and about a 30 minute wait for our PSD, it was back in the body armor and hardcar to our compound.

When I got back to my “apartment”, I turned on CNN just in time to see Kate and Harry get hitched.

Playing Blog Catch-up

The problem with being a bad blogger is having to catch up, and try to capture any memories before they fade from my mind.

I work in one compound and live in another. The only way between the compounds is about a 5 minute drive by hardcar. Our private security detail's policy (PSC) requires us to dawn body armor between the two locations. If there’s an upside to trudging around in the heavy armor, I’m getting some exercise.

On paper, my job states that I will be managing and mentoring/teaching a group of about 10 Afghan technical designers. So far, only one designer has been hired and is working with us. I welcome this because it allows me to spend a lot of time getting him trained and get some standards set up. This trainee can then be a go-to guy for the others when they come on board. I’m all about delegation.

The projects on the slate are not overly complex. They are all municipal improvement projects (parking lots, public latrines and solid waste disposal infrastructure). My biggest challenge is getting adequate field information. Right now I solely rely on locals taking photographs of a site, and then trying to reconstruct something from that. What I really want are trained surveyors, but as my supervisor has said several times in his thick Scottish broughe and with a cheeky smile, “This is Afghanistan.” Which basically means we have to make do with what we can get. Coming from the States I expected lower building and engineering standards, but what I didn’t expect was practically no standards. I suppose this is why I’m here.

I’m also doing my best to navigate the cultural politics. Afghanistan has few engineers, some with extensive building experience, but their methods are vastly different from the west. They have practical experience, with little or no academic training. In the west there is great emphasis on building safe, efficient, and economically sound projects. Here, it's all about making do with what you can find.

A dust storm blew in. The air has been filled with a fog of dust which gets all over everything. It clings to the skin and seems to wick the moisture from it.

Tomorrow is Mujahideen Victory Day, an the Afghan holiday.

Getting Settled In

Sleep is a luxury for me. Last night I FINALLY got 7 hours uninterrupted sleep. Before that, I haven’t had a solid four hours. I contribute the factors to jetlag, change in food and atmosphere, and the fact that my stomach was twisted up in knots from stress.

I fully expected about a 5 or 6 day adjustment period. When I previously went to Iraq for the first time, I was shocked for the first time when I finally got a moment to myself in my newly assigned living quarters. I nearly broke down, wondering what in the world I was doing.. leaving my family, friends and comforts to go work in a foreign land that I grossly misunderstood.

I was fully expecting a similar episode, and pretty much went through the same thing when I got my bunk, and a quiet moment to myself. I was comforted with the knowledge that I would be over that feeling in a few days, and my emotional state would '”normalize”, which it has.

Upon leaving Dubai, I was lucky enough to meet a really interesting State Department employee, who works on KAF (Kandahar Air Field). He is an IT guy so we hit it off with the geek talk. Our conversation helped pass the time in the airport terminal.

The flight out of Dubai seemed to take forever. The Afghan terrain, viewed from the air, is pretty barren looking. Large swathes of flat desert cluttered with mountain ranges. I imagine it looking a lot like how Mars would look, but less red.

After landing and getting off the plane, I was hit with a flashback-like recollection of Iraq. The smell of the airborne dust, burning trash, diesel, and the obvious but faint smell of wastewater was overwhelming.

I was relieved to be greeted by our company’s operations officer at the KAF arrival terminal. The Ops guy was there to pick up me, and another aid worker. He helped us through the KAF badging process, which for me didn’t exactly go smoothly. Apparently, there is a guy in North Carolina with nearly the same name as me with a criminal record. I was eventually able to convince the badging officer that I was not 7’-6”, 270lbs, and deceased. Eventually, we were loaded up into armored SUVs (hard cars), dawned with body armor, and whisked away to our living compound.

I’m quite satisfied with my living accommodations. It’s pretty Spartan in some cases, but livable. My total living area is around 200 square feet. One room with a desk, bed, dormitory refrigerator, and armoire. I also have satellite TV, and a fair internet connection. I’d have to say the TV is nice in that it gives a little ambiance of home to my evenings. Almost all the 300+ channels are non-english, but I’ve found a few I can watch.

On my Way

It’s 1:30am local Dubai time. My body is rested, but my mind is still wandering it’s way out of a thick fog of jet-lagged sleep deprivation, mental stress, and Ambien induced effects. I do my best to reserve the use of sleep medication (Ambien) to a minimal. In this case, it’s use allows me to arrive at my new work assignment alert and rested, and not a total zombie. Unfortunately when it comes to jet-lag, even sleep aids have a limit to their effectiveness. I tried to use the sleeping aids to stretch the jet-lag out somewhere near my new sleep cycle, but there is still a 4 hour “gap”. This is why I am up bright eyed and bushytailed at 1:30am. I suppose it will just have to be a long day.

I left Dallas around 5:00pm. This afternoon flight turned out to be a good thing, as it gave me some time with my family before I left. It was hard on me to leave. I still feel surreal about it. I woke up a few times last night expecting my alarm to go off, and my “Dallas morning auto-pilot routine” to kick in. Then I would realize I was 7000 miles from that. Reality then sinks in and I am hot with the heavy realization of how different my life now is.

I had a one hour layover in Washington D.C.. At my departure gate were numerous security contractors. There is a somewhat stereotypical look and posture to these guys. Almost all were carrying desert tan or coyote brown military style ruck sacks, wearing desert boots and kaki cargo pants, and had a dismal but serious expression on their faces. I can relate to the dismal look on their face, I was wearing it too.

After boarding the 777 jet headed for Dubai, I immediately introduced myself to the gentleman I would be sitting next to for the next 13 hours. He was friendly, and (like me) also had a final destination of Kandahar. He was more than happy to give me a run-down of the airbase, and what to expect.

The flight went smoothly. After processing through passport control, and collecting my baggage, a hotel car collected me and brought me to my room. I was impressed with the accommodations as it is a 5 star resort. Unfortunately, I’ll only be staying here for one night.