30 Nov 09

a giant BOOM woke me up around 0400-0500 this morning … scared the shit outta me…all I know is it was some kind of weapon sent our way… it must have been pretty close to our camp because it was very loud and it even shook the cans I live in…as far as I know, no injuries, no damage…work today was just another day…worked on three different things–a generator…separated the engine/generator part from the trailer it was attached to…we are gonna turn in the trailer as junk, and send the generator/engine section to the big rebuild garage on the other side of the base…then we went over to the chow hall and got thier forklift (Bobcat) running … there seems to be an air leak in the fuel system so it sucks up air every once in a while and causes it to run really bad, or shut down all together…just gotta open the filter bleed port and pump the fuel line up, and she starts right back up, runs good as new…the third and final massive job we had was to re-install the plexiglass window in that old POS pickup truck the ammo guys use…the guy that runs the ammo section knocked the window out because we had some nice sunny days, but now that it’s cold and shitty out the other guy watned it back in…so, all that work added up to about 28 minutes of work today… and man, I am beat (note the sarcasm)…but, it’s all good… we spread it out so as not to complete everything all at once…gotta save something for after lunch and tomorrow, right? all the locals are back to work now.. they all said they had a great vacation and ate, drank, and were very merry…that’s about all for now… love you and miss you all
OOL
B

29 Nov 09

first off, I can’t believe it’s the end of November– and close to the end of 2009…tht is just crazy to me…time is flying by–not necessarily here in Afghanistan, but time in general…I remember this time 2007–I was out at the FOB here in Afghanistan…it’s hard to understand that was 2 years ago…seems like it was yesterday…anyhoo…life is the same ol stuff around here …it is getting colder by the day…there is ice on the ground, frost on windows, and now I can even see my breath in the middle of the day…today is my day off…just kinda sitting around doing nothing …I’ll clean up the room and maybe drop off some laundry but that’s about all…yesterday at work our entire mission for the day was to go out to the airfield and pick up a new forklift…that took about an hour of the day…we did take off early tho…the local workers are off for about 5-6 days due to Eid al-Adha–and it seems as tho yesterday I was writing this same thing in my blog….it’s the time of year when the Muslim world celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, showing his committment to Allah…so, with that, the truck drivers are also off and nothing is being shipped in or out…there aren’t any broke vehicles to fix either…things are kinda slow… perfectly fine with me…we show up at the barn around 0900, go upstairs to get some coffee, sit around trying to stay warm, and do some small things around the area–just for something to do…we do have agenerator that came in from a FOB..this thing is all kinds of messed up…we tried to get it running, but it keeps popping circuit breakers, the axle is bent, there was no battery, it has a pretty good oil leak, and it’s just in crappy condition…it’s 6 years old–which is about the life expectancy for that type of generator anyway…so Monday we have some work to do…we have to separate the trailer from the generator portion…the trailer will go to the junk yard and the generator/engine part will go to a major rebuild section over on the other side of the airfield…another all afternoon trip…so, tomorrow might actually be a full day of activity…well, I guess that’s about it for now… love you and miss you all…talk to you soon
OOL
B

26 Nov 09

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE– I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU….so, yes, I did have to work today…but it wasn’t too bad… changed out a starter and repaired the low plug system on the chow hall’s trash truck…this thing is NASTY…they haul all the chow hall trash to the dumpster…all rotting, leftover, stank food stuff…we had to steal a push button switch from a generator…I wired it up and mounted it in the lighter hole by the ashtray–this truck is a 1988 model truck so it still actually has a a real ashtray and old school lighter…well, the lighter is gone now…anyhoo…that was work for the day, then we got off work around 1400 hrs…as for dinner, I heard all about the preparation they were doing at the chow hall over on the other camp, so I decided that’s where I was going to eat…and they had it all…ice sculptures, display cakes in the shapes and colors of the unit badges/patches, a cornucopia made of a wire frame wrapped in dough and painted with Worcesterchire sauce–for proper coloring, and they had all the traditional foods–ham, turkey, roast beef, mac n cheese, candied yams, smashed taters–which I was told were 250 lbs of real peeled, cut, boiled, smashed by hand taters…and all kinds of other food…it was a pretty nice spread…plus there were lots of cakes and pies and desserts…I loaded my tray up with everything that would fit, then had two different kinds of cake…it was great …still not as good as spending the holidays with family, but as good as it could be in a war zone…after dinner I just sat around feeling fat and lazy…it was nice…again, hope you all had a great turkey day and hopefully I’ll be with family next year to give thanks…love you and miss you all
OOL
B

our awesome shop truck

25 Nov 09

so kinda lied– the sun actually came out today .. it was a nice sunny day–still cold as hell, but at least it was sunny…after breakfast and shower and getting to work, cup of coffee, it was time to work…we loaded up a Toyota pick up truck that came from one of the FOBs…this thing was completely wrecked… looked like it rolled down a hill or something…there was a large hole thru the shattered windshield–the giant rock was on the floor in the cab…we forklifted it up on the back of a big cargo truck and cruised over to our other camp…well, when we got to the yard where it was going the gate was locked and nobody around… so we stepped out, had a smoke and waited…finally someone showed up to open the gate… I drove in and someone else arrived with a forklift and unloaded the mangle mess that used to be a truck…we hopped back in the cargo truck and headed to our camp…this whole story took about a minute to write–the actual mission took about two hours to complete…so, that blew our whole morning–it was lunch time…lunch was lunch.. same ol same ol…after lunch the mission was to deliver a large refrigeration unit to the container yard on the other side of the base…again, the story will be about a minute long, but it was two hours of loading, driving, talking, unloading, and driving back…as I walked into the barn yard, Joe and one of the barn guys were already loading the refer unit on the truck…we strapped it down and headed out…back on the main drag of BAF and into the lunch time rush hour traffic…it still blows my mind how bad the traffic is here…it’s like some major city at 5pm…anyhoo, the drive took us about 30-40 minutes, and I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going…but, we found it…pretty much on the exact opposite side of the flightline from our camp…so I pulled in and looked for the office to make sure we were in the right place…well, after some explanation, a couple phone calls, and checking serial numbers, the guy in that yard told us where to go and who to talk to…we had to maneuver around large stacks of connexes, and a chaotic dance of forklifts moving, stacking, loading, unloading all kinds of pallets, boxes, parts, supplies, and whatever else there is to move around…this yard is huge and it is filled with hundreds of containers–like the one I live in…the big 20 ft and 40 ft shipping containers…I drove around as per our directions and found the man–Shaban (sp), and he directed me to follow a forklift to the download area…finally we were in the right spot…we unstrapped and let the forklift operator do his thing…after the truck was empty we headed back out …driving around the perimeter of the base we can see all the mountains–all the snow-covered mountains…the base is surrounded by high mountains all the way around…all of them are covered with snow now…we kinda took the long way back–well, I guess we were pretty much in the middle so either way would have been about the same…again, we got back to the camp and it was about time to call it a day…doesn’t sound like much work, but around here it takes forever to do anything…so that was my work day…after work I studied a little and pretty much just sat around doing nothing…anyhoo, that’s about all for now… love you and miss you all
OOL
B

22 Nov 09

this morning I woke up to another call from the chief…this time it was to tell me that we needed to get some humm-vees cleaned up and prepped to take part in a “Fallen Comrade” ceremony…for those who have joined me recently, this is what we do when we have some KIA and they transport the remains to the airfield…I don’t know the circumstances regarding this death, but it was someone from our unit…the vehicles carry the caskets, draped in the US flag, and make their way from one end of the main street thru the base to the main entrance point on the flight line to be loaded on the aircraft headed to the US…when this happens most personnel on the base line the sides of the street and render proper respect–i.e. standing at attention and snapping a salute as the vehicle passes, acknowledging the ultimate sacrifice this service member has made for our country…so, we headed over to the shop and picked up two vehicles–one with the casket and another for escort–both of which armed with gunners and weapons…we washed them meticulously, and cleaned the inside as if we were working at a detailing shop…we wiped down the tires and removed some of the accessories from the interior to ensure room for the casket and escort personnel…it was a very somber honor…prepping the trucks might seem like something trivial, but anything having to do with the transport of a fallen brother/sister is something I take very seriously…that took us all morning and afte lunch we topped off the fuel in the vehicles…while working under the overhang of the other shop, I ran in to the tattoo guy…he said he hadn’t been checking his email, so he didn’t know I sent him some of the ideas I want to work with…he assured me he would check them out and get back to me…of course, the internet was down all day yesterday and came back up sometime this morning…as with any other time we lose a war fighter, we had a commo blackout…this is to give the military time to contact the next of kin before rumors and stories start flying around the hometowns of all of us deployed people…it doesn’t really stop anything because the info is on the news 3 hours after it happens…as mom knows, no news is good news…if the military isn’t knocking on her door I must be safe and sound…also, I am going to be heading out to a couple different FOBs here in the near future… going out for a status check on the generators and vehicles at a couple places…some of hte FOBs have actual mechanics, but others only have a local with some mechanical knowledge, butno expertise on the specific equipment…me and Joe–the generator guy–have to go out and see what’s what…it’ll be cool to go out and see different things, but I really want to start my tattooing sessions..I got A LOT of stuff I want done…they will be short trips tho, so I’m not all that worried about it…by the way, the weather sucks…it’s dreary, rainy, cold, and just overall shitty…I am pretty sure I ahve seen the last of the sun for a couple months…good thing I got all this cold weather Army gear…well, that’s about all for now… love you and miss you all
OOL
B

22 Nov 09

around 12–noon I was wakened by the sound of my phone ringing… normally I wouldn’t even care, but for some reason I picked it up to see who was calling…it was Chief…dammit man, some work must need to be done…so I answer and sure enough he wants me to find Joe so we can go fill up the the fuel tank on a wrecker…this is a big ass 8 wheeled tow truck–specifically designed for the military to haul big, heavy military equipment…I couldn’t find Joe so I started up the truck to head over there–thinking I might need jumper cables or something…this wrecker hasn’t been started in a while…it’s supposed to go out to a FOB somewhere, but nobody wants it, or has scheduled shipment or whatever…anyhoo, as I get in my truck chief calls back–Joe’s at the wrecker with chief…so I cruise over there and we look over the truck–the fuel tank is eemmmppttyyyyy….almost nothing but fumes…chief explains that a security patrol outside the base perimeter has been stuck in the mud, or a ditch, or something, and the big base main Army element is going out to try to recover these trucks, but they may need our truck too…so, I was waiting for this thing to build up air pressure so we could drive to the fuel pumps…well, it was taking forever…while waiting I checked out some of the other operations of the truck…then we noticed there were locks on all the compartments–where the tow controls and attachments would be stowed…also, a lock on the steering column…all these trucks are “combat start”–that means they just have a basic switch to start the engines…so the only way to lock them is put a chain around the steering wheel and lock it to something immobile in the cab…kinda like “the club” for civilian cars…well, there is always a “master key” for any kind of lock…you know them as bolt cutters…nobody knew where the real keys were to this stuff so we busted out the bolt cutters and were good ot go..well, not exactly…the air still wasn’t building up in this thing…so I messed with the brake pedal, the parking brake knobs, and the throttle pedal–all of which are operated by air…something happened–not sure what, as I was playing with all of them at the same time… finally the air started to build up properly…this was about 30 minutes later…so, the low air buzzer stopped piercing my eardrum and we headed out…well, as soon as we got to the gate of our camp the traffic on the main road came to a complete stop…nothing coming or going… there was a jingle truck dead in the middle of the road blocking both lanes of traffic…some of the smaller trucks made u-turns and took side roads…well, I wasn’t going anywhere with this giant monster tow truck I was driving..so, I put her in park and set the parking brake…we sat for about 30-40 minutes before anything started moving…if I could have gotten up there I would have towed that damn jingle truck out of the way…anyhoo, we got to the fuel pumps and started taking on fuel…it took a while…the tank took 96 gallons and was still only 3/4 full… I told the dude to stop pumping because that would be enough for us…then back the other way on the main road…more freakin traffic…it’s amazing how much traffic is on this base…there must be at least one vehicle for ever single person here…so it took us another 25 minutes just to get back to the camp–this little excursion of “getting gas” took us about an hour and a half to accomplish..and the fuel pumps are only about half a mile away…freakin ridiculous…so we got back on camp and the chief asked if we wanted to go out for this recovery operation.. I asked where it was exactly..he said outside the wire about 10-15 minutes out…and there were two trucks stuck in either mud holes or ditches…this means, full battle rattle, weapons, full combat load of ammo-7 magazines, muddy boots, maybe muddy pants, dirty shitty work hooking up the tow attachments to the tow truck and the stuck trucks, and freezing my ass off for a few hours minimum…I knew this operation was gonna last way past sunset—so I decline his generous offer… it would have been something different and something to break the monotony, but I’ll pass–thanks anyway…Joe decided he wanted to go.. I don’t even know if he’s back yet–it’s 9pm here…chief told Joe to make sure to get something to eat first…so we headed over to the BBQ…they decided to do the BBQ at lunch time today since it’s getting dark a lot earlier and a lot colder around dinner time…today they had a live band playing too–but we didn’t get to see them because we were stuck in traffic getting fuel…the band was packing up all their stuff as we rolled up…but, we did get some good steak and chili/beans–they call it beans, but it’s more like chili to me…so, I had that, and hung out talkign with some people…I met a girl that was talking about her band…she is in a “woodwind quartet”… she plays flute…she says they play for ceremonies and small services, the church, and may be doing some “carolling” around the holidays…it was a funny conversation… I was asking if they played any hard rock like Metallica or some hardcore gangsta rap–just trying to be funny, but she was serious the entire time explaining that they do Disney songs, typical classical music, xmas carol type things…we obviously had different senses of humor…then she actually asked I wanted her number or info to book any kind of show with them…I politely explained that I wouldn’t be holding any official ceremonies or xmas carol auditions any time soon, but thanks anyway…after my belly was full, and my brain was perplexed, I headed over to the chief’s office area to see if the guys headed out yet…I could see by the absence of the wrecker that they had gone out…but, I was happy to see that I got a package…it was some electric hair clippers to shave my noggin…so I came back to the room, shaved my head–these clippers rock…they chave down to the skin–almost like straight razor close…after the dome was shiny I swept up, and cleaned my room…wanted to do laundry, but the washers and dryers are all being replaced and the laundry room is shut down till tomorrow…oh well, good thing I brought plenty of drawers, socks, and t-shirts…so, I just took a shower and called it a day…I went to warm up some of the wings I had left and blew the fuse in the transformer…good thing my computer runs off the house power 220 volts…ok, well, that was my exciting weekend and day off…I’ll write more later… love you all
OOL
B

21 Nov 09

today actually consisted of some work…well, doing something, not actual wrench turning work…anyhoo…got up this morning early enough to hit the treadmill for my 2 mile run..it sucked…for some reason it never gets any easier…I can build up on push-ups, sit-ups, weights, and pretty much any type of exercise…but running always sucks and I never get used to it…oh well, I guess that’s just the way it goes…anyhoo, after the gym I had some breakfast, and on the way out I saw the infamous piece of shit truck that the chow hall uses to take the trash to the dumpster…this truck is a 1988 model old school military spec diesel pick up truck…beat up, spray painted different colors, the seat is only half there–there is a piece square foam sitting on top of what is a seat frame, and this thing just needs to be sent to the dump…well, just about every morning Jen calls me to come start this thing…a couple days ago I got the call and headed over to check it out…usually it cranks and cranks and finally starts for me, with a giant cloud of black smoke and some squealing from the belts…but this time it just clicked…click click…that was it…the starter was fried…too much abuse trying to start the thing…so, I got a starter from some of the other guys on the camp and gave out parts guy the stock number to order one…that’s kinda how it works around here…networking, and scratching each others’ backs…kinda why I am helping out the chow hall people…I get a case of protein shakes, a box of granola bars, tonight I got some hotwings from the other camp’s chow hall…sorry, back to the day’s events…so I planned to try to work on the chow hall truck, but this morning at work, after coffee and BSing for 30-45 minutes we started moving parts and tires and whatever around so they could place 3 more connexes out by our barn…that burned up about an hour…then I went to lunch…as I head to lunch I usually stop by the chief’s office to see if I got any mail…they just bring it to the main office and lay it all out on the table…well, today I got a small package…a dvd series.. Sons of Anarchy…I heard a little about it, and read some stuff on line…well, I watched the first episode at lunch today — I’m hooked… it’s and awesome show…after lunch I headed back over to the barn and we sat there for a couple hours doing nothing …the other guys at the barn went out to the gate to escortsix jingle trucks in to drop off and pick up supplies/parts, etc…well, they didn’t show up until around 1530…so we ended up working late again … not that it really matters much–there isn’t really anything else to do around here other than work…the point is this…how bout we get trucks in around 1000 hrs and get done at 1430 ?? that would make too much sense…so we unloaded some ATVs and some old refrigerators and a piece of crap exercise machine…it sounds stupid, but I guess it’s better than just dumping the stuff out in the middle of Afghanistan…so we are the junkyard…I did get to cruise around on the ATVs a little bit tho…that felt good…man, I miss Black Betty…we took them over to the wash rack and cleaned them up so the ATV shop can work on them and get them back out to the FOBs…that held up over till about 1700 and we were done for the day…I came back to my room and started watching some more of the SoA…and, as I said before, I got some hotwings from a friend at the other chow hall…I went over to our chow hall and met some people over ther for dinner … those wings and some candied yams made an awesome dinner… I even brought some back to the room to eat later tonight…it’s my “weekend” night so I get to stay up later partying like a rock star…really, just sitting here watching movies and playing on the internet…also, got some news about the fuel truck escort that was going on…no fuel truck drivers will go down that route…I guess there was some coersion to get them started in the right direction, but once the drivers got to a certain area they all stopped…there were burned/blown up trucks along the sides of the road…the drivers stopped and said they weren’t doing it…I guess there is limit to what money can buy…I have a feeling that there might be some people out there willing to do the job for that money, but they ain’t working around here…they would probably have ot pay me a lot more too– but I guess if Uncle Sam says go down that road, I’ll go down that road…don’t worry Ma, they’re not asking me to go that way…ok, well, that’s about it for now…love and miss you all…talk to you later
OOL
B

19 Nov 09

this morning I saw chief in the latrine and he assured me that we would be picking up generators today…anyho, it was just another day of sitting around and not doing much at the barn…found out one of the Army guys is going home early…having family problems…that sucks–he won’t be back either…they aren’t supposed to leave until Jan, but I guess this is something big…not really sure what the deal is–I try not to get into other people’s business…anyhoo, one less person at the barn means others have to take up the slack…not that it really affects me in anyway…I just fix trucks nad push parts/supplies out to the other mechanics out at the FOBs…that’s just the new talk of the guys at work..thought I’d share…so as usual I go upstairs, get a cup of coffee, smoke a few cigarettes and wait for lunch…pretty much the same as every other day .. altho, no v-ball today.. theguy hit it over some connexes yesterday and now they can’t find it…so instead they just sit outside on whatever chairs they can find and soak up the sun…it’s starting to get really cold..ice on windows cold…I’m even gonna have to bust out my long johns soon…as I was finishing up lunch around 1300 I got a call from chief…he said the paperwork for the generators was being accomplished and we would get a call about 1330 to go pick them up…now this might now sound like a big deal, but we have to drive a big forklift and a big truck over to the other side of the base–which is a pain in the ass in itself…the speed limit on the entire base is 15mph and there are crosswalks every 20 feet…it’s crazy…there are about 234245 vehicles on this base and it seems like everyone in the world is driving here at all times…so, just going over to the generator yard takes forever, and then we have to load up 10 large generators, bring them back, download…well, some guy that has something to do with the generators shows up around 1430 and says, let’s roll…well, last time some people went out there they had the area closed for de-mining… yes, finding land mines and clearing them out…this is on base, near the flightline, in the middle of work areas…so, someone decided that we should do a recon run to make sure the road was open…that alone took 30 minutes…when we got there the de-mining team was just finishing up for the day…I can’t believe we have been here this long and there are still fields of mines on the freakin base…so we turn around, roll back to camp, and get the big trucks and forklift…around 1530 we start loading … the guy driving the forklift sucks…obviously not his primary job…so that took forever… we got one truck loaded and I took off back to camp to start downloading here…the Air Force generator guy I work with–Joe–came rolling up with the other truck, but not all the generators…my truck was empty so I started downloading his truck and told him to take my truck back to the yard…after all was said and done it was about 1800 hrs … the first day I have worked overtime here and all because somebody couldn’t get paperwork done…ridiculous…but, I guess that’s how things go around here… just wait to be on standby to be ready to wait some more…so, I am tired, and I think it’s time to hit the showers and lay in bed watching movies… love you all, miss you all, talk to you soon
OOL
B

18 Nov 09

today was another boring day — skipped the gym this morning — wasn’t really all that excited about running…stopped by the chief’s office and got word that we were to pick up some generators this afternoon…he would call me when they were ready to be picked up…so, again, we sat around doing nothing, played a little volleyball, and then the locals jumped in a truck…when they returned they had a big grill in the truck with them…they said they were grilling some sheep for lunch…as it turns out, I grilled the sheep…that was first for me …I guess it’s like grilling any other meat, so I gave it a shot…apparently they don’t have “cuts” of sheep meat around here…this was just a plastic bag full of meat chunks…some with bone, some without, some with fat, some lean, big round pieces, thinly sliced bits, and there was even a little hair left on some of it…it’s like they just chopped and hacked anything and everything until they had 2 kg of stuff…there was a bit of difficulty grilling this stuff…first, the grill was set up so the coals are about 3 inches under the meat–not good, unless you want a rare filet…I did my best, but some was burnt, some was bloody, abd it was all seared pretty good…whatever, it was food and it filled the belly…the local guys also made some rice and had big pieces of “nan” (bread)…it was a pretty good lunch…after I ate I went back to the room and took about an hour nap…the rest of the day came and went and still no phone call about the generators … I talked with the chief and he said we would handle it tomorrow …so, more to follow…love you and miss you all
OOL
B

16 Nov 09

today I got up early and hit the gym for some running –trying to get used to the running thing … I have always hated that part of our PT tests…so, almost every morning I get up and go run 2 miles so I can be prepared when I get back to Italy –I know I am going to have to test as soon as I get back…so, that was loads o fun (note the sarcasm) and then I hit breakfast …the chow hall is usually pretty good for breakfast, but lately they haven’t had eggs– well, they have the military style frozen egg stuff that is used to make scrambled eggs or omolettes, but no fresh eggs in the shell…they can’t get trucks in the gate … these trucks sit outside the gate waiting their turn to come on base …I guess there has been a change in procdure, or change in personnel, or whatever…the point is, we can’t even get fresh eggs…there was one truck that sat out there for a few days and everything in it had to be thrown away…just another side of the war that nobody sees…anyhoo, had breakfast, showered and headed to work…well, to the barn… did absolutely no work –we sat around all day doing nothing again …Jimmy, the guy I work for, has been out on the road …they were tasked to escort some fuel trucks…the trucks were costing about $10K each–that worked out to about $400.00 per gallon for JP8–this is what we use for diesel fuel…it’s basically the same thing, but they can use it in aircraft as well…the drivers even stopped taking that much money because every truck had been either blown up or seized by bad guys and the drivers have been beheaded…so, the only way to get fuel thru these areas–armed military escort…freakin crazy…obviously the bad shit has not slowed down here at all since I left…where was I going–Jimmy’s not here, so I stop in the Chief’s office in the mornings and ask what we got goin on… nothing today–he will call if something comes up…so, with no work going on, I went over to the Air Force side to sign out a weapon…they wouldn’t give me one without the proper paperwork…a qualification sheet that says I qualified on the firing range…well, that kinda threw me for a loop… why the hell would I be here if I didn’t qualify… any base I have been to won’t let you deploy unless you qualify…but I guess there are people around here that can’t hit the side of a barn from 10 feet, so they have to check everyone…I rolled over to the other camp while I was out and talked to the tattoo guy…he said he is booked for about a week and will let me know when he can fit me in…hopefully soon…after lunch I went back, with the proper certification, and got my weapon…M16A2…about 1500 hrs we called it a day…after work I hit the gym for some weight lifting …might as well take advantage of the lack of business…that’s about all for the day …after that I came back to the room, sat around watching tv shows and whatnot while playing on the internet…I guess that’s about all for now .. love you and miss you all
OOL
B

by the way–this is how we spend about an hour of each day —bouncing a volleball around with the local workers