Where in the world....

This month finds me in Warsaw Poland. I'm visiting as part of my job, and will have to spend 10 wonderful days here in Poland. I spent the afternoon of the first day wandering around the "old downtown" area of Warsaw. This town is full of history and beautiful old buildings. I walked through the Saski park and visited on the Polish Tomb of the unknowns before getting to the downtown district. And of course, you can't enjoy downtown life without a good Polish beer.

Christmas care packages from everywhere!

To all the family and friends who've sent stuff over the last few months.
Thank you, you have made the anticipation of mail and the holiday season fun. I never knew what to expect in the package as I opened it up. This is just one day's worth of mail I received: a Christmas tree from the wife, more sweet snacks than I can eat for the holidays, Dutch candy from god-children, Tabasco sauce from in-laws, books and puzzles from relatives who I haven't seen in years. Everything sent was awesome. I have shared some with roomates, the rest with the Army troops that are here that I work with every day. Thank y'all for the mail / presents / care packages. You have made this deployment very easy. Have a Merry Christmas and god bless you all.
Monty

SW US or E Afghanistan

Here are some more photos of Afghanistan between J-Bad and Kabul. If you have been to the desert SW of the US, you can see a strong resemblance between this river valley (Darya ye Kabul) and the Colorado river south of Hoover Dam. The picture labeled tent, if you look close in the center of the photo, you will see a white spot, that was a goat herder's tent on that ridge spine out in the middle of nowhere. The lake is just east of Kabul and has a large power production dam on the end of it ala Hoover Dam, although smaller.

Hootch living

All,
To those who have asked for what a hootch looks like on the outside here it is.....aaahhh trailer park living with all the trailers looking the same. My hootch is the one in the middle with the door on this side, the A/C & Heater unit and a fire extinguisher just to the left of the door, and a small patch of grass near the corner....still can't find it? It's real easy huh? OK front row, third from the right. The closest bathroom/sink/shower is the white trailer at the top of the picture. Our hootch has 6 guys in the near 3/4 of the building with one DV room in the back 1/4 of the building and a seperate door for the VIP. The only problem with these buildings is their lack of insulation (plywood on either side of a 2x4 frame i think) so when the lows get down to the 20s at night, the outside walls get a little chilly. All in all, better than living in a tent, so you won't hear me complain considering the guys outside of the wire live in whatever shelter they can find / make for the night.

Snow on the mountains

Here are the pictures promised of snow on the mountains. These particular ones are looking North from the base. The temps have been down into the 20s at night and up to about 50 during the day. Not horribly cold, unless you live in a tent or an uninsulated wooden building....but the heater is working hard for us!

Thanksgiving come and gone

Well,
Turkey day has come and gone here in Afghanistan. Lunch was awesome, although not served by any surprise guest servers of political persuasion. The meal included: Turkey, ham, crab legs, gumbo, steamship round, vegetables, mashed potatoes, yams, salad, shrimp cocktail and was topped of with a pile of deserts including pumpkin pie, apple pie, and my personal favorite...Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate chip ice cream. They even had sparkling fruit juice in bottles for us to drink!

Needless to say, after lunch most of us went into our triptophan (misspelled I'm sure) coma and didn't accomplish a whole lot (including my daily trip to the gym). But I did wind up just snacking my way through the rest of the day on cookies, nuts and other goodies sent to me and my hooch mates from home. Thanks for all the snacks.

The weather has moved in for the last two days, with rain and plummeting temperatures. Once the clouds clear I hope to grab some pix of the mountains covered in snow, so expect a posting early next week.

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving; enjoy the family and friendships.

Monty

Mountain village

Mountain village
Originally uploaded by Pandora and Bacchus.

This mountain village is in the river Darya-ye Konar valley between Jalalabad and Asadabad Afghanistan. The town reminded me of a small town in the Dolomite Mtns of northern Italy. Green terraced fields in a river wash down from the mountains.

Jalalabad

Jalalabad
Originally uploaded by Pandora and Bacchus.

Downtown Jalalabad Afghanistan. Jalalabad (J-Bad) is on the main valley and river between Kabul and Peshawar Pakistan. J-bad is in the river valley created by the river Darya-ye Kabul as it runs into Pakistan.

Selseleh-Ye Spin Ghar

Selseleh-Ye Spin Ghar
Originally uploaded by Pandora and Bacchus.

Afghanistan is an amazing country, and it reminds me of Arizona. There were high pine forests on the sides of mountains along the Pakistan border, wide river valleys that were ribbons of green surrounded by brown desert, and moonlike craterscapes. One of the rivers east of Bagram looks like the Colorado river south of Hoover Dam. Here are some photos from a flight from Khowst to Jalalabad. The first is in the Selseleh-Ye Spin Ghar mountain range. It reminds me of Northern Arizona.

WestofBAF

WestofBAF
Originally uploaded by Pandora and Bacchus.

Here is an aerial view of the mountains and land west of the base. This picture was taken on our trip to Kabul early last month. I always knew there was some green out there somewhere!

Mntnandhuts

Mntnandhuts
Originally uploaded by Pandora and Bacchus.

Here is the remains of an Afghani hut right on the edge of the base.

Qatar2

Qatar2
Originally uploaded by Pandora and Bacchus.

I spent last weekend at the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al-Udeid AB in Qatar. Here is a look at how flat and desolate central Qatar is. Take a look on GoogleEarth and see if you can find the airbase (hint look in the center of the peninsula for a large airbase) Tough huh?

Qatar3

Qatar3
Originally uploaded by Pandora and Bacchus.

For those of you who came to the wedding in West Texas and thought it was flat out there.....guess again. Central Qatar is very flat, dusty, hot....and HUMID.

Afghan Terrain

The photos above are from Northern Afghanistan between Mazar-e-Sharif and Bagram. One of the guys in the group was flying back from Uzbekistan and saw this canyons. He said it reminds him of a "mini Grand Canyon". I'm just glad I don't have to walk up and down those hills. So, the next time you hear about our troops out there hiking through Afghanistan, you can picture what they are facing.

I'll post more pictures as they become available.
Monty

Bagram or Bust!

Most of you know that Monty recently deployed to Bagram AB, Afghanistan. He was given 17 days notice for a four month long deployment over there. He should be back home in the middle of January. He is really excited to be over there and is working very long days. I have included some pictures of the hut that he lives in with 5 other guys. Cozy to say the least! I guess that the bathroom is several yards (40-50) from the hut. Not too bad now...just wait until winter! Yipes! Maybe Monty will get an opportunity to do some Blog posts from there. In the meantime, he has the camera and I will try to post anything interesting!

On a side note, I am now gainfully employed! I start work on Monday for the foundation at a local university. I am looking forward to it and it came at a really great time. I should be really comfortable there by the time Monty returns and working will make the Holidays go by a little faster.

That is all for now. I will try to get better at posting...but don't count on it!