Anniversary

Lebette and I celebrated our anniversary by visiting the birthplace of our nation...Philadelphia Penn. We decided to make an adventure of it and took an Amtrak train up there from our local train station. How cool was that....no lines, not having to remove my shoes & belt for security, $20 bucks to upgrade to business class, no seatbelts, plenty of room to roam, and wine and food from the minute we left until we pulled into Philly...very fun. We are already planning our Boston run.

We spent three days wandering around the town enjoying the sites, eating wonderful food (yes, even a cheese steak or two), and celebrating my bride not knocking me off after all these years. We both feel great that we are better Americans for visiting Independence Hall, seeing the Liberty Bell and seeing the very chair George Washington sat in over 300 years ago!
The weather cooperated nicely and was wonderful the whole time we were in Philly.

Here are a few pictures of the Hall, Ole Glory flying outside, and the Liberty Bell.

RIAT & Farnborough Airshow

After my trips to Berlin and London this spring, I quickly returned 4 weeks later to attend the Royal International Air Tattoo (www.airtattoo.com) and Farnborough Airshow (www.farnborough.com) in the UK. In my international affairs job, I had the opportunity to attend senior USAF leadership meetings with the leaders of 17 other Air Forces around the world. Oh, and by the way, I got to watch a lot of flying demos, drink champagne, and sweat in the 104 degree heat in my suit. (One of their hottest summers on record I'm told). The pictures are of the RAF Red Arrow show at RIAT, the cockpit of the Airbus 380, and a booth (chalet) at the Farnborough air show where corporations rent out spaces to hold meetings and working lunches.

I went straight from the Berlin Air Show to London England for a conference for 4 days. I won't complain since the weather held out wonderfully in London!

Here is Hyde park in the spring, along with a good ole' pub to down a few pints!

Well,


It has been an interesting spring. First I went to Warsaw (see the last blog) and was home for a few weeks before going to the Berlin Airshow in May!! Here is a picture of one of the cathedrals in downtown Berlin....




and the Airbus going through its demo flight. The weather was rainy and overcast most of the days we were there, but the show put on by the big aircraft was impressive. I wouldn't want to be on the Airbus during this demo flight.

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.