1st day off

mmmmmmk, blog time.  Figure now is appropriate.

Ok, where to begin.  should just post all the emails I've been sending to friends on here.  That would cover everything.  I'll just start at random.

So, I'm currently sitting in the green bean cafe here at Bagram Airfield watching a preview for a new bruce willis show called "Red".  Never heard of it.  Just like several of the movies that have come out in the last year.  It's hard to believe that I have been here doing this since May of 2010.  That's how much time of normal life this has taken.  It's been tough but I've had some great experiences and gotten to do some incredible things that few Air force can relate to.  Also, gotten to network with lots of people for future employment or career progression as well.  The deployment has been tough but great but I'm definately ready to get back to normal life.  This has been the first day off I've had in 7 months and it has been wonderful.  I took a nap today that was supposed to be an hour or so and turned into 3 1/2.  Guess it's been a while since I've had a full sleep.  My own doing though.  This is also the first time I've had personal internet since the alst time I came to Bagram a couple months ago. 

Jumping around a little here.  So, at Bagram Airfield(BAF), there are frequent mortar attacks.  Usually they hit the flightline though.  Well my luck has been that the last couple times I've been here, they have NOT hit the flightline and instaed have landed within a few hundred meters of where I was alking or sleeping. Last night, some friends and I were walking to the gym and wheeeeeew boom wheeeeeew boom.  Several rounds landed maybe 150-200 meters away and they were walking in closer and closer to where we were walking.  Immediately we were up and running for shelter.  We scrambled into a wooden building which is definately not the greatest protection but it was something.  the sirens started going off and we ran out to make our way to a concrete shelter.  running for life or limb is intense but not the greatest feeling.  I don't know how all the guys in the field who experience combat every day can deal with it mentally.  I hear explosions nearly daily at the FOB but they are rarely combat oriented and I still wake up at night sometimes heart throbbing whenever there's loud noises thinking we could be under attack.  I jump everytime a fighter jet engine powers down and makes that whistling noise.

Now, our FOB is really not all that dangerous as we bring to much money to the market just outside the gate and thus, there is speculation that the market owner pays off the Taliban.  Plus, the Americans don't do kinetic operations against the insurgents so they usually leave us alone.  The French marines that I work with however, do night raids and compound searches and clearing operations and the whole 9 yards so they get into it a lot.  We've had more than one fallen soldier ceremonies (in French) in the last 7 months.  Fortunately, none of my team members have been seriously injured.  We've had some close calls what with people stepping on IEDs and the convoy being shot at but we've been lucky.  The infantry guys hate it though.  They yearn for combat like they've been trained for but that's not what our team's here for and the French and route clearance packages clear out our areas before we go anywhere.  There is still a risk for suicide bombers and vehicle bombs though.  Things have heated up a whole lot here in the last month with the warm weather and we'll see what happens in the next 30 days with the death of the famed bin laden.

Just a quick side note on that topic, Everyone is asking if now that Bin Laden is dead, can we go home?  the answer is NO!  that's not what it's about.  He may be the reason that we have come here in the first place but that is not why there are thousands of international forces here  If only now we could take out Mullah Omar, the one-eyed iconic Taliban leader, and Anwar Al-Awaki, another high profile Al Qaeda leader.  If we don't stabilize this country first, and bring security, it's gonna fall right back into the hands of the Taliban again.  The American people want the troops to come home because they don't understand what is happening over here.  I could talk about this subject forever but perhaps in another blog.  Afghans do just want to be left alone but there is so much pressure from Iran and Pakistan to destabilize the country, it seems ours is a neverending mission.  We will never win soliditarity for Afghanistan without fixing the situation in Pakistan first.

Ah Pakistan, those so called "allies" who claim to assist us, and then play dumb when it is found to harbor multiple terrorist networks.  Hell, even in our own province, the main shadow governers(Taliban leaders running the insurgent network in the background) do all their commanding and orders from Pakistan.  Afghans go to Iran and Pakistan for work and insurgents go to Pakistan for shelter and relief from coalition force operations.  We have several of the m running and Talib leaders move several times even multiple times a night to avoid capture but all of that is for naught if we don't fix Pakistan.  That is a tangled web though as Pakistan has a strong military and nukes and thus cannot just be "invaded" as some have put it the same as Afghanistan.  Another thing, everyone is whining about the fact that the pictures are not being released, but why do people really need this?  Look what happened when the German magazine "Der Spiegel" released photos of American soldiers smiling next to bodies of dead innocent Afghans.  it turned many people against and created new insurgents.  Look what happened when the US media released a news story about Terry Jones, a "pastor" in Florida, burning copies of the Qua'ran.  10s and 10s of international forces were killed in multiple protests here in Afghanistan, most notably a riot on a UN compound by normal Afghan citizens in Mazir-e Sharif.  People were killed because of one idiot's craving for media attention.  Pure acts of arrogance and ignorance really get me worked up.  People don't realize how far their actions reach or don't care.  We couldn't go to ceratin areas of our province due to all the riots going on in protest of these actions and this just fuels the Anti-American propaganda of the Taliban.  And one more thing, I find it funny that people call on the White House to "justify" it's killing of bin Laden as opposed to capture.  This man has killed thousands and thousands of people and would not hesitate to do it again but people want him captured.  Then people would critique the way he was treated and the US would receive even more threats and bargain proposals.  lol I'm sitting here listening to Jay Carney at the white house saying that bind Laden will never walk this earth again.  Hoorah.

Anyways...calm down for a minute...so getting ready to head out to Costa Rica for weeks for some rest and relaxation.  Thank goodness.  I've been VERY disgruntled the last couple months.  All I ever heard was people counting down the days till they went on vacation and then thinking how it was so long before I could leave.  I got asked last way back when, when I wanted to take leave so may was the last choice.  May is a terrible time to take vacation anywhere for weather but it will work out as this is the only time of the year my sister can take time off of school for travel.  Imma fly her out for part of the trip.  I think we'll have a really good time and got hiking and canyoning,surfing, snorkeling, sailing, and other activites planned.  Just gotta brush up on my spanish skills now.  Been focusing so much on Japanese language studies lately, gotta kind of switch gears.

In the last month or so, I've gotten to do lots of really cool stuff that I probably shouldn't talk about in a blog but they've definately helped me get the ost out of the deployment.  I've also driven convoys on a couple missions.  how many aircraft maintainers can say they've done that?  I've also gotten to talk to people from all walks of government service about their jobs and where they've been and their experiences.  This is a tremendous help in deciding what I want to do with my future.  Just today even, I was able to meet and Airborne linguist which has long been my job of choice, and ask him several questions about his job.  I've almost met Air guard, army guard, government intel, ground linguists, army people galore, and several other assortments of military A type personalities whether they be American or French or whatever.  I've gotten to fulfill a lot of military desires with this deployment.  I frequently joke about how I made a bucket list in high school that was supposed to be accomplished over the course of 20 years or so and I have already knocked out probably 90% of it in the last 5 years.  Crazy.  If only military life didn't frustrate me so much and I could tolerate it a little more, the sky would be the limit.  I struggle with the decision to re-up every day.  I just don't like the miltiary structure and many other things about it.  It does let me do some pretty cool stuff though.  But if you are not happy in your daily life, is it really worth it?  the grass may not be greener on the other side, but I've never been on the other side, so  I don't know.  I've been in the workforce since high school graduation so I don't know what it's like to do what you want when you want where you want.

Good grief, I just noticed it's 23:00.  I don't have anything I have to do tomorrow but nonetheless.  Perhaps I'll add more to this in the next couple days as I don't have much to do anyway.  But that's the beauty of it.  Having nothing to do and no schedule to make and no appointments is WONDERFUL for a few days.  much much needed.  The more time I spend here waiting on my vacation, the less time I have to spend working at the FOB when I get back.  To hell with getting out of here early like some of my other team members did.  Imma enjoy as much time off as possible.  Gonna adopt the Costa Rican motto, Pura Vida!