De-mob orders

I received my re-deployment orders a couple of weeks ago. They have me leaving Kuwait right at my 350 day boots-on-ground date. However, I knew the dates in my orders weren't realistic because they are too ambitious about travel times. I finally received an email from NAVCENTFWD in Bagram. They gave me a schedule as soon as they received the dates for the Warrior Transition Program in Kuwait. Then they back up the schedule a few days for us to out-process in Bagram. Then I backup the schedule a couple more days according to the MRAP schedule from Eggers to Bagram.

With those factors considered, I'm either leaving Eggers shortly after Christmas, or New Years. I am TACOM to NTM-A at Eggers so I have to get a signed Letter of Release (LOR) from the Chief of Staff (CoS) before I can leave. Unfortunately, the CoS has a policy to automatically extend people if they don't overlap with their replacement for 10-days. According to the Navy, I don't have a replacement because they discontinued filling my billet - so they didn't factor in replacement turnover time. However, the Army is taking over filling my billet and no one knows what the status is of the MAJ who's supposed to replace me. So, the bottom line is that no one knows if the CoS will sign off on my LoR for the dates I requested or hold me longer. I'm waiting for my Director to return from travel so he can sign the paperwork and forward it over to the CoS. The other caveat is the the CoS typically holds on to LORs until the final day. Ensuring that we stay in a state of uncertainty about our departure date.

Thanksgiving was nice and quiet for me. The Today Show was over at the Goat DFAC filming live. Since I wanted to avoid that craziness I got dinner at the Marshal DFAC for the first time in ~8 months. The meal was alright. Nothing different than their normal menu but it was more festive.

Trining

I seem to spend most of my days at MOI now. Working on the Biometrics program. Nothing terribly exciting. I spend my time talking to afghans "having 3 cups of chai" and pushing them to move various parts of the program along. Afghans don't like to move as fast as the US military wants to. They probably move faster than the U.S. govt though.

This is in the main MOI building. The sign has been there forever. Gives you an idea of what I'm working against:




And I still run across the occasional cute stray dog looking for scraps of food and spare flea collars:

Dust Everywhere

I returned today from a trip to RC-West. I had a good time 'roughing it' on a remote FOB. I flew out there on a C-130 without any seats put up. So I had to sit on the floor. The cargo rollers kept cutting off the circulation to my legs. I can't tell you how glad I was when we finally landed. There were two blackhawks waiting at the airport to take us to the FOB. That was very cool - my first time in a blackhawk. Those things take off like a bat out of hell.

The fob didn't have a helo-pad so we landed in the farmland nearby. I think it was a dirt farm. Dust was kicked up everywhere. The sand was so fine in places it was like baby powder.

I spent 3-days (2 nights) there doing some work. The first night I slept in a small cinderblock building because the afghans I was escorting were a bit nervous. The second night I slept outside in an open tent. It was cool but they issued me a nice sleeping bag so I was plenty warm. It was very windy that night; a memorable experience.

I was told these domed buildings were chicken coops.



They had a small range there so I shot off a clip of my M9 and M16. The first time I've had the opportunity to shoot it on 3-round burst mode. I also shot a few clips from an AK-47. Including full auto mode.



There was this exceedingly cute dog roaming around camp. He looked very healthy too - not covered in mange and fleas like the dogs in Kabul. He woke me up barking while I slept outside last night. I wondered if he was barking at taliban sneaking over the wall. I decided to let him and the guards handle it then rolled over and went back to sleep.



I flew out this morning. Two blackhawks took us up to Herat. The flight along the mountains was beautiful. We took a nice twin engine beechcraft plane back to Kabul. Normal airline seats and I didn't have to wear my body armor. They even played a pre-recorded FAA required briefing asking us to make sure our tray tables and seats were upright for take-off and landing.

I just took my first shower in 3 days. I think I'll take another one in the morning.