Driving Around

In my broad and deep two-week experience downrange, I have had some opportunity to see a majority of KAF. There's plenty yet for me to see, but here are some highlights from driving around the base and taking pictures of standard things one might expect to see here.

First thing you see when driving around is the steering wheel. Here it is:

Anything strike you as odd?

The steering wheel is on the right!

Proof - except I easily could've shown the mirror image of this photo. You know what? You'll just have to trust me.

Getting used to driving on the right side of the car was an ordeal. It's all a matter of overpowering the desire for your head to be 43% of the road distance from the right side the road and instead having your head located at around 10% of the road distance from the right side of the road - because we still drive forward on the right here. Was that confusing to read? Because it was confusing to write. When I get back to the states people might want to avoid driving with me for a while because I'll be going through a similar acclimation period - also I'll be windshield wiping instead of turn-signaling.

Our next-door neighbors.

So next door there's a sort of headquarters, but it's not the main headquarters at KAF - I haven't quite figured out what goes on over there, but it's apparently the wing of the Army that we fall under in the overarching hierarchy that is this little world.

Here's what you're definitely most likely to see when driving around here:

Barbed wire, generator flood-lights, and fence.

Another thing you're very likely to see: 

What's your sign? "Speed limit is walking speed"? You must be trustworthy.

Signs are everywhere here. Oh look! here comes another one!

For those who can't convert 20 km/h is like 12 mph.

So we have to go very very slow around here. And for good reason! You don't want to get in an accident with this:

MRAP

So this is what an mrap looks like up close. There isn't really anything in this picture to compare it to for scale, but imagine an average sized person standing next to the front wheel right there. Their head would be at about the top of the wheel casing above the wheel - these things are massive, and there are all sorts of them driving around here in addition to a myriad other large and useful vehicles.

Spoiler alert: I'm going to be collecting pictures of the different international compound entrances and posting about them because I think they are pretty cool looking, but here's what one of them looks like.

The Slovaks compound.

And there you have it, a little summary of what driving around KAF is like. Invariably we end up back at the Ed. Center:

Work, sweet work.

One Week Contract-versary

Today marks the end of my first week downrange. So far things have been pretty manageable. Quick shout-out to Captain Dr. Warren Gross (more on him later), and Sarah Kemp for helping me to adjust to life here. Sarah deserves a plug here on my blog for hers: A Blogworthy Life

I found her blog through a bit of stupendous facebook stalkery. By searching people's names in google that I found in pictures posted on the USO Kandahar facebook page I stumbled upon her blog and it's really helped me prepare for life here and adjust to it. Her blog is more weighty and deals with more serious issues and is better than mine... so far... just thought people should know that going in. Also, she doesn't know it yet, but I plan on stealing some of her pictures to illustrate some things here - I think she can get away with taking pictures of cooler things than I can considering she works with the USO and is a girl.

Anyway, I've gotten into sort of a rhythm here of work, eat, sleep, and exercise. I've neglected working out since I last wrote about working out in Germany, I didn't go again. So now I went nearly a month without running (and I'm used to going every day). So far I've gone only to the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) gym which means it's the American gym. Generally it's considered dirtier than the NATO one where you need to bring a pair of non-dusty shoes with you if you want to even get in.

Didn't take this picture - I work out alll the way on the left on those cardio machines.

Maybe later on down the road I'll get more into weight training. Some people have been suggesting I get really buff because that is the more common work-out style here...  In general I've been adjusting to life in the desert and to one surrounded by a multitude of extremely large vehicles meant for war and for lifting/digging/carrying.

Don't even take sides against the family.

I've been slowly working my way through Curb Your Enthusiasm. I've watched many of the episodes in the past but by no means all of them, it's really hilarious. I'm almost finished with Season 6 right now. The number of guest stars is crazy! If anyone has a suggestion regarding what my next show/movie endeavor should be don't hesitate to suggest.

Military Mindset

Right, so now I'm back in Mannheim. Back to the good ol' Weber hotel (pronounced veber). Today I had my first actual day of training and I understood hardly a word of it. Likely because I didn't go through the regular orientation like everyone else did. I'm supposed to do that another day. 

Let me fill you in on some of the cool things we did at Grafenwoehr, where I got my TSIRT (Theater Specific Individual Readiness Training) Certification so I can go downrange. Most of the training was highly boring. A lot of first aid and IED (Improvised Explosive Device) training that hardly applies to anyone like me who is not allowed to leave the FOB (Forward Operating Base). By the way, did you know there are a lot of ACRONYMs in the army? Yeah, Abbreviated Coded Rendition Of Name Yielding Meanings are extremely common here!
 
We also got a history of the goings on of the conflicts in Afghanistan and the reasons for the way the military is doing things the way they're currently doing them. That was pretty informative and reassuring, just to know that they have a better idea of how to fight the insurgency now than they did before.

That night we stayed at the nicer hotel in the base at Grafenwoehr, and I saw a commercial that really struck me. Imagine a gruff looking cowboy moseying up to a saloon and drawing his six-shooter. He then proceeds to shoot off of the hitching post, a line of energy drinks. Finally large words flash across the screen - "Drop the Energy Drink! Reach for a Water!" with military logos all across the bottom of the screen. Apparently energy drinks are so popular (and unhealthy) that they produce commercials for not drinking them geared for the soldiers. What a concept!

The last thing we did was the MRAP rollover test. The MRAP family of vehicles has replaced the humvee as the primary vehicle used in Afghanistan and everyone going "downrange" has to do this test. Here's a video of the MRAP rollover training.

Here's me with all the gear on, ready to roll-over.

Tonight we went to this little Italian restaurant (owned and run by Italians) around the corner. They didn't seem to be busy and were happy to have us as customers, but they forgot my Tagliatelle Salmone so it came late and they felt bad so we got free house-made limoncello (lemon liqueur). Then we went further around the corner and had gelato. Italian night in Mannheim. 

Salute!