First Few Days

I've been here at Kandahar Air Field (KAF) for a few days now and in reality have very little new to share.  Things here at KAF just aren't that exciting.  Everything is crowded, with transients making up a great deal of the people here.  The gym is busy, the USO is full, and the lines at the Dining Facilities (DFACs) are long.  But it is extremely safe here.  There have only been a few random rocket attacks all year, and only three small arms attacks.   So no need to worry.  We've been going through the standard training to finally get out to our units, and the first of us to head out leaves tomorrow.

I still have almost another week here and until Saturday I basically don't have anything to do.  I'm not exactly sure what the course I have to take is all about, but they only do it once a week so I have to wait until it starts again.  And I don't know how long it is either. 

I'm probably going to get a platoon pretty quickly, and I'm really excited about it.  I will more than likely be out on my own on a small base with little more than my platoon and some Afghan National Army guys with me.  But, that could all change when I finally get up to my unit.  We are based here on the western end of  Kandahar province, near Helmand.  Good news: I won't be going up and down mountains all the time. 

When I find out more or have something new to write about I will do so.

Afghanistan

I've made it to Afghanistan safe and sound.  It took several days of travel that seemed like a never-ending cycle of waiting and flying but we finally made it to Kandahar.  It doesn't smell as bad as Manas did, but the dust is absolutely horrible!  I couldn't believe just how bad the dust was until we got here.  It gets everywhere, into everything, and just causes problems for both equipment and people.  The drivers here on Kandahar AirField (KAF) are horrible too.  At night you have to go around wearing a reflective belt, and you only have to be on the road for 5 minutes to understand exactly why. 

Right now I'm doing some training to get ready to join my unit, and after we finish it up, I have to stay for about another week doing more training to get ready to take a platoon.  Well, my time on the computer just ran out, so I'll be back to post more soon.

In Transit

I'm on my way to Afghanistan in one of the longest days of my life.  It started with a nice stomach flu yesterday at 5 am and continued through the evening.  We boarded a bus to Ramstein around midnight and it is now nearly 24 hours later and still have 2 more flights to get to Kandahar.  I will post more later when I can.