Anniversary

Traveling around Afghanistan is like flying at Christmas. I have now had more flights cancelled in the last month than in the whole of my life. What am I to do? I guess that I will just sit in BAF and blog.

This last flight cancellation was a bit more interesting than most, in that I was actually in the Chinook prior to the rotary blades began to spin. As they blades pickup up speed, the low thump-thump became a higher pitch while the airframe began to vibrate, almost excessively. Within ten minutes the engines had been started up and shut down, the mission was CANEXED. I waited on the flightline for nearly eight hours while someone not on the flightline made the decision to postpone till a later time.

While waiting I met an interesting individual. His name is Chad Hunt, he is a freelance photographer here on his own dime to get out and see Afghanistan through the lense of his camera (which is a pretty sweet 14 Megapixel monster camera). We talked at great length and exchanged email info. He has a website that has some very interesting photsgraphs and a blog on his experiences here, which are substantially different than mine. Check it out! His website is http://www.chadhuntphotography.com.

This week held my one month anniverary in the great country of Afghanistan. Along with this momentus occassion comes two medals that I would have never imagined ever wearing or earning. The Nato Medal (picture not available) and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal (pictured somewhere on this blog). Also, due to my wearing an Army uniform, I now also rate wearing the 10th Mountain Battle Patch on my right arm (finally something to cover all of that velcro). Here is hoping that these are the end of my wartime medals, I would rather not be put in for any of those medals requiring valor or injuries (I don't think my two weeks of rifle training in South Carolina really prepped me for those).

Thats it for now. Hopefully next time I write will be from a different location and with some pictures, this requires that my new laptop hard drive gets here sooner rather than later. Tchuss.