Week 5

Another week down. I have now been in country for 5 weeks. This past week SFC Fowler, the guy that has brought me up to speed on this job departed. He was supposed to leave on the 27th, but was around another couple of days waiting on a flight. Funny thing was he boarded a C-130, said the hit the runway where in the process of taking off, and he was feeling real good about that of course. But then the pilot hit the brakes and turned around. I guess there was some mechanical issue. In other words he was unable to reach the required velocity to escape the gravitational pull of Afghanistan. He did successfully make it out the next day. Don't feel too bad for him, as he is headed back to Hawaii where he is from and is currently stationed, for the past 9 years. I dropped some pictures of some of the guys I hang out with here we snapped before he left.

Left to right: MSgt Cisneros , Rudy, Me, SFC Ross, and in front, SFC Fowler.

 MSgt Cisneros (Air Force)  in is charge of a team that does network QC for Afghan Army and Police structures that we contract out. They verify that everything is to code. Not sure who's code, because they don't really have much of one here, that is for sure. He and I play poker together at different times during the week. Rudy, is one of my crossfit buddies. He is a civilian contractor that used to be in the Air Force. SFC Ross is our supply guy, he takes care of all the property and ordering.

Over the past two weeks I have connected with a few other Christians and we started a small Bible study. We are meeting twice a week right now primarily just to talk and learn. We started The Truth Project this past week and that has been good. It is just nice to sit down and discuss life. So much of the conversation in the military revolves around things I really cannot mention and listening to it all the time really wears on you.

This morning, I rolled out of bed around 0900 (Sunday), and went to brunch at the 82nd Aviation Dining Facility. They are the only Army run facility, so the food is much better and they have a Sunday Brunch. Met up with CPT Burns and 1LT Morales seen in the picture below. They are both part of the Bible Study I mentioned above. After brunch we headed over to the PX to pick up some essentials and grab a coffee/tea from the Green Bean (Army version of Starbucks) then just sat and chatted for a while. We were discussing how much you think the items pictured below were worth, as a guy had them for sale just in front of us. We were figuring $20 - $25.  We did hear him give an offer to some one at 3 for $50 though.

Left to right: CPT Burns, 1LT Morales, and Me.

Collapsible wood baskets. Look like they would be great candy dishes for holidays.

Here are some collapsed.

That's all for now, time to head in to the office. If anyone sees something I posted, please don't hesitate to hit me up. I can ship it back to the states, no problem.

TTFN,
Travis