5/27/2010 - The Surge and the Pond

The Kandahar Airfield "Poo-Pond" made the news!  I had a few minutes early this morning to get caught up on a little news and low and behold, there we were.  http://www.stripes.com/ had The "Poo-Pond" as one of the featured articles.  For those that did not get a copy of the article forwarded, you may have to do a search on the website.  I guess what's interesting is the article provides an overview of the awful smell that is now a daily part of life here at the ranch.  But lacks the words to adequately describe the smell.  Why?  Because when the wind blows just right, there are no words to describe the smell!  I don't care if you have ten babies lined up with green poo in their diapers, it's not even close.  Around here, its simply a part of the elements you learn to adjust too. 

Readers, continue to follow the news and good sources of news like the "stripes" over the coming weeks.  The whole world is aware of the surge and some of the broad stroke time lines.  Even we don't know the real plans, which at our pay grades is good enough for me.  But, I can tell you, we are taking care of a lot of troops with regard to Contracting.  Business is good, we continue to work long, long days with no end insight.  The long hours are kind of a bitter sweet.  12-14 hour days, seven days a week are not something a person would typically look forward too.  But, the days go fast and so does our time.  We are roughly at the 10% mark and counting. 

The four of us are already making plans for R & R and will submit our leave request for approval.  Until the leave request is official, I'll keep the time line quiet.  Don't want to get hopes up to soon.

Got the Cotton Row coming up Monday.  Looks like the four of us will be making history by being the only deployed team running the race 1/2 way across the globe.  More on that next week.

Other than that, it's been fairly quiet since our last little barrage.  We continue to keep a watchful eye and not let our guard down.  We know more is to come and we stay prepared.

Folks, nothing much more exciting to report this round.  Just wanted to get something in print and let you know we are all doing fine and we appreciate everyone for all that you do to support us and keep us mindful of the reasons were here doing what we do!  Freedom is a beautiful thing!!!

Be good, laugh a lot and enjoy!

R2

For Your Viewing Entertainment....

Just a few pictures for you while I have a milli-second! I'll update my blog again soon!

L to R - Habib, Rich and Han. They are the Interpreter's

Fine dining, Sandbox style...our Chow Hall

Jeff with our Interpreters

Rich hard at it! How do you like my work table? Oh, the metal chair with a file box? Yep, that's it! 

 Our Villa in the vario

Sparky, the janitor. If he leaves early from work, chances are there will be a rocket attack. Coincidence?

Skyping with my lovely wife!

Before leaving Camp Shelby. Getting cards ready to send home!

I hope you've enjoyed the picture show!

R2

5/16/2010 - Rocket Attack & The Professor

The title of today's blog is not meant to scare you or get you concerned.  It's just a way of life here in Kandahar!  At 8:00PM, we heard the boom in the distance and then the Irish voice over the speaker "Rocket Attack, Rocket Attack".  At 8:15PM, we heard the same voice give the "All Clear, All Clear".  Sometimes we get the warning before the attack and sometimes not.  To date, it's never been a barrage of rockets only singular.  That's because the bastards probably have not figured out how to setup delay devices on more than one rocket in multiple places.  I will give them credit as to their crude delay devices.  My understanding is they use things like a block of ice.  Once the ice melts, the the rocket is launched.  Depending on the weather, it the delay could be anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or so.  Our guys are still able to shoot a reverse trajectory and track these guys down.

What's the protocol when this happens?  Simple.  Drop to the ground no matter where you are, gym, work, walking down the street, chow hall, latrine, etc. and wait a minimum of 2 minutes.  Seek shelter as soon as possible and then wait for the "All Clear".  Jeff and I try to follow the protocol as much as possible.  However, we also use some common sense.  If we are already in a somewhat fortified location like say your sleeping quarters, well, we stay put.  Then we make the call to the chain of command for accountability and then all is good!

Now on to the Professor!  Who is this masked villain?  As we (Jeff and I) peer through our room window to the outside, we see a tall stature individual peering over a couple of shall we say up and coming students in which he is giving a lecture.  A lecture on frequency, signals, not enough power, low strength, complaining units, etc.  Literally, the Professor is using all his available tools to convey his case, finger pointing, voice fluctuation and I'm sure, if we could see his face, he would be using expressions to further convey his lecture.  Why do I speak of the Professor?  Forgive the language, but who gives a F_ _ _?  This guy is so freaking annoying, it is worse than finger nails on a chalk board, styrofoam being snapped and scrapped, fingers being rubbed on the lips of crystal drinking glasses.  The poor students eyes look glazed over from the lesson of the day.  I'm sure as I sit here that the students only wanted to smoke their cigarettes and did not realize what they were in for.  To further expand on this whiting fellow, our buildings set pretty close to one another, they are made of very thin aluminum material so there is no noise barrier.  We can here the wind blow on a good day!  Jets, helicopters and planes are common place.  You get use to that!  But the Professor, No Way!  I'd rate him up there with Snore Zilla on the richter scale.  The Professor basically sits outside his building taking smoke breaks and preaching to whomever will listen.  Usually other smokers.  He does this a various hours in the evening from about 8:30PM to 9:30PM and then 10:30PM.  And yes, he continues to talk and talk and talk.  Last night he and his students were out from about 12:00 midnight to 1:30am.  Yes, his voice carried and it kept me up.  Not tonight though!  If he begins his lecture tonight at the wrong hour, I believe Jeff and I both may get in some target practice.  All he has to do is tone it down a bit and life would be good!  Unfortunately people like the Professor are people seekers in which he hopes everyone looks and listens to him.  So, he talks at the top of his lungs.  Oh, we only hear him take one breath during the recent lecture of about 30 minutes.  I know I'm ranting, but!  Jeff and I were both trying to get some reading in and neither of us could concentrate.  We keep reading the same stuff over and over again.  We finally gave up!  He's back!!!!!!We can hear him outside!  He's on-time, it's now 8:35PM.  Someone call his family.  PLEASE!!!!!

This last week has been busy!  Believe it or not working the hours we work, time seems to fly.  We get tired by 8:30 - 9:00 and look forward to some down time in the rack.  We are starting to get in a rhythm, wake-up, shower, Skype, breakfast, work, lunch, work, gym, work, dinner, work, Skype, bed and start over. 

Today, Jeff and I arrived at the office and I basically had an OCD attack.  We work in a crude office environment which can be organized more functionally.  The dirt and dust is a given, but hell, when you need a folder, a pen, a paper clip, etc.  You can't freaking find one.  So, Jeff and I took charge and organized an area of the office today.  I'm sure there will be more organization coming in the next several weeks.  We will get this office shaped up the way we want it, SOON!  Hell, we will be here a year, so why not?

I'll let you go for now, this update has gotten pretty lengthy.  I'll try my best to keep folks up to date as often as possible and as honest as I can with the situation.  Blog updates may turn out to be weekly simply due to the long work week.  So, stay on board and keep a watchful eye for updates.  Maybe next week I can tell more about the Professor.

P.S.  My niece Beth had her first baby girl this week.  Charlotte!  Healthy and beautiful!

Love to all,

R2

5/8/2010 - A Day In the Life

NOTE:  Information below is public, so I'm not giving away any secrets.....

Brig. Gen. Camille M. Nichols, commanding general with Joint Contracting Command - Iraq/Afghanistan, visited Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, March 27, to ensure that her unit, which is responsible for all of the contracts in theater, meets the needs of the service members who live there.



Why did I post this you ask?  Well, the RCC (Regional Contingency Contracting) office (this is where I work)here at Kandahar also had a drop in visit from our Commander.  I tried to post a picture, but bandwidth wouldn't allow it.  What's interesting about this, is there is a little history with a few folks that I'll keep anonymous.  BG Nichols presented in an Acquisition summit and voiced her concern over the readiness of the National Guard serving as Contracting Officers in Theater.  Well here we are and doing a fine job, if you ask me.

About the job:  Jeff and I are learning a lot as fast as we can.  We both picked up a predecessors night mare.  Meaning when a KO (contracting officer - not sure why we use KO, instead of CO) does not do a thorough job of maintaining their files and records, the new guy has to clean up the mess.  One thing we have learned over the last couple of years is that a good KO keeps good files.  KO's obligate the governments (tax payers) money and is 100% under the scrutiny of investigation by audit agencies, CID, FBI, etc.  Turds that leave a mess like the one Jeff and I are cleaning up should be slapped.

Our day at the office starts about 8:00am to 8:00pm 7 days a week.  Depending on workload, we may get a 1/2 day Sunday.  During these hours, yes we get to go eat and do PT, run to the PX, and get a haircut when needed.  In the evening time, we find time to get our laundry done.  That's another story.  Needless to say, we stay covered up busy all day and when we get through a day, we are slap tired and only want to give our pillow some head (hey, watch what your thinking).  The most important thing Jeff and I try to do as often as we can is Skype with the family.  However, this poses its on challenges due to the time difference, Internet bandwidth and if roomies are sleeping.  It is a task managers nightmare!

Back to the laundry.  So, there is thousands of troops here from all over the world.  But, there are only a few mobile laundry facilities.  I got up the other morning at 3:45am, thinking surely no one is doing laundry at 3:45am.  Wrong!!!  Everyone else had the same idea.  Later that night about 9:00pm, I simply waited my turn and finished up about 11:00pm.

Days are long and starting to go fast.  As though it seems.  Leaning is the key for the next week or so and then the workload will double again.  At present, I'm managing about $12M of commodities that range from beds to washers and dryers (ironic), gravel to forklifts.  $12M is only a start.  Once this gets to full speed, I imagine the value will be north of $25M.

I better wrap this up since it's about time to catch a shower and start the day.  If you have not read Renee's blog, you should.  Especially yesterday's.  She talked about our best friends, the Whitten's.  And she is 100% correct in how we feel about our friends and how are friendships have developed over the last 12 years.  We love them dearly and look forward to one day sitting on someones porch rocking in our chairs and drinking a beer or a glass of wine.  Thank you Whitten's for all that you do! 

And thank everyone, family, friends, commanders (COL Edge, I know your reading our blogs), work friends and anyone I might have missed.  Your support and love makes this whole deployment much easier to handle.

Love to all, R2

5/3/2010 - Kandahar, Afghanistan

I've finally got a chance to do a little blogging.  It's 6:00am here and 8:30pm back home.  Where to start, where to start?  This place is a major metropolis of soldiers, vehicles and dusty pollution.  The dirt roads here are actually made up of a very fine talcum powder dust.  There is freaking dusty dirt everywhere.  Everything you touch and breath is dust.  I only hope my lungs and allergies will survive.

Jeff and I arrived here last Saturday after flying for many hours and being in transit for more than 30 hours.  We found very quickly, that we needed to fend for ourselves as there was not in formal in processing to get living quarters, meal badges, an introduction to the base, etc.  So, we did what comes natural.  We bitched and complained, then we started fending for ourselves and making things happen.  We share a 6 man room with 2 others, so there's only 4 in the room which is good for now.  Trust me, 4 is already cramped.  If and when the room fills to 6, I will absolutely hate it!

We had our first full day of work yesterday.  Projects and other stuff is starting to filter our way which is good.  We will start to cut our teeth on work that no one wants to do and then quickly build up to the busy work.  In the meantime, we will learn the systems, the customer, the vendors and the supporting resources to get the job done.  Days are long.  More by design than anything else.  I believe folks feel obligated to sit in the office > 12 hours a day.  Whether they are busy or not!  Kind of crazy if you ask me.  I mean if the work drives that, then o.k., but if not, why be there, just to be there?  I could back at my room, skyping, face booking, reading the news, sleeping, working out or simply being bored.  At least, I would be in control of that.

I've got a few pic's, I'll try to upload and will continue to upload as I can. 

Now on to the bad news for this location.  Jeff and I are fairly safe based on where we are located, so don't read into this more than it is.  If you follow the news, you know that this time of year over the next few months is typically when the Taliban get active.  Moving around planting their little IED's and rockets with crude delay timing devices.  This area has had three rocket attacks outside the area in the last few days.  With the upcoming buildup of military in the next few months, the attacks are projected to be more frequent.  That's if you read the news.   I'm sure there will be attempts.  However, what the news doesn't fully report is that we have troops outside the wire hunting these little f_ _ _ ers down and keeping them on the move.  And as more of our troops move into the area, it will be increasingly more difficult for the Taliban to do what they do!  I post all this to inform you, not scare you and to let you know we are safe and that yes, this is an active location.  Keep us in your thoughts, know that we are as safe as we possibly can be and that home is our destination, not Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Folks, I'll try posting some pics to FB now.  Hopefully, my connection will allow it.  If not, be on the look out, they will be there soon.

Love to all,

Rich (R2)