Go Tigers!!

Hey everybody! Just a short one today. Our 1SG took this picture for me the other day and I thought it turned out pretty good. Of course, it was a picture of me, so naturally it's good!! About 2 more months to go. I can't wait.

The Gang's All Here, Too

Well after a..."ahem"...relaxing, restful R&R (see Mom's blog), I'm back to business in Afghanistan. I finally got a group picture of everyone just before we rolled out the other day. They were not so enthused about it. Imagine that. We spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week together and in close proximity to each other, therefore we can't tolerate a group picture. Anyways, I told 'em to shut up and stand still. They didn't even have to smile....and they didn't. Here they are....

Left to right it's Shorty (our interpreter), Special K (my driver), Justin (new guy and replacement for our CPT), Pac-man (another new guy and replacement for our other LT), yours truly, Dumbo (he's a cop in North Charleston), Cheska (his pashtu nickname meaning sexy - only problem is that a group of Afghani guys gave him that nickname), Alabama (our team chief), and Doc (team medic). Not pictured is Steve (our other interpreter who's taking the picture), Grif (my gunner who is home on leave) and SFC Airborne (our sour-puss E7 who didn't want to participate). For operational security reasons, I can't give you their real names. I don't think you can read anyone's whole name in the picture. Anyway, these are the guys that I trust my life to and who trust me with theirs everyday. I know that I've said that the reason I'm here is to provide safety and a future for the kids of Afghanistan and stuff like that, but when the doo-doo hits the air circulation device, these guys are what I'm here for. Men in foxholes don't fight for God or country, they fight for their buddy in the foxhole with them.

Monkeying Around

Here's a post for Luke. One of the Afghani workers on our FB has a pet monkey (no Luke, you may not have a pet monkey). He brought it to work the other day.

I'm not sure what kind of monkey it is....I'm no "Jeffco" after all (that's a joke that probably only Luke will get). But it was still interesting to watch. The little thing was pretty mean. It was nice if you had food in your hand.

But if you ran out of food, woe be unto you...as Doc found out about 2 seconds after I snapped this picture. It grabbed his hand and tried to eat him for lunch.

Hope

I took this picture the other day while we were at the ABP headquarters. I thought it was a little poignant.




Things are still very quiet out here. I haven't been blogging for a number of reasons. First, our internet connection has been pretty crappy and connections have been off and on. Second, there really isn't anything too interesting to me anymore. I've seen it...been there...done that. So, if you all have anything that you want to see about Afghanistan, make your requests. If the law, Afghan culture, and my SOPs allow, I'll fill them as I can.