2009 September « Afghanistan My Last Tour

Orphanage visit

Posted on 09/29/2009 by Rex Temple

Today’s mission was to visit the In Allauddin Orphanage in Kabul City and deliver school supplies, toys, clothing, hygiene items, and bring some happiness to the parentless children. My team in conjunction with the camp team members formed the convoy. Later on we would meet with the Afghan National Police (ANP) for this joint venture. [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Afghan National Police, Afghanistan, ANP, Deployment, ETT, humanitarian mission, orphanage, U.S. Air Force, war | 5 Comments »

Library ribbon cutting ceremony

Posted on 09/28/2009 by Rex Temple

It was another 0430 hrs wake up and we trudged our gear up to the parking lot and prepared our armored vehicles for today’s mission. We were returning to our former camp for a ribbon cutting ceremony (or inauguration as translated by our interpreters). In addition, I was scheduled to attend a drop off of [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, ANA, corruption, Deployment, ETT, FOB, Kabul, photography, U.S. Air Force | 2 Comments »

Shipping school supplies to Afghanistan

Posted on 09/27/2009 by Rex Temple

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: Rex got back safely from his latest mission but was too exhausted to write anything today. So instead I’m borrowing the space tonight to show you couple of encouraging photos from the school supplies drive. The first photo is the back of my car – filled with donated school supplies. [...]

Filed under: School supplies project | Tagged: Afghanistan, Deployment, education, ETT, humanitarian mission, war | 4 Comments »

ANP visit and new camp puppy

Posted on 09/26/2009 by Rex Temple

After breakfast this morning I was outside the DFAC conversing with the French colonel. When we looked down a very small puppy was at our feet. The puppy seems to be too young to be away from his mother, but he was busy lapping up the crumbs dropped by people at the outside picnic tables. [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghanistan, ANA, ANP, Deployment, ETT, Internet access, MWR, photography, Taliban | 6 Comments »

Flying High against the Taliban

Posted on 09/25/2009 by Rex Temple

At first glance it doesn’t look like much. The skeletal wood cross members are constructed of cheap bamboo rods. The deltoid-shaped face is made of thin crepe paper glued to a bent bamboo frame. They come in varied vibrant colors and the attached string is really not a string. Instead it is fabricated rayon line [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Afghanistan, Deployment, ETT, kite fighting, kite flying, photography, Taliban, U.S. Air Force, war | 2 Comments »

A mountain of pens

Posted on 09/24/2009 by Rex Temple

When I received word about transferring to a new camp, one of my first thoughts was about my team’s school supplies project. Initially I told my wife Liisa to continue to collect the items, but don’t ship them until I could obtain my new mailing address. The timing of this news also coincided with the [...]

Filed under: School supplies project | Tagged: Afghanistan, Deployment, education, ETT, humanitarian mission, Taliban, U.S. Air Force | 5 Comments »

B-Huts and laundry day

Posted on 09/23/2009 by Rex Temple

I’m getting used to waking up early in the morning and took advantage of the empty laundry room around 0600 hrs. Since moving to our new camp, we have been busy on missions and setting up our rooms. My 2 laundry bags have been bursting at the seams for awhile now. Normally I would turn [...]

Filed under: Food and living conditions | Tagged: Afghanistan, B-hut, child labor, Deployment, ETT, kite flying, laundry, photography, Taliban, U.S. Air Force, war | 5 Comments »

WUSF Radio interview – Sept. 23, 2009

Posted on 09/23/2009 by Rex Temple

Here is a link to the latest interview with WUSF Radio’s Bobbie O’Brien which aired today during NPR’s “Morning Edition” and yesterday during “All Things Considered.” Topics discussed included Afghan elections, corruption in Afghanistan and, of course, the move to our new base and living conditions there. My Last Tour: A New Base

Filed under: Food and living conditions | Tagged: Afghan elections, Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, Deployment, ETT, FOB, news, U.S. Air Force, war, WUSF | 1 Comment »

Back to home camp

Posted on 09/22/2009 by Rex Temple

I never thought I would be writing about a mission to our old camp, but that was today’s mission. We still had some unfinished business back at our old camp and so it became our destination today. We slept in a little bit this morning until 0500 hrs and then readied our vehicles for another [...]

Filed under: Missions | Tagged: Afghanistan, Deployment, ETT, Kabul, U.S. Air Force, war | 2 Comments »

Visiting Oak Grove Middle for school supplies

Posted on 09/22/2009 by Rex Temple

From Liisa, SMSgt Temple’s wife: I am using the space tonight to tell you about an amazing visit I had yesterday to talk about Rex’s school supplies drive at Oak Grove Middle School in Clearwater, Florida. A few weeks ago we got an e-mail from Benjamin Smet. He is the Spanish teacher at Oak Grove [...]

Filed under: School supplies project | Tagged: Afghanistan, Air Force wife, Benjamin Smet, Clearwater, Deployment, education, family, military spouse, news, Oak Grove Middle School, photography, Pinellas County Public Schools, U.S. Air Force, war, WUSF | Leave a Comment »

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