Afghanistan My Last Tour

Prepping the Max Pro for mission.

My dreaded alarm clock awoke me early this morning. I knew we had a long day planned and we had to load a trailer full of equipment before departing the camp. Now that all the inventories are completed, we are required to turn in or dispose of the items that nobody wants. We planned for a long day of paperwork, turmoil, and frustration since we had

My Gunner, an AF TSgt is ready for the mission.

to process the items through the Army Supply system.
We prepared our MRAPs and hitched up the trailer. I was driving today and my Captain would be the convoy commander. We would have to take it a little bit slower today with the trailer so it wouldn’t go airborne when we hit the deep potholes. Every day that goes by, the potholes in the road become larger and deeper. I guess the Afghan government doesn’t have any money to fix the roads.
As we traveled towards the city, the roads were rather congested with traffic and we saw a lot more children than normal. The local schools have opened their doors and the students are going back to school. One young Afghan boy gave us the thumbs up as we drove

Afghan boys gives us thumbs up.

past. Previously this was considered a vulgar gesture, but since the US forces arrived, it has become accepted as part of their culture.
We meandered our way through the capital city and it was apparent security has been added. The ANP were setting up random and strategic checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints cause bottlenecks and the traffic to back up.
The rest of the ride to Camp Phoenix was pretty smooth. As usual, bicycles, donkey carts, people dodging in and out of traffic, etc. The market was bustling and crowded with people. One problem the warmer weather causes is dust. When the soil dries out, passing vehicles create plumes of dust which is inhaled by us and the local populace. While on R&R in Germany, it took me 3 days before I could noticeably breathe easier. Perhaps this explains why they place a copy of the air sampling in our medical records. I looked at one briefly and it identified the harmful air particulates to include the heavy metals present in the air we breathe. Pollution is already a major problem in this city of 4 million inhabitants and it’s only going to get worse.
The sun, planets, and stars must have all been aligned because we were able to turn in all of our excess equipment and property with ease. I attribute this to my teammates who were bounced from building to building last time trying to get forms, documents, and stamps. Today we presented the documents and the property to the supply personnel for processing. We only had a few minor hiccups, but were able to process 90% of our items.

Fat baby mouse at Camp Phoenix.

While I waited for my teammates to process the equipment, one of the shops used a broom to sweep a mouse outside into the parking lot area. I’m not a mouse expert, but this is rather strange looking rodent. Much different than the ones I am accustomed to seeing and trapping in Florida. Mrs. “T” hates it when a mouse gets into our attic and I have the morbid task of catching these critters. But this mouse looks like a cross-breed between a mouse and a gerbil; I really don’t know what it is. But it was worthy of a picture … lol.

Fat baby mouse at Camp Phoenix.

Since it was rather toasty outside, my teammates and I ate our lunch outside under the big umbrellas. This area is adjacent to the BBQ house and today they had grilled chicken breasts along with the usual hamburgers and hot dogs. This is a great place to visit instead of going to the DFAC and they make a delicious barbeque sauce too.

Old Afghan man watches as we pass by.

Our trip back to camp was uneventful. While driving, I took some pictures of the local people. Note: I don’t recommend taking pictures and driving to anyone. It’s something I

Is this a man or woman in a burqa?

do and have taken over a thousand pictures using this method. Now I am beginning to recognize some familiar faces. The children were actively begging for money from passing cars while under the watchful eye of this old man in the picture. If only I had a chance to stop and interview him, I can only imagine the stories he might tell. The other picture is a woman or perhaps a man in a burqa. It’s really hard to tell their gender under this garment. But for a woman, she seems to have very large hands, knees, and arms. The last picture is a man who just left the market carrying oranges in a bag and dozens of eggs on his head. Only in Afghanistan ……

Man carrying eggs on his head.