There is no escaping the dust here. My hands appear as though they've been wiping a chalk board 24/7. I wash my hair, and within minutes its got that thick feeling to it and I wonder whether or not I could even run a comb through it.. It may be time for a haircut.... a real short one. Anyway, walked about 20 km in the last 2 days meandering around this base and trying to find a flippin wet one, or some sort of moist towelette...... No luck..... I guess its living in filth once I get outta here and into some real work....And then it'll be bird baths whenever time permits.
They tell me that we're not suppose to brush our teeth in the washrooms here and to use the bottle water... well, my shower kit is to small for all my shit, so my hands are full going to the shower, which leads me to ignore these menial do nots and go ahead and brush.... its not as if I'm drinking the stuff......i guess i maybe should use the bottled water.....
Well, truth be told, we have not had much time in order to prepare for our endeavors over the last 2 days. I'm physically drained tonight and my kit is finally packed. There seems to be a lot of unknowns so we've been told to pack heavy..... which really sucks, not in the sense that I have too many things but rather we are extremely limited on what we may bring onto the specified transport. So every orifice is stuffedf to the gills and I am not looking forward to the kit explosion upon openng the rucksak.....

I'm limited on my phone minutes as of now, but I'm tolkd they add 35 minuteds evry Monday, so hopefully I'll be able to accumulate a few here and there to be able to ttalk longer to yas.....

Anyway, gonna get out for now and try to shower this dirty Afghani soil off of me... peace

Like I hadn't even left

Well, after 36-40 hours on a plane and in dire need of a shower, I have finally arrived back in Kandahar. And what do I have to show but a sore neck( from sleeping in the upright) dirty clothes, and the nastiest case of jetlag. After last night I feel a lot better with a shower and a good nights sleep on a mattress that has exactly 200 coil springs. It is fairly cool here during the evenings which tells me colder ones are on the way. It seems as though its gonna be winter here earlier this time around. Luckily I brought the appropriate kit.. Not so sure I can say the same for the rest of the guys.
The malaria pills are sure doin a number on me. I'm constantly thirsty, and in turn, am constantly drinking water. Which leads me to constantly having to find a blue rocket or other latrine. Its not like the streets of Amsterdam where we (being men) can whip it out and go in the street. I haven't even seen a mosquito yet, but I guess its better to be safe. At any rate, Its gonna be a hell of a tour from what I gather and from what Ive heard so fr. Lots of improvements in new patrol bases and significant movements over the next little while. Good times.
On a good note, my vacation has been changed to late Feb until early march, which will shorten the tour up considerably for me. The plan is still for Cuba, so we'll see.
Off to get the rest of my kit issue, and a morning full of lectrures..... All sorts of tidbits of knowledge to pass on to us. The rest of my sect arrives in a few days. Lookiun forward toi those guys gettin out here and getting their hands dirty.
Till the next