lanterns and shitters

Just got orders for tomorrow from Hawk, prior to which I talked with Chandra, babe, I love you. The boss is just running through the scheme of things with Riley and Dorner as they were on OP shift during the business. Looks like we'll be busy all day tomorrow, and thats all I can say about that... more to follow on another day. At any rate, went on patrol today with Rediger and as we were sitting in some compound it dawned on me that we hadn't patrolled together yet. We had to check out 3 places today, the third of which spawned about 10 Afghani kids and a couple of adults. The Americans that were with us wanted to talk for awhile with the elder. I gave the eldest kid a pack of gum and took two sticks for myself. He divvied the pieces out to them. Some chewed it down in a gulp, some stuck it on their little hats, a little girl was stringing it through her hands, and a couple just plain didn't like it. The youngest of em all was the only one who chewed it for the duration of our stay. He was by far the most enthusiastic of the crew. The kids ended up bringing us out all some tea from their little compound. We sat their against a wall while the yanks had their talk. The kids kept crowding around and checking out our kit. At one point one of the boys started pointing to us and from the interpretor said he was calling us lazy. He'd point to Costall, and say lazy, then he'd point to Rediger, and again "lazy" and then he pointed to me, and "lazy." Cheeky ;little bugger. Anyway after awhile I got tired of him calling me lazy and decided it was time to challenge him. I told the terp to tell him this and the kid thought I wanted to fight him. I ensured him that I didn't want that, and took a water bottle and set it up about 10 ft away. Well, if theres one thing these kids are good at its chucking rocks. I gave him 2 and me 2, and drew a line in the sand. Well, the kid had a pretty girly wind up, but I tell ya when that rock left his hand it was clippin. He missed the first time but by very little and the second one ne nailed it. Then it was my turn. I missed both. They all had a good laugh at that, and I told the terp to tell him he won. He then says to me, " well if I won, then wheres my prize?" I ended up giving him a brown Canadian flag we wear on our shoulders. He seemed satisfied. They then started making fun of our moustaches. I asked him where his was, and he replies that someone stole it from his face. Funny as hell. They liked checking out our lights and weapons, at one point the kid was looking through my scope from the wrong end. I had to cant my weapon down as he was looking into the barrel. We must have sat there for a good hour just hanging out with the kids. I showed them a picture of Chandra that I keep in my helmet, and they were transfixed on it as none of them had ever seen a white woman before, let alone another woman without a burka on her face. I want to acquire a polaroid camera so I can take a picture with some of htese kids and leave it with them, instead of us taking pics and leaving them with none. I try not to let them know I'm taking pics, just to capture them in candid moments. I find those ones turn out the best anyway. The whole time we were there, we could see the little girls tucked away behind tehir walls, and once in awhile poke their heads out. The smallest of them scamper around in their bare feet and are allowed outside. The older women stay hidden away. Theres stories of the women getting beat because they showed themselves to soldiers walking around in theire streets. A totally different world, and one that they'll only ever know I guess.

Got back from patrol just before night and the boys did a hell of a job while we were gone. We now have wooden shitters, instead of a plastic pail and tarps around it. It was Rileys design, and I gotta tell you its a magnificent shit house. Bergeron designed a gate, that hinges open on an old artillery round and has concertina wire wrapped around 2x4's. I'm pretty impressed with what they did with what we got.

I'm gonna be leaving here in a few days to fill a position elsewhere. Fortins going on leave so I have to take his spot over for a couple of weeks. I thought it'd be a month but its not the case.

Anyway, big day tomorrow, and quite the task. Should be a good go, and the section is pretty pumped about it. Everyone is doin good, and the small things are boosting our morale. Like a lantern in our room, and wooden outhouses. Anyway........ night

goats on OP

So the good people who hold in their possession the power of whether or not we shower have took it upon themselves to grace us with 4 shower units, and a new generator. We get em offloaded and the damn things don't have pipes or shower heads. Its gonna be a slow process getting this patrol base up to snotch, and its not because we've been working slow. It turns out that Dorner is the new fencing guru in the eyes of the platoon warrant, and Rediger is the carpenter of the group. Thing is, we get an idea, and it takes upwards of a week to get approved or the stores to do it. It looks like we have a fridge now, so we may be getting back to our one fresh meal a day.

Ole Hawk and Blencowe had a little read of the blog today, ok admittedly theres a few exagerations and maybe I'll have to tone it down on them for awhile. At any rate, life goes on as usual around here. The section put up about 80m of fencin this morning. A small task that took us a couple of hours. Thats been Dorners forte for the last few days. He's been assigned daily 5-6 infanteers to build fencing all over the patrol base, mainly in the rear of the compound. The rest of us have been working with what we've got, trying to make this place a little more comfortable. The boys put together a stretcher slide yesterday from the top of the compound to ground level. This in case, we take a casualty up top, we can slide him down on a strecther below. Riley gave it a shot, and the thing worked pretty well.

Last night Bergeron and I went on a night patrol. The night patrols are completely different than the day. The surroundings look completely different and its hard to gauge where a good place to put your feet down. The primary threat is still IED's in the area, and I admit its a little nerve racking going out at night. The terrain in areas is fairly difficult to pass on foot, and we find ourselves going up and over numerous grape rows all the time. These grape rows are huge. The ones we came across last night are about 8 ft deep and are 2m apart. This leaves about 1-2 ft to walk on and down the row. There is no rhyme or reason to how these little Afghan villages are built up. It's like Akmir says to Abdul, heres some dirt, lets build here. The walls go up and another route has to be made to get around. I'm not sure how their property lines work, but they make no sense to me.

So we, being Hawk and I are on OP shift this afetrnoon. Its like a little posse of Afghani boys sit around and watch us all day. Hawk made a good observations and said its probably the Talibans version of OP, watching us all day. Eventually they started throwing rocks at us, and we'd catch them and throw them back. Well, the rocks they were throwing were a good size and this one boy in particular had a hell of an arm. We'd chuck them back at them, they'd try to catch them and shake their hands in agony after the rocks hit them. After a bit a car rolls up, probably a taxi with a packed load, and I mean packed. The roof of the car had 5 kids on it, and then the people in the car started piling out. 6 men, and 3 goats piled out, along with the 5 kids on top. 3 goats, priceless.......anyway,,, thats it for now...... out

It puts the soap on its skin or else it gets the hose again

Yesterday, Hawk and I went for a patrol through Haji Baba, along with higher eschelon, and a few others. More or less for a area familiariztion. We skirted the East side of the village and then proceeded to the hub. I think me managed to find the sewage street and opted to walk straight throuh it. It stunk, but by this time in the game no more than we probably did. I'm beginning to get a small pulse on the people here. It seems that I'm growing more accustomed to their gestures and have an easier time communicating with them. Some days I make little jokes, for example asking 2 men sitting by their cars if they're packing their gas tank with explosives. They just smile and wave, because of course I'm not speaking in an accusatory tone. Well, the street we were patrolling through yesterday was really narrow, and on one short halt I found myself in front of a doorway. A little girl walked past, and into the doorway all timidly and nervous like. She came back out a few moments later with some Nan bread and strolled on past down the alley. A minute later, a small boy came out. I asked him if he was up to no good back in there. He just smiled and nodded. I greeted him in Pashtun, and he greeted me back. He went back inside for a second and came back holding his wee little sister, no more than 18 months old. I extended my grubby finger and the little bugger took hold. Kinda cute. At this time his smaller brother came out, and the 2 of them talked quietly about the kit I was wearing for a bit. The patrol was about to get moving again, so I extended my hand to shaake the younger ones hand. He shied away, so I offered it to the older one. He shook my hand and I told him to have a good one. A few blocks down, on another halt a small girl was loading her wheelbarrow with her little sister, with small sticks I'm assuming to be used as fire wood. Well, the barrow was full, and I could tell she wanted to get by us. I told the boys to get outta the way, and gestured for her to come by. She got to me, little sister runnin behind, and pointed out a small ledge she couldn't get over top of. So I lifted the front end and she kept pushing through. About 20m later, she came across another ledge, and asked an infanteer for help. Well, the damned thing spilled over into the sewage, and buddy had to get his hands a little dirty. Meanwhile, 6 Afghan boys are squatting watching the scene unfold. So I say to them, in English of course. "What are you lazy buggers lookin at, why don't you help your friend?" They just sit there and stare. I joke to buddy next to me, "that wheelbarrow was really heavy, she's probably got a 155mm round packed under that load and she's probably going to the bomb makers." Army humor I guess. We get back after a pretty short patrol and unwind for the rest of the day. Got Chandras package today in the mail. Thank you very much sweetheart and whomever contributed. We all enjoyed the jim booglies you sent to us. Especially that baclava. Heavy duty.
So this morning we wake up and find out some people are paying a visit. Can't say who on this site, but let's just say that we were sent to our old patrol base for showers. Guess who didn't want one... yep Blencowe, like a cat overtop a bathtub, legs spread. I thought I'd have to throw him in. Anyway, the water was glacier. I thought I had lost what was between my legs along with a platoon of inf. and the rest of my section. I wanted to record the shrieks of despair as these guys showered. It sounded like a horror movie and a lot of cursing. Had a good chuckle at that. The boys raided the fridges there. Tonight we feast on burgers and sausages.

So we lose Maddin today for a week. We're backfilling positions that are leaving on vacation. There's simply not enough of us. So we're making due with whom we have, and thus far its working out. The guys are clean, shaven, and its looking like another little while before we can get clean again. So cold shower aside, it feels good to be in new clothes, and a fresh layer of deodorant. Gotta go for a shift now.... me and ole Hawk are on duty, so we'll see what happens......out....peace

relocated once again...

It's been a few days without the net out here... our satellite phone is a piece of shit and I can't call anyone... but we're back, at least for the time being.. Over the last few days, I've been relocated along with Blencowe, Bergeron and Maddin, to build up a patrol base. Well, we got started, paved a shower, built some observation posts, dug some piss holes, and everything got canned... Resources, time, man hours, all to shit... Was kinda choked... Got back from patrol yesterday and Forristall tells me I'm heading back to the section. I ask when and he says they're on the way to get me... Get you rhtings packed, you're leaving again... full stop on all projects. I'll save you the details on my irritable attitude afterward. So, anyway, back with the section and had a good days work.

Started off the day clearing a future ANA compound. Raking the scrub, piling it up, and then burning it in fine chimo style. Ole Hawk was on the prowl with his jerry can of gas and lighter. Well, we piled the stuff skyhigh and then ole Hawk himself lights the bugger up, along with his pants and the full jerry of gas. Well, I tell him in the panic that ensues, (cause hes ready to dump the gas) not to dump it, thinking the damn thing will burn out before it melts through. Well, it wasn't going out, so I literally ninja jump a 5 ft. high mud wall and run for cover. The rest of the posse follows suit. And what do ya know, The gas on the jerry did burn out before melting. We had a good chuckle after that. It seems as though we've been burning stuff all the time. I guess it beats putting it in bagss, taking it to the burn pit, and then lighting it. After that, had a little breakfast and then got to the chainsawing. We were cutting a tree because it was interfering with lines of sight. Well, the owner of said tree, said we couldn't cut it down to thre ground, but just the height of his mud hut that was beside it. So, Hawk, Me and the Tp Comd. Capt Hachey are out on this mud hut, which anyday now the roof is gonna collapse, chopping 50 lb. chunks of Afghani tree onto this guys roof top. I thought we were goin through. After about 20 minutes, we had an audience of about 30 Afghan men, all spectating and probably cursing our existence. Then the rains came... for about 10 minutes. Looks like we'll be getting wet over the next l;ittle while. So the guys finished building a fence while we were chopping, and then it was on to the bbq pit. We spotted some concrete blocks in the compound next door, so we hauled em out, and made a good 4 ft high foundation for the pit. Then we took smaller bricks and build the wind block. \the cement mix out here is garbage so we did er Afghan style and got our hands dirty with mud to be used as mortar. Well, I gotta tell you, its a pretty gnarly bbq, about 5 ft long by 4 ft deep. Now I guess all we need is power, a fridge for food, and the food itself. I think my breakfast this morning was noodles, my lunch was coffeee and noodles, and my dinner was 2 bites of KD and more noodles, oh yeah, and chicken noodle soup.

Anyway, now that we got net again, I can try to keep you posted more often once again. Power is limited so I have to sign off for now.l I miss you guys and think of you all the time. Later on... peace...

we got boned for kit

Imagine me sitting on a couch, pleather, in the middle of an Afghani compound, trying to combat a farmers tan with my t-shirt rolled up to the shoulders....sitting next to a guy, whom i hardly know. Inhaling dead foot particles of said guy, and wondering what on Gods green earth smells worse. Oh, he just got up (maybe he was reading as I was typing) and said "feet washing time." hahah. He left his boots behind...... anyway, some of the guys took off today to resupply our lines in the south.. they should be back in awhile. Things have taken a different turn around here. Now, it seems that they want to cut our section in half, and have us doing two different things in two different places. Its me Maddin, Blencowe, and Riley. Originally it would have been Dorner, however that would have left ole Hawk with no driver. So Blencowe took his place instead. Now instead of Riley/Dorner a.k.a team Spitfire, its Blencowe and Riley aptly called team "stinkfire."

Everyone is bummed at the thought of seperation, and hopefully it doesn't last too long. It makes no sense, but nothing really does. I wouldn't say that the two of em don't get along, but the truth of the matter is they don't. Guess I'll just have to pair them together for everything they do. Maybe it will bloom into a great friendship of sorts.....or not.

The nights have turned from cold to freezing now, to the point where bottles of water are freezing. No snow, and no moisture in the near future. So, we'll bake in the day and freeze during the night. I don't think we'll have a roof over our heads for the next little while. The area is volatile and we won't be securing new digs any time soon.

Yet another engineer is being sent home. Not to sure what exactly happened, but speculation is that it was either an RPG or an IED. He sustained fragmentation injuries to his upper arm, a broken orbital bone and burns to his face and chest. He'll be alright and is in Germany right now. Good news is that he will still be able to see from what I hear. Not a good record for the engineers thus far.

We'reliving fairly sparse right now, as we've been told to pack light for the next little while. So, we packed light to begin with coming out here.... and were told we would be getting what we call "follow on kit" that we left in KAF. So we do what were told and pack light. Now here we sit and we get told to pack lighter, and we lose our rucksacks and what little kit we had to begin with gets even smaller. So now I sit, down to 3 shirts, 3 gotch, and 3 socks, one pair of pants, one combat shirt, rain jacket, rain pants, snugfit jacket, a roll of deodorant, toothbrush and paste, bar of soap, and my sleeping bags. Oh, and longjohns. not to mention my helmet and battle rattle. This is not complaining, its just the way it is is all.... at any rate, my most valuable possession is my journal and pics from home.

So I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again. We're going to be living on the ground for a bit i reckon. I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about whenever I see a computer again......Love and hugs.......miss you guys......out

Blessed be the dogs...

Well, It`s the start of the OP and our section has finished prepping everything we may need for the upcoming tasks ahead. We spent the day standardizing all of the kit bags and makeshifting anything we could think of that we may require in the upcoming months. I think the tanks just engaged a Taliban with their primary.... he was holding an Rpg ( rocket propelled grenade) . The other night the artillery over at Sperwengar were lobbing illumination rounds over top of our patrol base. This would have been great, except 2 outta 3`s chutes didnt open and the rounds were landing all around us. The one just missed the gate observatoion post (OP). I almost shit my pants and was ducking my head like that woulda made a difference in anything. hahah...

Fyffe (Sgt. type) a.k.a Hawk(will explain but not on this blog) and I were on gate OP a couple of days ago. He bled his heart out telling me how much he loved his dogs, and has mentioned on previous accounts on how he wished we could get one out here. I love dogs too, but I keep my cards to my chest a little more. At any rate, at about 430 in the morning I observed 2 dogs roaming across the field in front of me.....through the thermal imagery. Well, ole Hawkeye asks me for a GRIT ( group, range, type, indicator, and type of fire). I tell him 4200 mils, 500 meters, 2 times enemy dogs. He pulls out a paraflare, and these things fly I tell ya, holds it parallel to the ground and aims in the vicinity of the dogs. I`m watching through the thermals thinking hes just gonna fire one into the air..... nope, he launches it like a rocket and I watch in green technocolor the flare impact right on the dogs heels. The damn thing runs in circles and him and his buddy take off like lightning. I should explain that these dogs are aggressive and probably the biggest I`ve ever seen. We fuckin laughed like donkeys for a good half hour after that. I guess they7 shouldnt put a Sgt and a MCpl on shift at the same time. hooliganism.

Anyway, I should mention that we lost another engineer the other day. I won`t mention his name cause I don`t really know if he`d like me to. He lost his left leg on approach to a morta in a field that hadn`t exploded. He stepped on a PMN( anti pers landmine) or toe popper as we call them. He`s in Germany now and they hope to salvage his right leg. I don`t know how many people have now told me to take my time. I will, believe me......

The guys are still kickin it, and the section is jivin well. I get a kick outta the guys daily. The fire tems have been established and we`ll be working with the same person for the next little while. I`m paired with Spr Maddin... He`s a tall skinny guy, who like to be quiet. Give him a month with me.... he won`t be so quiet anymore. Oh yeah,,,, he`s also damn near blind.... figure I`ll just walk him onto objectives.... bad joke.......like I said the section is solid, and I could easily work with any of the guys.....

Anyway, got the padre today to bless our kit. He didn`t have any holy water and told me he was gonna mix up a batch. Well, he left his holy water making kit in KAF, so we settled for a tools of the trade blessing. At first he thought I was being an ass... I had to ensure him I wasn`t and that I was Roman Catholic. Anuyway, no problem after that.. I put my shotgun in the pile my kit, and he says I guess we`ll haev to figure out a way for that. Anyway, I`m rolling with holy C4 and a holy shotgun with holy buckshot and slug rounds. Everything is holy in my bag and in my hands, and I gotta tell you, it gives me a piece of mind.......

Well, thats it for now, gonna have some bbq turkey tonight... Pte. Winther is doing a wicked ass job of cooking up the grits.... used to be a cook i reckon... Oh yeah, been talking with Chandra (I love you babe) and shes mentioned that some of you have sent me some things.. Thank you very much.. The boys and I will enjoy getting some stuff from your side of the world......Anyway, love you all, and I`ll try to keep this thing updated as best I can for the next little while.......Peace

Rem day

Well, Nov.11 is here and we get a well deserved day for relaxation and just chillin' out. \did my laundry, had a shower, and now we're gonna do some drills on the .50cal. A tanker this morning decided to pull the trigger to "see what would happen." Well, needless to say, he had a negligent discharge of about 3 rounds. Now, thats 2 days they've been here and 2 negligent discharges. I think I said to Chandra before I left, I'm not worried about getting shot by the Taliban, I am however concerned about getting shot by a tanker. I think I'll start wearing my helmet and frag vest around..haha...Anyway, last night on OP shift, Dorners feet were freezing, so he decided to warm them up on a ammo can filled with charcoal and lighter fluid. His feet sure warmed up... he melted the glue from the soles of his boots, and he doesn't have another pair.....He ends up using a sealant to glue them back together and gun tape to clamp it..... Hopefully it works out for him... We had some victory cigars today being Rememberance Day and all.... The humidor is working pretty well and the boys all enjoyed a good smoke... Except Dorner... I reckon its the first thing he ever smoked cause he was layed out for awhile after smoking it...

Speaking of smoking.. I divulged my little secret today to Chandra. Yes, I am smoking again.... but I promised I'd quit when I return to Canada and its a promise I intend to keep..... Got to speak to the little lady today... Of course the phone keeps cutting out.... Told Blencowe about the pillow your'e sending for him.... HE was pretty excited about the thought of actually resting his head on something other than mousetraps, cords, combat shirts, and garbage he keeps in his bug net...

We've got some pretty hard charging shit coming up... can't really say what it is we're gonna do, but I can say I may not be able to update this as often as I have been......If I don't get a phone by the 17th, I wanna wish Angie a Happy Birthday.....

Oh, and I may have a nasty upper lip tan line come Feb. when we go on HLTA.... Yes, we are growing the dirty combat moustaches......Ok well, gotta run... apparently they're running everyone through the .50 cal now...hahah..... better late than never....peace...out

2-6

Well, yesterday we were probably eating dust from as far away as Iran. It started as a cool breeze and minutes later the entire area was zero visibility and everyone turned a pale shade of brown. I shook out my sleeping bag and a plume of dust shot right out of it. I can't even imagine what would fly out of Blencowes fart sac. I think he uses it as a kit bag, so I asked him about it. He says he uses these random items as pillows as he hasn't got one. Who could argue with that? I found one of his socks buried in an inch of moon dust, and the other one caught in a mouse trap. WTF..... The cigarette butts he keeps in his pocket really stink up the room too.... So I kinda had to sort him out... Super good soldier, just needs a swiffer to follow him around or something. We think he may have partially dislocated hgis ankle on patrol the other night. It looks pretty bad. Not sure if he'll be good to go in the next little while. He did say he heard a pop when it happened. I told him if he tied his boots up, he may not have that type of problem again.

Riley took his revenge out on me the night before last. You see, I attacked him when he was on his cot, and made himself punch his own face a few times. He was being a smart ass and was beggin for a beat down. Well, he got it, and 2 nights ago he exacted his revenge. He waited until I zipped up my bugnet and crawled into my sac. I watched him wat ch me and thought nothing of it until he came walkin over all bare foot and shit. Looked like a neolith stalking a partridge or some shit. Well, the fists came flying. I managed to unzip and get a fist out. |Got a shot in on his chin, and then he got on top... He grabbed my hand as I kneed him in the head... gave him a head butt, and then he made me punch my own face with my left.... after tha we made a rule... no more fighting in the room cause it stirs up too much dust.

Just got off shift from 0200-0600 on the tower OP. froze my arse off.. nothing but wild dogs running around trying to scrounge some grub i guess... Dorner shot a paraflare, but the damn things chute didnt open. It ended up in someones compound and burnt on the ground for a few minutes.. We thought for sure it would light the place up. On our earlier shift we got wind the enemy was watching us. Dorner starts waving away..... kid cracks me up. On a more serious note.. the other section within the troop has stolen our flag. We thought it was the dragoons(armoured guys) and we were ready to knuckle up for real as soon as they came back. Then Dorner sees on facebook the Delta guys have a picture with someone in a burka holding a weapon in front of our flag with a ransom note demanding 2 cartons of smokes, a 26 and a flat of beer........Thankfully we didnt start beating on Dragoons before we seen the pics..We'd all of ended up in the KAF jail cells........ nervous laugh...anyway, need sleep.....thats it for now

Quotes from the section

Leblanc-Bergeron says "holee fuck, I think I just stepped on a mine"

Dorner says "don't worry guys its nothin" as he sticks his bayonet into the ground....

Schneider (Inf) says to Rediger " they called me Rediger in highschool, why do they call you Rediger"

Still in the heart of darkness, and we've managed to set out some sort of work schedule....The mid days heat is still baking us as we walk with our loads through the area. Took a look aat a few compounds yesterday, and found a bag of what appeared to be black powder. Was out with Spr Maddin and I told him to burn a bit of it to see...... He piles out a couple of grams of the stuff and I tell him to take "a little off" I don';t think he heard me cause he was ready to strike the match... I told him again to take some off, he does, and I tell him to take off a bit more... He then strikes the match, and yep, sure enough its black powder.. I'm sure he can attribute his facial hair to my telling him to take some off... Anyway, other than that, just another routine patrol. Dorner is not liking the heavy loads on his back, and I gotta laugh everytime he comes back from a patrol, the other day he was saying he was taking water from his camelbak and spiytting it out just to lighten the load.... Blencowe is pure filth... I wake up this morning, he approaches wher Im sitting with his hand over his mouth... He pulls it away and the guys got a goatee shaved into his facial hair....and chops the size of Elvis'. Needless to say, it was shaved off not too long after. Think about Marshall a lot.. I think everyone does.... hopefully hes our guardian angel up there....
Don't hear much from the other section.... Fortin seemed to be doin alright the last time I talked to him... I look at the pics I took with me every night, really glad I brought them along.... Today is a little break for me.... spend time around the patrol base....back at it again tomoorrow......

dog size mice.....

I'm not in tune any longer to what day of the week it is, however I do know its into Nov. and we've already lost one of our own.. The poor guy wasn't even on the ground for more than 48 hours.... Spr Marshall was in our sister sect within the troop, and well, to be quite frank, it sucks... I'm at a lost fro words in that respect. I'm still located at the "heart of darkness" and this place is polluted with IEDS and little mud huts that the Taliban are making them in. The engineers are always on the go, either patrolling or sitting on compounds waiting for their assistance. We've slept outside for the last 2 nights, on a suspect aliban compound in hopes of demolishing it in the next few days.... we'll see.... it will be the largest demolition ever in Afghanistan........ the place is totally reinforced and its calling for a very large percentage of the battel groups demolition supply......The guys seem to be adjusting really well, and are enthusiastic about upcoming tasks and jobs.... extremely eager to say the least.... A few are a little flinchy when it comes to tehir surroundings, and I can remember the first tour I had here and I was the same way. I guess, I've really begun to think like the enemy and hopefully this makes my job a little safer.... The first day out here I found myself digging in the road, on having a large hit on the detector... I dug down about 4 inches into the road and uncovered a propane tank......awhile later EOD showed up and uncovered the total device consisting of the tank, a 155mm artillery round, and a paint can full of home made explosives.....sketchy to say the least.....It's a little nerve racking and combined with the Malarone (malaria pills) the dreams I've been having are off the hook.... I literally woke up the other night looking into the eyes of a poodle size mouse licking his little chops on the sandbags next to where I sleep.......bizzarre....oh yeah, the mice... the little buggers are constantly chomping in the night and crawling around everywhere... Dorner found one in his sleeping bag earlier today,,, hahaha...... we sleep in little mud rooms with dirtt floors..... a far cry from the king size bed at home...... I imagined I was there earlier last night with Chandra next to me.......I'm always lookng at the photos I brought along.....They make me smile.......anyway... off to yet another patrol..... the night ones are a bitch.......