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