Stinks back

Okay, when I say it rained in the last few days, it came down hard. I'm surprised we still have a compound left, being that they are all made of mud. Today it finally cleared up and the wadis have started to recede. But 2 nights ago the lightning show and torrential downpour made for a wet night on OP. The locals constantly repair their dwellings with the changing of the seasons and this is something we didn't really train for. We're making due with creating our own mud and straw mix and some of the guys have started doing their own patch work. Hopefully we won't have another rain storm like that or i reckon there won't be much left.
Dorner has officially gone on leave and we drove him down to a pickup point earlier this evening. With that, ole Stink has returned from leave and I'll be damned if he still has his moustache from before he left. I don't know how in the hell he convinced his girlfriend to let him keep it but leave it to ole Stink, he's still got it. With that, Capt Hachey has shaved his off too. They stuck the legendary facial piece to a strip of duct tape and I'm not sure who the keeper is. It is extremely haggard.
The patrolling is endless but thats nothing new. The other day we were searching a culvert as we moved down a prominent route in our AO. I could not get good eyes into the culvert so I went about it from the road. I leaned over the side and there went a magazine. 30 rounds into the wadi. I started to haul my ass back up and there went the second magazine. They were falling out of my Tac vest and I couldn't do a thing about it. Horvath said he'd try to get them out and rolled up his sleeves and dug down. The water was too deep. I said forget it and opted to fill out a lost report. We moved down the road and set up our vehicle check point. Spent a good 4 hours in location searching vehicles and people as they passed. I was back to my old antics telling locals that certain items were contraband and pretending to pocket their items. I had a wrench from one guys car and had the interpreter tell him that the Taliban weren't allowed tools so why should the local nationals have tools. The guy insisted it was to repair his vehicle and I let him know i was just messing around. At the end of the day we went back to the wadi where I lost my mags. I put the metal detector in the water, which by this point had receded to a manageable level, and located my mags. Fished em out and got a little wet, but no lost report to fill out.
I know I've said it before but I am like an Afghan Elvis walking throught the village that neighbours our compound. Even the old guys have taking a liking to me and try to teach me Pashto everytime I walk by. The kids continue to call me moustache and retrieve my golf balls. I'm now committed to giving one 5lb bag of candy for one golf ball. I just don't want to negotiate with these little buggers anymore. So, they chuck me a ball, and I chuck them a huge bag of candy. Now when I walk through town, they hold up the balls and ask me for candy. We don't really understand eachother but I tell them to come by the tower later and I'll make the trade. They understand the gestures, so all is well.
Anyway, holidays are getting close and I'm trying very hard not to shut er down before i go. I will be very happy once I'm on that C-130 outta KAF. Until then, I'll keep putting the best foot forward and do the job..... until the next.... peace