Last I posted I was in Kabul and inprocessing Camp and Task Force (TF) Phoenix  That was several days ago and I've now jumped 400 years into the past and am currently located at my Forward Operating Base (FO Bermel.  Let's regress and go back to Kabul, where we recieved several briefings that we'd heard before leaving the US.  So this was a wasted day!  There seems to be no war at Camp Phoenix where there's Dairy Queen, Subway, Green Beans Coffee Shop, a huge PX and oh by the way a SPA where you can get a massage, manicure and pedicure.  On this Camp you have to carry your weapon everywhere but aren't allowed to carry ammo, so if you see the Taliban or Anti-Afghan Forces (AAF) then you have to sling insults, harsh looks or club them with your M4.  Not much danger there, but everyone there will tell you how hard it is being in Afghanistan.  To add insult to injury everyone there gets the same combat pay that I do in a forward area and the all have the latest gizmos for their weapons that they have no ammo for, strange but true.  Luckily, we quickly departed Phoenix for FOB Lightning in Gardez via helicopter. 

FOB Lightning is the 203 Corps Headquarters (HQ) and we had to sit in additional brieifngs, many the same as what we got in Phoenix.  As luck would have it though the team chief that I'm replacing was there on Lightning so I got some productive work done there.  Lightning isn't as cush as Phoenix but there is still a spa there, not sure if this is some new counterinsurgency tactic to populate Afghanistan with Spas amd thus subdue the enemy with manicures.  Trying to leave Lightning is an experience in itself, first we had to request a helicopter which may or may not show up and on the first day it didn't show up so my team and I waited ont he landing zone for an enitre day with no luck.   First operational day in Afghanistan and all I did ws sit on my butt and do nothing, great contribution to the war on terror!  The second day we were lucky and got a flight to Bermel.  Our flight was via MI-8 HIP helicopters which are Soviet made and these ones may have been left over from the invasion.  We jumped aboard with all our gear and off we go to Bermel.  Inside the bird it smelled of fuel and the door gunner looks out the door with nothing holding him into the bird. 

Over the mountains we go, needless to say it's tad bit cold but all goes well.  I'll add a small caveat here, each time you get on a helicopter to go somewhere farther forward you go back 200 years in time.  We landed in Bermel and were home.  The FOB is fairly good size and we share it with several other units, a company from the 101st Airborne, a battalion of Afghan National Army, a battery of artillery and other smaller assorted units.  Bermel is located 4000 meters from the Pakistani border, if I look out tothe west the next ridgeline I see is in Pakistan.  Our food and mail is air dropped to us.  Our food is T rations, if you don't know what that is find an Army Vet and ask them about T rats and watch for the expression of their face, probably not good.  Jenny Craig has nothing on us here, I've already lost weight.  We settled into our team house which is pretty great by Afghan standards and were quickly greeted by outgoing artillery fire.  Outgoing is always better than incoming!   We do have showers and laundry here and I'll say that it's much better than the FOB I lived on in Haiti.  We had a great dinner with our Afghan interpreters at a local dining establishment on the FOB.

Today we rezeroed our weapons, because flying around the world they get banged up and they lose their accuracy.  Also we got the lay of the land and had a meeting with the local Afghan govenor.  Good meeting!  Our team has an embeded reporter with us for the next three weeks a guy named Scott Kesterson our of Portland, OR who covers ETTs and Special forces units.  He seems like a good guy and has done a lot of work covering and promoting the mission that we do with the ANA.  By the way no spa here in Bermel.  The terrain around Bermel looks a lot like sothern Colorado so it kind of like being at home.

A couple of observations, I know why there's no Michelin Guide for Afganistan, it is very, very remote.  You can't bomb these people into the stone age because in many places that would be an advancement.  We see NO women at all and we're told not to ever ask about them as it offends the Afghan morals.  We are making an impact here in a positive way with the government and the people.  The Afghans DO WANT US HERE, there's no mistaking that in any way shape or form.  All the Afghans I've seen or met with so far are very happy to have us here and greet us well!  There are groups that hate us but they're in a very small, but vocal and violent minority.  There is hope here and the guys I'm relieving share that same view after a year on the ground.  Quite different from what the news in the US says. 

We're here ready to get to work!