Now that I am here...

Now that I have been here for a little while I can post pictures of what life is like here at the Forward Operating Base in Qalat. In words? Mmmm, the living conditions suck out here. There are no hot showers, no real toilets, no heat, and the food is horrible that it makes you want an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat). HOWEVER, the Army folks that I have met here are great. The Signal Officer I work with is cool. The Mortor Platoon Leader is cool. The enlisted folks that work for them are even cooler. Also, my two guys that work with me out here are doing great things. So all in all, even though I eat canned meat sandwiches everyday for lunch and take freezing showers in freezing weather. This site is not bad. I have my music and my thoughts. No one can take that. Oh yeah, I command the ability to get in touch with the outside world. i.e. phones to stateside and internet. That is the best job to have out here. Maybe that is why people are so nice to me? Who cares? I can use it to my advantage. Hahahahahaha.

Pictures are coming...

Thank you...

I would just like to thank K.M. and Lt. Smash. Both great bloggers and gave me links on their sites. K.M. is sorta forced to do so cause he started me on this trip. Smash, thank you. Glad everyone is enjoying the pictures. More to come. They are delayed but what the heck. Better late than never.

Not a great shot. These are those guys I was talking about. These men just sit somewhere and observe. Like a look out. In the Marines we called these guys forward observers.

Another young boy. With no one else around.

Young man waves, old man glares.

Thumbs up.

This little girl in the blueish/green outfit was flying a kite. I didn't get the kite in the shot.

A cemetary in the middle of no man's land.

These are interesting rock structures on the hill tops around Qalat. I was told that many of these were actual Taliban bases during the Soviet occupation till present time. I don't know how true that is however

That little river may not seem like much but apprently it is enough for people out here to grow what they need to grow.

Sheep on the side of the river...if you can call it that. When is a river not a river but now a stream? I don't know those types of things.

WAHLA! This is where all that water came from.

Lady on a donkey...

Camels....just walking along the road.

Couldn't really tell what this was growing...but it is green.

I guess this is how the water gets to the irrigation lines in the fields.

Not sure if you can tell but the two children furthest back do not have shoes. I was watching these kids run around the rocks and fields like nothing.

Local transportation...That guy looks fishy back there.

Local roadside 7-Eleven...

In the middle of no where. There is a green lush patch of something.

This was the road we took. This happened to us twice on our journey.

Due to these guys working on a bridge. We had to take the high rode.

This is the road to Qalat. Most of these vehicles behind us were in the convoy.

Just another house.

Imagine living your life in this enviroment. Then all of a sudden someone brings you something like, mmm, lets say, 1 million dollars to dime out some guy you have never seen. I was talking with some SF (Special Forces) guys and they said that one time they asked a local what he would do with 1 million dollars. The locals response was "Buy another shack so I can sell more drinks." After the converstation carried on the SF guys came to realize that the local had absolutely NO idea how much money 1 million dollars is. They gave him 40 bucks and sent him on his way.

I am interested to see what these people do when it begins to snow out here.

These are the little straw huts that the local people live in. Don't get me wrong, in the bigger "city" areas there are mud huts and stuff like that. In the open country however this is all I saw.

I was very please to see that Shell is making their presence felt in Afghanistan.

More women and children. The colors are really bright in comparism to the drab looks of the rest of country.

One of the little "towns" that we passed by.

The area in the middle of the picture is a cemetary. Apparently they just pile rocks on your body, stick a flag on it and call it a grave.

The province that Qalat is in is called Zabul. Zabul is the capitol of opium, hash and marijuana. This hill side must be a joke to the local people.

Some women and children walking down the street. I hope that you can see the colors that they are wearing. I had to lower the quality of the photo that I am posting because the higher the quality the bigger the file and our bandwidth would not let me upload high qauality photos...

This is an ANA (Afghan National Army) post.

Begining of the traffic jam. Cars just made their own lanes trying to go around the traffic.

One of the guys I was talking about that is just sitting out in the middle of no where.

This taxi would not get out of our convoy line. That is the local truck that is carrying our gear behind the taxi.

This is how we rode to Qalat. In the back of a 2 1/2 ton truck. Dusty? Yes. Cold? Yes. Bumpy? Yes. However we made it.

The morning that we were leaving. There is that hat that I lost...

What does that sign on the drivers side of the truck mean? I haven't an idea.

On the side of the local truck...signs for good times.

The day before we left for Qalat. This is the local owned truck that was carrying our shelter and communication equipment. Why in the world would the Army contract out these trucks with local drivers to drive to a forward operating base just doens't make sense to me.

NEW PICS.....

The following pictures go with this post...