Sobo's Updates...

[Coldfinger]

Well how's detox, er I mean, KDH treating you Sobo?

 

Haven't seen any sign of mods hijacking your avatar.......yet.

[JosephH]

Heads up - keep your head down.

 

US prepares for last major Afghanistan offensive

[ivan]

Heads up - keep your head down.

 

US prepares for last major Afghanistan offensive

not a good sign when your likely last major offensive is to "defend the approaches to the capital," is it?

[sobo]

Hi guyz,

Been in-country all of about 32 hours now, and already had my first rocket attack yesterday, after being in KAF for all of about 5 or 6 hours. Nobody hurt, it didn't last long (according to the old timers), but some did come over the wire and impact in camp, but not near me.

 

Pretty wild place here, lemme tell ya... Reminds one of the Old West. Military folks of both genders and all nations walk around on the Boardwalk (large square with shops on all four sides connected by wooden sidewalks) with all manner of firearms slung over their shoulders or ridin' their hips. Locked and loaded, too, depending upon the partiuclar individual's unit function. You almost expect to see someone get thrown out of a saloon and then get challenged to a duel. I keep listening for the riff from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the background...

[JosephH]

Been in-country all of about 32 hours now, and already had my first rocket attack...

 

So for eleven years and a trillion dollars we still can't protect the capital and our most secure base. Asymmetric warfare at it's best. We should just walk away, rename it Vietnastan in honor of lessons learned, and call it good. Conditions are not going to improve so keep your wits about you.

[rbw1966]

Pick me up some hash please.

[rob]

Pick me up some hash please.

 

I'd bet you $10 there is way better hash in Seattle than in Afghanistan

[rbw1966]

Yeah, but its from fucking SEATTLE.

[Coldfinger]

Gee Sobo, seems like everywhere you go......there's a mall.

[sobo]

Well, the latest news "from the front" is that I survived my second thru sixth rocket attacks this evening, after being in country only 3 days! That first attack a couple days ago was nothing. I never even heard or saw anything from it, and it was all over in about 2 minutes.

 

However, tonight's attacks started ~2030 hrs when we were at chow. Two barrages were closely spaced while in the dining hall, then after the "all clear" we headed back to the office for the evening shift. On the walk back to the office, another attack. This time, I distinctly heard 3 dets in camp, but they weren't close enough to us to see what happened/where they hit. After that second "all clear" (AC), I was at my desk for about half an hour when the siren sounded for the third attack in less than an hour. So back outside we went to play another round of "Hunker in the Bunker." We barely got the AC and were heading back inside when another barrage entered camp, so we all scurried back to the bunkers and waited for another 15 minutes or so.

 

After we got the fourth AC and got settled in at our desks again, we got another warning siren, so back outside we went. We just got back in about a half hour ago after the 5th AC. All in all, 5 attacks in about 1.5 hours, with three distinct impacts somewhere. Definitely a more exciting time than the first day's attack. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway...

 

My temporary digs here at KAF (Kandahar Airfield) sort of suck, but I'm only here for one week, then I move to a FOB “hub” to oversee the construction on my bases, of which I will be assigned eight. Add in the hub where I'll be living, and it's a total of nine bases. I will still be pretty near to KAF, less than a half-hour chopper ride away.

 

Everybody's told me that the FOB I'm headed to next week is the very best one, cuz it's "all Army" (KAF is a NATO base, so it's multi-national) and the food at my new FOB is universally recognized around KAF as being top-notch. Prime rib once a week, lobster once a week, etc. I should get my own CHU (pronounced "chew") once I get there because of my job responsibilities. CHU is short for Containerized Housing Unit, or a shipping conex like the ones you see on ocean-going freighters. They outfit them with a sleeping quarters, an office, and a "sitting room" of sorts. They panel the walls, add a door with a window, weatherstrip everything to keep the dust to a minimum and (most) of the venomous critters out, and wire it. My total living and working space while not moving about will be about 8' x 20'. It will have AC, heat, power, and internet. All phones are mobile here, except the landlines here at the office. All the comforts of home!

 

Plus, I’ve figured out my AT&T international calling plan, and I can call the states for $0.10/minute (plus I get the pleasure of being buttraped at the rate of ~17% in taxes per call). I’ve already called several people to check out how it works, and then checked the website for the running bill. It’s righteous!

 

I'm currently "cold bunking" in a smaller CHU (8’ x 8’) at KAF while the regular inhabitant is on his quarterly R&R. The plan is for me to be at my FOB (I can't tell you the name of it here) before the other guy gets back here. At least, that's the plan. Some people still call them hooches (typically the older guys that have served in Vietnam), but the newbies like me call them CHUs, because that’s what the military calls them.

 

So everything's cool. I made it out of Dubai to KDH, and I'm feeling really healthy and eating well. I avoided jet lag by making my “half-world tour” in stages (5 days in TX, 2 days in VA, 5 days in Dubai, and now AFG). They say that you need 1 day for every hour of time change to recover from jet lag, so if you look at how I worked my way across the USA, then the Atlantic, then the Middle East, and finally western Indonesia, you can see that I covered the 11.5 hours in 12 days.

 

And I feel FABULOUS! I haven't gotten sick yet, but everyone tells me that within the first month, I will. Different (gut) flora here than at home, and the air is full of a dust as fine as talcum power. So you either get the screaming shits for 3 or 4 days, or an upper respiratory infection that lasts for 3 or 4 weeks, or both. Something to look forward to, I guess... Happens to everyone, they say.

 

That's all for now!

[sobo]

Gee Sobo, seems like everywhere you go......there's a mall.

I'll be sure to send you some pics from my latest adventures at the PX...

[minx]

well Sobo..it kinda sounds like college. living in a little furnished 8X20 container. not bad.

[sobo]

Well, I haven't actually seen it or been given the key to it yet, so nothing's for certain. Right now, I'm living in an 8 x 8 cube that I can barely fart in without driving myself outside.

[JosephH]

Hey what do they say / do about this over there these days? Seemed to be one off the biggest hassles being over there if I recall correctly.

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leishmaniasis#section_4

 

Some dated commentary:

 

http://www.epinews.com/news4_leishmaniasis_OEF_OIF.html

 

And the latest yellow book entry:

 

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2012/chapter-3-infectious-diseases-related-to-travel/leishmaniasis-cutaneous.htm

Edited April 18, 2012 by JosephH

[akhalteke]

Been in-country all of about 32 hours now, and already had my first rocket attack...

 

So for eleven years and a trillion dollars we still can't protect the capital and our most secure base. Asymmetric warfare at it's best. We should just walk away, rename it Vietnastan in honor of lessons learned, and call it good. Conditions are not going to improve so keep your wits about you.

 

God you are a fucking idiot; spouting off jargon that you don't understand.

[JosephH]

Been in-country all of about 32 hours now, and already had my first rocket attack...

So for eleven years and a trillion dollars we still can't protect the capital and our most secure base. Asymmetric warfare at it's best. We should just walk away, rename it Vietnastan in honor of lessons learned, and call it good. Conditions are not going to improve so keep your wits about you.

God you are a fucking idiot; spouting off jargon that you don't understand.

'Asymmetric' has somehow become indecipherable private 'jargon'? I would hope not after spending a trillion bucks perfecting it to the point where we still don't own the roads and can't keep our main base from daily rocket attacks eleven years on. Yep, that's some real secret sauce you're slinging around dude.

[pindude]

Damn Sobo! I should read cc more often. I missed this thread until now, *and* I just read for the first time your columnar basalt cowboy riding.

 

Jealous that you got to ski Dubai. Best of everything to you on your adventures in Afghan land, and stay safe.

 

In the 1990s I worked for a contractor providing outdoor equipment, in particular industrial-type shelters, to clients including the DOD. We eventually lost out on contracts to KBR and others. Curious to know what type of shelters are over there now, and who makes them.

 

I'm buying when you get back, and I'd even meet up with you in Yakivegas.

[akhalteke]

Been in-country all of about 32 hours now, and already had my first rocket attack...

So for eleven years and a trillion dollars we still can't protect the capital and our most secure base. Asymmetric warfare at it's best. We should just walk away, rename it Vietnastan in honor of lessons learned, and call it good. Conditions are not going to improve so keep your wits about you.

God you are a fucking idiot; spouting off jargon that you don't understand.

'Asymmetric' has somehow become indecipherable private 'jargon'? I would hope not after spending a trillion bucks perfecting it to the point where we still don't own the roads and can't keep our main base from daily rocket attacks eleven years on. Yep, that's some real secret sauce you're slinging around dude.

 

You still don't have a clue what it means. Just a catch phrase you heard on the news I suppose. At least Wikipedia it or something... Don't blame it on Joe; this is going squarely on the shoulders of the politicians that have been hamstringing us for 11 years. We OWNED Afghanistan with asymetrical warfare in a couple months. Conventional warfare took over (due COMPLETELY to politics) and blamo, full blown shit storm.

 

Read up on the first little bit of the war and ask yourself why we acheived so much in so little time and then lost it all and keep wacking out heads against the wall, so some generals can earn their piece of the pie so they can make cabinet positions, take over agencies ect.

 

Same thing happened in WWII with Bill Donovan/ Hoover and the CIA, Vietnam was no different.

 

Long story short, we did asymetrical warfare better than anyone has in modern times (maybe not than the Afghans against the Russians) and it all got fucked up because careerist politicians and Generals want to get another star or run an agency they have never been part of.

 

 

[JosephH]

To paraphrase Rumsfeld on the realities of war:

 

"You don't fight with the politicians you wish you had, you fight with what you have."

 

Nothing new there and right up with saying we just didn't install the right local government as well. Same as it ever was and the same shit we dealt with in Vietnam. And we swept Afghanistan and Iraq initially because they weren't spun up yet and we never did what was necessary to secure the place, nor could we ever had at those force levels.

 

And in what sense is the evolution and perfection of IEDs - (both indigenous and from Pakistan and Iran), increasingly sophisticated and coordinated suicide attacks, and Afghan army infiltration attacks constitute "conventional warfare"?

 

Cluelessness is a perspective; daily rocket attacks on our strongest base eleven years on is reality.

[rob]

Read up on the first little bit of the war and ask yourself why we acheived so much in so little time and then lost it all and keep wacking out heads against the wall, so some generals can earn their piece of the pie so they can make cabinet positions, take over agencies ect.

 

lol, you're obviously not in the service anymore.

 

 

[ivan]

i doubt you'll win any concessions there, joe - jesus, how many fools still believe the war you were a part of wasn't an ignoble defeat?

 

ya'll can blame whatever/whoever you want, ultimately the fault lies on us all as it was done in all our names

[rob]

NOT IN MY NAME

[ivan]

NOT IN MY NAME

have you been avoiding the census-man, spartacus?

[sobo]

Could we all please endeavor to keep my thread crack-free? Er, I mean Yakima-free? Thankyouverymuchinadvance.

Requesting once again for y'all to leave my update thread spray-free. Y'all can take your pontificating and navel contemplation to another thread just as easily as you can shit on this one. Thankyouverymuchinadvanceagain.

[sobo]

Hey what do they say / do about this over there these days? Seemed to be one off the biggest hassles being over there if I recall correctly.

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leishmaniasis#section_4

 

Some dated commentary:

 

http://www.epinews.com/news4_leishmaniasis_OEF_OIF.html

 

And the latest yellow book entry:

 

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2012/chapter-3-infectious-diseases-related-to-travel/leishmaniasis-cutaneous.htm

It's still a big concern over here. We were warned about it in training in Fort Worth, shown pictures of it's results ( ), and were told that 100% DEET was the best way to prevent getting bitten. That, and nets over your bed at night. I haven't seen any of the little blighters yet. Hope I never do...

 

Regarding regular flies, haven't seen many of them either, but it's warming up a little bit more each day and the Poo Pond in camp is starting to get ripe...