new beginnings in the middle....

So it is always interesting to get a new job in the middle of a deployment... it shakes things up a bit to say the least. I left Kandahar Airfield a little under a month ago- leaving the crazy dust and the poo ponds and stinky smell for Forward Operating Base Pasab. An old Canadian outpost enlarged by 100 times and now a flurry of American and Afghan Army activities... living shona-ba-shona (or shoulder to shoulder) definitely has its draw backs... like it limits my ability to run by myself at night and well as a woman you get stared at... a lot...
Although, the Mullah for the 5th Kandak or our Afghan partners and I had an interesting discussion through our interpreter during our partnership dinner- religion and politics in Iraq and Afghanistan... I am pretty sure neither are supposed to be discussed with a woman- so I felt pretty confident that it was a good sign... well until the interpreter told me that the Commander told him that he was going to send a picture to his wife! Apparently he only has one, and the commander has a couple and like 10 kids... crazy right...

 but my job is a little different than the last and it definitely keeps me on my toes- I now have the opportunity to make things simpler, easy and better for the Soldiers in the Spartan Brigade.

Living conditions have definitely changed- I live in a tent now- I got a memory foam mattress pad- that is definitely improving things- and well oddly enough I have commercial internet- yeah- so my blogs will be a little more frequent I hope- as will my running- the last month has been crazy with change! went from running 9 miles to not running- and now to the treadmill... not so much fun especially when I drop my ipod and it hits the treadmill and goes careening into the elliptical machine behind and cracks the screen- but god love it- that may be the best ipod ever- it has survived being submerged in ice water for hours- and now a giant dent- and it is still working fine (as long as you don't want to watch a movie).... I will just have to wait until it cools down  so I can run in the middle of the day.

The food here is a lot better- I can make a wrap sandwich... the little things in life make us happy- that and mail- we like getting mail- even if we send it to ourselves- that is how I get coffee for my Keurig- which I am now addicted to! and a travel mug- because my last one got stolen... it would be nice to have one again- easier to put in the vehicles than a real coffee mug- or styrofoam... note I am still waiting on it to come- and well I might be happy about it tomorrow- we are getting three containers of mail in tonight! Yea!

I have been out on patrol a couple of times since being here at Pasab- going to some interesting places. We are in the Zharay District of Kandahar Province , in the Arghandab River Valley- the river is pretty much dry right now and the locals use it as a thoroughfare for the most part- it is kinda neat that I have seen it.  We try to find the humor in things like the other day- some guys were on patrol and saw a Donkey-Borne- Improvised-Explosive-Device; luckily they saved the Donkey- we of course named it the Ass-Borne IED- maybe humor that some of you may not get- but it just furthers my theory that hell is actually being a donkey in a third world/developing nation...

I put a couple of pictures in just so you could see what I look like when I head out- lots o' Armor on this girl- and weapons of course- an M4 Rifle and a M9 Berretta. The last one is one of the bomb-sniffing dogs that comes in to visit us every once and while- they definitely cheer me up and everyone else too...

Well I am off to the gym to get on the treadmill.... arrgghhh... hoping for cooler days ahead...