AF Day 036

FOB Smart at 1835

Whew! Today's mission was fairly long and, unbelievably, tiring. Riding across the countryside in an up-armored vehicle, with cold A/C, wearing an IBA vest and Kevlar helmet is taxing by itself. We looked at completed erosion control measures, bridge construction, and had two ribbon-cutting ceremonies with the provincial government. There were security personnel from local army, police, private, and US forces. The actual ceremony I attended included a true cutting of ribbon, Afghan media, and refreshments consisting of bakery goods produced in Kandahar and very tasty chocolates. I tried the baked goods; sweet is the only way to describe such.

Along the way today, one could view the burned-out hulks of trailers, trucks, cars, etc. sitting aside the main highway. The way people transport cars and goods is amazing. Take a Greyhound bus and load the entire length of the top of the bus with cargo goods. Then, for good measure, as two or three cars, literally, atop that and then you have a traditional, and very commonplace, view of the highway. These buses pass our military convoys, whereas we may be going along at 45-50 mph, travelling 25 mph faster with these ridiculously unsafe loads. Excitement is all around here, my friends.



Photo taken 02 Feb 2011 near Qalat, Afghanistan

You know, I absolutely love construction. While construction out here in the country, in the far reaches of provincial Afghanistan, is far different than most of what you would find in Kandahar or Kabul, we really do have the ability to affect lives in an awe-inspiring manner. Mud huts to block and concrete buildings. Mud walls to concrete block walls. Unlevel and dusty dirt roads to asphalt paved roadways, with striping and crosswalks to boot. Well, the crosswalks might need many more years to catch up in terms of usefulness and reason, but I am saying that construction is impacting lives here in a way that can be truly beneficial to all citizens of this country. I go on...

I love my fathers, Randy, Ted, and Don, on this day we celebrate fatherhood. Happy Father's Day to my fathers and to all of you fathers out there today. I love you all.

143, K&K.

Good night and good day.