FOB Smart at 1730 - Monday
We observed five projects today, including four outside the wire. The mission outside the wire this morning went well, uneventful even, and I was able to meet with two contractors to give direction enabling the projects to continue unimpeded for now. I am now transitioning control of my assigned projects to the new PRT team members who will remain here in Zabul Province until they themselves are replaced in December. While I am so very ready to go home, it would be nice to see these and all of our projects in six or twelve months from today. It would also be nice to see these "friends" I have made in the last year down the road. I presume anything in life is possible - so who knows? It is comforting to believe that these relationships and projects are enduring.
Earlier I posted photographs herein from our mission today. I think in another life I might have pursued photography somehow. I am not saying that any of my shots are worthy of any special attention, but I have continued my passion for shot angles, perspectives, and color capture. I enjoy looking back at the nearly 10,000 photographs recorded in my time here - what a memory they will aid down the road. Those posted today included a couple of me at a nearby project posing atop bags of wheat piled high. The views, even from close to ground level, are amazing in every direction you turn.
My time remaining at FOB Smart is down to 15 days and a wake up. Amazing in itself, the time has nearly come to say goodbye and be off to the next stop in life. My son is getting very excited with each passing phone call. I would say that I have called him 300+ times since my arrival in Kandahar on 15 May 2011, which includes an average of two calls per day 6.5 days per week and excludes the time I was home on R&R twice. I have completed over 200+ missions outside the wire since my arrival at FOB Smart on 17 May 2011. I will have flown 10 air missions between Kandahar and Qalat when I leave for the last time. I have worked over 3,800 hours since I arrived on 15 May 2011 - a 40-hour workweek during the same time period would be roughly 1,920 hours. This is based on 12-hour workdays; we routinely worked 16+ hour days last May through October. All of this is to say that I am so happy to be finishing up soon and returning to my sweet son.
143, Kaesen.
Good night and good day.
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