Something a little different

So it's been a while since I've provided an update on the happenings here in good ol' Afghanistan. And honestly, Operational Security (OPSEC) considerations, I really don't have too much to say. There are a few odds and ends that I can talk about though..and after I'm done with those, I'll go ahead and give y'all an Italian recipe that you can try out.

For the most part, this deployment is exactly what I expected it to be. A bunch of office work. But that's not a bad thing, considering that there are fellow soldiers going out and doing the infantry thing that I was doing the last time I was here. One thing that I've found is that I have a few staple foods in the DFAC (that's Dining Facility) that I've come to rely upon.


1 - Fresh fruit
2 - Fresh Salad
3 - Chicken


That, and on Friday's they serve surf and turf....steak and shimp. With those on the menu I can't really complain, as they're truly fresh items...I'm pretty stuck on the canteloup, honeydew melon, and pineapple. Throw in the occasional kiwi's, apples, oranges, and grapes, and it's an nice variety of fruits to choose from. Salad...well, I'm fairly picky with salad, but anything's good with oil/basalmic vinegar.

One other thing...sometime soon, I'll be the official PAO (public affairs officer) for my work area. That means I'll be able to take photos, get them approved for online publishing. That means that eventually I'll be able to post pictures here. There will be restrictions on what's posted of course, but at least you'll see what the area looks like.

I think for future blog entries, I'll start telling stories from when I was first learning pool, or when I was deployed in the past. There's not really any limitation on what I can say about that stuff, and I have pictures to put with them too.

Ok...recipes. The one that I'm going to give you in this blog is mostly from scratch. It makes enough food for 8-12 people. However, I usually cook this by myself, and use serving sized zip loc (TM) bags to freeze the rest. Works out well...

Name: Bolongese (pronounced: Bolon yay see) Red Sauce

What is it: It's a meat based sauce with red wine and vegetables

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes prep, 24 hours simmer

What goes with it: Come on...it's a spaghetti sauce for lack of a better term. What you normally eat with spaghetti will go well with this. Red wine is prefered.

Ingredients
1 package Italian Sausage (approx 1 lb)
1 package Hot Sausage (approx 1 lb)
1 package Sweet Sausage (approx 1 lb)
1 lb ground turkey
1 lb ground beef
1 bottle (750ml) red wine (I usually use a dark cabernet or merlot)
4 cans (or 2 cartons if you went that route) of chicken broth
2 large cans whole tomatos
1 small can tomato paste
1 onion
3 tbsp minced garlic (out of the bottle is fine, though fresh garlic is always better)
6 fresh roma tomatos
3 fresh garden tomatos
6 carrotts
6 stalks celery
2 packages of portabello mushrooms
1/2 cup olive oil (extra virgin if you're watching your waist...but then again, if you're going to eat this, why skimp?)
1-2 boxes of Linguine or pasta of choice. (I've found that Barilla is the best off the shelf brand of pasta, though if you want to make your own, much the better)

SPICES
1 Tbsp fresh or dried basil (a mix of the two is best)
1/2 tbsp oregano
1 tsp dill weed
1 cup sugar (not used until you're about an hour away from serving)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground red pepper

Preparation

Take all your meats out of their packaging. This includes taking the sausages out of their casings. In a bowl, mix all the meats together into one solid mass of ground meat. I know, appetizing. Using a large frying pan, you're going to slightly brown your meats, ensuring that you do NOT cook it all the way. (you'll end up with dried out meat in your sauce otherwise) Once you've cooked all of your meat, put it all in a clean bowl along with the grease and juice that's accumulated.

Next you're going to prep your vegetables. Peel your onion back until you are at the fresh, juicy portion. Mince up as fine as you can. Place to the side. Do the same with your garlic if you're using fresh cloves. Strip and wash both your carrotts and celery before slicing them. The roma tomatos I usually halve the long way, while the garden tomatos I'll quarter twice. With the mushrooms, I'll usually quarter one package of portabellos, while the other I keep whole. Ensure you wash all your vegetables thouroghly after you're done cutting them up. Combine your tomatos, carrotts, celery and mushrooms into one more bowl. If you're using fresh basil, at this time, take the leaves off the stalks and mince them up rather well, trying not to squeeze any juice out of them.

Now that you have your initial prep done, it's time to finish the prep work.

Using a large pot, (at least 8 gallons, if not larger), and with the stove on med/high-high, put your onion, garlic and olive oil. Stir constantly until the garlic and onions begin to glaze. This means that the onions begin to turn translucent. If the garlic is turning brown quickly, turn your heat down. Once the onion is glazed, pour your chicken broth in, all four cans. Bring this to a boil. Once it's at a boil, stir for a few minutes.

Next, pour the entire bottle of red wine in the pot. Bring to a boil, stiring the whole time. Once this is at a boil, let it go for about 5-10 minutes. Next, you're going to start to add your meat. You aren't going to ruin it by pouring it all in at once, but it's just cleaner to add a little at a time. Once you've gotten it all in, bring back to a boil.

Next are the cans of whole tomatos, then the small can of tomato paste. You're going to need to stir this constantly until the paste has completely disolved into the mixture. Once it's disovled, and the sauce is boiling again, start putting your vegetables in. By this point you should be close to the top of your pot.

Bring everything to a boil for about 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly. After which, you will turn your stove down to simmer. This is where the cooking time actually starts. It's also the time to add your spices, (except for your sugar). As you put each spice in, stir it into the sauce before adding the next. Most will float to the surface. That's fine.

After you've added all your ingredients, minus the sugar, you're going to leave the sauce simmering uncovered for 24 hours to let it cook down. You can stir this occasionally throughout this time.

The next day, you will need to skim the grease and oils off the top of the sauce. A ladle usually works best. You're going to lose some of the spices which are still on the surface, but they've cooked into the sauce for a while, and you can always add some more afterwards. After you've skimmed the grease, add your sugar, stirring for at least 3-5 minutes. DO NOT give your sauce a taste test before this, the sauce is a little too acidic. If you like a less sweet sauce, add less sugar, (1/2-3/4 a cup). If you like a sweeter sauce, add closer to a 1 1/2 cup. Any more and it's, IMHO, too sweet. If you want to replace some of your spices, now is the time, as you can do it to taste. Your sauce is now ready to eat as soon as your pasta has been cooked at this point!

Here's a pictuer of what you're going to be looking at when all is said and done (forgive the surrounding flowers of the plate...borrowed this image from google):



Next blog: White Wine Clam (or seafood) Sauce with Farfalle (bowtie pasta)

The journey continues...

So when we left off, I was still in Shannnon, Ireland waiting for my flight to Manas AFB, Kyrgyzstan. Well, we stayed the night at the Clare Inne, and the next morning boarded a bus to return to the terminal. Back aboard the plane and off we went to Manas. We landed around midnight local time and were hastily given accommodations. The temperature wasn’t too terribly bad, maybe 20 degrees. For those of you who don’t know where Kyrgyzstan is, it’s just south of the area known as Siberia, one of the old Soviet block countries. It’s cold. We bedded down, not knowing if we were going to be there for a day or more. When I woke up, all cuddled in my “fart sack” (that’s a sleeping bag), I noticed that the temperature in the circus tent was noticeably colder. Maybe 50 degrees, whereas when I fell asleep it was closer to 60. This didn’t bode well, as the shower facilities were in another building across the way. I got my toiletries together and headed outside…HOLY S&%T. I haven’t been in weather that cold since I was a traffic control person for Foxwoods Casino and had to deal with sub zero wind chill factors. Only the wind wasn’t blowing this time and it was still bones cold. After taking a shower, having a morning constitutional, shaving and brushing my teeth etc. I returned to the tent. One of our Soldiers had snuck online and found out that the temperature was a balmy -9 degrees Fahrenheit. Ok, that’s just ridiculous. Got my cold weather gear on, and went out to burn a cigarette…my breath was freezing on my neck gaiter which had been pulled up over my face. Now, it was 8am local and the sun still hadn’t come up, and wouldn’t until after 9. Once the sun did crest the horizon, it warmed up a little, but only to about 15 degrees. A couple of us went over to the Green Beans Café, which are spread out all over the military bases overseas. (basically they are a knock off of Starbucks, and got lucky to get a contract with the military to supply a taste of home for the deployed Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines). Ordered my spiced chai latte, and waited for word on when we were going to depart.
While we were waiting, I stopped by the MWR, (Morale, Welfare, Recreation) Center near the circus tent we were staying in. They had some free munchies, coffee, sandwiches for the personnel there, as well as internet and a television broadcasting the Winter Olympics. They also had a pool table. A couple other NCO’s were in the middle of a back and forth rack of 8-ball, talking smack the entire time. Mitch was in there with me, and seeing the pool table, looked at me. I just smiled, nodded and went on to ask if anyone had winner. By this time they had begun a second rack. One of them was not too bad a shooter, making a couple of decent shots, and moving the cue with somewhat of a purpose. The cue they were using had no tip, just ferrule, as the tip had long ago fell off, and a caved out cube of chalk. It was also painted black, with the black lacquer chipped off in places revealing the bare wood underneath. The butt of the cue had been snapped off, leaving a nice little spear end of the cue, and drastically reducing the weight of the cue. It weighed 15 oz., and that was giving it some credit. I went and checked the other cues stacked up in a corner, and none of them even had ferrules. So the snapped off stick it was. The better shooter ended up winning and I went to rack the balls. As he was rolling balls down to me, I was watching how they rolled down the table. This table, which looked to be a Gold Crown knock off, had ball return pockets which were blocked by nails driven into the wood “slate” bed to prevent balls from falling out. This is because the ball return wasn’t actually there. As a result, many of the balls, while they were made out of the phenolic resin, were so beat up that they reminded me of the old clay balls which used to be used. This table also was off level…the area where the rack was being higher than the kitchen. The rails played very springy, and the wood had marks in it, causing the balls to roll as if they were drunk at times. All in all, a great table, considering where we were.
I racked the balls up, and stepped back as he broke. He didn’t make anything, leaving a wide open table. I chose stripes and promptly missed my first shot. He followed suit, leaving me another shot at stripes. I cleared 4 of them off the table and lined up for a longer, cross table back cut to the upper left hand corner pocket. I hit it about as well as could be struck, holding the cue for my key ball in the side. The 14 ball, shot right into the corner, dead center, dropped, apparently hit the nail blocking the non-existant ball return, and popped right back out, rolling to the center of the table. *sigh* The other NCO, a Sergeant First Class, just looked at me, and proceeded to miss once again. When he missed, he managed to lock the 8-ball up, making running out without a break up impossible. Of course, the shot which I was left with was a draw shot. The cue ball was about 6” below the right side pocket, about a diamond off the rail, object ball about 6” on the other side of the same side pocket, a diamond off the rail. The shot was a perfect opportunity to break the 8 ball out with some draw. So I lined up with some bottom, trying not to cue to low. *tink* Miscue. *sigh* He misses again…he’s not shooting the same as before, maybe someone who can make a few balls in a row has him a little flustered. IDK. He left me straight in, and I manage to get down to the 8. It wasn’t broken out, so I just played a little chip, trying to just get it out in the open.
“Man, I ain’t even made a ball yet and he’s on the 8. Who the he!! Is this guy?”
I just smiled, and looked over at Mitch, who did the same. The other NCO manages to make a ball, then sells out. I was left with the same shot which I made earlier, where the nail in the pocket foiled me. I hit it a bit slower and rolled the ball perfectly…aside from the table roll. Into the first diamond on the short rail it went. He made another shot, missed and I cut the 8-ball in to win. Mitch stepped up and wants to play, so he racks them up and I break. Dolly Parton; all bust, no balls. This game went about the same way, before Mitch decided that he was frustrated with the table and wants to go back to the Green Beans Café for more coffee. (he’s a mad coffee fiend…he’s having an espresso machine mailed to him here) I knocked balls around for a few more seconds before I gave the table up.
We went back to the circus tent before heading out to the Green Beans Café to find out that our flight had been arranged for that night at 2000. (that’s 8pm). We went, grabbed some coffee, packed out stuff up and headed out to the PAX terminal to get ready for our flight. We were on lock down for 3 hours, unable to leave the terminal while we waited for our flight to be ready. Around 1900, we were told that it was time, and we headed out to our flight. We would be taking a C-17 military transport into country. Again, packed flight. I was lucky enough to get one of the seats on the side of the aircraft. The reason being, if you were in the seats which were in the middle, it was a little bit of a shaky ride. They were all on pallets which, while locked in, don’t lock in place all the way. They shift back and forth a few inches. So if there is an altitude change, they rock forward, then rock back. Imagine being on a roller coaster heading up to the first big drop being dragged by the chain. The rocking that’s caused by the chain is very similar. Except that on these flights, it lasts for about 2 hours. Oh yeah…it’s loud in that cargo hold. Personally, I just fell asleep for the majority of the flight. I woke up as the lights in the cargo hold went red, indicating that they were on approach vectors and reducing altitude. Until we landed, the only way I can describe the ride was like a roller coaster. Up, then down. Up, then down…speed up, slow down. They were navigating through the Hindu-Kush mountain range, part of the Himalaya range, and had to maintain certain elevation standards over the mountains. We finally landed safely at Bagram AFB, Afghanistan at about 2215 on the 16th of February. Ahh…so good to be back here after a few years of garrison life.
It was night time when we landed, so many of the Soldiers who had not been here before had no idea what the area looked like. Just looked like another military airstrip. We were ushered to the area which we were going to be staying. These accommodations are PLUSH. The last time I was over here, we were staying in what were called “B-huts”. Basically, plywood structures which were covered by military tents. Sometimes insulated, most of the time not. They slept about 16 people, with 8 sets of bunk beds. They had electricity, and you could customize the interior with building supplies, as long as you had a basic understanding of woodwork. It was those, a big tent with cots, or sleeping in the dirt if we were outside the wire. The place that I’m staying now…it’s got its own bathroom, sink, toilet, fridge, drawers, a couple of wall lockers, a lock box, a TELEVISION, electricity, and eventually will have access to wireless INTERNET. I’ve found nirvana in a combat zone….unreal.



My living arrangements for the next year...quite the cush set-up

Of course, there are a few minor nuisances. The Pakistani contractors who set this up, neglected to put the pipe traps in the sewer system, so there is a nasty smell if you don’t pour water down your drains every so often. And, like the rest of Bagram, we’re right on the airfield…which has a constant stream of traffic coming in and out. To include fighter aircraft…not too quiet. Especially at 0300. There’s also the ½ mile walk to the DFAC, (dining facility), but those are little nit-picky things. On a whole, it’s about as far from what I was dealing with before as you can get.
Since we’ve gotten here, it’s been just getting ready to do our job, and checking out the base so we can get acclimated. Doing some PT, getting used to the altitude, (we’re at 5200 ft. above sea level). Oh yeah, the views from this base are phenomenal. Mountains surround us on three sides, and they’re fairly large…the foothills of the Hindu-Kush range. They are upwards of 10k ft ASL, with some of the farther ones closer to 13k. Without a map, it’s hard to say though. Since I’ve been here, I’ve already finished 4 books, and am starting another. That’s been about it though…it’s been a hectic, but yet at the same time a pretty sedate 2 weeks. Unfortunately, there are no pictures allowed outside here, so those will most likely not be happening while I'm here. If you have any questions, as long as it’s not about what I do, go ahead and ask. I’ll try to answer as best I can within the confines of OPSEC (Operational Security). Hope everyone is doing well…I know I am.

Leeeeaving, on a jet plane...

Afghanistan. Land of the Taliban. Home to over 70% of the world’s stock of opium producing poppy. The new focus of Coalition Forces Global War on Terror. Man love Thursdays.

After a little bit of a wait, I’m back, (after 3+ years), in this quite uncivilized of countries…

I know it’s been a while, so I’ll start from when I was SUPPOSED to leave Augusta for this deployment until now.

0900, Tuesday, 09 February, 2010 – This is the day we were supposed to hop on a plane at Atlanta International Airport and begin our journey over here. Things were going pretty well, aside from the occasional, small, SNAFU. The charter bus which had been rented for us as transportation to Atlanta was packed with our gear and ready to go. We had just gotten through with our farewell ceremony by the Brigade, and the Soldiers were bidding farewell to their loved ones. All of a sudden, we were all called outside to get some information from First Sergeant Hobley. Our flight out of Atlanta, which was to take us through Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) Airport had been cancelled. Unfortunately, mother nature decided that the 9^th wasn’t such a great date to be flying and had inundated the VA/MD area with a third snow storm within a 10 days. Due to the large amount of snow expected, all flights in and out of BWI had been cancelled across the country. We were told that we were on a 2 hour recall, and that plans were being made to reschedule our flights. Ok, no big deal, aside from the fact that I had no real place to sleep. My friend and fellow NCO, Sergeant First Class Mitchell Steffes, also deploying had a house which, although was devoid of furniture, I could crash in until we flew out.

Now, before I continue, let me clue you in to something. I’m not sure which airline we were expected to fly on, but we were allotted room for 4 bags. One of which had to be our weapons case, to be stored under the aircraft. (on previous deployments, we had carried ours with us on the flight, so this was news to me) That left 3 bags, and a personal bag. Our packing list of items to bring took every inch of space of those bags. (2 duffel bags and 1 ruck sack). I was planning on bringing one more duffel bag so I could bring some comfort items along. However, with this, I was going to have to pay for excess baggage. The kicker was that BWI had a size/weight limit on baggage and our ruck sacks were considered too large and we were going to have to either pay extra for that, or take some stuff out of the ruck sack and pack another bag…excess bag fee #2. Now, realize…this was going to happen at Atlanta, and because we would have to disembark at BWI, claim our baggage, move terminals and once again check in, we were going to have to pay again there. (quick math: $75 for each excess bag X2 at Atlanta and X2 at BWI as long as my duffels didn’t exceed 70 lbs, equals $300) Quite the money making scheme that the airlines had concocted for our Boys in Green. I was dumbfounded when I found this out, as were other NCO’s. We would be reimbursed for this, but AFTER we got back from our deployment, a year later. I know I wouldn’t be able to afford this; which meant to me that there was a very high likelihood that some junior Soldiers wouldn’t either. Not a good situation. But it would all work out in the end.

The day went by and we didn’t hear anything more about possible flights out that night, so off to Mitch’s place I went to spend the down time.

10-11 February, 2010 – Really nothing more was heard about our possible departure aside from the fact that those in charge were trying to find alternate transportation. Had our daily morning formation and were released on a 2 hour recall…just in case there was a sudden change in plans. The night of the 11^th, we got word that we would be leaving on Friday evening around 6pm by bus and traveling up to Ft. Campbell, KY to take a space A (Space Available) flight out of there. Awesome. No excess baggage fees (YAY!), seeing as though we would be most likely going out with a group from the 101^st Infantry Division. It was a pretty long ride on the bus, but all in all, was going to be $300 cheaper on the wallet, so I wasn’t complaining.

Friday, 12 February, 2010 – Didn’t bother showing up for PT formation, as our Officer In Charge (OIC), decided to give us a little time to sleep in. Of course, we get a call at 7am telling us that we needed to be in at 10am and that our bus ride had been bumped…to 12pm. *sigh* Can it ever be just cut and dry in the military? (the answer is a resounding NO, that would be too easy) So Mitch and I get our stuff together, make a quick couple pit stops at Starbucks and Barnes & Noble, and head on in. Same routine…draw weapons, load the bus up, farewell all over again for the families, (so wrong on so many levels to make them go through that twice).

Loading the bus at Ft. Gordon

This time though, we actually left. Without any hang-ups? Who are you kidding…Mother Nature wasn’t going to let me get out of GA without something to remember Her by. A southern snow storm was barreling towards us. An hour outside of Augusta, we start seeing the white stuff. By the time we get to Atlanta, there is a considerable amount down, (for the south), and traffic, which was already going to be bad due to rush hour, was unbearable slow. By 6pm, (about the time we should have been WELL into Tennessee), we were only in Buckhead, GA, just north of Atlanta. By this time, there was a very easy 4” of snow down on the ground. We decided to stop for some food.

Buckhead, GA as we were stopping to get some dinner at Arby's

During the stop, some of the Soldiers who didn’t grow up in snowy regions of the U.S. decided it was a good time to build a mini-snowman on the front lawn of the Arby’s we were stopped at. Aside from seeing close to 30 cars just straight run off the road, the rest of the drive went by without much hang ups. We weren’t scheduled to fly out until the next day so we had plenty of time. We got into Ft. Campbell and got temporary lodging for the night.

Saturday, 13 February, 2010 – Of course, temporary lodging had to have us out of there by 0500, and we weren’t scheduled to fly until close to 1500. We ended up getting to the terminal around 0700 and went through the whole routine…sit here…now move there…nope…need you over there now. Ok…wait. And wait…and wait. No big deal really.

Waiting in the PAX Terminal at Ft. Campbell, KY

One of the cool things was that one of my good friends that I had deployed with the first time was stationed at Ft. Campbell with 5^th Group. I called him up from the terminal that morning and he stopped by and we were able to chat for about 20 minutes. I hadn’t seen him in a good 3 years so that was great. He’s now a proud parent of a baby daughter, and, true to Nick, timed his return to perfection…returning stateside one week before the birth. Back to waiting after that..of course, when the Division XO, (a 1 star general officer) came in to see his soldiers off there was a bit of a hassle. But it was actually pretty cool when he came by and shook all of our hands, even though we weren’t in the unit. He gave us a good pep talk and wished us a safe return. SGT Zabka got his hi-five too…his goal being to get hi-fives from any officer over the rank of Major. So we board the aircraft and get situated. It was an absolutely PACKED flight. Our first leg took us from Ft. Campbell direct to Shannon, Ireland. The flight was about a 6-7 hours, not too bad.

Last view of the states before take off

We landed and had a 2 hour layover until our next flight to Manas AFB, Kyrgyzstan. Wouldn’t you know that it’s not that simple though…our flight to Manas has been delayed due to ice fog. So off to the hotel it is…

Sunday, 14 February, 2010 – By this time, it’s already early Sunday morning in Ireland. We get transportation to a hotel about 10 miles from the Airport. The 101^st was nice enough to foot the bill for this, thankfully. I have to say…they chose WELL. We stayed at the Clare Inne. Now, I have yet to travel to Europe. But I’ve plenty of friends who have and they’ve all told me that, for the most part the hotels there are much, much different than the chain hotels we have here in the states. Nicer in general, but smaller in scale. Well…the 101^st must have just looked for the first place that could accommodate over 200 people. This was a resort of sorts. On a golf course, overlooking the Shannon River and the outlying country…it was amazing. Free food buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the three other people I had to share a room with…well, we kind of lucked out. We ended up with one of the suites. 2 Bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen, with a patio. I guess I’ll have to thank Mother Nature for this one…it was a treat to be sure.

The golf course at the Clare Inne



The view of the Shannon River from the hotel

The staff at the Clare Inne was courteous and went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. Let's not forget I was traveling with some of the 101st Airborne Infantry Division. This means that, while I have the UTMOST respect for what the trigger pullers do, there are some, as there are across the board, who are just not that bright. I happened to be eye witness to one of these wonderous individuals in action as he was hitting on the attractive woman manning the front counter of the hotel. The exchange went something like this...

Front Desk Clerk - " How can I help you?" (imagine a normal Irish lilt, not too heavy)

Soldier - " Oh, I don't need anything really, I just wanted to talk to you for a second. I was wondering how many other languages you speak because your english is real good."

FDC - "I'm sorry? I only speak English."

Soldier - " I thought you spoke Irish out here."

FDC - "I'm sorry again to disappoint you sir. English is it."

Now, I was a little dumbfounded by this. He obviously wanted to flirt, but when faced with the prospect of trying to continue his flirtatious ways after showing how unknowledgeable he was, he decided that walking away was the best policy. I just had to shake my head and laugh, as was the FDC. Though, at that point I was a bit ashamed to be an American Soldier.

Of course, this was Valentine’s day, and they had a pretty nice restaurant there. So that night, while we were all there eating in the adjoining pub, (I had a local grown sirloin cut with vegetables...it was yummy), and watching the various sports on the television, (no beer though…DAMN), all the younger couples, along with a few more who were advanced in age, came by to have dinner. What I really got a kick out of was some of the older couples came up to us and went out of their way to thank us. One of which was a young boy during WWII who grew up on the southern coast of England and remembered the bombings and how the American Doughboys helped them in a time of great peril. They offered to buy my group drinks, but we couldn’t accept due to the general order barring us from consuming alcohol during deployments. But they graciously bought us a round of our soft drink of choice and had one for us. It was a very acute reminder of the incredible good that the American Military machine has done in the past 100 years for the world.

My meal at the Clare Inne...yes...very delicious. Would have been better with beer though.

On a brief side note it’s something that I’m very proud to continue, as my grandfather, Paul Guhl, was a WWII Veteran. Much of the reason I’ve remained a Soldier for the past 11 years was due to his influence. Aside from my father, and alongside Gram Pat, he is the greatest teacher and mentor I’ve had in my life. There was always a lesson to be gleaned in his stories; whether they were told for pure conversation and enjoyment, or to explain something. Thanks you so much Opa, It’s been a little over a year since you’ve passed on to a better place and though you may have physically left us, you live on through your teachings and my memories, as I don’t think there is a day that goes by that I do not use one of your teachings or think of you. You left quite a bit to live up to.

On that note, I’m going to cut this off, and continue on the next blog entry…you can read about my time in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, and first week here in Afghanistan.