O.K., I was uploading this blog 24 hours ago when we went into river city. That means that due to operational security the base shuts down the internet and phones. As it stands I haven't spoken to my family in a few days due to this. The point is that I uploaded these pictures without properly explaining them so here goes.

Outback Steakhouse, along with Carabbas Italian restaurant came to Afghanistan, brought their own chefs and waitresse, and served us a meal. Below you can see steak and cheesy potatoes from outback, ravioli from Carabbas and lettuce grown in Afghanistan. They also had some seafood choices which I did not partake in. It was very kind of them and a great break form the normal dinner cuisine. I would invite anyone reading to thank these establishments for their generosity.


Below you see some other officers excited about the Bloomin onion. This deep fried creation, is the culinary equivalent to the Cistine Chapel (probably totally misspelled) and Outback is its Michaelangelo. I was most excited and satisfied by this. It really made my month.

A sweet firetruck. This was parked in front of our camp. The symbolism of a firetruck in front of a flagpole in Afghanistan really struck me. Anyone who remembers 911 can understand.

O.K. the following pics are from my humble abode. Note the nice piece of 550 cord (green thin rope) being used to hang clothes and my towel. Also seen are my shelves which hold my clothes and my ruck sack (back pack) can be seen (look carefully it is camoflaged) on the ground. The next picture highlights my bed/cot with associated sleeping system-two sleeping bags and a goretex, jungle camoflaged, outer liner to keep me dry when I sleep outside in the rain. The reason I took this picture was that I bought a new pillow this week, full sized, and a blue pillow case. The whole thing cost me less than four dollars and it was some of the best money I have ever spent. Note the immense amount of dust on the ground and on my boots and running shoes.

Here are some of my corpsman. In the forefront you will see HM2 Garabedian, with HM2 Alberto in the background and a young Marine from Communications trying to fix our seriously slow computer.

HM2 Powell is enjoying a nap. He really is a hard worker and earned this nap. It was late at night and we were all called back to our places of work because of a drill. Since we couldn't leave, we rested where we could. I enjoyed a nice game of "Bones" A.K.A. dominoes before the drill was over and we all retired to bed. Actually, there are two corpsman on duty at the BAS 24 hours a day. They come and get me in the middle of the night when there is trouble.