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| Batting average of .333 with knives today... (The turkey wasn't bad, but the knives were.) |
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
From Afghanistan.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Check Ride
So I got to leave the office a couple weeks ago and head down to KAF. Part of it was getting my "check ride" to get fully licensed on the M-ATV. My TC was our maintenance section commander, who happens to be a CW4.
Those of you that have spent time in the Army know the reputation Warrant Officers have, especially when you get into the CW4-5 territory (the one in question should be making his 5 any minute now...) Needless to say, this was going to be a memorable "check ride."
The mission, as a whole, was uneventful, but driving a finely tuned 15+ ton piece of Wisconsin engineering through downtown Kandahar City is not something you'll likely forget in your life. Afghanistan has no driver's licensing system, and the locals are used to having military convoys rolling around, so they treat us like any other traffic (despite the fact that we will win any wreck... the trucks are armored after all.)
I can pretty confidently say that this was possibly the only time in my career that a check ride will involve the TC telling me to "Close the gap and don't let that $%&*# get in! Run him off the road if you have to!"
As for the truck, I did tell my buddy that works for Oshkosh that they need more cup holders in those things. His response was "yeah, I keep telling them not everybody is 5'6" either, but they don't listen."
Those of you that have spent time in the Army know the reputation Warrant Officers have, especially when you get into the CW4-5 territory (the one in question should be making his 5 any minute now...) Needless to say, this was going to be a memorable "check ride."
The mission, as a whole, was uneventful, but driving a finely tuned 15+ ton piece of Wisconsin engineering through downtown Kandahar City is not something you'll likely forget in your life. Afghanistan has no driver's licensing system, and the locals are used to having military convoys rolling around, so they treat us like any other traffic (despite the fact that we will win any wreck... the trucks are armored after all.)
I can pretty confidently say that this was possibly the only time in my career that a check ride will involve the TC telling me to "Close the gap and don't let that $%&*# get in! Run him off the road if you have to!"
As for the truck, I did tell my buddy that works for Oshkosh that they need more cup holders in those things. His response was "yeah, I keep telling them not everybody is 5'6" either, but they don't listen."
Sunday, November 11, 2012
New Coffee Cup!
The red part changes to match the level of hot coffee in the cup (or when the coffee gets cold, it turns black too... which is about the same anyway...)
It's the little things that count.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Picture Time!
Have a handful to toss up.
Hopefully more pictures eventually...
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| There be mountains past the crap! |
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| Yup... hiding behind the t-walls... Oh, and they have the Moon in Afghanistan too. |
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| We have a porch. Which is nice for enjoying morning coffee. |
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| It's like camping for 9 months straight! |
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