My first impression of Bagram Air Field, a military base northwest of Kabul in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, was just that, a military base. A crowded, dusty, makeshift base butted up against a huge tarmac with a jumble of different aircraft, some of which I would have been fearing for my life if I had to fly in them but again fearing for my life is nothing new here.
When I say makeshift, I mean makeshift. Every structure is built from a different material. There are old Russian cement buildings that are falling apart and the Russians didn't exactly go all out architecturally during their occupation of Afghanistan. They built the most basic structures which now serve as various headquarters for this, that and the other joint commands. Most other buildings are made from wood and steel or are conex boxes like the ones shipping vessels use to ship cargo. We have a lot of nice new ones with windows and everything ready to be occupied but they can't because their not electrically sound. Now they have to figure out what to do about that.
My little home is what a lot of the personnel here live in. It is basically sheets of plywood nailed together. It works well enough and I have my own space so I'm not going to complain, just describe them. Eight people live in what I would guess is a building that is roughly 55x15 feet and about 7 feet tall. It is pretty sound and solid and has stood up to minor earthquakes without any damage. Even so I have a feeling that someday they are going to replace these huts with those metal conex boxes (after I posted this I found out that that is the case).
For those of you who complain about paying for bottled water, you'd be very happy here if that were you're only concern in this world. There is bottled water everywhere stacked eight or more feet high free for the taking. No one should be dehydrated here. Also I hope you don't have a strong affinity for regular homegrown cow's milk because you're not going to get that here. What you do get is shelf stable, meaning it doesn't need to be refrigerated, odd tasting low fat milk. I've gotten used to it and I like it but other people look at it like pee in a box. They are that repulsed by it.
Internet service, kind of a sore subject here. I stood in two lines for about an hour each, one to sign up and one so they could set it up on my computer, just to be able to keep in touch with my most favorite people. Apparently AAFES has a monopoly on the services here. AAFES is the military store also known as NEX, PX or BX. Some people call it a racket but who knows. Anyway the cost is not cheap and everything here is overpriced. Then it leads me to ask myself, where is all this money going because I don't see the Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) centers here having all that great of services themselves. AAFES profits are supposed to help the MWRs so that servicemembers can have morale boosting services that help them relax and reset. I'm just an E6 so what do I know.
Moving on. Traffic. For a base that you can walk from one end to the other in about an hour, there is a lot of traffic. Have you ever been walking and passed the same cars over and over again because they are inching along the road that slowly? Yeah, that is what we have here and most are diesels so you can imagine the pollution level. I swear if I don't get lung cancer after being here and running with all that crap in the air it will be a miracle. It's like smoking a lifetime of cigarettes. I exaggerate but to me any smoke is too much smoke.
Now this next one will make the NRA, my friend Chris and Texas happy. More people than not, including some civilians carry an unconcealed weapon everywhere they go. I have an M16, affectionately known as Mad Max, plus I carry a knife. Others carry M4s, M9s or some variation of and rarely does anyone get shot. How's that for validation in the fight to own and carry a gun. Even so we were all trained extensively in their use and safety and there are no curious kids here.
There is no alcohol either. They actually have O'douls fake beer and I have to ask myself what other reason is there to drink beer if its not to get a buzz because it tastes terrible and high in carbs. Yuk!
I'll have to continue to update this later because I have to go take a shower. That's another thing, I have to walk 100 meters to another building to go take a shower or use the bathroom. That is the norm here as well. Even so it's better than Ft. Jackson porta potties I can assure you.
When I say makeshift, I mean makeshift. Every structure is built from a different material. There are old Russian cement buildings that are falling apart and the Russians didn't exactly go all out architecturally during their occupation of Afghanistan. They built the most basic structures which now serve as various headquarters for this, that and the other joint commands. Most other buildings are made from wood and steel or are conex boxes like the ones shipping vessels use to ship cargo. We have a lot of nice new ones with windows and everything ready to be occupied but they can't because their not electrically sound. Now they have to figure out what to do about that.
My little home is what a lot of the personnel here live in. It is basically sheets of plywood nailed together. It works well enough and I have my own space so I'm not going to complain, just describe them. Eight people live in what I would guess is a building that is roughly 55x15 feet and about 7 feet tall. It is pretty sound and solid and has stood up to minor earthquakes without any damage. Even so I have a feeling that someday they are going to replace these huts with those metal conex boxes (after I posted this I found out that that is the case).
For those of you who complain about paying for bottled water, you'd be very happy here if that were you're only concern in this world. There is bottled water everywhere stacked eight or more feet high free for the taking. No one should be dehydrated here. Also I hope you don't have a strong affinity for regular homegrown cow's milk because you're not going to get that here. What you do get is shelf stable, meaning it doesn't need to be refrigerated, odd tasting low fat milk. I've gotten used to it and I like it but other people look at it like pee in a box. They are that repulsed by it.
Internet service, kind of a sore subject here. I stood in two lines for about an hour each, one to sign up and one so they could set it up on my computer, just to be able to keep in touch with my most favorite people. Apparently AAFES has a monopoly on the services here. AAFES is the military store also known as NEX, PX or BX. Some people call it a racket but who knows. Anyway the cost is not cheap and everything here is overpriced. Then it leads me to ask myself, where is all this money going because I don't see the Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) centers here having all that great of services themselves. AAFES profits are supposed to help the MWRs so that servicemembers can have morale boosting services that help them relax and reset. I'm just an E6 so what do I know.
Moving on. Traffic. For a base that you can walk from one end to the other in about an hour, there is a lot of traffic. Have you ever been walking and passed the same cars over and over again because they are inching along the road that slowly? Yeah, that is what we have here and most are diesels so you can imagine the pollution level. I swear if I don't get lung cancer after being here and running with all that crap in the air it will be a miracle. It's like smoking a lifetime of cigarettes. I exaggerate but to me any smoke is too much smoke.
Now this next one will make the NRA, my friend Chris and Texas happy. More people than not, including some civilians carry an unconcealed weapon everywhere they go. I have an M16, affectionately known as Mad Max, plus I carry a knife. Others carry M4s, M9s or some variation of and rarely does anyone get shot. How's that for validation in the fight to own and carry a gun. Even so we were all trained extensively in their use and safety and there are no curious kids here.
There is no alcohol either. They actually have O'douls fake beer and I have to ask myself what other reason is there to drink beer if its not to get a buzz because it tastes terrible and high in carbs. Yuk!
I'll have to continue to update this later because I have to go take a shower. That's another thing, I have to walk 100 meters to another building to go take a shower or use the bathroom. That is the norm here as well. Even so it's better than Ft. Jackson porta potties I can assure you.
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