15 June 2008

Flew out to the sunny environment of Shindand in western Afghanistan. Shindand is half way between Herat and Farah. Upon landing, we had a tour of the Afghan Commando Battalion barracks and living area. The place was squared away and the Afghan commandos looked like certified killers. Shindand is an old Soviet airport and is located in a very remote and desolate place. It was hotter then hell and the wind was like opening the oven and sticking your head in, but not as dark. They have what is called the 120 day wind out there. The period between June and September is blast furnace time.

We jumped on HMMVs and checked out an irrigation project and agriculture school on the far side of the airport. They even had two fish ponds and beehives. It is amazing that anything grows out there. After touring the Agriculture school we convoyed down to Shouz, south of Shindand about 1.5 hours. If there could be a shittier more desolate place then Shindand, Shouz is it. We were looking at a ANP training site for a bunch of police from Helmand Province. Apparantly, these guys were causing some problems and their way of protest was to crap on the floor of their living quarters. They also utilized non-potable water to drink and washed their feet with the bottled water??????!!!!!!! Takes all types I guess. They were living in tents which was a temporary solution until the adjacent ANCOP compound could be completed. By in large, despite the poop, the training was going pretty good. The instructors were some DynCorp dudes and some very young looking Marines.

Bee Hives

Irrigation project, check out the background, utter desolation.

Two things really sucked about the trip. The week before I visited Konduz and ate some local chicken. The old Afghan quick step was still dogging me on this trip. The 2 hour plane ride and the hour and a half convoys were a real treat. What is especially nice is the fact that the HMMVs have air conditioning, not for the humans, but for the electronics. So the air blows just cool enough to keep the equipment from overheating, but is just warm enough to have a river of sweat pool in the crack of my ass. Also forcing my to embrace the "suck" was a new piece of equipment I was trying out. I was issued a under the body armor mesh shirt to ease the discomfort in the 120 degree heat. Well, I had an allergic reaction to the fire retardant crap they wove into the shirt. So at least I know I will not die of burns, but die slowly of skin cancer.