Kandahar
Starting another embed involves moving sometimes accross the country on mujltiple flights taking days, Saturday's move to our next embed was a simple matter of being picked from our hooch/bunkhouse/room driving five minutes across the airfield base and turning into another camp, within a base.
Now not all room are created equal and our room was basically a 10 x 8 feet (not meters or yards) plywood box, in a building that must of been built around Sept 12th 2001. These were without doubt the oldest buildings I had come across at Kandahar. within the block there are 6 identical plywood boxes, no windows but a plywood square over a hole cut in the wall.
Sparsely decorated is a way to describe the bunk bed and nailed up table in the corner. For Greg and I it was easier if either one of us wanted to get anything out of a box or bag for the other to step out of the suite. After Greg had lost the pick which hand the bullet is in as to who gets the bottom bunk in Khost a couple of weeks ago. He immediately grabbed the bottom bunk, the only thing he forgot was that the only heater in the room was directly above the top bunk, effectively he had chosen the coldest spot in the whole Gitmo cell with a cold breeze coming in through gaps in the plywood.
By 4:30 am, he could stand it no more and asked to change bunks a i was lying there with barely my sleeping bag on. Given that any movement on the top bunk made enough noise to wake the dead, we swopped over. I barely noticed the cold and slept for a few more hours.
Come 7 am I wanted to get a run in before the day started and we were to move to another province with the embed. Closing the door to the Gitmo cell i put the latch across as i did not want to let the door swing open and cold air in the cell.
50 minutes later getting back from my run the door is till closed, I open it to find Greg there cross legged holding up a water bottle that is green in color. I had by mistake locked him in the cell and the call of nature in the morning had found him a prisoner.
So another night was over and if anything a funny start to another day in the war zone.
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6 comments:
Possibly funnier to you than Mr. Palkot? Again...is this the glamorous part of your job? We're bound to get to it eventually if you keep on writing long enough. Maybe we blinked and missed it. Glad you still have a sense of humor...even if it is a little sadistic.
Bet he snores too Greg??? Can't they give you a piece on Zhu Zhu pets or Tiger Woods instead? Great work guys, been following it.
Always good to keep your sense of humor!
ps - sorry I brought out the crazy squad a few posts ago.
And I thought I was a bitch...Personally, I enjoyed the "crazies" debate and it did relate to Mal's coverage of the war. Maybe when you haven't got enough sense to enter into a reasonable debate you just call the people who do crazies. But then Mal's blog does make people think. He surely isn't over there doing what he does for the fun of it, unless he's a crazy too. War is not all sweetness and roses. Heck of a thing, isn't it Mr. James. You're damned no matter what you say on comment pages now days. But your photos and Mr. Palkot's reports say it all and let the chips fall where they may. Thank you again Mal and maybe they should put the locks on those doors over there on the inside since they aren't keeping prisoners in those boxes.
Another anonymous by another name
Neatie
Please don't get me confused with those other crazies for I never knew them.
Very difficult to know who I was talking to i.e. labeled 'anonymous' but may I defend who ever it was. The debate was fair and eloquent and 'crazy' is unfair and crude. I would like to take exception also if the reference was joint.
Dr. Bzzzz.... a thank you from the anonymous you were conversing with. True debate seems almost a thing of the past. I will sign off as anonymous 1 as anonymous alone seems almost....too anonymous... if you get my drift. Although I hope more anonymousi..anonymousus... whatever... will join in on Mals great blog. The man needs to be read and worthy of serious thought. Mal's and Palkot's reporting needs to be followed and the truth revealed. Heck, truth never hurt anyone, unless you have real touchy feelings. After all, we are still free to draw our own conclusions. Let's just hope we get some big problems solved in the process with some real debate.
Anonymous 1
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