Mail Call

I remember back when the Iraq war started in 2003, the only way we had to communicate with B-man initially was through snail mail! He left, was able to call early on because of a Red Cross message about Granny needing heart surgery, and then we didn't hear from him for 8 weeks! It took 8 weeks for his first letters to arrive (he had written them early on, but the mail traffic was slow initially). It seemed like forever. I cherished those letters so much. I would just read them over and over again. I still have them all through both Iraq deployments and an earlier 6 month Kuwait deployment (gosh, where are they? I think they're in our permanent storage in TX).

Now, just a few short years later, the world is so tech dependent and I'm so thankful that I usually get an email from B-man everyday unless there's a blackout. Blackouts occur when there is a casualty in theater. They are not allowed to use comms until family members have been notified in the US. They do this so that family members are notified correctly. Okay, enough about that. We're also hopeful to take our communication a step further this time and be able to skype with him in the near future. Thank goodness for technology!

That being said, you just can NOT beat an old fashioned hand written letter! When you open the mailbox and see a letter from Afghanistan, it's a wonderful feeling!! I can't wait to read them! And now, Grady is experiencing this too. He loves checking the mail and gets very excited when we have a letter from DaDa. We got one just the other day. B-man drew some pictures for Boo to color and he got working on them right away. B-man even wrote Lil Bit her own special note and she loved carrying it around. It was like she could tell it was something special.  Melt my heart.

Here is Boo working on his coloring.





B-man's Corner: (more from his emails)
I got my first two packages today! Yeah! Mom and Dad, thanks for the kippered herring! I'll enjoy the look on everyone's face as they smell it! Ha! I also received my laptop in the mail (and intact). This is good. I fired it up tonight before coming back to work and it seems to be running fine. Just this week they completed the internet contract and started getting WIFI hooked up. I heard that there was a long line to get accounts established earlier. I expect that the line will simmer down in a few days, then I'll see if I can get it working on my computer. I would love to be able to "skype" back home. Times zones will be an issue, but I should be able to work it out.

Today, it snowed all day. When I went outside to shave this morning there was about an inch and a half of snow on the ground. It didn't accumulate too much more than that around here even though it snowed a lot ... I think its kind of tough for the snow to stick on gravel and sand. I talked to the other half of my team this evening. They told me that they have about 8 inches on the ground now. I'm hearing predictions that the temps are supposed to reach a high of 11 degrees Fahrenheit here on Thursday. TOO COLD!

When I talked to my counterpart (Afghan) today he said that he thinks we brought good luck with us. He says it doesn't normally snow like this here, so we must have brought it with us. Also, before we got here the previous guys were working on fixing the burners (cookers) in the mess hall and within the past few days we got them repaired. He was more than pleased about that!

My counterpart did have some bad news for me though. It seems that one of his "relatives" was hit by an IED yesterday. His relative is a civilian and was driving his civilian vehicle when it happened. It looks like he is going to be OK, but my counterpart is taking off for a few days to go spend time with him. I tried to show him some sympathy. He said something like [translated] "Ahhh, it happens all the time here ... since I was very young ... we're used to it." I think this shows their culture. They are very used to bombs.

More on projects ... Just last week a few of us sat down and "designed" a new outpost. We're trying to get it done quickly, but there is a lot of red tape that we have to bust through. Anyway, the project was pretty cool.  This place is not going to be the Taj Majal by any stretch, it is very rudimentary. It'll be cool to leave my mark on the terrain. I'm betting that at least remnants of our construction will be here 50 years from now. (This is based off of seeing remnants of the Russian regime still here).

I don't think that I've told you about my translator/interpreter/linguist/cultural advisor yet. He's got a pretty cool story. I think he's about 50-55. He is originally from Pakistan, but he lives in the US now. He is a trained accountant and CPA. He says he did taxes for a long time, but he couldn't pass up the money from this job. He has two boys, and a girl. His oldest son has a Masters in computer engineering, his daughter has a Masters (in something ??) and his youngest son is in college.

Anyway, he was supposed to be the US BDE CDR's interpreter, so he moved to Alaska in NOV so he could get to know the BDE. Everything was good until they got here and discovered that something happened with his clearance ... delayed/stalled somewhere and since he doesn't have a clearance he couldn't translate the necessary classified material/conversations so they booted him. 

Long story, short ... my team had an "urgent" need for translators so he ended up with me. Now I just hope that I get to keep him ... I'm afraid that once his clearance finally gets approved, they're going to steal him back. He speaks/reads/writes several languages, Pashto being the important for language for me. Most people around here speak Pashto and Dari, so if they begin speaking Dari to him, he just tells them to speak Pashto. Luckily, my counterpart is pashtun, so they match up quite nicely. Also, and this is the most important thing ... I can understand his English! So many translators don't speak understandable English ... I got lucky with my translator.