Made a visit to KAF (Kandahar Air Field) today.
One of the things about being on a non-DOD contract is that you are usually not located on a FOB or base like KAF.
Today, I went over to KAF to take a mail handler's course so our people can get mail - you have to have the course to be able to pick the mail up now on KAF.
The funny part is going to KAF is different now as I don't live there. For about 4 months, I was downtown in a secure compound in Kandahar City which was interesting as we were living in the middle of town.
Yeah, dangerous and there is some serious risk but for the most part, we were not bothered by anyone while we were there. It was different and also allowed us to get to know many of the people in Kandahar City.
Now, we are staying at a private camp which is right across the way from KAF but not the same as KAF.
So yesterday was different as it was the first time in over 2 years that I got to eat DFAC ( Dining Facility) food at Luxemburg. Luxemburg serves European style food. They have redone the place but it looks basically the same. The food was about what you would expect but as long as someone else is cooking it, I am glad to have warm food rather than MREs.
Made a PX stop and saw the usual stuff so not much has changed there - PX had a certain amount of Christmas stuff on display. Ho ho ho - Merry Kandahar Christmas.
KAF is still as dusty as ever but the place will be downsizing over the next 2 years - the military announced that the troop levels in Afghanistan will be down to 10,000 total troops by the end of 2014. Seeing as there is 30,000 people on KAF, that means some serious downsizing moving forward. I can't imagine what KAF or Bagram will look like when there is so little troops - there will still be many civilians in support but the idea of only 10,000 troops providing security will be a challenge.
Only time will tell. For now, I am glad that things are going along as they should. Too many others are facing economic security back home and long term unemployment. I would rather deal with work overseas in a warzone than the trouble many are facing back home.
2013 will be here shortly and hopefully, those in Washington DC will do the job we pay them for instead of acting like the high priced prima-donnas they really are. Many people's livelihood and security depend on Pols doing what they should. A New Year's resolution for all of them would be to stop overspending and start thinking like they care about the outcome of their actions, not just getting re-elected.
It was November 2004 and I, along with 5000 of my Marine and Seabee shipmates were spending Thanksgiving Day in Fallujah. The Battle of Fallujah had kicked off in early November and was still going well into December 2004. Thanksgiving Day was a quiet one and all were looking forward to a good meal as during the weeks before, things had been so crazy we only got one hot meal a day. Supply convoys were having difficulty making it from Baghdad to Fallujah due to insurgents and that limited the fresh food we got.
This year, 7 years later, the troops are finishing up in Iraq and had to have Thanksgiving Day Dinner a few days early as the last DFAC will be closing down. The troops are coming home and that is a good thing. Iraq is a free country and I feel we have done what we can to assist them. From here on, it will be up to the Iraqis to develop their country and get on with self governing.
This week when you sit down with your family for Thanksgiving Day Dinner, remember that there are many still out there on duty, in many other locations, doing what is needed to ensure our freedoms. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
US soldiers mark last Thanksgiving in Iraq
By W.G. Dunlop (AFP) – 11/21/11
VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq — US soldiers gathered for an early Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday due to an impending switch to field rations at a base near Baghdad, saying they are glad they will soon be going home.
The official Thanksgiving holiday in the United States is later this week, but the last "dining facility," or DFAC, at the sprawling Victory Base Complex (VBC) on Baghdad's outskirts closed on Sunday, as US forces prepare to depart.
Soldiers and contractors, about 6,600 of whom are still at VBC, dined at tables decorated with colourful paper turkeys and "Happy Thanksgiving" signs hanging overhead.
"We're going to do the Thanksgiving meal here today instead of on Thursday, because we're closing out," said 38-year-old Staff Sergeant Christopher Quimbly, the DFAC manager.
"Today on the menu, we have crab legs, turkey, ham, dressing, yams, green beans, rolls, corn bread, mashed potatoes, (and) a variety of deserts," he said.
"Over 2,000 pounds (almost 900 kilograms) of turkey, over 2,000 pounds of ham" and "probably about 3,000 pounds of mashed potatoes" are being served, he said.
But starting with dinner on Sunday, soldiers will have to make do with bagged field rations, Quimbly said.
"I'm thankful for everything here, I'm thankful every day. ... This means a lot. I've started off over here, seen this DFAC stood up, and I'm over here when it's closing down," he said.
Quimbly, who is married and has two sons and three daughters, said he is "definitely looking forward to getting home."
He arrived for this tour, his fifth, in May 2011.
"I think it's a good morale boost for everyone," Specialist Shawna McNeil, a 23-year-old on her first tour of duty in Iraq, said of the meal.
"It's good for us because we know that time's dwindling down, it's not much longer, it's the last meal -- we're at the home stretch, ready to go home.
"I think it's good for everyone to be together and have a good meal. I know a lot of people probably miss their families, so just a little something helps out," she added.
"Seeing that this is the last (cooked) meal for the soldiers here ... it's a good thing, 'cause we know we're moving out," said 45-year-old Sergeant James Scott, who is on his second Iraq deployment.
"It's been a really good experience, and they've done a really good job," he said of the meal.
"It's the beginning of closing it down, and having a new year back home," he said, adding: "I'm ready to head back to Kentucky -- just get back and relax, and be with the family."
President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that US forces would leave by the end of this year, bringing to a close an almost nine-year war.
