Hello southern Afghanistan!

Ok, ok, I know I should've written sooner but things have been really hectic, with getting moved into my barracks room and all the classes and briefs we had to go through once we got in country. Didn't do much besides that the first few days I was here, but finally got to flying on the 19th of March and completed my CCT (not completely sure what that literally means, but it's like a local area orientation and flight training on the conditions out here). I flew day and night, and I was all done. Me and some other guys found out then that we were going to fly out to FOB Dwyer and work Med chase for about a week. We left on the 22nd of March and I just got back yesterday.

I had a great time out there; of course in the back of your mind you know that whenever you go fly it means there was someone hurt or killed, but the experience I gained (both mentally and physically) was insurmountable. I saw a few bad things, but it's all part of what we do. The living conditions there were ok; slept in a tent on a cot and had DSN phones in the CP (command post) and all the food and drinks you could imagine. No internet but that was alright. We were on 1st up for 24 hours, then went on 2nd up for the next 24. That means, every other night I could take a shower; you don't really want to get called on the radio in the midst of showering and have to hurry out to the helicopter. So that was kind of inconvenient but that was pretty much it. You could sleep whenever you wanted but always had to have a radio with you. I got 20.6 flight hours out there, and hopefully will be going back soon.

So now I'm back in my barracks in Kandahar (not sure for how long lol) and had the day off today, but it's back to work tomorrow. See, the best thing about being away from here WAS BEING AWAY FROM HERE. No stupid rule enforcements and nobody bugging you about retarded crap if you're apart from the commanders and sergeant majors and everybody like that. But, that kind of stuff happens when you're stationed at the same place as the battalion and brigade headquarters. Yeah it's the Army but you really can never fully get used to putting up with it.

I promise I will keep up with writing as I have more interesting experiences.....until then...

AIRMOBILE!