I've resigned myself to the fact that there will be a significant lag between events happening and events being written about here on this blog. So I've been here for almost a week and I'm finally posting this shot of the "Welcome To Kabul" sign.
One of the funny things about internet communications is that I can quickly post stuff on Facebook or send an email almost immediately... but I still want to write longer blog posts and letters, to capture more of the details even though they end up feeling out of date when I write them.
Anyway, when we got off the C-130, we were greeted by this sign over the passenger terminal. They brought over a big pallet with all our bags strapped onto it and we began the latest bag drag exercise. We hauled our stuff inside, made a call to our various contacts, then hauled the bags out to the front of the terminal to wait for transport.
Mine didn't come that night after all, so I spend this night in a rather unpleasant little tent with 20 of my closest, um, let's call them friends. Got to sleep after midnight and was up at 0500 to meet the drive team who took me from the airport to the ISAF HQ compound
It was a surreal moment, walking off the back of a C-130 in full body armor in the middle of the night, hauling big bags of various military equipment (most of which I'll never use, of course). Never thought I'd do something like that. Between the dark, the fatigue, the disorientation and unfamiliarity of it all, I must confess it was a bit scary. But having been here for a while, it's really not so bad.
1 comment:
It's hard to even imagine what that experience would be like. I'm glad it's starting to feel more "normal" to you.
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