So what would you say you DO here?

Sooooo ... unfortunately I'm going to be rather vague about many aspects of my job. This is unfortunate in many ways, not the least of which being you may not be able to appreciate some of these posts without that perspective. Just keep in mind a few things: though the Navy has certainly put me in positions were I didn't quite know how to do that facet of my job, the environment was always aviation-related among like-minded people, so it was familiar. Now I'm in an engineering job for which I've received zero training in a service that is so drastically foreign from the Navy to be classified as requiring language and cultural desensitization training.

So, as part of my job so far (meaning, very early here in Sharana), I went to a seminar our PRT was putting on for locals over at the Governor's compound. Again, no details on that portion (yet, though "CERP As A Budget" on google may reveal some interesting things), but while there I saw a cute kitten up in the rafters of a picnic area:

What you don't see in that picture will be revealed when I step back ...

Both animals seemed tame enough (the dog had a collar). The does was showing such intense focus, unlike anything I've ever seen in our dogs (except when we're holding food ...).

On another mission I had quite a lot of exposure with locals. In fact, the local school just let out and we were quickly swamped with kids walking by us. We were certainly the oddity. Of course, I was *really* trying to practice my Pashto so not only did I look weird, I sounded different than all the other weird-looking dudes! I did realize, however, that my accent is nearly incomprehensible. I can understand a little bit of what they say, but I'm still rusty as heck ...

Good times!

Okay, I'm out. It's been three (loooooooooong) posts and I'm pretty tired. Tomorrow's schedule is busy (though it changed -- again -- an hour or two ago), and I need some sleep. I'll try to keep this up in whatever facet I can. Thanks for keeping up!

He he ... not much air up here ...

Okay, the air up here doesn't seem that thin until you try to DO anything. It's comical, but a couple of us often walk to the PRT together and we feel slightly winded when we get there. Really ?!?

Molly has been doing a lot of training recently, ramping up for her 10K runs. If you're reading this, you probably read her posts or heard otherwise, but if you didn't then realize that I'm PROUD AS HELL OF HER! She's beaten her goals for every race until this very last one where I finally convinced her to set a very competitive one (60 minute 10K run). She just barely missed it which means by the time she runs another one, I think she'll be smoking the hour mark. Too cool!

Well, in addition to providing moral support, I'm also trying to keep up in the miles. I've been keeping up somewhat, and my 5K time has dropped incredibly: 22:30! Until Paktika, that is. The first day (when I woke up at 2:30am and couldn't sleep), I decided to go run. And run I did, for 1 mile. And then I stopped.

The next day, I slept in all the way until 3am. Awesome. So I tried running again, and this time made it 1.5 before crashing. Ouch.

Well, long-story-short, three days ago I finally was able to run a 5K, albeit in just under 28 minutes. I'm not upset, honestly, because I know it takes time to adjust, but it'll be nice when I can get my time back to where it was a few weeks ago.

Back to my fitness goals. I haven't been able to participate in any crossfit routine for a couple of months now due to my shoulder. Well, after Cherryl gave me that sports massage before I left and found knots I didn't know I had (thanks, Cherryl!), I'm finally able to move my arm all the way around with no pain. So, it's time to get back going again. Very slowly, though.

I think I injured it by jerking on a lot of the barbell exercises. So, I'll mitigate that by lowering the weight (initially), moving slowly until full tension is achieved, and watching for the tell-tale signs. It's not like I'll be able to do too much damage though, I'm still out of breath way too early ;-)

So far, these have been my workouts:

October 8: 5 sets of 10@: pull-ups, push-ups, knees-to-elbows, and 24" box-jumps; followed up with 8 tabata sprints at 8% incline. OUCH.

October 9: 5K run, 22:26 (in Bagram).

October 10: 1mi run, 9-ish pace.

October 11: 1.5mi run, 9-ish pace.

October 13: 5K run, 27+45.

October 15: Annie from 40 (40,30,20,10 of double-jumps and situps); 3 sets of 10@: pull-ups, sliding push-ups, GHD back extensions; 25,20,15,10,5 of shoulder presses with 10# interspaced with 10x 25# lunges. Oh yeah, this is gonna hurt.

It's now the 17th, and my shoulder hasn't hurt at all since then, which is absolutely awesome. Can't say the same for my gluts ... those lunges made things difficult these last two days ...

So, if you look back to my goals for starting crossfit so long ago, one of the hard parts was going to be keeping it up in Afghanistan. Well, I'm trying hard. My work schedule is not really accommodating, but I can make something work.

Of course, I haven't worked out in a couple of days so I feel like a slug. But my work schedule now will eventually ease up a little as I become more acquainted with my job here.

I've arrived ...

I know I've been remiss ... but I'm just now getting less unreliable internet connectivity. I also just copied some pictures from my iPhone to my computer at a point when/where I can send/post away. Not a lot, mind you, but some. I may break this post up into a few ... try to keep up :-)

The trip out here was about as predicted: stuffy, crappy, long, sleepless, uncomfortable, and at times, dark. The one break in this tedium was actually only 2 hours into the 24+ hour trip, when we stopped in Portsmouth, NH, for about 40 minutes. (Chris and family: I didn't know we were going there until the last minute.) While there, a huge contingent of retirees and local supporters put together a fairly good spectacle. Coffee, sodas, ice cream sundaes, donuts, lots of candy (they handed us grocery bags full). Wow. They even gave us lots and lots of calling cards. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get them to work yet ... I really appreciate them, though. Nice send off!

After a few more legs, we ended up in Manas, Kyrgyzstan. Actually quite a livable place. Sorry, I don't have any pictures, but it was very livable. That is, compared to Bagram. The flight there was comical:

Yes, it's a bit dark (sorry for the quality), but the seats are among the worst I've ever seen and sat in. Well, actually, I wasn't sitting in these this time; I was sitting in a sideways-facing seat. Quite lucky, in fact.

Bagram's living conditions had the "cherry on top" of finding a dead rat when sweeping up. Awesome way to start a tortuous and stupid waiting period.

Yeah, pretty shitty. After a couple of days of stupid training (well, one was okay) and jamming 30 minutes of M-4 shooting into 5 hours of standing around, we were allowed to stay up all night waiting for a C-130 flight to our final destination, Sharana, Paktika. The C-130 was well packed with little room to spare.

When we finally landed, as I posted on FB, I was blessed with a moment (waiting for our ride) to watch the sun rise. Though there is certainly a lot of brown, this picture doesn't do justice to the purple mountains and spectacular serenity in this scene:

And yes, here's the obligatory picture of me in full "battle rattle":

Alright, that's all for this post. I'm here, I'm alive, and I'm working hard. My posts will be overly generic and very little information provided. This is primarily because of OPSEC, or OPerationsl SECurity. I won't provide timelines, details on locations, etc. But I'll try to include pictures that paint so much more. Until then ...