Travels and other things

Its a race to see which aircraft will be finished first, both have been waiting on a sheetmetal repair and to put back together. Today we will try to get both ready for running up.

This is a good shot of both side of the clamshell open. It very well could be our last week here. We were told that we will be moving back to the other end of the field to the Med Hanger, next to the hospital. But we won't get back our old office/break room. We'll see, but it will happen after these two are back their units.

This russian tank had been sitting in an open field, near the front gate, with mine signs around it, but this past week I noticed that it was moved someplace. The base has a bone yard for old equipment someplace but I haven't got to see it yet. Who knows what will happen with all of it. Someday the Afghans might make a museum of the conflicts they have endured.

This guy and his camel have been coming to the friday bazaar for a very long time. I don't know if the camel walks in or gets a ride in a truck. He will charge you 3 bucks to get your picture taken on top or 2 if you want to just stand next to it. Also it has to be your camara, since he doesn't have one.

I borrowed this picture from the shared drive, its a much better shot than I can get of this very official Boeing 737 that occationally flys in and out of here. It appears the Blackhawk is being used to drop off or load whoever needs to be shuttled someplace. I would think our security is much better than Kabul International about 30 miles from here.

Occasionally a Chinook will do lift training, using this Humvee that has been wrecked. I know its unusable because the front wheels point in different directions. I guess if they have a bad pick-up or drop, its not hurting a perfectly good truck.

The huey going by in the background, I was told was French, but I can't be sure. It was a flight of 2.

This is the called steel beach, the last 200 yards of it anyway. Over the last couple years it is being replaced by a real concrete ramp. This stuff is noisy, bumpy, dirty and dangerous on a bicycle. The concrete that is going in a section at a time is about 3 feet thick.

This afternoon there will be a ceremony for the 5th anniversary of 9/11. We came to tow a Blackhawk in for maintenance and found it in this static display background for the ceremony. We'll just get it in the morning instead.

The other aircraft is an Air Force A-10, nicknamed "Worthog". They go out in pairs and and fly a lot from here. I think its the main support for ground troops since it carries a little of everything, missiles, bombs and of course the machine gun in the nose. Its not the fastest of jets, but it can get close to the ground and do some damage. I think it was designed during the cold war to be a Russian tank buster.

This is a C17, large transport, they keep going around the clock. I came in on one of these and when I left last January, it was in one of these.

Today was the weekly bazaar. I told Mr. Kabir (mentioned a couple entries ago) that I would be back this week. He must hear that all day long. Anyway he was a bit shocked to see me and didn't have my favorite rug. I brought him some crackers and Chips ahoy cookies for his kids. Then I let him sell me 2 rugs, a new one and an old one in really good shape. He used the word antique, but I don't know. By the way, he wasn't wearing shoes today, I noticed he had 6 toes on one foot. The sixth was like another pinky, next to it. If he was born in a western country, I'm sure it would have been taken care of shortly after he was born. But here.........

I got this picture off the Base network shared drive. Can you believe she is walking on that pile of stuff?

It appears its all laid out and then to destroy it the bars of plastic explosives are layed over and detonated at one time.

Stand way far back.

I have laundry/trash duty today. Driveing back from the dump, I saw this U.A.E. ( United Arab Emerites ) C-130 next to a Navy P-3. The UAE has a number of people here, doing what, I don't know, but 2 nights a week their chowhall is open to visitors. I ate there last Wed. night. We had rice and curry chicken.

At the weekly bazaar, the base lets the area merchants set up stalls at an area near the main gate. This is Mohammad Kabir who is holding up a rug made here, handmade, pure wool and he said the colors would not fad with washing. At least I think thats what he said. I told him I would send the picture home to my wife to let her see if she likes it.
His starting price for this was $150 and I didn't want to haggle, so I don't know how much it will actually sell for. I would guess it took a woman at least a month to do this size rug about 3' x 5'. I told him I would be back next week on payday. The rugs in the background are machine made and people will get those to just cover the bare floors in the barracks. In the packages around him are colorful womens scarves. He said most of them come from Kashmir, India. Men scarves are very plain compared to these.